we asked you why you were awake. producer john tower answers. >> jim on twitter. had to see if you played the hindenburg footage. what was the worst blowup, hindy or playoff series in 13 years. wait until game four or five. great show, everyone. "morning joe" starts right now. ♪ >> the governor our good friend rick perry. >> not bad! ♪ >> that's a good one.

good morning. it's monday, may 6th. welcome to "morning joe." with us on set, we have got msnbc contributor mike barnicle. msnbc and "time" magazine senior political analyst mark halpern. willie, did you see that rick perry clip? >> no. mika that wasn't "snl." that actually happened. that was real. >> no. >> uh-huh. >> what actor was from that "snl"? >> that was rick perry. >> governor of texas. >> your friend. >> what was he doing on "snl"? >> that wasn't "snl," mika. that was real. >> yes. yeah. >> you should show that on a loop for three hours. >> that and the guy who says go to america to buy guns. why don't we show the nra youth festival as well. we will get to the nra convention a little bit later.

kind of wish it was an "snl" clip, i have to tell you. >> it wasn't. >> that's funny but not that funny. the only thing that kind of makes it's funny is rick perry tends to be funny but it's not. we will start with syria this morning. tensions are mounting there and across the wider region where a new front has opened in that car. israel launched attacks twice in the last three days to an parent attempt to keep weapons. long-range missiles on a research center sent shock waves across the city killing dozen of elite troops not far from the presidential palace. israel would not officially confirm its role in the attacks but syrian state tv blamed israel. israel has faced promises of retaliation it is not clear if syria or hezbollah will make

good on the threats. for its part the u.s. said it was not surprised by the attacks. in an interview with telemundo, president obama defended the raid. >> the israelis justifiably have to guard against the transfer of advanced weaponry to terrorist organizations like hezbollah. we coordinate with the israels, they are close to syria and libya. hezbollah said they would be will to attack as far as tel aviv so the israels have to be concerned:a u.n. human rights investigator said it may have been rebel forces that used chemical weapons in at least one

attack. according to the official they have not seen evidence that the government was behind the use of sarin gas. president obama said chemical weapons in syria would change his calculus. >> the whole thing is circulate i -- escalating. the whole situation is becoming more and more expansive and, unfortunately, the red line that the president of the united states written was apparently written in disappearing ink. >> secretary of state john contrary heads to moscow this week to get russia, a key syrian ally to back off on its support for the regime.

jim miklaszewski joins us. you have senator mccain gnawing at the red line statement and controversy exactly who was using chemical weapons in syria at this point. still, is the concept of arming vetted rebel groups becoming more inevitable? >> well, the administration and pentagon officials actually have said that the u.s. is inching ever closer to providing lethal weapons to the rebels there in syria but nobody is there yet, mika. and i can tell you there are still serious questions about the validity of some of the evidence indicating that syria may have used chemical weapons against some of those syrian rebels and, in fact, civilians. just this past week, the british defense minister was here at the pentagon, kenneth hammond. when asked about the evidence, he said, and it's the first time i've heard anybody in the international community talk about this, the chain of

evidence. that's a legal, sort of a police investigation term because they have no idea where this evidence came from, how long it had been in existence, and who had it. you know, it could have been tampered with and the defense minister was very emphatic in saying that the british people really keenly remember 2003 when the coalition went to war in iraq against weapons of mass destruction that never existed. there is reluctant now to get involved internationally. the french this morning said they would like to pursue a political solution to this problem. without any top cover from other governments, particularly nato nations, it doesn't appear that the u.s. is willing, at least for the time being, to enter this fray militarily.

>> you said the british people want to pause and look at the evidence. they have a question. i think the american people would gre with that sentiment. let's pump the brakes. turning to what israel have alleged to have done in these air strikes we know the united states and israel rarely act with the other knowing. what kind of coordination is there at this point between the united states and israel? >> with israel, it's always tricky situation, walking a thin line between u.s. support for israeli operations whether overt or covert have always been problematic for the u.s. in particular because the doesn't want to get dragged into israel's region fights. but i can tell you that u.s. intelligence apparently, according to officials, did play a role in these back-to-back air strikes. and late yesterday, president assad there in syria called a cabinet meeting, don't know how

