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for our free usaa retirement guide, call 877-242-usaa. the top of the show we asked you why are you awake, mr. john tower with the answer. >> eric go bragh. >> i will thorough my cabbage and potatoes and eat it. great weekend, everyone. "morning joe" starts right now. ♪ like a rhinestone cowboy

>> the popular media narrative, it's that this country has shifted away from conservative ideals as evidenced by the last two presidential elections. that's what they think. that's what they say. that might be true if republicans had actually nominated conservative candidates in 2008 and 2012! it might be true. >> what year is it? all right. top of the hour. >> what is my name? >> i don't know! >> i don't even know what agencies i want to abolish. >> exactly. it is friday, march 15th. welcome to "morning joe," everyone. it's friday! it's friday. >> maybe if he could have like remembered his last name. >> with us on set, we have national editor for new york magazine john heilemann. the host of msnbc politics

nation. >> you're right. >> he loves campbell's rice! >> i did have it at 6:00 in the morning. >> president and national -- ♪ be where the lights are shining ♪ >> finish it, rev! >> i love this job. >> good morning, mika. >> rhinestone cowboy. >> i thought the first time i heard, that is who glen campbell was singing about. >> the reverend al. the subtitle of the song. >> reverend al sharpton is with us. i'm really sorry! >> it's friday. >> happy friday. >> happy friday. >> we need him to play some godfather" to make up with that. >> a little james brown after governor perry's speech at cpac. no payback. >> did you hear what they did?

>> needy. not even needy. >> they have. right? marco rubio go out. they will play the song. you'll let him in and you get that song. you know, reverend al is there. they know his association to "the godfather." and play some james brown. he walks out, everybody feels better. to rand paul comes out and they play ma tametalico. >> marco rubio, listen what they play for him. ♪ ♪ you're insecure >> thank you. >> like one of my kids. >> they play that for marco rubio. >> "even though you're beautiful" i believe is that what that is. >> not because you would know because you have a 4-year-old

daughter. >> and i have a 9-year-old daughter. >> 5. i'm sorry. she is 5. that is important. >> does he choose that music? >> no. cpac stuck it right in the side, for some reason. with a -- >> that's what they do in the nba arena for the opposing player. mock them a little bit. >> why are they mocking rubio? >> a real conservative thing to do? >> what is that? >> a real conservative thing to do. they invite you and then they mock you? >> i wouldn't know. >> i don't think they know. >> come on. >> i don't get it. >> cpac says they make it their personality. >> you're insecure. you don't know you're beautiful? how does that represent marco rubio's personality? if it does, i don't want to know. >> rand paul's speech. >> how was it? >> the guy is hitting on all of my notes.

>> really? >> we will hear some later but he is talking about less spending which i've been talking about for years and the republicans spend too much. rand paul is actually talking about that. he's actually talking like we used to talk as republicans about restraint and foreign affairs. he just struck a lot of cords that i've been talking about for years that people who call rhino for talking about. he is talking about restraint at home in spending and restraint in foreign policy. it's about damn time we got somebody who is talking that way. any way they are, you know, i don't know if he goes off into florida. i'm sure he will say stuff that scares me. i say stuff that scares people too. he has a good message. restraint at home and in foreign policy. >> his music was?

>> mika is pro fluoride. >> stop that. >> but her father. >> stop that. >> bohemian grove. >> we do have other things to cover this morning, willie? >> stop that. >> do you know that? >> is that not amazing? amazing. it's friday morning, everybody. >> reverend al, will you help me out here? >> i tried. friday's, it's hopeless. >> it's hopeless. >> that's why they give sundays to preachers. >> and you'll be there in the pey. >> he does go to church. i'm trying to get him to go to my church. >> you should go. we should go! i want to see that. >> what time is your sermon? >> i do one at 8:00 and at 11:00. i'll do a special one for joe. >> he might need a private confession. >> a great guy, dedicated christian, actually steve largent was called a human highlight reel when he introduced me because we roomed for a couple of months together. and he called me a human mission

field. >> a human mission? >> by myself. >> human mission field? >> yeah. >> which means -- which means, you know, you have a mission field in india. you have a mission field in, you know, egypt. and i am my own mission field is what steve largent was trying to say. >> he needed a lot of help. >> i'm getting a chill. >> trying to walk you through it. how long are your sermons? because, you know, southern baptists have to bap baptists have to be out at 12:00 to get in line -- at morris's way we are among, morrison won't have much food left. 30, 35. we will take care of everything. but we talk a lot about the needy and the people that shouldn't be cut off from the spending. i mean, some things you agree with. >> what you're saying is you --

you use your pulpit to actually advance political causes instead of preaching the gospel of christ? >> no, we preach the gospel of christ. >> good. i'll be there. boom! >> tell to give to the poor. it's all jesus. just not edited out at the cpac conference. >> you've heard of the social gospel, right? >> i'm a matthew 25 guy. >> i'm all matthew guy. >> in washington try to restore order here. >> look at this. look at this. he is using the bible as a wedge! >> you brought it up. no, i'm using the bible on a full mission field guy. >> okay. >> i'm trying to pick up where steve left off. >> what do you think about this weekend? rev, what is the theme? >> i think clearly we have a deal with the fact we do not need to put those that are the most vulnerable in society, to put more weight on them. i don't think that there is anything other to preach about than what the bible talks about and that is that you have to help the -- and clearly as we

debate these budgets, i think it's a minister's duty to raise a moral side. i don't think religion ought to guide society but i think religious institutions we ought to give our interpretation on. >> matthew 25, by the way, is -- >> just checking. is there an intermission in the sermon or straight through, 35 minutes? >> only a mission. no intermission. >> no place for you to go and smoke or anything. >> i will start scratching the scabs 25 minutes in! a real doubt republicans can muster enough support. bills limiting the sales of high powered rifles and requiring more sophisticated background checks have now narrowly passed a key committee but strictly along party lines. yesterday the debate boiled over when freshman senator ted cruz

whether her plan is constitutional. >> it begins with whether our document is constitution. the second bill in the amendment of right people to keep and bear arms not be infringed. the question i pose to the senior senator from california would she deem it consistent with the bill of rights for congress to engage in the same endeavor we are contemplating doing with the second amendment in context with the third or fourth amendment? >> let me make a couple of points in response. one, i'm not a sixth grader. senator, i've been on this committee for 20 years. i was a mayor for nine years. i walked in. i saw people shot. i've looked at bodies shot with these weapons. i've seen the bullets that implode. in sandy hook youngsters, they were dismembered. it's fine you want to lecture me on the constitution, i appreciate it. just know i've been here for a long time. i've passed on a number of

bills. i've studied the constitution myself. i am reasonably well educated and i thank you for the lecture. it exempts 2,271 weapons. isn't that enough for the people in the united states? do you need a bazooka? do they need other high powered weapons that military people use to kill in close combat? i don't think so! >> okay! >> i got a serious question here. john heilemann, this guy -- this guy, what he is saying, the way he is framing his question, suggests complete utter ignorance. i'm talking about ted cruz here and i have brought this up before. complete and utter ignorance and anybody conserve i've jurists will agree with me and they do, that he goes on this line of attack about violating the second amendment. it suggests complete utter

ignorance of what the second amendment says and what scalia, thomas, and the conservative court said in 2008 about what the second amendment is and what it is is not. so did ted cruz not go to law school? has he ever been to law school? >> i believe he went to harvard law school. do they teach law there? >> did they teach ted cruz to read what the supreme court said, especially in the landmark, the landmark decision regarding second amendment rights over 200 years was written in 2008. i'm just wondering why would he use his seat on the judiciary committee if he went to harvard to -- to -- to put forward a willfully ignorant statement about this bill violating the

second amendment, because it does not. and ted cruz knows it does not. so who is he playing for? is he playing for -- for -- for people who can't read, for illiterates? i don't understand. you know, a lot of people out there that support ted cruz's position that will say, this is not a violation of the second amendment, however, i have real concerns because you take this first step, the next thing you know they are trying to overturn heller and try to get my shotguns and try to get my hundreding rifles. i don't mean to go on and on here. >> no, no. you make a good point. >> but i am so shocked he would continue to use his seat in the judiciary committee to just mislead millions of americans and put forward a willfully ignorant position on what the constitution says and what it does not say. >> well-- >> what is his background? >> he went to a fine law school.

>> harvard law school? >>? >> the same school the president of the united states went to. >> they are teaching case law, right? >> the last i checked they have a relatively robust program in constitutional lie at the harvard law school with very good liberal and conservative professors there. >> one of the great minds in my opinion of our opinion. justice rehnquist. >> but not as conservative as the people you mngsed in antonin scalia and clarence thomas. which is a position so far to the right that it's hard to locate as a matter of constitution. >> hold on a second and i'll let you continue. i got no problem. i want to be very clear to everybody at home. if ted cruz wants to say the second amendment, i believe the

second amendment should protect people's right to have assault weapons or semiautomatic weapons whatever semantic game. >> and it absolute and contains all of these things that justice scalia and justice thomas and justice kennedy and justice alito. the conservative justices. if he wants to say it, that's fine. i got no problem with that and i know people who believe that should be contained within heller and the second amendment. it's just not. so when he suggests to dianne feinstein. >> or lectures. >> or lectures she is violating the second amendment that this impinges on second amendment right that is false. this isn't opinion. this is fact. read the damn case law. he keeps doing it and it's driving me crazy because he is

supposedly a learned man. >> i think has leads to the next point. we are talking about politics. senator cruz has not just on these issues but on a variety of issues has decided he is going to stake out some turf that is right in the sweet spot of the most conservative, most populist, most red meat tea party elements of his party and decided to do it on a variety of things. he has done it on chuck hagel and done it throughout and with a tone of disrespect that is upsetting a lot of republicans and upsetting a lot of democrats every time he rares his head since he has been in the senate. he hasn't been there very long. he takes this tone and adopted this position to advance some kind of a gender that is trying to get him in a particular place with the republican party. >> i don't mind people being condescending to me. i really don't. no, i'm serious. i can smirk and i can fire right back.

but when you're condescending and you don't even have the facts right, when you're misstating what the second amendment says, as interpreted, by the conservative supreme court by scalia, i have a problem with that. >> yeah. reverend al, later in the hearing senator feinstein said the first amendment doesn't stop us from regulating some forms of speech like child pornography. other democrats pointed out the first amendment doesn't protect people from yelling fire in a crowded theaters but would not be a violation of the second amendment to prevent someone from bringing a hundred round magazine into a crowded theater. according to "the washington post" feinstein later apologized to cruz but explained she felt, quote, patronized by his remarks. >> he was patronizing. i agree with joe on this point. if he wants to argue against the findings in the court that heldlettheld helder --

>> yeah, 2008. >> to state the fact given he sits in the senate and his background is misleading and i think that is what was offensive to her. i may disagree with some of the court's decisions but i can't quote it in saying in an absolute what the law says. >> for instance, i can tell you i agreed with heller. you can say you didn't like how far the court went. and i know you did. >> which i did. >> a lot of people thought that the court was too conservative because that was the first time they said the right to keep and bear arms means what i always thought it meant, had nothing to do with malicious. it has to do with me being able to keep a gun in my house and protect my family. you disagree with that but you're not going to go out and -- you just can't -- >> it didn't say it gave you the constitutional right to have magazines that can shoot a hundred rounds and it didn't say you can have automatic or semiautomatic weapons, which is what he tried to say in the condescending way.

