right now on msnbc, witnesses describe a night of gunfire and explosions in tripoli as rebels claim to close in on the libyan capital. so, the big question, where is moammar gadhafi and his troops? a report from inside libya, coming up. and violence breaking out at a preseason nfl game. what led to the bloodshed in the stadium and in a parking lot? and the president spending part of his vacation mapping out a coming-up jobs plan. what needs to be in it to get americans back to work? we'll take a look at that this morning. hi, everybody. i'm thomas roberts, in today for alex witt, and we welcome you to "msnbc sunday." developing for you right now, attacks on the libyan capital of tripoli. rebel forces say they are assaulting moammar gadhafi's

stronghold and have at least partly surrounded the city. nbc's chief foreign correspondent richard engel is in libya with the very latest for us. richard, good morning. >> reporter: good morning, thomas. the battle for tripoli has clearly begun. we are now in the city of zawa, and all day we've been seeing rebel fighters moving through here to try and reinforce a front line they've established just about 15 miles on the outskirts of tripoli. we've seen rebels bringing in heavy weapons, antiaircraft guns and rockets. but behind that front line, inside the city of tripoli itself, thomas, there is also fighting pockets of resistance in several neighborhoods in tripoli, including one just about 500 yards from moammar gadhafi's presidential palace. so, we could confirm that there was fighting in tripoli itself, including right on the doorstep of gadhafi's palace. now, gadhafi himself gave an audio speech last night in which he denied that the rebels are making this kind of progress. to quote him, he said that "the

rats have been eliminated." but clearly, from whatve is advancing, it's advancing very quickly, and it is building strength in the center of tripoli. thomas? >> nbc's richard engel in libya for us. richard, thanks so much. well, earlier this morning, i spoke to the manage director of the washington institute for near east policy and former senior director for the middle east at the national security council, and i asked what he could tell us about the situation that's happening right now in libya. >> well, indeed, the noose is tightening around moammar gadhafi in tripoli. the rebels have taken towns now on the east, west and south of tripoli, and it remains to be seen exactly what they'll do now. they're sending in reinforcements. and my expectation, frankly, is that they're going to lay siege to tripoli, essentially, hoping that there will be further uprisings inside the city or there will be further high-level defections and the gadhafi regime will essentially crumble from within. it's important to remember, thomas, that this is a city of

1.7 million people in a country that only has 6.4 million people. so, this is a big, big target for the rebels. >> and as i understand it, the former number two of gadhafi's regime has suggested that army troops turn over or start to work for the opposition. so, it seems like things are starting to crumble in and around moammar gadhafi, as they have been over the last six months. however, it's anybody's guess where this is going to go, especially considering where is moammar gadhafi today? we don't even know. >> well, that's right, we don't know where he is. we can't even say for sure that he's inside the country. his recent addresses have all been by phone. and so, i think it is important that we've seen these high-level security defections and that people around the regime, hopefully, start to question, you know, is gadhafi here, can he hang on? because that will lead them, i think, to throw their lot in with the rebels. >> when we talk about the rebels, what does it mean for this government working with what's going to come into power there? because it seems that it's just

a matter of time until gadhafi does lose control. so, what is the u.s.'s position on trying to work with whatever comes next? >> well, the u.s. has recognized already the transitional national council as the legitimate representative government of libya, so we no longer recognize moammar gadhafi as the leader of libya. the first question, though, following the fall of gadhafi, would be security. you know, can the rebels actually maintain security in this country? they've obviously skipped over certain parts of the country in their advance to tripoli, like sert, which is gadhafi's hometown, and we've also seen divisions within the rebel forces themselves. their military leader was killed by his own forces not long ago. so, i think there are big questions as to once they get rid of gadhafi, will they remain united? and that's the question that preoccupies u.s. policymakers right now. >> that was part of my conversation with michael singh earlier this morning. i want to pass on something new this morning. former white house press secretary robert gibbs saying

