hello, everyone. and welcome to "weekends with alex witt." breaking news out of los angeles. nbc news has confirmed that rodney king whose violent 1991 beating by los angeles police was captured on videotape and then triggered widespread riots when the four accused officers were acquitted has died. live in our studio with the

latest. i've got to tell you, miguel, we all saw this come across the wires in the last hour or so and we were shocked by this. what's the latest? >> yeah, alex. police have confirmed rodney king was found dead this morning after 5:00 a.m. they received a 911 call to rodney king's home which is just outside of los angeles by his fiancee, she reported he was at the bottom of a swimming pool. police arrived within a few minutes, immediately pulled him out of the pool and tried cpr. he was not responsive, so he was transferred to a local hospital. at 6:11 pacific standard time, rodney king was pronounced dead. police are beginning a drowning investigation and right now no signs of foul play. it'll take some time before they can rule on the official cause of death, but that's the word coming here from out of los angeles, alex, at 6:11 a.m. rodney king was pronounced dead. >> i understand they'll be doing an autopsy to determine exactly what happened here. is there anything about an

incident last night? anything that his fiancee is talking about? perhaps a gathering of people, perhaps some drinking? we know that he battled alcohol problems for years by his own admission. >> it certainly -- he just sat down with our own lester holt just a short time ago and talked extensively about the anniversary of the beatings and his outcry of his work with the public. but at this point, alex, we don't know if drugs or alcohol were involved. police have not commented on that. of course, they're still early in their investigation. this happened just a few hours here in los angeles. so there's still no official word on that. >> okay. nbc's miguel almaguer. joining us now on the phone, michael eric dyson. and a good day to you. you may have heard me say to miguel that we were all just shocked, taken aback, having just seen rodney king in april around the anniversary, 20th anniversary of those horrible events in los angeles. how about your reaction when you

heard the news. michael, we're not hearing you. are you hooked in? okay. everyone, we're going to get back to michael eric dyson there in georgetown university. there's a lot to talk about with this. of course, the rodney king riots as they came to be known definitely a mark in history, a very negative blight there in the city of los angeles. and it started some very challenging race relations that continued for some time there there were also deaths during those riots. 56 deaths during that time as a result of those riots. we will get back to all of those details. as we know developing right now, the polls are closing in today's crucial greek elections. that result will very likely determine whether greece remains in the eurozone. economists fear if greece breaks away, it could lead to shock waves that drag down other struggling economies and may lead to the end of the whole european union.

cnbc's michelle caruso-cabrera is live. how is it going there? >> reporter: yeah, the polls just closed as you mentioned. it is 7:00 in the evening here in athens. there are new exit polls that show it is too close to call at this point. the two leading parties are neck and neck, they were going into the election and the first exit polls indicate that is still the case. now, remember, today greeks are not voting in a referendum on whether or not they want to stay in the eurozone. they're voting for a prime minister. there are two leading candidates. and both of those candidates say they want greece to stay in the eurozone. however, one of the candidates has been very aggressive about saying that if he wins he's going to renegotiate the terms of a multibillion euro bailout that is keeping greece afloat. he says it's been too tough on the country and he wants to go back to his european partners and get a better deal. the rest of europe has

interpreted that as saying -- others have said that's not going to happen and told the greek people if you vote for him, we see it as a vote for you leaving the euro. it's not clear that the people here in greece see it that way. but at this point, they have divided evenly between the two leading parties. it's going to be several hours before we find out. if, indeed, greece leaves the euro zone, it was never anticipated that a country was going to leave the eurozone. they're not sure how it would happen. but they know it would be damaging to the bank, to the european economy, which collectively is the largest in the entire world. and they firmly believe we'll feel ripple effects in the united states. >> interesting point you bring up when you say the greeks themselves don't see certain things that way, and yet economists are backing up exactly what you're saying about the ripple effects. is there any discussion of that anywhere that what these people are doing today could have this ripple effect and come and negatively affect our economy here?

>> yeah, they -- they cannot believe here on the ground that the rest of europe would ever try to push them out of the european union. they very much feel like europeans, all they're saying is in their eyes, they say all we're asking for is less tough turns. the austerity measures in exchange for all that money have been crippling to the economy. the government has cut spending dramatically, it has raised taxes dramatically. that has caused five years of recession here in greece. unemployment is above 20%, youth unemployment is above 50%. so they're saying can you just give us a little bit more time to fix this economy? that's the argument here on the ground. the rest of europe says, you know, we spent a lot of money on your country, we don't know how much more we can give you. >> well, okay. a lot to be determined as a result of this outcome today. thank you very much. we're going to get back to our top news story, everyone, and that is announcing the death of rodney king at 47 years old,

having reportedly been found dead at the bottom of his pool in california. i'm speaking right now on the phone with captain randy deandon, and sir, thank you very much for joining me. i'd like to ask, what were the sequence of events? or were you informed there was trouble at the rodney king household? >> good morning. this morning, the police department received a 911 call from the fiancee of rodney king stating she found him at the bottom of the swimming pool. the officers arrived on scene and removed mr. king from the pool. he was unresponsive and officers began cpr until the fire and paramedics arrived. mr. king was transported to the arrowhead regional medical center in colton medical center where he was pronounced deceased at 6:11 a.m. the detectives are currently

conducting a drowning investigation and preliminary indication indicates this drowning was an accident with no signs of foul play. >> captain, i understand that mr. king, i believe, he was arrested some 11 times in the 20 years that have passed since the rodney king riots as they came to be known. this for a variety of incidents, domestic violence, assault, drug use, repeatedly for dui. was he known to you and your police officers? >> mr. king was known to the police department. however, the rialto police department and mr. king had a very good working relationship. and so there was no other issues with mr. king in the recent past. >> sir, when you say you had a good working relationship, describe that. was it because he was such a notable figure and lived in your community? which is, you know, not too large. i shall say i'm from los angeles, so i know rialto well.

did people know who he was? >> well, mr. king obviously was a well known citizen. however, while he was living here in the city of rialto, he was always very cordial and cooperative with our police department and any contacts that we had with him. >> is there any information you can share with us about the events of last night at the home there? was there a party? was he known to be out last night at any point? have people been giving you reports about that, sir? >> yes. we spoke to mr. king's fiancee this morning. and there were -- mr. king had been in his backyard pool side and apparently she had last heard from him at about 2:00 a.m. and she heard him talking -- she actually had a conversation with him through a rear sliding glass door. and when she came back, she had

found him at the bottom of the pool. it's unknown if he had fallen into the pool or if there was some type of medical situation where he may have tripped and fell into the pool. >> all of that kind of information will be best probably determined via the autopsy. so once again, sir, she had a communication with him at about 2:00 in the morning and then the call came in at what time? after 5:00 a.m.? >> about 5:00 a.m. but she had an ongoing conversation with him throughout the morning. >> hmm. well, captain, thank you very much. rialto police captain randy deanden. bust of luck in your investigation. >> you're welcome. let's go to front-page politics. new today, mitt romney unleashing a brand new attack on president obama questioning the timing of the president's new immigration policy stopping the deportation of hundreds of thousands of younger illegal immigrants. >> if he really wanted to make a solution that dealt with these kids or illegal immigration in america, then this is something

he wow takuld've taken up in th first 3 1/2 years not the last three months. >> so he did it for politics? >> that's part of the equation. >> mitt romney's in the middle of a swing state bus tour today. also new today, david plough on "meet the press." >> will this decision stand? >> yeah, we are absolutely confident. our attorneys, the homeland security attorneys, well within our boundaries to do. but again, congress hasn't acted. whether it's the economy, you saw republican members of congress openly this week and some articles saying they're not going to do anything on the economy before the election because they want to help romney, it's a remarkable thing. >> and the president is preparing to head to mexico for the g-20 meeting this week. the talks begin tomorrow and president obama will meet with vladimir putin who recently returned to the presidency in russia. it'll be their first meeting in three years. joining me now for more front-page politics.

