good to have you here as we asked you at the top of the as we asked you at the top of the show, why are you awake. we have some of your answers. >> dan writes, it's this or the ab workout with chuck norris. >> good to have you hear. we hand things over to "morning joe" right now. it is co-incidental. the president committed to speaking next week, after the

labor day holiday. immediately upon congresses return. there's a lot that goes into scheduling a speech before congress. again, you can never find a perfect time. there are major event that is occur on television. there are other issues you have to deal with. there are many channels and opportunities for people to watch the president and opportunity for people to watch the debate. >> i think it's political theatrics. if you don't have a plan to put forward, sometimes fall back on police cal theatrics. i can't help but think this is no coincidence. >> is this insecurity on the part of the president? either a, he wants to distract the american people or b he doesn't want the american people to hear what the next president of the united states is going to

say about the president. >> i think initially it was political mischief. then i think the administration and his people sat back and said what if we go against the republican debate and our ratings are less than the debate. i don't think they wanted to play that card. >> okay. good morning, everyone. it's thursday, september 1st. welcome to "morning joe." with us, we have mike barnicle. >> thank you. >> you're welcome. next time you'll listen to me, right? >> i will. i will. >> when have i ever been wrong? >> never. >> you know what happens when you don't listen? >> i found out yesterday. >> we have peter alexander back with us. jon meacham is supposed to be here. >> he's supposed to be here. >> but he's not. >> all the chatter back and forth. that matter in washington.

>> it's so stupid. >> it makes stupid congress look stupider. >> is it possible. >> congress, the president, congress. >> the whole thing. >> officials in washington look so irrelevant. >> the things that people decide when they can meet for a beer. this wasn't preset. they couldn't have had these conversations. >> can someone show me, do we have a soundbyte of people fighting? >> what do you mean? >> i wonder how the media is hyping it up. now it's decided. this is silly. >> front page of the new york times, obama delays the speech. they are talking about it. you know, mike barnicle, i think more importantly, up in vermont, all the roads are out coming into your town and your family is relying on air lift to survive or if you are one of

350,000 people in connecticut in the dark without electricity, there's a medical crisis, you don't care if the president speaks it 7th or the 8th. in connecticut you're not watching anything right now. >> it's embarrassing. three weeks ago, congress left town for a recess. a nice vacation. three weeks at home. they left after months, days, weeks hours and they come back to this. >> they leave, i think everybody leaves from the president to the speaker to congress, they leave town. the american people say i have had enough. >> they get warning shots fired. what you have done, your behavior spoiled the market. helped run the economy down. now you have thousands of americans in difficulty, domestic difficulty, no electricity or power, the town

is isolated. this, please. >> this is what americans wake up to this morning. unbelievable. also, interesting news, mika. >> yeah. >> the justice department is trying to stop at&t and t-mobile from merging. it disappoints me. i have people in my family with at&t phones and -- >> they would like them to work. >> they would like them to work. i guess they like them buying at&t phones, but no towers to operate. >> seriously. the dropped calls. >> the justice department is blocking that. u.s. commanders are talking about their moment to flip the taliban. they think now is the time. if that's the case, get it done. they have been there thousands of years. i don't know they are flipping in 2011. they hate foreigners and people they consider invaders. >> one milestone going unnoticed

is the month of august in iraq, the first month in this war where not a single serviceman or woman was killed. >> no way. >> are you kidding me? that is great, great news. >> we were thinking 90 to 100 at times when i was there. it's a headline we should be trumping. >> july was the bloodiest month. august nothing. thank god. >> can you believe that? that is great news. other news not quite as great. ballparks. i know you hate this, peter alexander because you are willie geists official suck up to the new york yankees. >> it went well. >> last night, a big night. the captain comes through. captain came through. >> potential mvp came through. shot to dead center. you are looking at it now. the red sox win.

the little engine that could. >> i think i can. you have the yankees. mike barnicle, i'm not good at math, but i understand the new york yankees spent half a billion dollars more than the boston red sox since 2004, humiliating collapse in 2004. i'm serious, $500 million more than the boston red sox. >> you are correct. >> i just guessed. you know, they ought to call them the new york stimulus. spend a lot of money and you still don't get over the hump. >> what do you have to show for it? >> you're not good at math -- >> why? >> but at least usually -- >> usually, i show up on time. >> then we have mr. vacation. get over here. >> seriously, it's 5:07. >> no, it's not.

>> you are not living on tennessee time anymore, meacham. >> why are you against capitalism? >> i'm not. new york yankees spent $500 million more and they got nothing. do you have your son go to the stock change and cheer for microsoft? >> yeah, we do. don't you? >> more of an apple guy. it's been a fascinating month, the month of august. >> always is. always is. >> we're done. >> the anniversary. >> 32 days. >> today is the anniversary of the invasion of poland. >> of course blends your family for that. 1939. my mother's family.

>> anyway, it's been an absolutely horrific month for the president, politically, just politically. i'm sure he's had a wonderful summer. politically, a rough month. historically, is august a bad month for presidents? >> it is. august is arguably the most history filled month. hiroshima, world war i, katrina, nixon resigns. kuwait. >> the start of world war 1. >> yeah. the whole, i'm not sure what it is, just because it's hot or people are planning? the fall becomes season before the winter, it's hard to say. but, i think the president would like to go back to, i think he would like to go back to august, 2008, actually. he would like to be back in

denver. what's the number, 39% approval? 54% disapproval? nothing seems to be breaking his way. as small as the boehner scheduling thing is, you know, these little things to shed light on bigger things. you know, the president can't get a speech scheduled. so, does that make the speaker look bad, or does the president look happenless? >> it shows they have no fear of the president. nobody right now politically has fear of this president at all. it's better to be feared than loved. people come on this set all the time, mike barnicle, over the past month at least and when ever you talk about the president's jobs program, they sort of laugh. oh, he's not going to get that through. >> the president of the united states, at this point, and just

today, at this point, it's irrelevant. it's starting to seem a bit like march, april, of 1995 when bill clinton had to go out and do a press conference to remind americans he was well. of course we know how that story ended. this could end well for this president as well. this is a strange time for this administration. >> a couple things have happened to the presidency, not specific to president obama but the presidency itself. when they were trying to negotiate a big deal between the speaker of the house and the president of the united states. the speaker went several hours without returning a phone call from the president of the united states. the president of the united states doesn't return his phone call. then it's a little thing, you are right, jon, yesterday. the back and forth between the speaker and the president. no, you can't come and speak on

that date. we don't want you speaking on that date. you are right. it shows a complete lack of fear of the presidency, this part particular president. >> or disrespect. >> an element of disrespect m on the president's side, the lack of fear show and you hear many democrats talk about this offset and sometimes on set, there's no punch back. there's no punch back. >> when ever we go to the hill, jon meacham, it's all we hear from democrats, not republicans, democrats, frustration that this white house doesn't know how to fight tough. imagine congress telling lbj, no you're not going to get to speak here. i'm serious. lbj -- no, it's not. it's not. it's not anymore complicated than the fact that politicians are moved mainly by fear. they really are. fear of the voters or fear of a

president, fear of reprisals. lbj, there's not a single member of congress that would do that to lbj. they would know he would line item out, you know, wipe out a line item, hit them where it hurt. same thing with reagan and fdr and a strong great president. >> there was a story that used to go around in the '60s and early '70s about the johnson presidency. people thought it was more or less fact, frank church from idaho was a vocal critic of the war in vietnam. vocal critic. senator hughes from iowa was on the fence about supporting the president in vietnam had a line item for a dam on one of the big river that is run through iowa.

the president of the united states called senator hughes and said you want that dam in iowa? call frank church and hung up the phone. in other words, you want to deal with him, see if he can give you the deal. i'm not giving you the deal. >> this happens in washington. many people don't like it. john mertha, loved him. god rest his soul. republicans came in power. he was cocky. when he walked by, the older members would say mr. chairman, mr. chairman. there were always people around him. i didn't know who this guy was. what's with this. but he knew how to use his power. he always took great pride in getting his bills through the house faster than anybody else.

you want an amendment, you talk to him beforehand. i will not mention the democratic members name who made the mistake of offering an amendment. mertha looked over, offer your amendment, then offered one of his own. you better believe this member lost some line items because of it. again, people may not like how washington runs but if you are going to run washington, you better know how to play by the rules and win. >> you know what offends me is the fact that there's this bickering that perhaps might be trumped up by the media and revelled in. the president wants to do a joint session to doing a jobs address. isn't there one thing where both sides agree? don't you lay that on the republicans a little bit?

if this were a republican you would call the democrats in congress disrespectful. >> you know what i would tell the republican president, be a man and deliver the speech wherever you want to deliver the speech and tell the republicans to go to hell. i would start by saying ladies and gentlemen, i come to you tonight because we are in the middle of a great national crisis from california to maine, millions and millions of people are still out of work. i was hoping to go to the people os house to deliver this message to you. i was hoping to go to what i consider to be the symbol of american democracy. that light shining on top of that capital, which has been like a city shining brightly on the hill for all the world to see, but unfortunately, unfortunately, that -- >> it is unfortunate. very unfortunate. >> congress will not let me go

to the people's house to talk to you about what i consider a great national crisis. >> yeah. >> that is the message a strong president delivers and he takes, as i said earlier this week, the extremism of his opponent and uses that in his favor. this president has no sense of how to make people pay for the mistakes. >> they should pay. >> to mika's point, if george w. bush had done this, come on. >> oh, oh, oh. >> the whole back and forth on the speech. >> feasting. >> who would be killing who? >> the media would be all over george w. bush. >> if the democrats were having a debate? right. >> again, it gets back to the no fear, no punch back. the president could go anywhere in the country and say march, 1933, we had an epic crisis that

threatened this country's future. franklin roosevelt said we have nothing to fear but fear itself. this crisis is no less threatening. >> certainly for the people out of work. here is the great thing about politicians. if the president done what i was talking about or humiliated them, you only have to slap them down one time. >> i learned quickly. they are a scared group of people. >> the column was written by eugene robinson. we should come forward and ignore what the republicans said to him. i think a lot of people, i think did, the president supporters want to hear him right now and put his foot down and say this is what we're doing.