many showed up, but they said that all options were on the table. israel officials countered saying they were quite confident that syria would not strike back at israel because their hands are full with the rebels. the israelis have suspended airline traffic and moved two countermissile batteries into the northern regions just in case. >> mick, stick around. a couple of stories to get to and get to politics here at home. in afghanistan, over the weekends, at least seven american service members were killed in attacks across the country. in southern afghanistan on saturday, a roadside bomb killed five u.s. personnel. two others died after an afghan south turned his gun on them and an insider attack. the fifth this year. 19 american personnel have died the last week alone. as the violence rages on. afghan president hamid karzai

said at a news conference that he hoped the cia would continue furnishing him with large stashes of secret cash. a week ago "the new york times" revealed that more than a decade karzai's office had been receiving bags of ghost money totals millions of dollars. karzai said please do not cut this money because we need it and want to continue this assistance and they promised they are not going to cut this money. mike barnicle? >> mick, this is the knowledge of the money being given to karzai by the cia. it's been out there for some time before it was in the "times." what are you hearing in the pentagon? any interagency or strife between people at the pentagon and the cia over the distribution of money? >> absolutely. on my many trips to afghanistan,

senior military officials and some senior political or diplomatic officials have, in fact, complained about that pipeline of cash that goes straight into now karzai says he is spreading the wealth but u.s. military officials and intel officials have told us that over the years, karzai was socking away tens of millions of dollars, allegations, of course, that nobody could prove on paper. the only comfort they took that karzai was funneling a lot of this money out of the country was the fact that much of that money had gone into real estate in dubai and when the market crashed, karzai lost out. that was about the only comst they took in the fact this money, not just through this money from the cia, but also corruption in terms of the kinds of money that support agencies

and the military have been spending, much of that money is funneled indirectly to karzai and the government. >> nbc's jim miklaszewski, thank you for joining us. >> you bet. back to the nra. using words like battle, war, and stand and fight, leaders of nra are focusing in on the 2014 elections using the ongoing debate over gun legislation as backdrop to counter what the spokesman calls a historic attack on the second amendment. this year's annual meeting in houston drew an estimated 70,000 people. there, gun makers showed off their latest products while celebrities, speakers, and politicians framed to struggle to reform the law as an assault on personal freedom. among them, nra ceo wayne lapierre who suggested that the boston bombings underscored the need for more americans to arm themselves. >> frightened citizens sheltered in place with no means to defend

themselves or their families from whatever might come crashing through their door. how many bostonians wish they had a gun two weeks ago? how many other americans now ponder that life or death question? the only way to stop a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun! >> if he wants to talk about frightened citizens, he is the frightened citizen. no one in watertown or boston or cambridge was sitting behind their doors frightened as wayne lapierre points out. he is the frightened citizen. he is frightened of losing what power he has. >> we have known you, mike, for years, as someone who sort of symbolizes boston so i think it's legitimate to ask you the question. how much bostonians wish they

were arm and locked and loaded two weeks ago? >> i assume there were probably some. there is a percentage, sure. but i think most people who i know were perfectly happy to let the police go about their business and get the job done. that's what the police are for. that's what the fbi is for. there was no rush to gun shops. >> mark halpern, when you look at that crowd, clearly, you know, there's different points of view and the folks who showed up at the nra convention are probably really good people. family people. people who love this country. i think that's fair to say. are we missing something completely here or how would you characterize the debate after looking at 70,000 people showing up to listen to wayne lapierre saying he hoped that people in boston had arms so they could protect themselves is in the only way to fight people with guns is to have guns yourself. >> this is not a group that

historically thought showing weakness was a good idea. i listened to a fair number of speakers this weekend and none of them showed any weakness and none of them talked about promise or bringing the country together. a lot of people go to that convention care about hunting and there to look at the latest wares for sell. but some are concerned for the second amendment and a lot of people concerned with their own personal safety and belief that the way our society should be organized is their personal safety involves owning their owner guns and a lot of them. >> but there is also, in -- and you're right. i know a lot of people who along to the nra. gun shopping, no crime in that. the latest in weaponry, no crime in that and rifle ranges no crime in that and huntizing terrific, but there is a deliberate intent to mislead on the part of the nra leadership, to mislead and to incite to riot almost the members of the nra. and by that, i i mean, wayne lapierre and also people like

