london? give me four good days. how about more. >> adam writes on mckayla maroney face. gets old. disappointed in herself for the silver medal. i like "the situation room" during the bin laden raid. she is tense in that moment. "morning joe" starts right now. for the first time most americans believe that our best days are behind us. this is an election in which we should be talking about the path ahead, but you don't hear any answers coming from president obama's re-election campaign. that's because he's intellectually exhausted, out of ideas, and out of energy. and so his campaign has resorted to diversions and distractions to demagoging and defaming others. it's an old game in politics.

what's different this year is that the president is taking things to a new low. it wasn't supposed to be this way. his was the campaign of hope and change. he was the candidate who was going to bring a new era to american politics. in 2008, candidate obama said this, quote, if you don't have any fresh ideas, then you use stale tactics to scare voters. he also said this, if you don't have a record to run on, then you paint your opponent as someone people should run from. and then he said this -- you make a big election about small things. that was candidate obama, describing the strategy that is now the heart of his campaign. his campaign and his surrogates have made wild and reckless accusations that disgrace the office of the presidency.

other outrageous charge just came a few hours ago in virginia and the white house sinks a little bit lower. this is what an angry and desperate presidency looks like. president obama knows better, promised better and america deserves better. >> good morning. welcome to "morning joe." it's wednesday, august 15th. with us on set, we have msnbc contributor mike barnicle. >> this is big. >> hello, mike. >> this is big. >> uh-huh. msnbc and "time" magazine senior political analyst mark halperin and in washington, we have pulitzer prize writer for "the washington post," jonathan capehart. >> and great willie geist of course. >> speaking of hate, anger and division, how about the red sox? >> what's going on there? >> we'll talk about that later. whoa. >> is everything okay, mike. >> the players are like, what, it's a mutiny there. >> they had a team at fenway

park playing hard that enjoyed playing together. unfortunately it was bruce springsteen. >> there you go. >> a problem. >> bruce and stevie. >> thank you very much. >> personal friend of mine. >> can we go right into this? >> i was going to say, just mark, on that speech last night you said you got a lot of calls from people, the regular traveling press corps. >> going over, but last night was a historical moment in the campaign. the vice president saying something he said inartfully and now both campaigns are expressing not full outrage, which is mostly what we see, but genuine outrage. the governor of -- former governor of massachusetts is genuinely outraged by what joe biden said and what he perceives as the president's tactics and i think based on what happened last night the president's team is stunned that the president would be accused of engaging in a campaign of hate. mitt romney used the word hate. i think he meant it. i think the president was stung by it and i think we're either today and the rest of this week

going to escalate into nuclear war or i would like to see some day tant. this is not the kind of campaign these candidates want but it's escala escalated. >> romney was -- romney seemed more relaxed than usual. >> and animated and used the word hate. that's a stronger word than lie in some ways in our politics. >> if somebody accused me of killing their wife, i think hate would be a word that i might feel quite comfortable doing. by the way, they started running that ad on tv yesterday. just think about it. just think about it. you're in politics and your children have to see run over and over and over again, a man saying that your dad killed his wife. and he doesn't even care. i'll just leave that to the audience to answer whether that rises to the level of hate or not. >> all right. the romney campaign is calling comments vice president joe biden made in virginia yesterday a new low in the election. the vice president described the

damage he says romney's policies would cause by deregulating wall street. >> look at what they value and look at their budget and what they're proposing. romney wants to let -- he said in the first 100 days, he's going to let the big banks once again write their own rules. unchain wall street. they're going to put y'all back in chains. >> good lord. >> biden's words came -- >> oh, good lord. >> mike, we've got a no attack joe zone here. >> do you think -- >> this is the right stuff, pushing the envelope. i mean seriously, he's got -- >> don't think he meant -- >> yes. going to put y'all back in chains. >> stop it. >> run the clip again. run the clip again. >> for the american audience. >> predominantly african-american crowd. >> what's wrong with you all. >> what's wrong with you? >> look at what they value and their budget and what they're proposing. romney said in the first 100 days he's going to let the big

banks once again write their own rules. unchain wall street. they're going to put y'all back in chains. >> unchain! >> stop. biden's words during a rally which included a large number of african-americans in the audience. the romney campaign was quick to call his comments unacceptable, accusing the vice president of using racial undertones. i'm sorry he did not mean to do that. >> you think he meant -- >> come on. >> you are not going to say that? >> of course he meant to do it. he went -- >> he corrected himself later. >> he apologized? >> he corrected him sl and said the phrase that he was supposed to use -- >> not saying it was a good thing to do. >> unshackle which had been used in prior rhetoric. to mark's point this is the campaign thus far, nobody wants to hear either side in this campaign. i mean this is -- this is absurd. >> it was bad. >> tv ads on both sides. >> before the vice president

revised and extended his remarks stephanie cutter on with andrea mitchell and the campaign didn't back down at all. the mode they're in, you try to take something we say and make something out of it we won't back down. >> stephanie cutter what did she say. >> didn't give an inch on whether she spoken inartfully or not. >> i agree with mark we should talk about jobs and medicare and we will in a moment. >> just stop. >> it has to be said if paul ryan, the republican candidate said that to an african-american audience there would be calls this morning for him to get out of the race for mitt romney to withdraw from the race. there's a double standard. >> all right. "the new york times" would have it on the front page, writing huge editorials. everybody watching this show would be calling him a racist and bigot and this is the most obscene thing ever. >> we're covering it. there's no double standard. we're covering the story. mitt romney did not hold back in ohio. lashing out with some of his harshest criticism against the obama campaign.

>> his campaign and his surrogates have made wild and reckless accusations that disgrace the office of the presidency. another outrageous charge just came a few hours ago in virginia and the white house sinks a little bit lower. this is what an angry and desperate presidency looks like. president obama knows better, promised better, and america deserves better. mr. president, take your campaign of division and anger and hate back to chicago and let us get about rebuilding and reuniting america. >> campaign spokesman ben hebolt said in a statement govern romney's tonight seemed unhinged and particularly strange, coming at a time when he's pouring tens of millions of dollars into negative ads that are demonstrably false. later in the afternoon, vice president biden sought to

clarify his comments saying paul ryan used the word unshackled during the republican's response to the state of the union in 2011. here's biden's response in virginia. >> and i'm told when i made that comment earlier today in danville, virginia, the romney campaign put out a tweet, you know tweet season, tweet, went on the airways saying, biden he's outrageous in saying that i think i said instead of unshackled, unchained outrageous to say that. that's what we've had. i'm using the wrong word. i got a message for him -- if you want to know what's outrageous, it's their policies. and the effects of their policies on middle-class america. that's what's outrageous. >> jonathan capehart, is mark halperin right, have we reached a new low in this campaign? >> i think we've been at this low for a very long time.

look, this is ridiculous. when i saw andrea saul's statement about vice president biden's comments, i rolled my eyes. we're looking -- we've been looking at a campaign and in some instances the candidate himself engaging in some sort of somewhat racially insensitive or downright racially insensitive things. newt gingrich, doing newt university at the convention in tampa, who consistently calls the president a food stamp president. you have mitt romney say to donors in montana after speaking to the naacp talking about how he would repeal obama care and telling them that, you know, if you want more free stuff, vote for the other guy. you have the welfare ad, the first one, that came out that is completely false. you have mitt romney -- >> is that -- but wait -- >> is mitt romney being insensitive? >> come on. because we're -- >> welfare racially incensensit. food stamps racially insensitive. >> mitt romney still endorsed by donald trump who is still

engaging in the racist birther lie, you've got alan west out there calling saying that barack obama wants to make everyone his slave. for the last three and a half years you've had a president -- >> alan west is black. >> i know alan west is black. >> you think the vice president was going out there -- >> wait a minute. >> what i'm talking about, though, is a larger issue here. for the last three and a half years, mitt romney talks about a campaign of -- a campaign of hate, this is a president who for the last three and a half years has had his legitimacy questioned from day one by the racist birther line, had no one of any consequence in the republican party in the leadership to come out and say this is wrong, this is wrong for the country and wrong for national discourse. so i completely agree with what mark said at the beginning, that both sides are extremely angry and i can understand why the obama folks would be angry, being yelled at, being lectured to by the romney campaign about

a campaign of vis divisiveness and hate from the republican party and this campaign for quite a long time. >> are you saying they're giving it back, jonathan capehart? >> say that again. >> you're saying they're giving it back now. >> no. i think they are right to defend themselves. i think stephanie cutter was right to not back -- to not back down. fine, you know, joe biden spoke inartfully, but i don't think he has anything to apologize for. >> okay. >> all right. >> and that ad, they're running that ad again. >> the controversy -- controversial priorities usa ad that seem to link mitt romney's business dealings with the deal of a woman had yet to air on tv until now. >> the death of a woman. sorry. a cleveland station aired the ad tuesday morning, priorities usa senior strategist bill burton told edson news it was a station error. the ad had racked up 700,000

views on-line despite widespread claims that it is inaccurate. >> which, of course, mike, here's great example, there are actually bill burton, who, you know, is as close to the white house as can be, they're running an ad that everybody has told them to lie, factually inaccurate, buy graphically inaccurate, and they are running it now in cleveland. a swing state. what, mika? >> no. that's terrible. >> it is -- >> i agree. >> it is a lie and they know it is a lie. and they are now running it in ohio. and the most important swing state. >> that ad is a disgrace. the welfare ad of the romney campaign ran is a disgrace. this entire campaign is thoroughly depressing. if they would walk around and meet a few ordinary people, who are beset by problems in this country given the economy, unemployment and everything like that and then the rhetoric of the campaign, the way the

campaigns are headed this is an abuse of the american voter. >> let me ask you something, mike, you and i, we all know david axelrod, we're friends with david, you see him on tv, he looks -- i've never seen him look the way he looks on tv, like his eyes are wide open, he's very -- seems very upset and very agitated. have you noticed that over the past four or five days. >> we were talking about it briefly before we went on this morning. i'm wondering is there something in their internal polling that shows them that there is a pivot point in this election that's really worrying the obama campaign. that we're not addressing it, that we don't realize. something internal in the polling. whether it's the welfare stuff, whether it's, you know, the fact that, you know, people haven't really clung yet to, you know, the ideological ramifications of paul ryan, being added to the ticket. i don't know what it is. but i mean, there's a sense of