>> general petraeus is going to be refiring. >> that's a big story. >> what a time to retire. the man who, against all odds was the architect of the surge most politicians were against. retiring, as peter said, at the end of the month. not a single casualty in iraq. >> days before the anniversary of 9/11. >> wow. a lot to talk about this morning. >> where you going? tell me what do you plan to do in the future when you are not here? >> what? what are you talking about? >> are you going to ihop? you get fried chicken and waffles. >> the former vice president dick cheney is here. i look forward to seeing him. i am going to be here.

i say we take a vote. >> we also have jay carney. hap to jay carney later today to see what's going on there. a lot of strange questions lately. hillary running for president. the date. really? easy questions like afghanistan. >> zip it. don't say everything. >> i love jay. he got me in trouble once on the show but i love him. coming up, a look at politico top stories and paul ryan leaving the door open for a possible vice presidential run. bill karins had the weather. >> ihop is wonderful. >> is that a dish? i thought he was asking me on a date. >> he was.

>> kind of. oh, welcome back, everyone. let's talk hurricanes. the peak of the season, this is what we expect, things get active in a hurry. this is katia. this is the k named storm, which replaced katrina. instead of a track like this that irene did, this storm should turn earlier. bermuda has the biggest threat. as far as the forecast, it should become a major hurricane. bermuda, about a week from now is when it's closest to you. new england, nasty weather north of pittsburgh. buffalo, not bad in the city. nice weather for the hundreds of thousands of people without power. temperatures in the 70s and 80s in the mid-atlantic. talk about the summer heat. 102 in dallas today. chicago and minneapolis are going to be in the mid-90s with high humidity.

summer weather can end anytime now for our heartland. you are watching "morning joe" brewed by starbucks.

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the justice department is trying to block the merger between at&t and t-mobile. it's only fair because at&t is blocking the merger between me and the people i call. time to look at the morning papers at 25 after the hour. we start with "the los angeles times." the justice department is challenging at&t's $39 billion takeover of t-mobile. consumers would be hit with

higher prices and worse service. job losses factored into the decision. the takeover could lead to 20,000 jobs cut. >> wow. the boston globe, mitt romney bracing the tea party. he's going to stand under a tea party banner in new hampshire. he adjusted his schedule. governor rick perry is scheduled to be at the same event. >> okay. washington post has a retirement ceremony, general david petraeus warned the leaders faced with budget decisions should not cut the budget too deeply in the years ahead. >> as our nation contemplates budget decisions i know our leaders will remember our people, our men and women in

uniform are our military and taking care of them and their families must be our paramount objective. beyond that, it's imperative to maintain a force that not only capitalizes on the experience and expertise of the ranks today, but maintains it versatility and flexibility that's been developed in the past decade in particular. >> yesterday's ceremony paid tribute to his 37 years of military service as he starts his next job as cie director. history will remember him. i don't want to overstate it jon meacham, but for turning a situation around in iraq that after 2006 and 2007, the secretary -- few believed it could be turned around. historically, the turn around was on par with what mcarthur

did. >> hmm. that was a landing. this was a -- this was a remarkable reversal in that war. >> it was. it was. to judge the general as a whole, you have to deal with the counter insurgency in afghanistan. >> right. >> he's the architect of the doctrine that is -- >> i guess you would file that under generals fighting the last war. >> to be sure. because one of the things that these two wars are linked. we have debates about why it should have been or should be. from a military point of view, we have been trying to do a lot with very little. that has been true from the beginning. you have been very articulate and consistent on the fact that

the military has had a disproportionate influence on the number of troops and number of resources. >> time now for politico. joining us now with the politico playbook, the executive editor, tim van dehide. good morning. >> good morning, mika, how are you? >> you are interested in paul ryan jumping in in some way, shape or form. >> he said he'd be open to being number two on the ticket. he's not going to run for president despite the overtures. he never contemplated it. so many senior republicans wanted him to get in, he had to show respect for him and give it consideration and public airing. the guy loves being on the budget committee, likes policy and wants his career in washington to be defined by

that. he has an amazing perch. he's one of the most powerful people in washington. so many republicans listen to his advice now on the budget. >> do you get a sense, chris christie saying he's not feeling it, still? do you get a sense the field is set? we are where we are? >> the field is set except whether sarah palin will get into the race. i don't think it will happen. this is probably the field we are going in with. you have to watch what happens with perry. if he continues to surge, nobody is going to jump in. people will feel the romney-perry raise is sufficient for a lot of republicans. it puts focus on who could be number two. keep an eye on arubio. i think mark arubio is the most attractive number two for any republican candidate. he can help you with a constituency. the tea party likes him.

he's young, a fresh voice. he's on everybody's short list. christie is on everyone's short list. portland will be on everybody's short list because he's in ohio and ohio is going to be a toss state and he's got so much experience in washington. >> thank you very much. still ahead, jay carney. also, former adviserer to george w. bush, mark mckinnon ahead on "morning joe." >> when mika leaves, we're going to bring in vice president dick cheney. >> i don't think he wants me to leave. >> i'm sure he does. [ male announcer ] for sore muscles use new bengay cold therapy.

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welcome back. a look here at patterson, new jersey, still under water. big problems up and down the east coast, especially in new jersey and vermont. president obama plans to visit new jersey to survey the damage done by hurricane irene. it would be the president's first visit to the disaster zone

since the hurricane made land fall. it comes as the president declares disaster areas in new jersey and south carolina. homeland security secretary, janet napolitano and fema director, craig fugate toured new jersey yesterday. fema will remain in the state for the long haul. chris christie called on congress to act swiftly. >> we don't have time to wait for folks in congress to figure out how they want to offset this stuff with budget cuts. our people are suffering now. they need support now. they can all go down there, get back to work, figure out the budget cuts later. we need to support now, here in new jersey. it's not a republican or

democratic issue. >> new jersey is in the midst of a recovery effort. hundreds of thousands of people are still without power. it's also the case in connecticut. >> almost 400,000 people in connecticut and vermont completely shut off. so many communities completely shut off. >> school trying to start. moammar gadhafi has been cornered in a southern desert country 150 miles from tripoli. two of his sons are making conflicting statements on his where abouts and whether he will surrender. he claims his family is in a suburb of the capital drinking coffee and tea and now they vouge to fight to the death. rebels say they have captured gadhafi's foreign minister.

it comes as "the washington post" reports the u.s. embassy in tripoli is in ruins. the compound was looted, ransacked and burned in may just after the killings of gadhafi's family in a nato air strike. that's a look at the headlines. next, the must read opinion pages and highlights from fenway between the red sox and yankees. epic fail in base running comes up as well. we'll be right back. >> hate when that happens.

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he can tax and spend and regulate our way to prosperity. we cannot. we must compete our way to prosperity. it is time for america to start building things again. it is time for america to start working again. it is time for america to compete again. >> all right. welcome back to "morning joe." 42 past the hour. time for america to compete again. >> yes, i agree with you there. >> all right. i'm going to read from "the washington post," actually two pieces. this is jonathan capehart. >> we love him. >> we love him. he says obama's fight, go big or go home. the jobs plan obama will unveil will be a great first sign of his willingness to fight. pieces of it have already leaked out. my hope is that the president will reveal other ideas that he

got from gene robinson and others to go big. if the republicans don't go along, he must go to the mat. >> jon meacham, explain to me, how can the president seem too passive and moderate for his base, but seen as radical, a marxist, extremist. >> it's hard to be both of those things. >> how can he be both? >> it's hard. the triumph of the paranoid stock in american politics. both sides are so entrench thad facts don't change their view. so, you have this characterture that is fact proof of the protomarxist or whatever. even govern huntsman is saying, you know, tax and spend our way to prosperity. i don't think president obama

believes that but it's a view now that is accepted and i think if anything we have learned in the last three years is that obama is trapped by reality. he hasn't been able to bend it. great presidents bend reality however slightly, but they are able to bend it. reality has been bending him. >> i go back to the two great presidents historically, fdr. he had a single focus on getting america back to work, saving this country, willing to back the supreme court if it's what it took. ronald reagan in 1981. a focus on beating the communist. he would do whatever it took to beat the economist including too far in the iran con tra. a focus of this great president who literally bent history. >> to me, that's the best of a

great president. you can only do it for about 20 minutes. >> right. >> bill clinton said great presidents are remembered for two things, three at the most. the other ingredient that is lacking is a level of emotional leadership. the two presidents you mentioned were confident. >> there you go. >> you have to figure one of this president's problems, it would be any president's problem now, he's in a world of tweeting and texting and bloggers and 24/7 cable channels. it's like trying to get a point across in a crowded restaurant. you can't hear, they can't hear, nobody listens. there are no more facts. the emotional aspect, we heard it from jim hoffa and all sorts

of people. the president of the united states has to realize that this is not about a fight over tenure. this is not about, you know, some professor getting a job for the rest of his or her life. this is about putting people to work. >> right. >> putting people to work now. >> along those same lines, in the washington post, they write about obama's paradox problem. he say os barack obama hates to pring up the facts we have political parties. he will have to point out it is republicans in congress blocking his agenda. they will either have to start worrying about their low ratings or begin to pay a real price for obstruction. >> with all due respect, the president owned washington, d.c. in 2009 and 2010, owned it. at points, he had a filibuster

proof senate, a 79 vote margin in the house and again, with all due respect, he's a nice man, but he was blaming republicans then as well. at some point, if you celebrate the triumph of barack obama, you have to turn the mirror on the man they adore. they have been writing the same columns whether this president had a filibuster proof senate or weather they had john boehner as speaker. at some point, that actually gives the one man or woman with the bully pulpit more power. >> to call them out, which is what he's saying. >> our friend david axelrod would argue, obama was attacked from going on every show.

when reagan went on to talk about taxes, he had an audience of 40 million. now the president can only get an audience of 10, in that way. tough go and speak where the ducks are, so to speak. so it is fragmented. but, you know, obama prides himself on being the rival for realists. he knows how to deal with things. if he were sitting here, he would be convincing about here are the six reasons everything i tried to do couldn't happen. it's clinical and articulate. it's a great analogy. but at some point, to go to one of our next guests great friends, general powell. he says you break it, you own it. you won the presidency. this is yours. at some point, a rational

explanation is going to be critical for the memoir and different seminars, but politically, it doesn't move the dial at all. you can't keep talking about this car in the ditch. >> you don't want to hear that again, do you? >> i'm tired of the ditch and the car. >> do you think, joe, if we had a republican president for the last three years and the democratic congress that the level of animosity and polarization would be as high now? >> no. because for some reason, maybe it's because, this is my opinion, as a conservative republican, maybe it's because republicans are so used to hostility from the press from the day they run for office, from the very first time that they know how to operate and how to thrive in adversity. >> it's interesting.