senator kelly ayotte of new hampshire who voted against the background checks and then returned to new hampshire for a town it meeting and either lied about why she voted against the bill or was truly ignorant of what was in the bill because she claimed one of the reasons she voted against the bill that it would lead to a national begun registry. it is clearly prohibited in the language of the law. >> i don't know what is more scary. willie? >> first of all, we shouldn't talk about people who go to nra conventions as a strange tribe like people from a foreign country. 99.9 of them are you and law asiding citizens that care about their rights and guns and they had children's day which many people in the nra view as a time to teach children gun safety. i don't think they are represented well by wayne lapierre. you've got that big group of people there who care about their rights, who care about their guns. but he's not speaking on behalf of them because when you talk about things like universal

background checks, most of them, most gun owners supported that and he is out saying they are coming for your guns. >> he's inciting a riot. >> so wayne lapierre, i agree, not the best representative but he is not the only person who was there. sarah palin got a standing ovation. take a look. >> this president, flying ingrieving parents on air force one and making them backdrops in his precedent campaign style evidence. as far as leaders who offer resolutions we have leaders who practice the politics of emotion. what keeps me optimistic, keeps us reloading in this fight, what keeps us going in this fight and about this country that i love, i know we love, is the faces that i see here today. you don't give up! the washington establishment

sneers at you and you don't give up. the lame stream media just blaine doesn't get you and you don't give up! you don't retreat! >> there was a part where she brought the tobacco out? >> mike bloomberg and tobacco. do we have that clip? her is a campaign for attention at this point and we are playing into it by showing her. >> well, actually i think -- these were their signature speakers and then you had rick perry's prerecorded target practice. i mean, i'm sorry. i'll just let it speak for itself just like we let kelly ayotte's answer in a whole minute and 42 of tape speak for itself and people can decide. i don't want they want to hear it from me. they might want to hear it from you. definitely want to hear it from willie and barnicle. but, i mean, come on. go online and watch the nra convention and decide where you stand on this because it seems

to me to be a little frightening. i don't -- >> well, you've got a president -- >> i'm sorry. >> a president most of them didn't vote for who is now the most outspoken advocate. this is an organization that always wants to be on offense. does not want to be on defense and feeling pretty good after what happened in the senate. >> she stands up and complains about a president that relies on emotion and the emotion she is trying to emit from the crowd is if you pass background checks on a monday morning, by wednesday, the government will come for your gun. >> i know. i mean, it's just -- but she got

a standing ovation of 70,000 people. i don't know. maybe we have a lot to learn. we have a lot to cover today. south carolina democratic party chair dick weighed into controversy over the weekend he made for the remarks he mae at a dinner. here is what he said about the upcoming gubernatorial election and nicki haley. >> 18 months from now, hopefully, he will have sent ni ni nikki haley back to the country she came from and this country can move forward. >> you don't do that. haley was raised in south carolina and attended clemson university and her parents were immigrants to this country.

he was talking about which county in south carolina she lived in saying, no, she was born in bamburg, south carolina. and lived in lexington. a spokesperson from governor haley's office described dick's comments as one of his consistent comments to play to the lowest. he claimed haley missing in action saying the governor was down in the bunker, ala eva braun, a reference to -- oh, my god, hitler's mistress. let me just say, fair enough, that if a republican did this we would be covering it like crazy so we are covering it because it was wrong and those statements were absolutely wrong. i don't care what he meant. he should just say he regrets it. agreed? anyone disagree in ridiculous. >> he's a good man but a history of making floppy remarks and -- >> and say that. how about just i'm really sorry?

that was the wrong choice of words and i am so sorry. >> i bet he says it does. >> i think he might. >> you're right, role play that and flip the role. >> my lord. >> head of the republican party -- >> we would have led with it. >> we would have led with it. >> i think we have to just be mindful here. i noticed joe's tweet and i thought we have to cover this story. coming up on "morning joe," dr. nancy snyderman will be here to turn the tables on me and asking me some questions on my new boo "obsessed" about america's food addiction. and frank bruni will join us and then vanessa williams. first, bill karins with a check on the forecast. >> may is our big month for severe weather. damaging winds and hail and especially tornadoes. let me show you by month when we

get the most tornadoes in this country and easily may stands out. 257 tornadoes is how many we average during this month. want to guess how many we have had this month? one. we have had one tornado so far in the first five days and it doesn't look like we will have many severe weather outbreaks the next four or five days. the good thing about the snow of last week and the cold air is we haven't been dealing with severe weather and we have a very quiet weather weak. two stalled out storms. by the way, this storm down here, that's the storm that brought us the snow from last week. the storm has only moved from the midwest to just north of atlanta and literally five days. five days from now, it will be exiting up here off the northeast coast. so if you're anywhere in the mid atlanta to the northeast, expect three days this week with kind of cloudy and raw weather with rain on and off. that rain currently plagued the southeast all weekend. it is still raining in tennessee and northern alabama but now the rain is going to shift up through virginia as we go throughout the day today.

