>> i'm not flanning flames. this is something that dame out last week. a lot of people are questioning his with certificate, questioning the awe thenuthenti his birth certificate. >> will mitt romney keep standing by his man? >> i don't agree with all of the people who support me. my guess is they don't agree with everything i believe in. >> how long can the world stand by? responding to the latest massacre in syria, a slap on the wrist from the u.s. and western a. allies, they send diplomats packing. >> we are at the tipping point. the syrian people do not want a future, their future to be one of bloodshed and division. yet the killings continue. >> so what will kofi annan do now? and accidental tourist? we think not. just how did facebook's mark

duckerburg end up in a chinese government police documentary. that screams photo shop, doesn't it? good day, i'm andrea mitchell live in washington. mitt romney will likely go over the top when he wins the uncontested texas primary today. but speaking of going observe the top, donald trump, he just can't seem to give up on his birther obsession. even on the day hosting romney at a fund-raiser. chris cillizza an msnbc contributor and managing editor of post politics.com. listen to trump on "squawk box." >> his mother was never in the hospital, they don't know which hospital it was. his grandmother said he was born in kenya. it all wouldn't matter except if you're born in a foreign country, you're not allowed to be president. i'm not flanning flames. this is something that came out last week. a lot of people are questioning his birth certificate, the

authenticity of his birth certificate. >> and he also tweeted out, chris, that barack obama is begging at mitt romney to disavow the place of birth movement, he's afraid of it for good reason. @johnmccain, lost the election and don't let it happen again. john mccain helped campaign with mitt romney at a memorial day function in san diego. how do you explain it? >> you know, i spent the morning honestly trying to ask both people inside the romney campaign and republicans outside the campaign why. to be totally frank, i don't understand it. there's some argument his can help mitt romney raise money, he speaks well to the base. mitt romney's not going to have trouble raising money. he raised $40 million between the romney campaign and rnc. every poll i've seen suggests the conservative base of the republican party is unified behind mitt romney as much as they will be, because not -- not

because they love mitt romney but because they don't like barack obama. mitt romney's a politician, donald trump is an entertainer. they don't play by the same rules. when you allow yourself with someone not playing by the same rules you have potential to get into a lot of trouble. >> this has drawn the attention of course of the romney campaign from our own peter alexander. he said that the campaign says that governor romney said repeatedly that he believes president obama was born in the united states, the democrats can talk about donald trump all they want, mitt romney's going to talk about jobs and how he can get our economy moving again. that is the romney spokeswoman. what is the benefit here? you've pointed out he's going to have enough money. what does donald trump bring him except remind everybody? is it a dog whistle to all of the haters out there? >> i don't understand, i don't

know -- even if it is a dog whistle of some sort, i don't even -- i don't know that that even works. i don't think this election is decided by people on the right who are not sure whether they want to vote for mitt romney. they're going to vote for mitt romney. go back to 2004, i feel like it's very similar. john kerry did not make democrats' hearts go pitter patter. he was not the preferred candidate but they disliked george bush way more than they felt kind of ambivalent about john kerry. kerry did not lose the election because not enough of his base was excited or turns out. it's the same situation. you are courting disaster. i know that mitt romney doesn't believe that president obama may or may not have been born in the united states. but when you go to a fund-raiser, like he's doing tonight, when you go and offer this dying with the donald, it's a fund-raising offer to have your donors win a dinner with donald trump, you are associating yourself with someone who to me is just not,

again, playing by the same rules you are. it's just -- it's inexplicable to me, as an analyst. >> one thing that is explicable that you blogged that corey booker's communication director resigned. that is more fallout from the "meet the press" encounter? >> yes, quickly, i talked to someone who is pretty well informed in this. they suggested this was a series -- that this woman was not involved in the "meet the press" prep or anything like that. this was a siris of smaller incidents with unfortunate timing because it came out after "meet the press." i take them at their word but it's eight days after corey booker made national news and not in a good way. it's more than coincidental she decides to step aside. >> mitt romney is betting on donald trump to bring in big donors at the las vegas fund-raiser today. second fund-raiser the real estate mogul hosted for the

campaign. once again, questioning the president. birth certificate. is the cost associating worth it? joining me now senator from missouri and romney supporter jim talent. we wanted talk to you about the new video from the romney campaign which is countering the bain attack by questioning solyndra, the jobs creation record of the obama white house. and we will get to that. >> okay. >> isn't that the point? donald trump stepped up to the plate and created such a storm here which is a mixed met ta fofor it takes over the campaign? isn't that the risk of dealing with donald trump? >> well i think governor romney's made clear, he's not questioning the president's citizenship, she's questioning his leadership and policies. >> why does he associate with donald trump? why take money from him? why campaign with him? why appear with him? he's not a political figure.

