at the top of the show we asked you why are you awake. producer rob gifford has the answers. >> jonathan, welcome to wait wait. gary writes, jonathan is doing a fantastic job. he's a natural. the reason i was awake, i had a craving for the choco taco in my freezer. yum. >> that's disgusting. what's the next one. >> gene tweets two cats are making babies outside my window. >> no, that's disgusting. thanks, rob. "morning joe" starts right now. it's an undisputable fact that in congress her record of accomplishment and results is nonexistent. >> you said the era of small government was over. that sounds a lot more like barack obama if you ask me. >> she fought for less

government spending. we got a lot more. she led the effort against obama care, we got obama care. she led the effort against t.a.r.p., we got t.a.r.p. she said she's got a tie tan numb spine. it's not her spine we're worried about. it's her record of results. if that's your results, please stop. you're killing sglus i was at the tip of the sphere fighting against the i'm implementation of obama care. nancy pelosi, harry reid and barack obama run congress. i gave them a run for their money. i was effectively taking them on on nearly every argument. i fought. when others ran, i fought. >> good morning, it is friday, august 12th. welcome to "morning joe." with us onset we have msnbc political analyst and former chairman of the republican national committee michael steele. hello. this is going to be good. washington editor for "the nation" chris hayes. welcome, welcome.

>> good morning. >> pulitzer prize winning editorial writer for "the washington post." >> and host of "way too early." >> it was the most special "way too early" i've ever seen. it was good! it was all you. >> that was the best -- >> men in tights, baby. >> liberace. >> sweating, testosterone fueled men in tights. >> i'm sorry. >> i'm asking do you love football? >> no. >> not at all? >> huh-uh. >> do you watch ever? do you ever just turn it on?

>> not football. >> stop it. >> that's why we threw to a package of fred roggin. you want me reading? >> actually i did. can i just say jonathan was great. >> you made it your own, and i like that. >> he's not a poser. mika came in and said jonathan capehart rocks. >> it was delicious. >> i don't know if i'd call it delicious. i would say good. >> it was. mark halperin is in des moines. mark, give us your score card, mark. >> wait. he's got the ear thing -- >> millions of people around me. oh, wait, no, it's 5:03. nobody is here, but i'm going to still wear it. >> java joe's, that's where morning started. how exciting. give ups your score card. >> it's nice to be in this historic place for your program.

i'm glad to be here. all anybody here at java joe's is comparing about is comparing willie geist to wally pipp. mika, that's a joke for you. >> that's pretty good. >> there were two candidates head and shoulders above everybody else, mitt romney and michele bachmann. overall performance of the others in a pretty ragged two hours i don't think changed very much. mitt romney did a great job and got pretty lucky. you think a guy who is that big of a front-runner would have been the main target, but as you saw in the opening clips, it was really michele bachmann and tim pawlenty going back and forth. it's hard to judge who had the better of the exchanges between them. i think if pawlenty ends up having to leave the race with a weak performance, he at least can be comfortable he went out fighting. he was tough on bachmann, drove a strong message against her. the argument he's making on the stump behind her back she's not strong enough of a record of accomplishment.

jon huntsman didn't stand out. his chance to make a first impression. he acted pretty much like he always acts. he was calm and cautious and i thought the candidates, each having their moments, but no one breaking through. again really stunning, for two hours people barely reaching out to join the front-runner is a good day for him. we've got rick perry and sarah palin, two people not on the stage potentially coming in and giving romney a tougher time than anybody on the stage gave him last night. >> let's ask the same question of the former chairman of the republican party, michael steele. great last night. >> i take a little exception with mark's analysis there. i think certainly bachmann and romney did what they had to do. pawlenty is not going anywhere. he's staying in this thing for as long as he can. everyone on the stage is going to be in this race. this doesn't make or break your

presidential campaign. it's a straw poll, folks. this is a debate in august. can we really get serious here and stop trying to push people in and push people out? >> it's a chance to get a look at them. >> it's a chance to get a look at them. there's a difference between what you hear from the professional political class and the people out there last night on twitter and so forth who thought newt gingrich did phenomenally well. i thought newt gingrich planted a flag, as well as pushing back on the whole idea that we're going to come together and not do the first line of questioning is right out of the talking point box. i think a number of moments like this. >> it sounds you agree with mark halperin. you said you would take exception. did he grade somebody differently? >> i was looking at the grading in terms of how people lined up. i thought newt did a solid bperformance last night.

in fact, if i had to pick a winner, i would give him that because the expectation was so low in that hard. >> chris hayes? >> the most striking to me is the substantive and psychological unanimity on stage. there is you think a space for somebody to plant a flag and say, look, i'm going to plant a flag because i can't get to the right of michele bachmann. >> is that what huntsman was doing? >> i thought he would do that more forcefully because that's his only hope. there are moderate primary voters and it's in states where it's not just registered republicans. i thought he shied away from doing that. he could have been much more forceful. if that's your hope, then be the moderate in the race. >> was there a standout for you last night, ideology aside? >> you mean a performance? >> a performance that shocks people. guess what, america? it matters. >> mitt romney -- what stood out

to me was the contrast between the tape earlier in the day of mitt romney talking unscripted with people and going back and forth with hecklers. he is a much better, far more accomplished, far more comfortable in these kind of set piece moments. he looks profoundly presidential. he looks like a genuine presidential campaigner. when he's in these unscripted moments, he looks completely uncomfortable and totally off his game. >> forget the ideology, you're exactly right. he looks presidential. he looks like he could stand next to president obama in a debate. a lot of the others don't. what about you? >> well, just to be honest, i was asleep because i was doing "way too early." >> we'll show you right now, and you've seen some of it with "way too early." i'm not sure we'll completely agree on bachmann and pawlenty when they went after each other, who helped themselves more. i think pawlenty did not help

himself. >> we disagree and i make the completely wrong and maybe it's because i'm judging michele bachmann. >> it's rick lazio. >> maybe it's because i'm judging michele bachmann by what she said, but i think tim pawlenty got the much better part -- >> i think the pawlenty -- when you're saying about rick lazio. it also felt overly scripted. it felt like he brought all these set pieces where in the boiler room they had written his one-liners out an he was dropping them. >> it made me tired. >> i got to tell you, i thought romney had a great night for the reasons. >> reporter: said. he looked presidential and they didn't lay a glove on him. whether he's slick or whatever, he looked, sounded, walked, talked like a presidential candidate. i thought he did well. >> he did. that's the part to me that's the most amazing, and here is the guy who has really got the mojo

and no one went after him. then you're going layer perry on top of this thing this weekend. >> let's show jonathan what happened last night. >> but on michele and tim, though, the thing is mitt romney is so far ahead that they're competing for second. i did see that clip. that's why i think tim pawlenty went after michele bachmann and went after her hard to try to take her down. >> i also think pawlenty is waging the losing rhetorical battle which is basically you may like michele bachmann as the tribune of your belief system, she doesn't have a substantive record. guess what? the people voting for bachmann don't care. >> let's be blunt. i thought romney did well. i do think actually newt had a good night. he actually had the audience at one point booing fox news in his favor.

actually they were booing chris wallace of fox news. that's one of the easier people to boo. >> joe. >> let me finish. huntsman, his voice was shaky. did nino tis? huntsman actually soundedr in voice when he was talking. i didn't get it. my big takeaway last night is somebody like michele bachmann is tailer made for hot august night a year before serious presidential elections when iowa, the whole world focuses on iowa. it's like this conspiracy. it's the base of both parties, mainly the base of the republican party in iowa pushing somebody that is never going to win, never going to get close to winning the presidential nomination, never get close to being a vice president, never goes to being relevant a year from now. you've got the republican base doing that in iowa. it's like a conspiracy because then the media can run articles

on these people who are on the far right and point for a year about, look how whacked out the republican party is. and i was predicting this four years ago. i want to make my point here. four years ago. >> we're not stopping you, joe. >> i want to make my point here because i get so tired of it and it happens. do you remember four years ago when everybody was saying huckabee, huckabee, huckabee, huckabee, this, that and the other. and everybody said john mccain was dead. what did i say? i said i went home and talked to my dad recently departed. my dad said when nobody else on the face of the earth was saying it, watch out for john mccain, he's going to win this thing. you know why? he doesn't live in iowa. he doesn't go to straw polls, he doesn't look at the zain any bs these candidates say to win straw polls and sometimes to win iowa or come in second in iowa when you actually have pat

robertson being the eventual nominee. this happens every four years. michele bachmann's first answer, mark halperin was, i wish the federal government had defaulted, had defaulted a week after americans lost, some of them perhaps lost half of their pensions, lost half of their 401(k)s, when trillions of dollars went down the drain with americans suffering, she said that and got applause. if anybody thinks that guys like my dad are going to be voting that way when this rolls out of iowa and new hampshire and south carolina in the early stages and really gets going, they are out of their mind and they are stupid not only to prognosticate, too stupid to run slurpee machines in des moines. i'll get you go now. i got it off my chest. michele bachmann is a joke. now i will pass it on to you.

her answer is a joke. her candidacy is a joke. and anybody that sits here and says she has any chance of winning anything is out of their mind. take your straw poll, take your caucus. but iowa, if you let her win, you prove your irrelevance once again. now to you. >> tell us how you feel, joe. >> halperin? >> this is ridiculous. this happens every four years. owns the republican party, they've gone overboard. mark halperin wants to answer. i'll shut up now. >> i think the question -- the biggest question looming over the race, is rick perry someone who is going to be seen as that kind of candidate or the kind of candidate that people like your dad would support as someone who has very conservative views, very much in line in a lot of ways with bachmann, but still someone who can appeal to the center and seem like someone who can be nominated and elected? >> my dad would be a hell of a lot more likely to vote for rick perry, somebody that actually

ran something for ten years, one of the largest states in america, than he would michele bachmann tip of what sphere, chris hayes? >> i'm going to say i felt the way you felt about michele bachmann before you said it, about what she is. that's why tim pawlenty, going after her made him look stupid. chris hayes? >> i think pawlenty going after her on her record or lack thereof misses the point. he miss it is point about what the nature of the michele bachmann candidacy is. >> she has no record. >> right. she has the light bulb freedom of choice act which she introduced, lest us not forget as she pointed out. >> so you do have rick perry who i have been really tough on. you have rick perry who ran a state for ten years, created more jobs than any other governor of america over the past couple years versus somebody who passed the light

bulb freedom of choice act -- >> introduced. did not pass. it failed. >> i need to see that sound bite again. i think i had taken an ambien or something. i was on a different planet. i was like what is she talking about? seriously, is my tv upside down? i think it might be. >> afterwards in the scrum, what were the people saying, what were the straw poll voters saying and is michele bachmann going to win this and totally undermine my faith. >> she can win it. it doesn't matter. >> talking to people from all the major campaigns competing, we know the top three finishers in ames, everybody agrees it's going to be pawlenty and bachmann and ron paul. nobody will predict the order. i talked to people in all three camps and they all said we don't know. bachmann has a lot of energy, no question. her crowds are very big. >> who are they? who are they? are they've van gel cals? >> evangelicals, tea party

members, the kind of people who supported mike huckabee. pawlenty has clearly got a better organization. he's put more money in. the biggest question to me is can bachmann convert that energy and that passion and that enthusiasm to getting the mechanics of people to turn out at the straw poll and her people say, quite frankly, they don't know. if she finishes behind pawlenty, her people can say we've only been in this race six weeks. this is about organizing. we've got time before the caucuses. it's hard for for pawlenty to explain if he finisheses bae behind bachmann. ron paul's chance of being nominated are lower than michele bachmann's. >> should we listen to that? >> let's listen to michele bachmann. i've been tough on her. >> let's back off a little. >> i have a very consistent record of fighting very hard against barack obama and his unconstitutional measures in congress.