your forecast in washington, d.c., dry and rain increase later on thesk and dry one more day. philadelphia up to new york, your wet weather will arrive as we go through tuesday into wednesday. so the bottom line across the country? no bad severe weather. we are totally done with the snow. it looks like just dealing with rain showers as we go throughout this week in the mid-atlantic. you're watching "morning joe," brewed by starbucks. it's monday. a brand new start. your chance to rise and shine. with centurylink as your trusted technology partner, you can do just that. with our visionary cloud infrastructure, global broadband network and custom communications solutions, your business is more reliable - secure - agile. and with responsive, dedicated support, we help you shine every day of the week.

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26 past the hour. time to take a look at the morning papers. "the wall street journal" private colleges across the u.s. are offering financial assistance at record levels in order to keep administration ss capacity. the cost paid an all-time high of 5% last fall and some calling it a tipping point in the battle

over college admissions as families begin to focus on cost and value and how about the debt they leave college with if they decide to go? >> college retreating in tuition? >> how many kids do you have? 85? >> might be a bit late for you. "the boston globe." the garment factory tragedy in bangladesh is getting worse. more than 600 dead. the architect whose firm designed the factory said it was never designed to handle the heavy industrial equipment if there while the wife of one of the factor workers have filed a murder complaint against the building's owner. familiar and friends of the older tsarnaev brother are arriving in boston to lay the older brother to rest but the family is having a problem locating a cemetery willing to take his body. the suspect's uncle says he understands, quote, no one wants to associate their names with such evil events. the "new york post," new

concerns today after reports that a nonprofit group has created the full fully functional plastic firearm from a 3d printer. the weapon called the liberator fires rounds and able to get off six rounds before becoming unusable. the nonprofit group defense distributed said it plans to reduce the 3d blueprints for that weapon after it runs some more tests. chuck schumer of new york is working to oppose legislation to ban undetectable weapons. >> a plan is printed out, a working gun that fires six bullets. >> there we go. undetectable. let's go to politico. with us now is the chief white house correspondent there mike allen with a look at the playbook. a lot reported the last xecoupl

of weeks that immigration reform might be in trouble. how is the gang going to bust through here? >> a big push not to get the 60 votes to pass this but 70, 80, a total would create real momentum and push the house toward doing this. so they are targeting senators who are from agricultural states that would benefit from more legal worker. senators who aren't coming up republicans who have talked about the future of the party. and all this is going to start to come to a head this week. the bill is going to start to be marked up this week on thursday. there is a bunch of amendments offered to it including from marco rubio of florida who will offer amendments to make the bill tougher on the security measures to reduce the discretion of the administration, the homeland security department. something he has seen criticism of. today, opponents will take their best shot. today the heritage foundation is going to announce what it says the cost of the federal

government will be. now, back in 2007, heritage said this would cost the federal government 2.7 trillion in retirement benefits over the long term and put out a higher number this morning at a news conference. republicans are saying it doesn't take into account the advantages of immigration. so this week, we will see both forces put out their cases by the end week. and we will probably see who has the upper hand. >> we will hear from the her staj foundation this morning when they announce how much they believe what they call amnesty will cost the country. mark sanford looked like he might be trailing in the polls in south carolina. new polls that have him in a statistically tie with elizabeth colbert-busch. looks like it will go down to the wire. >> a couple of weeks sanford

down nine and now 47, 46. statistically tie you're talking about. when the tide turned for mark sanford when the weird stories came out about him breaking into his wife's house as part of a custody dispute. mark sanford theory of the case was that the election would turn away from his personal problems and eventually get on to other issues but that hasn't really happened. things like this break out in the news. weird things have happened to him. he was endorsed by larry flynt which was no help to him. one of our reporters was with him this weekend when he was asked about the polygamy laws in south carolina. the tone that you got from his campaign over the weekend and you guys know how much you can tell from the body language of a campaign. he was talking like a loser for the first time. for the first time he was telling us this would be his last campaign. talking about how he had was at