unrest at the top of that campaign that's palpable. >> one element that's pressing on them is their theory of the case was to win this thing in the summer by heavily outspending romney. now the republicans, this week, i believe, both sides have suggested to me, are outspending the democrats and that will continue through election day. so i think they're a little bit worried they're going to be buried under an avalanche of super pac spending in september and october and if they don't have this in hand by the conventions they may be in some trouble. >> jonathan capehart, while the obama team has their issues to deal with, you have the republicans -- god love them -- as we say in the south, god love them -- who just can't seem to get their story straight. mitt romney couldn't answer what part of paul ryan's medicare plan he disagreed with and yesterday paul ryan on fox news talking to brit hume couldn't seem to get romney's budget plan

straight. you have that story? and then i would love jonathan to respond. >> to paul ryan on fox. >> okay. >> do you have that? >> i'm wondering, is prepping something that you did like, what, back before we had television when you were vice president, because this is seriously, they -- >> here's the thing -- >> like barry manilow would sing two ships passing in the night or whatever that song was. prep, dude. >> this is what paul ryan brings to the table, right? his budget. is there something big about him like major -- >> he's great budget guy. >> it's the budget. budget. it was the budget. the budget. and then he was bold and the only one who came forward and brave. >> synonymous with budgets that when we were growing up, we would have that stuff, we would pour in foam up mr. budget. it had paul ryan's face on it. >> he is synonymous with budgets as mr. potato head is with potatoes. >> exactly. this is good. hold on one second -- >> yeah. >> budget, if you ask any

questions on the budget, hold on. >> yeah. >> you go to -- >> check, paul. >> so he sat down for his first one-on-one interview as the vp nominee and asked about it. >> only president obama raids $716 billion from the medicare program. he cut $716 billion from the medicare to pay for obama care. we don't do that. >> you save how much? >> the point -- i joined the romney ticket, and what mitt romney is proposing to do is repeal all of obama care. >> it is the case that in the budget that you have passed through the house of representatives, significant savings of upwards of $500 billion in medicare -- >> we don't -- we do not add cuts to medicare program in the house budget. we don't take more cuts to medicare. i am on the romney ticket. and what mitt romney is proposing to repeal all of obama care. >> the budget plan that you're now supporting would get to balance when? >> well, there are different -- the budget plan that mitt romney

is supporting gets us down to 20% of gdp government spending by 2016. that means get the size of government back to where historically has been. what president obama has done, is he has brought the size of government to as high as it hasn't been since world war ii. we want to reduce the size of government to have more economic freedom. >> i get that. what about balance? >> i don't know exactly when it balances because we haven't -- i don't want to -- get wonky on you, we haven't run the numbers on that specific plan. >> you know what, i hate when people get wonky on me. >> yeah. what i hate more, when they don't run the numbers on the budget they've -- >> brit human's question, the ryan plan balances the budget in 2040. >> 2040. >> for a man, paul ryan, before selected, so fluent in matters of the you budget, he's sitting trying to recall what he's supposed to say, programmed to say about the romney budget. he can talk all day until he's blue in the face -- >> campaign-itis.

>> paul can talk forever and he's great. >> trying not to say the wrong thing in the early stages here. >> you're telling me i have to wait until 2040. >> you're screwed. it's over. >> you might want do a ted williams thing and -- >> yeah. >> you know what, they brought the boston red sox cap, your grand dad, finally won in 2004 federal budget balance to put it on your tom stone. jonathan capehart, inartful at best. >> at best. the tension, paul ryan knows what's in his ryan plan. >> yeah. >> we don't know what's in mitt romney's plan. remember, in that "60 minutes" interview -- >> because they haven't run the snoomgs mitt romney said i have my plan and we'll be releasing our plan soon and -- poor paul ryan is trying to figure out okay, i know what i know -- what i would say but i don't know what the boss would say. that's a huge problem and why i sort of reacted as strongly as i

did to the reaction from the romney campaign about what vice president biden said because this was supposed to be a campaign of big ideas, supposed to be now with the selection of paul ryan, supposed to be moving away from the small conversations and talking about the big issues facing the country and here you have paul ryan not even able to talk about the subject. we all have said is the subject he knows 100% inside and out. >> mark halperin, explain it, is there a romney plan? is there a plan to balance the budget? when does that happen. >> broad principles not as detailed as a big budget. 24 hours ago i was critical of the romney campaign to deal with medicare and ryan budget. they made a lot of progress yesterday. i've revised and extended my view. put out their ad on medicare. although problems with that interview, they've gotten to a better place on explaining what romney's position is on the ryan budget. >> and ryan has backed off of his position. >> and basically said i'm --

said i'm basically for what romney -- which is fine. that's what running mates do. >> vice presidents do. >> we're still waiting for the obama campaign to come out with their advertising on medicare. that's the big moment we're waiting for in this fight because again, they're trying to win this thing and lock this away before the conventions. if they do it it's going to be on medicare with new ads. >> why don't we run the romney ad on medicare. >> do we have it, tower? >> i don't know. maybe i should have given them a motion beforehand. >> maybe you should have waved your arms. >> waved my arms wildly. >> i've been waiting for it for 15 minutes, tj. let's show tj for a second. >> yeah. a problem. >> by the way, that's -- >> yes. >> there you go. cover your -- tower, here's the deal, okay, when i'm waving you look, we're -- step -- ahead, run the -- run the clip, please. >> you pay into medicare for years. every paycheck. now you need it, obama has cut

$716 billion from medicare. why? to pay pofor obama care. the money you paid for your guaranteed health care is going to a massive new government program not for you. the romney/ryan plan protects medicare benefits for today's seniors and strengthens the plan for the next generation. >> i'm mitt romney and i approve this message. >> okay. we can get that up and post. >> no problem. >> great. great. so anyway -- >> so -- >> you like that ad. >> in boston they were watching this program frustrated because they knew they had a lot of stuff to say on medicare and hadn't rolled it out. that ad does one of the things they plan to do, you think our medicare cuts are unpopular, not as unpopular for some people as obama care and they plan to talk more about obama care as opposed to medicare in the coming days and think that's a fight they'd rather have, they say, ed gill less py told me, in public in a

big way on television rather than what democrats normally do at the end of the campaign, do medhiscare with direct phone calls and e-mails. >> paul ryan was skittish on brit hume, didn't have the answers to the questions. there's probably not an answer to that question because romney's -- >> tough position. >> he's in a tough position. romney's got a 59-point plan that means absolutely nothing. they'll probably roll out something that does -- so paul was in a difficult position. there is no doubt, though, the most important tactical move they made yesterday was having paul ryan retreat and say those medicare cuts that were in obama care, that i put in my budget, i'm backing off of that and i'm adopting -- >> romney man. >> which guess what, that's his job. >> is true. >> that's his job. >> they should maybe get together on all this. >> i'm telling you, the most important thing they could do -- who said that yesterday? >> chris matthews. >> chris mathews was dead right. >> absolutely.

>> that boston watches, hey, boston, you got to get romney and ryan together every day between now and the convention. they look better together. they're more energized together. >> talk about running the numbers together too. >> don't be sarcastic. they do it. it is the bill clinton/al gore effect as chris mathews said yesterday, he was dead on. get those two together. because they both make each other look better. >> but there's the alternative, which is cover more ground and so they're trying to figure that out now. >> not if they're going to do it badly. >> not covering ground in august. when you roll out your new vp, it's a national campaign to make sure he doesn't get quailed or palined and you get the two together, don't you? chris was dead on yesterday. >> the odd thing is, just viewing the campaign thus far, romney is a far better performer, far more confident performer, when paul ryan is alongside him. >> sure is. >> great with paul ryan. >> it's unusual to watch.

>> that's okay. romney shouldn't -- >> watched them a long time, he's a far more comfortable guy. >> what if they got one of those paul ryan-like cutouts. >> yeah. that would be good. >> standing next to him. >> i don't know that will work. >> coming up -- >> by the way, just for the record, i don't know if you notice this, joe biden, he doesn't need anybody next to him to feel comfortable talking. that's why we love joe. >> fired up. y'all. >> did you hear his voice rise? >> he's from southern delaware. >> change. >> that's it. that voice goes up and they want to unchain wall street. it was serious. >> unshackle wall street. >> yes. just keep in mind the stupidity here, that the vice president of the first african-american president of the united states would actually purposefully try and insult the african-american community. >> no, no. >> no, he did not. >> he -- >> all of us stop. it's stupid. stupid. >> what is unbelievable and shocking is that anybody would

suggest that democrats have ever used the race card against republicans because i got to tell you, in all my years in politics -- >> i'm not saying that. i'm just saying -- >> i've never seen that happen. >> certainly not in a close race. >> all right. >> you really -- okay. coming up, arianna huffington will join us on set. we'll talk to the ranking member of the house budget committee, congressman chris van hol len. >> he worked closely with paul. >> he did? >> yeah. >> the and the chairman of the rnc, ryans priebus, host of "the last word" lawrence o'donnell will be here. up next the politico playbook. first bill karins with a check on the forecast. >> before we go to bill. >> yeah. >> do you guys -- let's go back to the control room for one second. >> no. >> we need a seven second delay button. >> what's going on there. >> i want to make sure you -- show him the right button. are you sure that's not the chopper 4 button you pushed last time? >> john knows what button to hit. >> practice it right now. >> no, no, no. >> let's go to bill karins.

>> wow. suddenly he's the director? >> what's that. >> tj, go to disneyland like 12 times a year. >> what's that? >> come on. tj is calling the shots? >> what's that? >> i'm the director of the show. >> why don't -- why don't you just do the rest of the show? i'm going. >> no, no, no. you can stay. toss to bill. >> alex leaves and this happens. there's a mutiny. >> you know what -- >> alexander hayes. >> i'm uncomfortable with the way tj is acting. >> i do too. screaming at me. alexander -- >> i don't like it. >> just keeping us focused. >> he just kicked in and throw washington off the deck. >> stolen strawberries. >> wow. >> let tj throw to bill karins. go ahead. >> a check of our forecast with bill karins. >> fantastic. good morning, everyone. across new england, we are watching some of the worst weather in the country right now. heavy rain has been waking

people up throughout much of western connecticut and massachusetts. some of the strongest thunderstorms with the lightning strikes are now down along the coastal connecticut areas from bridgeport to new haven and heading up towards hartford. we'll watch these tracking in the boston as we go throughout the heart of your rush hour. another line of storms coming through areas like new england from new york city southward as we go throughout the late afternoon. two rounds of storms for this region. also another hot day in the drought zone. here on msnbc and across all the nbc universal networks today we'll be covering the drought of 2012, the worst of it continues to be in the middle of the country. here's some of the drought facts. this is the worst drought out there we've seen going all the way back since 1956. our crops are in the worst shape ever since 1988. and this is estimated to cost you, the taxpayer, $10 billion by the time it's all said and done. amazing numbers that continue to get worse. you're watching "morning joe" brewed by starbucks.