thanks for being here. >> good morning. >> shira, we heard the timing question of president obama's new immigration policy saying the president really wanted a solution, he would've taken this up in his first 3 1/2 years in office. what do you make of mitt romney's comments? and how much do you think timing did play into the president's decision to announce this new policy? >> i think the timing is rather smart politically on the president's side because it is an election year. and as romney probably knows, congress did try to pass immigration reform in the form of the dream act. and that failed not once, but i think twice in the last couple of congresses. there was immigration reform before congress, it didn't really go anywhere. >> romney's openly criticizing the president's plan and his timing here. what kind of line does mitt romney have to walk not to alienate latino voters? >> that interview he very clearly criticized the

president's plan but he didn't say whether or not he would reverse it. he was asked four times and didn't actually say he would've overturned it. that's sort of a reflection of the importance of hispanics and the growing factor they play in american politics these days. hispanics are very clearly moving towards a democratic camp. george w. bush and his reelection in 2004 won 44% of the hispanic voters, john mccain only won 31%, even in 2010 in the very pro-republican wave, hispanic voters voted overwhelmingly for democrats. what republicans have to do is find some way to appeal to these voters without angering their base that, of course, wants a much stricter enforcement first approach. mitt romney has clearly not figured out how to toe that line. he's always been one of the harder lined members of the republican field unlike folks like rick perry, newt gingrich, that was a place where romney could go to the right in the

primary. now, of course in the general election, he's moving much toward the center. >> and the white house senior adviser david plouffe said on "meet the press," he's confident the policy will stand. how do you think this will energize the community and help them get to vote for the president? >> i think this will energize the community. particularly in swing states like nevada, colorado, florida, they really talk about one of the major disappointments in this president as the dream act, the immigration reform proposal legislation i discussed earlier is not going through congress. this was a major disappointment for them and they're angry with the president over it. so i think this kind of initiative, this executive order will do a lot to energize voters in these key states that will matter. according to previous presidential cycles, we're going to see a fight for these western states, sun belt states a lot more than we've seen in previous cycles where the electoral map is played out in the rust belt. this is important to the president.

>> yeah. okay. the "new york times" says casino mog mog mogul adelson is committed. and he may spend up to $100 million to defeat president obama. this amount of money can help a lot, but is there a point of diminishing returns on this? >> i don't entirely think so. americans spend about $5 billion on federal elections in 2008. it's going to be more this time around. hey, why not? >> remember, adelson spent tens of millions of dollars on freedom watch and now he's spreading that money around to different entities. interestingly enough, those groups share some of the same staffers as freedoms watch did back in 2008. it depends on where this money goes. whether it goes all to television, whether it goes entirely to, you know, mail pieces or phone vendors or even sort of the get out the vote

operation that democrats have invested heavily in that repupupuanicbebebebebe in. if they spread this money out intelligently, which these guys know how to do, i would expect the money to play a significant role in this year's elections. >> okay. as always, guys, good to see you. thanks so much. >> thanks, alex. west coast headlines are next with the gold mine that could be in store for the san francisco 49ers and watergate 40 years later. a pivotal figure who was in the nixon oval office during the planning stages of that. john dean joining me next on weekends with alex witt. i went to a small high school. the teacher that comes to mind for me is my high school math teacher, dr. gilmore. i mean he could teach. he was there for us, even if we needed him in college. you could call him, you had his phone number. he was just focused on making sure we were gonna be successful.

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in one of the worst incidents of police brutality ever recorded in american history has died at the age of 47. police say king's fiancee found him at the bottom of a swimming pool early this morning in rialto, southern california, paramedics unable to revive him. his death is being investigated as a drowning with apparently no signs of foul play. that will all be confirmed via an autopsy. on this day 40 years ago at 2:30 a.m., five men were arrested while breaking into the democratic national committee's offices in washington's watergate complex, and that set in motion the unraveling of the nixon administration's campaign of conspiracy and espionage and would result in president nixon's resignation and forever change the way americans view their government. joining me now, john dean who served as white house counsel and testified against president nixon while serving a four-month sentence for his involvement in the cover-up. hard to believe it's been 40 years. >> quick 40 years. >> very quick.

>> and in those 40 years, i know these questions have been asked and answered 100 times. run the time line with me. when did you first become aware of the criminal actions related to watergate? >> it's a good question because i was first -- i learned of it when i arrived in san francisco from giving a speech in manila at the time they were actually breaking in. but i quickly learned the true facts from the next morning from gordon liddy who told me not only were his men involved in the break-in, but two men that were in jail had been involved in an earlier break-in for the white house which changed the whole dynamics of everything when i learned about the fact that they had broken into elsberg psychiatrist about a year earlier. >> and your involvement in the cover-up was what? >> i became sort of the linchpin if you will. i was somebody they all talked to. we thought i had privilege at that time as the white house counsel, i didn't as it turns out in the long run. that's really been cleared up

very well. but anyway, i'm the person that the various factions communicated with. there were a lot of personalities involved with this. they communicated through me and i -- as i say became the desk officer of the cover-up communicating the concerns and action plans of the various parties. >> preceding these incidents, when you're immersed in that kind of situation during the 1972 political campaign for the presidency, do you lose perspective of what your actions really are? is it survival at any cost to try to stay in the white house? you know, if i might borrow the title of your book, blind ambition, so do you think that's relevant? >> it is and it isn't. we obviously know there are certain lines you don't cross. and i think watergate made those lines very clear. but there's no question you live in something of a bubble in the white house. and you get swept up in the --

in the correctness of your own actions and the wisdom of your moves. so there is that element. and of course, it will push to the extremes during watergate. >> one of the numerous cliches from watergate is that the cover-up is often worse than the crime. do you think that was true in this case? >> well, now knowing the litany of what happened and much happened that i was far unaware of, i don't think that is a very good analogy. i think woodward and bernstein recently have made that point clearly that the underlying crimes were much more serious than the cover-up. and i think people understand why the cover-up was being conducted because of what was being hidden. >> let's all listen now to a famous moment from your testimony. here it is, sir. >> i began by telling the president that there was a cancer growing on the presidency. and if the cancer was not removed, the president himself would be killed by it. i also told him that it was important that this cancer be

removed immediately because it was growing more deadly every day. >> pretty tough words for you to have to utter. and i'm curious how the effects from all of that, that cancer you talk about. how have they changed the way we look at the american presidency? >> well, in many ways, for -- short-term it really dramatically affected the presidency because of nixon's actions. in the long-term, i think the presidency is as strong today as it ever was and in many regards stronger. but what's happened, i think, because of the cancerous condition -- particularly the news media no longer give presidents the benefit of the doubt they once did. nixon certainly changed all that. >> do you view yourself as an outlier to some degree in the nixon crowd. so many remained loyalists, you did not. >> i could not. i made it very clear before i broke rank after trying to warn the president, and the president in his memoirs later said i was the only one that was trying to