>> you know, somebody suggested that about john roberts. all these liberals watching john roberts saying how does a conservative man sound so intelligent. i don't understand. what are we looking at? one of his classmates said try going to harvard law school in the mid-70s where every word you say in class is viciously attacked and compare it to everybody else in class who may have a liberal world view where they get affirmation every time they raise their hand and open their mouth. this is an administration that is run by a man who gets a softer treatment than anybody. i challenge anybody to find a president that had an easier pathway to the white house in the general election campaign. i don't think he knows how to fight.

i don't think he knows how to fight because he doesn't have to fight. he's never had to fight politically on the national level. >> he better learn. >> he better learn. >> do you disagree with that? >> i don't. i don't. i was struck by a scene from "dreams from my father." he's talked to by his stepfather. he hits him and he remembers the taste and feel of the leather. he learned to punch back. i thought that was a remarkable anecdote. i think he did that in the campaign. >> yeah, i totally disagree with that statement. >> of course you do. >> it's not that simple, okay. it's just not. you can't just make a statement like that. he doesn't get it.

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all right sports fans before we get to the big night in boston, the little engine that could. >> huge night for the phillies, too. >> hi, cliff. >> here he is at bat. if you are cliff lee, you don't have to do anything. let's take a look.

there he is. >> all right. than, cliff. when you are cliff lee, you can do that. >> did they win? >> yeah. yeah, amazing. boom! see you later. shots for ortiz. eric chavez, boom, down the line. it was going to be a double, but a little trouble. goes and gets it. chavez on third. it's okay. bottom of the sixth. mvp candidate. the little engine that could. boom! >> i think i can, baby. >> 7-5 red sox. the captain into the bull pen. red sox win, 9-5. game and a half lead in the american league. >> doesn't matter because of the wild card. this is going to be a heck of a race for the a.l. league. >> it is.

>> they buried $500 million over the next five years. >> you are in good shape, right? are you in as good of shape adds this guy from the brewers? here is ryan brawn of milwaukee. left center field, bounces away from center field. there goes brawn. >> whoa! whoa! come on, get up. get up. don't try to get up. whoa! wait. that would have been his first inside-the-park home run. the brews lost. >> a great player. >> why did he fall? >> he was running fast. >> you know who we have coming up? >> who? >> the former vice president of the united states, dick cheney. >> oh, i can't wait. why do you keep saying i can't see him?

>> i'm not letting you interview him.

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♪ welcome back to "morning joe." what a beautiful sky. new york city. >> top of the hour. >> top of the rock. welcome back to "morning joe." we have mike barnicle. jon meacham decided to show up. former adviser to president george w. bush, contributed to news week and daily beast. co-founder of no labels.

song writer. >> fashion plate. >> fashion plate. the man you need to know if you want to hear great music, measuring mark mckinnon. you know who i'm going to bring with me? he always gets me in trouble. i'm going to bring jay carney with me. >> he's a music fan. >> jay carney. carnegie. >> jay. >> eminem in the house. how are you, man? >> mika taught me everything i know about austin. it is a great, great town. i spent a lot of time covering the governor bush campaign in 2000 for president. love austin, texas. >> mark mckinnon told me as he was walking out of the white house and axelrod going into the

white house, he said you can have it. good luck. jay on a personal note -- >> sure. >> you covered the white house so long. talk about, if you will, because i talked to david about this, too. you have no idea, do you, what the incoming is like inside that, those four walls until you get there. >> that's so true, joe. it is constant. it is relentless. everything that comes in is hard. i think what struck me having covered it versus being on the inside is how small it is, intimate it is. in the end, all these decisions are debated by a small group of men and woman looking for the right answer among difficult choices and the president makes the call. it's a very human exercise. it's done with utmost

seriousness and awareness of what the implications are of every decision. i's humbling and an honor to be here. every day, not a day goes by where i don't stop for a moment and say, this is incredible. >> it's the opposite of what mika brzezinski says coming in here. >> anyone have a problem with that? any questions? >> we gave you the keys to the gates of hell. jay, my son is now in a band, he's almost ten years old. he plays the 9:30 club. >> no. >> one of the best clubs in america. >> that's great. >> they have a battle of the bands deal for kids. it's been a great thing. >> jay, you were a classic sort of outsider as a member of the press. it's difficult for people to make that transition. what was the transition like for

you? >> i had a lot to learn. i brought something to the table because of my relationship with the press and my perspective. i worked with the vice president, joe biden, for a couple years. that was a great perspective. i got a chance to see what it was like on this side. in this position, i understand, i'm in the briefing room now looking at the rows of chairs, ones where i used to sit. i get where they are coming from. i obviously don't always agree with them and enjoy every moment of the briefing. i understand motivations and where they are headed and how i can help or either help or steer. so, you know, i think i bring something to this but you learn every day. >> jay, let's continue the process here. you have been getting weird

questions lately in there. the hillary thing. the latest scheduling issue for the president's speech. a speech on jobs. it's an issue which many keep asking again and again and again, when is he going to focus on jobs. he focuses and people ask when is he going to focus on jobs. can you understand how this scheduling problem is seen as the president getting the narrative that he's weak and getting pushed around by the republicans. he needs to push back and lay out a concrete plan with a vision that excites people. >> mika, the second half of your question is the point. that's why -- look, you know, after the report and look at the last 24 hours, our intention was merely for the president to address a joint session of congress as soon as possible

upon congress' return to the white house. both houses will be in session on next wednesday. we asked for that day. we contacted the speaker's office. no objection was raised at that time. the letter went forward. the speaker came back later in the day saying there was a problem with that, lodgist cal. that's fine. we'll go thursday. our interest is not in having a political back and forth here. our interest is in the president speaking to people, speaking to congress about the need to do things, to create jobs to get the economy going. americans are sick and tired of the bickering, the gridlock. what we saw over the summer, gridlock and partisan bickering is not new but what we saw over the summer, it can be harmful and deadly for the lives of americans. people are fed up. we want to focus on the things

we can do to get the economy growing. it's what the president is going to talk about next week. >> not to run this into the ground, but in hopes of running it into the ground -- >> it's what you do so well. >> can you give us the tick tok, the time line of when the call was placed to the speaker? >> 10:30 or 11:00. >> yeah. >> sure, then what happened. then a letter went out, no objection made. it was made public. i did my briefing. i think after 4:00, the speaker replied with his letter. we were in conversations with the speaker's office to work it out and see if there was a way to do it wednesday. our interest is to do it as soon as possible. once you make the call, we want to do it in front of congress. we are ask k them to work with us. your options are limited.

they are not in town many days of the week. next week, it's just wednesday and thursday. we asked for wednesday. when that was a problem, we said fine, thursday. >> all right. >> jon meacham. >> jay, your sense of who your allies are on the hill at this point. i think you know who your opponents are. for all the briefings we know about the breakdown in party. one of the issues is that the president has a hard time leveraging power in a situation where he's not -- hasn't got that much political capital himself. who are your friends on the hill to help address that? >> the president is obviously a democrat. he has great relations with democrats in both houses. he works with them and he works with republicans who are willing to try to find bipartisan solutions to the challenges we

face. i have done this for awhile from the other side. i have seen the story when times are hard people are frustrated. members of congress are refle reflecting. it's held by democrats and republicans. the recovery slowed. head winds hit the economy. we need to take action. it's why the president is focused on it. we are looking for partners to do thing that is when the president speaks next week, we will see in a normal universe, governorer bipartisan support. we hope members of congress coming back over the long recess heard the same things the president heard when he was in the midwest a couple weeks ago doing his bus tour. feedback from americans. most americans are not rigid or partisan whether they go to democrat or republican or

registered independent. they want washington to work for them. they want washington to be sensible, compromise and get things done. the president tried to do that. that's what his focus was over the debt ceiling. he's going to continue to push congress to help the economy and create jobs. >> you say the president is looking for partners in this. does he have any? >> sure he does. >> what if he doesn't have enough? when does he fight back? >> i think he fights every day, mika, for i know this sounds corny, but it's true. he fights every day for the american people. he fights for the american people. if congress doesn't do the things that are so clearly in the interest of the country, we'll be judged by outside economists and analysts to be very beneficial to the economy

and employment. he will make the case to the american people as he's been saying politics is broken and keeps getting in the way of what we need to do. he hopes members of the congress come back from recess with a new sense of urgency. having heard from their constituents, they are sick of the political game. they want things done. he's hopeful. make no mistake, he's going to make this case not yus to members of congress but to the american people. there are things we need to do. there's nothing preventing us from doing this and getting our fiscal house in order except politics. in both cases, there are broadly supported bipartisan options to solve the problem. >> all right, jay carney,

thanks. he didn't get me in trouble. >> we could go off air and talk problems. thank you very much for having me. i appreciate being back. >> thanks. >> congratulations, a 10-year-old son. the 9:30 club, it doesn't get better than that. >> he played in the battle of the bands after i got named the job. it was a great honor. watching him on stage was a better thing. >> nice story. say hi to claire. thank you very much. mark mckinnon, a couple days ago we had nicolle wallace here and all the negative reports coming in about the obama white house and low ratings. we go to break and nicole shakes her head and she says like only someone who is working in the white house in difficult times could understand. i have been to this movie before and i feel so sorry for them.

