>> thanks for watching us here. >> good night. see you soon. on our bro on our broadcast tonight, damage assessment. who do the american people blame for the shut zoun of their government? tonight our new nbc news poll is out and the answer is clear. also, insult to injury. after the uproar over military death benefits, now there's this. millions of veterans and their families in danger of not getting the pensions and disability payments they were promised. pride and prejudice. is a famous nfl team going to be forced to change its name. and scott carpenter has died and of the original mercury 7, only one survives. "nightly news" begins now.

good evening. after ten days of this, when you ask americans what they think of this government shutdown or better yet what they think of their government, they will tell you and they won't hold back. and they have told us rather decidedly who they blame for it. in fact, our pollsters tell us it's among the most forceful responses to any of our nbc news polls in recent memory. americans are in a dark mood about the state of our country. close to eight in ten people, 78% say we're headed in the wrong direction. and elected officials are facing a lot of heat back home. 60% of respondents on our poll said they would throw out all members of congress even the ones they like. it is clear there will be consequences with each passing day of this. it's where we begin tonight with our chief white house correspondent political director chuck todd. chuck, good evening. >> reporter: good evening, brian. well, the president met with house republican leaders for an hour tonight.

while there's still no deal to raise the debt ceiling, the two sides hinted they could agree to something soon. at least in time to make sure the country doesn't flirt with default on its bill next week. any temporary debt ceiling fix would last no more than six or eight weeks. and speaker john boehner acknowledged it is designed simply to buy time. >> clearly you could end up back in the same place and we don't want to be there. >> while the deal will not reopen the government, the white house signalled potential support for the debt ceiling proposal. >> the president is happy that cooler heads at least seem to be prevailing. in the house. there at least seems to be a recognition that default is not an option. >> reporter: but harry reid was a bit more skeptical. >> the house has a unique form of legislating. it's hour by hour. >> reporter: which brings us back to the government shutdown. something that has rattled the

public. in our new nbc news poll, 65% believe it's doing harm to the economy. and one in three said it has impacted their own lives. primarily, republicans are the losers by a 53-31 margin. 70% believe republicans are putting their political agenda ahead of what's good for the country. just 51% say that of president obama. 53% of a negative view of the party in this survey. the worst rating for republicans in this poll's nearly 25-year history. and that's given democrats a boost. they lead the gop by eight points on the question of which party should control congress. their largest lead since 2009. this swift and resounding public response to the shutdown even shocked our pollsters. >> these were jaw dropping numbers. you see this once or twice in a lifetime.

>> reporter: once again, the only deal being talked about tonight is a temporary one to raise the debt ceiling, but there's still no agreement on that and there is nothing being talking about on reopening the government any time soon. and of course, that's what the public has been responding to. shutdown, not debt ceiling. >> chuck todd on the white house lawn for us tonight. powerful numbers from our poll. chuck, thanks. to show you how closely this is being watched, based on news today the hint of movement on the budget, wall street went up as a result. dow jones up 323 points. nasdaq up almost 83. s&p up 36. as for the shutdown and the outrage over the disruption of death benefits to the family members of u.s. service members killed in duty, the house voted to resume paying those benefits to the families of 29 americans killed since this shutdown began. a charity has stepped in for now, and if president obama signs the bill, the government

will be able to make the payments again. but beyond that, these are tense days for a whole lot of former military families. nbc's andrea mitchell has more on that tonight from our d.c. newsroom. good evening. >> reporter: good evening, brian. that's because that fix does not end the potential nightmare for millions of veterans who rely on monthly military pensions. because the veterans administration is running out of cash. near fort bragg in north carolina, this mother depends on her benefits. her husband john was an apache pilot killed in 2006. >> i'm a single mom now. been raising my kids alone for six years. and i'm in college. and i need that income. that income is what pays my electric bill, my phone bill, my food bill. and people don't understand. it's like we rely on something we were told we were going to receive it and now they reneged on it.