warn him of his troubles ahead. but i couldn't remain loyal in those circumstances because i wasn't willing to live a lie. the they sort of push aside all the negative and say, well, those are minor points. but the problem is they dominated much of his presidency. >> here we are 40 years later. and as you look back at the man, richard nixon, and his presidency, what comes foremost to your mind? >> well, i actually am looking at him very closely, my publisher's got me back in this area. i'm listening to tapes that nobody has listened to. i'm tribing literally hundreds of tapes in conversations, so i'm getting -- >> what are you gleaning? what are you thinking about when you listen to these tapes? >> i'm able to remain somewhat detached a the this point because i know how the story ends. but i also am constantly finding things that are both good and bad, meeting a nixon i didn't

fully know. so it's been a very -- it's surprising this material's never been looked at before. >> presumably there's another book in the works, is that what you're telling us? >> that's what's going on. >> thank you very much, john dean. >> thank you, alex. coming up, a mysterious space shift, an unplanned plane ended a secret mission in california. that's the x-37b, it left florida a months ago. it's been flying ever since. well, this weekend the plane entered space before slipping out of orbit and returning to earth. the cost of the program, still remains a secret. if you are one of the millions of men

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our cloud is made of bedrock. concrete. and steel. our cloud is the smartest brains combating the latest security threats. it spans oceans, stretches continents. and is scalable as far as the mind can see. our cloud is the cloud other clouds look up to. welcome to the uppernet. verizon. as we approach the half hour, we have this breaking news out of los angeles today. rodney king, the central figure in what may be remembered as one

of the worst incidents of police brutality ever recorded in american history has died at the age of 47. and joining me now on the phone civil rights activist and rainbow push coalition reverend jesse jackson. your reaction when you heard the news. >> well, i was shocked. i talked with rodney less than a month ago. he was excited about his new book explaining his own redemption. so it creates sadness because rodney became such a fixture in our lives for his tragedy and his triumph. the unintended consequence of this tragic beating was it exposed an ugly racial brutality and profiling. i think because of rodney king, we learned a lot of lessons. >> we did, indeed, those of us remember vividly what happened in los angeles. and i do from having lived there

and watching ash rain down from the skies because of all of the fires going. you talk about the volcanic anger. and few would argue that it was justified at the time. it was a very ugly moment in american history, but rodney king came to symbolize so much more than that incident. >> well, rodney king and trayvon martin, it shows ugly racial brutality. how he lost his job. he was going back to work on monday. he really was a working man, just an average guy, and he was pulled over and beaten and nearly to death. and he wit was exposed on camer and those who beat him walked away and that created an eruption, it exposed a flaw in our system. and really from rodney king to trayvon martin, new york today. a march by thousands against

racial profiling in new york city where racial profiling and searched and seized, it is the drama unfinished business. >> it's a tragedy his life was cut short so soon. but what can we learn from an unfinished life? what about of his life? the things he struggled with and how he tried to overcome? >> well, at least it was his journey and he went from tragedy to triumph. seeking redemption and seeking healing. and all along the way we learned lessons from his pain. we learned lessons from his tragic circumstances. i hope that the moment that we will seize upon would be that rodney king was unjustly beaten. in some sense he was injured without any sense of justice. but today, because of rodney king, really because of trayvon

martin, we're fighting to make this a more perfect union. >> reverend jesse jackson, thank you very much, sir, for sharing your thoughts on the past of rodney king. a brand new immigration policy and now some brand new numbers out today on the all-important latino vote in key battleground states. this just released latino decisions, america's voice poll, registered voters in arizona, colorado, florida, nevada, and virginia. and 49% say they are more enthusiastic about president obama after he announced the immigration policy halting the deportations of some younger immigrants. 14% say it makes them less enthusiastic, and 34% say it had no effect on them. professor at the university of washington, thank you for joining us. >> sure thing. >> what's behind the numbers? >> well, i think there'd been a lot of pent up frustration in the latino community over these record deportations of

undocumented immigrants. and now president obama finally has in this latest poll some enthusiasm here with this policy of success that he achieved in his announcement on friday. he has gone from sit-ins and protests to really being cheered and celebrated for taking this bold initiative. and the data shows latinos responded very enthusiastically. >> and in fact, these brand new polls only represent battleground states. there's only so much you can do in 24 hours, right? how do these numbers compare to latino voters across the country overall? >> i think that's an important distinction. and in this poll we specifically focus on battleground states. there's been so many questions in these states and these are the ones that will make or break the elections so the battleground states for latinos are more important. but this is a trend we've noticed in all of our national polling. if you take latinos in california, texas, illinois, new york, these other non-battlegrounds, we're seeing the same opinions, very strong

support for the dream act. previously frustration with the president and now we've anticipate strong enthusiasm. >> you talk about the supporting of the dream act and poll numbers that were taken before that showed that certainly is the case. talk about that and its influence in the latino community. >> sure. in a poll we released last friday, we have found among latinos 87% supported the dream act and among nonlatinos, 62%. for latinos, this is a very important, symbolic personal issue. no one's going to argue that the economy is not an important and top issue this year. but immigration is personal. this is something that's interwoven into our community, into our lives, we're either immigrants ourselves or children of immigrants, and this is an issue that hits close to home and for latino voters, it's welcome to see that the president has taken such bold action on this and now we're going to be waiting to see how it's implemented and played out over the next couple of months. >> a bit of a referendum on mitt romney as this survey also asked

voters about his policies on immigration, specifically his statements calling undocumented immigrants to self-deport back to their home countries. 10% say makes them more enthusiastic, 59% say less enthusiastic, and 27% saying no effect at all. do you see trends here? >> yeah, this is a significant problem for governor romney. so far we've seen silence on this issue. he hasn't staked out much of a position and he needs to be concerned if he goes back to his previous statement calling arizona a model for the nation and calling on immigrants to stop working and simply self-deport, this is very silly, this is nonsense and latino voters are saying they do not support those statements and governor romney needs to carve out something positive for the latino community or he'll be in big trouble. >> all right. thanks for weighing in with the numbers, do appreciate it. >> reporter: sure thing, alex. strategy talk on what voters in ohio and pennsylvania think about the economy. we will talk with the former governors of both of those