it doesn't matter what your ideology is. if you have been inside there and see it coming at you. it happens to just about every president. lbj, when the incoming came in, it didn't stop until he said he was getting out. >> it's harder than ever before. it is a thankless job being a servant of democracy. >> sure. yeah. it's every day you get pounded, every second. how do you get the energy to get up and go to work every morning? >> it's a sacrifice. i appreciate people like jay and others who give up oxygen to their brain to do this. >> david axelrod, of course, we knew david before. we knew him during, he looked really bad. beat you up. people just don't understand. everybody who works in the white

house from both sides, the sacrifices they make for their family is immeasurable. you can't begin to quantify the toll. mika, you know this. you basically didn't see your dad for four years. >> we went on trips with him. it's how it happened. i commend him for dragging us along because three kids and all these different events and things he had to do. i'm not sure how he did it. >> i remember jay, specifically torturing president bush in press conferences. coming up in a few minutes. mika is going to ihop. once she leaves, we can bring in former vice president dick cheney. >> i'm staying right here. coming up next, chuck todd. first, here is bill karins with a check on the forecast.

bill, you are the one responsible for driving mika to ihop. >> that would be an interesting trip in itself. she could sit in the back. good morning, everyone. let's talk about the forecast. storms this morning rolling north of pittsburgh. they have had a wet go of it. this is not going to hold b together for the east coast. we have a hurricane out there, katia. bermuda is a bigger concern. can't rule out new england at this point. as of now, we are looking okay. showers and storms, buffalo and pittsburgh. it's september. 100 degree heat and 90 degree heat widespread. you are watching "morning joe" brewed by starbucks.

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19 past the hour. live look at the white house. we were just in the green room

with the former vice president. he was very, very charming and nice. joe kicked me out, though. i don't get it. i'm confused. joining us now host of "the daily rundown," chuck todd. good to see you this morning. >> good morning. >> quickly on the scheduling thing. we have one historian telling us speaker boehner refused to grant the room for the president is unprecedented. i feel like this is a little bit of a media made up story in terms of drama or do you think it's significant? >> this is a part of the, you know, one of the constant criticisms of this white house is their lack of communication skills when it comes to internal things inside this town in washington whether with a special interest group, head of

labor union, democrats or republicans. when you look at the time line and it was essentially yesterday morning they made their first outreach to speaker boehner it all looks petty. >> it's not. >> at the same time, the president is chamber. it is the speaker of the houses -- it is one of those things it white house could have followed better protocol in the beginning. speaker boehner, you could argue could have been more gracious in the lack of -- you know, wherever you want to go down on this, whether you are in support of the president or not or supporter of speaker boehner or not, it added to the cynicism everybody feels about this town. it should have been handled better, i would argue at first on the white house side and yes, handled better on speaker boehner's side. >> i want to look at the latest

numbers out. we have the polls showing the president's approval at an all-time low. also, on the question of who can handle the economy better there's interesting results as well. mitt romney tops president obama. chuck, break it down for us. >> that's one of those campaigns, rick perry also scored higher than obama. it tells you where the country is on the economy. they are so frustrated they are saying well, they don't think the president is handling the economy well. they are looking at the alternative. they don't know, of course, this is the trick for running for president when making a referendum. you always look good until you have to start presenting your own plan and running your campaign and talking about your agenda. the white house was counting on it. it continues to show how bad and

pessimistic the country is on the economy and now the president. >> jon meacham. >> on a human level, are you hearing folks inside saying all right, if rick perry and romney is so great, let them take it? what is the frustration level with this? i can't imagine waking up in the morning looking at a poll saying, you know, rick perry or romney could do better. on a human level, what does it do to staff and the president? >> i can tell you this, before the vacation, this was a demoralized staff. nobody needed a vacation more. the guy that's most frustrated is the president. less about the politics on this. he's been frustrated his with economic team, his advisers

going does anybody have a good idea on trying to jump start the economy. you know, that's the type of frustration i have heard. on the politics level, they can't wait to start the come pain in some way. they are not there yet. >> chuck todd, thank you so much. we'll see you at 9:00 a.m. eastern time on "the daily rundown." former vice president dick cheney is standing by in the green room. we'll be back with more "morning joe."

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with us now, we have former vice president dick cheney right there. that's liz cheney wondering in front of the camera. >> she was told to. >> hi, liz. how are you? >> he can handle this. >> okay. >> no doubt about it. >> we obviously have the vice president dick cheney, whose memoir "in my time" is available

in bookstores now. a remarkable story about a remarkable man. why did you bring cupcakes? why did you have somebody send cupcakes to mika? >> i'm trying to remember what triggered that. i was overcome with a deep commitment, friendship. >> it was lovely. thank you very, very much. >> earlier this week, when we talked about you coming on the show, there was discussion around the table. i think it was john heilemann that said what's not answered in the book is what changed dick cheney from the man who was seen by everybody as the moderate voice of republicanism in washington, d.c., to a man who seemed to morph overnight into darth vader. some said they don't know dick cheney anymore. what caused the transformation,

first of all, and how tough has it been for you and your family to deal with that transformation? >> it wasn't tough to deal with the transformation. after being vice president for a few years, subject of all the jokes on leno and letterman, you need to have a pretty thick skin to get up every morning. i never let it bother me. we used to joke about it. i have a great picture that the staff took of me one day. i didn't know they were there. they snuck in with a camera and i had a darth vader mask on. part of it had to do with the fact, the nature of the job. i was doing something that hadn't been done very often as vice president. i wasn't really in charge of anything, it's not like running

the defense department or running the white house. but there were things that needed to be done that i chose to do. the president wanted me to do them. it generated controversy. >> he depended on you? >> he did. it worked in such a way that it fed the notion of change. i don't think i did. i think what happened was 9/11 was a dramatic event, historic event. we went from a situation where terrorist act was a law enforcement problem to where a terrorist act was an act of war against the united states, killed 3,000 people one morning. that required us to do things we would not have otherwise done. we are absolutely essential to collect the intelligence to make sure we defeated the attack and we were able to prevail over al qaeda. >> you have drawn a lot of criticism.

recently, colin powell went on "face the nation" to attack you. but the relationship, obviously, that's the headline. the relationship goes deeper than that. you had a very long relationship with colin powell and played a significant role in his advancement. >> it's true. we worked together well during our time at the defense department. he was chairman of the joint chief of staffs, i got him appointed to that. four years through desert storm. we worked well together. good, solid, professional relationship. it got strained once we moved into the bush administration. >> on a personal note, you had a heart attack during thanksgiving, it was his wife that made a thoughtful, loving gesture, cooked for the family and helped out. >> she did help out. deeply appreciate it. >> you played a role in his

advancement and his removal. he called the things you wrote in the book as cheap shots. i wonder, as you wrote your book, questioning his loyalty, where the loyalty lies. could you be more specific? wasn't it colin powell who put himself out there for this administration, especially when it came to the argument of the war and took the biggest hit of his career for it. >> that's true. he went to the united nations to make his presentation and lay down the intelligence that turned out to be flawed, much of it with respect to wmd. i think a fair reading of the book, which i had a strong suspicion colin hadn't done before he made his comments. there's a lot more about our collaboration together in the defense depment together.

three chapters than there was in terms of my comment of how i thought he was conducted himself as secretary of state. >> as you write this book, it spans seven decades. the focus, obviously, lately, has been what's happened over the past ten years. before we get to those last decades and before we start asking questions about the specifics, the controversy of this past decade, what part of your life story do you think has been overlooked? has been left out and that you want to get out in this book? >> the thing that struck me as i dealt with this, i had material for three or four books. not because there was anything special about me but because we could have covered that kind of material. all i could do is one volume.

i think the focus has been on the bush years. sort of a first half of the book is growing up in wyoming, my distinguished academic career. >> as distinguished as mine. >> all those things that led up to my getting to washington. the next administration, the ford administration and ten years in the house and four years as secretary of defense. all of that is in the book. there's not been much commentary on it. most people are focused on the bush years, the last eight years. >> you came to washington at a point when it wasn't exactly a bipartisan nirvana. >> right. >> compare the washington in which you became the youngest chief of staff ever through today. do you think it's gotten worse? do you think it's the same in terms of the feeling of

partisanship as people try to govern the country? >> this wisdom that says there was a period of time back there where everything was warm and fuzzy. republicans loved democrats. everybody got along. it's not what i remember. what i remember, i arrived here in december, 1968. martin luther king was just assassinated. kennedy was assassinated. troopers in the 82nd airborne on capitol hill with machine guns to make sure the rioting in downtown washington didn't spread to the government buildings. it was a very painful time in history. not a time when you could look back on them and say gee, those were the good old days, the golden days. it's been true in our history, we had these peaks and valleys. to say it's worse now than it's ever been. i'm reluctant to make that

decision. we won't know until we get a few more years under our belt and deal with the debt problem. what's it going to look like ten years from now? are we going to solve it or not? >> who do you think the best president is you ever served? >> do you have an answer for that question? >> i do. highly classified. >> here we are. >> confines of "morning joe." >> nobody is watching so -- >> it's horrible. such a hateful thing to say. you are a regular viewer of "morning joe." >> i am. i am. i enjoy the show very much and watch it several days a week. on who is the best president, i used to think, when i was a political scientist, which is what i started in life to be. you look for trends and themes

that run across administrations. in fact, what i'm struck by after 40 years in this business, are the differences. each president is so different in terms of the experience he brings to office and in terms of the challenges he faces when it gets there. each of it is -- really, each one is truly unique set of circumstances. it's important not to lose sight of the differences, the defining aspects of the presidency. >> mike barnicle, you are in this book. >> oh, lord. >> i have the quote here. >> what did he do? >> this was in the portion on the 2004 election after the debate i had with john edwards. >> yeah. >> it said i enjoyed listening to the afterdebate commentary, msnbcs chris matthews who usually turns red in the face and starts shouting at the mere