>> scalia said specifically in heller. i asked all of my friends that support the second amendment. by the way, i'm with you 90% of the time. i ask you guys to read heller and understand. by the way, willie, a lot of good people. i'm not lumping -- i'm not saying that ted cruz's position is an ignorant position if you were saying, i believe they shouldn't be able to regulate bush masters and i believe they shouldn't be able to regulate -- magazines and that is a great debate for us all to have and i respect people that actually hold that position because i know most of them are my friends and allies. i'm just saying, i'm getting sick and tired of people telling me what the constitution says when they are ignorant of what the constitution says. i cut most people slack because they didn't go to law school and unlike me they haven't been reading case law for, you know, 20, 30 years. i cut ted cruz no slack because i think it's willful. he is trying to mislead americans into believing that

the second amendment and the constitution says something that it doesn't say. now it might say that in the future. it might. and then i'll be the first to say, those are protected second amendment rights but scalia, right now, says they are not. >> right it's all right there. he may be wrong on the facts, but the truth is if you go back to the politics of it, he's on the right side for the time being of the vote. he's on the right side of how this is going to play out. it squeaked out of the judiciary committee on 10-8 vote and if it goes through she will not get republicans to sign on an assault weapons ban and won't get some democrats to do it and it won't clear the house. the fact remains throughout this debate expedite what happened in aurora and newtown there may not be an assault weapons ban and not a background check with 90% of the country agree with. this is the debate we are having on that committee but the national debate remains this probably won't get through.

>> which, i guess, mika, would be even more reason for ted cruz not to stake out such a misleading position. listen, if you know you're going to win, which he is going to win this. he is going to win the assault weapon ban fight. he will win the high capacity magazine fight right now. you know you're going to win it, why do you deliberatery misstate what the second amendment and constitution says and what scalia said and what supreme court said? i don't understand it. the thing is, yes, he may win in the short run, but he's added another layer of scar tissue on to what people think of him in washington and what senators think of him. they have seen a guy who willfully is misleading americans about what the constitution says on the judiciary panel in the senate! >> yes. and i think actually he is striking at a time when this nation is raw and i would love for him to sit in a room filled with the parents of newtown and make that stupid argument to

them. i feel sorry for people like him because they are very limited. coming up on "morning joe," michigan governor rick snyder will be here to talk about -- >> i don't know that far. >> are you kidding me? come back. why wouldn't you go that far? >> limited? >> limit. >> he knows exactly what he is doing. >> oh, well i think it's really sad and i think it's actually very limited scope. he's worried about himself, his future, and some strange right that he thinks americans have that he defines in the constitution and he ought to sit in the room with the parents of the children of newtown and try to make that argument. good luck! >> there are tens of thousands of people on right wing ma militia related web sites cheering him on today. thousands. >> i could find other words to describe it as well. >> is there an appetite for that kind of talk in a part of the country. there is. >> another thing they will do

they will twist the words of anybody that opposes him. they will twist those words around and make that seem like you're saying he doesn't have a right to say this. he's just misleading americans. i was just saying as far as limited goes, i don't think -- maybe his goals are very limited. >> it's not limited, then he is really, really, really intelligent and up to something that we don't want to talk about, because it would make him seem criminal almost. it's just not right. you know that if you were misinterpreting the constitution and trying to push through an idea that absolutely does not fit into the concept of the philosophy and the morals of this country was built on, something is wrong. i'll call it limited. just to stay into the safe zone here. >> since you said criminal, we will go to break. >> yeah. coming up on "morning joe," michigan governor rick snyder will be here to talk about the threat of bankruptcy for detroit. "the new york times" mark

leibovich. the "the washington post" gene robinson and also "meet the press's" david gregory. >> turn the music up! louder! >> i like it. first, here is bill karins with a check on the forecast. bill! >> that's what we need. good morning, everyone. we are getting ready for stst. pa st. paddy's day weekend. winter well in control from the northern plains all the way through the northeast. the windchill is 8 this morning in boston. we are in the 20s for windchills down into the mid atlantic and windchills of 40 in florida this morning and hasn't been the best week to be down there on spring break. snow coming down in fargo this morning. drive carefully and soon in minneapolis where you could get a couple of inches throughout the day today. this is a very weak storm that we are dealing with today and tomorrow. it's going to bring light wintry precip to ohio valley and light rain showers to the mid-atlantic

region and unsettled weekend especially in the d.c. and virginia area and saturday and sunday will be chilly and raw. weekend forecast starting out cold on the east coast and there should be a little bit of sunshine. then the clipper system bring plenty of clouds and light rain and maybe snow showers to areas outside of new york city on saturday. especially outside of philadelphia. it looks like as we head into st. paddy's day not a horrible forecast. probably rainy around kansas city but a chilly air won't give up and looks like another storm behind it that could bring some significant snow to the great lakes and northern new england through the middle of next week. i'd love to tell you it will warm up in a hurry, but no sign of that just yet. you're watching "morning joe," brewed by starbucks. ♪

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welcome back it "morning joe." 28 past the hour. it take a look at the morning papers. "the wall street journal" a new senate report accuses jpmorgan ceo hiding information from the regulators from the loss known as the london whale scandal. the committee found jpmorgan ignored internal warnings. jpmorgan said its management team does not intentionally cover up the trades. rick snyder has announced kevin orr the lawyer who worked on the chrysler bankruptcy as the emergency manager for the city of detroit. the city currently owes $14 billion in long-term liabilities and orr is calling the situation ", the olympics of

restructuring." both snyder and orr will join us later. >> new smart phone "the new york times" is revealed. the galaxy s4? is being viewed as a major competitor to apple's iphone and featured smart scroll a new technology which follows the user's eyes and stops playing videos when the user looks away. the galaxy s4 is available next month. >> willie, would you like a smart phone to follow your eyes? >> no. that creeps me out. >> that kind of creeps me out. >> people like that samsung, though. >> no, i don't know why it scrolled to that part of the screen! what are you talking about? >> it's not good. the philadelphia enquirer for the second time in two months a carnival cruise has turned into what some people are calling a nightmare. >> can we call cnn right now? get the helicopter out! get the helicopter! come on! we got to preempt tv three days here! >> a backup generator failed and

passengers stranded on the ship and forbidden to leave. the loss of pawer left the ship without air-conditioning and lights and limited food option and overflowing toilets. the cruise line is making arrangements to fly passengers home to offer a discount on future trips. >> i'm going to be quiet. >> helicopter'ing them off and like people leaving saigon and holding on the bottom of the helicopter. wow. joe biden a new audio series starring the vice president. this ought to be good. >> what are you laughing about? >> a meal to a group of delaware hunters. the goal is to provide a closer look inside the white house. >> i think -- i think that is pretty stupid. >> that is must see tv. >> sunday's issue of "parade." breakfast, anyone? the nation's best recipes to get your morning started. >> like?

egg-yolk free? >> they don't advertise on this show but i'll advertise for them. try out the yolk-free egg mcif you havin. >> 40 calories less than the other. >> what about the munchkins? >> i finished them. >> if you have the egg mcmuffst have -- mcmuffin, have the original one! >> yolk patty, awesome! >> have some fries with that. >> and a large coke. >> exactly. >> get a big thing of fries. let's go to politico with mike allen. >> happy st. patrick's day weekend and happy friday! >> so nice. >> a excellent shot there. mike, last week, senator rand paul told you he was seriously considering a run for president. he laid out what might become

the core message for his campaign for the white house during his speech yesterday at cpac. let's listen. >> the gop of old has grown stale and moss covered. i don't think we need to name any names. the new gop will need to embrace liberty in both the economic and the personal sphere. if we're going to have a republican party that can win, liberty needs to be the backbone of the gop. >> mike, you said he didn't want to name any names when he said stale and moss covered. how about you naming some names? >> well, sure. we start with mitt romney. and what we heard in the speech from senator rand paul was a real effort to turn the page for the party. now, this contrasted with another electrifying speech right after it from senator marco rubio of florida who said that the party was fine, the

parties -- deals were fine. rand paul, though, calling for much greater change. telling conservatives they need to eliminate the education department, always good with this crowd. paul ryan wants to balance the budget in ten years. rand paul says let's balance the budget in five years. what we heard there was him saying that the party needed to be very different and he made an explicit appeal to the facebook generation. also something very different from the last couple of republican nominees. mitt romney and john mccain. on the topic of personal liberty, also a shocking story that is electrifying the political world this morning, senator rob portman of ohio announced in his home state papers this morning that he is giving up his opposition to gay marriages. this is right ahead of the

supreme court oral arguments on march 26th and 27th. in the columbus dispatch today senator portman says his son came to him in 2011 and said he was gay. wasn't something he chose but he wanted his parents to know that. senator portman said he had always been against gay marriage because of his faith and tradition but this caused him to rethink it and he is proud of will and the way he handled it. >> he said it allows me to think of this from a new perspective that is a dad and wants his son to have the same opportunities his brother and sister have. joe, back to rand paul for a second. >> right. >> early on in his senate career, some people said he was a little fringy perhaps. but over the last couple of months, i guess beginning with the filibuster the last couple of weeks, he has staked out a middle position that a lot of republicans like. >> well, you know, he is, again, for conservatives like myself and george will and others that

have been concerned about this constant war machine that's been churning now over a decade, we have always been concerned about tripling down the number of troops in afghanistan and what the neocons have done to our part, the republican party. rand paul going after drones and the president's plans to possibly target americans here and abroad, wanting clarification from that, that was -- that was great. not because what he was doing toward the white house but because the message he was sending towards republicans in our own party. so i think rand paul is right. i respectfully disagree with marco rubio. we can't just keep doing what we have been doing. it's not just the messenger. it's the message as well. and while we can't balance the budget next week, like rand paul suggests, i like what he is talking about. i like his philosophies. again, limited -- you know,

showing restraint at home and showing restraint abroad and i think that is winning a message and i think it's also a message that the so-called facebook generation can support. we're engaged, steve ratner said yesterday we are engaged in generational theft. i disagree with people saying all of the demographics are working against the republicans. i think in the long run the demographics are working in our direction if we show splin and restraint. >> he made a lot of noise with his speech yesterday. mike allen with a look at the playbook, thanks. >> happy weekend. >> a surprise guest drives by the louisville locker room after last night's win over villanova. we will show you who it was next in sports.