peace with going back to real estate. meanwhile, on the other side, elizabeth colbert-busch very organized. travels with a big ray of handlers unlike sanford will talk about anything and her appearances are very few and far between. >> the poll you're talking about is a public policy poll. april 22nd, elizabeth up nine points and this this morning two weeks later, 46, 47, for sanford. a statistically tie. mike allen, thanks so much. >> have a good weekend. both jim vandehei and i finished that marathon on saturday. we had a big group like eight from washington and, no, alex, we did not do it as a relay. >> 13.1 miles, mike? no trouble with that? >> it was fun and now we are looking for another one. great one through virginia wine country so we are wondering what they serve at the hydration stations there. >> i like that. i my have to join for you that.

>> you have a good weekend. >> week. >> week. we will see you later this week, mike. thanks so much. >> thank you. ahead, the knicks opened the semifinals against the pacers coming off that win over the celtics and looking a little flat. we will have highlights from the nba playoffs next. >> how many assists about carmelo get? i do a lot of research on angie's list before i do any projects on my own. at angie's list, you'll find reviews written by people just like you. i love my contractor, and i am so thankful to angie's list for bringing us together. angie's list -- reviews you can trust.

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time now for sports rounds two of the playoffs. the thunder still without their point guard ruffle westbrook. yesterday hosting the grizzlies in oklahoma city. thunder down three under a minute to play in the fourth quarter. kevin durant takes over. thunder within one on that shot there. still down one. time winding down. durant has one last chance. 11 seconds left, ice cold. hits the jump shot. the thunder win 93-92 -- excuse me, 91. game two on tuesday. knicks and pacers in new york. patrick ewing at the garden for a little inspiration in maybe is not. physical game from the get-go. melo had 27. >> how many assists? >> he had one. second half pacers take over. lance stephenson kid from new york. pacers come into new york and steal game one. 102-95.

lebron james took only home his fourth mvp trophy on sunday and became the youngest player ever to achieve that feat. it was nearly unanimously with james getting 120 out of 121 first place votes. lebron finds himself in elite company joining michael jordan and bill russell and kareem and wilt only players in nba history to win at least four mvp aawards and he has a lot more ahead of him. >> the top five players in the five you just posted? >> was magic on there? no. i don't think wilt in the top five. i'd put magic up there. >> you wouldn't put wilt up there? >> seven foot tall taking on the four feet guys. >> canadiens down three in the third period. frustrating boiling over. white chops zac smith's leg and it is on.

the gloves come off and all ten players on the ice getting involved and it's a big one. teams combined for 236 penalty minutes. nine players given game misconduct and so many penalized. take a look at the benches. just ain't anybody left! they are all gone. senators won the game 6-1 and up 2-1 in the series. hit the track for nascar. sprint cup series at talladega. six laps to go. dominos start to fall here. kurt busch's car flips and lands on newman's hood. luckily, nobody injured and everybody walks away from this one but the crash opened the door to david who took home the checkered flag. >> who would have thought? coming up next, frank bruni explains about the trials of

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[ male announcer ] see what's happening behind the scenes at ducktherapy.com. 42 past the hour. here with us now from "the new york times" frank bruni who came out with a piece yesterday entitled sex i-and the single murdere murderess. you focus on amanda knox and her escapades and difference how men in the media and women in the media are treated after these stories. i thought you raised a great piece in your point. what if antonio weiner took to twitter and a difference in the article she tweeted would she be able to entertain the idea of a political comeback and would the spouse standing dutifully by her

side be seen as a brave and magnanimous stallworth the way some are viewed in one quarters or dismissed by us as a pushover in uma will probably do well because of her. >> it will be because of her. >> in large measure. >> everywhere i've heard this woman is incredible. had a southern government named marsha sanford entangled with a latin lover when hiking in appalachian trail would she be able for an open congressional seat? men get passes. women get reputations and real blasting humiliation travels only one way. what a great point. what struck you? was watching the coverage of this trial what struck you? >> i was watching amanda knox's

book came out and she her kind of first big tv interview. in the beginning of that interview sex came up more than half a dozen times. it's a remainor the way she became famous wasn't just because of the details of the murder. it was this image of this sex crazed american woman abroad and insinuation in the coverage she went wrong because she went sexually guy. a guy who has sexual points is a not a tramp but a woman is. >> si'm sure you would feel uncomfortable if i went into detail about extremely popular politicians and former presidents and how it just doesn't matter it people. >> no doubt there is a double standard but there is also no doubt that as a culture, i mean, we are sex obsessed. we are a sex obsessed culture. >> but it hurts women.

