no bill, karins, the solar flap was not hype. >> turning into the floor of the florida state legislature. nis is wonderful. bill karins under selling again. that's hype? you should never say the sun exploded but sun exploded but it wasn't a big deal as bill karins said a few minutes ago. i have one e-mail from peter alexander out on the campaign trail. i called one of -- peter's subject line, nerd school, no one should suffer like this. psyched for the n.i.t. again. as someone, peter, who went to a nerd school, i reserve the right to call yours a nerd school. "morning joe" live from washington starts right now. ♪ >> i don't think that anything is inevitable. the numbers are what the numbers are, though, and romney is leading in delegate count. but no, nothing is inevitable.

and i do appreciate that these men are continuing to duke it out in the arena of ideas and are allowing themselves to be vetted. thank you, gentlemen, who are running on the gop ticket. staying in there allowing yourselves to be vetted by the media because they didn't do it when barack obama ran. >> good morning, it's friday, march 9th. welcome to "morning joe." with us here in washington, msnbc "time" magazine senior analyst and the star of the red carpet, mark haleprin, also political editor and white house correspondent for the "huffington post" sam stein. katty kay and the great willie geist. he's up in new york. so mark, "game change" premiere washington last night, a huge event. tom cruise was there and julianne moore, all the big stars, but you were, of course, the biggest star.

you and -- >> you said tom cruise, you meant tom hanks. >> did i say tom cruise? >> last time cruise was there and i missed him. >> tom hanks, tom cruise, come on, it's the same thing. >> it was a great event. hbo does things very well and people seem to like the film. >> they love it and, again, they go away talking about that woman that we came in with, sarah palin. >> yeah. >> and i heard it again last night, a lot of people have a lot more respect for her, especially the fight that she has that people just didn't realize before she was going into debates, she was getting off the phone with her son hearing gunfire in the background in iraq. and all that she went through. i don't -- it was almost super human. >> one of the reasons hbo was so attracted to the story was because she had all of these family pressures. people talk about balancing work and family, this was a super

balance. and when people see the show tomorrow night, they're going to see a compelling portrait of somebody fighting back and dealing with a lot of adversity on a white hot spotlight. >> now, obviously the great irony of that clip she's talking about the vetting process. >> yes. >> one of the great scenes in game change was when nicole wallace cornered woody harrelson said did you guys not vet her? and of course they didn't vet her. >> no. >> it was a rush. >> and you look at -- and also another thing you find looking at this film, she was put in an untenable position. yes, she could've said no. >> yeah. >> but at the time, she didn't know what she didn't know. and when it hit her, it was too late to jump out and do -- >> i always thought she was, you know, the first casualty of sort of this modern internet-based politics. and by that i mean, you know, the vetting that was done by the media of her that the campaign

forgot to do, or just didn't have time to do was so intense and so easily done. i remember i was researching a local alaska newspaper archive, and we called up the person because we couldn't get the clips on the internet. and they said, oh, you're the first people to call us for the clips. they were accessible because of the age of the internet and we got them and read through them. and this happened all over the place because the internet allowed you to pick at her resume in ways that probably couldn't have happened in earlier cycles. >> yeah. no doubt about it. >> the scene you mentioned, joe. i thought it was extraordinary. it wasn't just her response to didn't you vet her? and in terms of would she defend positions when they were contrary to her own and backing up mccain. they vetted her on process, but they didn't think to vet her on policy and they didn't ask her a single policy question. that great scene where they're in the front of the airplane there. >> willie, one thing you don't see in the movie is -- i talked to a key player who said that

sarah palin was actually deeply embarrassed. >> yeah. >> once the process was going on about what she did not know as far as foreign policy goes. she wasn't used to be in that position. she was used to talking about gas prices, oil, jobs, getting people back to work in alaska. the nuts and bolts of being a governor and suddenly they're asking about russia attacking georgia. and she didn't know what she didn't know. and, again, she was too far along in the process to say, hey, guys, you know what? why don't i just wait four years? and just put in an untenable position. what i got from the movie was what she accomplished despite her lack of knowledge on a lot of issues fairly extraordinary. >> yeah, it was. and you're struck again having read the book, but now seeing the movie again, which everyone should see on saturday night on hbo. just how reckless the choice was. i'm not talking about sarah palin's side, the other side.

five days of vetting when usually you get eight weeks of vetting. someone who came in and it's stunning when you watch the film if you don't know behind the scenes story, truly the lack of understanding and knowledge of foreign affairs at the fundamental level of history, of relations between us and great britain. it's pretty staggering. i am struck, though, known in every corner of the world now. and it was less than four years ago, joe, you'll remember this, we were sitting in the diner the morning after president obama's speech in denver, and we heard stories, the plane had just flown into ohio and we think pawlenty was on it, maybe it was liberman, and when the name came across, the most seasoned political journalist sitting on our set saying is it palin or pal-lin? and now she's one of the most famous women on the face of the earth. it's a remarkable story. >> there's another part of that story, though.

that's remarkable, and to me disturbing. it was disturbing after it happened was the fact that one of the most seasoned journalists figured out before everybody else to go to the faa site and see where private jets were taking off and mark haleprin, you figured out what everybody else didn't know at 6:00 in the morning that a private jet was leaving alaska and flying to ohio. and what was disturbing about it was is we then had the mccain campaign lying through their teeth for the next 12 hours. to journalists, saying no, it's not palin, it's not palin, we're going to have everybody there and they're all going to be standing around. >> well, it's clear as laid out in the movie, they wanted it to be a surprise and it's miraculous they kept it a surprise up until the last second in part by engaging in some disinformation, you could say lying. at least certainly wanted to keep it a secret.

and that five-day period, which is laid out in the movie and also in the book is a pretty amazing thing. to go from a list that had other people on it like tim pawlenty and mitt romney and others to coming down to a real quick decision to vet her and then to put her on the ticket. and as you said before, given all that, given that she had no warning, she handled -- and given the personal pressure she was under, she handled things remarkable well. for the most part, incredible high-wire act. >> her speech in the convention hall was so electric, it was almost frightening. and the whole room was shaking almost. and it was shocking because she'd been through four days of basically hell prior to that with the press -- >> four days of hell and then -- >> and came up and delivered a huge home run. and i remember being totally floored by the whole thing. >> and i remember us watching it just saying where did she come from? this is incredible. and then, you know, she had all of these valleys and then peaks

and some more valleys with the katie interview and then she goes to the debate -- >> few more valleys than peaks. >> i know, she would have valleys, but then peaks, and you would look at the big tests, the speech, and then the debate where in the debate she was and we heard it at the time behind the scenes, she was completely, she completely collapsed. but she picked herself up and did a hell of a job in the debate, as well. by the way, just a programming note. if you're at home wondering why we keep talking about game change, just we'll let you in. we'll give you a peek behind the curtain. like the wizard of oz. we don't really plan what we're going to talk about on this show. seriously, look at the headlines, figure out what clips are out there, and i have not once over the past four days said we're going to talk about "game change" except for one segment. and so we talk and the conversation leads us where the

conversation leads us. this is such a great film. we can't stop talking about it. and i want to get mitt romney saying he likes grits, but this is just so fascinating. >> let's go to that. >> mark, at what point have you spoken to mccain since the campaign? and got a sense of whether -- what stage he felt he'd made the wrong pick or if he would be candid enough to say he did. or does he still really in his heart of hearts -- >> no, i don't -- you look at what he said. and he defends her consistently, defends the pick, and one point which is made dealt with a little bit in the film. she helped the ticket. she brought them back to parity. she created a lot of excitement with the base. whatever else you say whether the pick was reckless, good idea, bad idea, politically she was a very -- a big boost and a bigger boost than almost anyone else they were considering could possibly have been. >> so the doubts that steve schmitt voices in her ability to

be president were anything going to happen to him, he's never behind the scenes given any -- >> there are people close friends of senator mccain who think it was a bad idea in retrospect. no one i talked to has said he has ever once said anything disparaging about her. or backed off the decision to pick her. >> let's go from the movies to the real thing. and this race is now heading down in my backyard, kind of like when the troops have to go to the pass, it's mountainous, dangerous region down there for mitt romney. >> you know, you called this, joe. after in tennessee last weekend, mitt romney sang the davey crockett theme, you predicted he would sing "sweet home alabama." he came close in mississippi getting in touch with his southern roots such that they are. >> this guy i see every day, time after time after time, and this is a guy from mississippi.

and his name is garrett jackson. come over here, garrett. four years at ole miss. and so -- and so he is -- he is now turning me into -- i don't know, an unofficial southerner and i'm learning to say y'all and i like grits and the things are strange things are happening to me. >> strange things are happening. as a southerner, do you accept that? that was mitt romney in mississippi yesterday. >> let's just say if mitt romney were trying to do the same thing in pakistan and infiltrate the taliban, he'd be dead this morning. nobody believes he's one of us. nobody. >> but that came after he said running in the south was an away game for him. which i think is in league with when he said during the debates that he wouldn't have knowingly had illegal immigrants working on his lawn because he's running for office. you can't speak the truth. and he's right, the south is

hard for him because it is culturally an away game. but rick santorum's from pennsylvania. and he may well win these southern contests. >> and newt gingrich is from an unnamed moon colony. and let's -- willie, so what did he say about this? about lowering expectations? >> mark's right on it. here's what he said yesterday talking about the challenges he faces in the south. >> how important is it for you to pick up a southern state? >> well, i realize it's a bit of an away game, but i think we're going to pick up some support in these -- in the states that remain this month. i'm confident we're going to get some delegates. that's, of course, what this is all about. >> which is pretty striking, joe, when you talk about the base of the republican party, evangelicals, conservatives in the south. if he says that's an away game, essentially saying i'm a visitor to the supporters of my party. truly. >> no doubt about it. and if you are a republican candidate running for president of the united states and the

south -- >> yeah. >> -- alabama is an away game. katty, that ain't good. >> you're starting to wonder where the home game is for mitt romney. >> vermont. >> i mean -- >> massachusetts. utah. >> not very much, right? >> it's not very much. >> maybe hawaii. >> maybe hawaii. >> but i think the away game and it fits in with this idea of mitt romney just not being able to somehow find a way to be easy with being part of his electorate. he has this remoteness. and whether it's to do with money or geography or not being in touch with the base. and he hasn't found a way to communicate easily those -- those things that set him apart and keep him apart. his wealth, his demeanor, his remoteness. >> but he likes grits. grits are the thing. >> whenever he does, it comes