♪ all right. time for a little sports. college basketball teams around the country making their final statements before selection sunday. a couple of days away now. late last night in the big east, sixth seed notre dame taking on third seeded marquette. second half notre dame down one. patrick hits the three and irish have the lead. 3:30 left. connerton another big three opinion notre dame upsets

marquette in their last big east tournament before jumping to the acc. the semifinals in the big east look like this. old school big east in the first one. georgetown against syracuse for one team the last game in the big east and louisville playing notre dame. louisville got a special guest in the locker room as we went to break. who was it? there he is. bill clinton stopped by the louisville locker room after their blowout win over villano a villanova. the former president allegedly exchanged phone numbers with some of the players. there he is with rick pitino. andy sits next to president clinton. he asked him about the ncaa tournament and president clinton rattled team after team going deep into their rosters and if you have big athletic guys can outrun them you can take them

out like indiana. the man knows a little something about everything. >> he was great. very impressive. >> he loves college basketball. loves college basketball. >> we had that a couple of years ago. alabama was playing arkansas the next week. i thought alabama would win. he is like, well, you look. you look with 3d the wide receiver. >> three hours later. >> he is going down the depth chart. >> i swear he goes down the depth chart of both teams. you go with alabama, the linebacker squad. i'm sitting there going -- >> you think you're just breaking the ice with a little small talk. >> next thing you know -- >> i coached that guy there. >> talk about your third string quarterback or cornerback. >> it's amazing. a good buzzer beater yesterday at the big ten tournament. university of illinois taking on minnesota. tied in the final seconds. brandon paul has the ball. gus johnson has the call. >> paul crosses over! 15 footer! ah!

at the buzzer! >> brandon paul with the game winner for illinois. the fighting illini win and take on the top seed indiana in that tournament today. still ahead on "morning joe," the next generation of camelot. "the new york times" mark leibovich sat down with senator ted kennedy's son ted jr. to talk about his future in politics. >> usually the answer is no but we will see if it's different this time. >> we will talk to mark when we come back. ♪ the darkness of insanity i ask myself ♪ revolutionizing an industry can be a tough act to follow,

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i name a share with my son. a name i shared with my father. although it hasn't been easy at times to live with this name, i've never been more proud of it than i am today. >> that was ted kennedy junior delivering his lately father's eulogy back in 2009. joining us now from washington chief national correspondent for "the new york times" magazine mark leleibovich. his piece in the upcoming magazine looks at why, quote, ted kennedy jr. is ready for the family business. mark, tell us, well, how do you think ted kennedy jr. will make his mark? >> first of all, the question is what is he running for? >> right. >> what is distinctive about this story poem people when decide to go into politics they have a job they have in mind. in this case, obviously, ted kennedy jr. has a unique background.

he chose later in life to say i'm not running for this particular office but i'm running for politics. in the sense was a coming out party for him. it was an interesting process and i think -- the obvious question is what does he have in mind? he doesn't really know. but i think he is someone that clearly is, you know, wants to get into the family business and we will see what he does. >> so what makes him -- why write a piece on him? were you approached or how did this come about? you who i do this happening with him? >> the short answer is i was approached. and that was unusual. i mean, again, it was -- it was strange in that i hadn't been thinking about doing a story like this. i mean, he, obviously, has been on the radar somewhat over the years. he's had a very public battle with cancer. he's been a very active disabilities rights lawyer and he gave this incredibly moving eulogy at his dad's funeral years ago. a lot of people asking where have you been? you're a kennedy. a lot of people are asking what

are you going to do or run for and something he has resisted a long time and now a thought maybe he would join the administration in some capacity or run statewide in connecticut where he lives or possibly massachusetts. it was going through that process publicly which again, was pretty awkward. >> what has changed? what is the pivot point here? it's clear they reached out to you and clear he is making a pivot but what is in his heart and mind and ambitions? what is the transformation that happened and turned the corner for him? >> it's interesting. i did struggle trying to get that out of him and i wanted to know whether this is part of some grand plan and whether hits internal clock had just been ticking and this was time. i think a combination of things. one, he's 51 years old and i think in contrast to the traditional kennedy model which is run and run early, he decided to build a life for himself and raise a family and he seems to have raised a nice family and built a business and done a lot

and also on the sidelines. i think now, especially after his dad passed away, now three or four years ago, he decided that maybe this is the time to pursue the legacy that, you know, either he has had in mind all along but certainly a lot of people in the family had had vm have had in mind for him. >> mark, it's willie. is there anything about politics, anything that he watched up until now, given what happened to his two uncles, given what he saw his own father go through a lot of the time, that turned him off about politics? in other words, was there a reason up until now that he hadn't considered entering politics? >> i think there has to be. i think when you've lived that close to the glory, but also the heart ache and the incredible burdens of growing up in such a thick, you know, political environment it has to give you paw pause especially when you want normalcy and have some kind of life you want your own. i think a struggle all kennedys

go through and i think particularly acute in his case because he share his dad's name and, two, he has had public battles and public, you know, experiences before. but i also think that -- yeah, i mean, he has a very acute sense of, one, what is expected of him or what can be possible in politics but also what can really go wrong and what can really turn a life upside down. >> the article is the reluctant kennedy. mark, thank you very much. >> mark, thank you so much. >> thanks, joe. good to see you. >> you too. >> we will get from the must read from the "the washington post." the complacent budget plan. >> you'll like it. coming up on "morning joe," a once great american city, michigan governor rick snyder will be here to discuss the $14 billion problem facing detroit. also moderator of "meet the

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♪ ♪ the city streets are empty now ♪ >> welcome back to "morning joe." the sun is yet to come up but you need to wake up. john heilemann and reverend al sharpton are with us and joining the table is david remnick. of "the new yorker." we will talk russia and putin in a bit. did you see the front page of

"the boston globe"? elizabeth warren's office on capitol hill, she's in a double-wide. >> a trailer? >> uh-huh. >> i don't think it's getting in the way of her doing her job but she can't have meetings in there. she has to go underground to some basement area. she's in a trailer. they put her in a trailer. >> it happens. >> why in a trailer? >> that's fine. it will all work out. >> why is that? >> well, there is a seniority. certain people have to leave. >> you look at the inside. this looks like the same bus that the president threw her under when he was going to name the person to lead up for the agency on consumer protection. >> is there a hundred senators all the time. that doesn't change, right? there's three buildings. enough for a hundred. >> this happens, though. >> it does happen. >> you get temporary space. >> did you get a double-wide? >> no. >> say no more.

>> you have to be very careful. so you went to russia and we want to you take about in a second. barnicle and i were talking about the great book you edited that i had taken out a couple of days knowing baseball season was on its way and i read some of the pieces. john updike's incredible piece in the "the new yorker" about baseball. >> he went to see ted williams play his last game of the ever and a rainy enof the season game. john had never written a sports piece before and he proceeded to write the best sports piece ever. hub fans bid kid ado. it's stunning to read. >> how many piece in the book? >> 15, 20. >> how many about robert angel? >> not enough. >> that's why i'm buying the book. >> everybody got one. roger angel who comes in every day and still writes for us a lot online and sometimes in the print magazine who is 92 years old and has got it all going on. he is the best baseball writer ever. it's just that john updike wrote

the best baseball piece ever quite possibly. >> wow. let's get to the news here. no topic off the table during president obama's meetings yesterday with senate republicans and house democrats. the talks reportedly covered everything from gun violence and immigration and trade policy and climate change and discussed the keystone pipeline and job creation and federal regulations. even the middle east peace process. but like usual, the biggest issues involved entitlements and taxes and whether the two sides could find enough common ground to reach some sort of grand bargain on the budget. a number of top republicans said they liked what they heard, particularly on the president's willingness to address entitlement reform. at the same time, one republican acknowledged the president's central point that unless they give him cover on revenue, he's not going to have much left convincing his own party tackling programs like medicare. >> that is where we are, david, right now.

the president understandably needs cover before he goes to house democrats and say i'm going to do this with cpi and adjust medicare benefits down the road. republicans the same way. saying this is the position i'd be in right now. don't even talk to me about more tax revenue unless i know they are going to get serious about entitlement reform because i have to go back to my district and explain why we cut defense spending and taxes are going up. but this sounds like they are least -- >> it's amazing a news story that people get together and talk. it's amazing it's a news story that the president has senators into the office to talk. that's sad place to be after 4 1/2 years. that's too bad. >> it is. reverend, could you explain? because a lot of people online that will say you know it's not a club and they shouldn't get together and talk and you shouldn't criticize democrats for not talking, et cetera. could you explain the importance of personal relationships in politics?

and, you know, you've brineled the gap with quite a few people. even newt on education reform and you're hearing to you to me right now. could you plain the importance of what the president is doing right now? i criticized him for 4 1/2 years but commend him for what he is doing. >> i think it's very important. at some point leadership is determined when it's for longer personal and where you wanted to achieve goals even if you have to work with people that you had an adversarial relationship with. the president not only did this, he went over to the senate and met with them. he had them come to lunch. he went out of the white house to dinner and met with senators. and i think these are good gestures. but, again, i think that everyone has to see where it goes. i think clearly we want to see results, but when you have senator warren in a trailer and donald trump who wants to pay for white house tours, tell him to pay for senator warren to have an office. >> by the way, do not --