and all he does is reser rekt these issues. >> we don't want to be in a position every time some prominent supporter says something we disagree with we have to disavow. we want to focus on the issues. >> isn't that hard to focus on the issues when someone as prominent as donald trump, he's not some shy supporter, he's not one of a lot of donors, this is the man you're standing next to raising money with, and he's donald trump. he's larger than life. he's got more hair than anybody in god's creation. >> in the back and forth of washington and everything, we've heard about dogs in the last few weeks, we've heard about all kinds of subjects. yes it is hard to focus on the issues. but that's what the american people want. i mean they're concerned about the economy. and they have good reason to be concerned. the president's failed policies have suppressed employment, hurt job creators, suppressed the production of energy, and those are things that governor romney

wants to talk about and what he's focused on. >> the very day a crossroads video has come out, it's again attacking the white house and trying to counter the bain attack by suggesting as you just have that the president's jobs record is not as advertises, what is the percentage in dealing with donald trump? >> well, we think the best thing to do from the standpoint of getting our message out and addressing the real issues is just to make clear we have a lot of supporters around the country, they support governor romney largely because he's the guy with the experience to turn this economy around and wer not going to get into a position of having to disavow or not disavow people because they say things that governor romney doesn't agree with. he's going to focus on what's important to the american people, that's what he's doing today and that's what the american people care about. the failed policies that hurt the economy. in this case, regulations. >> if president obama were to appear with a prominent fund-raiser who said things as

outrageous as what donald trump said again today, would you in the romney campaign let it go? >> we'd keep focusing on the main subject of the campaign is and we've done that. every time the president trying to get off to something different like the attack of governor romney because of his dogs or the attack on mrs. romney we go back to what's important. >> i don't think the president attacked mrs. romney. >> every time the campaign or something comes up on the other side that does that, we go back to the main issues because campaigns shouldn't be about the horse race. they ought to be about what's important to the american people and that's what governor romney's going to stick with. >> today your point is that the auto bailout, the restructuring of the auto industry, which romney has said he was both for and against various times, that that has been a net has cost jobs, a net loss of jobs? >> governor romney's positions has been consistent, always for a managed bankruptcy. when the administration, finally

after spending tens of billion of the taxpayers' dollars went to the managed bankruptcy process it turned around the economy. our message, you know, consistently has been the economy. today it's about how the president's regulatory policies are discouraging job kreerts s and jobs around the country and the poster child is his energy policy, which suppressed oil, natural gas, permitting is down, cap and trade regulations the president wants will cause the price of electricity to skyrocket, he said that, and that's what we're talking about today. >> he's saying overall it's up in country. >> leasing on federal lands. >> is down. >> and permitting's way down. production on private lands is up, which is a clear sign we're stonewalling and not streamlining regulation so as to create jobs. >> jim talent, thanks so much. your talent in staying on message is fantastic. >> you're looking very cool on a warm day. >> thank you very much.

appreciate that. good to see you. >> in a coordinated slap at the sad regime, the u.s. and ten other nations expelled syrian diplomats protesting against the latest atrocities reportedly at hands of the regime and its henchmen. following live from cairo, thanks for being with us. the outrage is international but what is the follow-up action? we see kofi annan meeting with assad today and then saying that we're not going to tolerate it, but it doesn't seem as though there's any real clout behind what the former u.n. secretary-general is saying. >> reporter: absolutely, andrea. when you ask the people on the ground in syria as we did last week they have grown extremely frustrated with united nations observer mission. despite the fact it's an observer mission it's not doing enough to contain the assad regime and stop the killing, and that's why people are frustrated.