across as condescending, as being patronizing. >> i know, sam, that a lot of liberals did not like george w. bush. >> yeah. >> but anybody that ever saw george w. bush work a crowd, a small crowd. >> yeah. >> all went away -- mike barnicle said the guy's amazing and i remember the first time i dealt -- i dealt with jeb and i knew jeb. he's not aloof, but he's not a warm and fuzzy guy. i remember the first time i met george w. man, this is a personable guy one-on-one. and he really is. so it's not the money, it's not the powerful family. there is something different about mitt romney that does make him awkward around people. >> he's not a very capable politician or campaigner. george bush, he was a texan, but also educated at yale. as much an east coast elitist as mitt romney was. but like you said, he had an ability to go down to a crowd, start speaking with a little

twang and relate to those people and say i understand what you're feeling. mitt romney lacks that sort of empathy, but that's the wrong word. but he lacks that ability to reach out and have people sense that he's one of them. and we see constant reminders of that, whether it's talking about the tree heights in michigan, which is his home state, it was so awkward, or whether saying he's a fan of grits. which i didn't understand. >> another thing in "game change" the book, when people were thinking about barack obama running for president, he was in demand in northern florida by bill nelson, the senator, in missouri by claire mccaskill, they wanted him to come campaign. and for mitt romney to say this -- i've been pretty -- i've defended him or been critical of the press about making a big deal about these things. this is so revealing and politically i heard from so many republicans yesterday saying this is just -- this is just not good. >> you know, the irony, though, is that if you look at it

through a strictly strategic standpoint, republicans don't need someone who thinks of the south as the place they have to win over. they need someone who can think outside of that. romney by that logic would be better as a candidate and just -- he's just revealing himself as not one of the republicans -- >> saying if i win the election and the nomination it's going to be in spite of you. >> because i know i have you in my bag, basically. >> and you look at mitt romney's performances in all of the 2008 primaries. he did his -- the worst, the 13 lowest results were in the deep south. >> yep. >> and if you're unpopular in the deep south, and you allow democrats to possibly steal georgia away from you, kentucky, north carolina, virginia. not really good. so what's this race looking like right now, though, for the states that are in front of us? >> well, there's an interesting poll.

it may not be as much of an away game as mitt romney thinks. it's a new alabama state university poll that shows rick santorum and mitt romney in a statistical tie. santorum's up four points, the margin of error, 4 1/2 points. so it's not, perhaps, as big of an away game as romney thinks. at least in alabama he's got a shot. >> yeah, and you've got newt gingrich -- >> rick santorum should jump right in there and start hammering at romney for saying this is not his home turf. >> well, yeah, again, that would be like a democrat saying the upper west side's not -- >> not my home turf. >> what is that? i don't get that. >> oh, my god. the white fish salad. >> all right. you just told a joke that three people get. >> yeah, exactly. >> still ahead on "morning joe," we're going to be talking to former dnc chairman terry mcauliffe, also david gregory and dee dee myers joining us

here in washington. also the reverend al sharpton, and coming up next, we've got the politico playbook. but first, let's go to bill karins. he's got a check on the forecast. and my goodness, bill, it feels like spring. >> i know. yesterday was so great, joe. we want a repeat of it this weekend. it is cooling off a bit, though. we will be back in the 70s probably sooner rather than later, but yesterday was incredible. d.c. was 74 degrees. boston, record high of 68, new york city hit 70 for the first time this early spring season. as we take you through the forecast. today is cooler, rain showers overnight that are leaving the area. watch out for light snow later today in the adirondacks through new england. also, heavy rain over the upcoming weekend. texas, louisiana, especially, and eventually that'll head northward. so the forecast is definitely wet in texas and that's where we should have flash flooding problems by sunday. the east coast is looking chilly, but beautiful and sunny. you're watching "morning joe" brewed by starbucks.

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welcome back to "morning joe." a beautiful shot of the white house. and looking past the white house at the washington monument. and watch a beautiful, beautiful morning here. let's take a look at the morning papers. and we'll start with the usa today, sunday marks the one-year anniversary of the 9.0 earthquake and the tsunami that hit the western coast of japan killing 19,000 people and causing a shutdown of the nuclear reactors at the fukushima power plant. i can't believe, willie, that was just one year ago. >> that's amazing. on sunday, it's the big anniversary. the "new york times," the

mississippi supreme court upholding pardons granted by haley barbour during his last days of office. they've been controversial, they've been upheld. the court says it has no authority to overturn the pardons, including the felons that worked at the governor's mansion. he issued nearly 200 pardons before leaving office. and ft. wayne, turning to our parade of papers. the ft. wayne journal gazette. an american film maker is bringing awareness to an alleged african war criminal in an unusual way. the kony 2012 campaign branded similar to u.s. presidential campaigns is trying to make militia leader joseph kony famous in an effort to capture the alleged killer. there's a warrant out for kony ice arrest. the film maker's video has been viewed some 50 million times online. >> yeah, that's been flying all over the web this week. the sunday's "parade"

magazine gives the rundown of the best slices of pizza in the country. topping the list, chicago's deep dish and new york's thin crust. that's always a battle. you and mika also have a column about the food wars. how much the government should decide what we eat. i think i know where mika comes down on that, joe. >> absolutely insufferable. absolutely insufferable. >> mika believes that every sunday night mike bloomberg should fax you a menu of what you may eat that week and have it updated every week. >> no, let me correct you. mika believes that mike bloomberg should have ray kelly send cops to your co-op, kick down your door, go into your refrigerator and confiscate contraband. that for her is anything but like leaves. >> mika's not here, so i'm going to defend her position. all she's trying to say is that obesity is one of the biggest killers in america and we should

start taking responsibility for what we eat. which is why joe since mika's not here has a pile of donuts that he's about to eat. >> she's making this stuff up. with us now, the chief white house correspondent for politico, mike allen. and he's here with the morning playbook. >> happy friday. >> happy friday to you too. politico's reporting that mitt romney's now cozying up to the media to help build the narrative that the delegate math is in his favor overwhelming. this despite the fact the man has to win about 50% of the delegates moving forward in a four-man race. >> yeah. there's a media detente. writing about the huge sea change in the relations between the media on that campaign. you know, it's funny. mitt romney's the only one of the republican candidates who doesn't bash the press on the podium. but behind the scenes, the romney press corps is really

frustrated. and we hear about this all the time about lack of access they have to senior aides. the reporters on the romney bus tell us that part of the reason there were so many stories about that bad event at ford field in detroit where there was a small mitt romney on a huge stadium was that there were no economic advisers or officials to talk to him about the policy speech he was given. if they read a tweet the campaign doesn't like, they get a complaint. so in the last few days, top aides have been out talking to reporters, promising to be more accessible, even having a happy hour with them, going to restaurant and bars with them. just bringing them more in to their -- the idea is that as the campaign grows up, moves toward a general election campaign, it wants to repeat this. this prescription came from none other than mark haleprin who wrote in time that if mitt romney was going to be a successful nominee, he needed to improve his toxic relations with the press.

>> well, you know, mark, i have heard that there's a real hostility -- not necessarily between mitt romney and his family and the press, but the top people on the romney team, which is always just stunned me that people are in charge of press operations who let the press know that they hate them. i saw this all the time in congress. and it's just not -- as i always said. people say why do you get such good press? which i did. i said, well, even a dog knows when you hate them. and if you think you can scowl around and treat people that are reporting you like second-rate citizens, don't be shocked when they don't write everything in your favor. >> i've covered presidential elections since 1988, it's not a partisan thing. george herbert walker bush and john mccain were candidates with plenty of positive coverage. mitt romney's campaign, they're working on it now, has the worst relationship with the media of any major candidate i've ever

covered. >> who does? >> mitt romney. >> oh. okay. >> mike, that's -- that is shocking. is that your -- is that your understanding, as well? that they just have a terrible relationship with the press? >> yeah, we've been hearing this off the bus for a long time. they've campaigned now saying they're moving into a new phase. another story that politico has up today is asking the question, whether mitt romney is bob dole, whether he is coming out of this primary weaker than ever rather than stronger than ever as barack obama did. john harris, jonathan martin look at a little history, there's hope for mitt romney on this score that bill clinton was in third place as he came out of his primary. but bob dole was bob dole and didn't recover. so we have a number of republicans -- and joe i'll be interested in your view -- he needs a big moment. he needs to call out the

president on something specific or he needs to take a tough stand or a truly tough stand, something on principle that will wake people up, that will get his attention. as there's this shift, as people start to think of him as a nominee, not a primary candidate. >> you're exactly right. and if he loses the next couple of races and suddenly he needs to get more than 47% of the remaining delegates, let's say that bumps up to 51% of the remaining delegates in a four-person field, people are going to start realizing he's not going to get the numbers he needs by the time he gets to tampa. and at that point, who knows what happens. who knows who jumps in when they realize they've got nothing to lose. that he's not going to win it at the convention. it's going to be absolutely fantastic, couple of months for us reporting on this campaign. mike allen, thank you so much. have a great weekend. >> happy friday to you too. and mrs. obama should e-mail you your menus on sunday night. >> there you go.

what do you have next? we'll talk with gene robinson, he'll sit with you, also lawrence o'donnell here in new york. and you'll appreciate this, john, jonathan papelbon now has words for red sox fans. keep it on "morning joe." [ male announcer ] this is the network -- a living, breathing intelligence teaching data how to do more for business. [ beeping ] in here, data knows what to do. because the network finds it and tailors it across all the right points,

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welcome back to "morning joe." beautiful live picture, that's got to be wnbc's chopper 4 swooping over the hudson river. what is it? traffic? no traffic on the bridge we're happy to report. all right. let's do some sports. college basketball, we talked yesterday about harvard making the tournament for the first time since 1946. there's another school out there waiting a lot longer than that. northwestern, a charter member of the big ten conference going back to 1901, believe it or not, northwestern has never played in the ncaa tournament. last night, they had a chance to change that, came into this game on the bubble, probably needed one, maybe two wins in the big ten tournament against a team they should probably beat minnesota.