>> no doubt. >> it builds men. >> that notion bills will be boys. we had so many male politicians go through sex scandals and recover from them and have careers after them. i think that is because a part of is like that is the way men are. >> yeah. >> a guy thing. >> when we have our first woman politician sex scandal, are we going to say women are women? i think we will be much more judgmental and happen because the number of women are rising in politics but i don't think our reaction will be anything like the reaction was. now bill clinton is revered and newt gingrich made a comeback and mark sanford is up in the polls and marsha sanford would not be. >> we are obsessed with sex but not what this is about, actually. want to stay and cover the book? >> yes. >> frank bruni, stay with us. >> coming up on "morning joe,"

vanessa williams will join us. she joins the set talking about her new play. >> we will turn the tables and ask mika about her new book "obsessed where did the inspiration come from" and what did she want from me and barnicle? >> now stop that. it's monday, a brand new start. with centurylink visionary cloud infrastructure, and custom communications solutions, your business is more reliable, secure, and agile.

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reasonable care to "morning joe." this is a big day. the beginning of obsessed week. mika's new book officially releases tomorrow but we are going to start talking about it right now. "obsessiojecsessed america's f x addiction and my own." >> joe is going to be here tomorrow. he promises no munchkins. >> there is a serious message underlying this and it starts with your own story. why did you write this? >> well, i've been wanting to tell this part of my story which is my last big secret for a number of years now and it hasn't felt like the right time but every time we talk about obesity and food on the show i know people completely misunderstand the angle that i'm coming from which is why i wanted to tell it. it was inspired by a conversation i had with a close

friend with a very uncomfortable situation. she was extremely heavy and i was not. we both revealed with one another after a confrontation the problems we have with food and realized they were exactly the same. from that, we challenged each other. >> what were they? what were the problems? >> we both found ourselves going back to the same foods that we started eating when we were teens, junk food and cookies and ice cream and mcdonald's. anything that was extremely bad for you, we would eat. i would eat in large, large, large amounts and usually alone. and i felt like i was addicted. i always felt like there was something else driving this. there is science now that is beginning to prove and becoming more and more accepted that these foods, sugar, salt, and fat, are put into foods in a way that promotes a reward response in the brain and promotes an

addictive like reaction to it. i believe it's coming and it will be proven. >> what, if anything, can be done? i do the grocery shopping. you go aisle by aisle. >> it's hard to make a healthy meal. >> especially in the cereal aisle and with younger children, all of the count chocula is on the lower shelves and kids grab and 90% sugar. >> that is the thing. that's why we wrote this because our food environment, i believe, has led to these addictive problems with people with eating disorders like me, as well as some people who are morbidly obese or struggle with obesity or are overweight. and the science now is showing that the obesity crisis in america is not because people are undisciplined or because people are slobs or because they don't know how to control themselves like we do. no. that's not it all. you look around and you look at the problem that we have and we have to stop judging people who are struggling with their

weight. you think chris christie is undisciplined? doubt the woman who inspired this book diane smith who you'll meet next hour? no. she is an em i didnmy award jou. >> frank, you're in the book and you won a huge battle with your own weight problem some years ago. >> i used to be about 70 pounds heavier than i am now. you mentioned the grocery store and that is important. a lot of what is going on we are victims of our abundance and there is science that suggests that we are wired in a way going back many, many years to eat when food is around so when food is gone, we're okay. that is what -- animals in a certain sense. we are now in a society where you go to the grocery store and so much cheap food that is packed with stuff, you know, to

kind of keep you coming back to it it. >> it says healthy sometimes. >> we are up against some circumstances, the circumstances. modern life that make it difficult for us to be the weight, fitness we should be. >> i think it's important, mika, for people watching to know that you had this problem. because some people who may be at home fighting this will look at you and say she is beautiful, she is thin, she's on tv. i don't want to hear it from her but you've been there. >> the book is embarrassing and it's really raw and awful some of the things i did to try and stay thin. and my vow, diane, who you'll meet later, she had to lose 75 pounds and i had to gain ten and get some therapy honestly. i know sounds syndicated talk show but it really helped. i need to learn to kind of not try and be owned by this and be almost held hostage by food and trying to be thin. >> what did you have to do?