mention of my name paid me a compliment say iing cheney andedwards and the water pistol. mike barnicle was also kind. at the end of the debate, after 90 minutes dick cheney didn't turn to john edwards and say by the way, give me the car keys, too. >> that's good. >> well, i don't think you will enjoy this segment as much. the book -- i haven't read the whole thing yet, but it's uniquely without regret, mr. vice president. i would like to ask you about one specific example that i know of that pertains to your life as vice president and it has to do with a young man named john hart. there's no reason for you to know him. he was 20 years of age when he

was killed in iraq. one of the reasons he died other than being shot to death was the vehicle he was in, an unarmored humvee was ill equipped to fight that portion of the war. at that period of time, more than 12,000 humvees where down there. how is it and what would you say to his parents today? how is it that young men are sent to war without the proper equipment with the united states of america? how did that happen? any regrets over that? >> certainly wish something like that hadn't happened. the people they send on the united states -- obviously, that doesn't happen with modern warfare. you do the best you can with working with the military to

prepare forces for the contingencies they are likely to encounter. clearly, the military encountered circumstances in iraq with respect to the problem with improvised devices that they had not been prepared to accept. when the humvee was designed, it wauz soft sided vehicle for humvees and jeeps. it was not an armored vehicle. they had to adjust on the fly. they spent a lot of money to improve the quality of the vehicles to reduce the extent of them. every war that i'm familiar with have elements not anticipated when you make decisions ten years in advance what kind of equipment you are going to buy then ten years later, you are using it. there are adjustments that have to be made because you didn't

anticipate a problem that arisinarise arises. >> let's address you not having regrets. we have regrets every ten to 15 minutes, things we would like to change. let's start with the big one. iraq. no regrets about going into iraq despite the fact intel was as flawed as it was? >> as i look back on iraq, i think it was the right thing to do. let me take a minute to explain what's come out of that. after 9/11 we were faced with a situation where we believe it was likely to be another attack against the united states. we believed then and i believe today one of the biggest thets we face was a terrorist organization equipped with weapons of mass destruction. the next 9/11 might be a group of terrorists with a nuclear

weapon or bilogical agent of some kind. we look for and believe we found a situation where you had a state produced and used weapons of mass destruction and had a relationship with elements of the terrorist community. where they were likely to come together was iraq more than anything else. we saw that as a significant threat. we went in and took down saddam hussein several things happened. we eliminated the possibility that he was going to become a threat. it was always true the intel was flawed. we did not find stockpiles of mass destruction. if you read the report, it's very clear he preserved and had the capacity to produce, the technical know how and the intent once the sanctions were

lifted to go back in again. he convinced all of us he did have weapons of mass destruction. >> what was the point that you decided and suggested to the president of the united states that the united states needed to go to war with iraq. >> it flowed out of 9/11, really. >> i remember you going on "meet the press" immediately after 9/11 and pushing back against tim russert's suggestion that saddam hussein was involved. >> the question was did we have evidence linking hussein to the attacks of 9/11. no, we didn't. later on, the ci ara found the d hijacker met with senior officials of iraq some months before. now, in the end, they were never able to prove that out. it was a factor that was

presented to us during the months in the fall of 2001. let me finish on the iraq thing. i remain today convinced that threat is the possibility of terrorists with a nuclear weapon in the middle of our city. we need to do everything we can. they never acquired that capability. one of the event that is happened was gadhafi held a news con vens. all of that resides in the united states. centrifuges, weapons design, the feed stock, all of that is in our control now. when we shot down libya's nuclear program, we put a crimp in operations. the father of the pakistan program, the man who had to set up a black market operation, the biggest customer he had at that time were the libyans. he had been doing business with the iranians and north koreans.

we have had testimony in the pres in recent weeks north korea bribed pakistani officials to get their hands on material to build weapons with in north creigh. that problem remains important. there was no stockpiles. there was an intent and capability. i thought it was essential we do it. >> mr. vice president, a complex answer and come argue con luted. >> a war that changed the course of this country for decades. and intelligence put out to the american people. many of them feel deceived about getting behind it at this point.

>> where did the intelligence come from? we weren't the ones who thought that out? it wasn't our intelligence report that contributed to all this. it went back to the clinton administration. bill clinton made a speech in late 1998 that was as tough as anything i said about hussein using weapons of mass destruction. congress passed legislation calling for the overthrow of iraq for that purpose. critics say that we are the only one who is ever were concerned. >> the critics in 2002 and you can get quotes, this is one of the things i'm surprised the administration didn't hammer more. you can get quotes from john edwards to kerry to kennedy, you name it, carl levin, mike

barnicle, "the new york times" and "the washington post," you can go back and look at editorials saying one of the greatest challenges to the new incoming bush administration was saddam hussein and iraq. that somehow was forgotten. >> no doubt. no doubt that was an enormous challenge. it was eclipsed on the morning of 9/11 when what happened here happened here. >> gathering intelligence. a legitimate fear is delivered to the united states by terrorists. what happened and why did it happen that in december of 2001 when you have a principle target capable with the network and financing of delivering such a weapon, osama bin laden in the mountains of afghanistan, why not go for the kill then. why extract troops and dispatch

them to iraq instead of getting it done in 2001? >> iraq happened later. >> i understand that. >> there was a debate of what happened in torah bore ra. i wasn't commander on the scene like i understand was that our people were convinced that the locals could, in fact, our allies if you will in afghanistan, part of the northern alliance were capable of securing the area and dealing with that problem. it turned out to be a flawed judgment, wasn't true. >> mr. vice president, one argument is that people of good will can argue and dispute a war and the beginning of shock and awe. as the insurgency took place, as things became more complicated to get to your point earlier about the humvee, war is like a

darkroom. you never know what you are going to finld. what we find in 2003, 2004 and 2005 and forward was much more complicated and dangerous situation than anticipated. more than the public was prepared to anticipate. as you rethink the way things unfolded after the initial stages of the operation, do you wish you would have done things differently? >> well, i can't -- i can't coms to be dealt with in iraq. there were things that we had anticipated would happen that didn't happen and vice versa. we were concerned, for example, that the iraqis would set on fire all the southern oil fields. that didn't happen. we preempted that. there was a conviction that if you just the took off the top layer of the government that you could then rely upon the bureaucracy in iraq underneath that top layer to take over and govern the country. that didn't happen.

so there's no question. and i mentioned, i've got blanket statements in the book that, you know, we weren't always right in washington, we weren't always right out in the field. i didn't go into great detail in terms of this debate because obviously a lot of other people already had. but it's war. and it's complicated. and it always involves elements that you can't really anticipate. and that's certainly the case here. on the other hand, i think tony blair is one of the most eloquent statements that i've seen on the subject that the bloodshed and the violence of the insurgency in that period, that aftermath, after we got into iraq, was caused by the terrorists. they were the ones who were, in fact, shooting up the setting o ieds, killing our soldiers and going after the iraqis, too.

that wasn't something that the alliance ordered up, but in fact it was our enemy, our adversaries, that were heavily involved in committing those acts. >> as we wrap up, let's talk about one of the great things of your life, keeping up with your wife, lynn. with your academic career you would still be in wyoming right now, if she had not dragged you by the hair when you had it and dragged you back to school. >> nice way to put it. >> you can't understate the influence your wife has had in your life, have you. >> no. that's absolutely true. we just celebrated our 47th wedding anniversary last week. i first took her out when she was 16 years old. been a regular thing ever since. but she straightened me out. there was a time when she graduated sume cum laude from college and i was in jail,

sleeping off a hangover. talking about catching up where i could match her expectations with respect to my conduct. i eventually got there, but it took the better part of 47 years. >> now, i want to ask you about your health and i want to hear about those italian villas that you dream about under sedation. they sound like bliss. >> she actually wants to hear about the sedation, what she can take. >> you have an amazing health story. you even had a letter that you had in place because you were concerned at one point that you've had so many different heart events d ksh i've covered them all. at the beginning it would be like bells and whistles, dak dick cheney had a heart attack, breaking news. and then, oh, dick cheney had a heart attack. you keep going. how are you doing? >> i'm doing fine. i got into end-stage heart

failure 14 months ago. your heart doesn't deliver enough blood to your vital organs, your liver and kidneys and so forth. my first heart attack happened in the middle of my first campaign for congress, which might have been a sign. >> a slight sign. >> but i was worried i would have to give up my political aspirations. i had a doctor in cheyenne, wyoming, i asked him, am i going to have to quit my campaign. he said hard work never killed anybody. don't spend your life doing something you don't care about. if that's what you want to do, go for it. i've operated on that basis ever since, had to make adjustments along the way because i have had this continuing problem with respect to coronary artery disease. but the wonderful thing is the technology has stayed ahead of my disease. today i have a heart pump, not an artificial heart, but it supplements my heart. i'm back hunting and fishing and spending time with the family and traveling and writing books.

might even write another book. >> dick cheney. >> thank you for being with us. we thank you, liz. quite a co-author. >> fantastic. >> "in my time" is out in bookstores. we'll be back. thanks again. >> thanks. >> good to see you. >> i enjoyed it. [ male announcer ] it's been a good year for the chevy silverado. and not because of the awards or the accolades. no, it was good because you told us so. the chevy model year wrap up. get in on our greatest model year yet. just announced -- celebrate labor day with an additional $500 bonus cash. with all other offers, including the all-star edition discount, that's a total value of $6,500. ♪ our greatest model year yet is wrapping up.