you mentioned the hula incident, people want to see an investigation. the u.s. wants to send investigator there and complete access without any objections from the syrian government. the syrian government says it's not responsible for that massacre, it's blaming it on the hands of rebels it is calling terrorists. you get a sense of the international condemnation continuing to mount and the isolation that is continuing to mount on president al assad. >> and very few people, if any, outside of damascus and the regime itself, believe that those atrocities were caused by the revolutionaries, the protesters. i mean people went door-to-door killing children, stabbing children, killing them at pointblank after those already had died under the artillery that clearly came from regime tanks. >> reporter: that's absolutely correct. that's what even the united nations is now coming out and saying, is that at first what emerged in amateur video, eyewitness accounts, has been

substantiated by the united nations observers on the ground who visited area. they're saying what appears to have happened that is government thugs or thugs loyal to the government went house to house carries close range killings, shooting men, will, children, that's why they're describing taxpayer a massacre. russia, one of the cloefts sest allies syria's has, condemning syria, is distancing itself from russia, using -- from syria, using strong language yesterday, the russian foreign minister said that the security situation and its deterioration ultimately rests with the syrian government. so it is becoming increasingly difficult for russia to stand by this syrian regime. >> especially in the face as you point out of u.n. corroboration of what happened there. let's me ask you, quickly about cairo. a lot going on there. as you know better than anyone, where you have the two finingists this in run-off, one representing the former prime

minister from the mubarak regime, one who is from the muslim brotherhood, they could not be more polar opposites, and obviously there's a lot of anger because there was violence against the headquarters of the mubarak holdover. >> reporter: absolutely. yesterday there were essentially counterprotests. but if there's an underlying sentiment amongst egyptians they're disenfranchised, upset about the outcome of the first round of voting because between these two candidates that you mentioned that represent opposite ends of the political spectrum, vast majority of voters did not choose either one. 50% voted for other candidates and that's been the frustration, the overwhelming majority of people did not want these two people, now they're stuck with the choice between a former prime minister under mubarak and islamist and many are concerned regardless of who wins, yesterday as you mentioned, protests at campaign headquarters of the former prime minister, it was vandallized, people set fire to part of it

hundreds denouncing military rule and the transition as it's being led by the transition. >> thanks so much. thanks for all of that from cairo. after a weekend holiday break the john edwards jurors are back in court. observers try to read the tea leaves what are they thinking? one clue unusual behavior from a few alternate jurors last friday. lisa meyers is in greensboro, north carolina, and has been following all of this. what, if anything, can we understand there were some briefings from the judge today. so what do we think is going on on that panel? >> reporter: well, we just -- a couple of things just happened before the judge sent the jury to lunch that i think gave us a glimmer of insight into what's going on in the jury room. the first one is that the jury had begun sending scheduling conflicts not just for this week but next week. which suggests that they are not

close to a verdict. the other thing is that the judge in sending the jurors out to lunch admonishes them not to talk to anyone else, not to be influenced, not to watch the media, not to have any other outside contact that might influence their deliberations. last friday she added the caveat, they should not talk in small groups as they go to their cars or whatever after they leave the jury room. today she went beyond that and tried to explain why it's important that they not talk in small groups and said if you talk in small groups, outside the jury room, have your own discussions, it can be divisive and make it more difficult to reach a verdict. that certainly suggests that there's been an issue of people talking outside or some people feeling that others are talking outside the jury room and there may be a small group that has broken off or is not -- they feel cooperating with rest of the jury deliberations.

>> that's really intriguing. it seems as though they could be dividing newspaper cliques and you could end up with antagonistic groups and that could lead to an inability to reach consensus and reach a verdict. >> reporter: right, you could end up with a deadlocked jury, a hung jury. clearly this jury's not about -- not ready to throw in the towel if talking about scheduling conflicts potentially this week and next. sounds like there's high school graduations. but clearly, you know, they've been -- this is the seventh day now, and clearly suggests that they don't think they're within a few hours or even a day or two of a verdict. and i think that at some point, the longter goes, a lot of folks think the more likely it is that you end up with a hung jury though there's a precedent in high profile cases for juries to deliberate a very long time and still reach a guilty verdict. >> lisa meyers, thanks so much. new insights from the courthouse

today. up next, former pennsylvania governor ed rendell joining us. still ahead, russian roulette. will moscow help get rid of assad? the ium they take because they don't take it with food. switch to citracal maximum plus d. it's the only calcium supplement that can be taken with or without food. that's why my doctor recommends citracal maximum. it's all about absorption.