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welcome back to "morning joe." with us now the chief white house correspondent for politico mike allen with a look at his morning playbook. good morning. >> good morning, guys. >> let's talk -- before we get to paul ryan talk about primaries last night. a big night including in connecticut where linda mcmay hon is back. >> oh, boy. >> taking out chris shays by something like 46 points last night. >> poor chris shays. he got beaten again and again. >> i mean, you know -- i mean

ch chris shays is a great congressman. >> i like him. >> reflects connecticut as well as any republican i've ever met in my life, but you knew mike allen, beforehand, what linda mcmahon did to rob simmons who would have won two years ago, i think, she did to chris shays. i think it's -- it could be said that linda mcmahon's money could in the end cost republicans over four years, two senate seats. >> that's right. and chris shays was an emblem of sort of moderate sensible connecticut republicans and it's amazing that like hasn't been able to find a way back in last night, also we had a little surprise, a shift in the trend we've been seeing in these primaries, by the way, this was sort of the last big primary night. there's one more set of contested raises in arizona but after that it's it for this

cycle. couple tea party losses. a surprise. we thought that wisconsin, tommy thomps thompson, former governor, former hhs secretary under george w. bush, he had been losing traction. we thought he was going to lose to a tea party candidate. in fact, he wound up winning. republicans have -- >> how close was that, mike? >> it was about three points. >> yeah. >> and we're told that this is a chance for republicans to get this senate seat without this seat, they would not have had even a shot at getting a majority in the senate unless there was surprise in ohio or florida. this is one they were counting on. tommy thompson gives them a better shot going into the general election because i can tell you, among the various worries about the paul ryan effect, people are running senate races very concerned that paul ryan effect may put some

senate races out of reach. >> you know, tommy thompson was one of those names you knew he was going to lose last night the way the establishment candidates lost one after another after another, but -- so that is a bit of a surprise and he beat a really good guy, mark newman, who was always a hero on the budget back in congress. >> yeah. tommy thompson had the support of scott walker and paul ryan both. helping him over the finish line. in connecticut, linda mcmahon -- >> how are we doing in canada. >> still jet lagged. >> that's how you look at people in connecticut, isn't it? >> they're basically canadians. >> someone somewhere in the course of manhattan up there, i don't know. she outspent chris shays 12 to 1 in the primary. >> it's sick. >> it is sick. i'll tell you what, she beat a really, really good republican. >> yeah. >> last night and she beat a really, really good republican two years ago. and rob simmons who would have been elected.

>> yeah. >> senator. >> more likely than not after all of the problems that the democrat had. but she wrote checks. >> see what the democrats said, she called her a greed ceo made millions marketing sex and violence to little kids. welcome to the general election. >> may i say i was one of those little kids who thoroughly enjoys professional wrestling as a young man. >> not a swing voter in canada. >> no up in canada. mike allen with a look at the playbook, thanks so much. >> y'all have a good day. >> it's starting to come a little unglued at fenway, mike barnicle. report says many of the red sox players don't want to play anymore for manager bobbie valentine. mike barnicle takes us behind the scenes. >> go home then! so, what's the problem? these are hot. we're shipping 'em everywhere. but we can't predict our shipping costs.

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in he presented himself asdent obamasomething different. i had hoped that the new president would bring new jobs. not major layoffs, not people going through major foreclosures on their homes. he did get his healthcare through, but at what cost? he said he was going to cut the deficit in his first term. i've seen zero interest in reducing spending. he inherited a bad situation, but he made it worse. i think he's a great person. i don't feel he is the right leader for our country, though. i still believe in hope and change, i just don't think obama's the way to go for that. the president has not earned re -election, in 2012, in my book. i've seen his now definition of hope and change. it's not the hope and change i want, and it's not the hope and change i thought i was going to get. i don't feel that i helped my grandchildren by voting for president obama and i regret that. americans for prosperity is responsible for the content of this advertising.

is that not one of the most underrated movies, "the book of eli" with denzel washington. >> thank you. >> got to watch it. thank you, jen. >> that is seriously -- >> in three, two, one. >> are we on the air? >> have you seen "the book of eli". >> we're on the air. >> we're on the air? >> "the book of eli" man, oh, my lord, gary oldman, is there a

better character actor than gary oldman. let me answer, no, there's no. was he not amazing. >> yeah. >> amazing in everything he does. >> whether he's hijacking air force one or -- >> he's great. >> get off my plane. >> you have a time for a lot of stuff? >> it's horrible. >> it was horrible. i love luke sky walker. but that was a horrible line. oh, wait he was the other one. >> seems like they would have been sucked out the back of the plane before they got to that moment but what do i know? >> i know. >> third about thembatman yet? >> i have not seen it. >> tj, want to come out and do this? >> let's do sports. >> gary oldman, guy screaming again, gary oldman, great actor. >> let's do sports. fill us in on this. >> okay. >> the losses piling up for the red sox. players appear to be in full revolt against first year

manager bobbie valentine. according to a report from yahoo! sports a number led by adrian gonzalez and dustin pedroia expressed their frustration to red sox ownership. saying they no longer wanted to play for the guy. players only meeting took place called by john henry and larry lucchino after gonzalez voiced his anger over valentine's decision to leave jon lester in the game and struggle through a start where he gave up 11 runs. >> you know that's because gonzalez, before he was a player, was a pitching coach. oh, wait, no, he wasn't. >> did bobbie valentine give up the 11 runs or jon lester? >> you leave your ace on the mound to give up 11 runs. >> when your bull pen has not been rested and tell your ace after the second inning, you got to give me at least five innings, sorry kid, you're getting paid $14 million go out and throw another inning. >> all these guys are the -- all these guys are -- in september they quit on tito and then at

the beginning of the year when he tries to get them disciplined a little bit, pedroia who goes they don't know how things are done. after they have the greatest collapse in baseball history they're whining he doesn't know who you we do things around the clubhouse. they're spoiled punks. >> pedroia might be getting a bum wrap in this story. >> really? >> i hope not. >> don't think he was an active a participant. >> he came out yesterday and say i don't want bobby valentine fired. >> these guys are bad actors. they need -- they are. >> keep this up for 30 more seconds it will break the all-time record for the longest discussion on national television for fourth place team ever. >> it's the red sox and we're going to do it. seriously, mike, a disgrace. keep their heads down and play baseball. >> they can't get to the end of this season fast enough. hopefully this weekend in new york, derek lowe, former red sox player, will come out of the yankee bull pen and shut the red sox down and stop this madness.

>> put them out of their misery. >> we need a project for you, mike. >> still for 2004 -- >> absolutely. >> i love him. forever. these punks. >> the good news, barnicle alluded to, springsteen at fenway last night. >> a team that can play together. >> keep their heads down and play baseball. >> bruce back tonight at fenway. you can go. >> mark, it's a town full of losers. >> yeah. >> we're pulling out of here. what's next. >> 43 people last night. >> mika's must-read opinion pages. >> 43 people last night.

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opinion pages. we're going to not talk about baseball. >> oh. >> have you seen "the book of eli". >> maybe because this is toilet talk -- >> ever see "the book of eli". >> i don't have time to watch movies. >> big shock at the end to find out. >> you have a lot of time. >> the bed wetter caucus. that didn't take long. much as we predicted last week the republican party's bed wetter caucus has emerged on schedule to explain why mitt romney can't possibly win the election with paul ryan on the ticket. mr. romney's catastrophic be blunder it seems is that he chose a running mate who does more than talk about reforming government. he really tried to do it, and this is simply not done in presidential politics. republicans who believe in something can console themselves in knowing that these pros are reflecting the washington conventional wisdom nearly everyone in the beltway thinks it's impossible to reform entitlements like medicare and/or even restrain the size of

government. so why would a candidate be foolish enough to try? this crowd is good at forecasting the political future as a repetition of the past and present. irving chris toll used to say, they aren't very good at predicting the turns. we'll see if this year is one of those turns. and this is a perfect example of republicans that love talking about small government, when they're in the corn fields or at grocery stores in middle america. >> exactly. >> come back to washington and they don't believe a bit of it. >> what happens? they take a pill or something. >> they never have a pill. i guess they're lying at home. these big government republicans lie at home, they say they're for small government, they come back, these consultants get paid lots of money to tell them go home and lie to your constituents say you're for less spending in washington and reforming entitlement programs and keep lying until you're elected and then get up and play the game. paul ryan didn't play the game.

>> although -- okay. >> for the majority of his career. out of thousands of votes yes, you can find a handful where he went along with the republican party. he shouldn't have. but the republican party that's run by consultants who have destroyed the republican party because the only thing they believe in is electing republicans. they don't believe in conservative values, they don't believe in small government, they don't believe in less regulation. they just believe in wetting and the bed wetter caucus telling these congressmen senators you can't win in swing districts because paul ryan is saying what republicans believe. >> but he's not anymore. what happened during the fox interview? >> he is. it's his second day out. secretariat was always a few weeks behind. >> i don't know. something happened. >> you see how it ended. >> something happened. >> okay. you watch. paul ryan, bet on him. the long run. >> are you sure? >> here's dan balz in "the washington post" ryan post brings trouble. >> romney and his advisors insist that he will run on his

plan, not ryan's. they have done that to remind people that the tail will not wag the dog. that the running mate will not overshadow the nominee. any presidential candidate would say that the same thing, but keeping ryan's plan out of the debate is virtually impossible. romney and ryan face the possibility that before the convention, obama and the democrats will define ryan's budget and in particular his changes to medicare, so negatively, that the damage will be long-lasting. that's why romney's campaign has moved quickly to blunt the medicare attacks but this fight is just starting which is what makes these weeks a defining moment in the campaign. jonathan capehart? >> i think, you know, dan is right. this is what we've been talking about since paul ryan's selection. particularly what you guys have been talking about. you know the battle is joined and medicare, social security, medicaid, they've all been known as a third rail of american politics and what mitt romney did by choosing paul ryan is just grab hold of it with both

hands and feet and say come on, let's have this conversation. let's have this debate. the problem is that the top of the ticket and the number two on the ticket ryan and romney, or romney and ryan, haven't had a chance to actually mesh what their overall message is. as i said before, paul ryan knows what he thinks about these issues. we know what he thinks. we've got these two budgets. but paul ryan, he's got a 59-point plan that's 160 pages but very few details and we're waiting for this romney plan that he talked about on "60 minutes" and until that happens, until that happens, they're going to get clobbered. >> they have to run the numbers. >> 59 points, 168 pages, zero calories. >> oh, my god. >> it is the biggest nothing burger in the words of the great pat buchanan that i've ever put my teeth into. >> jonathan capehart, thank you. >> thanks, guys. >> thanks, jonathan. >> still ahead the republican

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i have more to say, but i'm saying too much already, because these guys -- these guys get me going a little bit. and you're going to have trouble translating all this.

because the poor lady, she's going to have tendinitis by the time she finishes. >> oh, my gosh. i love him. >> joe biden. >> okay. . >> what's the sign for chains? putting y'all back in chains. >> i don't know. >> why don't you all just stop and read the teas. >> leave joe alone into coming up next, look at this lineup, lawrence o'donnell both on the set -- >> wow. >> walking out of the cornfields. >> fire and ice next on "morning joe." [ gnome ] enjoying your holiday?