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new reaction today from mitt romney on the economy and europe. we're at a difficult cross roads, and we're going to become like europe with chronic unemployment with -- with wages that are stagnating, with fiscal crisis down the road, that's where we're heading. we've got to take an entirely new course in this country and it has to be adapted to our current times. i know what it takes to get america going again. >> time now for strategy talk. and joining me from two important battleground states, the former ohio governor ted strickland and ed rendell. and you know on the commercial break, i thought maybe weekends with ed and ted, what do you think? kind of sounds good. we'll try to make a habit of this. beginning with you governor strickland, he paints a dark picture of america's future. does that energize voters more

than hope and change like we saw in 2008? >> well, i was just listening to the governor and he said wages are going to stagnate. wages have been stagnating in this country for the last three decades, productivity has gone up, the rich have become richer, but the working folks have basically seen their wages flat. and i think ohio's economy is coming back and we're glad for that. but in large part, alex, because the president made a very difficult decision of when he intervened to save the american auto industry and today in toledo and in cleveland and in youngstown, ohio, cars are being produced, chevy, the chevy cruz in youngstown. so this has helped our state's economy, manufacturing in ohio, it's saved the supply chain. and i believe if for no other

reason, ohioans should support president obama because he saved the american auto industry, and it is having a huge, positive effect on ohio's economy today. >> governor rendell, i'd like to have you listen to a clip of white house senior adviser david plouffe on "meet the press" this morning. here that is. >> here are some of the headlines no doubt you see come across your desk. concerns among democrats a feeling that major donors feel that he could lose, jim carville worried about obama's message on the economy. are you dealing with a sense of panic among democrats? >> no, listen, what we need to do is embrace the fact this is going to be a close election. it's going to come down to a few votes per precinct in a few states. >> i'm going to put david gregory's question to you. it looks like the democrats are in panic mode. what do you think? >> well, it's june. and atei tell people, last weeks a bad week for the president and

thank gosh it happened in june. people don't concentrate until the conventions. so i think there's time and no one should panic. if you look at the battleground states, i think the president's still in good shape, but that doesn't mean we're there. we're ahead by six points in pennsylvania. but i've said pennsylvania's still up for grabs. we've got work to do. we've got to get our voters out, republicans because of citizens united are going to have a ton of money on tv and on the ground. so we've got our work cut out for us. but it is way too soon to panic. this is a basketball game that's just starting the second quarter. >> yeah, and i want to get to friday's big news. he addressed the president's immigration announcement. here's what he said. >> i think that's very clear. what i would like to see is marco rubio and others are coming up, democrats and republicans with the dream act that i think we could negotiate on. >> does senator mccain have a point? that this was used as a

distraction? or are republicans just trying to spin a positive for president obama? >> well, alex, i was so proud of what the president did. we're talking about children who were brought to this country through no fault of their own. they lived among us. they've gone to their schools. these are -- these are children who feel as if they are americans. >> but, sir, these are children who felt like they've been americans for years and years and the president's been in office for 3 1/2 years. so why now? >> absolutely. well, because the president is wanting to send a very clear message that there is a distinct difference in the approach the two parties are taking. mr. romney said that even if the congress passed the dream act that he would veto it. that's a very extreme position and i think the president is wanting to send a message to these young people that you have

a place in america. we're going to do it thoughtfully, we're going to do it in terms of observing the law, but we're still going to give you a chance to find your place in our country. because you have been here, you have grown up here, you have attended our schools, you are a part of us. and i think that's the right position, and, of course, there may be a political dimension to this. but there's a political dimension to nearly everything that happened. and alex -- >> if i can could jump in on this, it comes with ill grace for senator mccain to say the republicans are going to try to put the dream act -- some form of dream act together. only three republicans voted for the dream act last time and it failed by three or four votes. if five or six republicans supported the president on the dream act, he wouldn't have had to issue the executive order. >> you know what? governor rendell, before we let you go, you do have a starring appearance in a piece from my colleague peter alexander. take a listen to this. >> i understand i have a surrogate over there already.

so we decided to come to a different place. my surrogate is former governor rendell. >> republicans pounced on rendell after his critiques of the president's past experience. >> i think the president was hurt by being a legislator only. >> apparently, a couple of questions here. you were at the wawa gas station event yesterday, the mitt romney event. what were you doing there? and does your comment about president obama's background signal some tension in the party? >> well, first of all, we were 200 yards away, we were in a parking lot 200 yards away. i told the obama folks that we're not going to go in any way, shape, or form disrupt governor romney's rally or h his -- whatever it was he was doing and they agreed with me. we were 200 yards away, we didn't even have that microphone, we were having a press conference, myself and four other democratic elected officials and we wanted governor romney to stop his surrogates

from telling untruths about president obama's spending, his taxes, his proposals, and we wanted governor romney to answer the big question, how does his economic plan work when for 60 years lowering taxes on the wealthiest americans has not produced jobs, it has not produced growth? it was just a press conference to get our views across. and for governor romney not to show up and he had supporters there. i think he was trying to sell copies of my book, alex, which is "a nation of voices." >> oh, okay. >> that was a big wuss act who normally hasn't been a wuss. but he's been pretty wussy during this campaign. >> okay, governor rendell calling mitt romney a wuss, right now, at least. thank you, guys. >> thank you, alex. new reaction to comment by ruth bader ginsberg, we're going to hear from a former clerk coming up. ♪ i'm consolidating my assets.

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as soon as tomorrow, we might hear the supreme court's ruling on health care reform and now there's new reaction to comment from supreme court justice ruth bader-ginsburg who spoke friday at the national convention. >> i think many of you know it is now flood season at the court. the term has been more than usually taxing, some have called it the term of the century. >> so, john, thank you for being here. >> thank you for having me. >> the term she was using, the court's term of the century. do you agree? >> well, the century's only been 12 years, i guess that's not saying a whole lot. although, there have been pretty big cases this century, bush versus gore was barely this century and district of columbia -- but i do think is true in this term is that, you

know, putting aside bush versus gore, you have cases that have enormous impact on a presidential election. in a presidential year. not only the obama care case but also the immigration case. that, you know, is deciding whether arizona's controversial immigration law conflicts with federal policy. it's really unprecedented, and i think at least in recent history, to have two terms closing the term in a presidential year with that much impact on presidential politics. >> well, basically, what you're saying, it's been a packed century thus far as you make all those points. we were talking about what ruth bader ginsburg said on friday night. let's have a listen to that. here it is. >> well, as one may expect, many of the most controversial cases remain pending. so it is likely that the sharp disagreement rate will go up next week and the week after. >> okay. she's not tipping her hat exactly, but reading the tea leaves, do you see anything there that gives you an

indication of where this is going to go? >> i don't think you can read the tea leaves on this one, obama care or any of the other cases. you can't help after listening to the arguments and reading the briefs to think that the case is going to be sharply divided one way or the other. i don't think there's anyone predicting this is going to be a 9-0 decision with a five-page opinion. clearly sharply divided and it's common at the end of a term for all of the difficult cases that come down to the end because they're more complicated, there's more opinions, the sense, concurrences, et cetera. it just takes longer to finish. i don't think you can really infer anything from those comments other than this is a normal term. and -- >> do you think we're looking at tomorrow? having the results given to us? judgment given to us tomorrow? >> alex, that strikes me as unlikely. the term officially ends next week, the week after this one. the monday of the 25th, and then i think we can probably think there's going to be a decision on the 28th or the 29th, which

is the end of that week. if you were really going to place your prediction, that's where i would put it. i think it's maybe possible monday the 25th. it seems unlikely to me that a case of this magnitude and this complexity is going to be decided the week before the last week of the term, especially since it was only argued in april or march. >> all right. john bash, many thanks. thank you so much, john. >> thanks, alex. an historic moment in sports and grammar.