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american crossroads karlg rove's pro-romney super pac is trying to block the campaign with a new line of attack against the president's record on job creation. >> under the government auto bailout investment 2000 dealerships shuttered wiping out over 100,000 jobs. obama invested our tax dollars in solyndra, lost half a billion, 1100 workers laid off,

played wall street games with our money. >> joining me now is former pennsylvania governor, ed rent de rendell. let's talk about this strategy and is it going to work? because it talks about public equity versus private equity. and it could be an effective counterpart to the attacks on bain. >> it could ebb except a lot of what's in the ad is incorrect. i don't think they're going to convince anybody the auto bailout didn't work, americans read their newspapers every day and see general motors is back as number within seller in automobiles worldwide. they know chrysler's come back booming, chrysler 300 i think the hottest car in the market now. so i don't think that the visceral evidence that americans see convinces them that the auto bailout was a success, i think the polls reflect that an della -- andrea. they've got a long way to go to convince americans that the auto

bailout didn't work. stimulus, because they spun so well at beginning, stimulus is easier to attack, though the cvo, congressional budget office, found without stimulus we would have had unemployment rate of between one and two points higher than they did, stimulus staved off a stig unemployment rate. i think stimulus is easier game, because the american people don't have a good, inate feel. solyndra is a good incident but it's a bad incident and that might be fertile ground. attacks are going to be waged, some will work, some won't. the more you attack your opponent, the more you deflect attacks on your guy. right now the bain attacks have worked to an extent to further solidify that image of mitt romney as someone who just doesn't care about ordinary people. >> what do you think, though in general, about the bain attacks and whether that is the best strategy for the president to be as negative as he has been so early? >> well, i think it's a question

of tonight. i didn't like, and i said it the vampire stuff. mitt romney and bain are not vampires any more than vulture capitalists when rick perry said they were. i objected to the tone. the facts of the ad are clear and very correct. i mean, if bain is the main reason why governor romney says he can create jobs and would be a good president, then let find out how many jobs bain did create or how many jobs it didn't create and look at some of the values that bain represented. i thought in the case it was telling, andrea, 350 workers lost their jobs, sometimes that's inevitable, the company goes bankrupt, no influx of cash can avert that from happening. but they took $100 million of profit out as the company went bankrupt and nose workers lost their jobs and the workers also lost most of their pension and retiree health care benefits. did anybody in bain capital to go to investors and say, is it

okay if we take 80 million out and leave 20 million in so these people can have some pension security? was that even discussed? those are value judgments which i think the american people would be very interested in. >> speaking of value judgments, yesterday on "morning joe" you didn't think that the donald ju trump connection was going to hurt mitt romney. have you rethought that, considering trump on the day of this event comes out again questioning where he was born, where the president was born, the hospital records, going through the whole deal again on "squawk box." >> i think donald trump further solidifies the idea that mitt romney is the candidate of the very wealthy and to thattic tent it hurts. i don't think anybody's going to vote against mitt romney because donald trump did a press conference with him in late may. look you may think that donald trump is what was it george will said? an ignore ram muss?

people are going to vote on real things not who stood beside you one time or another. if i were mitt romney i would stay away from as many press conferences with extremely wealthy individuals. i would try to be pick ttured w ord ordinary folks. that's my advice. >> he's taking advice from one -- >> obliviating. >> george will said i.q. said your net worth doesn't have any connection to i.q. >> but donald laughs all the way to the bank. >> well, i'm not sure how much he's laughing today. >> could be. >> we'll have to leave it there. >> mitt romney should stay away from not just donald trump but press conferences withwelly people. >> fair point. thank you very much. preadvice from ed rendell. the lone star shoot-out, the

tea party targets the gop establishment. the politico briefing up next on "andrea mitchell reports." bo ardsnd your wetsuits ♪ free-credit-score-dot-com's gonna direct you ♪ ♪ to check your credit score before it gets too late ♪ ♪ and you end up strapped for cash ♪ ♪ patching your board with duct tape ♪ ♪ so hit free-credit-score-dot-com ♪ ♪ find out what credit's about ♪ ♪ or else you could be headed for a credit wipeout ♪ offer applies with enrollment in freecreditscore.com™. i've been fortunate to win on golf's biggest stages. but when joint pain and stiffness from psoriatic arthritis hit, even the smallest things became difficult. i finally understood what serious joint pain is like. i talked to my rheumatologist and he prescribed enbrel. enbrel can help relieve pain, stiffness, and stop joint damage. because enbrel, etanercept, suppresses your immune system, it may lower your ability to fight infections. serious, sometimes fatal events