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his campaign and his surrogates have made wild and reckless accusations that disgrace the office of the presidency. another outrageous charge just came a few hours ago in virginia and the white house sinks a little bit lower. this is what an angry and desperate presidency looks like. president obama knows better, promised better, and america deserves better. mr. president, take your campaign of division and anger and hate back to chicago and let us get about rebuilding and reuniting america. >> top of the hour. look at that beautiful shot this morning, welcome back to "morning joe." mark halperin with us and joining the table, the co-founder of "the huffington

post" and president and editor and chief of "the huffington post" media group arianna huffington, her new venture huff post live went on-line this week. it's amazing. >> thank you. >> incredible. >> thank you. >> everybody should log on. yeah. you were on too. do you know that? >> we also host msnbc's "the last word" on msnbc, lawrence o'donnell. >> hello, lawrence. >> good morning. >> making history on this msnbc -- >> what did i do? >> you're up to something. you know. >> looking very cute in glasses. >> i have a plan. >> really? >> it is -- >> he has a plan. >> i agree with arianna, whatever you say. >> that's actually a good plan. that always works. >> okay. >> so as we heard mitt romney is calling comments vice president joe biden made in virginia yesterday, a new low in the election. the vice president described the damage he says romney's policies would cause by deregulating wall street. >> what they value and look at their budget and what they're proposing.

romney wants to let the -- he said in the first 100 days he's going to let the big banks once again write their own rules. unchain wall street. they're going to put y'all back in chains. >> he's from southern delaware. that's why he sounded like he was at a -- >> biden's words came during a rally which included a large number of african-americans in the audience. the romney campaign was quick to call his comments unacceptable accusing the vice president of using racial undertones. campaign spokesman ben labolt said in a statement governor romney's comments tonight seemed unhinged and particularly strange, coming at a time when he's pouring tens of millions of dollars into negative ads that are demonstrably false. later in the afternoon, vice president biden sought to clarify his comments pointing out that paul ryan used the word unshackle during the republican response's to the president's state of the union in 2011.

here's biden's response in virginia. >> and i'm told when i made that comment earlier today in danville, virginia, the romney campaign put out a tweet. you know tweets these days. put out a tweet. went on the air. went on the airways saying, biden, he's outrageous in saying that i think i said instead of unshackled, unchained -- outrageous to say that. that's what we've had. i'm using the wrong words. i got a message for them -- if you want to know what's outrageous, it's their policies. and the effects of their policies on middle-class americans. that's what's outrageous. >> meanwhile, the controversial priorities usa ad that seemed to link mitt romney's business dealings with the death of a woman had yet to air on tv until now. as first reported by busby, a cleveland station aired the ad on tuesday morning.

priorities usa senior strategist bill burton told abc news it was a station error. the ad has racked up 700,000 -- >> it wasn't supposed to run? >> it wasn't supposed to run? >> it's funny. i've run in a lot of campaigns and i usually find that errors worked the other way, arianna, they don't run your ads when you pay for them -- >> this whole campaign, though, both sides people are looking at it going let me out. >> i'm feeling -- >> what is ironic when he picked paul ryan, we kind of thought for a moment we're going to get away from -- >> have a real conversation. >> latest gaffe and accusation and charges and counter charges and move on to a real debate about the role of government, the nature of capitalism, et cetera. well, it lasted about three hours. and now we're back on chains and unchained and this way in which immediately when romney made the comments in england he was told

he was disgracing america and now obama and biden are told they're disgracing the nature and office of the president and in the meantime there's still over 20 million americans unemployed and under employed and 11 million whose homes are under water and that's the real outrage. >> mark halperin, the obama campaign last night, you said was outraged, especially by the use of the word hate, right? >> they are. they're -- both sides are moved from full outrage, rudy giuliani said joe biden was stupid, sarah palin saying he's disgusting and should be off the ticket. we're not having a serious skin discussion. i think the president should call mitt romney and figure out a discussion of detonight. >> i don't think that's going to happen. let me see, zero. >> i didn't say he would, i said he should. >> only because, i don't think he's watching the show. if he was watching the show he would hear that --

>> they're watching the show. >> they are? >> then he's going to actually reject -- >> no. yeah, reject the idea, exactly. lawrence, explain. what's going on? >> i can prove to you that the whole chain thing is not a story. >> okay. >> i have proof. >> okay. >> i didn't even cover it last night. that shows you what a -- this is nothing. it's nothing. i didn't mention it. >> i am stunned. >> never came up in an hour of news coverage. >> well then, of course, it's not a story if you're not running it. it's prime time msnbc. it's not a story. >> history will show it didn't happen. >> nobody heard it, did they, lawrence? you always hear people saying, this is the worst campaign ever, lowest campaign. what's your take on it? is this one of the dumbest campaigns ever? >> no. this is -- >> this is what happens. >> this is america. it's been this way as long as i can remember. nothing special going on here. and everybody knew, i remember being on with you, joe, the

morning that joe biden was announced four years ago as the vp nominee, and everyone said, by the way, there's this thing that happens with joe biden. every once in a while. he will say -- use the wrong word or say -- you see that's the moment where he's off prompter and says that thing and so now, the campaign has come down to what's the difference between chained and shackled and neither one of them -- were using accurate terms to begin with. >> not just biden. it happens to everybody. it's just human nature. romney introduced ryan as the next president of the united states. big deal. >> right. >> and corrected immediately. so i actually like mark's idea of urging the candidates to call for -- the reason this is different, america is in worse shape than it has been in other campaigns. it's okay if it's a plateau

time, you can have fun with your gaffes and counselor gaffes. -- counter gaffes. this is a dangerous time. people know that. that's why they're feeling more disconnected from this campaign. >> mark halperin, you were talking yesterday how the romney camp was bumbling things, romney camp told you just wait and then i guess they put out this medicare ad. >> they put out the medicare ad, paul ryan, and they say they have more to link -- to try to turn back this issue and say they'd rather fight a bad medicare now than in the fall. >> let's take a look at this new ad released by the romney camp offering a counterpunch to democrats who say the romney/ryan budget would radically alter medicare as we know it. >> you paid into medicare for years. every paycheck. now when you need it, obama has cut $716 billion from medicare. why? to pay for obama care. so now the money you paid for the guaranteed health care is going to a massive new government program that's not

for you. the romney/ryan plan protects medicare benefits for today's seniors and strengthens the plan for the next generation. >> i'm mitt romney, and i approve this message. >> lawrence, does the counterpunch work there? >> it works if you know nothing beyond the content of the ad which is what all ads are designed for, the voter who knows absolutely nothing. when is the last time you ran into a voter who said, hey, i made up my mind, i saw this ad -- there's actually very, very few of them and so it's aimed at them. there's a very interesting element to that ad that republicans have never before admitted and that is that you paid into medicare. they've always treated it as this welfare program, this giveaway, bill o'reilly was talking about, lumping medicare with welfare and all sorts of other so-called -- >> is he on the msnbc -- >> no. he's on another -- >> oh. >> but that concept of you paid

into it, is what the problem is for paul ryan because people believe they have paid in, small percentage of their income for their entire lives, into medicare and so they are now owed this benefit that they paid into and they're owed the benefit they were paying into when they were 40, when they were 50. not the benefit that they started paying into, you know, just a couple years before retiring. so, what ryan's plan is saying is, i have a plan that is so bad, i cannot impose it on anyone 55 and older. i can't do it. >> or candidate. >> there would be a revolution if i did it. but that plan that is so bad i cannot impose it on current beneficiaries -- >> these words really? >> it's just almost exactly -- >> okay. >> i can do it for -- i can do it for everyone under 55 and the democratic response to that in effect is linked to the fact

that people paid in. so i actually think that concept, that they're introducing in the ad of you paid into this, doesn't serve the totality of their argument. >> rightp. >> so as it's been reported paul ryan's budget written for the house includes those very same cuts to medicare that he's now criticizing. congressman paul ryan was asked about that as he sat down for his first one-on-one interview as the vp nominee. take a listen. >> only president obama raids $716 billion from the medicare program. he cut $716 billion from the medicare program to pay for obama care. >> right. >> we don't do that. >> what -- you make savings, how much? >> the point -- we -- i joined the romney ticket. and what mitt romney is proposing to do is repeal all of obama care. >> but it is the case that in the budget that you have passed through the house of representatives, significant savings of upwards of $500 billion in medicare -- >> we don't -- we do not ad cuts to medicare program in the house

budget. we don't take more cuts to the medicare. i am on the romney ticket and what mitt romney is proposing is to repeal all of obama care. >> the budget plan that you're now supporting would get to balance when? >> well, there are different -- the budget plan that plr is supporting get -- mitt romney is supporting gets us down to 20% of gdp government spending by 2016. get the size of government back to where it has been. what president obama has done is he has brought the size of government to as high as it hasn't been since world war ii. we want to reduce the size of government to have more economic freedom. >> i get that. what about balancbalance? >> i don't know exactly when it balances because i don't want to get wonky on you but we haven't run the numbers on that specific plan. >> arianna? i feel bad for him right now. he's like stuck in a bad position. >> well, he's disavowing his own budget saying now he's joined the romney ticket, so whatever he said, is null and void.