when it came to health care i brought tens of thousands of americans to washington to fight the unconstitutional individual mandate. i didn't praise it. when it cape to cap and trade, it fought it with everything in me in including i introduced the light bulb freedom of choice act so people could all purchase the light bulb of their choice. >> okay. i take it back. >> i understand what you're saying. beneath that that resonates with a lot of people. >> the light bulb choice act? >> come on, michael. >> i tell you why, because it's a representation of government coming in and telling me down to what kind of light bulb i can put in my bathroom and how i see things and how i do -- >> michael steele. >> i'm transcribing to tell you you may want to -- >> we have the same argument with seatbelts. >> you want to understand it, you've got to go to where it is. >> i understand, michael.

>> you can't sit back here in new york and presume -- >> michael, i ran for congress and, yes, if you're on the west coast and you're playing the -- >> he's talking to me. >> me, too. if you're playing the drinking game where i'm going to talk about congress, drink up. i ran for congress four times in a district we'll call the most conservative in america and i won with populists, so you don't have to tell me i live in new york city and don't understand people who vote for michele bachmann. the reason why they are going to michele bachmann is because there is a void in the rest of the field. >> understood. that's part of it. but you would not win that district today. you would not win that district today my friend. that's the difference. >> you know what? yes, i would. yes, i would. i'd win your district. i'd win every district. >> not in maryland, baby. >> you see, this is the big

mistake -- i can't believe -- you are unfortunately in the chattering classes of georgetown and other elites. >> oh, lord. i'm the most elite person. talk to me, go ahead. >> i will. what michele bachmann -- not michele bachmann. but what tea partiers said in 2010 is identical to what was said in 1994. everybody talks about how much the republican party has changed and gotten more radical and right wing. what i hear them saying on the trail is the same thing we were saying which is less government, less taxes. >> i'm not saying that. i'm not saying the republican party is more radical and right wing. >> you said i couldn't win back in my district. they're saying the same thing today i've been saying for 16 years. >> you have to understand the ronald reagan we knew on the day he left his office, would have a hard time in this republican primary in 2011-2012. >> is disagree. >> i'm telling you

philosophically, this party is sorting out a lot of the transition from reagan to right now. michele bachmann resonates -- >> you have to see where we are right now. we're in august. >> it resonates. >> we're in august of 2011 which was identical -- >> it resonates because it's a represe representation of big government. it resonates because government is saying to me how to do things in my home. >> we're in what the president calls silly season. this happened in 1995 when newt gingrich was speaker and we passed a lot of things and everybody was running around and we pushed harder and harder. guess what happened the next year? bill clinton won the election. you talk about light bulbs if you're michele bachmann, maybe that gems up a lot of people who voted for me in republican

primaries. guess what? at the end of the day it makes people like my dad scratch their head and saying we've got 9.1% unemployment. the markets are crashing and you're talking about light bulbs. i'm talking about in the republican party, the center of the republican party. my dad was a conservative, never voted for a democrat in his life. look for people like michele bachmann and saying are you kidding me, i'm turning back to the braves. >> who would your dad have chosen last night if he had to? >> probably mitt romney. just like most of the people once you get past this early silly stage, maybe it's perry. do you disagree with me? >> no, i don't. >> then why do you hate so much when love would be so much easier. >> i love you, joe. >> i know you do. >> this is fun. i'm still not educated on the light bulbs. coming up, wisconsin governor scott walker. also david axelrod joins us live

from iowa. we'll also have lon dons bureau chief john byrnes. >> and why the tottenham match got canceled. up next, don't miss willy's week in review. first your weekend forecast with bill karins. >> the brightest bulb, right, mika? >> yes, adorable. >> actually one of the coolest mornings we've had in a while. temperatures are very comfortable. the ac should be off in many locations, in the 50s in new england. fantastic afternoon. no travel trouble at all. friday and saturday is great. the mid atlantic and new england, sunday looks bad. make plans for saturday. we'll watch the wet weather on saturday that moves into the ohio valley. it looks like a rainout and all the wet weather on sunday is going to move to the east coast. be prepared and make your weekend plans accordingly.

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i will say tim pawlenty has mike huckabee performing at a straw poll concert. >> huckabee is fine. it's music for huckabee. not a great sign for you when your musical entertainment could probably do better than you as a straw poll in iowa. >> well, that is meaningful. >> former arkansas governor mike huckabee he is going to join gospel singer herman cain. >> he'll also perform at rick santorum's tent. >> mike huckabee, i never thought i would have to say this to you, you are a slut. >> 27 past the hour. time now to take a look at the morning papers. we'll start with "the washington

post." wanted, a few thousand huckabee voters. republican candidates are aggressively targeting a network of pastors, parents who home school their children and evangelicals, whichever candidate gains traction with this constituency, could galvanize religious conservatives throughout the country. >> really quickly, is mark to the next paper? we love mike huckabee. he had him on every day. he ran a state and ran it well. i guess the question is why isn't mike huckabee running this year? this is a guy who would be walking away with this, wouldn't he. >> he doesn't want to. >> i think if he had gotten in, he would have been very strong in iowa, very strong with south carolina. strange a guy with that much strength didn't run. now he's looking at a race, two guys in the race that will be

left with a party that dominated by two guys e who he doesn't particularly like. >> there's no do it though the people of iowa love mike huckabee, don't they? these caucus-goers love the guy. >> no question he's got a constituency here. he did pretty well in south carolina last time. he had a lot to build on. the big question, as i said before, can rick perry come in? he's got a great historical relationship with religious leaders, a lot of whom tried to get huckabee in the race. home schoolers, religious conservatives, social conservatives. there's been a vacuum not just for a romney alternative but a strong plausible -- >> if i were mitt romney three years ago i would have tried to make peace with mike huckabee. you and i have been both around politics to know and certainly

the chairman, he's agreeing. when somebody in my party is powerful and they don't like me, i take care of that and i make them like me, if i had to take out their garbage for a couple weeks and mow their lawn and drive their kids around to soccer practice. why hasn't there rift been healed? >> go back to what john whom no wrote in "game-changer." most candidates didn't like romney. they didn't get along with him. they thought he took too many positions that were hypocritical. huk bee was the leader of that group. in the last campaign when he realized he probably wasn't going to be the nominee, he told several of the other candidates, the priority is stopping mitt romney. i think he feels pretty much the same way now as do a lot of other people in the party. >> i understand that.

why wasn't romney -- this isn't about huckabee. it's about romney not reaching out to huckabee over the past four years. do you know if he's tried to heal the wounds? >> as i understand it, there's been indirect contact. i don't know those two men have spoken as a matter of fact. i think they realize it's not one he can win over. romney is still to some extent, even though he's the establishment candidate, still an outsider in the party. he doesn't have the kinds of relationships that george bush or george w. bush had over the years. romney is an island onto himself and doesn't reach out to people where it would be controversial very often. >> that's very troubling because we've been criticizing barack obama around this set for not calling mitch mcconnell over the first two years and having a one-on-one with him over the first two years. it sounds like mitt romney has this blind spot as well.

you said this probably can't be mixed. i tell you what, it sure as hell won't be fixed if you don't have mitt romney ever picking up the phone and saying, hey, let's try this again. there have been a lot of people in politics who hated each other, mika, that ended up being pretty good allies. >> that's usually the best pairing. let's bring in politico's patrick gavin who used to hate cats. he reached out and found his inner feline and now is a big cat man. >> you'll have to help me find emma. i can't find emma. >> what? is your cat gone? >> it's all right. she'll come back. >> how do you lose a cat? >> she just goes. >> let's talk about rick perry's announcement plans this weekend. rick perry is going to run. my only question is will he be carrying a gun and will he shoot it in the air after he announces? >> i can't answer that. but we do have a sneak peek at the speech he'll give in south

carolina. i won't do it in an accent. he's going the say the change we seek will never emanate out of washington. it will come from the wind-swept prairies of middle america, the hearts and minds of god fearing americans who won't be con signed to less freedom and more government. obviously faith and smaller government are things we can expect to hear out of south carolina tomorrow. >> very gutsy move to be in support of the wind-swept plains of america. i was expecting him to trash it. >> you know where change is going to come from? washington. not you yocals. >> it's going to be in the back rooms of washington, d.c., the bars of new york city. patrick, it's a go. this guy is running, huh? >> it is. speeblging about what you guys just talked about, mike huckabee last night is actually

criticizing exactly how rick perry is going about this, saying like it or not, iowa is first, and you have to pay attention to the voters and the system and how important this is for them. for him to launch his campaign on the day of their straw poll, he says the other gop candidates will beat him like a dead horse over this issue, and seeing it as an insult to the voters of iowa. huckabee already dinging the way perry is launching his campaign. >> mark halperin did an interview with rick perry. joe, you might want to listen to him. >> i saw the bush film with josh brolin. i've seen this movie before. go. let's see josh. >> a generation ago republican presidential candidates, president reagan competed coast to coast, new jersey, california, states that have become pretty reliably democratic. >> actually i've had that conversation. i'm enough of a realist to know

that california is a pretty high hurdle for republicans. i think i'm going to go out there and have a story that a lot of people, republicans, maybe even democrats will look at me and say, you know what? that's the type of individual that we can get behind to make america proud of itself again, if you will. i think america is an exceptional country. i think we have a great story to tell. i think the world needs a strong america, both economically and militarily. >> mark halperin, a couple questions for you. first of all, did he actually know that camera was on. >> on your belt? >> this was like a crotch cam.