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stouffer's. let's fix dinner. in today's politic the briefing, record-high temperatures across texas this memorial dweekend and again today. not the only thing heating up in the state. nine republicans are facing-off to secede ray bailey hutchhutch. ted cruise has the endorsement of sarah palin and david dewhurst has the backing of his boss. john harris, is the texas primary and the presidential race is over, let's face it. but we've got really good house and senate races and that senate race is heating up. what about the tea party candidate versus the establishment candidate? >> well i think it's going to be another illustration of a

contest that we've seen really going on now for two years but we've seen it recently in the lugar versus murdoch contest, which is how strong are these kind of anti-establishment sentiments in the particularly the republican electorate? we see this in the democratic electorate, too. how much are people going to penalize incumbents not on ideological grounds about a general sense, you've been up there too long, time for a change. >> one of the issues is, and this is a big issue, of course, in texas, immigration. and the tea party candidate attacking due hurst for allegedly supporting amnesty. >> that's right. although more complicated politics in texas certainly rick perry, for instance, popular texas governor, though they didn't do well in the presidential contest, has a more kind of dovish, tolerant approach on immigration.

so probably no state in the country are the politics of immigration as kind of treacherous for candidates to navigate as in texas. >> what about the endorsers, sarah palin in particular? he's taking interesting positions supporting orrin hatch against a tea party challenger in his race. in texas she's with the tea party challenger and she's showing her clout as political reports in a number of the races. >> thanks for asking that. an interesting story this morning, looking at sarah palin's below the radar role. she's not been as prominent ever since it became clear she wasn't going to run for president but what she has been doing, and maggie makes this clear in her story, surgically taking placing bets and lee doesn't do it consistently. times she's backing the incumbent, the more establishment oriented candidate, other times she's putting her chips on the tea

party insurgent. she got a very good win/loss record around the country, backing orrin hatch but did back dick lugar's opponent and she's placed bets in several of the texas races. >> sarah palin still a factor. thanks so much, john harris. and up next, swing state economics. who benefits when things do take a turn for the better? plus, the crisis in syria. what will it take for russia to help get rid of assad? the wheat in every mini-wheat has gotta be just right. perfect golden color. rich in fiber. my dad taught me, and i taught my son out there. morning, pa. wait... who's driving the...? ♪ 99 bushels of wheat on the farm, 99 bushels of wheat ♪ [ male announcer ] yep, there's 8 filling layers of whole grain fiber in those fun little biscuits... so they stick with you, all morning long. kellogg's® mini-wheats cereal. [ mini ] yee haw! a big breakfast in a little biscuit. of how a shipping giant can befriend a forest

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phillips' caplets use magnesium, an ingredient that works more naturally with your colon than stimulant laxatives, for effective relief of constipation without cramps. thanks. good morning, students. today we're gonna continue... more than 50 times a day? so brighten your smile a healthy way with listerine® whitening plus restoring rinse. it's the only rinse that makes your teeth two shades whiter and two times stronger. ♪ listerine® whitening... power to your mouth. syria is facing growing international ro international out rage over the massacre in hula. is there any sign that this is going to work? if so, when, how long will it take? rob mali, program director covering the mideast and north africa for the international crisis group and served in president clinton's nfc.