>> that is something you and i can work out. >> yes. >> do not make that offer to donald trump because he'll do it. >> you guys should ask him together to sponsor an office for elizabeth warren so he she can take care of all of his friends on wall street. >> donald will do that for me. >> donald watches. i guarantee you he will do it. >> i'm going to ask him to. he'll do it. >> you guys have written books on president obama and you've studied him. i've explained this before, why i think the president -- this president especially -- deserves praise for what he is doing. because it's so out of his comfort zone. this is a president who does believe and other presidents have believed it before that it's beneath the dignity of the president to have to march to capitol hill to get them to do their job. that's his viewpoint. but he has done it. i think it's a pretty important gesture and i do think that, especially in the senate, this is going to have an impact on republicans. >> i think it's not just -- >> talk about him. >> i think it's not just outside

his comfort zone. i think the lesson he could point to over the course of four years was it is outside his comfort zone. he doesn't like to do this. on top of that, he had a lot of evidence to work with that this was all going to be pointless and so he would point to these things and say, you know, it doesn't matter how charming i am. there are these differences on substance and on policy. i could have these guys up for dinner and walk up there. still not matter because in the end, the policy differences are what they are. even now he is still saying that as we saw when he did his interview with stephanopoulos. he is still pointing to the fundamental thing which is will they give on revenue and if they do we can give on entitlements but he overcame all of that both the personal temperament issue and analytical opposition to doing this and still just said, fine. you want me to do this? i will go and do this and make every effort at this moment because i want to show that i'm not going to let these be the phony criticisms. i'm going to go and do this

thing and do it in good faith and make an effort. if we can't get there, i think he thinks it will prove the point that the policy is really what the -- is. >> heilman just made me nervous. >> why? >> he just said fine! >> no! i love that. >> i would have said, stop it, i would have said something else and say i'm going to do it. talk about the president that you studied so well. >> we shouldn't overestimate the level that character plays into personal relations play in politics but it's important and one of the early formative in obama's life when he is encounters the politics in the mess of south side of chicago and tries to get the community together with the leader of the housing authority and he experienced the biggest shouting mess the kind of thing that reverend sharpton has been involved in and seen in his life a thousand times. he didn't like it. he really roy coilecoiled that.

he saw it as pointless. his personality he has a real wrer's personality. you saw this on the campaign. he likes to be -- have alone time and all that stuff. he can't quite fathom why paul ryan thinks the way he does. whereas, bill clinton loves that stuff. it doesn't mean that bill clinton is necessarily the end of the day a more effective president but the personality types are different. and i think obama is, by necessity, forcing himself to do this. he doesn't like it. i think john is 100% right. >> i'm glad you brought up bill clinton because people assume he naturally got this when he got to the white house. he didn't. when we got there in '94, i always laughed and said it's so funny that bill clinton grew up talking about a generation gap. bill clinton looks at us, the guys that came -- the sons

reagan. the people that were 18 when reagan was elected and shaped our lives and he looks at us like we are from another planet. >> if you read his second book it's about transcending all difference. really the vanity and the pride of barack obama is that somehow he was post-vietnam generation post partisan and post, post, post. and that is is not the reality of politics and not the reality of life. i think he is engaging this head-on by necessity. he needs to win, he needs a -- we all do. >> i was going to say bill clinton learned after he lost in '94 and after couple of rough years in '96 he got some sninth done. a light switch went off and he stopped looking at us like we were from a another planet. it took them a couple of years

to get to where the president is. >> doesn't some of this softens in the rearview mirror? we have a notion of how great tip o'neill and ronald reagan got along and newt gingrich and bill clinton could talk even as one impeaching the other. >> right. >> i wonder. i wonder. it seems to me in the present tense when those things were happening the opposition and fights were much more ferocious than we see through history. >> it was ugly but bill clinton, even while the swinging was going on, would pick up the phone and he would call newt gingrich and talk about something completely -- it's f. scott fitzgerald quote of him being able to hold xo completely diametrically ideas in mind. on the day of impeachment he could called newt gingrich up and talk about iraq. as you know, you have done this. >> but i think also you can't underestimate the kind of venom

that a lot of the attacks were on this president and i think that a lot of it was very extreme. >> and remains. >> and remains. i think he reached out. by the way, i have a righteous personality. i just use all capital letters. >> the other thing that has changed and this is the thing that is, you know, the republican party -- joe, you think back. you guys were the fire brands in 1995 and 1987 and 1998. the people who were the crazy revolutionaries of the republican party back then are modera moderate, centrist. the part of the -- bill clinton looked to u.s. guys and thought you were nuts and you were willing to do things that what -- the equivalent contingent on the republican party now not willing to do and it's -- and it's --

>> was he used us. he and newt basically got together and said we can't deal with joe scarborough and matt salmon and all of these crazy people, so they started making deals and they ran us over. and that is what is happening right now. they are going to find 50, 60 republicans that will go along with some of these deals. >> what jon is saying -- >> maybe. >> the radical ring has gone a lot more -- >> that what he tried to do with boehner in 2011. >> i have to push back a little bit and throw it back to you guys. but you talk about sort of we look in the rearview mirror and sort a nice gauziness about it? it's the same thing with us. i mean, you look back at what people said about me, what -- i mean, they had the same thing about guys like me that i'm tag about ted cruz right now. i was never that way, by the way. but we were attacked as savages as beasts and barbarians at the

gate. that was the cover of things. >> it was meant with love, though. >> i know. what we said about bill clinton, man, i always go back to this. the leading voice of the christian right put out a videotaped series suggesting bill clinton murdered people. >> murdered people and ran drugs out of the arkansas and, and, and, it just went on. >> let me just say, whenever people say bill clinton does not understand what barack obama has been going through -- >> it's different today. >> i got to say i was there. >> right. you were a target. >> barack obama does not low the level of vitrio that bill clinton experienced. >> why? >> because that was a fault line. >> because -- >> it was different because one was being attacked on a moral level, drugs and sex. this one, they are not for all but for some and maybe less in

the congress and out in the public the racial undertone that never goes away, that never goes away. >> whoever suggested that bill clinton was never a legitimate country or born in this country? >> there was a legitimacy argument. >> the whole thing was legitimacy. he traveled to the soviet union. he was probably a spy for the soviets. no. listen. >> which george bush adopted and now seen in the rearview mirror as the far more moderate grandfatherly george bush but in the moment, in the campaign he picked up that mean too, i'm afraid to say, about protesting in russia, all of that kind of stuff existed in real-time. now we kind of forget it. >> listen. i'm the last to make out bill clinton to be a victim here. but to say that it was different, to say that the level of vitam of vit.real. you have been the target of

rikeds attacks. when you go to washington this is what happens. it's not new today and not worse today. it has different tones to it. >> i'm not suggesting the level of it. what i'm saying is one had to do with bill clinton's morality. >> some was self-inflicted for sure. >> barack obama has to do with another set. >> which are not to -- >> have nothing to do with it what obama did. >> the bottom line if you go to washington, d.c. and you're president of the united states, none of this can be an execution for you not reaching out to the other side. you can't say they have been too mean to me. talk about george w. bush. a lot of people said george h.w. bush was running drugs out of the central america and dumping them in los angeles to intentionally turn children into crack -- >> my point was never of these things. my point was policy has moved to

the right. to get the deals you're talking about requires a different thing. as it is now in part of the house caucus. >> i disagree with that. >> we are going to david gregory. let me read this from "the washington post." the democrats complacent budget plan assuming steady economic growth the national dead in 2230 will be twice as high as its historical average as percentage of the economy. the senate democratic budget recognizes none of this. partisan and in setone and complacent in substance it scores points against the republicans and re'assures the party's liberal base. in short this document gives voters no reason to -- >> with us from washington is

david growing of "meet the press." that was. "the washington post" saying tough things about the democratic budget but let's commend. i'm commending democrats today and i -- let's commend the democrats for putting out a budget. because this is where we start the conversation and the conversation starts with two budgets that are both dead on arrival. but it's at least a starting point. >> i do think this return to regular order which speaker boehner has talked a lot about makes sense here. we have now seen, what, the last couple of years where republican leaders are really -- john boehner and negotiating directly with president obama is not working so why not let congress do its job and come up with competing visions of america's fiscal future and let them try to hash that out without the white house always being involved. i think it's interesting right now. a couple of points. one, the president is very carefully trying to figure out where he is out front and where he is in the background. whatever can be most constructive.

but i also think "the post" is writing about the democratic budget is really the democratic theory of the case on the economy right now. you know, joe, it's shared by the president, which is over the next ten years, we ought to be more concerned about what we do to restore the economy, to restore economic growth rather than working on short-term deficit reduction. maybe we ought to make some reductions to the debt and chip away at it but be concerned with the longer term picture in the following ten years and focus these ten years doing whatever we can for the economy. that is the theory of the case and that is as diametrically opposed to two visions of what washington ought to be doing about his fiscal policy. >> david remnick, they talk about the unstainable debt. you have becomes who get a sense are saying we are not going to show our hand if the republicans aren't going to show their hands. neither side, i think is so

telling, neither side showed their hands on entitlements. >> i think that is absolutely true. paul ryan presented a budget plan that was as radical as his earlier budget plan and made no sense mathematically at all and slashed away viciously, i think, at all kinds of help for the poor and these are dead on arrival proposals and don't show any cards at all and we are nowhere at the moment. >> where do we go from here, rev? >> i think we have to find mid ground but i think the president is right. i think we have got to do it in a way that we bring in morevenu and don't do it on the backs of the most vulnerable. how we go to there i don't know. i think he made an important gesture going to the hill twice this week. i think he has reached out. i think that, in many ways, the democrats are going to have to adjust to things we don't like but a difference between cutting the fat and cutting the bone.

and i think that what a lot of republicans say as cuts, they are cutting the bone rather than the fat. and i think that is where we going to run into the problem. >> well, you know, you look, mika, at the sequester and you've got, again both sides afraid to go where the money is as far as the long-term debt goes. so they are slashing domestic decisionary spending and some republicans say irresponsibly defense spending instead of going, again, they are going for the 12% of the putting and trying to get all of their cuts there. it is going at the bone. >> david growing, we have had people from both sides here on the show and you ask them in terms of entitlements, where they would actually cut and they don't really say or say they shouldn't. you ask him if they think loopholes should be closed and they say yes, but we won't. i'm just wondering. you've interviewed speaker boehner. you've sat one-on-one in a room

with these people at the height of all these made-up deadlines and crises that they created. where is the hope, after hearing what david remnick just said, that we are nowhere? well, i actually think sometimes when you're exactly there, when you're exactly nowhere is where the break comes, because at the moment, you know, the real question for republicans is whether there is any ratio of spending cut to tax increase they would accept. is there any ratio? if the answer is no you realize they have taken their position all the way against the wall and that there is no movement. for the president on entitlements we know he is willing to make some cuts, but -- joe made this point and others -- does he start to talk about it and campaign for it among liberals to say this is something we need to do that cannot just be on the backs of the poor and the elderly but really think about our fiscal future in a responsible way but we have to be willing to do

this, regardless of what, you know, conservatives are saying they are prepared to do. and then maybe you force conservatives a little bit more. are there some in that caucus who are willing to say, look, this is a good deal on entitlement reform. it's worth moving on and the president really seems committed to it. i think that is where the potential break comes from. >> david remnick, i've talked to house republicans on the hill, very conservative young house republicans on the hill who have said off the record, i'm not going to promise to raise taxes, close loopholes but if the president comes forward and if we have entitlement reform and take care of generational debt then, yeah, i can go home and explain that to my people. >> it strikes me the political conversation on capitol hill is a low level. we talk about defense spending and when this comes up, the conversation is all about american exceptionalism or flag waving or the opposite. instead of discussing what is the united states role in the

world, what is the military for, where and when are we expected to exert force, if at all? we now have 70,000 people dead in syria. has the president of united states -- >> 70,000? >> 70,000 people dead in syria. >> oh, my god. >> and climbing all the time. two years of nothing. now i'm not suggesting for a second we dive in militarily into syria. but what is our military for? what is our role in the world? is the same thing as in 1965 or 1985? these very serious conversations -- or whether retirement age, real structural change. they are never really engaged seriously but they are battering in washington one way or the other. >> david growing, who are your guests on "meet the press" this sunday? >> still to be determined. our guest from rome to talk about the impact of the church

a and pope francis on american politics i think is a big issue for catholics as we move forward. the latest on the budget fight as well. >> david gregory, thanks very much. david remnick, stick around, if you can. the man who is managing the chrysler bankruptcy is helping the city of detroit out of a billion dollar shortfall but is it too late for the once great american city? we will talk to rick snyder and the financial manager kevin orr next on "morning joe." ♪ [ female announcer ] it balances you...