>> what did i have to do? >> yeah. what did you do to lose weight? >> i studied the science. i tried to understand why i felt the way i did when i smelled certain foods or when you guys would put crystal burgers on the set and i realized if i had a bite of one, i would eat them all. studying the science helped. i worked with a therps. learning a little bit about where it comes from helps. i fell off the wagon a lot writing this book which we have some stores about. the one thing that was most valuable for the book i write about in here instead of fad diets or new things you walk away with advice how to find your set point and how to find a realistic weight you can stay at and know you can look good. mine is 133 pounds and i started writing this book at 118 and everyone told me i looked great

like a model. i'm 133 pounds and i'm now working with trying to explain to myself that that looks really good. and that was my struggle. and diane's struggle who is also in the book and she pens a chapter, is the opposite. is trying to get from where you were to where she is now and she did it and we literally talk about our different journeys and how similar they were in some ways. mine was mental. hers was physical. >> we should mention kirk has reviewed this book and said it would be a great compliment piece to the brilliant journalist journalist journalistic advocacy of salt, sugar and fat. >> i thought people would think i was crazy talking about the addiction part of it i thought, stop it, can you have one bite. what is coming up next, willie? >> we will be joined by mika's coauthors diane smith and also by dr. nancy snyderman. a lot hors on "obsessed."

congratulations, mika. >> thank you. >> the tour starts tomorrow in philly. if you're in the area, come by and see mika. on wednesday, meet her at politics and pros, the book store in washington, d.c. at 4:00. that's on thursday, excuse me. thursday in d.c. tomorrow in philly. frank bruni, great to have you here. >> good timing. >> thank you for having me here. coming up next, brian sullivan joins the conversation. we will be right back. [ man ] on december 17, 1903, the wright brothers became the first in flight. [ goodall ] i think the most amazing thing is how like us these chimpanzees are.

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♪ now i see that the mayor of new york now wants to ban public displays of legal tobacco products! can you imagine? i tell you. don't make me do it! got to use -- no but that is funny, though, it's funny because todd has been looking for this all morning! >> welcome to "morning joe." it's the top of the hour. mike barnicle and mark halpern is still bus and joining the table is cnbc brian sullivan. >> that woman was a candidate for the vice presidency of the united states of america. >> not that long ago.

>> not that long ago. amazing. amazing. >> all right. we start this hour with the gun control debate. using words like battle and war and stand and fight. leaders of the nra are focusing in on the 2014 elections using the gun lefgs as a backdrop to counter what the group's spokesman calls an attack. this weekend's convention had 70,000 people. they framed the struggle to reform the law as an assault on personal freedom. among them, nra ceo wayne lapierre suggested the boston bombings underscored the more for americans to arm themselves. >> frightened citizens sheltered in place with no means to defend themselves or their families from whatever might come crashing through their door.

how many bostonians wish they had a gun two weeks ago? how many other americans now ponder that life or death question? the only way to stop a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun! today the board of directors will name james porter as the nra's new president. over the weekend, he suggested president obama's agenda was motivated by, quote, revenge. governor rick perry, meanwhile, prefaced his remarks with a little prerecorded target practice. >> the governor, our good friend, rick perry! >> not bad! ♪ ♪

>> was it an ar-15? >> it was, yeah. >> deer doesn't have much of a chance against an ar-15. >> didn't look like a particularly good shot but it's hard to tell. >> i'm just going -- joining us now from washington, nbc political reporter casey hunt, she is going to give us some perspective. instead of like just the focus targeted sound bites of sarah palin or rick perry shooting an ar-15 i thought it was an "snl" skit. i really did. you're going to give us some perspective. 70,000 people there. good people, i'm sure, who love their country. casey, i'd like you to start with the focus on women. i'm just looking at what you sent me here.