that the president has plans for job creation but fears republicans will block them to score political points. gibbs, who is now an adviser on the president's re-election campaign, spoke with savannah guthrie during an appearance on "meet the press." >> the president is going to outline some ideas. the president has outlined ideas every day he's been in the white house. the question, savannah, is, is there going to be a partner that can work with the president on those ideas? and the question the republican party's going to have to ask themselves, quite simply, is are they willing to set aside some party allegiance, are they willing to tell the tea party that they're going to do what's best for the country, and not just necessarily what's best for their political party. >> joining me now is nbc white house correspondent mike viqueira. mike, we are expecting to hear from the president very soon about the jobs plan. still, though, it's unclear exactly how that will be structured and laid out for us. >> reporter: well, that's absolutely right. thomas, the president has a problem, and 15 million americans who are out of work obviously have a problem, too, but in terms of the politics of

all this, a new gallup poll -- you may have heard of this -- 26% of americans, just 26% now approve of the way that president obama is handling the economy. it's a 9.1% unemployment rate. experts, economic prognosticators don't expect it to go much below 8% by election day next year. gdp growth expected to be anemic, as they say, to use a cliche, growing in the 2% range over the course of the next year, not enough to bring down unemployment. no president has been re-elected with unemployment over 7.5% in the post-war era. so, a lot of political problems here. you heard robert gibbs try to make this distinction now. this race now that's sort of emerged between these two surprise front-runners on the republican side, rick perry, of course, the governor of texas, and michele bachmann, the very conservative member of congress from minnesota. the hope from democratic strategists is that they will move so far to the right -- we haven't even talked about mitt romney here -- he's sort of taken a back seat lately -- they

will move so far to the right that they're going to make themselves largely ineligible among independent voters who will decide the election next year. if it's a referendum on the president's economic policies, it's not looking very good, but when you're talking about rick perry, who has really taken on the political world like gang busters over the course of the last week since he announced his candidacy on the heals of that ames, iowa, straw poll that was won by bachmann -- the white house, robert gibbs, close political adviser to the president in his campaign effort, had this to say about rick perry. >> comes to somebody like governor rick perry, they're going to wonder why a place like texas has one of the worst education systems, they're going to wonder why, quite frankly, they're 47th in wages, just like they're going to wonder why mitt romney, when he was governor of massachusetts, was 47th in job creation. >> reporter: so, you start to see some political themes emerge here as some of these contenders begin to define themselves and the race becomes somewhat more clear, even though republicans

are hoping that people like paul ryan or chris christie have second thoughts and they might get in the race. you asked specifically about the president's plan. a major address, the white house calls it, on jobs and the economy, on debt and deficit. some time after labor day. the president, of course, has begun his fourth day of a ten-day vacation in martha's vineyard with his family. thomas. >> mike, the white house stressed president obama's bus tour was not a campaign trip, but are we going to start to see the signs of a re-election campaign and what that's going to look like? >> reporter: well, you know, the lines are always blurred, thomas, between politics and policy. when you look at, you know, ever since the president took office, you look at the states where he's gone. he spent the preponderance of his time going on policy trips to talk about economic initiatives, whether health care or the stimulus package. they're almost always in purple or swing states, pennsylvania, ohio, michigan and florida, north carolina in particular is a place that the president and the press that travels with him have been many times. but yes, i think you're going to start to see some of these

themes emerge. the thinking here in washington among people who observe politics closely is that the president would rather run against a rick perry or a michele bachmann because they are further to the right than mitt romney, who incidentally, still is leading the polls, these early polls on the republican side. so, you're going to see more people like robert gibbs taking shots at rick perry, taking shots at michele bachmann, trying to promote them, in a way, as opponents to the president and what the president is fighting against, rather than have the re-election be a referendum on the president's economic policies. >> mike viqueira at the white house. mike, thank you. >> reporter: okay. i want to pass along, be sure to watch the reairing of "meet the press." that's coming up at 2:00 eastern this afternoon right here on msnbc. well, the u.s. state department is reacting to iran's punishment of two american hikers. both of them received an eight-year prison sentence on charges of spying and trespassing. today, secretary of state hillary clinton issued a statement about the ruling, saying "we are deeply