you're back from cairo, and before that russia. you've got ground truth here. what do you sense from russia? any chance that russia will take a turn and put pressure on assad to slowly give up power? >> maybe, i say that with some skepticism though it's possible. they've been playing both sides of this for a long time. they say they're not ready for the regime but against regime change. in favor of kofi annan's plan but not prepared to put pressure on the regime to implement it. this weekend they signed on to the security council resolution but say that you need an investigation to know who committed it. they're not that comfortable backing the regime but don't want to see an abrupt regime change they think could hurt their interestings. >> they waan investigation, sawn real time, reported that it was

clearly either the regime or henchmen of the regime. >> i'm in favor of an investigation to know exactly what happened but i think it's strange to sign on to the security council resolution that basically identifies the regime as a culprit. but then not be clear about who is there. but i think it's symptomatic of the ambivalence the russians have had and want this game to continue, to some extent, when's the last time you had a conservative with anyone about russia's role in the middle east? probably decades. they kind of like to be there so they can't be too identified with the regime but also can't be too hostile to it. >> does putin's resuming power make it more difficult or is there pretty much an identity of pru er. between medvedev and putin? >> when medvedev that was when they signed on to the libyan resolution. now putin would been harder line on the issue. i don't think it's a great

change in terms of being tougher or syria but putin has authority, if he does want to change he could do it. there's no sign yet that they want to be on the side of regime change in syria. >> there are call for the u.s. to do more, john mccain most importantly in terms of the domestic politics here. is there any option for the u.s. short of some kind of military step which this president is not going to take in election year? >> i'm not sure he won't take it election year. it's a function of three things, how bad the situation's on the ground, what happened in hula tips the balance on one side. what are the options on the diplomatic said, any reing and the third one is politics. the other factor, he need to be convinced there's a military option. and that's the problem, so many of the options people put on the table could have devastating

consequences in syria and step away from major conflagration. >> right now on "andrea mitchell reports," another earthquake in northerni itit italy, injuring . the second tremor in the last two weeks. several people believed to be trapped in the rubble. collapsed buildings officials say at least 14,000 people are homeless. including many who lost their homes in thor f. quake nine daze ago? tropical depression beryl weakened but expected to drench southeast with so 10 inches. and a wreath laying ceremony, celebrate what would have been kennedy's 95th birthday. born may 29, 1917. president kennedy the youngest man to hole office of president. he was assassinated on november 22, 1963, at the age of only 46. having spent a little more than

a thousand days in office. and with a weak jobs report last month and the new numbers coming on friday, a largely overlooked factor is that unemployment has fallen faster in key swing states than the country as a hole. greg ipp is here. this is a very little noticed fact but that's why we rely on people like you to dig through it, that in key states the economy's improving and there are states like ohio and michigan benefited from the auto bailout which is under attack today from a new romney campaign video. >> it's ohio, michigan, even florida for example where the unemployment rate has fallen in the last year. quite a bit more than the national average. part is a story about the midwest doing very well agriculture's doing well and and manufacturing as a whole is doing remarkably well considering 15-year hole it's had to deeg its way out of. some of that contributed to the bailout but a global story of

exports doing well and manufacturing coming back. the question for obama, how much can obama get from this? there's a lot of caveats to that. >> caveats because the overall sense is of a weak economy. and in manufacturing, even as manufacturing is increasing, we're seeing that income levels are too down, wage levels are down in the manufacturing sector. >> that's right. a piece in the "wall street journal" points that out. indiana passed a right to work law this year which will enable them to pull manufacturing jobs back but the flip side those will be lower wage levels. there's evidence suggests that all else equal it's good to have a local economy that stronger but people seem to base their vote on national conditions because they watch the national media or their stock portfolio. >> the jobless, long-term unemployed who are hurt the most from this, we now see that the new congressional rules mandate changes in the states and

they're going to lose benefits. >> right. this was part of the deal by which extended 99 weeks of unemployment benefits extended to this year. they roll off faster depending on the state you're in all designed to keep the price low. one the perverse results, once people stop collecting benefits they have less incentive to hunt for a job because they don't need do that this qualify. that could pull the unemployment rate down but would not be a sign of the job market getting better . >> another sign of the fact that people have given up. >> that's right. that's right. hopefully, there's still three, four months before the election, you know we haven't seen the hit yet from europe where gas line prices that a lot of people feared this year. so what i'm seeing now and expect for job numbers for may, out later this week, is steady but not spectacular job growth. >> greg ip, thank you, again. up next, we dive into the age-old question, why do we love the water?