>> reporter: veterans who rely on military pensions and disability payments are angry about the shutdown. and scared about what could happen next. 30-year-old joe smith was an e-4 in the air force. >> we made a deal when we signed the dotted line. you said you would do x, y, and x. i said i would accomplish x, y, and d. it was done. i did it. where are you at? >> reporter: in fresno, california, vietnam veteran bob mclaughlin said that is a lifeline. >> there are certainly veterans out there that you miss one check, and within a week there's a shortage of food on the table. >> reporter: the veterans administration has already closed 56 regional offices furloughing 7800 workers. if the shutdown continues for three more weeks, almost all 13,000 workers will be furloughed. stopping $6 billion in monthly checked to nearly 5.2 million veterans including the most severely disabled and those with low income. >> our message is pretty simple.

do your job and take care of us. when we were asked to do our job after 9/11, we did it. we held up our end of the bargain. but right now the u.s. government is not. >> reporter: but in washington the blame game continues. >> and you went out of your way at every possible turn to make this as ugly as possible. >> i resent your remarks, and let the record show that. >> reporter: and for our viewers on the west coast, tonight the president has sign into law the resolution providing money for those death benefits. clearly in response to the widespread anger over the way the families were being treated by their government. >> andrea mitchell in our newsroom tonight. thanks. if it weren't for this shutdown dominating the news, we admittedly would be hearing and covering a lot more about how things are going for these new health care exchanges which were rolled out ten days ago. millions of uninsured americans are being encouraged to go to

healthcare.gov to sign up for coverage, but it's been a very rocky start. the website has been unable to handle the 10 million visitors who have tried to log on. nbc's tom costello looks at what's gone wrong. >> reporter: week two of the obama care rollout and remains the focus of ridicule. >> americans are unable to get on the site. if they get on the site, it's confusing. >> reporter: from capitol hill to late night tv. >> i'm going to try and download every movie ever made and you've got to try and sign up for obama care. we'll see which happens first. >> reporter: by most accounts, the website has been a complete mess locking up, crashing, and kicking off potential customers. the 260 people who tried to sign up at this miami clinic in the first week, only a single person got through. >> one. from 260. >> reporter: in online discussion groups, people talk

of coding and software problems that could take weeks or months to fix. it's tough to have a worse launch of a nationwide site. >> i think everybody is shocked who has been watching this from the inside at how bad it really is and how bad the computer programming and software and code and architecture is. >> reporter: while the federal website has struggled, the truth is the states offering their own exchanges have more success. kentucky gets very high marks. they have already signed up 7,000 people. for months experts say they tried to warn the white house healthcare.gov wasn't ready to go live. but the administration decided to go with it anyway. the chief technology officer trying to fix the problem said they built it to handle 50,000 to 60,000 simultaneous users. twice that many have been trying to access it at any given time. >> every day is going to be better. by the time we're done in the six month period, millions of folks will have health

insurance. >> reporter: so far the white house isn't saying how many people have managed to enroll. but sources tell us the numbers could be embarrassingly low. tom costello, nbc news, washington. a judge threw the book at kwame kilpatrick. he was sentenced to 28 years in prison for widespread corruption that prosecutors contend worsened that city's financial crisis. he was convicted of two dozen counts back in march. 18 other officials from his tenure as mayor have been convicted as well. and the city, of course, is now in bankruptcy. scott carpenter died today. he was the second american to orbit the earth and the fourth american astronaut in space. he was 88 years old, a native of boulder, colorado, a genuine american hero who dated back to a time when we all looked up to seven very brave men. >> reporter: they made america so proud back in the age of the

possible. they were the mercury 7. and while they were young men, many had already skirted the heavens as test pilots and survived the hell of warfare. scott carpenter was a veteran of the korean war, the only astronaut without a college degree. he was named john glen's backup so he had to wait his turn to get to space. but he got to utter the famous words to his friends before launch while the whole world listened in. >> god speed, john glen. >> reporter: when it was his turn, carpenter flew in aurora 7. he orbited the earth three times. he was up there less than five hours. and he landed 250 miles from the intended target. as tv viewers stared anxiously at the black and white picture, there were fears he hadn't survived the splashdown. until he was spotted almost an hour later sitting in his raft