let's see how they did last night. with less than a minute, minnesota's andre hollins ties the game at 61, northwestern fails to score on the next possession, with under ten seconds left, hollins takes a little step back jumper, bounces off the rim, and northwestern gets the ball. come on, dave, hit that. can't get it to go so we're going to overtime. in overtime, tied at 61, less than a minute to go, gophers up by three at this point, a five-point game with a dunk, northwestern made one basket over the final nine minutes of the game. they can't believe it, the wildcats lose 75-68, they record is now 18-13, that's likely going to keep them out of the ncaa tournament again. more college hoops, the big east tournament yesterday, number two ranked syracuse and uconn at madison square garden, second half, andre drummen, put back, gave them the lead, they were a

little sluggish after that, though. syracuse comes back. james sutherland cuts the lead, sutherland again hits a the three, all ten of his points came in the second part of the second half. syracuse comes back and beats uconn 58-55. syracuse is waiting to see the winner of the cincinnati/georgetown game. georgetown needs two to tie, we go to overtime. georgetown again down by two points, the big fella, henry simms taking it to the rack, the lay-up at the buzzer, going to double overtime. tied at 70, casey, nice floater there, 7.7 seconds left on the clock. georgetown down two, going for the win, simms, the big fella, misses the long jumper. it doesn't go. cincinnati holds on to win in double overtime, georgetown goes home, cincinnati gets syracuse in the semifinals. all right. baseball.

in the off-season, jonathan papelbon decided to leave boston after seven seasons, signed a $50 million contract with the philadelphia phillies. now a few weeks before opening day, papelbon speaking out on the radio yesterday about his former team and their fans. >> the difference i would say between boston and philadelphia is that, you know, i think that the boston fans are a little bit more hysterical when it comes to the game of baseball. i'd say the philly fans, you know, they -- i think they tend to know the game a little bit better being in a national league. and the way the game's played. the boston fans -- i've had a guy take off his prosthetic leg in boston and throw it in the bullpen. >> has jonathan papelbon ever been to philadelphia? >> they boo santa claus in philadelphia. and by the way, ed rendell told

me about that famous story that he was leading the boos against santa claus. and as far as philadelphia fans knowing more about baseball than boston -- >> come on. >> papelbon shouldn't have been drinking beer and eating fried chicken. he should have been listening to us in september -- by the way for the record and i never blamed him because they pitched him an awful lot going into the 162nd game. but if it wasn't for papelbon throwing meat pitches down the plate in the 162nd game, we would've made the playoffs. so, listen -- >> yes. >> we knew papelbon was crazy when he was up there, an idiot, and we loved him. and the only difference now is we know in philadelphia he's crazy and an idiot and we don't love him. so what's the difference? >> he's making it easier for us to move on. >> well, he is. no, no, no, i mean, seriously, though. i'm dead serious, you always knew pap was crazy.

>> yeah. >> and this doesn't bother me. i think this is funny. >> this is who he is. >> this is who he is. they get pictures of him. you go in the office of fenway and they have pictures of him -- >> just crazy eyes. >> staring at you. he's a strange man. good luck, willie, for papelbon after they start booing him. >> he's right the philadelphia fans are civilized except when they're throwing "d" batteries at you from the stands. that's the only time when they're not. coming up next, steve rattner's going to break out the charts tell us what's behind rising gas prices. you're watching "morning joe" brewed by starbucks. ok, guys-- what's next ?

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completely out of touch he is on this issue. i mean, think about it, at the moment when millions are out of work, gas prices are literally skyrocketing, and the middle east is in turmoil. we've got a president who is up making phone calls trying to block a pipeline here at home. it's really almost unbelievable. >> i think the white house owes the american people an explanation. by personally lobbying against the keystone pipeline, it means the president of the united states is lobbying for sending and lobbying against american jobs. >> congressional republicans are blaming president obama for urging senate democrats to defeat legislation that would have sped up construction of the keystone oil pipeline from canada. republicans came within four votes of passing an amendment yesterday to green light the $7 billion project that obviously would've brought a lot of jobs to a lot of states.

with us now to talk about it, financier and "morning joe" economic analyst steve rattner. steve, i -- just on the jobs front, i don't get this. it doesn't seem to make good economic sense when unemployment is where it is. why did the president veto this? >> look, there's very strong concern about the environmental impact about the keystone pipeline, which we all have to get in nebraska. i think even the democratic governor of nebraska is not happy with the keystone pipeline. and that's where we are, basically, on the issue. >> and it, politically, the republicans will be using this vote quite a long time because let's look at your first chart. since the president became -- since the president was sworn in in january of '09 when gas was at $1.60, it has skyrocketed. >> well, that is one way to look at it. the other way to look at it is that gas got under $4 in the

bush administration, i think it was $1.85 when obama was inaugurated was because of the financial meltdown and the financial crash. the point is that energy is a very complicated issue. it is not a domestic issue, it's a global issue. it doesn't lend itself to the kind of sound bites we just saw. if we only put in three more solar panels, it wouldn't be a problem. bush had $4 gas or it's all obama's fault. the reason the gas prices have gone up from $1.85 to $3.76 is because the economy's recovered. gas prices are -- >> as you know, though, just talking pure politics, and that may be the case. it is so complicated. and a lot of it has to do with speculation on wall street. but you talk to voters and they see ads, 30-second ads that say when barack obama was sworn in, it was $1.65, $1.85, now it's going up to $4. they're going to then pull out all those quotes where barack

obama's against drilling and he wants to tax energy and this and that and the other. it's a viable issue for republicans. >> it's a viable issue. but let's look at the facts. the u.s., notwithstanding the fact we have no energy policy and we all including myself believe we should have one, has not been part of the problem lately. our oil consumption as you can see on this chart has been declining over the last several years, both because of the financial crisis as well as because of the -- as well as because of increased conservation. we use about 19 million barrels a day of oil a year -- >> let's stop there. i think considering how much our population has grown, the fact that we're consuming about the same amount as we consumed in 1980, that's pretty darn good. >> well, it's pretty darn good from the extent it came from conservation, from the weak economy, it's not so good. broadly speaking, it is good. >> but that line, even when the economy was doing well -- not to

cut you off. even when the economy was doing well, it only bumped up to 21 -- listen, this is -- >> it didn't go up -- >> it didn't go up that much. >> we have terrible energy policy, but some of what we've done, like car fuel efficiency standards, building standards has made an impact. >> the more interesting line in that chart is that our supply of oil has actually -- what we're importing. i think that's kind of telling because there's this whole thing around obama that he doesn't like to drill. he has a little bit. and one point i'd like to make. i think there's a sophistication among voters about gas that we sort of understate. obama's big distinctive approach in '08 was not doing the gas tax holiday like hillary clinton and john mccain. and he was rewarded for not playing sort of symbolic politics with that. maybe he'll be rewarded again. >> the current spike in gas prices because of the talk of potential war with iran as much as it is because of keystone. and actually, you could credit the president for trying to dampen down that talk and the people ramping up the talk are

the republicans, which then could be leading into a spike. >> well, thanks for the segue. that's the last part of what i want to say. the u.s. and the 19 million barrels of oil a day is less than a quarter of world oil demand. and world oil demand has gone up continuously throughout this period because the emerging markets are using more and more. >> china, brazil, india. >> and so on. and if you look at the very last chart, and this gets to katty's point. the real problem we have right this minute in the short-term is a very tight supply demand equation. there's not a lot of excess supply of oil in this world. and most of it is in saudi arabia and places like that. you can see all the way over on the right that we have a 3.5% error margin. >> break that down for us. >> in our 86 million barrels of oil a day, there's only 4 million excess in capacity not being used. so if the straits of hormuz gets

closed, suddenly we have more demand than supply and prices skyrocket. so that's the biggest threat we have in the near term to gasoline prices. >> if that were to happen, would the saudis start producing more? >> well, the point is, they only have about 3 million barrels more of capacity to produce. and so depending on what happened in the gulf, you could get to a point where even the saudis cannot stabilize the prices of oil. >> all right, steve. thank you so much. stay around. willie's weekend review coming up next. [ male announcer ] if you believe the mayan calendar, on december 21st, polar shifts will reverse the earth's gravitational pull and hurtle us all into space, which would render retirement planning unnecessary. but say the sun rises on december 22nd and you still need to retire,

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oh, yes, is it time? >> it is time, prerecorded mika. it's time, in fact, for the weekend in review. >> i truly have enjoyed being your quarterback. >> at number three, indy cred. >> it has been an honor to play in indianapolis. >> peyton manning, the beloved quarterback who brought a super bowl title to indianapolis was released this week by the colts. and boy were the man tears aflowing. >> i've been blessed to be in the nfl. >> manning isn't quite as popular in indiana as vladimir putin is in russia. putin did get 107% of the vote

in one precinct. but he will retire his jersey as he turns full-time in the role as the guy in all those commercials. >> cut that meat! >> sandwich, $6. >> cut that meat. >> if you like 6'5" 230-pound quarterbacks. >> number two, dirty harry. not the british prince guy who got married to that princess girl, but the cool one with the red hair, he was in jamaica this week on a good will mission/weed buying trip and got down with some locals. in the span of just five seconds, harry showed more rhythm than ever member of the british monarchy since the beginning of recorded history combined. and the number one story of the week, snooki's pregnant. >> gianni, stop.

what? >> the news this week of snooki's pregnancy was a clear-cut victory for america. >> can i hear an amen? amen. >> but america wasn't the only winner this week. >> i'm going to get this nomination. >> mitt romney took 6 of 10 states on super tuesday. he did somehow fall short in tennessee, though, despite his heart felt recitation, there of the davey crockett theme. >> raised in the woods so he knew every tree, and he killed himself a bear when he was only three. >> newt gingrich won his home state of georgia and celebrated by giving a speech that threatened to carry into super wednesday. >> there are lots of bunny rabbits that run through, i'm the tortoise. romney's campaign politely suggested that gingrich and santorum kneel by mitt and get out of the way. >> if the governor thinks he's

now ordained by god to win, then let's have it out. >> romney's secret weapon in this fight, he's going to learn and sing a song about every state remaining on the primary schedule. >> born in a mountain top in tennessee, greenest state in the land of the free, davey, davey crockett. remember that? >> and now as we learned yesterday, he's added y'all and grits to his repertoire. still ahead, we're going to bring in david gregory and eugene robinson, also the reverend al sharpton joins the conversation. up next, former white house press secretary under president clinton, the great dee dee myers when "morning joe" continues from washington. [ jennifer garner ] there's a lot of beautiful makeup out there. but one is so clever that your skin looks better even after you take it off. neutrogena® healthy skin liquid makeup.