disappointed that iranian judicial authorities have sentenced shane bauer and joshua fattal to eight years in prison. we continue to call and work for their immediate release. it is time for them to return home and be reunited with their families. i join president obama and the people of the united states in expressing our unflagging support for shane, joshua, sarah and their families during this difficult time." nbc's ali aruizie is in tehran covering this story. ali, is iran going to take any of these comments from the u.s. state department into consideration, especially since there have been conversations all along? >> reporter: they're certainly going to take it into consideration behind closed doors because this has the danger of turning into a tit for tat situation. they may use the hikers as bargaining chips. this morning the chief prosecutor again confirmed these very harsh sentences. he also brought up the case of sarah shourd, saying she didn't show up for the court case and she will be charged in an

stenza. but the big question is whether by the end of ramadan, these guys will be pardoned, in about ten days time. >> the sentences were announced by iran's state-run media. shane bauer and josh fattal each received eight years in prison for espionage and entering the country illegally. the two men and their friend, sarah shourd, were arrested a little over two years ago along the iran/iraq border. they denied they were spies, saying they were hiking and crossed in to iran by mistake. sarah shourd was released on bail last september. she flew back to the u.s. and never returned to iran to face trial. >> obviously, this could be the final -- >> reporter: she recently spoke with lester holt, expressing hopes that her friends would soon be released. >> that's what we're praying for. we're praying that the time for compassion has finally come. >> reporter: many thought bauer and fattal would be freed with time served as a gesture of islamic compassion. now friends are concerned about the toll the long prison term will take. >> the game, it's unclear what

that is. it has to be very tough. >> reporter: the case highlighted differences among the ruling elite in iran. while the judiciary took a hard line, two weeks ago, iran's foreign minister said he hoped bauer and fattal would be freed. after the sentences were announced, the u.s. state department issued a statement, saying "we continue to express our hope that the iranian authorities will exercise the humanitarian option of releasing these two young men." observers believe the obama administration will continue its back-door diplomacy to pressure tehran to free bauer and fattal. at this point, a humanitarian option may be the best hope for the two americans. it's the holly month of ramadan in iran, and traditionally, prisoners are pardoned at the end of it. thomas, experts i've spoken to and conventional wisdom seem to indicate that these two men will be freed, but relations between these two countries is so bad, and iran isn't in the business of doing the united states any favors. if they're not released in the next two weeks, they could be

here for the foreseeable future. thomas? >> we'll continue to watch. ali arouzi in tehran for us. ali, thank you. want to move back to the states and talk about the weather, where the cleanup is continuing in wisconsin. the national weather service confirms a tornado touched down in the northern part of the state on friday. one man died in the storm, making it the 57th killer tornado so far this year across the states. rain was the story yesterday in illinois. a heavy shower sent thousands of people looking for shelter at the chicago air and water show. more water than they wanted. and it took until late august, but portland, oregon, finally got some summer heat, temps rising above 90 degrees saturday for the first time there in 2011. so, what is sunday going to look like around the country? the weather channel's alex wallace has the details for us. hi, alex. >> how's it going, thomas? and you know what the big story is? well, our tropical cyclone sitting here in the northeastern caribbean, tropical storm irene, which could have an impact on the u.s. later on next week.

look, here it is working its way through the northeastern caribbean. sustained winds right now 50 miles per hour and moving to the west right around 21 miles per hour. a closer view on it. there is puerto rico, and you can see some of the very outer bands of the system starting to move on in, and we're seeing a few showers starting to move on in to puerto rico at this time. although the heaviest of the rain continues to remain just off toward the east, but eventually, some of the heavier rain and gustier winds will be getting into puerto rico. as we move through time, what's going to happen with irene? well, here's some of the forecasts and computer models here. all these different lines indicating different computer models, the way they think irene's going to be heading. and notice here, they're pretty tightly packed together all the way until they work their way up toward the east coast of florida. so, pretty good confidence here when you see these computer models coming together like that, that they are in alignment. so, confidence that we will be watching this thing making its way closer to the u.s., again, by the end of the week. so, the official projected path of irene.