>> no. >> because now he's going to say whatever his boss mitt romney is saying and mitt romney has not run the numbers. >> oh. >> that's the other thing. like he's saying something vague, run the numbers and we'll tell you when we get to balance. that was not a good interview. >> by the way, that is as easy an interview as he's going to have. i mean that was just softball all the way. brit hume sitting there had no idea what the answer is to this. the answer to the ryan plan is, in 2040 as willie geist knows, as he enunciated on this program -- brit hume doesn't know that kind of thing because that would involve some kind of homework. >> whoa. >> what -- >> he couldn't -- >> paul ryan -- >> i actually thought -- i actually thought brit hume did a very good job. he kept pressing him. >> it was a good interview. it's early lawrence, but come on. you better turn that frown youp side down. >> where else is he going to go?

he's not going to come to any place where they'll ask a tougher place than that. people like brit hume who have no idea when these things balance. why didn't brit hume say the ryan plan doesn't go to balance until 2040. >> i mean do we want to go there? why didn't you do a story on joe biden that everybody was talking about in the white house last night is this. >> because it was much more important news to cover, joe. what are you talking about? >> that's the easiest interview -- >> here's what i did instead. i did paul ryan's lies about the stimulus plan instead. that's what i did. >> very good. >> did you know that paul ryan put in writing in the letter that the stimulus plan did, indeed, in his community, stimulate the local economy by creating new jobs. >> that is -- >> paul ryan wrote a letter saying exactly that after claiming it would never -- >> praise of brit hume. i thought he handled it well. he asked him again, the tough question, which is when is your budget going to go to balance.

and he didn't know how to answer it. that was really a more effective interview than telling him when his budget -- >> mark halperin, the problem paul ryan is facing right now other some inconsistencies, he's gotten about as specific as you can get on a budget because he's a budget director. >> you can get much more specific. >> social security -- >> now teamed up with a presidential candidate. >> who's not specific. >> who has really no specific plans on medicare, on social security, on balancing the budget, and he's going to be tap dancing for a while. are they going to come up with a stated plan? >> i don't think they will be any more specific. he's more specific than john mccain was, for instance. as lawrence said one of the big gaffes for ryan and romney is on what deductions and loopholes to get rid of. they both say they'll say after the election. ryan in the brit hume interview, we want to do it in the light of day working with congress.

romney said he doesn't want to specify because he'll get picked apart and chris christie taught him you should wait until after the election. that's something they should both be pressed about. on social security ryan took social security out of his budget. romney talks about it little. they both are on record as supporting a proposal like president bush supported rejected by the congress and american people and i think that's something they should both be pressed on as well. >> okay. >> but i don't think they'll offer it up. >> the deductions is a big deal. ryan has a tax cutting plan that is dramatic. close to a flat tax you get. two tax rates, 10 and 25. he says it won't -- we won't lose any revenue at all because we will adjust what he calls tax shelters and the romney people by the way are going to shut him up about using that phrase tax shelters any minute now, and he's going to eliminate deductions in a way that will be revenue neutral. we know -- >> three things -- >> we know if you eliminate -- no. it's very simple. if you eliminate every single

deduction in the tax code it is still not revenue neutral and you know you're never going to eliminate the home mortgage deduction, one of the biggest ones, never eliminate the health care deduction it's impossible. politically. >> and charity. >> those are the three big piles of money -- >> if you eliminate them all it still doesn't work. >> i understand your point. when they talk generally about deductions that are going to bring this into balance would you say it won't do, mark halperin you brought this up, three places to go. >> a joke to say his budget is specific if they won't say which of those -- >> it's a joke. >> home mortgage or medical or charitable. >> ryan wants to call them corporate welfare and loopholes. they're not. they're deductions built into the code that have huge support from the american people and to say here's my plan revenue neutral and great tax cuts involved and we'll specify the hard parts later i think it's a joke. brit did press him on that a little. >> i don't understand why paul

ryan's budget can't be a really good touch stone for a conversation and why it's been made this dirty thing they've put aside because again, from what i see, is the campaign again hurting the candidate. mitt romney it seems like his campaign can't do right by him. you saw paul ryan before he was the vice presidential pick come on this show, great. you see him in his first two interviews on "60 minutes" he is like completely hanging on the phrase get the country back on track. he says it like 12 times. you can tell the campaign has gotten to him. you watch him on brit's show, and he can't even answer a question. >> well, when you're -- >> the campaign has gotten to him. >> when you're the budget chairman you're the budget chairman, you can say whatever you want to say because you're the budget chairman. when you are the vice presidential candidate it is a harder slog because you've got to make sure that every word you say is lined up with -- >> but you see immediately sort of the diminishing effect that being nominated to any of these

two potentially highest jobs in the land has on you. so diminishing. you sound less smart, less knowledgeable, more confused and incredibly awkward. >> hbo ought to do a series on it. >> that's it. >> okay. >> call it "veep." >> lawrence, stay with us. i guess. and arianna. up next, paul ryan's counter part in the house budget committee, democratic congressman chris van hol len joins us. his take on the vp nomination and ryan's economic agenda. you're watching "morning joe," brewed by starbucks. [ male announcer ] the perfect photo... [ man ] nice! [ male announcer ] isn't always the one you plan to take. whoa, check it out. hey baby goat... no that's not yours... [ hikers whispering ] ...that's not yours. [ goat bleats ] na, na, na -- no! [ male announcer ] now you can take a photo right from video, so you'll never miss the perfect shot. [ hikers laughing, commenting ] at&t introduces the htc one x.

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now that they've added paul ryan to the ticket he seems energized and he's just gone -- here take a look at how exciting this is mitch right here. here he is. ♪

>> i'm mitt romney and i approve this message. >> 23 past the hour. >> beautiful. >> manchester, new hampshire, representative from maryland and ranking member of the house budget committee, congressman chris van hollen. good to have you on the show. >> good morning. great to be with you. >> let's not be predictable. obviously you could criticize paul ryan and his plan and everything for the entire segment but if you had to, tell us about what would be really great about paul ryan as the vice presidential nominee? >> that's going to be a tough question to answer. >> what do you think? i mean what do you think -- >> look, let me say this, paul ryan is a colleague. we get along very well personally. but anybody who's watched the budget committee debates or floor debates in the house knows we have very deep differences that are going to be at the core of this presidential election. and they're going to be expressed throughout the campaign. the good news is, we have always expressed our differences in a

civil manner. i think it's been in a way that has sharpened the choices for the american people and i think the choice is very clear. i cannot say anything good about the ryan economic -- about the ryan economic plan and budget. >> i mean -- >> there's no good there. >> i figured that. >> help us out here. for viewers at home you're the ranking member of the budget committee. top democrat working alongside paul ryan. obviously you guys have a very different view of where the budget should go. could you boil it down for our viewers that still haven't decided who they're going to vote for, what is your biggest concern with paul ryan's budget, with paul ryan's vision, of where washington should go over the next four years? >> because the choice the ryan budget makes and now the ryan/romney budget makes, is to provide another round of big tax breaks for folks at the very

high end of the income scale under this failed economic trickle down theory that we know didn't work because at the end of the bush administration we actually had a net loss of private sector jobs. i think what the american people are going to understand is that it's not only that those tax cuts didn't do any good, it's that they come at the expense of everyone and everything else because if you're serious about long-term deficit reduction, first of all you would have a balanced plan that dealt with not just cuts but also revenue, but because they ask nothing of folks at the very high end of the income scale, they whack everybody at everything else and that is why seniors on medicare will pay more under the ryan/romney plan. that's why they do prattically cut our investments in education and other things important to fuel our economy and that's why their tax plan will increase the burden on middle income taxpayers to finance another round of tax breaks for folks at the top. that is the core of their plan. >> to mark halperin, he has a

question. >> i know you is a lot of criticisms of how congressman ryan would like to restructure medicare and social security. what is the obama/van hollen plan for fundamental change in social security and medicare to make sure those programs are still around in -- for future generations. >> i'm glad you asked that, mark. the fundamental difference between the two approaches, which are both designed to extend medicare, is that under the president's plan, we focus on reducing the overall costs in the health care system, including in the medicare system. so a very good example is the affordable care act. one of the things we did was to eliminate the overpayments and excessive subsidies going to some of the private insurance companies. as a result of that action and other actions we actually extended the life of medicare. in fact, i'm glad you asked. from the medicare trustees. it says the financial outlook for the medicare program is substantially improved as a result of the changes in the affordable care act.

we then, mark, used some of those savings in medicare to enhance some of the benefits. for example, the prescription drug benefit and preventative care benefits, both of which are totally wiped out and eliminated in the ryan/romney plan. so when they say that seniors won't be effected by their changes until after ten years, just not true. if you have high prescription drug costs you're going to take immediate hit in terms of more costs. if you use a lot of preventative health services you will pay a lot more immediately and in the longer run and this is the final point i want to make here, by saying that we're going to simply shift costs from the medicare program on to seniors, which is what the ryan plan does as opposed to reduce costs overall, they are going to give seniors on medicare a much worse deal than they give to members of congress. in other words, seniors on medicare will have a lot more economic exposure to rising

health care costs than members of congress have under their own health plan. that is not right. >> to arianna huffington. >> congressman, i completely agree with what you said about the ryan tax cuts. so my question is why did democrats vote to extend the bush tax cuts? >> well, as you know, arianna, last december, essentially what the republicans were saying then was what they were saying now, which is that they would not extend middle-class tax relief, tax relief for 98% of the american people, unless we gave this bonus tax break to folks at the very top so people making over $250,000 would not only get the tax break on the first $250,000, which get under the president's plan, but this additional tax break and at that time, the president did not want to have a major showdown on that issue. but the president has been very clear and firm, since then, that we can no longer afford to

provide folks at the very top with these big tax cuts because if we want to insure long-term economic growth we need immediate action like the president's jobs plan which is still sitting in the house of representatives, haven't had a vote on it, but we need to reduce the long-term deficits and we need to do that in a balanced way. that means folks at the top have to put in a little more, go back to, you know, what kind of rates they were paying during the clinton administration when the economy was doing great, because if they don't, everybody else gets really hard hit which is -- which is what the ryan/romney plan does. in other words it says we're not going to touch folks at the top, just take it out on everybody else. >> congressman chris van hollen, thank you very much. >> thank you. >> one of the politicians that says i'm glad you asked that question and it's never true. it was actually true this morning. >> was it? >> he said to mark, i'm glad you asked that question. he had a prop ready to go.