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♪ i think mitt showed last night he has the breadth of support that warrants our supporting him and rallying around him. and i endorse him. he's not a perfect candidate. he has a number of problems. it's hard for blue-collar families like mine to identify with him. it's hard for economic conservatives to identify with him. he needs to do more to reach out to the latinos, but i think he has to focus on that and defeating president obama as opposed to winning the next primary and the next state. >> well, not a ringing

endorsement, but governor george pataki throwing his support behind mitt romney. welcome back to "morning joe." and joining the table, former white house press secretary under president clinton and contributing editor to "vanity fair," dee dee myers, very good to see you, dee dee. >> good to be here, joe. >> have you seen a race like this in your adult lifetime? that looks like it's going to go to -- go to the convention. romney has to get 50% of the delegates. >> right, and none of the opponents show any sign of wanting to drop out. it -- no, i've never seen a race like this and one where there's so little enthusiasm in the base of the party that's in the middle of this what could be a very exciting nominating process seems just frustrated, disappointed, perplexed about what to do. this is not like we have -- it's not a bounty of great choices. you know, in 2008, it was a similar dynamic, but it was kind of a bounty of good choices, and this is not that. >> i remember listening to the

radio in 1991, in december of 1991, bill clinton was campaigning across new hampshire, and i remember the interview -- i hate to admit it. it was npr, and the interviewer -- >> busted. >> -- was talking to a new hampshire voter who said he's one of us, the guy understands me. he was a guy from arkansas going to new hampshire, and you had people saying he's just the best ever i've seen. now here's mitt romney who is from massachusetts down in another region in the south. and this is what mitt romney has to say about the south. >> this guy i see every daytime and time after time after time and his name is garrett jackson. four years at ole miss. and so -- and so he is now turning me into an -- i don't

know, an unofficial southerner and i'm learning to say y'all. and i like grits and the things are strange things that are happening to me. >> how important is it for you to pick up a southern state? >> well, i realize that it's a bit of an away game, but i also think we're going to pick up some support in these -- in the states that remain this month. i'm confident we're going to get some delegates, that's, of course, what this is all about. >> a bit of an away game. dee dee myers, did you ever hear bill clinton call any state a "away game?" >> no. >> especially as we were saying before, this is the deep south. this is where republicans win. you know, there were times -- you go to the south and you walk on stage and you're republican, you hear the roars go up, and you're like, i'm home. but for mitt. >> yeah. >> the south is away? >> bill clinton was a southerner, obviously, but his home game was with any group of people that were struggling that were having a hard time in the

economy that he knew he could connect with, and those voters were everywhere. he always knew he could find a sweet spot. mark and i spent a lot of time those days good days and bad days. in the '92 campaign, there was a lot of hand wringing about bill clinton looked like he was going to win the nomination, he was going to be a weakened nominee, he was going to be in third place behind president bush and ross perot, there was a lot of hand wringing. >> this sounds familiar, dee. >> on one level. one thing that mitt romney doesn't have that bill clinton had is natural gifts as a campaigner. you'd see him on the campaign trail, mark, correct me if i'm wrong and you'd see flashes of total brilliance where you say this guy is a singular political campaigner, you know, really substantive on policy, knew what he wanted to do. you don't see that in the quiet moments around mitt romney. >> and so, and this is something that katty kay was asking last hour, mark haleprin, every political candidate, and myself

included, i knew when i walked into veterans hall. i knew when i was talking to gun owners, when i walked into churches. i knew it was home field. and i knew all my other candidates without me saying anything were in big trouble because just, you know, sort of raise an eyebrow a certain way, and everybody would laugh. we all know that. and i knew when i went and talked in front of country club republicans, i was the outsider. so here's the question. what is mitt romney's home field? what group is mitt romney comfortable talking in front of? >> pretty good in the corporate board room, i guess. that's probably home field for him. >> with five or six people around the table? >> you could go -- you do go, look, you live in the new york area now. and you could go to cambridge, massachusetts, or madison, wisconsin, and you would do fine. and you wouldn't think of it as an away game. the mind set that reflects is a really dangerous thing. not just because the south is so

important. >> you mean romney? >> yeah. >> not just because the south is so important to the party, it reflects a sense that he cannot appeal anywhere he wants. bill clinton, barack obama, go anywhere in the country. george bush, anywhere in the country and feel like i can win this group over. i have affinity with these -- >> steve rattner, there's a comparison with john kerry here that i know john kerry does not like. and he has said as much. but are we looking at a candidate much like john kerry? >> well, i was going to say that -- something to that effect that, yes, there are regional issues and yes, the south may feel like an away game. but with romney getting outside of his comfort zone, which may be these five or six people inside a corporate board room. everything's an away game -- >> and by the way, it doesn't mean he's a bad person, it means he's not an effective politician. this is not personal. this is like saying a guy that runs a 4.9 sprint in 40 is

not -- i'm sure he'd be great at secretary of state or treasury, does he have the political skills to be president of the united states? >> and particularly, i think he's going to be facing president obama who for whatever else you want to say about him, he's aloof, he's detached, he's th this, he's that, he may or may not be bill clinton. we can debate that, but he's up in that zone somewhere. and i think the comparison is not going to work well for romney. >> let's look at the super pac ad that rick santorum has put out. and this -- he's got byes in both. and he goes after mitt romney and newt gingrich. >> how can mitt romney or newt gingrich beat barack obama when on the vital decisions they're not much different? like obama, gingrich supported individual health insurance mandates and lobbied for freddie mac. mitt created romney care. and just like obama, romney left massachusetts $1 billion in

debt. who can win? rick santorum. his bold plan will create jobs and cut spending. rick santorum, for president, red white and blue fund is responsible for the contend of this ad. >> dee dee myers, we saw some of rick santorum's statements regarding contraception hurt him in ohio. no doubt about it. he lost ohio, lost about ten points the last week. but didn't hurt him in the south. didn't hurt him in tennessee. probably won't hurt him in alabama or georgia. does that add -- is that ad effective for him? >> i think it gets him back on what he needs to talk about. which, first of all, he hits romney, which that's been ongoing, but pivots back to the economy. what's been mind boggling and been discussed a lot around this table, why have they spent so much time off-message? that's finally an ad on message. and the other thing, i've been surprised to the degree to which all the candidates -- particularly santorum and romney, how often he's reading stage directions and talks process.

and that comment about this is an away game, right? it's all about process. and getting back to the fundamentals of message is always going to be -- >> and again, this isn't that tough. so the question is, how are you going to do in alabama? you're from massachusetts. well, guess what? this isn't about me, first of all. secondly, it isn't about geograp geography. we're all americans and all of america's hurting right now. real unemployment around 15%. gas prices, doesn't matter if you're from boston, massachusetts, or tuscaloosa, alabama, gas prices are too high. >> this is not rocket science. what's so frustrating, this is not tough. >> but to dee dee's point, none of them are really talking about economic issues. >> right. >> they're all talking about something that's a 15% issue instead of a 75% issue. >> with one exception. and we've always said newt gingrich is not disciplined. mark haleprin, i thought it was very disciplined the other night. he's talking about gas prices. >> yeah $2.50 gas. >> he's disciplined? >> i'm talking about taking

algae to the gas station and blah, blah -- >> not driving it consistently. >> if he drove that consistently, it would work. >> dee dee is totally right, romney shouldn't be talking about process. but in the short-term, he has a process issue. the peril for him, the biggest peril for him is if he's shut out. no popular vote wins in mississippi and alabama and kansas and in missouri. and that's a real possibility. they do need to fix the expectations of that. but he shouldn't be the one doing it. his campaign needs to find a way to say to people, look, he might lose these states not because they're an away game -- >> what happens if he loses the next three states? >> if he loses those four. >> four. >> and even if his delegate lead grows, which it will, i think - have to happen for him to be really be in peril. one is gingrich has to get out and santorum has to beat him in illinois. >> why would gingrich get out

now if he didn't get out after all of the controversies that he endured last summer? >> right. there are a number of reasons people get out. one is that they look at the map and the calendar and realize they can't win. another is that they run out of money. another might be that they're embarrassing themselves by staying in even if they might be able to make an argument for it. none of those arguments work on newt gingrich. he thinks he is the only one with an answer to both not only winning the republican nomination but winning the presidency and fixing the world. you know, it's not just winning the white house. it's saving the world. how can he get out? >> and if you're newt gingrich, and you've got a guy that has to win 50% of the delegates to get a majority and win in tampa, cleanly, why do you get out? especially when you're dealing with somebody like mitt romney where you're still finding op-eds that he wrote all these months later about supporting an individual mandate. >> i'm not predicting he'll get out or encouraging him to get

out. but if rick santorum wins mississippi and alabama, wins kansas, wins missouri, i think there'll be much more pressure for gingrich to get out than there has been and i think he might. >> why would he get out? there's another reason, steve. people get out because think they'll maybe be part of the next administration. he knows he's not going to be part of the administration. >> but people also run out of money. and that has changed now with the super pacs and all of these financing rules. if you have the money, if you can fly around the country, get on national television for 45 minutes and have everybody watching you, give a history lecture, why not? stay in. going out there and saying your message. >> right. because rational arguments don't apply to newt. he has a bigger mission and he's going to pursue it. you worked with him more closely than any of us. so you -- >> listen, well -- newt does believe, and by the way, i'm not mocking him for this because as

you know there are a lot of men with very big egos in washington, d.c. >> i've noticed. >> who believe they were born to save western civilization. and i'm basically talking about every man that has ever run for president of the united states. if you're newt gingrich, you believe that. and you're going against a guy like mitt romney who doesn't respect and he doesn't respect him because mitt doesn't really believe in anything. he's not a man of ideas. when i say he doesn't believe in anything, he doesn't have -- i want to be careful about this. i don't want to insult mitt, but he doesn't have this underlying philosophy. >> you're just saying the truth. >> i'm -- i'm -- again, he's a good man and i like him, but i don't know that he's driven by political ideas. like newt is. so newt doesn't respect him as a politician, so why doesn't newt get out? why doesn't rick santorum get out? here's the dirty truth about mitt romney. while i like him and most of the people who work with him.

and people that have worked with mitt romney in the past, they like mitt romney. >> that is true. >> you do not hear people working for him saying oh, he's a jerk. you've got people that remain loyal to mitt. and you look at mid-'s wife, his boys, they are great people. i have no doubt in my mind that mitt romney is a great man. he's just not a good politician. >> right. and maybe part of it is -- steve can speak to this better. but when you're, you know, doing deals in the business world, you're not navigating by a set of fixed stars. there's not one template that's the right way to put together a deal. your flexible, figure out how to make it work and that's the way he's approached this campaign. >> he's the ultimate pragmatist. there was an anecdote about him becoming governor of massachusetts where he walked in and said to the team, what are some problems we're going to solve and someone said how about health care. and he said, okay, let's work on health care. they came up with a solution, it was an elegant balance of a bunch of things and it worked.