>> he knew i was wearing the hat cam. no. i was holding my iphone up. not a lot going on in the room. only one other person in there. yeah, he knew. >> tell me about rick perry. what was your impression? >> you know, i've done a lot of reporting on him over the last few months, and particularly in writing this story in "time" this week. there are two things about him that are true. his opponents always underestimate him. they think he's dumb, they think he's not serious, doesn't have broad appeal. >> from here he does seem easy to underestimate, but go ahead. >> oh, joe, come on? >> he also inspires people that run against him, this animus that often overwhelms their sense of how to fight back against him, how to have a strategy to stop him. he's never lost a race and i think he's going to be a pretty pro dij ous fund-raiser coming out of the gate. he brings a lot of strengths to this in a field where there's

right now one strong candidate, mitt romney, as we saw in the debate last night, nobody else in the race right now with the capacity to rip mitt romney's face off on health care and other issues. perry has a history of being able to do that against all sorts of opponents. >> actually, you talk to people from texas that know rick perry, even people that don't like him, they say he's formidable. they say this guy knows what he's doing. >> patrick gavin, when i find him, i'll tweet a picture. >> you can't lose two cats in one month. that's criminal. >> call child welfare. [ male announcer ] want a better way to track what you spend? pnc virtual wallet now comes with spending zone. it organizes all your spending, including your pnc debit card, credit card, and your bills. so you can view them by category... or by month. you can set a budget... and it'll even alert you when you're getting close to the amount you've set -- and when you've gone over. spending zone is built to help you keep better track of your spending.

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welcome back to "morning joe." a live look at times square in new york city. a quick look at the news. uk prime minister says he's considering a ban on social media and blackberry messaging for those suspected of inciting the riots ripping through london. it's all an effort to clear up the riots. cameron is reportedly appointing american bill brat ton to be his top adviser on gang warfare. >> he's so nice. he came to one of our events. >> he's nice unless you're trying to burn down a city. then you don't want to see that guy. >> so happy to have him there. >> you know, they weren't going

to have him, and i guess they've gotten smart over this past week. decided not to use the water pistols. >> bill bratton is in town, i think they'll be good. up next, the must-read opinion pages. >> bill bratton. that's good news. [ female announcer ] this is not a prescription. this is kate. [ kate ] can't believe i have high blood pressure. what's that thing?

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one of the great minds in rock history comes from there. a great line. none of you know it. >> kiss, the guy with the tongue? >> it's cheap trick. talking about chep trick. cheap trick says i got my kiss

records. forget it. why am i talking music on this set. there are a few people out there that know that line. >> there was a band called kiss. >> that's the punch line of the song when cheap trick says he comes home, his parents are smoking pot and having sex on the couch and he says he went to his room and i got my kiss records out. >> that's how you drown it out. you get your kiss record. detroit rock city. never mind. you know what, halperin, i need you and heilemann on the set. you would have gotten it immediately. >> i want you to want me. >> that's another great one, too. wait a minute. i actually agree for one slight second, paul krugman, on what he says.

>> breaking news. >> this is breaking news. i'm going to agree with him on short-term fixes. he will never agree with me on long-term fixes. >> say it again without being like the fonz. >> i'm not going to say it again. i said it once. >> krugman, the fact is right now the economy desperately needs a short-run fix. when you're bleeding profusely from an open wound you want a doctor who binds that wound up, not a doctor who lectures you on the importance of maintaining a healthy lifestyle as you get older. when millions of willing and able workers are unemployed and economic potential is going to waste of almost a trillion a year. you want policymakers who work on a fast recovery, not people who lecture you on the need for long-run fiscal sustainability. >> i agree with him in the short run. but if a guy has lung cancer and you're taking the cancer out, you don't see keep smoking. you say, i'm going to take this cancer out -- krugman never

talks about long-term fixes. >> we're not even there. >> we do need a short-term fix. we can do two things at once. >> we can. a few things. one is what i think is so fascinating is i think it's a huge political blind spot for the republican field. when i was watching romney yesterday in the iowa campaign event, whoever gets the republican nomination, their best campaign is jobs, jobs, unemployed, unemployed, jobs, jobs, jobs. yet what's going to happen is they're going to talk about entitlement cuts, cutting medicare, long-term fiscal sustainability because, a, that's what they'd logically believe in, b, that's what the republican primary voters want to hear. that's not what the general electorate is concerned about right now. >> i disagree. if you look -- a cnn poll last week, something like 65% of americans believe this debt ceiling deal didn't cut enough. i think you've got to talk jobs. but i also think you need to talk about long-term debt if you're one of the voters.

>> i think it's very easy to get distracted. if you said here is a million dollars, go do an ad buy. if i was consulting mitt romney i would put a million dollars into just hammering on jobs. >> that's what romney does every day. >> romney does employment ads all the time, right? >> right. >> we'll get to krauthammer later. >> i want to get krauthammer in. >> i want to get david axelrod. >> here is what charles ca krauthammer says. the system works, the conventional complaint is that the process was ugly. big deal. you want beauty? go to a museum -- and get off my lawn. i love him. >> is he holding a gun. >> democratic politics was never meant to be an exercise in aesthetics, not just ugly, moan the critics, but oh so slow. true again. without this long ugly process the debt issue wouldn't even be

on the table. we'd still be whistling our way to greece. instead a nation staring at insolvency is steering itself to action and not without spirited opposition. great issues are being decided, constitutionally designed. the process is working. i love clarls kraut hammer. >> live from iowa, david axelrod and willy's week in review. >> this is kiss by the way. every day, all around the world, energy is being produced to power our lives. while energy developement comes with some risk, north america's natural gas producers are committed to safely and responsibly providing decades of cleaner burning energy for our country, drilling thousands of feet below fresh water sources within self contained well systems and using state of the art monitoring technologies, rigorous practices help ensure our operations are safe and clean for our communities and the environment we are america's natural gas.

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we don't have willie here today, but we do have his week in review. what are you doing? >> i was going to throw it at you. >> some people look at this picture and think michele bachmann looks crazy. >> at number three, ready for her extreme close-up. >> the intensity in her eyes is in all the photographs. this is what's connecting with people. >> as the republican presidential field campaigned and debated its way around iowa, michele bachmann got the news she made the cover of tina brown's "newsweek" magazine. >> a wild-eyed photo with the headline "the queen of rage." >> we'll have to take a look at that, won't they. >> critics range from bachmann conservative reporters to the national organization for women to jon stewart. >> you use that photo in a petty

attempt to make michele bachmann looks crazy, and that's what her words are for. >> if bachmann was bothered by the "newsweek" cover, she sure didn't show it this week. frankly she was too busy planning a carnival. >> come from 9:00 to 5:00, air conditioned tent, chairs, country legend superstar randy travis live, also a petting zoo for the kids. >> as number two, nfl star seeks roommate. >> i'm going to do something different. i'm actually going to stay with a fan, probably the first two, three weeks of the season. >> chad ochocinco, the new england patriots brand new receiver who three years ago changed his last name to match the numbers on his jersey announced this week he'll get to know the boston area by bunking up with a fan of the team. >> that should be fun until i get myself acclimated, learn my way around and find a place.

>> ochocinco has only a couple requirements. he needs a web connection and a good place to play madden nfl '12. >> they have to have internet, they have to have xbox. that's about it. >> the number one story of the week. >> deadliest day in afghanistan. >> people in london stunned by violet riots rocking the city. >> wall set to weigh in on the first ever downgrade. >> president obama tried this week to calm an anxious nation in the midst of a storm of bad news. >> we've always been and always will be an aaa country. >> others were less san ginn about the state of affairs. >> we're sitting here arguing about whether we should do the $4 trillion plan that kicks the can down the road for 2017 or burn the place to the ground. both of which are reckless, irresponsible and stupid.

>> don't panic! everything is fine. but do not pull your money out of the stock market just yet. >> so pretty darn [ bleep ]. >> as republicans blame the president -- >> i'm not going to eat barack obama's dog food. what he served up is not what i would have done if i had been president of the united states. >> democrats shot the messenger of doom. >> i said people shouldn't pay attention to standard and poor's. >> they made a $2 trillion math error and forgot to check their work. >> i believe this is without question the tea party downgrade. >> the only like this week at the end of a long dark tunnel, the carnival michele bachmann is throwing sounds like a hoot. >> come from 9:00 to 5:00. we've got chairs. air conditioning. we have country legend music superstar randy travis. we'll also have a petting zoo for the kids. >> a petting zoo. chuck todd, sam stein and daifld axelrod ahead on "morning joe."

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welcome to better trade commission free for 60 days when you open an account. when i was at bank capital, we invested in about 100 different companies. not all of them work. some on wall street think if you invest in a business it's going to go well. it doesn't always go well. i'm proud of the fact that i learned how we can be successful at enterprise, we we lose jobs

and how regain jobs. in the hundreds of businesses we invested in, tens of thousands of jobs, net-net, were created. i understand how the economy works. >> how do you respond to people who say your campaign has been a mess so far? >> let me say first of all, chris that i took seriously brett's injunction of putting aside the talking points. i'd love to see the rest of tonight's debate asking us about what we would do to lead an america whose president has failed to lead instead of playing mickey mouse games. >> if you think questions about your records are mickey mouse, i'm sorry. i think those are questions a lot of people want to hear answers to and you're responsible for your record, sir. >> there is that. welcome back to "morning joe." wow, great shot over new york city. so cool. jonathan capehart still with us. michael steele, chris hayes still with us, along with mark halperin in iowa. joining us from washington,

political writer for the "huffington post," sam stein. >> i just want to say -- i think maybe we're alone here, michael steele. we are totally alone, mika says. i can say this because i've been critical of newt. i thought newt did pretty well last night. >> i thought newt did very well last night. much to the chagrin of a lot of folks, i thought he stepped up his game. he gained the most of all the candidates on the stage last night because he substantively put some things out there to debate -- >> newt wasn't like playing newt trying to be presidential candidate with a goofy smile. newt was himself. >> he wasn't the professor. >> he wasn't a professor. anyway, i think we're alone on that. i want to say, though -- did you think pawlenty did well? >> i did. >> we're alone on that, too.

>> i thought he was his best when he wasn't engaging michele bachmann, frankly. >> the headline, mark halperin, mitt romney, a lot of don't like him, so do. head and shoulders -- it's what buchanan calls as a political athlete head and shoulders above everybody else out there, he's improved so much in the past four years. >> you talk to anybody who has been involved in presidential politics regardless of party, they'll tell you it is a huge advantage for having run before. republicans tend to nominate the person whose turn it is. that's somewhat of sort of the culture of the party, but also related to the fact that the person whose turn it is is generally someone who has run before and has the sense solve how to be apartment candidate. you see on that stage last night with romney, a bunch of people including newt gingrich who i think clearly did better than in the previous two debates, they're experienced politicians.

they played on a national stage. there ain't nothing like running for president with all the complexities, all the indignities, all the pressures and romney is unambiguously better than he was four years ago. he still makes mistakes an has vulnerabilities. but he is better. >> the panel wants to ask you questions, but first to washington. >> to sam, i take issue with what you said, a lot of people don't like him. i think everybody likes mitt romney. i think he's a genuinely likable guy. of all the candidates, he's completely -- >> mike huckabee doesn't like him. there are people that don't like him. >> oh, come on. >> the establishment is not crazy about him. >> i think the problem is there isn't an excitement level. wouldn't people just roll out the red carpet and start running around and jumping for joy --

>> i don't know. maybe. >> not you. >> i feel like it's sort of crowded already. maybe chris chris stay could get people jumping for joy. your mitt romney point, i hate to say, is just not true. i talk to a lot of republicans who really don't like the guy and think he's a total phony, but i will say to his credit like everyone else on the panel said, he's gotten much better on the stump. i know he had a slip up yesterday, rhetorical one about calling corporations people. but beyond that, i thought he did actually very well, both in the debate and at the iowa state fair. he's a lot more come forptdable in his skin and a lot smoother. >> my one note for mitt romney is to ditch the john mccain's my friends school of rhetorical conversation, that would be mayo oh if i were consulting. romney clearly is coming to me for advice. >> you're a lawyer, right?