awaiting pickup. he never flew in space again, though he loved exploration. he lived for an entire month on the bottom of the ocean floor in something called sea lab in the mid-60s. years later he was part of our on-air team at cape canaveral to cheer on john glen who returned to space at the age of 77. >> we're joined by scott carpenter. what do you reckon is going on in there? >> i wish i knew, but i don't. >> reporter: of the original mercury 7, now only john glen survives at the age of 92. the aircraft carrier that recovered scott carpenter's capsule lives on to this day as a floating museum here in new york. the uss intrepid. still ahead for us tonight, a growing war of words. should the washington redskins be forced to change their name

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i'd like that. a new way to bank. a better way to save. ally bank. your money needs an ally. we're back with an issue that has a whole lot of people including the president expressing an opinion and taking sides. one that's sparking feelings of pride and claims of prejudice. it's about one of the best known football teams in this country, the washington redskins. they're facing increasing pressure to change their name. something the team's owner said

again today he is not ready to do. we have more on this tonight from nbc's stephanie gosk. >> reporter: the question is deceptively simple. what's in a name? for some washington redskins fans, the team name is 81 years of tradition. do you guys have opinions on it? >> yeah. it should stay. absolutely stay. >> reporter: why? >> why? because it's part of the legacy. >> if it's offending people, it's time to change it. >> reporter: for a group of native americans campaigning to get it changed, redskins is not just an nfl team, it's a racial slur dating back to the 19th century. >> any other ethnic group would not tolerate this kind of language being used about them that's so denigrating and dehumanizing. >> reporter: the battle to change the team's name has been going off and on for decades. it flared up this spring when the owner said this to usa today. we'll never change the name, he said. it's that simple. never. you can use caps.

a sports writer for the "washington post" believes the nfl will compel a name change. >> it's going to be a critical mass at some point. at some point they're going to say this is going to damage the league financially. we cannot have this. >> reporter: criticism is growing. reporters from espn, usa today, and sports illustrated among others say they won't use the team's name. even president obama weighed in. >> if i were the owner of the team, i'd think about changing it. >> reporter: there are plenty of professional teams that have faced similar criticism. but critics say the name redskins is by far the most derogatory. the debate plays out daily on d.c. sports radio. doc walker is a former washington player. >> there are a lot of people talking about this that don't have a damn thing to talk about other than to run their mouth because we're in washington. >> reporter: so what is in a

name? actually, quite a lot. stephanie gosk, nbc news, washington. >> doc walker hasn't changed since his playing days. we're back in a moment with what might be the most poignant picture of the day. we are bh what might be the most poignant p picture of the day. way to go, crestor! yeah! getting to goal is a big deal, especially if you have high cholesterol plus any of these risk factors. because you could be at increased risk for plaque buildup in your arteries over time. so, when diet and exercise aren't enough to lower cholesterol, adding crestor can help. go, crestor! ♪ ♪ oh, yeah [ female announcer ] crestor is not right for everyone, like people with liver disease or women who are nursing, pregnant, or may become pregnant. tell your doctor about other medicines you're taking. call your doctor right away if you have muscle pain or weakness, feel unusually tired, have loss of appetite, upper belly pain, dark urine, or yellowing of skin or eyes.

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this was no fun. this was the scene last night at universal studios in orlando owned by our parent company. a roller coaster hung in the air for three hours until crews could help them safely off the ride which was shut down, then repaired, and has since reopened. the noted author alice monroe is even more noted now. she was today awarded the nobel prize. she's the 13th woman to win the prize. she has published 14 collections of stories. she's 82 years old and a proud product of rural canada. she told an interviewer there last year her latest collection