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[ male announcer ] get the mileage card with special perks on united, like a free checked bag, united club passes, and priority boarding. thanks. ♪ okay. what's your secret? [ male announcer ] the united mileageplus explorer card. get it and you're in. good day, everyone. and welcome to "weekends with alex witt." breaking news confirmed by nbc outside of los angeles today, rodney king has died. he is the man whose videotaped beating by police officers back in 1991 came to symbolize a deeply troubled side of american race relations. it was the harrowing video clip of king on his knees that spurred an unforgettable trial that was branded not only a miscarriage of justice but a week long fire storm of

violence. and another good day to you, miguel. do we have any word yet on the official cause of death? or is it too soon to tell here? >> it's still too soon to tell, alex. as a matter of fact, police are still saying they are just at the very early ends of their investigations. here's what happened, though. around 5:25 this morning, police, rialto police got a call from rodney king's fiancee. police were immediately dispatched out to the area, when they arrived, they were able to pull him out of the pool. they did try cpr, they tried to revive him as he was taken to a local nearby hospital, but at 6:11 this morning, he was pronounced dead. police are calling this a drowning investigation and say there are no signs of foul play, but as you mentioned, this is early in the investigation, it'll take some time. there'll be a press conference or news updates in a few hours. >> okay. and in terms of time line, miguel, has that been

straightened out? his fiancee had spoken with him around 2:00 in the morning. are we aware if there was further conversation with him prior to that call being made? the 911 call? >> no, there's still some missing gaps in the time line. there's some reports that rodney king had been at home all evening. had -- may have been drinking, that's unconfirmed by police, but this is a published report that's now out. and we are working to figure out exactly the time line. police say, of course, all of that information. what he was doing in the hours leading up to this -- the time he was found in his pool was still part of their investigation. they hope to have more information for us later this afternoon. >> miguel, thank you so much. for some perspective on all of this, i want to bring in msnbc contributor, social activist and political commentator jeff johnson. and there are going to be a lot of people watching right now who were not around when this whole accident happened. the rodney king beating, the

infamous beating in 1991, let alone the verdict that came down the next year. what do you remember most about that moment in history? and how do you look back on that now? >> i mean, i was a high school senior, so i was just coming up myself. and i think what i remember more than anything else was just seeing this video over and over and over again of this man being beaten. and almost finding it amazing that people were trying to critique what he did wrong. and so i think that as we have been able to look back, rodney king was really the accidental rosa parks of the '90s. rosa parks was this iconic figure strategically placed on a bus to be able to sit down to bring attention to something that society was doing wrong. rodney king was the person that nobody would've picked. somebody who had been arrested, somebody who had been dealing with drugs and alcohol, but still was brutalized in a way that many people had never seen

publicly before. and so -- the shame of rodney king, i think, alex, is that in many cases nobody ever embraced the humanity of rodney king, only the symbol of what he represented. but the symbol was so important to the history of america, police brutality and police corruption. >> yeah, and he's a man whose life wasser r changed. he struggled with alcoholism, duis, it was rather a tragic life he led. i did speak with the reverend jesse jackson earlier. he was trying to get himself on the right path as we learned in april. but let me ask you, do you think this could happen again? remember, this all happened before we all had cell phones, that could easily put something up there and stick it out there. do you think the brutality that was afforded to rodney king could happen again today by uniformed members of a police force? >> well, i think that we've seen it happen. i think we saw with oscar grant in the bay area. i think we've seen over and over

again not always with the lapd, or the nypd, but all over the country, whether it's police departments or in some cases those that are just security officers that misuse their power, especially as it relates to african-american men. and so, you know, this is not something that happened in 1991 and never happened again. i think the number of officers, i think the way that the video was captured makes it unique to this period of time. but alex, you and i both know what makes it more unique than anything else was those officers got off. and i don't know if there would be a video in these days in times with the kind of social media that exists and the scrutiny on judges and juries if you would ever be able to have someone get off with that kind of footage being able to be shown publicly. >> and do you think that is something that will speak to how we have evolved in terms of race relations or just looking a the the humanity of someone being

beaten like that? have things changed in these last 20 years? >> unfortunately, i don't think they've changed enough. i think in too many cases it becomes about the court of public opinion, people not wanting to be viewed as racist, people trying to avoid communications, nightmares. i don't think it's necessarily an indication that racism is less. if we look at how people treat president obama, if we look at the responses that we saw during trayvon martin. we know that racism is still real. and if all you had to do was look at some of the responses with the fact that rodney king is dead and you would see some of the racist comments beginning already as it relates to rodney king's death. i unfortunately don't think it's changed race relations. it has, however, changed the communications, it has changed what judges and courts want to be subjected to in the court of

public opinion, and that is at least a step in the right direction. hopefully if we have more honest conversation about race in america, maybe we would begin to see changes around racism in america. >> jeff johnson, really do applaud your comments here. thank you so much. i appreciate it. >> thanks so much. front page politics now. new reaction today from mitt romney who is on a midwest bus swing on the obama administration's immigration policy that stops the deportation of hundreds of thousands of younger illegal immigrants. >> the president for the last 3 1/2 years did nothing on immigration, two years of democratic house and senate, nothing on a permanent or long-term basis. i'd make sure by coming into office, i would work with congress to put in place a long-term solution for the children of those that have come here illegally. >> also new today, president obama's white house senior advisers defending the president's immigration policy on "meet the press." >> you've got these young people here through no fault of their own, many came here early who are studying in our schools, working in our businesses,

wanting to serve in our military. we want to give them relief, congress has refused to act. this is not a permanent fix, david. this is for a two-year period. folks can come in and apply to get work authorization. those cases will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. >> abby phillips and david wigel. hello, you two. good to see you both. david, what do you make of the comments that you just heard? >> well, the timing in question is frivolous. i don't think mitt romney enjoys going on a multi-state bus tour and getting asked this again and again. but today he's asked the question four times and doesn't really have an answer to the pretty easy query, would you reverse the decision just made here? there are republicans that would want you to, would you? and he can't really say. and as far as the timing goes,

he's being a little bit pat when he talks about congress, how obama could've passed something in the first couple of years. yes, obama had said he was going to reform immigration. there were 55 votes in the house and it was filibustered. mitt romney had been doing a pretty good job up until now splitting the difference and hugging marco rubio's in development policy. and he realized that he has to change it now. >> abby, mitt romney criticizing the president's policy on immigration while at the same time courting latino voters. that is a fine line to walk. talk about that. >> definitely. he's trying to buy himself time until the republican party can really settle down and figure out what their immigration policy is going to be. i think that he understands that they're on an unsustainable path towards potentially losing the hispanic vote for a long time in the future. so he and his party have to decide how far do they want to go when it comes to their rhetoric about hispanic voters.

and he's trying to do no harm, clearly today by not entirely discounting the value of the president's policy, bus also calling for a long-term solution. and i think at the end of the day, you'll find that a lot of hispanic activists and voters probably agree that they really do wish that president obama had gone further and pushed congress to do something on immigration in the long-term. and at the end of the day, however, i think romney still needs to come to a better conclusion about what he would do. some sort of proactive policy to address the millions of hispanic undocumented immigrants in this country. >> david, as we were hearing david plouffe defending the president's immigration policy, was it to take attention away from the economy? >> i don't think so. the president is operating on multiple fronts here. and i don't think the voter who chose obama last time is disappointed can't find a job and, you know, the philadelphia suburbs or something is going to forget he can't find a job because of this.