>> that's the first thing they teach you in law school. >> that was a reflexive response there. >> you guys had questions for mark. >> i did. mark, i appreciate your point about romney and i agree with you. i think he's better the second time around. how has his campaign or how is his campaign preparing for the eventual entry of perry this weekend? how do they see that longer term? unlike the others last night who didn't come after him, perry is not going to be polite about going up against mitt romney. >> you know, my sense is from talking to a range of people around romney, they may not be taking perry seriously enough. that's, as i said before, one of the problems people have had going up against rick perry. they underestimate him, they don't take him seriously. they believe the party will not turn to a southerner, will not turn to someone whose social positions will cut off from their point of view the chance to win votes against barack obama. look, i think there's a lot of

complexity. a lot of moving pieces. to me this nomination fight and the general election is about can someone make a compelling case about how to create jobs. you showed the clip of romney talking about how he's created jobs, how he knows how to create jobs, despite blemishes in his record, both in his job and the private sector. they'll make the case rick perry's incredible record of job creation as governor of texas is a marriage. you talk to the perry people, romney says his people have already done a fair amount of opposition research on perry. they're prepared to make the case that perry's ability to brag about his job record is inauthent inauthentic. i think you can make a list of a lot of flaws about rick perry, but he didn't pass a health care law in his state that a lot of people in the party aren't going to like. i think the romney people are underestimating the degree to which perry can and will make the case against romney. that is, as bill clinton would

say, a big deal. >> jonathan capehart. >> the one person we haven't talked about at all, is jon huntsman. there was a lot of excitement about jon huntsman when he got into the race. was he even there? >> he was there. you look at the winners and losers of the debate, he wasn't mentioned. he doesn't allow the kind of personality that will allow him to stand out and make a big explosive first impression, particularly on a stage with eight people where he's going to talk only spore radically. i thought he was fine. i think joe said he seemed nervous. that was his first debate. if you thought he needed a break-through moment in this debate, that didn't happen. >> is this about 2016? >> there's a lot of suspicion about that. it may morph into that. i've got to tell you, this is a point that one of romney's associates made last night to me. if you're going to run for the

next cycle, you got to do well. if you run and have an experience like a chris dodd or elizabeth doll, it doesn't set you up for the next cycle. quite the contrary. if he's running for 16, he better do a lot better going forward than he is. i still think there's a path for him. not a great one right now. he needs to perform better. new hampshire is still a question mark. both michele bachmann and rick perry may end up not being great new hampshire candidates. it still could be huntsman if he's able to focus on that state and appeal to the independents who can vote there. he has to step up more than he did last night. >> sam stein, let me ask you general impressions about the debate. i went on a tear the last hour about michele bachmann. a lot of people saying that michele bachmann was a winner along with mitt romney last night. how do you think bachmann went? >> i saw the tear wu went on and i agreed with him about 100%.

michele bachmann is taylor made for the iowa caucus scene. the light bulb free dof of choice act, whatever that is, is not a national platform. it suits her well for iowa and for this situation. i don't see how it translates further than that. i think in some ways it was a nice delicious political circus that we could all sort of watch and sit back and have a few laughs, but all in all that suits mitt romney pretty well. he did come off very much like the grown-up candidate, like a presidential candidate through it all. no one actually went after mitt romney which was kind of bizarre. even the moderators sort of left him alone. >> it is bizarre. i want to roll some tape and get impression, michele bachmann and tim pawlenty continuing their fighting, arguing over tax hikes on cigarettes. watch this and then let's talk about it. >> congresswoman bachmann didn't vote for that bill because of

stripping away a pro life protection. she voted for it and is creating that as the excuse. nonetheless, she speaks of leading these efforts in washington and minnesota, leading and failing is not the objective. leading and getting results is the objective. i've got the best record of results of any candidate in this race. >> this is exactly what i'm trying to illustrate. we need to have a president of the united states who stands firm on their convictions. this is what i have demonstrated for every day that i have been in congress. i have a consistent record of standing on my convictions. i didn't cut deals with special interesting where you put the pro life issue together with tax increase issues. that's a fundamental -- it's a nonnegotiable. >> her answer is illogical. if there were two bad things, a tax increase, and stripping away pro life predictions, which we weren't, it's a double reason to vote against it. she voted for that. >> i need to respond to that.

i need to respond to that. the if a member cast a vote one way, they would be increasing the cigarette tax. if they cast a vote the other way, they wouldn't be voting for the pro life protection. it is a choice. the governor put us in that box and i chose to protect human life. >> as the governor said later on, sam stein, there were two supposed poison pills in there, so you would want to vote against it. again, it made no sense and yet i guess michele bachmann gets away with it. >> she's been an incredibly tough on a lot of this stuff. we did a piece earlier in the week on michele bachmann with three freedom of information requests. this is a woman railing against the stimulus who said the epa should be eliminated. she requested a lot of money from both those agencies. she's often said one thing and done the other. she gets away with it. she's a teflon candidate.

>> there was a moment we haven't talked about that was extremely illuminating, the moment -- i think it was wallace or bear said would you take a deal that was $10 in cuts to $1 of taxes? unanimously the agreement was no. the thing i want to make the point here, whatever you want to say about the republican field, they do not care about the deficit. they can say they care about the deficit, but they do not. if they did, anyone who cared about the deficit would have to take that? >> pastor hayes, if you can get off your pulpit for a second, i guarantee you, if you ask ten democratic candidates in any democratic primary in america, would you cut medicare? if you've got a 10 to 1 and the one was 1% savings in medicare, not one of them on the stage in a democratic primary in a liberal state would take that, not one of them. >> first of all, i don't think

that's true. >> come on. >> i want to anchor this discussion. let's anchor this discussion. the president's proposal, the president of the united states, the democratic president of the united states's proposal was $3 in spending cuts for $1 in taxes. that's already 75% on your side of the table, on your side of the table. >> not on my side of the table. i'm an american. i supported the three-to-one deal, four-to-one deal. don't say on my side of the table. barack obama, when he was in never never land and running, he voted against raising the debt ceiling. all i'm saying is you cannot say the entire republican party is this stupid. >> i said the field. i said the field. >> but you're saying this side. this is indicative of how silly people are when they're in primary debates. listen, i choked. i was eating last night, had a little bourbon. i spit it out. ten to one, that's so insane.

these debates bring out the silly side of so many candidates. i'd take four to one in a second. i'd take three to one in a second. >> joining us from des moines, iowa senior political strategist for president obama's re-election campaign, david axelrod. david, i bet you loved the fact that we're all gop debate today which i want to ask you about. >> no, we have to start with the debate. i want to start with the debate. david, what do you think with the debate? >> steamroller. >> you guys landed on the discussion that i thought was most illuminating thing. that ten-to-one thing was stunning. basically they were pledging allegiance to the tea party instead of resolving this problem, and i sat there thinking, whatever happened to the scarborough republicans?

>> there you go. you know it's just like when you praise mitt romney forgiving you the idea for health care reform, you just stuck it in my back. so that was a stunning moment. no doubt about it. what did you think of mitt romney? he's a guy you're focusing on a good bit. were there any moments that you guys are going to try to underline on what mitt said last night? >> well, obviously that was part of it. i could go on for some time. i thought it was odd -- >> go on. >> i thought it was odd he invoked the tenth amendment in explaining why it was okay that he supported a health care plan that was in many ways identical to ours and then called for a federal marriage amendment to determine how we deal with marriage, rather than leaving that to the states as has been the case throughout history.

>> david, i found through the years that republicans use the tenth amendment in a most selective way at times. for some reason, they don't want the federal government to tell you about health care, but some want to have the federal government tell states how to deal with marriage, abortion, et cetera, et cetera. but go ahead, i digress. >> romney said, well, i have a real world experience in the economy, and that will inform my ability to move this economy forward. he had that real world experience when he was governor of massachusetts and massachusetts underperformed the nation, 47th in job creation. he said he cut his budget every year he was governor. the fact is he raised spending every year but one. he said he didn't raise taxes. he went to s&p and boasted about raising taxes. in fact, they raised fees which essentially are taxes, $700 million a year when he was governor.

>> no. >> by the way, the no was the former chairman of the republican party was about to jump on you. mika said no. >> are you done with the softballs? are you done with the softballs? >> i'm not throwing him softball. we've been beating up the president for a couple weeks. it's his time -- >> wait, wait, wait. mika, one last point that ought to be made. the most interesting thing mitt romney said yesterday wasn't in the debate. it was earlier in the day at the iowa state fair where in answer to why he wouldn't do anything on the revenue side in terms of shoring up social security and medicare and someone suggested why can't we close some of these corporate loopholes. he said corporations are people, too, my friend. that was an odd statement. >> i actually have a bummer sticker on the back of my bentley that says corporations are people, too. >> take a corporation to lunch today, joe. >> exactly. take your corporation to work

with you. i do it once a week. >> david, if you could now -- if we could turn to president obama, and i would just like to ask you, first of all, how you think things are going, especially inside the white house? there are those saying, many on the set, he played the debt deal thing terribly, he wasn't strong enough. he didn't negotiate fiercely. >> why are you so negative? >> do insiders in the white house see it the same way? >> well, i don't think insiders in the white house do and people who look at it objectively shouldn't. the fact is the president made a really, i thought courageous good faith effort to deal with this deficit and debt issue in a significant, meaningful way and was willing to -- he was willing to put sacred cows on his -- his sacred cows up in the discussion. he asked that we have a fair and balanced deal and that revenues be in as well and we ought to be

willing to ask the wealthiest americans to take some responsibility, that we ought to be able to close some of these corporate loopholes and he thought that we had a willing partner on the other side, and it collapsed at the end. i don't think he should be faulted for making the effort. that's what the american people elected him to do. the fact it didn't turn out as we would have liked it to turn out is very -- the reason for that is well documented. you had a very, very strident group in the republican party that simply wouldn't am lau a balanced approach that would cut what we don't need and make room for the things we did and would be fair to the american people. >> david, we have your good friend mark halperin in iowa, hanging out at java joe's. he's got a question for you. mark? >> david, good morning. the president gave a really interesting speech in michigan yesterday, said a bunch of stuff, including addressing the fact that some people said he