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28 past of the hour. let's bring in now from detroit the republican governor of michigan, governor rick snyder. and along with him, detroit's

new emergency financial manager kevin orr. >> kevin, kevin! what are you doing, kevin? $14 billion! what are you doing? why don't you just try to turn around like the new york mets? it would be so much easier. it's a great challenge. we always talk about detroit. >> we love detroit. >> we love the city and hurt for it. let's start, governor, with you. why do you take the action that you took on detroit? >> well, it's needed. it's fairly straightforward. we had a financial review team come do an analysis and look at what had been going on in the city. i appreciate the efforts of the mayor and the city council to solve the problem but it wasn't enough. we need to get this turned around and we will get it turned around. turning around detroit is critical important. we need better services to citizens and need financial stability and need to grow detroit and a growing detroit will be great for michigan and the entire country and we will get this job done. >> kevin, what is the first step in getting the job done?

>> thank you, joe. the first step is really sort of getting boots on the ground and looking at what needs to be done and developing a priorities list, sort of an inventory what we need to do first. my priority is in conjunction with the mayor who has promised me to be a great partner, try to deliver services to the citizens and examine the obvious issues have to do with debt service and employ and retiree benefits. >> reverend al sharpton here. >> governor, i think no one can defend what the condition of detroit is in, but how do you deal with the fact the customers, as customer calls them, feel disenfranchised? you made a unilateral decision, elected officials, the power has been taken away and undermines people's rights to vote because the only one who voted for kevin is you and this is something that is very disturbing that you have governors undermine the

will of the voters. a referendum last year opposed to this kind of action. did you it any way. >> reverend, if you look at it, that -- the old law went away but we put in a new law that really was responsive to the issues that came up during that process. if you look at it, i'm also the elected official. i was elected by the people of michigan so there is an elected official responsible for this process and i think that is critically important. >> what about if i'm in detroit, reverend charles williams and others are raising, in all due respect, and i voted for city council and the mayor to represent me during this financial crisis, now you bring in someone unelected like in pontiac, we had someone on the show who talked about an emergency manager come and sold the silver dome for $500,000 that had been valued at several million dollars, over 200. i mean, kevin has no one to answer to in the local constituency.

that is undemocratic. >> governor? >> let's put it in perspective. you brought in pontiac and flynn. we have an elected mayor working with the emergency manager. the city councils are still giving input so still a process going on involve those elected officials and i hope to see happen in detroit and i was proud to have mayor bing with us yesterday. he is supportive of this process. it's not about excludeing people it's about team work and how do we solve the problems together and bring more resources and tools to the table because, in detroit, the job hasn't gotten done turning around the city and 50 years in the making. this isn't a recent problem. let's have positive way with solutions and solve the problem and give better services to those citizens. they deserve is it. >> kevin, how do you plan to manage this and navigate it as well as put plans in place in a city hurting as much as detroit?

>> mika, thank you. first of all, what i hope to do is explain to the people the statute i'm employed under and it was enacted after due process. the statute i'm appointed to under is 27 and 1990 and a necessary condition until i've been appointed. everyone agrees there is a financial emergency in the stit and everyone agrees something needs to be done about it. due process rights and rights to vo is a concern we have a country -- the conservativeships and trusteeships are old law. so this is unusual but it is within the bounds of the law. and how do i plan to do it? first of all, i want to explain to the people that i'm here in good faith trying to reach a resolution which is the biggest open secret in the city. everybody is aware of it and knows something needs to be done about it. in 2005 discussion after restructuring back then.

secondly i hope to address the concerns immediately with the delivery of services and public safety. that's a big priority now so the people understand there are things already in the pipeline that are going to enhance the quality of life in detroit. then we will dig down deep and get at the real issues that will provide us a sustainable path for this city to grow as has baltimore, as has pittsburgh, both of whom were considered in deep trouble just a decade ago. >> i was just about to say in terms of other cities that are good examples and also the corporate part of this, how much of that are you going to engage? >> we have great corporate citizens. in fact, in the central business district, as i just drove around last night and this morning there is a tremendous amount of development. dan gilbert has brought families and the tigers are looking to build a new stadium for the red wings. come on down to detroit and take a look for yourself.

it's a beautiful city. what we have to do is focus on shrinking a city that was built for 3 million people which now has a current population of 710 gee graeographically and growin city with services and moving forward. it's been done in other circumstances and been done in washington, d.c. 20 years ago the seventh street corridor was destitute. >> governor snyder, you know, i have nothing but christian love for reverend al sharpton. we are brothers, aren't we? >> you bring up a good point. >> i disagree with the reverend in this respect, governor snyder. you are elected by the people. and you're going to have to face the voters in less than two years. in 2014. when you face the voters in 2014, what can you tell the people of detroit they should be judging you on over the next year and a half? what are your goals over the next couple of years before you have your own referendum and you have to explain to the voters why you did what you did and

what you want them to see when you go to the polls in 2014. >> i appreciate that, joe, because i believe in scorecards and being held accountable for all of our actions and being transparent about it. so it's really a case of better services to citizens. the citizens deserve better. they are not getting services today they deserve and they will know they are getting better services so that's a huge issue right there. long-term finances get that straineden straightened out. we are working under october or so next year time line. this is a clear issue by next november and i'm happy with that because i should be held accountable and we will show results. >> governor rick snyder, thank you very much answ, kevin, condolences, dude. $14 billion! >> we will get it done. >> i'm cheering for you. david remnick, fresh off your trip to russia and most people would have a great story about

vladimir putin. you talk about a different scandal. >> each at the ballet, they are throwing acid in people's eyes. >> it's incredible. we will do that next. also what is going on behind vladimir putin and steven seagal? we will talk about that too. >> what? it's not what you think. it's a phoenix with 4 wheels. it's a hawk with night vision goggles. it's marching to the beat of a different drum. and where beauty meets brains. it's big ideas with smaller footprints. and knowing there's always more in the world to see. it's the all-new lincoln mkz. picasso painted one of his master works at 56.

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a live look at the white house. the sun has come up over washington. time to wake up. david remnick, what is going on with the ballet in russia and acid thrown into people's faces and mysteries continuing? >> it's not the good kind of acid. >> not the kind that you want. >> a couple of months ago the head of the ballet was headed head coach and somebody called out his name at it's apartment building as he was about to go in and flipped glass of acid in his eyes and face. the reason i went to do this, i have been doing russia reporting for 20 odd years. this is is what is happening. rush has is a city of violence. this enters every institution even one as vaunted as the bolshoi ballet.

stalin used to bring world leaders there all the time. the only personal not interested in the bolshoi ballet was president putin. >> why is this guy a target? >> inside that crazy institution, the head of the ballet gets to give out roles and rolls mean money and rolls mean fame. if you don't get those rolls or you dis somebody's girlfriend there is a mob inside the ballet. >> you made a point how long you've been doing this and you've been doing this a long time. >> long time. >> what now, today, what is russia like? i know it's a big question. how has it changed? >> moscow and russia are radically different. it's a semiauthoritarian situation in which the government is also a private industry. oil and gas is an enormously

thing in russia. all of the money flows to friend of power the way it works. moscow today, i used to live there in the late '80s and early '90s. the stores were empty. you couldn't buy an onion or potatoes were hard to come by. now in the same streets where those stores existed is dior, louis vuitton. unbelievable concentrations of wealth. the most billionaires in in any one city in the world? moscow. >> wow. >> the art has become kind of a pendage of wealth. >> speaking of that time that you were there, i remember reading, i think it was 1989, maybe 1990, the new republic talking about how there was cultural, societal and political anarchy across russia. >> i wouldn't call it anarchy now. i think putin's achievement or the opposite how you look at it is the end of the an arctic '90s.

in yeit was a complete collapse and wild capitalism. now power is settling out. it's heading into the hands of the olegarks who is close to power and putin's arrangement with society is this. we will let you see the movies you want to see, read the books you want to read. it's entirely different than when your dad was visiting there. i saw him there as well. it's radically different. it's commercially different but putin is you, the ordinary citiz citizen, stay out of politics. when there were demonstrations on the street putin cracked down on it in the serious way and the heads of opposition are under real fire and real pressure. people going to jail and people being investigated in the very old fashioned way. >> are journalists still being killed? >> absolutely in the provinces. it's very, very tough. but unlike the old system where you send a thousand journalists

there, one gets off and everybody watches and everybody behaves. >> yes. >> and television is the key. television is completely obedient. >> the piece is in the new issue of "the new yorker." david remnick, thank you very much. >> thank you. up next think you can do a better job than your boss? maybe. but our next guest says being in charge isn't what it's all cracked up to be. he joins us with his new book, the end of power. and executive editor for global post charlie senate is here. keep it here on "morning joe." ♪ everyone is creeping up to the money god ♪ i remember the day my doctor said i had diabetes.