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it is coincidental. the president committed to speaking next week after the labor day holiday and immediately upon congress' return. and there are a lot of factors that go into scheduling a speech before congress, a joint session speech. and, again, you can never find a perfect time. there are major events that occur on television, there are, you know, other issues that you have to deal with. there are many channels, many opportunities for people to watch the president, obviously an opportunity for people to watch him today. >> i think it's political theatrics. if you don't have a plan to put forward, you sometimes fall back on political theatrics, and i can't help but think this was no coincidence. >> now, does this show me a little insecurity on the part of the president? either, a, he wants to distract the american people so they don't watch him, or, b, he doesn't want the american people

to hear what the next president of the united states is going to say about the president. >> i think initially it was political mischief, and then i think the administration and the president and his people sat back and said, you know what, what if we go up against the republican debate and our ratings are less than the debate? i don't think they wanted to play that card. welcome back to "morning joe." 8:00 on the east coast as you take a live look at new york city. on set we have mike barnicle, john meacham, and peter alexander. >> so, john, it's been a fascinating month, the month of august. >> always is. >> the month of august. >> we're done. >> is today september 1st? >> yes. >> unless august has 32 days. >> today is the anniversary of the invasion of poland. >> can't of course blame your family for that. >> that's just kind of not

funny. >> no, it is. >> no, it's not. >> september 1st, 1939. >> when pat does it in the german -- >> that german -- >> my mother's family. spanish. czechoslovakia. >> anyway, it's been an absolutely horrific month for the president politically, just politically. i'm sure he's had a wonderful summer but politically a horrific month, not any bert for congress. put this in perspective. historically, is august usually a bad month, presidential historians? >> something always happens. >> august is arguably the most history-filled month. hiroshima, world war i, katrina, nixon resigns, the invasion of kuwait. >> the start of world war i. >> the start of world war -- yeah. sarajevo. so the whole -- i'm not sure what it is. it's a great parlor game. is it because it's hot? is it because people are planning? because the fall becomes a season before the winter?

it's hard to say. but, you know, i think the president would like to go back to -- i think he'd like to go back to august 2008, actually, like to be back in denver. but it's -- what's the number, 39% approval? >> yeah. >> 54% disapproval? nothing seems to be breaking his way. and as small as the boehner scheduling thing is, you know, these little things do shed light on bigger things. and, you know, the president can't get a speech scheduled. >> yeah. >> so does that make the speaker look churlish and the republicans or make the president look a little hapless? you know, depending on where you are -- >> it certainly shows they have no fear. in fact, nobody right now politically has fear of this president at all. as mack velly said, better to be feared than loved. and people come on the set all the time, mike barnicle, over the past month, at least, and

whenever you talk about the president's jobs program they just sort of laugh. like, oh, he's not going to get that through. almost as the if the president of the united states, at this point, just today, at this point, is irrelevant to the political process in washington. it's starting to seem a bit like march, april of 1995 when bill clinton had to go out, give a press conference and remind americans that he was still relevant because the constitution said he was relevant. of course, we know how that story ended. and this could end very well for this president, as well, but this is a strange time for this administration. >> a couple things have happened to the presidency, not specific to president obama, to the presidency itself, within the last five or six weeks. the first one was when they were trying to negotiate a really big deal between the speaker of the house and the president of the united states. the speaker went several hours without returning a phone call from the president of the united states. >> right. >> the president of the united states. >> right. >> doesn't return his phone

call. and then it's a little thing, you're right, john, yesterday, but, you know, the back and forth between the speaker and the president, no, you can't come and speak on that date. we don't want you coming on that date. and you're right. i think it shows a complete -- couple things -- lack of fear of the presidency, this particular president. >> or disrespect. >> a little element of disrespect. but on the president's side, the lack of fear comes from the fact that -- and you hear many democrats talk about this -- off set, on set -- there's no punch line. >> from democrats, frustration that this white house doesn't know how to fight tough. imagine, imagine congress telling lbj, no, you're not going to give a speech here. i'm serious.

>> absolutely. >> it's not any more complicated than the fact that politicians are moved mainly by fear. they really are. and fear of their voters or fear of a president, fear of reprisals. lbj, there is not a single member of congress that would do that to lbj because they know he would line item out, wipe out a line item, he would hit them where it hurt. same thing with reagan. same thing with fdr. same thing with a strong great president. >> joe, there was a story that used to go around in the '60s and early '70s about the johnson presidency, probably apocryphal, but i don't think a lot of people thought it was apocryp l apocryphal, they thought it was more or less fact. senator church from idaho was a vocal critic of the war in vietnam, a vocal critic. and at one point, senator hughes from iowa, who was on the fence about supporting the president in the war in vietnam, had a

line item in an appropriation bill for a dam on iowa, on one of the big rivers, the missouri and mississippi that runs through iowa. the president of the united states, lyndon baines johnson, called senator hughes and is said to have told him, you want that dam in iowa, call frank church and hung up the phone. in other words, you know, you want to deal with frank church, see if he can give you the dam because i'm not giving you the dam. >> this does happen typically in washington. maybe people don't like it, but this is how washington works. john murtha, loved john murtha, god rest his soul. but murtha, they all called him the chairman. one of the surprising things. republicans came in power in '95 and everybody was very cocky. but when john murtha walked by, even the older republican members would go, mr. chairman, mr. chairman. there were always people around him in the back corner on the democratic side, and i didn't know who this guy was. what's with this?

but murtha knew how to use his power. and he always took great pride in getting his defense appropriation bills through the house faster than anybody else. nobody was to offer amendments. you want an amendment, you talked to him before him. i will not mention the democratic member's name who made the mistake of offering an amendment, but murtha looked over, sure, offer your amendment, then he offered an amendment of his own. and you better believe that this member lost some line items because of it. again, people may not like how washington runs, but if you're going to run washington, you better know how to play by the rules. >> you know, i just -- >> does that offensive end you? >> you know what offends me, though, is this being trumped up by the media and reveled in, and this president wants to do a

joint session to do a jobs address. >> right. >> isn't there one thing where both sides can agree and not bicker out? and don't you lay that on the republicans a little bit? if there were a republican president, you would be calling the democrats in congress disrespectful. >> you know what i'd be telling the republican president? >> please. >> i'd say be a man and deliver the speech wherever you want to deliver the speech and tell the republicans to go to hell, and i would start the speech by saying, ladies and gentlemen, i come to you tonight because we're in the middle of a great national crisis, from california to maine, millions and millions of people are still out of work. i was hoping to go to the people's house to deliver this message to you. i was hoping to go to what i consider to be the great symbol of american democracy. >> and unity. >> and that light shining on top of that capitol, which has been like a city shining brightly on the hill for all the world to see. but unfortunately,

unfortunately, that light is dimmed tonight. >> unfortunately. it's very unfortunate. >> because members in congress will not let me go to the people's house to talk to you about what i consider a grave national crisis. >> yeah. >> that is the message a strong president delivers. and he takes, as i said earlier this week, the intransigent and the extremism of his opponents and uses that in his favor. >> and disrespect. >> this president has no sense of how to make people pay for the mistakes on the other side. >> to mika's point, though, if george w. bush had done this, we'd be killing him. >> oh, oh, oh. feasting. >> back and forth on the speech. >> feasting. >> who would be killing whom? >> the media would be all over george w. bush. oh, you know, the president asked for this particular time to embarrass the democrats. >> to embarrass the democrats during the democratic debate.

>> but you are right. again, it gets back to no fear, no punch back. the president could go anywhere in the country and say in march of 1933, we were confronted with an epic crisis that threatened this country's future. franklin delano roosevelt dealt with this. told us we have nothing to fear but fear itself. this crisis today is no less threatening. >> certainly for the people that are out of work. and here's a great thing about politicians, you know, if the president had tone what we were just talking about and humiliated him in one way, i find you only have to slap them down one time. i learned pretty quickly because they're a scared group of people. >> at this table we had a conversation earlier in the week, a column was saying he should make no compromise, come forward and say exactly what we need to do and ignore any of the republicans' suggestions to him. the first thing we heard before the speech, we'll bounce it up a day and do it against the packers/saints game. a lot of people i think did --

the president's supporters wanted to hear him. put his foot down and say enough of this, this is what we're doing. >> mika, a lot to talk about today. you're exactly right. general petraeus. >> retiring. >> going to be retiring. >> another big story. >> what a time to retire, a man who against all odds was the architect of the surge. most americans were against, not all politicians against. retiring, as peter said, at the end of the month with not a single american casualty in iraq. >> days before the anniversary of 9/11. >> the first month. >> coming up next -- >> peter, you want to get a cheese burger? >> no. >> cheeseburger, shake and fries. >> peter, stay where you are. >> breakfast of champions. >> a look at the new cover of "time" magazine with rick stengel. it's something that i'm going to like a lot. we have a problem in this country. >> "vanity fair" out with its annual high-profile -- the most

powerful and innovative entrepreneurs and a ceo who wears hoodies and flip-flops. >> here's the problem. when you have a restaurant that has on its website they'll give you a special deal -- >> wait for mika to finish or continue? >> gastric bypass surgery. seriously. >> we'll talk more about that later. we'll go with the cheeseburger and fries at the moment. good morning, everyone. around the nation, everyone's still talking act irene and the cleanup. by the way, irene will likely be the costliest category 1 hurricane ever. we've had worse with category 3s and 4s and 5s, but as far as category 1, that was as bad as it could get. as far as the next one, katia, still out in the atlantic, shouldn't have to deal with this anytime soon. bermuda, could be for you about a week from now. as of now, new england looks okay but the canadian maritime may get hit. tropical disturbance in the gulf of mexico should be developing in the next two or three days. this could bring beneficial rains to louisiana and texas. getting some rainfall this

morning just outside of pittsburgh, much of the western portion of pennsylvania getting wet weather. today's forecast, continued showers and storms in ohio, off to buffalo. nice weather from boston down to d.c. middle of the country, the wildfires already burn 30g homes in areas of oklahoma and texas. that's going to continue today with gusty warm winds, very hot in texas. tomorrow, guess what, we do 100s all over again. you're watching "morning joe" brewed by starbucks. ♪ okay, so who ordered the cereal that can help lower cholesterol and who ordered the yummy cereal? yummy. that's yours. lower cholesterol. lower cholesterol. i'm yummy. lower cholesterol. i got that wrong didn't i? [ male announcer ] want great taste? honey nut cheerios. want whole grain oats that can help lower cholesterol?