should call congress back. the president said we don't need congress back. that wouldn't solve our problem. we need to be out listening to people. >> after the president spends time listening and gez on vacation, doesn't he think congress working with the executive branch is going to be the solution to the jobs problem or does he think it should all be dealt with by the states? >> what we know is that the american people are outraged about what they saw. congress's ratings and particularly the republicans in congress are at historic laws. why? because people are struggling in this economy. they want action. they want congress to act, not act out. it's important they talk to their constituents, let them marinate a little in this public mood. i think if they do they may come back in a much more cooperative spirit. the president is going to challenge them to move forward on a series of steps that can accelerate economic growth and jobs in the short run and challenge them to come to a balanced and fair approach to

our debt in the mid and long-term. hopefully they will come back in a mood to cooperate and work together in good faith and not obstruct, because the country is looking forl action, not for theater. >> michael steele is with us. he looks as if he's about to spontaneously come bust. >> good morning. i'll get back in my skin long enough to ask you this question. i appreciate the talking points on mitt romney that came out earlier this week. i know the president has, going back toot least january -- >> which ones. >> exactly. that's what i want to get to. >> dlr a lot of questions there. >> the president has made it very clear he want to 'em vaet the rhetoric. do you think taking it to the level of referring to romney or any of the republican candidates "weird," is that more personal or is that more a reality in

terms of an issue you want to talk about? how do you guys plan to really define this discussion if the team is already throwing out stuff, we want to show america he's weird. how about we just speak to the issues? >> michael, lets you and i make common cause right now. no one on my team believes that. and anyone who purports to be a source within the obama camp who used that term and some of the other terms that were in that story according to unnamed sources should be ripped out of whoever's rolodex considers them sources. that doesn't reflect our thinking. we have real legit mat differences with mitt romney, some of which i just spoke about. we think that -- we don't think, for example, he landed on the last -- said he wouldn't pass the debt deal. in other words, he would have allowed the country to default.

>> some say that story is not true. >> he has endorsed the house budget and the house cut, cap and balance plan that would devastate social security. >> i want to ask -- >> from the wealthy and corporations. >> we got it. again, this is the news here. that politico story that said that the obama campaign said they wanted to, quote, kill mitt romney, that you were going to trash him, that you were going to make him look strange, that you were going to make fun of his tight jeans which i think are kind of sexy, all that is garbage, right? are you saying that story is false? >> yes, i think -- all of it is garbage. i'm still trying to get my mind around your fascination with his jean jeans. all of that is garbage. >> if the president found out or you found out or the chief of staff found out that somebody

working for president obama was trying to take that tact, would you all fire them? >> i would -- if someone used words like weird, i would certainly do that, yes. i thought that was totally inappropriate. look, we have legitimate differences are mitt romney. his approach -- he boasts of his record as a businessman, i think that bears scrutiny about whether he was a job creator or job destroyer. we'll have that debate. but it is not right to engage in personal gratuitous attacks. we're not going to do that. >> david, let me just say -- maybe i over spoke a little bit about mitt's jeans. >> they're mom jeans. >> i don't know who put paddles on him before he left the white house. he's tan, rested, thin. he's lost weight. >> how is susan doing? >> is susan doing well? >> tell susan we're doing the

event with her. thank you very much, david axelrod. >> great seeing you again. coming up, fresh off his victory in wisconsin's recall elections. governor scott walker will be here. up next, nbc chief white house correspondent chuck todd. >> chuck is looking good, too. >> you're watching "morning joe," brewed by starbucks. i love that my daughter's part fish.

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where is barack obama on these issues? you can't find his plans on some of the most pressing financial issues of our country. for example, where is barack obama's plan on social security reform, medicare reform, medicaid reform? in fact, i'll offer a prize tonight to anybody in this auditorium or anyone watching on television, if you can find barack obama's specific plan on any of those items, i will come to your house and cook you dinner. [ cheers and applause ] >> what do you think of that?

>> or, if you prefer, i'll come to your house and mow your lawn. but in case mitt wins, i'm limited to one acre. >> with us from des moines, iowa, nbc news chief white house correspondent and political director and host of "the daily rundown," chuck todd. these things are so fascinating, everybody looks at them and has a different idea. you followed all these candidates very closely. i'm curious what was your personal take last night as you watched the candidates? who seemed to shine? who seemed to mess up? >> well, the guy who shined ended up being newt gingrich, right? it felt like -- remember back in '07 we'd see the debates and go, i guess joe biden won the debate. then everyone said, wait, he's got no chance. let's go back to figuring out who won between clinton, obama and edwards at the time. if you want to go on that form, i'd say grinning rich had a

great night for newt gingrich. there was more good newt moments than bad newt moments. he's not viable, not a factor, not taken seriously out here among iowa republicans. dismiss that for a second, and i guess it's a cheap cliche to say this, you got to say rick perry has got to feel pretty good about last night. the more i think about it and digest the debate from last night, i'm thinking i bet you i can't find a republican strategist who is not affiliated with one of these campaigns who thinks last night was a good night for the republican party. how did they advance their cause of making the case against president obama? i felt like you could see how it was beginning -- yes, this is what happens in primary debates. you made a great point about the ten-to-one deal. you say things in primary debates that once you're in office, you'd never actually dismiss something like that. they're in the middle of this primary.

iowa republicans are very conservative. this is going off in a direction that's probably not good for the republican party in the next six months. >> speaking of not good for the republican party, certainly the general election, some people are saying michele bachmann had a good night. i said earlier referencing michele bachmann's claim that she wishes the federal government defaulted last week that she was a, quote, joke. i don't mean that personally to her. i don't even mean that as a congresswoman from the state of minnesota. but as a general election candidate, make no mistake. anybody who thinks that she will win a general election, i think that is a joke. and yet a lot of people are saying she did well last night. i didn't see it. what anti you? >> it's funny you say that. you watch a football game, joe, and you sit there and say, well, that team won, but boy did i see a whole bunch of vulnerabilities

in her. watching the pawlenty-backman exchange, the first thing i thought of is pawlenty is sort of like the guy that jumped on the grenade. he exposed why i think the mainstream republican business community will rally against bachmann if somehow she seems viable going in the end. >> chuck, that's a great point. >> by the way, she doubled down on it. >> i'm sorry to overstep you. we've got a delay here. you know what? you're exactly -- that's exactly what i thought. first of all, when she says she wishes the federal government would have defaulted, the united states of america would have defaulted last night. i thought every mainstream republican said, okay, i'm not voting for her. the back and forth with pawlenty, maybe some pundits was saying that was bad for pawlenty. what i say was michele bachmann,

looking like a deer staring straight into headlights, maybe for the base it doesn't matter. form mainstream voteers and people who will fund this campaign, she didn't look like she was ready for prime time. >> joe, remember how chris dodd basically was the person that went after hillary clinton and almost plowed the field, if you will, for barack obama in those early debates when obama didn't want to engage her. so dodd went ahead and did it. maybe it wasn't his intention at the time to be the guy that helped knock clinton out, but he ended up doing that. pawlenty in three months -- we may look back at this. pawlenty might not even be a candidate in three months. he showed the blueprint in going after her. when one of her three big accomplishments is the light bulb bill. >> oh, my lord. >> -- i thought that was -- again, you're right.

in the moment you're like bachmann survived this, gave as good as she got. she did hit pawlenty pretty hard. but the light bulb bill? if you're rick perry and mitt romney, you know how to defeat her once you get to new hampshire. >> michael steele may be right, it might have played to the base. if i'm rick perry, i've got somebody talking about introducing a light bulb bill while i can argue about creating more jobs than anyone in america? how are folks at java joes. >> they want you here. you got to get here for the caucuses. >> we will be here. >> java joe's, "morning joe," it was a match made in heaven. >> all right. looking forward to talking to you next week. football season starting soon. go canes. >> thank you, chuck.

>> roll tide. hundreds charged in the riots that swept england. the latest from "new york times'" john burns. keep it right here on "morning joe." we'll be right back. [ woman ] jogging stroller. you've been stuck in the garage while i took refuge from the pollen that made me sneeze. but with 24-hour zyrtec®, i get prescription strength relief from my worst allergy symptoms. so lily and i are back on the road again. with zyrtec® i can love the air®. over a million people have discovered how easy it is to use legalzoom for important legal documents.

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it took five days to go to rubber bullets? >> do they have police

departments over there? they need bill bratton or john tim any. >> they do. seriously this would last for about half an hour. >> so they're getting bill bratton. >> joining us via skype from cambridge, england, "new york times" london bureau chief, john burns. thanks very much for being on the show. first of all, what is the latest in terms of your reporting and watching this story unfold in terms of the riots? have they quelled significantly? >> there's at least a temporary lull which is about 48 hours long. it's beginning to look as though this thing has subsided in effect. we're now into a different kind of battle which is a political battle which is shaping up into something of a dispute between the police and the government, with both sides taking ownership of parts of this that they want

to take credit for and disowning the parts of it that they don't. we've had this morning one of the country's top police officers saying the decisions -- the crucial decisions were all made by the police, where the cameron government, in the shape of mr. cameron himself and his home secretary who las responsibility for the police saying in effect, when they took over it was about three days into this, that's when things began to improve. it's a scrap. it's not very pleasant to watch. >> john, is there any suggestion that there were political motivations to these riots as they moved beyond the initial stages? or was it just pure thuggery and, as the old song goes, anarchy in the u.k.? >> well, i have to say it looked like pure thuggery. that's not to say when you ask if it was political, i don't think it was specifically targeted. i don't think there was any --

it was much more in kuwait than that. there's deep sense of alienation in these poor neighborhoods, racial alienation, class alienation and joblessness. that is obviously, as it has been in the united states when you have trouble with this, a major factor. what it descended into was mass thievery, criminality, brutality and there was some, as you know, extremely unpleasant incidents, things mr. cameron described as sick. >> jonathan capehart is here. jonathan? >> john, prime minister cameron appointed bill bratton to be his adviser. how is that going over in london? what's the reaction to that? >> that's an extraordinary thing. i think many americans, when they think of scotland yard,

they think of the best in policing. scotland yard has taken a tremendous battering in recent years, incompetence, corruption, every bad thing that can come down the pike. mr. cameron is very keen on mr. bratton and specifically wanted him as the new head of scotland yard. that's a vacant post at the moment which hasn't helped. >> that rumor was true then. >> that is absolutely fascinating. john, it's great to see you again. you're looking very relaxed via skype. >> we ought to do this more often. >> i wouldn't say relaxed has been the mode of the last few days, not just as a reporter but as a citizen of this country, terribly distressing. >> i'm sure it has been. we're sorry and glad things are calming down a bit. thanks for being with us. >> john burns. >> always a pleasure. his party narrowly survived a recall.