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carnegie endowment, "the batten power." moises naim. and also joining us is charlie sennott. i think this is fascinating because you're looking at almost the decay of traditional power brokers. how is that happening? why is it happening? and what is taking its place, if anything? >> and how can we profit from it? >> exactly. >> essentially the story of the book the power is easier to get and much harder to use and faster to lose. it's become more fleeting. >> wow. >> there are many forces behind this p.m.

and here we are actually

these years later -- >> we are looking at power, i think pope benedict xvi found out how difficult it is to wield power with a curio that was intransigent and he didn't want it to change but a church that was shifting and change underneath him and becoming more and more a global church. now we have pope francis who will try to run this like a ceo, you know, he's going to try to have a new kind of power base that will shift its axis to the south and look at that. he's got huge challenges ahead of him. this is a church wracked by scandal and corruption. >> secrecy. >> secrecy. >> you know, where does the global church head is a big question of power i think this week with papal transition. but in the broader sense of power shifts, i mean, i think the arab spring is a dramatic example of that, you know, we --

i just came back from egypt where the revolution is in disarray. it's crumbling. it's failing. they're not doing the hard work of democracy, the hard work to be on the street and make those changes that they fought for in those 18 days in tahir square, we're not seeing the change to d democracy. president morsi is trying to bring the democracy and power is tough to wield. >> we tend to look at disruption and the decentralization as being positive and we don't know where the story ends not just in egypt but to a lesser degree here in america where our political parties are blowing apart. there's a reason why there's not anybody that can say get in this room, let's make a deal, let's take care of long-term debt. you have all of these independent players in washington as well. >> exactly.

and so look around us. we have the sequester, we had the fiscal cliff, we have the difficulty of getting things done, we have the arab spring, we have the pope that has to resign, we had 80% of america's ceo the top four companies that have to re-sign or pushed out before the term is over, look at the military, the big armies with billions of dollars that are denied victory by insurgents that are, you know, with very -- with very primitive weapons and very basic stuff, that kind of deal, so there's a lot to celebrate about this and the decay of power. there are more opportunities, it's good for voters, it's good for citizens, it's good for women, it's good for everyone. but there are -- there are downsides to it and you mentioned some, you know, we're getting governments that are paralyzed. it's hard to get things done at the national level but even more difficult it's hard to get done at the international level. >> i think that's the downside

going to charles' point is i think where you see the pope, if you have a lessening of power, he has grave challenges, but less power to deal with the challenges. so, at one hand all of us are welcoming this breakdown of absolute power in politics and religion and all and another and we want people to come in and solve the problem when we've already taken away the power they have to solve it and it's a big power. >> president obama deals with this every day with the congress. >> every day. >> that is, you know, often seen as obstructionist, i think if you think about the pope in the same way, if he wants change he's dealing with those that don't want to change and a constituency worldwide that wants change and that tension between those is not that dissimilar from washington. >> we need to get both of you guys back. we're up against a hard brake. >> this is fascinating. >> like all brzezinski, she goes

to the back. >> i'm sorry i did. >> dr. brzezinski, the first quote, page 58, this remarkable book, which i'll read this weekend, it is infinitely easier today to kill a million people than to -- dr. brzezinski says that. >> i'm sure out of context. >> underlines the problem. >> the book is "end of power" moises naim, thank you for being here. charlie, you need to come back, too. >> i would love to. >> we'll put it up on our website. >> fascinating insights. ahead ann leary will be here with her new book.nt ble and contusions to the metacarpus. what do you see? um, i see a duck. be more specific. i see the aflac duck. i see the aflac duck out of work and not making any money. i see him moving in with his parents

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coming up next freshman senator ted cruz gives a lecture on the constitution on a colleague who has been in washington for a while i'm thinking. we'll show you senator feinstein's response to that and what it means to the future of gunn legislation when "morning joe" comes right back. my mother made the best toffee in the world. it's delicious. so now we've turned her toffee into a business. my goal was to take an idea and make it happen. i'm janet long and i formed my toffee company through legalzoom.

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as soon as i'm done speaking i'll tell you what the criticism on the left is going to be, number one, he drank too much water. number two, that he didn't offer any new ideas and there's the fallacy of it. we don't need a new idea. there is an idea. the idea is called america, and it still works. good morning. it's 8:00 on the east coast. 5:00 a.m. on the west coast as you take a live look at new york city. back with us on set we have john hallman and reverend al sharpton. >> so, they have, right? marco rubio go out, and do you know what, they'll play the song, you let him in and you get that song and, you know, reverend al's there, they know

his association to the godfather, they're going to play some james brown, right? he walks out, everybody feels better. so, rand paul comes out, and they play metallica. meaty, man, shows i'm going after him! >> enter sand man. >> marco rubio comes out, you ready for this? >> what's he plays? he plays -- >> listen what they play for him. ♪ you're insecure >> like i'm with my kids. >> you're insecure? they play "one direction" for marco rubio. what are they doing here? >> not that you would know but you have a 4-year-old daughter. >> and i have a 9-year-old daughter, show the guy what's going on. >> she's 5, that's important. >> does he choose that music? cpac stuck it right in the side. >> shive. >> with a shive, man.

what are they doing? >> that's what they do in the nba arena for the opposing player. mock him a little bit. >> why are they mocking marco? >> a real conservative thing to do. >> what's that? >> a real conservative thing to do, they invite you and then they mock you. >> i wouldn't know. >> i don't think they know they were -- i mean, it's okay. i'm just going to be -- >> what are they doing? >> i'll just let you talk about cpac because i don't get it. i do not get it. >> cpaac said it's their personality. >> you're insecure, you don't know you're beautiful? how does that represent marco rube yo's personality? if it does, i don't want to know. >> rand paul's speech, though, i got to say. >> how was it? >> the guy is hitting on my notes so far. >> really? >> we'll hear some later but he's talking about, of course, less spending which i've been talking about for years which has really enraged the republican establishment that i've been critical of them, because they spend too much. rand paul is actually talking about that.

he's actually talking like we used to talk as republicans about restraint in foreign affairs. he just struck a lot of chords that i've been talking about for years that people are calling me rhino for talking about. he's actually talking about restraint at home and spending and restraint in foreign policy. and it's about damn time we got somebody that's talking that way. anyway, i mean, you know, i don't know if he goes off into fluoride, and say something that scares me, i say stuff that scare people, too. i liked his message. restraint at home and in policy. >> and his music was? >> mika is pro-fluoride. and her dad is one world government. >> bohemian row and trilateral

tension. >> stop that. >> i know. >> is that not amazing? it's amazing. it's friday morning, everybody. >> reverend al, will you help me out here? >> i troid. fridays is hopeless. >> it's hopeless, yeah. >> that's why they give sundays to preachers so we can try to -- >> that's right. >> -- turn these guys around. >> and you'll be there in the pew. >> he does go to church. >> i know he does. >> i'm trying to get him to go to my church. >> we should go. >> what time is your sermon? >> i'm doing one at 8:00 and one at 11:00. i'll do a special one for joe. he needs special intervention. >> a great guy, a dedicated christian, actually, you know, steve largent was called a human highlight reel when he introduced me because we roomed for a couple months together. and we called me a human mission field. >> a human mission field. >> by myself. >> mission field? >> yeah. which means -- which means, you know, you have a mission field in india, you have a mission

field in, you know, egypt, and i'm my own mission field is what steve largent was trying to say. >> he needed a lot of help, john. >> i'm getting the general gist of it. >> i'm trying to walk you through it. how long are your sermons because southern baptists have to be out by 12:00 to get in line at morrison's. how long do they go? >> well, first of all, at the rate we're going morrison's won't have much food left, but that's another issue that's not political. but they go, 30, 35 minutes. we'll take care ofving. but we talk a lot about the needy and the people that shouldn't be cut off from the spending. i mean, some things you won't agree with. >> so, what you're saying with you use your pulpit to actually advance political causes instead of preaching the gospel of christ. >> no, we preach the gospel of christ. >> i'll be there. >> by telling rich to give to the poor.

sell all you have. >> thank you. >> sell all you have? >> you've heard of the social gospel, right? >> okay. >> i'm a matthew 25 guy. >> i'm all matthew guy. >> i love all matthew, too. look at this. look at this, he's using the bible as a wedge! >> you brought it up. i'm not using the bible on full mission field guy. i'm trying to pick up where steve left off. >> what are you thinking about this weekend, rev? what's the sermon? >> i think clearly we've got to deal with the fact that we do not need to put those that are the most vulnerable in society, to put more weight on them. i don't think that there's anything other to preach about than what the bible talks about and that is that you have to help the least of you. and clearly as we debate these budg budgets, i think it's the administration's duty to raise the moral side of that. i don't think that religion ought to guide society but as a

religious institution we ought to give our side. >> is there an intermission? >> there's a mission, no intermission. >> no place for you to go and smoke anything. >> and start scratching the scabs about 15 minutes in. sorry. let's get to the us in, there are real doubts over whether or not democrats can muster enough support to turn gun legislation into law. bills limiting the sales of high-powered rifles requiring more sophisticated background checks have now narrowly passed a key committee but strictly along party lines. yesterday the debate boiled over when freshman senator ted cruz challenged judiciary chairwoman dianne feinstein on whether her plan is constitutional. >> it seems to me that all of us should begin as our foundational document with the constitution. and the second amendment in the bill of rights provides that the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be

infringed. and the question that i would pose to the senior senator from california is would she deem it consistent with the bill of rights for congress to engage in the same endeavor that we are contemplating doing with the second amendment in the context of the first or fourth amendment. >> let me just make a couple of points in response. one, i'm not a sixth grader. senator, i've been on this committee for 20 years. i was a mayor for nine years. i walked in, i saw people shot. i've looked at bodies that have been shot with these weapons. i've seen the bullets that implode. in sandy hook, youngsters were dismembered. it's fine you want to lecture me on the constitution. i appreciate, just know i've been here for a long time, i passed on a number of bills, i studied the constitution myself, i am reasonably well educated and i thank you for the lecture. it exempts 2,271 weapons, isn't

that enough for the people in the united states? do they need a bazooka? do they need other high-powered weapons that military people use to kill in close combat? i don't think so. >> okay. >> okay! >> i've got a serious question here. >> what? >> john heilemann, this guy, what he is saying, the way he's framing his question, suggests complete, utter ignorance, i'm talking about ted cruz here, and i brought this up before. complete and utter ignorance, and anybody conservative jurists will agree with me, and they do, that we go on this line of attack about violating the second amendment, it suggests complete, utter ignorance of what the second amendment says and what scalia, thomas and the conservative court said in 2008 about what the second amendment is and what it is not.

so, did ted cruz not go to law school? has he ever been to law school? >> i believe he went to harvard law school. >> on the debate team. >> yes. >> i don't know. did they teach ted cruz to read what the supreme court said? especially in the landmark -- the landmark decision -- regarding second amendment rights, over 200 years was written in 2008? >> yes. >> and i'm just wondering, why would he use his seat on the judiciary committee, if he went to harvard, to -- >> and clerked. >> -- put forward a willfully ignorant statement about this bill violating the second amendment? because it does not. and ted cruz knows it does not. so, who is he playing for? is he playing for -- for people who can't read? for illiterates?