i've never quite bought into that theory of campaigning. it definitely upsets the romney message of the last week or so. but we're in june and i think ed rendell was saying this in a previous segment, we're in june, people are going to forget the issues here. the ball game is whether the economy's recovering or not in october. >> let's listen to more of "meet the press" and get your reaction on the other side. >> your view is that mitt romney can't compete among hispanics? >> listen, he's going to try to compete everywhere as we will. this will be a close election. listen, let's just talk about immigration from there. mitt romney said he would veto the dream act if he's elected president. veto it. during the republican primaries in debate after debate he talked about how held love sending 11 million people home. >> what kind of impact does this have on the swing states? >> i think the romney campaign is banking on the fact that hispanic voters by and large are concerned about the economy first and foremost like everyone

else in this country. the only problem is that his party has a kind of rhetoric that is basically interpreted as being hostile. so it's not going to be enough for romney to sort of just address the economy and not address the hostility in his political party toward undocumented people. and i think that if romney wants to play in places like colorado and the -- the southwest and places even like florida, he really does have to address that tone problem among the republican party even as he tries to address the economy. >> yeah, can i just pick up quickly about your latest political article i'm looking at here? wall street money going to campaigns, 19 leading the pack, former obama donors are now giving to mitt romney. in fact, people have given more than $37 million from the financial sector now while giving president obama $4.8 million. on one hand, mitt romney's getting a lot of money from wall street donors, but on the other

hand, he's trying to appeal to the middle class. so how tough a line is it for him to walk there? >> i think the nice thing for romney is that he doesn't really have to send a message directly to wall street. one of the advantages he has is that he is someone from wall street, and i think many of the people who fall into that category of those 19 donors who have given millions of dollars to his campaign are satisfied with the idea that romney understands the issues that they care about. they don't need him to articulate that and that frees romney to go ahead and try to appeal to the middle class. that's a harder argument for him to make because he has to come across as someone who is empathetic, who understands their financial situation even though he's been wealthy for a very, very long time. >> dave, your thoughts on how mitt romney appeals to the middle class while receiving so much money from the private sector donors? >> i think it's a negative appeal. he just doesn't need to explain what he's going to do when voters are so disappointed in

barack obama's stewardship of the economy. you don't need to go into the details. immigration's a good example of this. the reason -- the republican party doesn't want the dream act passed. there's a bunch of them. one is that if you don't -- if you're not deporting all these people who are not american citizens, are you taking jobs away from american citizens? this was kind of the question that almost interrupted the president on friday that was what the question was about. and mitt romney could talk about that. he could make a kind of populist appeal on that front, but he's deciding to stay generic, find a humane solution on that problem and talked about the economic fundamentals. today on cbs he doesn't want to cut the taxes of the richest people. he want them to pay the same rates. his version of populism is based on very little except the voters disappointment in how the economy is going under barack obama. and he's gotten pretty far from that. but it's amazing -- it's

interesting to see how many times you can avoid a choice that will upset part of his donor class. >> thanks for weighing in. do appreciate it. >> thank you. next up, the jerry sandusky trial and why his attorneys think a personality disorder may help his case. follow the wings.

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new reports say a prosecution psychologist will examine jerry sandusky today. the prosecution asked for the examine after friday's ruling to allow testimony on whether sandusky suffers from histrionic personality disorder. joining me now, wendy murphy.

also founder of the victim advocacy and research group and b.j. bernstein who specializes in child sex abuse cases. thank you for being here. >> good to be here. >> the defense is alleging it's a condition in which people act in a very emotional and dramatic way that draws attention to themselves. what do you expect the prosecution psychologist will hear from sandusky today? is there any chance any other evidence can be gleaned? would it be admissible? i'll let you have first crack at this, b.j. >> well, honestly, my assessment is this is a very wobbly hail mary pass on the half of the defense to bring this up at this late hour where they filed the motion. they're opening sandusky up to a full examination by someone from the state today which could cause even more problems. and they may actually change their mind and abandon this notion depending on what happens with this examine tod today.

some of the patterns that would fit for pedophilia that make you feel like sandusky, you know, "loves these children," writes these letters, is around them all the time is something other than pedophilia. the problem with that is that the state, the commonwealth is going to be easily countering that this particular disorder is mostly for women and is not used in this fashion. and in fact, may be removed from the dsm in this next outcome by the forensic psychiatric community not even recognizing this anymore. >> and thus your qualification hail mary pass. but to you, wendy, if the defense is saying there's a personality problem, are they admitting guilt? >> well, not really. i mean they're not going to say, yes, he did it and here's why. that would be a problem, obviously. no, i think they've got -- this is a nutty, not to be funny here, but a nutty disorder that has roots in sexism, histrionic

is used to pathologize women. and here's the thing, if you have this kind of personality disorder. you don't only have it toward little boys. and that's the problem. he wasn't doing this to women and grown-ups around him. it's completely crazy to put this defense on. but the defense has no choice. and they know that the jury at least -- we know some of them are from penn state, not ties to penn state, they want to have some degree of compassion for the man. it gives them a hook to be able to say, all right, so the guy did it, we want to give him a discount, and if he was a little fruit loops, we might find him guilty of 40 instead of 52 counts. that's what i think is going on. >> so, b.j., the uz the defense put him on the stand? do they have to? >> they don't have to, and it's

so tricky here. i've been thinking about this and reading and thinking back, first of all, nbc, the bob costas interview that was done, the interview with sandusky done by the "new york times," those were the disastrous, i can't imagine this guy would be great on the stand. on the other hand, how can you sit here and say and be the person of his stature in the community and not go on the stand and deny it? so either way i think it's tricky and it's why this particular case is unique. >> wendy, as we talk about the alleged victims, i know both you and b.j. have worked on these types of cases. let me say, i find myself just going, oh, god, every time i read what is said. but in terms of the difficulty for the victims to take the stand, what is that like? >> yeah, you know, it's hard. but here's an interesting observation. they are often more anxious beforehand. and once they go through it,

they feel great. in fact, a lot of research shows that kids who testify do much better in the long run because they feel like they had their day and they were believed and they had their confrontation moment. i know that's a little counterintuitive. but sometimes i think they get scared about mythologies about how creepy and scary it is. it can be empowering, i think is my point. it helps there were many victims. we had stories about ten victims, eight of them took the stand. they feel better when there's more victims onboard. that's unusual in a case like this. most of my cases had one victim against one adult and that can be more frightening. >> given these numbers you're talking about to both of you, is there any chance that jerry sandusky will walk away from 52 charges unscathed? wendy, you first. >> you know, i have to refrain from laughing when i hear that question. because unless there's corruption in the jury, i don't see it. they can't just discount all of these kids and find a reason to believe they're all lying and that mcqueary's lying and the

janitor's lying. it makes no sense. he may win on the two counts where the kids who didn't show up to testify because the jury may be thinking why aren't they here? and we may hear from victim number two. remember, the defense said victim number two, the boy in the shower that mcqueary said he saw being raped, the defense said they know who that is. they may put that person on the stand and say, yeah, we were hugging, but there was no rape. if that happens, he may win on that count. that would be like getting an upgrade on the titanic for this guy because 52 counts, it doesn't matter if he wins a couple of them. >> your thoughts quick? >> the commonwealth, i think, is winning this case there hasn't been any effective cross-examination, and again, it's the volume and going back in time to realize this man pulling children out of school, all the things he did along the way support these young people -- remember, they're not children anymore, they are young men which actually bolsters how difficult it was for them to talk about this because i always find in the young men when i'm

suing a church or some other entity, when they're in their 20s, they actually make even better witnesses than they are when they're children. >> all right. ladies, thanks so much. appreciate it. ahead in today's office politics, the silver lining chris hayes sees if mitt romney wins the white house. [ male announcer ] let's say you need to take care of legal matters. wouldn't it be nice if there was an easier, less-expensive option than using a traditional lawyer? well, legalzoom came up with a better way. we took the best of the old and combined it with modern technology. together, you get quality services on your terms