of stories would be her last. she was hardly waiting by the phone for today's announcement. in fact, there was no answer when the committee called from stockholm, so they left word on voice mail she was the world's newest nobel laureate. and the historic ohio clock has been keeping time outside the u.s. senate chamber since 1817. but yesterday at 12:14 in the afternoon, it stopped. because the folks in charge of winding it are furloughed because of the shutdown. and we can't find out the last time it stopped ticking because the folks in the senate historian's office has been furloughed as well and aren't around to take our questions. and you saw the poll numbers at the top of our br ft. if you asked yourselves how they could explain this shutdown to people in need of food or medical treatment, the most poignant picture of the day is

along those lines. how would they explain it to this little guy who just wanted to go to the zoo? the national zoo in washington. when this photo first appeared on reddit, many people said it was the saddest of all the shutdown photos they have seen thus far. when we come back here tonight, the inspiring story of a young man that is learning the sky really is the limit. arms were made for hugging.e] hands for holding. feet, kicking. better things than the joint pain and swelling of moderate to severe rheumatoid arthritis. if you're trying to manage your ra, now may be the time to ask about xeljanz. xeljanz (tofacitinib) is a small pill for adults with moderate to severe ra for whom methotrexate did not work well. xeljanz can lower your ability to fight infections, including tuberculosis. serious, sometimes fatal infections and cancers have happened in patients taking xeljanz. don't start taking xeljanz

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to learn more. finally here tonight the finally here tonight, the power of a chance meeting and the inspiration to explore new heights. it's a story about a boy who meets a man and as the saying goes, wants to be just like him. and ron motte reports tonight, the young man is well on his way. >> here we go. >> reporter: as an airline pi t pilot -- >> welcome aboard. >> reporter: captain derek scott meets countless people. faces in a crowd really. little did he know the impression he made on a wide eyed 5-year-old who stopped by his office one day nearly ten years ago. >> what i remember most about him is the little kid that was so motivated. he was very inquisitive.

>> i we want up there and all of a sudden i was just in another world. >> reporter: now 14 and a tenth grader, elijah was to captivated he kept that photo on display in his bedroom for inspiration. dreaming of his own career in aviation. >> first time i saw him he was my role model. >> reporter: he eventually reconnected with captain scott who was eager to mentor him. black pilots have been in the air for generations. most famous the ska key gee airmen from world war ii. the grew up poor in panama, learned english as a second language. scott found a mentor in eric poole when he began flying for jet blue and now helps pilots like o'brien. >> a lot of black men and women feel they have a certain path to follow. and i want to see that change.

i want to see more black men and women in the cockpit. >> we want to show you that it is possible. that you can pursue your dreams and you can continue forward and have a wonderful career. this is what i'm doing. >> reporter: as captain scott encouraging elijah into the skies, his message is resonating. >> if you work hard enough and you dream hard enough, you can do it. but dreaming just didn't get you all the way. it can only get you halfway. so you have to work, work, work. >> reporter: working to fortify a small but growing fraternity where going solo simply doesn't fly. ron motte, nbc, new york. and that is our broadcast on a thursday night. thank you for being here with us. i'm brian williams, and we hope to see you right back here tomorrow evening. good night. -- www.vitac.com

good evening. thank you for joining us. i'm jessica aguirre. i'm raj mathai. tonight, mayor lee is demanding an independent investigation at san francisco general. the dual action comes after a patient was found dead in a stairwell nearly three weeks after she went missing from her hospital room. nbc bay area mariyor pfaff rah joins us. the family learned that the death of lynn spalding was not

involved with foul play. they say that that is a relief. tonight they have many, many major questions for sheriff's deputies about their search of this hospital. when 57-year-old lynn spalding's boyfriend brought her here to the hospital, they hoped she would get treatment for a infection and come home. a few days later, she was reported missing. two weeks after that, she was found dead in a hospital stairwell. >> if a search was done for a lady and 17 days later her body was found. that was not an adequate search. certainly these are not the standards to which a fine institution like san francisco general should expect its security detail to live up to. >> today, san francisco mayor ed lee toured the hospital, including the fifth floor where she was last seen alive. >> the city is responsible for what happened here. >> the mayor also vowed to make changes to protect