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all right. welcome back to "morning joe." >> get a big mac. >> stop it. >> i want a big mac on set. >> the reason why -- >> you and me. >> five guys? >> you guys are just trying to undermine this whole thing. >> no, and you know what, here's the thing -- >> actually, people say america is declining. i don't think it's in decline. when you look at a joint thing started in washington, d.c., and the fact it can spread across the united states. >> not you guys. five guys. >> five guys doing great. cudzoo in north georgia. it's all over the place. that tells me there is hope for this country. >> i'm going to show you a reason why we need the new cover of "time" magazine badly. >> thank you. >> this was found by a friend of mine in lancaster, pennsylvania. we call her schneidy. and she found this on the website, a fabulous buffet restaurant. it's as big as a football field.

if you have had gastric bypass surgery to keep you from eating too much because you can't stop yourself, and if you can actually show documentation -- >> of course. i've done this before. you need the certificate. >> you get a rebate. >> 50% off? >> off the base price. only off a base price. >> it's a smorgasbord. but if you've had the surgery, you get a rebate. >> ain't that america. back with us at the table is mike barnicle. >> i don't need to say anything else. >> mika, to joe and i, gastric bypass surgery is like getting your teeth cleaned. once a week. >> not serious. most of the doctors explain, like getting your teeth cleaned, you do it once every two or three years. >> we have such a problem. a surgery that we need. >> staples in. >> and i don't blame the people. i blame the food, which is addictive. >> i've seen you with, like, celery and -- >> i know. tell what you just ate.

>> you're not really doing that. >> don't tell anybody that. i don't smoke either. i'm eating this god-awful stuff. >> anyway, with us, mark mckinnon, and let e's bring in "time" magazine's managing editor, rick stengel, here to reveal the latest issue of "time" magazine. >> it is great. >> seriously obscene. >> our annual health issue, about nutrition, a cover story by the great and good dr. oz. it partially came about -- i spent a day with oz about a year ago and we were doing an interview at a college. it was early in the morning. it was this fantastic buffet of, like, yogurt and blueberries and granola. i was hungry and made a bowl and i was eating it. he said how do you like that? i said it's delicious. he said i brought it. he brings his food. >> in plastic bags. >> like during the day when i got hungry, reach in his pocket, an almond. >> brilliant. >> by the way, that's mika's lunch, an almond. >> stop. >> the guy does -- i mean, i

don't know how many -- he does 500 heart surgeries a year in addition to doing his show. he's got an incredible engine. i was kind of amazed by the way that he ate. you know, using food as fuel. that kind of provoked this cover story about nutrition that oz wrote. and you can even see what he eats every day. >> let's talk act some of the myths of food. that's your subhead here. some of the myths about -- >> vitamins. >> one of the big things he talks about is the myth of nonfat food or food that the fats have been removed from, and that, in fact, that trend allowed people to feel like they were eating things that were healthier and they're not healthy because you can't digest them as well. the demonization of fat he talks about has done a bad thing because fat something that makes you feel full, helps you process and get the goodness out of foot food. >> we need certain kinds of fats. >> absolutely. he talks about, for example, the whole milk versus skim milk.

you guys actually look like you're interested. >> i'm fascinated. whole versus skim. >> when they take the fats out it becomes a sugar. it goes into your bloodstream immediately. the fat takes longer to digest, better to drink whole milk if you can than skim milk. >> sugar. >> the fat in the milk binds to food and helps you digest that food. it has all kinds of benefits. >> mika, let me explain it to you because you look very confused. >> this i don't want to hear. >> andrew has diabetes, and one of the first things you learn is you give your child a certain amount of carbs if they have di beetsz, you need to give them fat, as well. of course the right balance of it. and it locks it in so it doesn't burn off like sugar. >> the diet -- >> also whole milk. this has been a pet peeve of mine. i think young children should have whole milk.

i think it's better for them. >> but this is the diet for jamie diamond and for you that i was talking to dr. william grace about, an oncologist. it was the low-cholesterol, anti-cancer diet. one of the main issues was low-fat, cream-based drinks like skim milk versus whole milk. >> advocating that? >> yeah. >> again, you know, part of his philosophy is it's everything in moderation, and if you do things in moderation, there are benefits in whole milk versus skim milk. what else does he talk about? you know, chocolate, dark chocolate, red wine, all of these things. >> what about that, dark chocolate okay? >> better. >> it has, you know -- >> some of them. >> a lot of vitamin c in it. it's getting beyond my area. >> what about red wine? i don't really like wine. i've heard time and time again, though, a glass of red wine for a male is great for your heart. >> it's good for your heart. the ingredient in is it -- i

don't know how to pronounce it -- it's good for your heart. of course you can take pills of that, and if you had to drink as much red wine in bulk to actually get the benefit of the pill you'd be drinking way too much red wine. but everything is a cost benefit. like, you know, the big benefit, he says, in wine is actually the alcohol. >> there are numerous cardiologists as well as internists who will tell you one of the principal ways to stay healthy through eating is to literally -- i've had doctors tell me this -- stop eating animals. in other words hamburgers, steak, stuff like that. don't stop -- eliminate it entirely, but really cut back. >> the bill clinton diet. >> yeah. >> well, he -- i mean, oz, again, it preaches moderation, and he doesn't say stop eating animal proteins but stop eating so much of them. stop eating ones that are more fatty. >> he says you should eat animal proteins. >> we'll have to have him on.

>> he says choose foods that look like they did when they came out of the ground. remember there are no marshmallow trees. >> it's simple and makes sense but it's extremely hard to do in modern-day society. >> because the trend in food over the last 50 years is to increase the calorie count and decrease the cost. >> particularly true in economically difficult times. >> because people who don't have enough money to spend for food get more caloric, less healthy and it becomes -- >> right. >> if i could add the dimension that i think there is a growing school of thought that the foods that we are eating that are unhealthy are addictive. please don't look at me like i'm crazy. >> no, mika, you're right. >> i am not making fun of the gastric bypass surgery being something that people use a lot. >> you are. >> i'm not. i don't blame the people, but i do blame the food. >> one of the great myths i think in this country when it comes to the fore, a lot of people in this country think

there are people who literally wanted to be born poor, so you get food stamps. not true. if you look at what most people get with food stamps, they're not getting steak and lobster. they're getting these addictive fat-fueled foods. and they have these enormously overweight kids who get no exercise living with one parent in a little apartment. and the health costs -- >> the only thing they can afford is a bucket of kentucky fried chicken. >> once you start you can't stop. >> in poorer neighborhoods you don't have fresh fruits. >> you don't have supermarkets. >> you really don't. more affluent neighborhoods, you have whole foods, you can make wise choices. >> scary. >> tough to do that in depressed neighborhoods. berries. you have a picture here, berry, berry good. there are some super foods. dr. oz talks about that as well. >> yes. right. >> if you want to increase your odds of beating cancer, this is a great place to start. >> right. he talks about the search for a super food that does not exist. he says we have them already in

berries, basically. they're the super food. you could never eat as many berries that would have that kind of effect of, you know, shrinking a tumor or something, but as a general part of your regular diet it's a very good thing to do. >> what about vitamins? my wife -- susan is always trying to get me to take vitamins and i just refuse to do it. it seems like it's a waste of time. am i wrong? >> i was telling you before, one of our writers, john, went on this kind of six-month investigative piece about taking nutra suit cals they're called now. and so the idea being that you get your blood tested and then you take vitamins that basically are supposed to help alleviate problems that you have. and he, you know, went on this regimen where he took vitamins every day and, you know, used powdered drinks. he comes out with a kind of mixed result. in some cases it's a little bit like chicken soup. it can't hurt. his vitamin d level went up.

his good alcohol wecholesterol . but it's expensive. the unintended consequence is it makes you feel healthier so you eat worse food. i said you can eat better foot at the same time and get the benef benefit. >> i don't think they do. >> i think this is going to be an important magazine because i think it's already shaping the way people think about the way they eat, what they drink, how they live. you look at mike barnicle, for instance, who was actually -- >> chocolate milk. >> fat-free chocolate milk. >> oz would say that's probably bad. >> that is bad. >> fat free. >> moderation. it's in moderation. one of the things that dr. oz does not -- he has nothing negive to say, dr. oz has nothing negive to say about what exists at the corner of wisconsin and n in georgetown in washington, d.c., the original five guys. >> five guys. >> i think that is good fat.

i think you've got good fat and bad fat. i think five guys is is good fat. >> thank you for this cover. >> you're welcome. >> i'm sorry. >> thanks for talking about it. >> it's important. we need to get to the issue of children at some point, too, and focus on that. rick stengel, thank you. "what to eat now." read it. up next, "vanity fair's" new list of the year's most powerful and influential people. keep it right here on "morning joe." ♪ [ jim ] i need to push out a software upgrade. build a new app for the sales team in beijing. and convince the c.e.o. his email will find him... wherever he is. i need to see my family while they're still awake. [ male announcer ] with global services from dell, jim can address his company's i.t. needs through custom built applications, cloud solutions and ongoing support in over 100 countries. so his company sees results. and jim sees his family. dell. the power to do more.