early monday, it could be getting pretty close to hurricane strength, continuing to work its way through cuba. and then by the end of the week, we're talking friday now, could be looking at a category 1 hurricane getting into florida. but still plenty of time to watch this system here as we work our way through the next several days. now's the time to just start thinking about what you will do if irene threatens. thomas? >> all righty, alex. thank you so much. so, the white house is shifting its illegal immigration policy, and this hot-button issue is causing quite a big stir. we'll tell you what's behind the move. and an ordinary looking garage getting the nod for being part of, get this, presidential history. of the jeep grand cherokee has a best-in-class driving range of over 500 miles per tank. so you can catch morning tee time in monterey and the afternoon meeting in los angeles, all without running out of gas. just make sure you don't run out of gas. ♪

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welcome back, everybody. nearly 300,000 americans with pending deportation cases could have their lives completely changed by a new set of rules

announced by the white house and homeland security. department of homeland security now says undocumented workers can stay in the u.s. and apply for work permits as long as they have no criminal record. julia preston is a national immigration correspondent for "the new york times" and joins me in the studio now to talk more about this. julia, good morning. >> hi, tom. >> so, let's talk more about what this means, the announcement really means for 300,000 people with pending deportation cases, on a practical level, because i know you cover this a lot. what does it really mean? >> first of all, i think something americans don't understand very well is that immigration violations in general are civil violations, they are not crimes. and so, one of the things the administration is doing here is trying to make a bright distinction between people who have committed crimes and focusing on deporting them from the united states. and the people who have only immigration violations, allowing them to remain here for the period of time. >> so, does it do anything to help illegals become citizens of

this country? >> no. it's -- not for the time being. what the administration is talking about doing is reviewing all 300,000 cases of people who are in deportation proceedings already and looking at some positive factors -- if their kids who came here when they were young people, if they are families of military servicepeople or if they are close family members of united states citizens, particularly united states citizen children. in those cases, those deportations will be canceled, but it doesn't create a positive status for those people. >> it sounds a little bit like the dream act, which was very controversial, something along the lines of was going to offer citizenship for kids who were brought here to the u.s. before they were 16, were living in the u.s. for five years, had earned a high school diploma or ged. is this something the office is in the footsteps of trying to walk us back to the dream act? >> well, i think what the

administration is doing is saying we're not going to deport the children and the young people who might be eligible under that measure. it didn't pass congress, and so, there's no positive law to help those children, but this is a very strongly felt issue in the latino community, and i think the administration felt that they had to do something to bring some relief to those families. >> as you pointed out in the last hour, we had a pretty contentious debate. >> yes. >> from two sides about this issue. and as you point out, there really is no law on the books right now that mirrors what the dream act would have been or what it still could be, but do you think the president faces legal ramifications and so does the department of homeland security for going ahead with something like this? >> well, they -- the administration is arguing that these are authorities that are on the books. and i think they could at least make a very strong legal case about that. what they can't do is, and what

they're not doing is giving some kind of amnesty to a broad class of people. this is going to be a very painstaking case-by-case review. it's going to take a long time, but at least it's going to mean that some people who were facing deportation and who have not committed crimes will get some relief. and the people, the gang members and the people who really are, i think we all agree, we don't want in the country, the administration says they're going to focus on them. >> if that's the way we look at it, from the other side of the coin, as focusing on securing the country from that type of person or a person of interest that could be involved in gang activities -- and i know you've written about the secure communities program run by the immigration and customs enforcement. is this a targeted program that's being covered by maybe a different, you know, that's coming across in a different capacity? >> well, there's been a lot of protest about this program, mainly because these deportations have been strongly

felt in the immigrant communities, but the purpose of that program, according to the administration, is to identify people that do have criminal records and be able to deport them. >> we'll continue to watch this. julia, it's nice to see you this morning. thanks for stopping by. >> yeah, thank you. so, it's been a crazy few weeks on wall street, but somebody is making money off all the swings. is there a silver lining? we'll explore that. plus, kim kardashian ties the knot in front of hollywood a-listers. money was no expense at this one and it was an event made for reality tv. details coming your way next. i have copd. if you have it, you know how hard it can be to breathe and what that feels like. copd includes chronic bronchitis and emphysema. spiriva helps control my copd symptoms... by keeping my airways open a full 24 hours. plus, it reduces copd flare-ups. spiriva is the only once-daily inhaled copd maintenance treatment that does both. and it's steroid-free.