>> he's a problem solver. >> he didn't become a governor saying i want to fix health care. he became a governor saying i want to fix some stuff. >> that wasn't some fix idea he had about it. people must have better access to care. that was fundamentally important to me. >> right. he is a problem solver. he did it in utah. >> did it in utah. >> in the olympics. >> did it at bain capital and massachusetts, but again, i don't know that he's -- >> the other republican primary, there's an argument that might be an effective way to approach government. >> could be. all right. dee dee, stay with us. still ahead, we've got former dnc chairman terry mcauliffe. and coming up next, david gregory and eugene robinson are with us in washington as we take a peek into david's lair. it is dark in there. how does he read anything? first let's go to bill karins. he's got a check on the forecast. it's an outline. who is that man? >> i guess the solar storm

hasn't hit his office yet. we're waiting for that. >> nice back lighting, the. t.j. possibilities of flooding rains, of course texas had the horrible drought. we always need the rain. we don't want it to ruin your weekend plans. rained hard yesterday, continuing now, about to move back into the austin area, dallas later on today. east coast, definitely colder than yesterday. but you have to expect that after a record-breaking heat. the northern plains is where the cool air's arriving today, bundle up this morning, chicago, milwaukee, detroit, north wards up through minneapolis. the north coast isn't shaping up too bad. and looks like on the west coast, a little wet weather into sunday. by far, if you're watching these weather maps. the big stories over the weekend is a beautiful end to the weekend in the east coast. cloudy, cool, and definitely on the wet side. back into the nice, beautiful weather around washington, d.c. what an incredible late winter period we're in. you're watching "morning joe" brewed by starbucks. i love that my daughter's part fish.

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i'm a pretty passionate guy. i can get pretty wrapped up about how important this country is to not just providing a great future for our children but also the world. and sometimes i get a little, you know, say the wrong word. and as you know, you know my bride very, very well. usually the phone rings very quickly, if she isn't there in person to say, you know, rick, you shouldn't have said that -- yeah, the snob comment did not go over very well. and she reminded me it's snobbish. you can say it was a snobbish thing to say but don't call him a snob. and i made a mistake. >> welcome back to "morning joe." that's a good clip, wasn't it? >> yes, it's always -- he seemed

genuinely to recognize that he had said something dumb. and i think whenever politicians show they made a mistake and they get it, people forgive them. >> people love that. with us now, we've got him in the light, moderator of "meet the press" david gregory, and the associate editor of "the washington post" eugene robinson. who do you have this weekend? >> we've got rick santorum. >> exclusively. >> this is a guy that could roll up wins in alabama and mississippi. a possibility that mitt romney goes four more contests without winning. >> right. >> i'm telling you what, this is starting to look like a contested convention. >> the romney folks hope that the math is the momentum, but real momentum trumps that, and if you look at the next ten days and what santorum's capable of doing, especially if he can get newt gingrich out of the race, which i know you think is improbable and have a one-on-one shot with romney, i think this dynamic does change.

>> you've interviewed him several times, do you think newt's going to get out of the race? >> i'm with you, which is what is the incentive? he's got a super pac? he's got a message, and he's got an ego to want to stay in. but he does say, look, there's no doubt that we're going to rally around whoever the nominee is. if he really feels he's lost any sense of viability, does he give santorum the shot? i don't know. like i said, i'm of two minds about it as to whether he does it. but i'll tell you what's key, santorum's got to find a way to own an economic message. and he wants to talk about that more. he's distancing himself from the snob comment. his folks are interested in how much attention he gets on social issues. if he can take romney on about health care and this economic message that i don't think romney's driven strongly enough, we'll see where we go. >> what if gingrich were to lose to santorum in alabama and mississippi? then i think gingrich's big argument or his strongest

argument for staying in the race, which is i'm strong in the south, the south is the heart of the republican party, you know, why should i get out of the race? >> but right now, though -- >> if he gets beaten in the south, i think his argument goes away. >> right now, newt gingrich has more delegates than rick santorum. >> well, yeah. no -- >> remember when newt was telling santorum to get out of the race despite the fact that santorum had actually won a race. >> you're right. >> and now you've got santorum's people talking about newt getting out of the race. >> also wants to make this argument that santorum can't get elected. it's difficult if he loses a couple of contests. >> also, it's difficult if you're newt gingrich to say that guy can't get elected. >> but look at rick santorum's gender gap right now. look at all three of these -- four of these people getting 13% with hispanic voters. right now the bottom line is this, dee dee myers, and everybody talking about it. it upsets my republican brethren and sisters when i say this, you

look at the numbers right now, you do not win with a 20% gender gap. you do not win when only 13% of hispanics are supporting you. these four candidates are all flawed in the general election. >> that's right, and the white house has taken great comfort in that right now. there's three baskets of voters everyone's concerned about, independents, women, and hispanics. and those are places that each of the republican candidates have taken a big hit in recent months. and part of the problem for santorum, he does need to get back on message, but he sounds most passionate and comes alive when he's talking about the other stuff. >> we were talking about the white house. it really does matter. santorum is very effective because he's passionate about issues. but he'll litigate anything. you know, he'll answer any questions. journalists love that. >> yeah. >> and i think a lot of voters love that. it doesn't help you lock in and target certain groups. i will say this, though, independent voters on super tuesday was a good night for rick santorum. a little surprisingly.

and what is romney concerned about? the erosion of support among independents among the other groups, of course, because he realized it could be 40% of the electorate in the fall. >> and gene, look at the santorum clip and compare that to newt gingrich who seems a little bit different. >> yeah. >> politely from middle-class workers, the same thing with mitt romney and ron paul for their own reasons, hard to relate. here's a guy who gets on tv. he's relaxed and goes, hey, my wife beating me up. she's like, rick, what's wrong with you. and he's like -- you can relate to rick santorum whether you're republican, democrat. i'm talking about rick the person talking like that. >> yes, exactly. he has that way about him that's attractive, that's endearing, that makes him seem like a regular guy. but, you know, message discipline is important. having the right message is also important. and i'm wondering what message any of these candidates has for hispanic voters that's going to be attractive. i'm starting to wonder what

message any of these candidates has for women. or how they'd kind of scale back the message that has been sent to women by republican antics in the last few weeks. independents is kind of a different story. we were just talking about how santorum, you know, has a way of attracting independents, i think romney has that path too. and even gingrich in his way. they're kind of more up for grabs, but women and hispanics are tough. >> and for hispanics in particular, a lot of voters are not happy with the president right now in terms of what he hasn't done on immigration reform. but he's got a commanding lead. >> three or four weeks, that was a concern, but now the recent round of numbers, and almost everyone agrees the republican nominee has to get to about 40% in order to win. that's a long way to go. >> let's also remember that the attention span of voters and all of us is still pretty short. i mean, we can get past this

particular section of the primary campaign and a general election candidate who is a republican can reframe this contest, and a lot of this period when they had to go very far to the right, you know, could be forgotten. >> and by the way, you know, you talk to david axelrod, and he will be the first to tell you, these numbers, it's a lot of fun. and don't believe the numbers. out in the new poll, it shows the effect of two horrible weeks for the reasons, but david knows at the end, valerie knows at the end, it's going to go down to the wire. >> oh, yeah. >> whoever gets the nomination, this is a divided country still, and this is going to go to the very end. >> the republican nominee will have basically a floor, i think, that floor of 46%. >> 46%, 47%. >> and so we'll be -- the campaign will be for what's in between. between 46% or 54%.

>> gene made the good point, not just about messaged discipline, it's about having the right message, and what is the message? how does romney move from pivoting so far from the right and then coming back to the middle? you can imagine the ads that david axelrod is dreaming about. >> at lot of them just in the debates. >> so this weekend, you've got rick santorum -- >> got rick santorum, also going to have virginia governor mcdonnell and o'malley facing off about the big issues for the fall. >> thank you so much. gene, stay with us. and coming up, window of opportunity, iran's supreme leader praises president obama's push for diplomacy as israel looks to build up its arsenal of bomb. do you think david will put that quote from a grand ayatollah? it's hopeful. it's hopeful. the latest on the tense standoff coming up next. [ male announcer ] for the saver, and a big first step.