wisconsin governor scott walker will be here. more "morning joe" when we come back.

the national news media is descending on iowa this weekend which can mean only one thing. >> sarah palin is heading back to iowa. the former alaska governor announced she's taking her bus tour to the state fair, just 30 miles south of where the republican national debate will be held tonight. >> well, that's a happy coincidence. after a brief two-month pit stop, sarah palin is bringing her bus tour of historic places to the historic state fair where thomas edison invented the funnel cake. this is the same kind of coincidence that took her bus

tour to new hampshire. apparently sarah palin's signal of the bat signal is anyone else's spotlight. folks, don't be surprised if during tonight's debate you see this. >> that's pretty funny. 49 past the hour. welcome back to "morning joe." are you okay there? >> we're talking about new york city and what bill bratton did in the remarkable change from the early '70s to early '98. >> i lived in new york from '91 to 2007. i was held up at gunpoint on the subway before giuliani was elected. he was elected in '93. by the time re-election happened in '97, there was a massive shift in the fear of crime, in crime itself and, of course, as

we know, giuliani was reelected by the widest margin ever in new york city history. >> mark halperin, we're talking about bill bratton and the remarkable change he brought about and how fascinating that cameron is talking about putting an american in charge of scotland yard. that's not going to happen. it's one of the great miracles i think of sort of urban city management, what bratton, giuliani and a lot of good people did, the new york police force did over three, four years. >> he likes challenges. this would be a challenge. do it in another country to do the community policing and other methods he did so effectively in new york. >> sam stein, what are you working on this weekend for "the washington post"?

>> i'm working on my vacation. >> you're not alone. >> going to go check out woodstock. >> have you ever been up there? >> i love it, yes. got married there. >> we were raving about it in the winter. i heard it's even more gorgeous in the summer. >> we have a bunch of reporters fanning out. obviously right now all about the trail. i saw the president's speech yesterday. that was probably the most 2012th centric speech, i think the white house is getting more political and i think you'll start seeing more fist to cuffs going forward. >> mark halperin, were you surprised that david axelrod basically discounted the entire politico article? did politico get that completely

wrong? >> about taking down mitt romney. >> you were pushing him particularly on the question of whether they would tolerate it. i think that story they did think was unfortunate. i have confidence in our colleagues at politico that they were talking to people of at least some standing, in some cases significant standing within that circle. that is not a good story for the campaign. the senior people in the campaign were very unhappy with it. your question puts him in a brit of a box. there's no question if romney is an employee, you'll be demanding people's resignations. >> series of first. >> sam stein, thank you very much. have a great vacation. >> sam, i might be going to fenway, baby. i'll call you. >> we'll meet, yes. >> more "morning joe" in just a moment.meet. more "morning joe" in just a moment. i have astigmatism.

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looking ahead to monday, scott walker, ahead. >> fascinating. much more on last night's republican debate. that's next on "morning joe." every day, all around the world,

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it's an undisputable fact that in congress her record of accomplishment and results is non-existence. >> you said the era-of-small government was over. that sounds a lot more like barack obama, if you ask me. >> she fought for, less government spending. we got a lot more. she led the effort ghent obamacare, we got obamacare, led the effort against t.a.r.p., we got t.a.r.p. it's not her spine we're worried

about, it's her record of results. if that's your view of effective leadership with results, please, stop, because you're killing us. >> i was at the tip of the spear fighting against the implementation of obamacare in the united states congress. nancy pelosi, harry reid and barack obama ran congress, but i gave them a run for their money. i was effectively taking them on on nearly every argument they put forward. i fought -- when others ran i fought. >> good friday morning. it's 8:00 on the east coast as you take a live look at manhattan, welcome back to "morning joe" and back with us on set, michael steele, jonathan kayhart still here and mark halperin in iowa. >> give us your scorecard, mark. >> it means he's really -- >> oh -- people around me. >> the ear piece is black. >> java joe's is really where "morning joe" started. give us your scorecard. >> two candidates head and shoulders above everybody else.

mitt romney and michele bachmann, and overall performance of the others in a ragged two hours, i don't think, changed very much, but mitt romney did a great job and got pretty lucky. you think a guy who's that big of a front-runner would have been the main target. as you saw in the opening clips it wale ras michele bachmann and tim pawlenty going back and forth, pawlenty, it's hard to judge who had the better of exchanges between them. if he leaves the race because of weak performance at a saw it poll he can be comfortable we went out fighting. tough on bachmann, drove a strong message against her, the arguments making out on the stump behind her back, she's not strong enough, her record of accomplishment. jon huntsman did not stand out. he acted like he always acts. he was calm and cautious, and tried to be rearssuring and the other kpds had moments but nobody really breaking through

and mitt romney, every moment that goes by he's not taking down, and people barely reaching out to the go after the front run zer a good day for him. of course, we've got rick perry and maybe sarah palin now. two people who weren't on the stage potentially coming in and potentially giving romney a tougher time than anybody on that stage last night. >> the question, the former chairman of the republican party, michael steele, great last night i. take a little exception with analysis. certainly bachmann and romney did what they had to do. pawlenty's not going anywhere. he's staying in this thing as long as he can. everyone on that stage is going to be in this race. this does not make or break your presidential campaign. it's a straw poll, folks. it's a debate in august. okay? can we really get serious here and stop trying to push people in and push people out. let the thing unfold. >> it's a chance to get a look at them. >> a chance to get a look at

them and a difference what you hear from the professional middle class and the people last night on twitter and so forth who thought newt gingrich did phenomenally well. he planted a flag last night, handled himself well in many respects substantively as well as pushing back on the whole idea we're going to come together and not do the talking points in the first line of questions right out of the talking point box. a number of -- i think huntsman fell a little short. >> sounds like you agree with mark halperin, when you take exception, did you grade anybody -- >> no. i was looking at the grading in terms of how people lined up. i thought newt did a solid performance last night. in fact, if i had to pick a winner i would give him that, because the expectation was so low in that. >> chris hayes? >> the most striking thing, substantive unanimity onstage. you would think there's was a

space to say i'm going to plant a flag as a moderate in this, because i'm not going to be able to get to the right of michele bachmann. >> is that what jon huntsman was doing? >> i thought he would do that more force fully because that's his only hope. right? a lot of not just registered republicans and i thought he shied away from doing that. in a few answers he did but could have been much more forceful. if that's your hope, then be the moderate in the race. >> was there a standout for you last night? ideology aside? >> you mean performance? >> yeah, performance which actually -- guess what? america, it matters. okay? it matters. >> mitt romney, what stood out to me was sort of a contrast between the tape earlier in the day of mitt romney talking unscripted with people and going back and forth with hecklers and him at the debate, because he is a much better, far more accomplished, far more comfortable in these kind of set piece moments and looks

profoundly president. he looks like a genuine president. when he's in unscripted moments, he looks completely uncomfortable and totally off his game, and -- >> i get the ideology. you're exactly right. he looks presidential. he looks like he could stand next to president obama end of the day. what about you? how do you feel? >> well, you know, just to be honest, i was asleep, because i was doing a -- >> we got the transcript. >> we'll show you right now. and i'm not sure we're going to completely agree on bachmann and pawlenty when they sort of went after each other, who helped themselves more. i actually think pawlenty did not help himself. >> see, we disagree. and i may be completely wrong and maybe it's because i'm judging michele bachmann. >> it's -- >> maybe it's because i'm actually judging michele bachmann by what she said. >> right. >> but i think tim pawlenty got

the much better -- >> and talking about rick, it melt -- it also felt overly scripted. he brought -- >> he planned it. >> they had, in the boiler room they had written his oneliners out and he was coming out at dropping them. >> i got to tell you, i thought romney had a great night for the reasons already said. he looked presidential and they didn't lay a glove on him i. would have gone after him. >> whether he's slick, whether he's whatever, he looked, sounded, walked, talked, like a president, a presidential candidate. i thought he did well. >> he did. i mean, that's the part that's most amazing. here's the guy who's really got the mojo and no one went after him, and then -- perry on top of this thing, this weekend what do you do? >> let's show jonathan what happened last night. >> first of all -- >> to challenge him, though.

>> give the analysis. >> michele and tim, mitt romney is so far ahead, that they're competing for second. and i think that's why -- ity see that clip. that's why i think tim pawlenty went after michele bachmann and went after her hard, to try to take her down. >> and i think pawlenty is waging a losing rhetorical battle, which is basically, you may like michele bachmann as the tribune of your belief system, but she doesn't have a substantive record. the voters votes for michele bachmann don't care. guess what. >> i thought romney did well and i do think, actually, newt had a good night. really tough on newt. >> interesting. >> had a good night. actually had the audience at one point booing fox news, in his favor, actually booing chris wallace. one of the easier people to boo. huntsman, his voice was shaking. did anybody notice huntsman sounded nervous while he was talking. i didn't get it, but i want to

say, my big takeaway last night, to have somebody like michele bachmann, she's tailor-made for hot august nights, a year before serious presidential elections, when iowa, the whole world focuses on iowa and it's like this conspiracy. it's the base of both parties. mainly the base of the republican party in the iowa pushing somebody that is never going to win. they were going to never get close to winning the presidential nomination, never get close to being a vice president, never going to be close being relevant a year from now, you've got the republican base doing that in iowa, and it's like a conspiracy, because then the media can run articling on these people who are on the far right and point for a year about, look how whacked out the republican party is, and then -- and i was predicting this four years ago, i want to make my point here. four years ago -- no, no.