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at 36 past, this morning's "vanity fair" is out with their new establishment list for 2011. the magazine's list of the most powerful and influential people in the world from politics to media to business and much more beyond that, as well. peter is editor at "vanity fair" and joins us now. >> our buddy mike allen on the list of 39. >> yay. >> coming in at 39. >> impressive. >> essential reading for everyone washington person. got to start your day -- >> political playbook. >> no doubt about it. a lot of different publications have lists. talk about how you took all the names and all the powerful people, threw them into a pot, churned them up and spit out 100 and put them in order. >> this year we cut the list in

half from 100. we did 100 last year. we used to have a lot of financiers and guys from wall street on there, and i guess they've kind of fell out of in favor of the past year, so we kicked them off the list and focused on new media, technology and new media, figuring this is the heart of the information age, the social media scene. a nice collection of people who are really part of your daily life. >> let's go through the top five and start at number five. jack dorsey. talk to us about him. >> hmm. >> mr. dorsey, well, twitter. he founded twitter. he's got -- this is a guy who is so kecked in the valley. everybody loves this guy. you talk about who's influential in the valley right now, his name always comes up. number five. >> how old is he? >> i don't know. >> he looks young. >> he looks like a little boy here. >> we try to keep people under 50. that's why we created the powers that be, which are more of a guilded group of -- >> exactly. >> i see.

>> number four, obviously, a group that became even more powerful over the past couple of weeks. >> right. the apple guys. tim cook and johnny ive. the heart and soul of apple. you can't discount steve jobs' huge contribution to apple, but tim's been running it day to day and johnny is the design guy. people talk about who will replace jobs, but that's been done. apple fan boys were rooting for johnny. >> let's talk about tim far second because he has been the one, steve jobs' right hand for some time. >> te tell us about him. >> i've never met the man, but he's been in the valley forever, been around apple far long time. wall street likes this guy. he's not to say overly passionate but he's a calm, collected guy, you get straight answers out of him. >> what about number three? a guy whose influence can be seen as you drive around every community in america and you see

going out of business signs on borders books and i suspect on many other bookstores in the future. >> jeffrey bezos. amazon. if you look at the four pilars of what's happening in the world of technology, i think you've got certainly amazon is one of them. i think one day last year they set a record where there were 158 orders being placed every second. so to say it's pervasive is -- >> and they just keep branching out. they keep expanding. they are becoming an online walmart. >> they've really adapted, too, and evolved over time. bezos is an amazing guy. he's got the reader, the kindle is a big deal. he'll be venturing into the tablet business, into program, taking on netflix. not just a shopping mecca. >> for all the cynics and pessimists out there and people wringing their hands about our future, what's going to happen to this country, we're in such dire straits, four, four of the top five here, take apple out of

the equation, apple was around, four of the top five, ten years ago, you go around talk about twitter, facebook, google really even. >> right. >> people say what are you talking about? they dominate our lives today. there's always something out there. >> google at number two. >> google at number two. they handle billions of searches a day. can you imagine your daily life without google? hard to imagine. >> use it every day. >> and number one, not a big surprise, but number one, tell us about -- >> mark zuckerberg. facebook, you know, another thing, you can't imagine life without it. it was new just a couple years ago, but now everybody from 12-year-old to your grandmother is on it, communicating, playing games. i think most of us keep the thing open on your desk top. it's certainly the way the new generation communicates. >> do you have the a favorite on here, somebody you enjoyed putting on the list, somebody that stands out to you?

>> i like mark andreessen, not the founder but he traded the first internet browser. i covered him years ago. >> he was a giant, '95, '96, '97. >> even before that, the first internet browser called mosaic, which i was working at sony at the time, the first time that browser took over from load. it was fascinating. then he left, started netscape, and now he's a godfather out there, a venture capitalist of the highest order. >> how has he reinvented himself? he was at the center of the world, seemed to be wiped off center stage, but he's now number six and come back. how did he do that? >> he was an engineer, a programming guy to start. but i think he watched over the years all these guy who is invested in companies like his make billions of dollars. he said i want a piece of that. he started a firm with a partner who worked with him on netscape and he's the hottest vc. >> number seven.

>> book of mormon. crossing over the broadway. >> thank you so much for being with us. >> yeah. really cool list. >> fascinating list. the new establishment list is in the latest issue of "vanity fair." peter, thanks for being with us. >> thanks. >> business before the bell with simon hobbs is next. almost tastes like one of jack's cereals. fiber one. uh, forgot jack's cereal. [ jack ] what's for breakfast? um... try the number one!

[ jack ] yeah, this is pretty good. [ male announcer ] half a day's worth of fiber. fiber one.

as i look back on iraq, think it was the right thing to do. after 9/11, we were faced with a situation where we believed there was likely going to be another attack against the united states. ebled then and i believe today one of the biggest threats we face was a terrorist organization equipped with weapons of mass destruction. and we looked for and believed we found in the case of iraq a situation where you had a state

that had experimented with, had produced, had used weapons of mass destruction, and had a relationship with elements of the terrorist community. the it was also true that the intel was flawed. we did not find stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction. but if you go read the report, you'll find that it's very clear that he had preserved the capacity to produce, he had the people and the technical know-how. he had the feed stocks and the intent once the sanctions were lifted to go back into the business again. >> welcome back to "morning joe." that's the vice president from earlier this morning. mark mckinnon, you obviously worked at the white house in that administration for that vice president. what were your thoughts? >> well, the thing that i've always appreciated about vice president cheney, even though i've disagreed with him a lot and ideologically i come from a different place and not as pure a conservative as he may be, i'm kind of a progressive -- a neoprogressive and he's a retroconservative, but, you

know, the thing that always bothered me in the administration was when people would question the motives, war for oil, war for profit, war for blood. you know, i think he makes clear in the book and made clear on the show this morning that the decisions were made were made from a rational presence, even though it may have been flawed intelligence or whatever it was. but what he and the administration were trying to protect the country. that was the motive. you can question the outcome. you can question a lot of things. but we shouldn't ever question the motive because the motive was pure. >> and it works on both sides. we're obviously very kri cal of the president's tripling the number of troops in afghanistan, this president, i think the indiscriminate drone attacks but no doubt this president is doing what the last president tried to do -- >> no casualties in iraq this month. >> but both president bush and president obama would with no apologies to ideologues who hate out there, are doing what they think is best to keep americans safe. that's what this president is

doing. that's what the last president did. of course we all have huge disagreements. >> but that's part of our problem in america. no labels. we shouldn't be questioning motives. we can question policies but not motives. that will help us work together, work across the aisle. because it's above 400, a rule of thumb think probably the economy is shedding more jobs than it's adding. the moving average is moving up. tomorrow we get the big report for the last month for the government. that's the big one. interesting to see how jobs are a new currency for many ceos. yesterday of course you'll have seen that at&t's takeover of

tivo by usa was blocked despite the fact that the company was offering to bring back 5,000 jobs from abroad to the united states. amazon appeared to be threatening overnight. california says if you repeal the online sales tax we'll take 7,000 jobs in into that state with a new distribution center. interesting. >> and of course, simon, the justice department blocking this merger in part because they're going to get rid of jobs. >> at&t. >> it is a currency. >> i think at&t was attempting to ensure that -- or assure that that wouldn't happen. the main reason they're blocking is it not on jobs. they say it's anti-competitive. you combine the second and fourth largest you won't get as many deals for consumers. that's the real reason they're blocking it, i think. >> you can't get a signal. >> hard to -- yeah. >> the question now becomes are they going to try and challenge

it in the courts or are they going to deal do a deal with the doj. it's a $3 billion cash breakup fee that at&t pays the germans if it doesn't go through. >> they better do it in person because they're not going to get through on the phone. simon, thank you very much. >> thank you, simon. >> we're going to talk to -- >> mike barnicle about the yankees and the red sox coming up next. >> really? again? >> they played last night? >> played last night. >> a team spends half a billion dollars to beat the sox beat them. >> the little engine that could came through again. >> i think i can. we are! got it. [ male announcer ] don't be the last to know. get it faster with 4g. it's the network of possibilities. at&t.

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two of the most important are energy security and economic growth. north america actually has one of the largest oil reserves in the world. a large part of that is oil sands. this resource has the ability to create hundreds of thousands of jobs. at our kearl project in canada, we'll be able to produce these oil sands with the same emissions as many other oils and that's a huge breakthrough. that's good for our country's energy security and our economy.

cliff lee, first pitch swinging. easy grounder. lee, didn't even run. and he is -- made a weird gesture, as well. >> fans boo him in cincinnati because he decides not to run it out. would have been out by 45 feet, but, hey, he's cliff lee. 8 2/3 innings against you people last night, three hits and won 3-0, so stop booing him, okay? he's cliff lee. let's go to boston. big one last night. >> little engine that could. >> red sox/yankees. red sox won't give up. papi. dead center field. >> could i ask you a question about this game? >> yeah. >> would they play for free? >> they would be out there, joe,

tonight for nothing. >> for nothing. >> for nothing. that's how much they love it. >> love of the game. >> including josh reddick's triple. jacobey ellsbury, potential mvp, up over the left field wall. >> good-bye. >> 7-5 boston. the captain, jason varitek, 63 years old. look at him. 9-5, red sox. >> i think i can. >> he won't give up. the captain. like all of the red sox, they'd play for nothing and play endlessly. ryan braun, a great player, a fan watching him. ever seen rye bran hit an inside-the-park home run? this could be it. >> oh, my god. >> this is going to be the one! >> he's in great shape. he is coming home. ! whoa! >> oh, man. he's down! >> down he goes. >> what happened? >> he does not -- oh. >> he tripped! >> did somebody trip him?

>> i don't think so. >> lost 8-3, but that's baseball. titles corner offices don't win. what wins? original wins. fresh wins. smart wins. the world's most dynamic companies know what wins in business today. maybe that's why so many choose to work with us. we're grant thornton. audit. tax. advisory. do you have an irregular heartbeat called atrial fibrillation, or afib, that's not caused by a heart valve problem? are you taking warfarin to reduce your risk of stroke caused by a clot? you should know about pradaxa. an important study showed that pradaxa 150mg reduced stroke risk 35% more than warfarin. and with pradaxa, there's no need for those regular blood tests. pradaxa is progress. pradaxa can cause serious, sometimes fatal, bleeding.

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welcome back to "morning joe." time to talk about what we learned today. mike barnicle, what did you learn? >> you know what i learned, that there is a dick cheney with a sense of humor. it exists in the man. >> of course. >> it's there. >> northeast elitist. of course. what did you learn? >> i