i don't understand. i'm not -- you know, there are a lot of people out there that support ted cruz's position that will say, this is not a violation of the second amendment, however, i have real concerns because you take this first step, the next thing you know they're going to be trying to overturn howard, they'll be trying to get my shotguns, they'll be trying to get my hunting rifles. i don't mean to go on and on here. >> no, no, you make a good point. >> but i am so shocked that he would continue to use his seat in the judiciary committee to just mislead millions of americans and put forward a willfully ignorant position on what the constitution says and what it does not say. >> well -- >> so, what is his background? you say he actually went to law school. >> a fine law school. >> harvard. >> harvard law school. the same law school the president of the united states went to. >> they are teaching case law, correct? >> the last i checked they have a relatively robust program in constitutional law at the harvard law school with some very good liberal and

conservative professors there. he also clerked on the supreme court for chief justice william rehnquist. >> one of the great conservative minds in my opinion. >> not as conservative as some of the people you just mentioned like antonin scalia and clarence thomas. if you are talking just about constitutional jurisprudence, ted cruz is staking out a position to the right of clarence thomas and antonin scalia which is a position so far to the right that it's hard to locate as a matter of constitutional truth -- >> hold on a second, though, and i'll let you continue. i got no problem, i want to be very clear to everybody at home, if ted cruz wants to say the second amendment -- i believe the second amendment should protect people's right to have assault weapons or semiase semi-automatics, whatever the

bushmasters are. i believe the second amendment is absolute. >> is absolute. >> and is absolute. >> yeah. >> and contains all these things that justice scalia and justice thomas and justice kennedy and justice alito, the conservative justices, that's fine, and i know people believe that should be contained within heller and the second amendment. it's just not. >> it's bull -- >> when he suggests to dianne feinstein -- >> or lectures. >> -- or lectures her that she is violating the second amendment, that this impin gimpn second amendment rights, it's false. read the damn case law. he keeps doing it and it's driving me crazy because he is supposedly a learned man. >> all of that leads us to the next point, we're not talking about constitutional juries prunce, we're talking about politics, he has on a variety of

issues has decided he'll stake out some turf that is right in the sweet spot of very -- of the most conservative, most populist, most red meat tea party elements of his party and he's decided to do it on a variety of things. he did it on chuck hagel and throughout, he's done it with a tone of disrespect and imprudence that is upsetting a lot of republicans and upsetting a lot of democrats. every time he rears his head since he's been in the senate, and he hasn't been there very long, he's taken this posture to advance some kind of agenda trying to get him in a particular place with the republican party. coming up on "morning joe," ann leary, best-selling author and wife of comedian dennis leary, will be here with her new book "the good house." she joins us up next. and she spent four years on the road with secretary hillary clinton traveling through 40 countries and over 300,000 miles bbc foreign correspondent kim

hatas is here with her new book "the secretary." and joining us is joe connison who himself is no stranger to the clintons. but first, no stranger to us -- >> strange. >> very strange. we've got bill karins checking the forecast. bill? >> good morning, everyone. i know when people get angry with me, i understand, but now people are throwing the groundhog under the about us. everyone is wondering where spring is. do you remember the predictions of the early spring? not coming true. it's very cold across the northern half of the country and the eastern sbooeaboard. this is exceptionally cold air, boston single digits to start your morning and we've got snow out there it's plenty cold enough for snow through the northern half of the country over the next five to seven days. snowing north of minneapolis and it will head down from green bay and milwaukee and even chicago could see a couple snowflakes mixing in. this is a weak clipper storm that will move through the east coast on saturday and it will make for a chilly rain in the

ohio valley and near d.c. on saturday. some areas may be see some wet snowflakes mixing in. so, your friday forecast, the beautiful weather, by the way, is all the way from l.a., san diego, phoenix, right into texas, that's where it almost feels like, you know, late spring. it's very warm there, but we're still very chilly, look at the temperature difference from chicago even to kansas city, then as we go to saturday that cold air wins out. kansas city drops into the 40s. we watch that wintry mix and showers for the mid-atlantic. and even into sunday kind of looks for st. patrick's day to be cloudy and a little bit rainy, the ohio valley and late in the day there to washington, d.c. it doesn't look like we'll see a big huge warm-up as we go through the middle of march, a lot of us will have to wait until mid-april. it's very cold in st. louis this morning. you're watching "morning joe" brewed by starbucks. ♪ i know that i'm in love with you ♪ [ male announcer ] you are a business pro.

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okay. it's time to wake up. look at washington, how pretty is that on this friday morning at 23 past the hour. >> i was there last night with mark. >> exactly. joining us now the bbc state department correspondent kim ghattas. >> did i say that correctly? >> yes. and after traveling hundreds of thousands of miles with then secretary of state hillary clinton kim is out with a new book "the secretary, a journey with hillary clinton from beirut to the power of american power." and joining the table is editor of nationalmemo.com, john conason. >> he knows a little bit about

it himself. >> yes, he does. >> you were complaining about waking up at 4:00. >> i was not complaining. >> but after flying around with hillary clinton, i think you're battle tested and -- >> i'm battle tested in more than one way, remember, i grew up in a war, so goodness me, am i battle tested. >> are you battle tested. >> yes. >> let's talk about -- first of all, let's talk about the secretary's extraordinary work ethic and schedule, lack of sleep, what a journey -- what a journey it was. talk about it. >> it has indeed been an incredible journey both for her and for me traveling along with her and what i try to do in my book "the secretary" is tell her story as america's diplomat in chief over four years, over the course of four years, and by doing so trying to tell the greater story of america today on the global stage. because a lot of people have questions in the u.s. about what their country's role is today in the world. should it retreat from the world. should it get involved in more wars. should there be more

interventions or not. and i wanted to do -- to write that story in an engaging way for a wide audience because these debates aren't just happening in washington, in congress, in the foreign policy establishment, but these are questions that weigh on the minds of americans throughout the country. i want to draw them in and take them with me around the world as we explore issues along the way and have impact on lives here for americans. >> total miles traveled by hillary clinton, 956,733, days traveled, 401, countries traveled, 112. >> my goodness. >> and after all of that, hillary clinton emerged even after benghazi and even after this long discussion about what her role was there, the 69% approval rating, one of the most -- >> it's amazing. >> -- popular people in america, if not the most popular public figure. >> you could say that is one of her major achievements to have restored her own political fortunes as secretary of state, doing her job, campaigning for america around the world, going from defeated presidential

candidate in 2008, to a woman who is mostly loved today in the u.s. although if she goes back into politics, i have no doubt those ratings would fall. >> how would you describe with traveling with her from country to country her style of diplomacy? >> she brings a lot of emotional intelligence to her foreign counter parts who i interviewed with the book as well remarked on the fact were always impressed by how well she was briefed and by her ability to remember details but also by her ability to make human connections with them first because it just helps to make the conversation a little bit easier when you're then going to ask for tough things from your allies or from your rivals, so that's what i heard from a lot of her foreign counterparts. i also heard they were very impressed with the loyalty that she showed to the president. you know, this is a woman who has a global stature, who's been in the white house, who has been a senator, who was defeated by president obama, and then decided to serve him. agreed to serve him. and never in her conversations

with her foreign counterparts did she show that she had her own agenda, did she try to overshadow the president, and they saw this really as a success story, another american success story. there was a lot there that they saw that represented for them what america had to offer. >> joe conason, hillary clinton would have all the really more reasons than most to be a little angry at the president after south carolina, to be disloyal, to sort of throw something -- we've all been around politicians and presidents and vice presidents and the people around. and everybody always seems to sort of subtly throw their own agenda item in there and explain how they're -- the president doesn't understand, let me tell you, we're bringing him along. >> right. >> hillary clinton of all people to be this loyal to the president shows just how disciplined, how remarkably disciplined she is. >> i think john would probably agree with this. i think she developed real respect for barack obama during the 2008 campaign despite all the friction, the tough

campaigning back and forth. i think there was a relationship that developed over time of respect. i think people also underestimate the level of patriotism and service that she and her husband feel and that this is what they care about. this is what they want to do. this is their life. that's what she's about. >> i totally agree. >> i'm interested in the book is, you know, she made women and girls the elevation of women and girls across the world a central focus of her -- >> absolutely. >> -- time as secretary of state and i wonder if you could talk about that a little bit. >> absolutely. you know, i've heard a lot of criticism of hillary clinton's role as secretary of state as well, you know, she didn't push enough for a break hef through iran and with north korea, and those are all fair points. in my book i look at the bigger picture of american power. it's easy to use the old scorecard trying to determine whether america is up or down. but i think it's important to look at the bigger scope of american power today. and the job of american

secretary of state has changed. not only because america is no longer the only superpower, but because it simply requires to have a bigger brief and women issues, women's issues and children's issues are very much part of that. it was something she was very passionate about. she wanted to make it part of her diplomacy and she made it part of the mainstream conversation. every leader she met with around the world, whether in africa or the arab world or in asia, she made that part of the discussion. she took leaders with her sometimes to women's agricultural farms in, you know, outside of cities. they'd never been there. these leaders had never been there. and it became something that was simply, you know, accepted that she would discuss that and people would make that part of the conversation. we'll have to see whether it lasts beyond her time. >> yeah, that's what i'm wondering because with secretary -- i actually think that my concern would be is that it's seen as sort of a side issue when it really is the central issue in terms of raising up a country. >> absolutely. and she -- and that's how she

put it to those leaders. look, this is not just a soft humans rights issue. >> that's right. >> it's not a soft nice to have discussion. >> pet project. >> if you want your country to move forward, you can't leave half the population behind, so this is an economic issue, this is good for you. >> you actually can't lead the path of the population that has what it takes to actually move the country forward, because sometimes i think it's misunderstood, the value -- >> contribute. >> -- a woman brings to the table. >> to the economy, everywhere. i covered saudi arabia and i know that there is a sense here that women are completely marginalized, but actually they own if i'm not mistaken half the country's capital. >> right. >> they are very powerful business women in saudi arabia. >> some would argue better ones. >> wherever she went, she put it on the table. >> i'm just saying. >> john? >> so taking all that on board, she is widely thought of as having been a great secretary of state, the unanimous verdict. >> if you talk to the republicans perhaps -- >> even republicans actually speak very highly of her. i don't think there's that much

criticism of hillary clinton. she left the building, it's not like republicans trashed her and she had a lot of bipartisan respect over the course of her last four years in office. my question, though, is and you pointed out the lack -- the things she didn't accomplish, right? there was not a breakthrough in the middle east, no on iran, et cetera. in terms of tangible accomplishments what is the record, what is the thing that she'll point back to and say this is what i accomplished in my four years as secretary of state? >> i asked her that question in one of my 19 interviews with her, some of your critics say you've been inconsequential, what piece of paper can you point to say this is what i've done? and she said that's a narrow way of looking at the job of american secretary of state. think back to where the u.s. was in 2008 when i came into office with the president. american credibility around the world was tarnished. america's reputation was damaged. diplomacy needed to be reinvigorated. american leadership needed to be reinvigorated and we were facing a financial crisis, so before we got down to doing any kind of

concrete business there was a lot of repairing to be done. now, i know that does not go down well with the republicans perhaps. but when you're sitting on the receiving end of decisions made in washington, it can be grating to be faced with you're with us or against us attitude and there was some repair to be done, some improvement to perceptions of the u.s. now, i'm not saying that the u.s. is suddenly universally loved, it's the fate of a superpower to be loved and resented perhaps in equal measures, but there's certainly a change in the tone that is used in diplomacy and perhaps, more importantly, it has become desirable again to do business with the us. look at pakistan. she did not give up on public diplomacy there. she did not give up on engaging with leaders. there have been many, many bumpy times from the bin laden raid to other incidents. but she kept at it. and i even had the pakistani foreign minister tell me in an interview, you know, we had some very rough times but i credit hillary clinton for trying to continuously find a way forward. this is coming from pakistan.