>> perot like. >> he was glad. >> so let me -- >> let me ask you, lawrence, i remain skeptical that this president and democrats in congress, even if they win, will let the bush tax cuts expire. you always talk about republicans can play the tax hand well. you know, they always say, we -- we had to extend the bush tax cuts. >> no choice. >> we had no choice. they had us shackled. they had us hand cuffed. behind the scenes they were saying we can't raise the taxes. obama's top people. why don't you do what schumer says, the millionaire tax deal. >> yes. >> just talking politics, that makes sense. we can't raise taxes. we're in a recession. they were all jack kemp. i hear everybody go oh, he had to raise the taxes because it was good. they didn't want to raise taxes. by the way, anybody that talked to them knows that's the reality.

i mean that line is just a bunch of malarkey they put out there. lawrence, i still don't think -- >> i think what he said was true. i disagree with that. >> well, obama's people weren't saying that at the time. they were saying they couldn't raise taxes on anybody because the recession is bad, behind the scenes. you've talked about how republicans use the tax card so well. do you really believe that this president and democrats are going to allow the -- i call them obama tax cuts, to expire at the end of this year? >> we will show this little piece of video tape on january 2nd when we go off the cliff. yeah. i should have brought you one of my off the cliff buttons. >> i would love to wear one. >> i have started the off the cliff campaign at 10:00 p.m. on msnbc monday through thursday. eastern time. they will go off the cliff. democratic senators have been saying to me for months that

they actually, the strategy is, to go off the cliff. they have to. that's the only way they'll get back control and not -- since 1993, get back control of the tax debate. >> what happens then? >> on january 1st all the tax rates go up, every one of them. once they've all gone up, the democrats will introduce a bill to reduce all the rates except the top rate and then what you're voting for is a tax cut. if you tried to do exactly the same thing the week before, what you would be voting for is a tax increase on the top bracket and so at that point, grover norquist pledge becomes irrelevant and republicans, republicans -- some republican senators and some republican members of the house who are saying, we -- privately we need to go off the cliff, it is the only way we will be free of the grover norquist thing and we can actually cast a reasonable vote on taxes. >> off the cliff.

can i have a button? >> i'll get you a button. >> i would like one too. >> they could have gone off the cliff any time. >> there was no cliff before. what was happening before was, if they -- the last time around, if they allowed them to expire, every single rate would have gone up on january 1st and then they would have been in a struggle to try to pass some kind of bill that would reduce just those other rates and the trouble with it then, was you didn't have an incentive for the republicans on the other side, which is these defense cuts that happen at exactly the same time which makes it a bigger and more fun cliff, and all the incentives weren't packaged the same way then as they will be. we'll be here new year's eve covering the off the cliff moment. >> you're excited about this. >> i am. >> that for some reason does not come as a great surprise. >> the treasury right now is working on what the new tax tables will be for the first week of january. people will see withholding coming out of their first couple

paychecks. >> here's my question, policy -- vp nominee the day after sound as confused and awkward as policy wong like paul ryan is sounding now. >> lawrence is confusing me this morning. >> no. but he's nice. that's why i like him. >> very wonkish and smart, i wonder whether the nomination might immediately -- his brain. >> i don't think he was ever that specific because going back to the thing that mark and i were discussing, here's a guy who has this tax plan and he will only discuss the simple part of it which is what will the new income tax rates be. the complex part, which is how he pays for those tax rates he would never discuss. never suggested one deduction in the tax code did give as an example of what you could give rid of. >> not one. >> you need a chalkboard and pointer for your show. >> we'll see if that's in the budget. >> okay. >> i don't know. >> it's not.

>> thank you, lawrence. >> we'll see you on "the last word". >> when is that? >> 10:00 eastern time here on msnbc. >> it's a live show. >> still ahead -- >> live. >> never know what's going to happen. >> republican chairman reince priebus. stndsing by in the green room. get ready. he'll join the table. >> him and lawrence would be a great show. >> yes. >> to take on the road. i've discovered gold.

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what i really need to do is take a nap and read a book. that's like something i should do. but i don't. i don't know why. it's funny the people around me who i work with, they do fine with getting a quick nap in the middle of the day, but i can't seem to relax. so i've got lots more work to do on this topic. >> yeah. that was part of my conversation with arianna yesterday on the brand new huff post live. it was fun. >> mark halperin, sleeping in the background. very funny. >> mark. >> you're so lazy. this on-line thing is exciting. >> it's a very exciting platform. it's all about engagement. it's from 10:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. and everybody who comes to watch can also join. they can be as well prepared as

our town halls going into the green rooms and reading everything the hosts are reading to get ready and continue the conversation after the segment ends in the post-live talk rooms, so the whole idea is about engagement and participation. >> transparency in the process. >> that's exciting. >> of creating television. >> mika on, john kuzak, bill moore. >> you're next. >> halperin was on the couch. >> very -- >> on the couch. very good. >> i love it. boy, this is exciting. >> looks amazing. the studio is beautiful. never seen a more eloquent launch, honestly. >> thank you. >> it's fantastic. >> wouldn't believe how many -- how fast the comments stream. >> really? >> people are so engaged. nonstop comments. never seen anything like it. >> really? >> nonstop comments. >> no glitches is good. arianna, congratulations once again. >> thank you for coming on on day one. >> i would love to come back. up next, he's got presents. the chairman of the republican national committee, reince priebus, joins the panel to talk

about mitt romney, paul ryan and the battle over medicare and try to deflect -- >> what do we have? i love this. >> i'll take one. with the spark cash card from capital one, olaf's pizza palace gets the most rewards of any small business credit card! pizza!!!!! [ garth ] olaf's small business earns 2% cash back on every purchase, every day! put it on my spark card! [ high-pitched ] nice doin' business with you! [ garth ] why settle for less? great businesses deserve the most rewards!

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tune in to the republican convention when party members convene in tampa toyto see the nation's most conservative leaders like newt gingrich. >> not invited. >> sarah palin. >> not invited. >> michele bachmann. >> not invited. >> donald trump. >> not invited. >> george w. bush. >> not invited. >> and mitt romney. >> but he won't talk about his tax returns, years at bain capital or dancing horse. >> paid for by the republican national convention. >> i don't think they pay for that. >> joining us -- >> look at this. >> joining the table, chairman of the republican national committee, reince priebus.

i love that. it's for me. it's for me. >> tell us what you have here. >> all part of the cheese head revolution. >> it was a gift for me, right? >> what is it first of all? >> some of the best cheddar cheese from blue mounds, wisconsin. >> can you open it up for us? >> arianna wants some. >> okay. >> talk about the r-- you have cheese head from wisconsin running the party, cheese head as vp. >> yes. >> newest addition. >> scott walker, obviously one of the top players. wisconsin has been front and center. >> here's something i really think america is starving for. >> stop it. >> you all have been talking about this. >> yeah. >> all week. and i think people in this country are starving for people of their word that run for office and are willing to govern like they campaign. i think real authentic people that want to put solutions on the table and have a debate.

i mean you -- joe, the first time i met you, was in dell lum -- >> in a gutter. it was a horrible, horrible night for me. i can explain. >> it wasn't at the dubliner. >> i was -- i was having breakfast with paul ryan, you had stopped by. >> right. >> and you all started talking about right away in the -- social security, entitlement reform, getting the budget back on track. >> right. >> i mean this is what we want. i know y'all have been having a big debate on the last couple weeks about this priorities usa ad, accusing mitt romney of killing a person, now they're putting money behind it. i think the selection of paul ryan and the fact that i think personally that mitt romney showed incredible leadership by doing that, i think puts on the table once and for all, that governor romney wants to talk about big solutions to big problems. this should be commended. >> well, i can tell you, that i

of 800 people that have flowed through this set since that happened, i think i do commend him for that. >> yeah. >> little outnumbered right now. >> you can't be calling people names. >> i don't know what that means. >> so mark halperin. >> i'm just saying. >> can i have cheese? >> pick up with you. we were talking about last segment. why is it paul ryan and governor romney won't specify on the -- in their sort of macro plans what kind of deductions they would like to eliminate or scale back? shouldn't the american people have that as part of their ability to evaluate their plans? >> you can see quite a bit, quite a window into the budget plan that, obviously, the republicans specify. it's going to be different and mitt romney will have his own plan. i think we have plenty of time for that. if you want -- >> do you agree with their premise they shouldn't and won't before the election before voters cast judgment about whether they should replace the current administration, they shouldn't specify what deductions and loop holes should be eliminated and scaled back?

do you agree with that? >> i think that's all going to come ute. those are things we're going to talk about. >> they said they're not going to specify before the election. is that enough information for voters or they should say before the election? >> it's enough information because what you're seeing us talk about -- by the way we're the only ones actually talking about a plan on a table. we're the only ones in the past three and a half years that passed a budget. and the reason we're having this debate about how to save medicare, and do something different than what the president's done over the past three years is that we've put a plan on the table. i mean i think -- >> can i just interrupt your answer. >> oh, lord. here we go. >> this is great cheese. holy cow. where is this from. >> blue mounds, wisconsin. >> blue mounds is about -- >> i think about 30 miles outside of madison. >> good lord. >> it is one of the best cheeses that you can find. >> amazing. >> none for me. >> i know you're ocd on touching

so you can't eat it. >> give it to me. >> i can touch it. >> absolutely amazing. if you -- if we have your -- >> i never thought we were going to -- >> all i want to know if you come on huff post live would you bring us some come on huff live will you also bring some cheese? >> i'll bring a couple choices for you. >> when is the first time you met ariana? >> i think it was 1972, i was there as a guest at the convention and i was having a great time. because you know when you're in college and you go to conventions and you have such a great time. we want you to come back to the republican side. >> ariana has been moving around and she's where a lot of people are right now, don't let me speak for you if i'm wrong, but

ariana is very frustrated with both parties. >> let me explain where i am right now and there's another area where joe and i agree. why isn't afghanistan an issue in this campaign. we have spent $3 trillion, we have lost so many servicemen. why isn't this an important issue to discuss? >> i think the candidates are going to get there, we're in a hyp hyperbolic news. when you're campaigning, weeks feel like months, days feel like weeks. there's going to be so much time and we're going to have a debate just focussed in on foreign

policy. but here's the problem, this country and people and parents in this country are hurting and right now if you poll people around america, the number one issue right now is jobs. i think spending and the debt is really something that americans are honed in on. we have a president who hasn't fulfilled that. >> is mitt romney going to change his position on -- >> one thing i think of course is that mitt romney is going to become president. >> don't ask questions. >> i think you get -- >> seriously, doesn't he need to

be more specific about what he wants to do, we don't like paul ryan's government, and we don't want to connect ourselves to be to mitt romney the candidate, why can't we hear what he's going to do? >> here's the problem -- >> he's going to take the cheese back. >> if you look at what mitt romney's proposed, he's proposed some very specific plans, if you take 24% of spending to gdp to 20% of gdp, that's significant.