i want to make my point here, because i get so tired of it, it happens. four years ago. do you remember four years ago when everybody was saying, huckabee, huckabee, this, that, the other, and everybody said john mccain was dead? what did i say? i said, i went home, i talked to my dad, recently departed, and my dad said, when nobody else on the face of the earth was saying it, watch out for john mccain, he's going to win this thing. you know woo? he doesn't live in iowa. he doesn't go to straw polls. he doesn't look at the zany b.s. that these candidates say to grab attention to win straw polls and then sometimes to win iowa. or to come in second in iowa when you actually have pat robertson. this happens every four years. michele bachmann's first answer, mark halperin, was, i wish the federal government had defaulted. had defaulted a week after

americans lost, some of them, perhaps, lost half of their pensions. lost half of their 401(k)s with trillions of dollars that went down the drain with americans suffering, she said that and got applaus applause, and if anybody thinks that guys like my dad are going to be voting that way when this rolls out of iowa and new hampshire and south carolina in the early stages and really gets going, they are out of their mind, and they are too stupid not only to prag nos ta kate, too stupid to run slurpy machines in des moines. i got it all my chest. michele bachmann, she a joke. and now i will pass it on to you. her answer is a joke. her candidacy is a joke, and anybody that sits here and says, she has any chance of winning anything is out of their mind. take your straw poll, take your caucus, but iowa, if you let her win, you prove your irrelevance

once again. now to you. >> tell us how you feel. whew! >> this is ridiculous. >> that hurts. >> this happens every four years. >> okay. >> oh, pat robertson, owns the republican party. they've gone overboard. mark halperin wants to answer and i'll shut up now. >> i think -- i think the question, the biggest question literally in the race is rick perry, seen as that kind of candidate, or is he the kind of candidate people like your dad would support, as someone whose got very conservative views, in line with michele bachmann but still can appeal to the center and team like someone who can be nominated and be elected. >> my dad -- my dad would be a hell of a lot more likely to vote for a rick perry. somebody that actually ran something for ten years. weren't ever the large et states in america, than he would michele bachmann. >> i'm just going to say -- i'm just going to say. hold on, chris. just going to say that i felt the way you felt about michele bachmann before you said it,

about what she is, and that's why tim pawlenty going after her made him look stupid. chris hayes? >> right. i think pawlenty -- i think pawlenty going after her on her record or lack thereof misses the point. misses the point about what the nature of the michele bachmann candidacy is. >> she has no record. >> right. she has the freedom of choice act which she introduced. the light bulb bill. >> so why -- >> the light bulb freedom of choice. do you have rick perry, tough, because he deserves to be here. rick perry ran a state for ten years, governor in america the past couple of years versus somebody that passed the light bulb freedom of choice act. >> you do. that -- >> and it failed. >> to note -- >> i need to see that sound bite again. i think i'd taken an ambien or something, on a different planet. i'm like what is she talking about?

it might be. >> what were the people saying? what were the straw poll voters saying, and is michele bachmann going to win this, and totally undermine my faith in -- >> she can win it. it doesn't matter. >> you know, talking to people from all the major campaigns competing, because we know the top three finishers in names. everybody everybody agrees. pawlenty, bachmann and ron paul. nobody will predict the order. i talked to people in all three camps. they all said, we don't know. bachmann has a lot of energy. no question. her crowds are really big. she's performing very well in the stump. they point out -- >> who are they? evangelicals? who? >> evangelicals, tea party members's. the kind of people who is a sorted mike huckabee. plent hay pawlenty has a better organization. put more money in. the biggest question, can bachmann convert that energy, money and enthusiasm to get the

people to turn out at the straw poll? her people frankly don't know. if she finishes behind pawlenty her people can say we've only been in the race six weeks. bad organizing. we have time before the caucuses. it's harder for pawlenty to explain if he finishes behind bachmann. if ron paul finishes first, again, always hard to gauge how he converts that level of enthusiasm to support i think people will discount the straw poll, because ron paul's chance ever being nominated are lower than michele bachmann's. >> up next, we're going to talk to wisconsin governor scott walker about his state's recall elections this week. also, why he says his budget reform, working and gaining popularity. also a check on market futures with simon hobbs at the new york stock exchange and don't miss willie's week in review. first, your weekend forecast with bill karins. bill? >> running out of summer weekends here, like we going back to school, especially in the southern half of country. looking at a wet weekend in certain areas. take you through it. this is how we're looking this weekend. for a start off, wet weather in

the midwest. it's going to be very stormy in the great lakes and down through areas like st. louis going throughout the day today. looking at beautiful weather, from the mid-atlantic through the great lakes today up into new england. just a gorgeous friday. no problems at all. we're already watching large thunderstorms around omaha and lincoln, nebraska, headed for kansas city this afternoon. the forecast for today, still hot in texas. although we ended the 100-degree streak in dallas yesterday. as far as the weekend, the worst of it on saturday from minneapolis through wisconsin and areas of michigan, illinois, indiana. the eastern half of the country is okay, but you will see typical afternoon thunderstorms in the southeast. i do think we're going to get a soaker in areas of new england and the mid-atlantic on sunday. your outdoor plans could be washed out in areas of d.c. up to new york city on sunday. saturday, choice day on the eastern seaboard if you want to get out and enjoy your weekend. you're watching "morning joe," brewed by starbucks. [ male announcer ] want to achieve more with your money?

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we have to make sure that the promises we make in social security, medicaid and medicare are pomss we can keep, and there are various ways of doing that. one is we could raise taxes on people. that's not the way -- corporations are people, my friend. >> yes. corporations are people, my friends. they're like members of your family. your brother. fax machine. your uncle ben. your aunt annie. your mama celeste, your go-daddy. >> rick santorum will be there.

his tent boast, rick santorum's summer dance party, which, by the way, is the lowest testing b.e.t. pilot ever. hi, everybody. who here likes to cha-cha? remember, vote for jesus? >> welcome back to "morning joe." jonathan capehart still with us. michael steele still with us, and joining us now from madison, wisconsin, the republican governor of that state, scott walker. good morning. good to have you on the show this morning. >> good morning. >> you're losing your voice a little bit. somewhat of a busy week? >> i am. was at the state fair and raised a lot of money for kids but unfortunately my voice is gone. >> it is. well, i guess we are moving ahead now, the democrats. we, as in -- we.

>> i'm over here, mika. >> and thank god allmight any heaven. >> she's looking at me. michael steele is saying, it doesn't work like that. i'm sorry. >> we're looking ahead to next year, you know. >> who is we? >> well, we democrats. >> oh, my god. you know, at least she's straightforward about it, governor. governor, what's your take on this past week, it was suppose to be your administration -- what's your take? >> we had six races in wisconsin and i think all along people, at least in this capitol, asouped two of the six were going to lose because of demographics changes in those districts. the race was going to hone in on two in the middle and ended up winning convince igly. the message was clear. it followed up with last november. focus on job, focussing on fixes the bch budget. we did that. saw 39,000 new jobs since the beginning of the year, double the national rate of growth, but they also told us not just in tuesday's results but in the months leading up to it they

want us to do more to work together. so that's exactly what we're going to do. more ways to work together to get our state working again. >> governor, what about next week? i guess a couple democrats also are having ral elections this next week? recall elections? >> there's two. one of them is a long shot at best. the other a competitive race in northern wisconsin. the democrat incumbent, very much outspending the republican challenger but still a shot. obviously, with the republicans, 17-16 majority it doesn't have the glowing national significance it might have, had the race gone differently on tuesday, but there's still a chance, at least, that the republican majority in the senate could go from 17 to 18 after next tuesday's election. in the end, venture capital, moving forward on jobs, nuts and bolts, getting people back to work. those will are far more than just 17. hopefully votes that get nearly 33 out of all the members of senate to vote for them. >> mika's exposed herself for

what she is. "we." i don't expose myself for what i am, republican. i'm going to say from my vantage point, i loved hearing you say last time that you made some mistakes. >> yeah. >> that you wish you would have reached out a little bit more. and you're saying right now that there are some ways that you and the democrats can work together. what are you doing in wisconsin to make sure after these next recall elections go by that that's just a rough first chapter? not just for you politicpolitic for you, for unions for demming in wisconsin to put all that and wisconsin's rearview mirror? >> you're exactly right. mika, i appreciate it. i heard last time i was off the air you said i was self-aware. if we had it over to do again we'd spend more time up front making the case, walking through things, explaining some of the things are explained now. for example, just this last week on the eve of the election, the

city of milwaukee feared they would be heavily damaged actually found out they have a net savings of $11 million. good news for the citizens, taxpayers and citizens of milwaukee. joe, back to your question, i think the best thing we can do, i reached out before the polls on tuesday to all four legislative leaders, two democrats, two republicans, offered to meet next week. all throughout this last month my office has been offering to meet with every lawmaker in the state. we've met with more than 70 including members from both parties and have a long things. many are not headline grabbing but nuts and bolts to help get the economy going again. if we can start with the small things and work our way up to the big things, we can do it together. the head of construction, typically more in line with democrats and the teacherses union, working together for months on a reading initiative, alternative to no child left behind, better school accountability standards in wisconsin. we've shown how we can work

together. we can do the same thing with democrats in the state legislature. >> by the way, mika, you couldn't have found a tougher political environment than wisconsin a few months back. >> ugly. >> so when i say anything is possible with president obama reaching out to republicans and people in washington figuring it out. i think scott walker and the head of schools in wisconsin provide as very good -- >> governor, i mean, reaching out to those, to those folks is something you hadn't done in the past. it's something you told us, correct? i mean, this is new. and had you ropeful that it will be effective? >> yes, superintendent evers and i have a good personal relationship, which help. we reached out to both, one in reading one in the larger issue of scoot cabinet, transparent open, fair process to include everybody. teachers, administrators, business leaders, parents, everyone has a seat at the table in terms of education reform, do

it in a fair open, accountable way. if we can do it together in education reform a deliberative process, month by month, meeting together, honing in on things that bring us together, i think we can do the same in the legislature. the best part for us, honestly, the fact that the recalls are done. on both political parties, there were tremendous, tremendous outside pressure. not only in the ads, but tremendous pressure not to get together. not to work on things because smau has would affect the recall. that's past. those groups moved on. gone to d.c., to ohio wherever else they're going. the people left are the people elected both democrats and republicans alike and we can get down to business. >> wisconsin can work on wisconsin. >> absolutely. governor, michael steele pap pleasure to see you again. >> hey, michael. >> going out there campaigning for your election and putting the resources on the ground in your election, as rnc chair and i noticed that you say that, you know, the game has shifted now, where is it's going to focus on wisconsin. the recall's over, but the

national democrat strategy is not over with respect to your recall in 2012. they want you on the ballot in 2012 as a recall candidate, if you will. how do you assess that, and even in terms of the rnc's role in this current situation, they were virtually silent when you were going through hell in february and march of this year. and how do you now assess going forward? the resources you're going to need to keep your seat to do this fight in terms of your own situation, but certainly moving the agenda forward going into 2012 and beyond? >> michael, i think there's two, a great question, two points to that. one, i think as you know having campaigned for me, i want in a state very politically even. independent state. voted for tommy thompson and russ feingold all in the same year in 1998. more than anything, people voted

for me because we had a concrete plan to help the people of the state create 250,000 jobs by 2015. we're well above the base, in fact, 39,000 new jobs in the first six months. that's double the national average. that's well ahead of the pace. we freed to get to that 250,000 jobs. i will be judged whether 2012 or 2014 by how effective was i in bringing people together in the state to create more jobs and hit that goal. the other bing thing, though, is i heard it tuesday night. even before the polls closed i was at a wisconsin state fair. the best fair in the country, by the way. you've got to get there. you know, the cream puffs there, they couldn't be any better. i tell folks in chicago, come on up. it's closer than springfield and a lot better. the other thing i've heard that night and for weeks now, people were sick. $30 million in two, through months. i spent $13 million in 18 months running for governor. thp spent $30 million or more in the groups that came in here. every ad almost an attack.