not saying the relationship is perfect, but at least you have a conversation going. >> all right, the book is "the secretary" kim ghattas, thank you so much. really cool. i can't wait to read it. >> thank you for having me. up next, president obama is set to unveil a new proposal for alternative energy. will it do enough to develop our resources here at home? details on that next on "morning joe." ♪ times like these times times [ construction sounds ] ♪ [ watch ticking ] [ engine revs ] come in. ♪ got the coffee. that was fast. we're outta here. ♪ [ engine revs ] ♪

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kevin, then how do you plan to manage this and navigate it politically as well as in terms of trying to put plans in place in a city that is hurting as much as detroit? >> i hope to address the concerns immediately with the delivery of services and public safety. that's a big priority now, so the people understand there are things already in the pipeline that are going to enhance the quality of life in detroit, and then we're going to dig down deep and get at the real issues that will provide a sustainable path for this city to grow. >> that was kevin oher earlier on "morning joe" explaining his priorities after being named the emergency manager of detroit by governor rick schneider, orr is calling the situation, quote, the olympics of restructuring. "the new york times" reports president obama will propose today spending $2 billion to develop new cleaner fuels to.

to pay for it he'll divert money from federal oil and natural gas leases over the next ten years. the end goal? to eventually replace petroleum products as the main fuel source for the country's vehicles. he'll make the announcement today at the national laboratory near chicago. a new center report accuses jpmorgan ceo jamie dimon of hiding information from regulators regarding the bank's $6.2 billion loss. also known as the london wales scandal. the committee found jpmorgan ignored internal warnings and misled investors and regulators. yesterday in a statement jpmorgan stood by its previous remarks saying its management team did not intentionally cover up the trades. and samsung revealed its new smartphone yesterday -- >> you get very excited. she hopes it takes apple down. she's got this apple thing and i don't really get it. >> i'm interested in trying the samsung. >> i am, too. >> the galaxy s-4 is viewed

address a major competitor to apple's i-phone, it features the smart scroll, this kind of creeps me out to be honest. >> yeah. >> which follows the user's eyes and even stops playing the video when the user looks away. the galaxy s-4 will be available next month. >> i think it will irritate me. we'll see. >> it takes barometric pressure is right where you're standing. >> yeah. >> it will be hard to explain why your browser keeps going to porn sites. coming up next, the author of the novel "the good house" ann leary joins the conversation. >> she's back! >> "morning joe" back in a moment. but we can still help you see your big picture. with the fidelity guided portfolio summary, you choose which accounts to track

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42 past the hour. joining us now you a are to this of the novel "the good house" ann leary back on the show.

great to see you, ann. >> great to have you back. >> thank you for having me back on. >> how have you been? >> i've been great. >> you have been writing and writing and writing. >> you just write. you got a crazy husband so you got to tune that out and you go into your room and close the door and you write. you've written another one "the good house." tell us about it. >> it is set on the north shore of boston not unlike marblehead a town i lived in growing up and it's about a woman named hildy goode, she's a real estate broker and it's set today, the market's not doing so great. and her town is changing as all small towns are, you know, with small businesses not doing so well and she has another problem which is that her grown daughters think she has a drinking problem and it's a problem for her because she knows she doesn't and so the book is told from the point of a view from a woman who may or may not be an alcoholic in denial. >> ooh. >> and how many daughters? >> she's got two grown-up daughters.

>> yeah. so she's of a certain age. and she's a really yankee. she's a real new englander and i mean that in a good, you know, in the best sense of the word. >> so, i want to know you said the setting of the book is not unlike where you grew up. >> right. >> what else is not unlike you? >> oh, everything. you know, the main character hildy i don't think many character would think she's like me. she's a towny. i moved a lot. we moved to marblehead when i was 14 and i grew up mostly in the midwest, so i do kind of love the new england setting and that's why i chose to set this, you know, where i did because i was so kind of enamored of it when we moved to marblehead when i was, you know, a teenager. and i was quite aware of the difference of the new englander personality which is quite unique, i think, in america. >> what about the drinking? you've talked about it in the past, your struggles in the past. talk about that. >> yeah, yeah. that is something maybe i do have in common with hildy i have struggled with alcoholism and i'm in recovery now, so i do

have -- that helped me a lot of certain aspect of hildy's character which is that, you know, she finds a solution to the annoying mettlesome other side just drinking home alone. and, you know, sometimes she doesn't remember going to bed at night, you know, so what, that's kind of her attitude. so that's kind of how the book starts out. she is very high functioning. she's quite successful but it's a little secret. >> what was it like to write about this, having lived through some of it and to try and bring it to life in a believable character and was it helpful, hurtful, both? people always ask, is it therapeutic to write about it? i'm not sure about that one but i just wonder what your mindset was like trying to create this character knowing so much about her. >> you know, i found her really easy to write. actually her personality i kind of took from women that i, you know, have known in new england, we've kind of know tough old

birds that we'd all like to be at a certain age. the loneliness of the alcoholic i did understand. my biggest challenge was, the book is told from hildy's point of view so i needed to have the reader -- i was trying to get across, you know, what it's like to be an alcoholic in denial, so while hildy is telling the reader one thing, i had -- my challenge was to have the reader slowly start to wonder if she's not actually being completely honest. she has -- there's actually -- the story of the book is about another scandal in this little town, she's just the narrater. so, her own story is kind of woven in, but, you know, the truth is she's very -- she knows everything about everyone in town as any good real estate broker does, it's her business to know everybody's business. but she might not know everything she should know about herself. and that's kind of what -- >> that's the journey. >> that's the journey, yeah, so it's kind of her relationship with the town. there's a love interest. you know, just come back from a

book tour and a lot of readers have told me they loved -- there's actually a couple 60-somethings in love and they have sex. >> oh, my god. >> how does your own family react to you writing a book like this? how does the family handle this kind of -- >> well, it's not about -- the book isn't a memoir. >> it's not about you. >> so, they've been really excited. the book's done really well and i think they've been really pleased and maybe talking like this, you know, about the book and my own experiences, they -- they -- they're fine, you know. >> they know you. >> yeah, they know me. >> that's great. >> so, yeah, so -- >> this sounds great. the book is "the good house." i can't wait to read it. ann leary, thank you so much. >> thank you so much for having me on. >> we love seeing you again. >> go to eve's. the north shore. definitely go to ivess, he's french, he's fun. [ male announcer ] when it comes to the financial obstacles

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it's been another big week here on "morning joe." the cardinal selected a new pope. the budget battle continued in washington, and the soda wars played out right here on the set. here's the "morning joe" "week in review" -- >> please don't blame what people eat. you've got to look at the whole

thing holistically and that's what willie and i always say holistically. >> you can't stop. look at him. i've got three more. ♪ >> my goal is not to chase a balanced budget just for the sake of balance. >> they're going to get their budget out, so now let's begin the process. this is how washington works. >> at least they are doing a budget. >> i understand that paul's position is sort of their extremist position. >> what is one man's extremist budget is another man's reasonable budget. >> the president's outreach apparently isn't going over well with everyone. >> you've got the president and everybody else trying to move beyond those extremists. >> it's not exactly a warm atmosphere that they've set up for him there. >> i ran against him, so we have different views, but at least we started talking.

♪ >> mike barnicle, bad news for you, it's black smoke, you'll have to wait another day to be selected pope. >> as a protege of john paul ii. >> what church? >> presbyterian. >> you can go now. >> well, we have a new pope. >> we do. it's exciting. a new pope from the americas. this hasn't happened in 1200 years. he seems like a transitional pope. but in the best sense of the word. >> there is one public health cry sills that has grown worse and worse over the years, and that is obesity. >> big, sugary sodas. they came out victorious yesterday. >> coke is not poison. >> before you criticize me for my opinions, give me a better solution. >> portion control size just

using the cup doesn't take away anybody's right. >> let's get the contusional ramifications. >> what are the constitutional implications? >> the constitutional implications are just remarkable. ♪ that you say that you'll stay ♪ >> seriously, i'll have to ask you just hold on just a minute and let willie do the next segment and we'll talk about your dreams later. >> was there something you needed? >> yes. but i can't get it right now. >> oh. >> i feel horrible for the people of my district. don't worry, they deserved it for electing you. >> there you go! >> indicators of lower iqs people who like country music group landy antebellum. ♪ i need you now >> the greatest halftime interview. >> i had to give the greatest

halftime interview to get our team back out. >> do you think it has any impact on the game? >> why are you asking me? >> against? >> sticky fingers. >> what? >> moving like clockwork. >> if a few months i'll hang in there with you. >> have a good time, but if you really are going to drag us into that ditch doing news, we'll do it! >> those are full sugar and so full of fat and they trigger a reward mechanism in the brain that makes not able to stop at one. >> that's why i have them every morning. >> oh, my god, i'm tired. up next, what, if anything, did we learn today? ♪ that you'll stay today is gonna be an important day for us. you ready? we wanna be our brother's keeper. what's number two we wanna do? bring it up to 90 decatherms. how bout ya, joe? let's go ahead and bring it online. attention on site, attention on site. now starting unit nine.

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