>> i think he's been more specific than any democratic candidate has been in decades. >> that is great stuff. thank you for the cheese. >> you're welcome. we want to talk about the issues, because if the issues are the topic, we win. >> marco rubio introducing mitt romney. it's going to be a great week. i can't wait to see you guys down there, if you need anything, guys, let us know. >> thank you for this gift. >> thank you, mr. chairman. rnc chairman -- hope solo is going to be on the show tomorrow. how cool is that? more "morning joe" in just a moment no. [ male announcer ] when this hotel added aflac to provide a better benefits package... oahhh! [ male announcer ] it made a big splash with the employees.

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arianna huffington, great to have you, and congratulations on huff post live. >> this is exciting. >> i would love you any time. next time we're going to actually interview you while i'm napping. >> still ahead on "morning joe,"

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the east coast, 5:00 on the west coast. >> mark, on that speech last night, you said you got a lot of calls from people, from the regular traveling press corps. >> don't overstate it, but last night is a historical moment in this campaign, we have the vp saying something inartfully. i think the former governor of massachusetts is genuinely -- based on what happened last night is president's team is stunned that the president would be engaged in a campaign of hate. mitt romney used the word and i think he meant it. i think we're either today or during the week we're going to

escalate into nuclear war. it's really escalated. >> romney seemed more relaxed than usual. >> if somebody accused me of killing their wife, i think hate would be a word that i might feel quite comfortable using, by the way they started running that ad on tv yesterday. just think about it, you're in politics and your children have to see over and over and over again a man saying that your dad killed his wife and he doesn't even care. obviously back to the audience to answer whether that rises to the level of hate or not. >> the romney campaign is calling comments vice president joe biden made in virginia yesterday a new low in the election. the vice president described the

damage that romney's policies could cause to wall street. >> romney said he's going to let the big banks write their own rules. unchain wall street. they're going to put you all back in chains. >> good lord. >> biden's words -- >> oh, good lord, mike, we got to no attack joe zone here, he's got the right stuff, he's pushing the envelope. >> you don't think he meant that. >> he's going to put you all back in chains. run the clip again, it's a predominantly african-american crowd. >> look at what they value and look at their budget and what they're proposing. prom any said the first 100 days, he's going to let the

bankings write their own rules. unchain wall street. they're going to putall back in chains. >> biden words was -- quick to call his comments unacceptable accusing the vice president of using racial undertones. i don't think he meant to do that. >> of course he meant to do it. >> he corrected himself later. >> well, he corrected himself he said the phrase that he was supposed to use, unshackled, which had been used in prior rhetoric. to mark's point, this is the kind of campaign that nobody wants to hear on either side of this campaign, this is absurd. >> before the vice president revised and extended his remarks in a statement to andrea

mitchell today he won't back down. she didn't give an inch on whether he had spoken inartfully or not. >> i agree with mark that we should talk about jobs and medicare, and i know we will in a moment. but if paul ryan said that to an african-american audience, there would be calls for ryan to get out of the race. >> everybody watching this show would be calling him a racist and a bigot and this is the most obscene thing ever. >> we're covering it. there's no double standard, we're covering the story. mitt romney did not hold back in ohio, lashing out with some of his harshest criticism yet against the obama campaign. >> his campaign and his

surrogates have made wild accusations that disgrace the office of the presidency. another outrageous charge came just a few hours ago in virginia and the white house sinks a little bit lower. this is what an angry and desperate presidency looks like. president obama knows better, promised better and america deserves better. mr. president take your campaign of division and anger and hate and let us back to rebuilding america. >> governor romney's comments tonight seemed unhinged and particularly strange coming at a time when he's pouring hundreds of thousands of dollars into negative ads.

>> paul ryan used the word unshackled. here's president biden's comments in virginia. >> the romney campaign put out a tweet, went on the air where he's saying, biding, he's outrageous, i think i said unchained rather than unshackled. i got a message for you, if you want to know what's outrageous, it's their policies and the effects of their policies on middle class america, that's what's outrageous. >> jonathan capehart, is joe biden right? have we reached a new low in this campaign. >> when i saw the statements

about vice president biden's comments, i rolled my eyes because we have been looking at a campaign and in some instances the candidate himself engaging in some somewhat racially insensitive things. you've got newt gingrich who consistently calls the president a food stamp president. you had mitt romney in montana after speaking to the naacp saying how he would repeal for obama care, saying if you want more free stuff vote for obama. and then you have one coming out that's completely false. you have mitt romney -- >> is that racially insensitive? >> you've got mitt romney who's still endorsed by donald trump,

engaging in the birther lie. you've got -- obabarack obama ws to make everyone his slave. >> what i'm talking about though is a larger incident of here. mitt romney talks about a campaign of hate, this is a president who has had his legitimacy questioned since day one. no one in the republican party in the leadership to come out and say this is wrong. i agree with what mark said in the beginning, saying both sides are being angry, i understand why the obama campaign is -- a campaign of divisiveness and hate, which is what they have been getting from the republican

campaign in particular for quite a long time. >> are you saying they're giving it back now? >> no, i'm saying i think they are right to defend themselves, i think stephanie cutter was right to not back down. joe biden spoke inartfully, but i don't think he has anything to apologize for. >> in that ad. >> the controversial bring yorts that seem to link mitt romney's business dealings in the death of a woman. priorities usa senior strategist said that it was a station error. the ad had racked up 700,000 views online despite widespread claims that it was inaccurate. >> here's a great example, there's actually bill bu--

factually inaccurate, biographically inaccurate and they are running it now in clevela cleveland, a swing state, it's factually inaccurate, they are now running it no ohio, in the most important swing state. >> that ad that romney ran is a disgrace. this cam pain so far is thoroughly depressing, if they would walk around and meet a few people who are beset by problems in this country, unemaccomplishmeunemployment and things like that. >> you know david axelrod, you see him on tv, i have never seen him look the way he looks on tv,

like his eyes are wide open, he's very -- seems very upset and very agitated, have you noticed that over the past few days. >> we were talking about it briefly before he went on this morning, i'm wondering is there something in their internal polling that shows them that there is a pivot point, that we're not addressing it, that we don't realize, something internal in the polling, whether it's the welfare stuff, whether it's the fact that people haven't really clung yet to ideological -- there's a sense of unrest on the top of that campaign that's palpable. >> their theory of the case was to win this thing in the summer by heavily outspending romney. now the republicans this week, i believe both sides have suggested to me are outspending

the democrats, which will continue through to the election. if they don't have this thing in hand by the conventions, they may be in some trouble. >> and jonathan capehart, while the obama team has their issues to deal with, you have the republicans and god love them, who just can't seem to get their story straight, what part of the paul ryan's medicare plan he agreed with. paul ryan yesterday on fox news couldn't seem to get romney's budget plan straight. is prepping something you did back before we had television when you were vice president, because this is serious. like barry manillo would sing

"two ships passing in the night". prep, dude. >> and this is what paul ryan has for the budget. he's a major budget guy. he was bold and he was the only one, he was brave. >> he would have that stuff and pour it in and it would foam up. it's mr. budgets. >> he's as phenomenal with budgets as mr. potato head. >> so he sat down for his first one-on-one interview. >> only president obama raids $716 billion from the medicare program to pay for obama care. we don't do that.

>> you make saving how much? >> i joined the romney ticket and what mitt romney is proposing to do is repeal all of obama care. >> but it is the case that the budget you have passed through the house of representatives, significant savings of upwards of $500 billion to medicate programs. >> we don't take more cuts to medicare. i'm on the romney ticket and what mitt romney is proposing is repeal all of obama care. >> the budget plan that you're now supporting would get to balance when? >> the budget plan that mitt romney's supporting gets us down to 20% of gdp government spending by 2013. get it back to where historically it hash. what obama has done is he has brought the government to as high as it was in world war ii.

>> what was that balance? >> i don't know exactly the balance, but we haven't run the numbers on that specific plan. >> you know, i hate when people get wonky on me. >> you know what i hate more is when they don't run the numbers on the budget. >> the ryan plan balances the budget in 2040. and for a man, paul ryan was so fluent in matters of the bublt, he's having trouble recalling what he's supposed to say. >> up next, nfl kickoff issue, we'll get a full preview of just fans, including tim tebow, deputy general michael haine yes, joins us next.

>> moses' people that walked through the desert. that was the mana that fell from the hills. >> good morning, everyone, let's talk about the drought of 2012. because this is going to go into the books as hopefully one of the worst droughts that you and i will ever see. here's the drought map across this country, we watched this drought grow from the midwest all way back through the western u.s. this roughly covers about 60% of the country, here's number of the numbers that we're going to crunch as you watch the drought of 2012, the worst drought as far as coverage in our country since 1956, the crops are in the

worst shape since 19888. this is coming out of your federal tax dollars in washington, d.c., $10 billion to cover the insurance losses, so incredible stuff that we're going to all deal with in the months to come. the storms rolling through new england, a nasty commute from i-95 to boston province. more storms will develop today, look ow new jersey -- we did get some beneficial rains last night in dallas. the big story, looks like canada is sending a lot of us come cooler, dryer air, but that's better than the heat wave. you're watching "morning joe," st. louis one of the hottest places in the country, brewed by starbucks.

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okay, he's back. joining us now -- >> what do you mean he's back? >> he came here before with a cover with the girl with the popsicle. >> kate upton is an -- look what "gq" does, look at this right in the middle, there's beef cake for you. never mind all the women flying around. this is high-minded stuff.