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♪ the regime in iran is a very rational regime. >> do you think ahmadinejad is rational? >> yes.

not exactly our rationale, but i think he is rational. >> do you think rational enough that they are capable of backing down from this? >> no doubt that the iranian regime is not exactly rational based on what i call rational thinking. but no doubt they are considering all the implication of their action. >> that was the former head of the israeli intelligence agency, for the sunday "60 minutes," joining us now an associate at the carnegie endowment for national peace. also nbc news chief correspondent richard engel back from the field in new york. good to see you. >> good to see you. >> let's start with you kareem. you studied iran as closely as anybody has. is iran a rational actor? >> iran is a rational actor in the sense that what's paramount

for this regime is to stay in power. they're not a suicidal regime, they can be homicidal, but they want to stay in power. i think the challenge in dealing with iran from the vantage point of the united states is that this is a regime in which anti-americanism has become a part of their identity for many iranian leaders, the hostility toward the united states was a fundamental pillar of the 1979 resolution, so it's somewhat difficult to reach a regime that needs you as an adversary. >> were you surprised to hear the comments of a former head of israeli intelligence? a nation that has said over and over again that iran presents a threat to the very existence of israel to say that iran is, in fact, a rational actor? >> what i found is the that politicians usually speak differently from folks who are either in intelligence services and military services. and this gentleman was part of the israeli intelligence. and i think they often times say things in a way which are less

varnished. and i think they can see the fact that, you know, iran is an odious regime from israel' perspective, but again, it wants to stay in power. >> richard, you spent a lot of time inside iran. bibi netanyahu in iran a few days ago saying in front of the crowd, we can't wait much longer. this threat is imminent from iran, the united states and the u.n. have to step in. where are we in this crisis? >> just going back to that clip, there was a big difference between what he was arguing which is, by the way, much closer to the u.s. military's position that iran is a rational actor, that iran can be deterred, that sanctions are working, that covert actions are working. he is not pro-iranian in any way, shape, or form, he wants to see more targeted actions

against the nuclear program, against nuclear scientists, including killing scientists, by the way, this is not a dove speaking. but what he doesn't want to see, and what had see afraid is going to happen, which is why he's giving these few interviews he's given some to the israeli press, as well. he's afraid that netanyahu and a few others in the israeli political leadership are going to take action. and he doesn't want to see that happen because he thinks that would be against israel's interests. he doesn't think that a war would be in israel's interest. so he's trying to say that don't do this. they're a rational actor, they can be deterred, and that small, covert targeted actions are the better way to go. this is the debate that's going on within the israeli body politic, as well. >> karim, what's the truth in all of this? we hear differing reports of our close iran really is to weaponizing their nuclear energy, their nuclear power. we hear reports about how close

and how compelling israel is at this moment to launch a preemptive strike. what's the truth on both of those? >> it's somewhat nebulous, but i would say that iran is years, not months, but years away from a nuclear weapon. and we don't know they've made that decision that they're going full speed ahead for a nuclear weapon up until now. >> that's important to point out now. because we had netanyahu saying we don't have months to wait, certainly don't have years to say, this is something we need to take head on right now. you say they're years away? >> well, i think that explains some of the tension between the obama administration and the israelis. the obama administration was trying to calm the israelis saying there's still time for diplomacy. there's still time for coercive diplomacy. when i talked to a senior u.s. official or israeli officials, they say, listen, even if the iranians were to make a decision tomorrow that they want to pursue a nuclear weapon, it would be minimum two years and that's not taking into account the fact that iran's nuclear

sights have been penetrated by foreign intelligence. there's going to be more unforeseen explosions, accidents, and assassinations and defections. so i do think that we often times talk ourselves into hyperventilation about this issue. but the reality is there still is some time. >> richard, you pointed to something when we were talking earlier, a comment that jumped out to you about something president obama said. >> i think -- and we were just talking about this, and i'd love to hear his opinion on this because he's far more the expert than i am. but i was listening to president obama's speech earlier this week. and we had special events and everyone was watching that speech quite closely. and it was netanyahu in town and the difference was president obama didn't take the hard line that people thought he would considering it was a big israeli visit and it was the conference. and he said, look, there is time on this issue and there's a window for diplomacy and all the hawks in the political candidates beating a drum beat

for war, calm down. and you want to have a war with iran, tell me exactly why and how you think this is going to play out. because most people think it'll play out very, very badly. and iran's supreme leader who is the person who has always run iran and now it's much more obvious considering president ahmadinejad lost an election there and is now a lame duck, the supreme leader came out and welcomed those comments. and that's rare because he doesn't make that kind of direct political statement very often. >> were you surprised by that, as well? >> i was. it's a rare moment that the i-- if you pursue it, it works, and calms tensions, great. and if you pursue it and iran reacts with more intransigence, then you expose the fact they're the problem, not us, and it helps strengthen coercive diplomacy.

>> it's great to have your perspective. richard, great to see you. if you didn't see richard's rock center piece inside fukushima, really great work. >> thank you very much. coming up next, the reverend al sharpton joins us live from montgomery, alabama. you're watching "morning joe" brewed by starbucks. i think about the future every morning when i wake up. i care about my car because... i think it's a cool car.

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hey, with us now from montgomery, alabama, the host of msnbc's politics nation and president of the national action network, they say you can't go home, but the reverend al sharpton just did. reverend al, you are in your home state of alabama. i hope that you're a good son and you visited your mama down there. >> well, it's my mother's

hometown. my hometown's brooklyn. i'm on my way to see my mother when the march is over. and i'm also telling everybody i know in alabama as i march from selma that i know joe scarborough -- they watch you down here, joe. >> well, reverend, tell us about the march. obviously steeped in history, that march from selma to montgomery. you're marching for a couple of causes. tell us about it this morning. >> well, 47 years ago, the march from selma to montgomery was to get the right to vote. john lewis who is a congressman now and jose williams was literally beaten on the bridge in selma and dr. martin luther king led a five-day march, 54 miles. and the drama of that -- 47 years later, martin luther king iii and i marched on sunday which celebrated that day. but then we are not reenacting the march, we're extending it.

because all over the country, 34 states have voter i.d. laws that we have seen the studies, will disenfranchise 5 million voters. there's no evidence that the fraud they're trying to solve is a widespread problem. there's only been three cases in alabama since 2003 when they already put voter i.d. laws in. that is much more expansive and much fairer. so we're here about voter i.d. we're here because the most reactionry immigration laws are in alabama where they're telling utilities and hospitals you can't service people if they are undocumented immigrants. and thirdly, workers' rights, it's against the law to organize unions here. so thousands kicked off to march on sunday. hundreds marched every day. we marched 11 to 12 miles a day, and we march into the state capitol today and we have our rally, martin luther king iii

and many of the labor leaders at 12:00 noon. >> reverend sharpton, this is gene robinson. how do you communicate to young people the reality of that march 47 years ago and what it meant and what things were like? you know, to a generation that grew up in a world that's very different and who don't get it. they see a bunch of people marching down the street, but they don't understand the context. how do you communicate that? >> you know, gene, it's been very interesting. we've tried to communicate to young people the challenges of today. i was only 9 1/2 years old when the march happened 47 years ago, but what we're talking about is you're facing many inequalities right now. your right to vote. do you realize they have i.d. laws they're trying to put in place that they never had under reagan or bush or clinton? so why is it different for your generation? and then we have younger people.

tyrees the actor and entertainer. he came down and started tweeting. and yesterday about half the march were young people who never thought about a march but understand the threat to immigration rights, the threat to worker rights, and the threat to voter rights right now. so this is not just a history lesson in what was. it's dealing with the issues right now. >> steve rattner? >> reverend, apart from the voter i.d. question, which is obviously very, very important one. what else is on the minds of these younger people who like you who either were very young at the time of the march or weren't even alive. what are you hearing from them? and what are you telling them should be on their minds? >> the concern is the concern of all americans. the economy. and particularly of black and brown, we suffer the most with the lack of employment, the lack of opportunities, there's a lot of concern, especially among the college students that have marched with us that have gone

to college. if i get a degree, where am i going? where is my opportunity? there's a lot of concern about that. there's a lot of concern about the cost of education. so a lot of young people have been looking for a way to express themselves. occupy so that this march and the marches that will come out of this, i think will give a new sense of activism. and i think it's very important that we do that. >> all right, reverend sharpton, thank you for being with us. say hi to your mom. >> i'll tell me mom hello and i'll tell everybody that you endorsed the march, joe. all your homies down here. >> all righty, thank you so much. reverend al, we'll see you in new york soon. keep it right here on "morning joe." the other office devices? they don't get me. they're all like, "hey, brother, doesn't it bother you that no one notices you?" and i'm like, "doesn't it bother you you're not reliable?"

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welcome back to "morning joe." time now for a story where hip hop and local politics collide. two florida politicians doing a little battle rhyming while debating hb 701, an amendment to the florida evidence code. allen williams, speaker dean canon. >> jay z said it best and i'm going to quote for you, "i know

my rights so you going to need a warrant for that". he went forward to say "aren't you sharp as a tack, are you a lawyer or something?" >> in that song it was the officer who said aren't you sharp as a tack. it is unspoken rule that if you invoke jay z you must get the lyrics correct. i'm not sure jay z would support this amendment. >> i did not see that coming. as it turns out both were a little bit off. here are the correct lyrics to "99 problems." ♪

>> this all reminded us of the great clip from last year, illinois state senate the leader quoting wutang. >> the most important thing is the financial security and ruling of your family. we know cash rules everything around us. get the money. dollar, dollar bill y'all. thank you. >> you know about spanx. sarah blakely, a 41 year old, this was her idea in her 20s. she owns the company all to herself. it is debt free. she came up with the thing that every woman on the face of the planet wears. she is officially a self made billionaire according to forbes magazine. didn't inherit money or marry a rich guy. she did this with a great idea.

sarah blakely a billionaire at 41 years old. >> that is amazing really and what is amazing about spanx is you would think it is one small demographic group. everybody is using it. >> there it is. >> donnie deutsche helped make this woman a billionaire. do you know how much money donnie has invested in spanx products. >> we call these spanx on the outside for donny deutsch. donnie didn't realize you were supposed to put clothes over the spanx after you put them on. looks good on you. on monday we will bring in steve schmidt. and meredith vieira has a new documentary. up next here as the republican

race for president swings south mitt romney says he feels like he is playing an away game when he runs down there. that's next on "morning joe." [ woman speaking indistinctly over radio ] home protector plus from liberty mutual insurance... [ alarm blaring ] where the cost to repair your home, replace what's inside, and stay somewhere else if you need to are covered. because you never know what lies around the corner. to learn more, visit libertymutual.com today.