the people in the state had had it with the ongoing seemless endless elections and endless attack. they want us to get back to work. the appetite among the average voter really is they don't look forward to another recall election. they'll wait until next november and wait for elections until then. >> jonathan capehart, to put you back on the couch and being self-aware, i'm also noticing, in addition to reaching out in ways that you didn't before, am i wrong in noticing a change in tone? because i seem to recall when you were first elected, a very combative tone from you, and i'm not getting that now. >> well, i think a little bit was the circumstances. the first month when i called the legislature into special sessions of jobs largely overlooked by the media and state media and national media, the votes, democrats and republican, collective bargain issue and the budget itself that

divided things, the focus was to divide thing. we have brought people together before. we freed to get back to that tone and unfortunately even our efforts earlier were largely overlooked by, once those recalls were in place, once they were happening, politically there was pressure from outside of our state to pull people apart. they're done. we can now come together. i think that's a reflection in the circumstances as well an intentional effort to try to change the tone, bring civility back and bring people together in the state. >> thank you, scott walk e, and good luck getting your voice back. those cream puffs -- >> thank you. cream puff galore, the best thing. you don't want jay leno, he asks last year in one of his monologues, deep fried butter on a stick sounded pretty interesting. he was going to ask anybody what it tastes like but he heard all the people that had it had died. don't try that. but the best new thing this year is cranberries on a stick dipped in chocolate. you guys would like that. >> that sounds good.

huh? >> if it's special dark chocolate -- >> i want to go to wisconsin. >> thank you, governor. good luck. >> thank you. good talking with you. have a good weekend. up next, the market has gone up and down by triple digits each day this week. what will today hold? business report at the bell with simon hobbs is next.

see, it didn't happen because we don't have the capacity to pay our bills. it happened because washington doesn't have the capacity to come together and get things done. it was a self-inflicted wound. that's why people are frustrated. maybe hearing my voice, that's why i'm frustrated. because you deserve better. 36 after the hour. that was president obama discussing the economy and his frustration with congress during a visit to a factory in michigan yesterday. his speech came after the dow surged rebounding from 519-point loss on wednesday. the index has exchanged more

than 400-point losses and gains all week long, the first type in its 115-year history. >> this is mind bending. monday, down 634. tuesday, up 429. wednesday, down 519. thursday, up 424 points. simon hobbs, i have vertigo. what's going to happen? i've never seen anything like this. >> hello. >> never happened before, ever, we had 400-point swings on four consecutive days. for the scientists and mathematicians watching your show, it's a little bit like having an equilibrium of billions or trillions of trades and suddenly you kind of take that ecosystem, bang it in one direction and it itself goes back and forth. that's really where we are. we can't really settle down. one of the major problem wes have, of course, nowadays a lot of ordinary people are able to take the market purely on's

upside in which it goes and down side, exchange traded funds. those funds settled up in the last 90 minutes on a daily basis. so if people have been buying in anticipation that the market would rise, then at the end of it, the etf actually has to then buy into the market. so it becomes self-fulfilling, if you like, and converse on the down side. amplifying each of those move, but an indication of the lack of confidence we have at the moment. a lot of pension funds, mutual funds have moved to the edge, because they don't want involved in it. not sure they'll get decent prices and the hedge fund and individual bargain hunters are left. one of the good signs to come out in papers this morning is that insiders, ceos, people with businesses, are buying at a wait receive not seen since 2009, when we bought them. usually inducing buying before you get a very strong rally, they can get it wrong, though. in november of 2008 buying quite

strong and -- >> is there a possibility if ceos are buying in, about 200 down for the week. is there a possibility that we could actually have a wash for the week? could we have a good day today? >> we absolutely could have a good day today. i could give you another 400 points on the outside. but you've got to understand the turmoil that is going on in the volume over the last month. nobody really knows at what point we're going, without question, that's what markets do. it's a degree of uncertainty. we still have europe blowing up. it's a bit tricky. stop selling bonds, keep the lid on it today. people are getting pessimistic europie in europe's going to find it's way out. >> going to help scotland yard, bill bratton what do you think? >> what's his history? >> hi is the guy that turned new york city around. along with giuliani. back in the early '90s.

remarkable guy. >> i hope he can. interesting, the politicians there are on total demonization of what happened. look at what cameron said yesterday, criticizing the police, then praising them, then criticizing them, still cutting budgets by 20% and the home secretary, how can we block social media allowing them to get together. total demonization. they are the enemy with u.k. society. a public policy problem. >> simon hobbs, thank you very much. >> thank you, simon, very much. >> thank you, simon. take care. next, we'll talk about this very issue with nbc's jim maceda. we'll be right back. ♪ [ country ]

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the criminals who have take wlan they can get i say this -- we will track you down, we will find you, we will charge you, we will punish you. you will pay for what you have done. >> welcome back to "morning joe." as we've been discussing, speculation is growing over reports that u.k. prime minister david cameron will appoint american bill bratton in after effort to clear up the riots that have spread across his city. cameron's office told nbc that, "the p.m. might meet with him -- the prime minister -- but i wouldn't say he's been taken on in any capacity. bratton says he would be in a position to discuss his work and he believes his experiences are relevant to the situation in england. nbc's jim maceda is live in london with more on this. jim what can you tell us? >> reporter: hi there, mika. first of all coming to you from south london. croydon, which was the scene of that fireball the first 24

hours. you remember the building behind me burning down to rubble, what it is today. the reese furniture, ran this store for 150 years, generation and generations. now it seems police, at least in terms of numbers are getting their about the together. it's been quiet here in croydon for a couple of days and isn s other parts of london although there have been disturbances outside of london. we're bracing for this weekend when football crowds are out in streets and pubs and do a lot of drinking. you mentioned bill bratton. that's the second time that david cameron has mentioned his name this time during that public debate, or the parliament debate yesterday, wanting to get his specific expertise, because cameron and the government believe that this organized criminal gang who are really fueling the riot and looting and bratton for his part released that statement saying that he does have a lot about criminal

gangs and if asked would be honored and pleased to try to help out. bratton has to be very diplomatic here, because just a couple of weeks back there was a rile when cameron again in parliament suggested that bratton should be considered to run scotland yard. to be the chief commissioner. you remember the reaction was pretty negative. especially coming from the british home secretary who said specifically that will not happen, because it's just not appropriate for a non-british citizen to head the police. >> do you think maybe the events of the past couple of weeks might have changed that attitude? >> reporter: i think there has been some humble pie definitely eaten on all levels by the, certainly by the politicians. certainly by the police. it will be very interesting, joe, to find out the police reaction here to the french now coming out and offering help. the french are offering their help, because they're saying that the british simply have

don't know what -- they don't know how to protect their people and they don't know how to carry out crowd control. i'm not so sure how that's going to go down here, but that certainly is true. they could use some french, having covering riots which doesn't involve what happened here and in other cities. >> the french know thousahow to. the parisians riot, man. >> thank you. up next, willie's week review. >> thank you, jim.of thes in america today. automotive performance is gone. and all we have left are fallen leaves and broken dreams and -- oh. wait a second. that is a dodge durango. looks like american performance is doing just fine. ♪ carry on. ♪

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oh. we don't have willie here today, but we do have his "week in review." >> some people look at this picture and think, michele bachmann looks crazy. >> at number three, ready for her extreme close-up. >> the intensity in her eyes is an old photograph of her. this is the thing connecting the people. >> as the presidential candidates campaigned, michele bachmann got the news she made the cover of tina brown's "newsweek" magazine. >> a close-up, sort of a wild-eyed photo with the headline "queen of rage." >> uh-huh. we'll have to take a look at that. won't we? >> critics ranged from bachmann's conservative is a supporters to jon stewart. >> you used that photo in a petty attempt to make michele bachmann look crazy -- and

that's what her words are for. >> if bachmann was bothered by the "newsweek" cover she sure didn't show it this week. frankly, too busy planning a carnival. >> from 9:00 to 5:00, an air conditioned tent, chairs, we have live, country ledge pd superstar randy travis live. we're also going to have a petting zoo for the kids. >> at number two, nfl star deke's roommate. >> going to do something different. actually going to stay with a fan the first two, three weeks of the season. >> chad ochocinco, the brand new receiver, legally changed his last name to match the numbers on his jersey announced he'll get to know the boston area by bunking up way fan of the team. >> it should be fun until i get myself acclimated and learn my way around this place. >> ochocinco has only a couple of requirements, aside from not

leaving dirty dishes in the ocho-sink 'zo. a good place to play madden nfl 12. >> they have to have internet. they have to have xbox and that's about it. >> and the number one story of the week -- >> deadliest day in afghanistan. >> the people of london stunned by violent riots rocking the city. >> wall street set to weigh-in on the first-ever downgrade. >> starting in the red as we go down. >> president obama tried this week to calm an anxious nation in the midst of a storm of bad news. >> we always have been and always will be a aaa country. >> others were less sanguine. >> wondering about kicking the can down the road for 2017 or burn the place to the ground. both of which are reckless, irresponsible and stupid! >> don't panic! everything's fine. do not pull your money out of the stock market just yet.

>> so pretty darn [ bleep ]. >> ooh. >> as republicans blame the president -- >> look, i'm not going to eat barack obama's dog food. has he served up was not what i would have done if i'd have been president of the united states. >> democrats shot the messenger of doom. >> people shouldn't pay attention to standard & poor's. >> made a math error and forgot to check their work. >> this is, without question, the tea party downgrade. >> at the end of a long, dark tunnel, that carnival michele bachmann's throwing on saturday sounds like a hoot. >> come from 9:00 to five. we have an air conditioned tent. we've got chairs. we've got live, we've got country legend superstar randy travis live. we're also going to have a petting zoo for the kids. ♪ dance, dance, dance yeah >> up next -- >> what did we learn today? up next. [ male announcer ] this is the network. a network of possibilities.

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♪ dancing, yeah >> how's this? >> ready? one and two, three and four. >> okay, kids. it's time to talk about what we learned today, and i just got to the say, michael, the debate -- >> walker, scott walker.

fascinating. >> in a short period of time matured into the job. recognized the balance between being a governor and being a politician. he's governing. he's got to bring them together. he's leading you don't have to fight. >> no, you don't. >> you don't have the to create enemies. >> not everything is a fight. that's most important. will i was lieutenant governor i realized i have a democratic legislature, got to work with them on education, on job creation, until you find that balance quickly. if you don't, they file off and you lose yourself. >> who's the winner? >> in the debate? i have to give it to newt gingrich. he stepped up his game. he'll have a voice he really fought and laid down a good gauntlet. he's going to be the one i think more than anyone else to focus on the issues. >> all right. very good. if it's way too early, it's "morning joe." we hope you have a great weekend, but stick around right now, because we continue with the most serious election coverage in all of