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oakland raiders. that man was critically hurt, and then a second shooting victim has superficial wounds to the face. a suspect is being deneighborhodetained in these shootings. police say they pulled the suspect off a party bus. in another fight, a man was severely beaten, knocked unconscious inside a bathroom in the stadium. that man has serious head injuries and is listed in critical condition. well, in arlington, virginia, a nod to what may be the most important parking garage in u.s. history. an historical marker was put up outside the parking structure where "washington post" reporter bob woodward secretly met his watergate source secretly known as deepthroat. it led to the resignation of president nixon in 1964. parking space d-32 is where deep throat provided woodward with information that exposed the nixon administration's obstruction of an fbi investigation. mortar rounds and gunfire heard all around tripoli. we get an update on what is known about the conditions on the ground today. well i always worry about what's in the food

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hi, everybody. good morning. i'm thomas roberts, in today for alex witt, and here are the top stories at the bottom of the hour for you. the national weather service confirms that a tornado touched down in a northern part of wisconsin on friday. one man died in that storm, making it the 57th killer tornado so far this year across the states. two small planes collided this afternoon over an airport in southern new jersey, killing one pilot. the faa says the planes were performing aerobatic maneuvers over the airport when they hit each other. the pilot of one of the planes parachuted and lived, while the other pilot was killed in that collision. an update now on the attacks on the libyan capital of tripoli. if confirms, it would be the first time in the six-month-old uprising that the libyan capital has come under direct assault. according to the "ap," the city is largely quiet today after a night of gunfire and explosions. but let's talk more about that this morning. joining me from washington is

steven clemens of the new american foundation. steven, explain what you're hearing from libya, and better yet, what we're hearing about the movement of rebel troops inside tripoli. >> well, i think the first thing you'll remember is this is the second time the rebels have been right up to the edge of tripoli. six months ago, the rebels made incredible head waves very, very quickly and gadhafi was able to push him back. but at that time, he had his western flank pretty secure. now gadhafi's caught in a vice. he's got the troops we've been talking about from benghazi and others who have been putting pressure on him from the east, but a unified command of many of the villages in the mountainous regions to the west are the ones that have really done the amazing pushback into tripoli and have come through zawaya and have him in a vice. and it does seem like momentarily, within hours or days, this could all be at an end, at least entering the next chapter for the rebels. >> steven, over the last 40 years, i don't think that anyone

can underestimate what gadhafi is capable of. >> no. >> and especially with him staying in power. do you think this vice is something that can close and effectively take him out of power? >> well, his heir apparent and son, saif al islam, said they're not going to surrender, but in case they change their mind, they have an airbus that has been brought in and is sitting conveniently there in case they decide to high-tail it out. it's unclear what will happen. the word is from those in tripoli and i talked to a few folks who were there, the people i met a year ago march, who say the situation is very bleak inside tripoli. the fighting, as far as they've seen, has really not taken shape in tripoli. and so, i think there have been a number of lead reporters who said they have not felt that or seen it, but we're seeing an edge. and i think with the rest of the country fairly well consolidated, for the most part, at least behind the rebels, i think this really does squeeze tripoli enormously.

they've cut off oil access for gadhafi, sea access for gadhafi. and so, i do think at this point, in contrast to what happened before, his days are really numbered now. >> well, you do mention that airbus that's probably ready to go somewhere coastal and with palm trees. >> right. >> but when people talk about where gadhafi is now, he's only made statements over the telephone. do you think he really is still in libya? >> i have no way of knowing. we don't know. all we have is statements from them. i have a sense that if he was out of the country for real, we would know from the networks, because we would see other elements of his command staff. many of them have defected already. we saw his number two defect in recent days and others. but we would know through our own intelligence, and essentially, through the way the grapevine of communications works there, that he was gone. so, i personally don't believe that he's gone, but i am speculating on that. >> is the rebel plan only short-range with near-sightedness of just getting