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with the all-new rx f sport. ♪ this is the next chapter for the rx. this is the next chapter for lexus. this is the pursuit of perfection. welcome back to "weekends with alex witt." we have breaking news to share from california. rodney king has died in his home near los angeles. he was 47 years old. a short time ago, i spoke with captain randy deanden who described more about king's final moments. >> this morning at approximately 5:25 a.m., the police department received a 911 call stating she found him at the bottom of the swimming pool. police officers removed mr. king from the pool. mr. king was unresponsive and officers immediately began cpr until the fire and paramedics arrived.

mr. king was transported to the arrowhead regional medical center in colton, california, where he was pronounced deceased at 6:11 a.m. the rialto police department detectives are conducting a drowning investigation and preliminary investigation indicates this drowning as an accident with no signs of foul play. >> captain, i understand that mr. king, i believe, he was arrested some 11 times in the 20 years that have past since the rodney king riots as they've become known. domestic violence, assault, drug use, repeatedly for dui. was he known to you and your police officers? >> mr. king was known to the police department. however, the rialto police department and mr. king had a very good working relationship, and so there was no other issues with mr. king in the recent past. >> sir, when you say you had a

good working relationship, describe that. was it because he was such a notable figure and lived in your community? which is not too large. i shall say i'm from los angeles so i know rialto well. was he someone who stood out to be a prominent figure? do people know who he was? >> well, mr. king was obviously a well-known citizen. however, while he was living here in the city of rialto he was always very cordial, very cooperative with our police department and any contacts that we had with him. >> is there any information you can share with us about the events of last night at the home there? was there a party? was he known to be out last night at any point? have people been giving you reports about that, sir? >> yes. we spoke to mr. king's fiancee this morning. and mr. king had been in his backyard and pool side and

apparently she had last heard from him at about 2:00 a.m. and she heard him talking, and she actually had a conversation with him through a rear sliding glass door, and when she came back, she had found him at the bottom of the pool. it's unknown if he had fallen into the pool or if there was some type of medical situation where he may have tripped and fell into the pool. >> and you all may remember this infamous 1991 video of lapd officers striking king more than 50 times. a quital of the officers sparked a riot where 55 people died. we will continue to follow this news and bring you updates as they happen. today republicans are leveling new criticism over president obama over his new immigration policy. on the morning talk shows, two senior senators accuse the president of flaunting an established law and using the issue for an election year boost. >> that doesn't really solve the problem. immigration is not fixed because this. this is a policy change designed

to help rig the election, not to fix a broken system. and i do believe it's breathtaking the president of the united states would say stop enforcing the law. >> this is obviously a way to divert attention from very bad news the president's had for the last three or four weeks. i think that's very clear. what i would like to see is marco rubio and others are coming up, democrats and republicans with the dream act that i think we could negotiate on. everyone has sympathy for the plight of these young people. >> well, my next guest is young person who has lived in the shadow of deportation for years. he is among 35 students now appearing on the latest cover of "time" magazine to illustrate how young people of varying ethnicities and nationalities are affected by america's immigration debate. thank you for being here. >> thanks, alex. >> i understand you came to america with your step grandfather at the age of just 10 back in 1997, you were on a

90-day visa. what happened to you now eight years later in 2005? >> i was jailed for being an undocumented immigrant. i tried to go up to cleveland to the immigration office and filed paperwork to get my situation corrected. and i was ultimately told i had to go home and i went home, i got a letter in the mail notifying me to appear for an appointment and i went up there and i was detained and put in jail for 16 days. >> manuel, i'm curious, did you know what your situation was? had it been explained to you by family members? or was it just an assumption after all that time you'd become a naturalized citizen. >> it was an assumption. i didn't know. once i did try to take my act and obtain my driver's license is when i discovered this problem. and i wanted to correct it. >> yeah. >> how long had you been fighting the deportation before president obama's announcement on friday? and how does that alter your situation currently?

>> the fighting deportation since 2005. and, you know, hearing obama, you know, i applaud his administration for taking a step forward and making a solution for this problem that would allow me and 800,000 other dreamers across the world to be able to further pursue our education or start our careers. >> and when you hear the criticism offered up by republican leaders and others, what is your reaction to that? >> you know, i was kind of upset about it. the immigration has been a problem, the dream act has existed for ten years and, you know, something needs to happen. solutions need to be created and the obama administration was able, you know, come up with one solution. >> we have there on our screen saying that you were a graduate, you graduated with a political science degree and i understand you want to move to washington and work in government. what do you hope to achieve there? >> ultimately i would like to either, you know, work as a staff member for a senator or congressman and i want to get involved, you know. i want people to be heard who

are in this predicament and hopefully find a solution for us all. >> you want to take on the issue of immigration there on capitol hill? >> yes, ma'am. >> thank you very much. >> thanks for having me, alex. >> you're welcome. up next, chris hayes on the message president obama should deliver to win the election. what's in your energy drink? ♪ power surge, let it blow your mind. [ male announcer ] for fruits, veggies and natural green tea energy... new v8 v-fusion plus energy. could've had a v8.

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the time for shots we'd rather forget, and the ones we'll talk about forever. in michigan long days, relaxing weather and more than 800 pristine courses make for the perfect tee time. because being able to play all day is pure michigan. your trip begins at michigan.org. in today's office politics, i talk with my fellow show host chris hayes about what he thinks a mitt romney presidency would look like. and we talked about what he likes most about being a new father. but we started by talking about president obama's reelection campaign. >> what's the message you would like to see the president carrying to the election season? >> that's a great question. i like the message around fairness and equality that we've seen emerge a little bit. he talked about it in the context about the rule, which was a proposal for a change in the tax code that would make

sure the people making over $1 million were paying an effective rate that wasn't dramatically lower than middle class folk. now that's a small part of the total inequality picture. but i do think forthrightly addressing people's sense of betrayal, people's sense the game is rigged by saying, yes, we have a situation in which the top 1% really have pulled away from everyone else and have found ways to rig the game in their feravor. and we need to create a fair deal, a square set of rules for everyone. and that equality in and of itself, a more equal country. is it good to be promoted. you need someone forthrightly making an argument. >> what do you think america would look like under a mitt romney presidency? >> i think it would be pretty disastrous. and i think the only silver lining is that for all the talk, you know, republicans really like to talk a lot about austerity. boy will they -- they will talk about how much they hate spending and they're going to cut away.

and they're going to -- but they won't do it if they're in power. there is no evidence that republicans when they have the helm of government shrink the deficit. ronald reagan didn't do it, george w. bush didn't do it, the combination of george w. bush republican in the white house and republicans in the house created huge explosions. >> wasn't that in all fairness because we had a couple of wars that we were fighting regardless whether you believe we should be in those wars, wasn't that where the majority of the money went? >> the huge tax cuts and the wars, but they also increased a lot of spending on a lot of other things, it wasn't just the wars, it was a sort of look at the principle at stake is. so i think the one silver lining in the mitt romney election is that the republicans will do a 180 on austerity and all of a sudden be very worried about contraction, about spending cuts, and they certainly are opposed to tax raises.