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allowing themselves to be bedded. thank you gentleman running on the gop ticket allowing you to be invaded by the media because they didn't do it when barack obama ran. >> you take a live look at new york city. back with us here on set are mark hal prn, sam stein and catty kay. mark, game change premiere, washington last night. the star spangled event. tom cruise there and julian moor. all the big stars. you were the big star and -- >> you meant tom hanks. unless tom cruise was there and i missed him. >> tom hanks, tom cruise, it is the same thing. >> hbo does things very well and

people seemed to like the film. >> and again they go away talking about that woman that we came in with, sarah palin. and i heard it again last night. a lot of people have a lot more respect for her especially the fight that she has. people just didn't realize that before she was going into debates. she was giving off the fun with her son hearing gun fire in the background and all that she went through. almost superhuman. >> one reason hbo was so attracted to the story was because she had those pressures. when people see the film tomorrow night i think they will see a pretty compelling portrait of somebody fighting back and dealing with a lot of adversity in a spot light. >> the irony of that clip is she is talking about the vetting

process. when nicole wallace cornered woody harrellson and said did you guys not vet her? it was a rush. and another thing that you find in looking add this film, she was put in an untenable position. she could have said, no. when it hit her it was too late to jump out. >> i always thought shat she was the first casualty of sort of this modern internet based politics. by that i mean the vetting that was done by the media of her that the campaign forgot to do was so intense and so easily done. i remember i was researching a local alaskaen archive and we called the person and they said we were the first to call them.

we were shocked by that. we got them and we could read through them. because the internet allowed you to pick at her resume which probably couldn't have happened in earlier cycles. >> the scene you mentioned, joe, that i thought was extraordinary wasn't just her response to didn't you vet her. we vetted her in terms of if she would defend positions. they vetted her on process but not on policy. they didn't ask her a single policy question. >> one thing you don't see in the movie is i talked to a key player who said that sarah palin was actually deeply embarrassed once the process was going on about what she did not know as far as foreign policy goes. she wasn't used to being in that position. she was used to talking about gas prices, oil, jobs, getting

people back to work in alaska, the nuts and bolts of being a gu governor. suddenly they are talking but tacking georgia. she was too far along in the process to say why don't i just wait four years. i'm going to sigh what i get from the movie was what she accomplished despite her lack of knowledge on a lot of issues fairly extraordinary. >> it was and you are struck again having read the book and now seeing the movie again which everybody should see at just how reckless the choice was. i'm talking about on the other side. five days of vetting when usually you get eight weeks of vetting. someone who came in. it is stunning that you don't know behind the scenes story, truly the lack and understanding

of foreign affairs at a fundamental level, history of relations between us and great britain. i am struck, though, she is known in every corner of the world now. it was less than four years ago you remember this. we are sitting in the diner the morning after president obama's speech in denver. the plane had just thrown into ohio and we think polenty was on it. when the name came across saying is it palin or palin. we didn't know how to say her name. now she is one of the most famous women on the face of the earth. >> there is another part of the story that is remarkable and to me disturbing, the fact that one of the most seasoned journalists figured out before anybody else to go to the faa site and see

where private jets were taking off. mark, you figured out what everybody else didn't know at 6:00 in the morning that a private jet was leaving alaska and flying to ohio. what was disturbing about it we then had the mccain campaign lying saying it is not palin. we are going to have everybody there and they will be standing around. >> it is clear that they wanted it to be a surprise. they kept it a surprise up until the last second in part by engaging in misinformation. you can say lying. they did want to keep it a secret. that five day period layed out in the movie is a pretty amazing thing to go from a list that had other people on it to coming down to a real quick decision to vet her and then to put her on

the ticket. and as you said before given all that, given that she had no warning and the personal pressure she was under she handled things remarkably well. a few big mistakes butd for the most part incredible. >> her speech in the convention hall was so electric. the whole room was like shaking almost. it was shocking because she had been through four days of hell. >> four days of hell. >> and delivered a huge homerun. i remember being totally floored. >> i remember us watching it saying where did she come from? this is incredible. and she had these valleys and peaks and then more valleys with the katie interview. and then goes to the debate. >> a few more valleys then peaks. >> you look at the big test, the speech and then the debate where in the debate she was and we

heard it at the time, behind the scenes, she had completely collapsed but she picked herself up and did a hell of a job in the debate. just a programming note, if you are at home wondering why we keep talking about "game change" we'll give you a peek behind the curtain. take "wizard of oz" and i'm the fat guy behind the curtain. we don't plan what we are going to talk about on the show. we look at the headlines and figure out what clips are out there. i had not once said we were going to talk about "game change." the conversation leads us where the conversation leads us. this is such a great film we can't stop talking about it. i want to get mitt romney saying he likes grits. >> what point have you spoken to mccain since the campaign and

got a sense of whether or what stage he felt he had made the wrong pick or if he would be canded enough to say he did? >> you look at what he said and he defends her consistently and defends the pick. one point which is made in the film a little bit is she helped the ticket. she raised them a lot of money and created a lot of excitement with the base. whatever else you say whether the pick was reckless politicly she was a big boost and a bigger boost than almost anyone else they were considering could have been. >> so the doubt that steve schmidt voices. >> there are those that think it was a bad idea. no one i talked to ever said

anything to back off the original decision to pick her. >> let's go from the movies to the real thing. and this race is now heading down in my backyard, kind of like when the troops have to go and it is mountainous and dangerous weeds for mitt romney. >> you called this, joe. in tennessee last weekend mitt romney sang the davy crocket theme. you predicted he would sing "sweet home alabama." he came close in mississippi getting in touch with his southern roots. >> this guy i see every daytime after time after time and this is a guy from mississippi and this is garret jackson. four years at ole miss. he is turning me into an unofficial southerner.

i'm learning to say "y'all" and "i like grits." strange things are happening to me. >> do you accept that? that was mitt romney in mississippi yesterday. >> if mitt romney were trying to do the same thing in pakistan and infiltrate the taliban he would be dead this morning. nobody believes he is one of us. nobody. >> that came after he said the south was an away game with him. >> which i think he was in league with when he said he wouldn't have knowingly had illegal immigrants working on his lawn because he is running for office. you can't speak the truth. he is right. it is culturally an away game. rick santorum is from pennsylvania. >> newt gingrich is from an unnamed moon colony. so what did he say about this? about lowering expectations?

>> mark is right on it. here is what he said yesterday talking about the challenges he faces in the south. >> how important is it for you to pick up a southern state? >> i realize it is a bit of an away game but i think we will pick up support in the states that remain. i am confident we will get delegates. that is what this is all about. >> it is pretty striking when you talk about the base of the republican party, conservatives in the south and he says that is an away game saying i'm a visitor to the supporters of my party. >> if you are a republican candidate running for president of the united states and the south, alabama, is an away game. katty, that ain't good. >> you are starting to wonder where the home game is for

romney. >> massachusetts. utah. >> not very much, right. maybe hawaii. >> maybe hawaii. >> the away game and it fits in with this idea of mitt romney just not being able to somehow find a way to be easy with being part of his electorate. he has this remoteness whether to do with money or geography or not being in touch with the base. and he hasn't found a way to communicate easily those things that set him apart and keep him apart, his wealth, his demeanor. his remoteness. >> he likes grits. >> whenever he does it comes across as condescending. >> i know, sam, that a lot of liberals did not like george w. bush. anybody that ever saw george w. bush work a small crowd all went

away. mike barnacle said the guy is amazing. i remember the first time i dealt with jeb and i knew jeb . jeb is not aloof but he is a warm and fuzzy guy. george w. is a personal guy one-on-one. it is not the money or the powerful family. there is something different about mitt romney that makes him awkward. >> he is not a very capable politician and campaigner. george bush was a texan and educated at yale. he had an ability to go down to a crowd and start speaking with a little twang and actually relate to those people and look at them in the eye and say i understand what you are talking about. mitt romney lacks that sort of empathy. that's the long word, the ability to reach out and have people think he is a part of

them. saying he is a fan of grits which i just didn't understand. >> in "game change" the book is about barack obama. when people were thinking about him running for president he was in demand in northern florida, in missouri. they wanted him to campaign. that wasn't an away game for him even though he wasn't from the south. for mitt romney to say this, i defended him or have been critical of the press for making a big deal of saying these things, this is so revealing and politicly i heard from so many republicans saying this is just not good. when we come back from kgb operative, a revealing book explored the rise of russia's vladimir putin. up next terry mcauliffe.

here is bill with a check on the forecast. another beautiful day. >> we are adding these up one after another. it is not as toasty and warm as yesterday. the cold air is arriving but still not that cold. the only exceptions are up there north of minneapolis. a little chilly kansas city and chicago. the cooler air has arrived. with some of this cold air in the northern half of the country we have snow coming off the great lakes. in detroit might see snow today. we have a little snow in syracuse. for northern states winter is not completely over. still a decent day from new york to d.c. watch out for the rain along the gulf coast and especially in texas right through the weekend. the pacific northwest kind of cloudy and rainy on sunday. and then the rain begins to

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hard to comprehend how out of touch he is on this issue.

at the moment when millions are out of work gas prices are sky rocketing and the middle east is in turmoil. we have a president up making phone calls trying to block a pipeline here at home. it's really almost unbelievable. >> i think the white house owes the american people an explanation. >> by personally lobbying against the pipeline means the president of the united states is lobbying for sending north american energy to china and lobbying against american jobs. >> despite claims that this pipeline would solve the pain the families are feeling at the pump the company said it would take years before a single drop of oil would flow through the pipeline. the fact that the president made calls happened to make it into a press report and i'm confirming that he did. i'm not going to get into individual names or length of

conversation. >> that was the back and forth yesterday about keystone. republicans came within four votes of passing an amendment yesterday to green light the $7 # billion project. joining us the host of "the last word" every night at 10:00. lawrence o'donnell and terry mcaulif mcauliffe. you are a green guy. >> if the map is drawn appropriately where you don't have to go into these environmentally sensitive areas, we can do this. put the pipeline and not cause environmental issues. the republicans made this a political issue. they did it at the end of last year. we'll get it ultimately. we'll get the oil but at the same time not effecting pristine

environmental areas. it is a win/win. >> it is kind of what president clinton said last week. >> we'll get oil. we won't hurt the sensitive areas. we'll create the jobs. if we are going to do it let's do it right. people are tired of the divisive politics. let's start focusing on job creation. we are not moving the country forward. china moving ahead. thousands of jobs, wind turbines and electric cars. it is not helpful to our country. >> republicans say it is a job issue. that is why they want the pipeline built to create jobs. >> there is going to be a pipeline. this one got 56 votes in the senate yesterday. it is the 60 vote threshold that prevented it from happening. there will be a version of the pipeline at some point in time. what i love today is that the

republicans think there is something scandalous about president obama having lobbied for his position to make sure this thing didn't go up to 60 votes. his position is simply this thing is complex. it goes through a lot of states. let's look at it carefully. not every state is happy about the way this looks. there are obvious substantial environmental impacts that you have to check. these guys want to rush it. president obama is getting tremendous credit on his side for lobbying it. that's what the republicans don't understand the politics of this for him are great because the green side of his politics wants to hear that he was on the phone working this thing. >> the president's other position is i don't want to do this in an election year. let's talk about what you are doing with your company. what is working for you in terms of creating the next wave of what works? >> we have to get manufacturing back in this country. we have to start making things so we can sell them overseas.