gadhafi out? is there a long-range government plan? do they have the aspirations to even put one together properly? >> yeah, thomas, i think that's the 900-pound question. i think they do on one level have people working with mustafa abdul jalil, who have been scripting out what's important. but the problem is, in contrast to perhaps what we've seen in egypt, is that the opposition is very amorphous. we don't know which commanders are going to emerge as the real heroes of this. the western commanders are barely known to any of us here that are commenting, and i think that equation of power and the discussion of what governance is going to look like is going to have to take into account a whole new raft of people that we simply don't know where they're at. and i think on top of that, something that we in the west don't talk much about is that the most organized, and i think potent force against gadhafi for many years, that he used to harris in jail, are the islamic

fighting group, which is an islamist group. and i think they are going to be part of that equation. and one of the unifying themes of that group is entirely antiwestern, anti-american, anti-french, anti-british. and so, the notion of what our role is going to be as a counselor, as a supporter in this equation that comes next is i think going to be a very, very tough thing to work out because you'll have very big parts of the successing government that will not stand by our involvement inside libya. >> steven clemons in washington for us this morning. steven, great to see you. thanks for your time. >> thank you, thomas. this morning in norway, the nation remembering the victims of last month's bombing and shootings. it marks the end of a month of mourning for the 77 people who died on the july 22nd attacks. nbc's jay gray is in oslo, norway, with more for us. jay, good morning. >> reporter: good morning, thomas. looking out over the city of oslo right now where there will be surely an emotional and very important ceremony and concert here today, a memorial to the victims of the attacks here,

also a concert for the survivors as well as the first responders. the royal family from norway will be there, along with politicians. the prime minister will make a speech. look, this is all to honor those who suffered through the attacks almost a month ago, but it's also, as the prime minister says, a mark of the end of the mourning here. they say it's time to move on, though it's not time to forget those who have perished and those who have been a part of the horrific events. there will be several bands playing today, including the norwegian super group aha, reuniting just for this concert today. and in between songs, norwegian actors will read the names aloud of the 77 who perished on that day. so, a very important day, surely a very emotional day here in oslo. that's the very latest. i'm jay gray. thomas, back to you. >> all right, jay, thanks very much. i appreciate it. well, we move on to what else is taking place this weeke weekend. stress and worry for investors

on wall street. the stock market suffered another week of losses. the dow fell more than 450 points for the week. joining me to talk about the market and economy is reporter katherine rampel of "the new york times." good to see you, as always. >> good to be here. >> let's talk about this, because the markets were not too sharp this week. as someone who was in a different country will tell you. i was watching from across the seas, but i know that as we're watching the uptick of what's going on right now, which is really the downtick, when do we see some silver lining in all of this? when can we see us coming out the other side? >> you know, it's very hard to saturday markets seem very confused right now. they go up, they go down, you know, you're seeing blue chip stocks swing 4% over the course of a day. that's very unusual. i think what's happening is we have so many different mixed signals about what's going on with the economy that people are having trouble figuring out how to piece them together. and then they're taking cues off of what else is going on in the market, and so the sense of panic sort of feeds on itself

sometimes. >> are we seeing ourselves in an unofficial double-dip recession? >> it's very hard to say. generally, we don't know whether we are officially in a recession until like a year into it. that's how long it takes. the official board who determines these things, to decide. but that said, you know, you have to bear in mind that a recession, technically, in the minds of economists, refers to not the level of economic activity, but the direction. so, right now we have very low output growth, we have very tiny job growth, we have a lot of other things going wrong, but the direction is still positive. that is, you know, we are still adding some jobs, we are still growing demand to some extent. so, even though it's very little and we're starting from a very low base, since we lost so much ground during the recession, technically, it looks like we are probably not yet in a recession, although we're sort of teetering on the edge. >> when we look at worldwide, the economic situation right now with the eurozone especially, and so many people talking about the fact that germany is running

out of steam and the fact that the eurozone bases itself on the stamina of germany. >> right. >> what does that mean for us? >> it's very scary. a lot of economists i talk with say that europe is basically the giant wild card in all of their projections about the economy. europe and politics in washington, but for now, europe. you know, you have a lot of european banks that are very highly exposed to sovereign debt, and you look at countries like greece, italy, spain, places that are -- >> for the gal. >> portugal, right, places that are very heavily indebted. a lot of people are worried about how easy it will be for them to make good on their debts. i mean, in some cases, that debt has already been structured. but given that, and you have all of these banks that are exposed to this debt and they're very highly interconnected throughout the world in the same way that when we had the financial crisis that started 2007-2008, part of the problem was that the banks were so largely interconnected with other banks and other