and i think the economy is in such fragile state that we have to make sure that we continue to run deficits in the near term otherwise we're going to slip into deep recession. >> where's your wife? >> well, that's her shoulder. >> what are you doing there, pal? >> that was us at some ball. we like to have -- >> no, it's a beautiful photo. look at this baby doll. you can look at her all day. >> are you kidding me? are you kidding me? >> she is so adorable. is and you became a dad in november. >> and finally, i now know in a way that words can never express the sublime ecstatic joy of holding your own child. >> the hope for her above all else is that she's kind and she's happy. to me, thoes are the most important things. everything else is kind of rounding at the margins, you know about what she chooses to do with her life. she tests well, doesn't test

well, what her politics are. i want her to be empathetic and compassionate and happy and everything else is gravy. >> and a very big happy first father's day to our friend chris, all you dads out there, and on a personal note to the world's greatest dad, my dad in los angeles. i love you to pieces. next up with the big three, something's happening in this presidential campaign that also occurred in the watergate era. [ morgan ] lopez lomong started running when he was six and he didn't stop for three days and nights as he escaped life as a child soldier. twenty years later, he was still running, he just had a different thing driving him. every step of the way. ♪ visa. supporting athletes and the olympic games for 25 years. join our global cheer.

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our cloud is made of bedrock. concrete. and steel. our cloud is the smartest brains combating the latest security threats. it spans oceans, stretches continents. and is scalable as far as the mind can see. our cloud is the cloud other clouds look up to. welcome to the uppernet. verizon. it is time for the big three. and today's topics, follow the money, no time to panic, and this weekend's must reads. we're going to bring in my big panel right now. 2008 consultant to mitt romney and adviser to michele bachmann in 2012, and democratic strategist morris reed. and welcome to all three of you. ladies first here with you, amy. our first topic, follow the money, a new washington post

article which compares and contrasts the watergate scannal to money's role in this year's presidential campaign. and it essentially says we'll have to relearn the lessons of watergate. the money corrupts the system. how is the role of money different in this year's election compared to past elections? >> right. it's a wonderful story by my colleague dan eagan as you mentioned. and there's one enormous difference this election over previous ones. and that is that we had a supreme court decision in 20 10 that basically lifted a long standing ban on corporate and union money in elections in federal elections. and so this has paved the way for proliferation of these independent super pacs that have allowed wealthy americans and corporations to plow enormous sums of money into the elections. and we've already seen it last week we had an announcement that sheldon adelson, was going to give $12 million to mitt romney's super pac.

and overall, this development is seen widely to advantage republicans and pro-romney groups as well as the romney campaign, of course, because of their, you know, close ties to business and wall street. >> yeah. but you know what, wesly, is there a level of diminishing returns here? if you've given $30 million to the selection cycle, and there's a potential for $100 million possible by his own admission, where is the diminishing return here? >> it's going to be hard to hit that point because we're not talking about just one state. if we were, there would have that point of diminishing returns. when you talk about all these swing states and spreading that money out across the country, i think you could dump a whole lot of money in this before he hits that point. i have one question for you, though, earlier i saw david axelrod saying how the obama administration if reelected was going to fix this. this was supposed to be the president of hope and change. why hasn't he addressed this issue before now? and why is he going to wait until the next term to do

something about it? and the answer is simple because he's got super pacs helping him too. >> well, morris, your comment on that? >> well, listen, first of all, we should be allowed to participate in our democracy by writing checks. the real problem is when you have unregulated contributions and you have these ways that you can hide donors, that's really where the real problem is and that's where people get turned off. it is okay to raise money, but there should be a baseline control. the watergate situation should be our guide. if we want to regulate this, we shouldn't allow shadow operations outside the party apparat apparatus, we should put the money back in the parties and control them and regulate them. money's not the problem, it's the politicians letting the system become abused. >> let's get to our next topic which is no time to panic. and with you, morris, let's listen to what david plouffe said on "meet the press." >> here's some of the headlines that no doubt you see come

across your desk. concerns among democrats, a feeling that major donors feel he could actually lose. jim lose. jim carville worried about obama's message on the economy. are you dealing with a sense of panic among democrats? >> no. what we need to do is embrace the fact that this is going to be a close election it will come down to a few votes per precinct and in a few statements. >> after talk about the economic news, and a gaffe about the private sector, is there a panic among some democrats? >> clearly there's a sense of panic among some democrats. i would rather that panic start now and not in october. a lot of things happening now will not be relevant then. but this is a good watershed moment for the obama campaign. they need to be focused on what matters to the american people. it will come down to the economy. this is one of those presidential campaigns that will be decided by the debates.

mitt romney and the republicans always have more money than the democrats. if you have the right message, that's what obama had over hillary clinton and ultimately the republican candidate, it comes down to messaging, being confident and people understanding that you are taking the country in a right direction. >> do you think republicans could read too much into this "panic" right now, wesley? >> listen, no, i don't think so. i think morris is right. the president doesn't have that message rite now. he needs to be concentrating on the economy but he's not. the problem that the republicans have is that the obama campaign is not running it out of chicago, they're running it out of the white house as we saw with the immigration debate this week. when you look at the swing states, every vote will count. every demographic will count. when the president releases policy right before the election to target those demographics, the republicans will be in trouble. >> we have to hit a break. amy, you're first up on the other side.

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we will bring back wesley donahue, amy garner and morris reid. amy what did you pick? >> story in the "washington post," a beautiful piece about the class of 2012 from gramby high school in norfolk, virginia. it's a high school that president obama, then candidate obama visited four years ago and delivered his message of hope. and then it proceeds to tell the very heartbreaking or heartrendering student of how difficult these four years have been on students of inner city high schools with parents struggling to keep their jobs, pay their mortgages and pay their bills. it's a beautiful encapsulation of the challenges president obama has in trying to make the

cause for hope and reason and getting another terment. >> what about you, wesley? >> it's a great article in the "l.a. times" about how the president is using the white house to announce policies in swing states. this immigration announcement is going to help him with latino voters in places like arizona or florida. i think it's going to hurt the republicans pretty good as long as the president can do that. >> morris reid, yours? >> i was looking at dan's article about the watergate financing of the campaign. it's interesting, alex, people get outraged about money, but elections are one about messaging and leadership. that's where we have -- the obama campaign has to focus on their message and stay focused. that article is a stairry moment wh scary moment when you look at where we are going. >> all of those articles are must-reads. thank you, guys. appreciate it.

that's a wrap of this sunday edition of "weekends with alex witt." we will have breaking news as it happens. we'll bring you the latest on rodney king as we get more informationpa on what happened california last night. up next, "meet the press." our f. armed with a budget and a mission... and see what happens when we put those tools to work for us. more saving. more doing. that's the power of the home depot. get this ryobi 18-volt drill kit for the new lower price of just $69. we make meeting times, lunch times and conference times. but what we'd rather be making are tee times. tee times are the official start of what we love to do. the time for shots we'd rather forget, and the ones we'll talk about forever. in michigan long days, relaxing weather and more than 800 pristine courses make for the perfect tee time.

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