i went to china and bought a car chain and moved them to mississippi. we are shipping our cars over to denmark. we in america got to work together to create these cars about national security and technology of the 21st century. we can't keep spending a billion dollars a day importing from countries who don't like us. 80 billion a year in co2 emissions from cars. the president is trying to do this. he gets stopped every chance by the republicans. we have to start thinking big and broad and new job creations. i am doing it with electric cars and hi brids. we are entrepreneurs trying to do it a different way. >> would i fit in that car? >> i fit in it. >> do you? >> i drive it. it is a great vehicle. we are selling to denmark.

we are doing the post office over there. it is the wave of the future. that car will cost you $15,000. the whole theory is it is not green unless it is affordbly green. >> what is wrong with the chevy volt? is it meeting a demand resistance or a price resistance because that is an expensive price tag. >> i think a little of both. i call it range anxiety. it goes 100 miles to a charge. you take our car it is 100 miles. i drive from my home three miles. it is perfect. >> people looking going what is that guy in. >> you don't go to gas stations. i think people are hesitant. got to get the cost down. that's why we have done this model. you can afford $15,000.

it is a second car. >> you hear all the time that manufacturing jobs for the most part are gone for good. they are not coming back. why was it worth it for you as an entrepreneur to build plants in the united states. >> if we are not making things we are not creating jobs. we have two plants in mississippi. we are in mississippi because theyaggressively courted us. i went to china and brought it fwook america. we are shipping these cars to denmark. we can do it here. we have a better workforce here. if you have the will you can get this done. people got to stop complaining and get to work. we are better at technology here in america. we are better workers here and we should buy american. buy cars built by americans. support your fellow american worker. >> are you going to get one of

those babies? >> does buy american mean buy a bmw in america? >> if they are built in america i agree with that. we lost 55,000 manufacturing plants in the last ten years. the bed rocks of communities. you lose the manufacturing and it effects the education system. we have to be bringing these back to america. the kindle designed in silicon valley. they are all made in taiwan. we designed it. we ought to make it here. we have to get serious and start bringing the jobs back to america. we can make them better than china. they are incentivising over there. they put billions of dollars in electric cars and we are fighting in the political meanwhile getting our lunch eaten by governments moving forward saying we are going to be there for the 21st century. >> we are about to learn about the february jobs report.

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as promised we have the february jobs number. how did we do?

>> we did better than expected. came in at 227,000 jobs created a little better than the wall street consensus. average earnings came in in line. probably the best news i have seen is that the january number was revised up by about 50,000 jobs to 284,000 jobs. january was revised higher. unemployment at 8.3. we almost want to see it go up a little bit before it goes down because it means more people are looking for a job. a slight uptick in that might not be a bad thing. not a bad number. futures are indicating a higher open. >> the obama administration will point out this is the third consecutive month with jobs number 200,000 or higher. it doesn't moake up for the job lost. >> we are continuing to create

jobs every month. when he became president, 700,000 jobs a month when bush was leaving office. >> you look for a number around election time? do you get into that? >> it is going to be 8. it is going to begin with an eight. we are going to start a new record where you can't get reelected president with a number like that. he is going to get reelected with a number like that. americans without formally sitting down have come to realize the time it takes for this movement. i think they realize how deep the hole was by february, by a couple of weeks after the president being sworn in. even when we went back i think one of the more interesting stories was when we went back to the data and realize it was worse than we thought. i think that story is a story

that made sense to voters because no matter how we described it i think they were living out there in a world where it was actually worse. so when you come back and say here is the statistic data that shows us it was work that sensation of how far we have to climb out i think makes sense to 51% of voters. >> that's all you need. >> i'm not going to throw water on the number. anything with a two handle, 200 something thousand is good. we are going to need 3 and 400,000 jobs a month created. at this rate of job creation it will take us a decade to get back to prerecession unemployment levels. people working 30 hours a week with no benefits but want a full time job with benefits. it's a good number.

we need to see 3 and 400,000 job as month created. >> we know the rate will change. we know that the rate of increase will change. it's impossible for this economy to keep a number like that absolutely flat over a significant period of time. so that is a nice classroom exercise to say if the rate never changes it will take ten years. >> i hope you are right that it will change fmpt you dig into where the jobs are open there are a lot of manufacturing jobs that are open and not a lot of new hires. i know we have talked about the skills gap. we need to make sure the people unemployed for a year or more are able to fill the jobs. the jobs created largely are from the services sector. a lot of manufacturing workers losing the jobs. now working at a night desk at a local hotel making 12 bucks an hour and maybe don't have any or

lesser benefits. we need to get people back to the jobs that they had before at the same wage scale and more importantly with the benefits that they had before. >> good perspective on that number, brian. terry, your plans we talked about in mississippi, something like 1,000 jobs by the end of the year? >> we are going to make the engines and power trains here in the united states of america. 2,000 jobs in america. 2,000 there. win/win situation. we have a long way to go to keep up with population growth. anything 200,000 plus is very good news for the president. the american public, they like president obama. they see movement in the right direction. they are happy with that. on the other side i think it is good news. >> how many jobs did you create too early? >> we have a staff of three. three people. coming up next it's enough

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welcome back to "morning joe." here with us now, author journalist, masha. what should americans read into the result? we were joking about putin winning 176% of the vote. >> it was not a victory. he is an illegitimate leader and

should be treated as such finally by western leaders. the vote was rigged. the vote count was rigged and before that the election was rigged. over the last 12 years of his rule he has destroyed the russian electoral system. nobody gets on the ballot if he doesn't want them on the ballot. >> how has he pulled that off? he has controlled the media? his friends he pushed them away. how has he built this organization to keep others out of the game? >> on his first work day, four days after the inauguration, may 2000 he introduced a legislative package that began the process of dismantling institutions. no direct elections except for the election of president. that is so restrictive that nobody can run for president or run a campaign even if they are allowed on the ballot. just the law, the way it has

been restructured over the last 12 years does not allow for normal campaigning or normal elections. he has taken over the media. that is something he began doing as soon as he came into office. television which goes out to 98% of house holds is controlled by the state. >> it is a conversation in this country that we campaign too much and they are allowed to spend too much money. it comes in from everyeverywher. it is the opposite of what you have there. there is this notion of a calendar. you are not allowed to campaign for president until two months before the election. nothing serves continuity of the regime better than that. >> that's true. britain has rules like that but they give you a little bit longer. putin has now structured the law

so that you have one month to campaign and it is the month of february. >> terry, you have met vladimir putin. not a back slapping. >> he is just as you see him. never smiling. always serious. all about business. i guess my question would be what can you do to change him? >> you can't change putin? putin has been who he is since he is a kid. i write about it in the book, he has always been clear about his message. he has been a thug, avengeful man. he trying to reshape russia in the shape of kgb. he is not going to change. >> he was very thuggish as a child. >> he was very thuggish as a child. he loves telling stories about how he got into brawls.

>> if you can't change putin can you change the system over there? >> i think people are really fed up with living in the system. it's humiliating. more than anything else it's an insult to human dignity every step of the way. it effects rich people the same way as ordinary people. that's the audience of the protests. the protesters are speak toog ordinary people and saying when they do the system will collapse. >> you described essentially a dictator, a man this close to kim jong-il. why is he regarded as some of the more outlandish dictators? >> that's a great question. i think it has something to do with oil. it has something to do with the general prosperity of the country. it has something to do with

russians being white. >> also, if you have a vote then we tend to fall for that. we tend not to examine exactly what was the circumstances of the way this country voted. and so all you have to do, what they have discovered, what these dictator mentalities discovered if we have a vote everyone will say we are legit. >> that's true. >> they have a vote in cuba. they just had a vote in syria. >> they had votes in iraq. it is an important book in an important time. the book is "the man without a face, the unlikely rise of vladimir putin." which of these stories will make the week in review? we'll tell you when we come back.

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a little help here from john mccallf. it's the week in review. >> i have enjoyed being your quarterback. >> at number three, indy cred. >> it truly has been an honor to play in indianapolis. >> peyton manning, the beloved quarterback who brought a super bowl title to indianapolis was released this week by the colts

and boy, were the man tears flowing. >> i have been blessed to be in the nfl. >> manning isn't quite as possible in indiana as weeping vladimir putin is in russia. he did get 107% of the vote in one presingt. >> cut that meat. cut that meat. >> sandwich $6. >> if you like 6'5", 230 quarterbacks. >> number two, dirty harry. not the british prince guy who got married to the princess girl last year but the cool one with the red hair. he was in jamaica on a good will mission and got down with some locals. in the span of just five seconds

harry showed more rhythm than every member of the british monarchy since the beginning of recorded history combined. and the number one story of the week, snooki is pregnant. >> johnny, stop. >> the news this week of snooki's pregnancy was a clear cut victory for america. >> can i hear an amen. >> but america wasn't the only winner this week. >> i'm going to get this nomination. >> mitt romney took six of ten states on super tuesday. he did somehow fall short in tennessee despite his heart felt recitation of the davy crocket theme. >> raised in the woods. >> newt gingrich won his home

state in georgia and celebrated by giving a speech that threatened to carry to superwednesday. >> i'm the turt s. >> mitt romney's campaign suggested that they kneel before mitt. >> the governor thinks he is ordained by god to win then let's have it out. >> until the pesky challengers make way for mitt, romney will spend the next few days connecting in the deep south. >> i'm learning to say "y'all" and i like grits. strange things are happening to me. >> mississippi and he likes grits and everything. up next what if anything we learned today. [ leanne ] appliance park has been here since the early 50s.

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the question on the program was promised to deliver evidence of obama's radical roots. preach, brother. >> i remember the black students organized an orientation for the first year students. and one of the persons who spoke at that orientation was professor bell. i remember him not giving us a lecture but engaging us in a

conversation. >> that doesn't seem that particularly radical and, two, who is that guy with the sandwich? in one hand i would very much like to hear the speech. in the other hand i would like to enjoy a nice sandwich. i have an idea. this is why i'm in law school to learn how to balance competing interest. the sandwich guy has been with obama ever since. he attended obama's inauguration. he is in the back. he had a prime seat at the state of the union and was in the room the night they killed bin laden. >> focusing on the important. what did you learn today? >> i learned a little thing called range anxiety. >> i have range anxiety. we'll talk about that off line. >> i think in the big east you