credit markets throughout the world, that when one of them went down, it sent off these shock waves, and i think that's the worry here, that if, you know, societe generale and a number of other big banks in europe are highly affected, then that could basically create contagion throughout the world and potentially lead to another financial crisis. i mean, knock on wood. we're hoping that won't be the case. >> yeah. >> but that's the big risk in all of this. >> too bad this table's all glass. >> i know. i was going to knock on my head, but you know. >> there you go. we'll talk what we can get. catherine, thanks, as always. vice president joe biden taking a tour on his trip to china, stopping for a meet-and-greet at a high school build in the wake of the devastating 2008 earthquake. biden headed right for the basketball court where about two dozen students were practicing their skills, and biden grabbed the ball, took a few shots from the outside, missing each one. he then moved in and nailed a shot at close range to applause from the crowd. we'll be right back. [ female announcer ] so you think your kids are getting enough vegetables?

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new details coming out on this weekend celebrity wedding that spared no expense. it is that of kim kardashian, the eldest of the famed kardashian sisters. she got hitched yesterday to pro basketball player kris humphries. by all reports, it was a top-dollar affair with several big names in attendance. pop culture expert amy palmer joins me now with the inside scoop on this one. this was quite the lavish affair. it's not going to save our economy completely, but they spared no expense. >> $10 million was the price tag for this wedding. >> wow. >> 466 guests. thomas, where was your invite?

>> i'm hoping -- i think they're getting married in new york. they're having a second do, so i'm going to hold out for that one. >> they are. i mean, this is really extravagant and no expense was spared. but the thing is that she really didn't pay that much for this wedding. everything was comped really just for the advertising of being attached to their kardashian name. she has 9 million twitter followers. >> right. >> she's been tweeting for weeks about her trainer, about who's doing her eyebrows, her wedding gown. so this is free publicity. >> but she also used to get paid for tweets, right, like $15,000 a tweet if she was promoting a product. >> yeah, and let's not forget, that's definitely in the business plan as a whole for her. >> and not to say that we're not all going to see this come october because it was filmed, because it doesn't really happen if the cameras aren't there, right? >> nothing is real unless it's on camera in the kardashian world. we're going to be seeing this on "e," a two-parter in october.

if you weren't invited, you can feel like you're there. >> big names were in attendance? you said 466, so i'm sure there were a couple. >> ryan seacrest, julianne hough, kathie lee gifford, eva longoria. lindsay lohan was there with her family, which was surprising to me, but i guess it's the hollywood clan and everybody who seems to be in that circle was there. so, high-profile, very glamorous event. >> this is something that you were amazed by the fact that she had three wedding dresses, that she wore all of them? not at one time, i guess. that's not a good look. >> right. she had one for the ceremony -- exactly. one for the ceremony, very princess bride like. then she changed into a mermaid-type gown and then a satin gown. so, she was really showcasing her fashionista throughout the night. all vera wang, all couture, all very, very expensive. >> and the honeymoon, do we know, are they taking one? >> they're not taking one for a year. next summer, they'll be going to a honeymoon. she's actually coming to new york for her second wedding celebration, and she's going to start filming her reality show.

so, it's work, work, work for kim, and now for kris, her husband. >> do you think that the dresses are going to be recycled for that second wedding? >> they will definitely not be recycled. >> no. >> this is a kardashian. everything's excessive. >> and it's interesting. you know, kris, it's a "k," the whole "k" -- >> it was meant to be. >> it really was. it was written in the stars, amy, it was. amy palmer, good to see you. >> thank you. >> thanks. a new poll is finding that just 26% of the country approve of what the president has done in terms of jobs. president obama has pledged a new plan to come your way next month, but can he deliver? we talk about that straight ahead. [ woman ] jogging stroller. you've been stuck in the garage