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i'm thomas roberts. coming up in 15 minutes on "news nation," new reaction from the romney camp after donald trump doubles down on his questions over where president obama was born. it all comes hours before trump will join the presumptive gop nominee for a big fund-raiser in las vegas. does romney need to distance himself from donald trump? that's our "news nation" gut check. plus, new problems for facebook stock. it has fallen to a new low. we'll have that and a whole lot more. from julius seizer to benjamin frank will swimming is an integral life. compels swim to face down ocean currents while others settle for backyard pools. what is the fascination with the sport? lynn shear explaining it "swim why we love the water." great to see you. what i didn't know about you, i

thought i knew you and your legendary career, 30 years at abc and all of the books you've written, but you are a swimmer and you're an historian and anthropologist, this book talks about swimming, why we love it through costumes, through history. you yourself swam the that's t. i won my age group. i decided since i was writing a book about swimming, and it's about my passion for swimming. it's the zen of swimming and i decided, andrea, like a good journalist, as you might have done, i ought to do one of these big swims to see what the big drive is for people. i was a lazy lap swimmer. i loved being in the water. and i trained and i worked out and i did it and i swam in this big international race last year

across the water that divides europe from asia and western turkey. and i swam from europe to asia, andrea. >> that is just extraordinary. and when you think, i mean, correct me if i'm wrong, all of the history along those shores, we're thinking of you know greek history, legendary history. >> you see where the "s," follow the line, at the bomb tomorrow is troy where the trojan war was so the and the war was fought over the beautiful helen but it was fought over control of the hellesop a busy shipping channel. it's all about politics. and it's about whether got the taxes of the ships going through there. swimming across it was really fun and, yeah, it was a little bit of hard work but swimming is just something that i've

discovered. >> lord byron did it also we should speak of the poetry in all of this. >> indeed. >> now we're heading into an olympic season. what is it about swimming and the michael phelps, the heroes and we know what he's gone through to try to get back in the spirit really for this olympics. competitive swimming so extraordinary that you would do this as sort of an amateur then training up. >> indeed. and you know what's going to happen? in august when the swimming is on television, and look at these guys fly into the water, people will look at it and say, wow that looks easy, looks like fun i can do that. the truth is, you can do it, if you work at it you can do it if it's about going from one part of the pool to the next or even swimming the hellespont if you train for it. whatnary doing is miraculous. olympians are indeed elite. what they do is they remind us of what a beautiful activity this is and we all should remember that, as we get, dare i

say it -- o-l-d "it's all that's left. no joints will get out of place. it's just the best full body massage, the most healthful thing you can do for your cardio system, for your brain, for everything. it's the best sport there is. >> jfk for his bad back, in the white house swim pool, but other things that went on there probably at the same time. as it's been reported recently, but i should put it out there, that you're speaking to one who is afraid of swimming ever since a riptide off of nantucket -- >> how old were you at the time? >> in my 20s. >> here's -- >> it's freaked me out. >> i totally understand. what i would say to you is, get yourself a coach, go back into a swimming pool and just start getting used to. about there are more adults that i know of who have taken this up as adults and are doing beautifully now. swimming is truly magical.

it can also save your life. so it's a good thing to know how to swim. believe me, i understand the fear and i understand the anxiety, but i promise you that if you start little and do it in a small place, it does get better. and we have such a great history of swimming in this country. you know one of the great swimmers was? benjamin franklin, a very strong swimmer. president john quincy adams swam naked in the potomac almost every day of his administration. >> "swim, why we love the water." it's really fun. a great read. congratulations, my friend. thanks for joining us today. >> thanks. i want you back in the water. we'll talk about this some more. >> there's bathtubs, too, remember that. we will be right back. ealth ofof e throughout our entire lives. ♪ one a day men's 50+ is a complete multi-vitamin designed for men's health concerns as we age.

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hours? chris cillizza, it's going to be a nonpolitical story. i'm saying it's going to be the medal of freedom awards the president and mrs. obama. this is one of thomagical momen white house, madeleine albright, john glenn, pat summitt, bob dylan, among some of the others. it's just a great time for the families, for great americans, and -- >> pat summitt is the one i'm looking at. my wife is a coach. she's been an inspiration to coaches, female coaches especially around the country. i think that's a wonderful honor for a wonderful woman. >> inspirations all. thank you, chris cillizza. see you tomorrow. that does it for this edition of "andrea mitchell reports." thomas roberts will be up next on "news nation." hi, i'm phil mickelson.

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