>> michael hainey is here, with a new nfl issue of the magazine with tim tebow, look at that. >> tim tebow and kim newton. >> oh, split covers. >> you got your sec boys for joe. >> there's a photograph that's already the talk of the internet, i'm told. back story, not actually a new photograph. >> no, it was shot a couple of years ago when he was still playing college ball, but he's still here, i want you all to testify that tim tebow is your sunday savior. can i see a show of hands, please? >> tebow, we'll see what happens, i mean poor mark, man. >> mark sanchez? >> oh, it's over. it's going to be third and nine and he's going to pass the ball in the first series.

a >> you played high school ball, right. >> let me take a look at this mack zone. >> the new jersey league doesn't have -- the pressures were slightly less. listen, we had rex ryan on who says he's going to use him in spots. sanchez has struggled for several years. and now he's got this -- >> look at this, "are you the office sexist? the jolley molester and several others who deserve a swift kick to the groin." >> you can read that, mike, 203. >> oh, this is from mike. >> let's continue this conversation. >> yeah, whatever, keep talking. >> so willie, you were talking. >> i'm a giants fan, you have

victor cruz. >> you've got tim tebow, the guy who's played down in new york. and eli manning can't get arrested in this town. he could walk down 30 rock and no one would recognize him. >> they get a big benefit obviously, they get the back pages from tebow, but eventually it's a football team, it's not a publicity machine. >> i have heard the rockettes in the behind tebow. do you think it's a mistake? >> i think it's going to be a mistake internally to the football team because sanchez, unless he comes out throwing like tebow. >> and he won't. the way he was throwing last year, the jets were basically done with. >> if they win, that's all anybody cares about. >> but are they going to win?

when are they going to do one of these things, oh, it's third down and it's tebow territory. >> the platoon quarterback has never worked in the history of football. >> when you got two quarterbacks, you got no quarterbacks. i just made that up off the top of my head but it made a lot of sense. it never, never, never, ever works in the nfl. when does it ever work? >> the quarterback we should be talking about is the guy on other your cover last year probably had the best rookie season ever for quarterbacks. >> he's got panther blue necktie. >> so tim tebow wins a couple of games and everybody talks about him. this guy has one of the best seasons ever. >> you want to talk about -- all anyone cares about in d.c. is

rg3. >> he's the man, he's the guy. >> do you think he's going to turn that franchise around. >> i do. i hope he does. >> this is really funny. i don't think i can read it outloud. >> if i see one more ass, i'm going to crack. why don't you explain this article. >> it's what you call the coin slot problem, you see too many guys with low slung jeans. >> coin slot problem? >> well, you know, you see guys with low slung jeans. you know what i'm talking about, she knows what i'm talking about. >> i like this too. >> she's a great actress, she plays a role. just sort of how she prepare

ford the role. don't get excited, joe. >> i feel this segment lacks focus. >> mika is running through it. >> i shouldn't read the magazine. >> i'm going to keep the magazine away in you. >> have you made any predictions? >> you know the other stories, we haven't talked about payton. where do you think payton's going to go? >> denver, how is he going to do in denver? >> she needs a moment. >> i can't look at mike. >> she's read the article and she knows it's sexist. okay, so, payton, he's got like a broken neck in 87 places, how is he going to do this year. >> he's going to do well. he's too good not to do well. >> what do you think, mike. >> i think it's going to be huge out there.

>> so what's a the surprise? who's the surprise team this year. >> the buffalo bills. they were a surprise team for six weeks last year. >> mika, are you okay? have you brought yourself back. >> we brought you the beef cake, you took the cheese away. >> it's a very multidimensional issue. >> i don't think i have seen here this way in a while. this is interesting, every month we're going to be looking through the new nfl issue of "gq" magazine for some time. our next guest, mika, is on a mission that i actually started when i was 6 years old. he's out to find the best

sandwich in america. adam richman joins us when we come back. [ male announcer ] if you stash tissues like a squirrel stashes nuts, you may be muddling through allergies. try zyrtec® liquid gels. nothing starts working faster than zyrtec® at relieving your allergy symptoms for 24 hours. zyrtec®. love the air.

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for months, i've been on a road trip traveling countless miles from coast to coast, all in search of my best sandwich in the nation.

on my country wide quest, i sampled 30 amazing creations from 10 different u.s. regions and in every region, i subjected each sandwich to my trademark quite scale declaring one the champ. >> love that. >> that was a clip from the travel channel's "best sandwich in america." >> adam richman is here. >> you worked in a place that i'm well acquainted with. >> the shakespeare festival. i did three plays down there, i dated a girl that couldn't be further than a brook land jew than anyone can possibly imagine. >> now they can make some sandwiches down in alabama. >> they certainly can. >> the deep south.

>> that's what's kind of cool, a nice segue from your sports talk earlier, the way we structured it, we divided the country into ten regions and we did it march madness style. who's the southern champ? >> the southern champ was from savannah, georgia. from a restaurant called zezu's. and it's the chicken sandwich. they're all delicious. >> they can be healthy and taste good too, adam. >> they certainly can, the chicken conquistador, they combined these. >> deep gypsy roots. >> it's off the bone chicken, two different kinds of sauces, house baked bread, romaine

lettuce, but it's all fresh, i mean really, really house made ingredie ingredients. >> so the finalists, tell me the most unhealthy great tasting sandwich you had your entire trip? >> i mean it's tough because i haven't looked at it in terms of nutritional, i'm try to be see it in terms of composition, because if you look at the sandwich since it's advent, it's not been too healthy. these look indulgent, but they're actually not. >> how do you make a great sandwich? >> we use an acronym called bread, interior taste, exterior.

>> how do you rate a sandwich. >> it's the quality of the bread, the way it actually develops a kind of like a taste interplay with the ingredients, i like originality of ingredients, a variety of texture, even a variety of in influences. we covered aed sandwich in new york -- watermelon vinegar and a distinct san francisco type of originality. >> i only picked two for every region, the third was picked by a celebrity. so for the northeast, i picked cactus, and i picked from denix, the terminal market in philadelphia, their roast pork

with extra sharp provolone. and kevin. >> how many sandwiches did you try before you narrowed it down to your final four? >> this was three per region. >> how do you find those 30. >> two are ones i had tried and the third one was one that i had that was recommended by someone. >> the dream team. >> you have no idea. you have no idea. >> who has the healthiest of the best sandwiches, i want to know. >> the healthiest. the lobster roll is pretty remarkable. they use very little mayoe, every sandwich comes out of the

shell fresh. main lobster. >> the way i judge a sandwich, if the sand we have is so good and i eat it and the sauce is running down my arms and i don't stop to wipe it off, and i keep eating. >> adam, you have had a storied career, let's take a quick look at your greatest hits. you had some food challenges and, you know, it's like a movable feast. >> to say the least. >> straight out of hemingway, a 7 pound burrito. a 12 patty cheeseburger. >> i didn't finish all of these. >> the 120 ounce malt milk shake. and the last one is a meter long bratwurst. in minneapolis. my judaism prevents my from

pronouncing things -- >> was the 12 patty in arizona? >> no, that was from a place called lindy's on fourth in tucson. >> it's in arizona, though. >> let me ask you a question, whatever happened to a media consensus pick, probably not as -- peanut butter and jelly? >> actually i found two places, subsequent to sort of laying out the episodes. there's a place here in new york called peanut butter and company, they serve all kinds of peanut butter. and there's one in portland, oregon called pb & j. >> are you seeing in the country a change in attitude in the way you prepare the food. you're killing me i you're just killing me. >> i think you have a much more educated consumer.

i just think people watch food network, they watch travel channel, organic is no longer a buzz word. i think that people have a higher standard for what they eat. >> what is the discussion? >> deep fried obviously. >> deep fried anything. >> it's interesting. >> you need a big gulp to wash it down, huge soda, don't you agree? >> in new orleans, for my second book i'm trying to find the best iconic food in the country. and i did a chapter on the best shrimp po boy in new orleans. they have these giant mugs of root beer in frosted mugs. >> that's what we're talking about. >> it's pretty breathtaking stuff. >> "the best sandwich in america" debuts on the travel channel.

adam richman. oh, yeah, baby, i will testify. keep it right here on "morning joe." [ gnome ] enjoying your holiday?

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and with fidelity, getting back on track was easier than i thought. call or come in today to take control of your personal economy. get one-on-one help from america's retirement leader. all since together here. >> you're the one telling us to pull things together when you're going through "gq" magazine. what about the coin slot thing? what are you in third grade, it's actually an insult to the third grade. >> those guys wearing those

skinny jeans with their butts hanging out check page 200. i think it's 203. >> by the way, how's the park been this year, mike? >> kind of disappointing. >> really. >> yeah, i've slowed down a bit. >> i've got to say those reflector sunglasses freak me out. >> is it over? >> you can take your hands off your ears. let's get a check on business before the bill. live at cnbc global headquarters, a battle brewing about how we pay for things at the store? >> absolutely, there's a new mobile payments network plan that's a really wonky way to say, using your cell phone, swiping it at the cash register and paying. google has already got this service but now -- this is the next stage of how we're going to use our cell phones, you download an app, and as a result, when you're at the cash

register, you can pay, you don't actually have to pull out the credit card. there's a lot more companies than that. google is ahead of that. >> michelle, we have been talking for the past five years people say why do we have problems with jobs productive. when is the last time you talked to a bank teller, i'll tell you why, now the more and more you go out, you see merchants with ipads, they're swiping the ipads, taking care of it. getting rid of cashiers in five years. >> it loosens up employment so people can go on to work in other jobs where they're more highly valued. there's also big news perhaps, we're going to have to watch shares of facebook tomorrow. something happens tomorrow, it's called the expiration of a lockup. when facebook went public, some

people were told you have these shares but you can't sell them until x date. tomorrow is the day when 200 million shares will go up for sale. >> it was $38 now it's $20. when is mark zuckerberg going to announce that he's the janitor. >> he brought this company public, sucked every dollar he could and then some. this is opposite of pets.com who left a lot on the table. >> they do have some leadership. >> michelle cabrera, great to see you. come back soon. more "morning joe" in just a moment. the capital one cash rewards card gives you a 50% annual bonus.

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now that they have added paul ryan to the ticket, he seems energized and he's just gone, here, take a look at how exciting -- this is mitch right here. here he is. >> i'm mitt romney and i approve

>> i'm mitt romney and i approve this message.

obama's the way to go for that. the president has not earned re -election, in 2012, in my book. i've seen his now definition of hope and change. it's not the hope and change i want, and it's not the hope and change i thought i was going to get. i don't feel that i helped my grandchildren by voting for president obama and i regret that. americans for prosperity is responsible for the content of this advertising. the blissful pause just before that rich sweetness touches your lips. the delightful discovery, the mid-sweetening realization that you have the house all to yourself. well, almost. the sweet reward, making a delicious choice that's also a smart choice. splenda no-calorie sweetener. with the original sugar-like taste you love and trust. splenda makes the moment yours.

wanted to provide better employee benefits while balancing the company's bottom line, their very first word was... [ to the tune of "lullaby and good night" ] ♪ af-lac ♪ aflac [ male announcer ] find out more at... [ duck ] aflac! [ male announcer ] ...forbusiness.com. [ yawning sound ] the comments of the vice president as i heard them i thought were one more example of

a divisive effort to keep from talking about the real issues. the president's campaign is talking about me and a tttackin me. i think the american people had the same reaction, they listened to the vice president and they found an unfounded charge and a metaphor which is not uplifting, not uniting, but is once again a device of attack. >> that's mitt romney on cbs. willie what did you learn today? >> i learned there's a job in television that you can host a show and go test sandwiches. mmm, sandwiches. >> i learned that joe biden said which is basically harmless but had a republican said it. >> they would have been