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all right, new word this morning on job creation from president obama's former press secretary, robert gibbs. gibbs, who is now an adviser on the president's re-election campaign, defended the president's record on the economy and says it will now be up to congress to act. >> i think the president hopes that when congress gets back in to town that they'll act on some

initiatives that we all know make sense and can hopefully help businesses hire more people again. the president is the president of the united states. he understands that he has responsibility for what he can do. the question, savannah, is whether or not we can take the ideas that the president has or anybody else has and get them enacted by congress. i mean, the president can't do all of this alone. republicans -- >> wait a minute. for the first part of this term, he had huge majorities in the senate, the house and the presidency. >> right, and what happened in the first year of the presidency, savannah? we went from almost 9%, negative 9% economic growth, to the last quarter of 2009, we had a positive 4% economic growth. we saw a huge change in the growth in our economy and we began to add jobs. >> you can see savannah guthrie's full interview with robert gibbs when it reairs at 2:00 p.m.

and you can also catch her interview with indiana governor mitch daniels, again at 2:00 p.m. right here on msnbc when "meet the press" will be airing. unemployment has dropped since the president took office. so has his approval rating on his handling of job creation. the latest gallup poll finds just 26% of the country approve of what he's done to get americans back to work. look at that, 65% disapprove. joining me now is white house reporter for the "wall street journal," carol lee. she's in martha's vineyard, where the president is currently on vacation. and perfect timing, carol, the wind picks up right when we're about to talk. i see it there. but why do americans, as you've been learning from covering this, increasingly feel like president obama has let them down when it comes to jobs and job creation? >> well, i think the short answer to that question is that unemployment is at 9.1%, and the longer answer is that the president has had 2 1/2 years to try and turn the economy around. things have gotten worse and

continue to -- the recovery is stalled. so, there's a real question about whether his policies, particularly like the stimulus package, have been effective. and then i think what you saw in the last, over the summer, earlier this summer with the debt ceiling debate, there's a real question about even when the president makes promises about proposals that he wants to spur job creation or things that he thinks congress should do, about whether or not he can get those things done. and so, that has people sort of wondering whether or not he is going to be able to do anything about creating jobs. >> well, the president's going to be making a speech, carol, after labor day, directly on the subject of jobs. do you think that he's going to come with some big ideas, or do you think it's just going to be proposals that will pass maybe with a minimal fight? >> i think it's going to be a mix. i think there's a lot of pressure on the president right now to come up with something new, to be a little bolder, to have some fresh ideas. he has come under a lot of criticism for regurgitating a lot of the same proposals.

at the same time, he really thinks that some of those proposals are worthwhile and would help the economy, particularly an extension of the payroll tax cut for employees and unemployment insurance benefits, and he also wants congress to pass trade deals and patent reforms. so, we'll hear those things and the white house also says we'll hear new things from him as well. those things remain to be seen, but we saw last week he sort of hinted at what some of those things might be, proposals that could create jobs for construction workers, some help for teachers, things like that. >> when it comes to doing those things, it may mean spending money. so, realistically, will republicans, especially the tea party, allow the president to pass any job creation measures that would mean spending? >> well, that's the huge question. and you know, what you're going to see the president try to do in this speech is talk both about deficit reduction and spending proposals to create jobs and what he'll lay out is that, you know, he'll find ways

to pay for these things that he says will help create jobs and spur the economy by, you know, cutting certain tax cuts, tax breaks to the wealthy or oil and gas subsidies or a number of different things, but what you're going to hear him try to make the case to americans, and i think it could be a difficult thing to convey, is that while you can still reduce the deficit and have spending measures included and whether or not he can get republicans in congress to go along with that remains to be seen. >> carol lee for us in martha's vineyard with the "wall street journal." carol, nice to talk to you this morning. thanks for your time. >> thank you. witnesses are describing a night of gunfire and explosions in tripoli as rebels claim to close in on the libyan capital. we bring you a live report. that's me with the blow dryer and the flat iron until i see smoke. so pantene said, "breakage and split ends? no problem." they gave me this pantene called breakage to strength. [ female announcer ] the keratin protection pro-v system helps prevent then repair split ends.

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