holsters to carry a gun on your bra strap. lip stick, what were they doing there? >> nra has what has been a pretty obvious push to court women, especially in the wake of newtown. they have brought on a woman to speak for them. sometimes she is a woman that runs a blog called girls guy to guns. when you remember wayne lapierre testified on capitol hill they made sure to call a woman to talk about how important it was to defend your home and really on display at the convention. a giant pickup truck painted pink with the slogan lipstick and lead. the bra holsters you mentioned you can carry a small gun on your person strapped to a bra and handbags designed after coach handbags can pockets on the inside with velcro you can keep your holster there. if you're talking to your car late at night you with have it

at the ready if somebody confronts you. >> those are great gimmicks to sell guns. what about the issue itself? can you perhaps represent what the other side is from this table at least in terms of what happened at the convention this weekend that might be perhaps a great response to the debate we are having in washington and across the country about background checks or any other types of assault weapon control? >> sure. there were a group of moms who were out there protesting the nra convention as well as a group of people who were reading 4,000 names of gun violence victims. on the subject of women, you know, the moms group told me we really don't think that the nra speaks for the interests of women who are really, you know, for folks who are worried most about protecting their children, they said that, you know, the nra doesn't stand for what is really needed which are expanded background checks. that effort overall is really what the president has been talking about when he stands up and says i need the american people to stand up for this.

he is urging groups like the moms groups and groups like mayors against illegal guns mayor bloomberg group to do these events to put pressure on the issue in the same way that the gun lobby has for elect aids. >> stick twus. vice president joe biden wrote an op-ed in the houston chronicle to coincide with the convention. casey, if there is any response you heard there, raise your hand. we will open it to the table as well. he wrote in part this. background checks are key to gun safety. we have an obligation to make sure that the voices of victims not the voice of the nra ring the loudest in this debate. for too long members of congress have been afraid to vote against the wishes of the nra even when the vast majority of their constituents support what the nra opposes. that fear has become such an article of faith that even in the face of evidence to the contrary, a number of senators voted against common sense

measures because they feared a backlash whether senators are rewarded for bucking the nra or punished for following its orders, the message is clear. if you don't support gun safety, your voters won't support you. in the end, i believe we will preas a rule and those who wrote off gun safety legislation last month will come to realize that moment wasn't the end at all. it was the turning point. completely agree. brian sullivan? >> i'll take the other side of this a little bit. >> good. i'm looking for it. >> i have family members that are in the nra, all right? >> okay. >> that side is one thing. but i think we need to understand -- we dug into this in our documentary is that most gun crime, 96% of gun crime is committed by people who did not buy the gun themselves. people sharing guns now.

i think we need to be careful about the discussion about what guns are really being used. if mika goes and buys a shotgun you'll signed your name on a form and very likely you'll commit a crime. you're saying i'm willing to give up my individual sort of secrecy or privacy to get this gun. from the political angle, more of your guys's wheelhouse. i think we need to understand where the gun crime law laid. a gun well taken care of will last a hundred years. 310 million guns in the united states right now. how do we solve that problem? even if we stop making all guns and shut down production, there will still be guns for the next hundred years easy. >> one of the things that occurred over the past two or three months since newtown is the background checks bill that would take care -- cover the loophole for internet gun sales, buying guns over the internet

and cover the loophole for gun shows buying guns at gun shows. i think what happened -- i don't know. i might be mistaken. they were lulled into a sense of perhaps overconfidence, the vice president and that group trying to put the support for this bill together. in retrospect what may have been a better approach would be this coming sunday is mother's day. they should have put together a million mom march on washington for the background check legislation. a lot of the politicians, especially kelly ayotte in new hampshire who were wavering about whether to vote for it or not, she vote against it, i think the pressure brought to bear upon them by a million mom march would have resulted in better result. >> go ahead, halpern. >> i was going to say the problem is that i think is they have become a political issue and they didn't get enough

republicans. some republicans, former military, retired politicians mostly and some current politicians i think could have brought in a coalition and targeted individual senators but they just didn't do that. a march like that, i think, potentially is just more -- depending who you get to come but the president and the vice president i think like on a lot of issues have made it a polarizing issue rather than finding common ground even though the polls would suggest you could get a lot of people to show common ground and coalition rather than making it a clash of two sides. >> before we solve the problem or come close to solving it or even just chip away at solving it with background checks, there's this story that we were talking about earlier from the "new york post." a nonprofit group has created the first fully functional plastic firearm from a 3d print. called the liberator, the weapon, fires standard 380 caliber handgun rounds and after to get off six rounds before

becoming unusable. the nonprofit group defense distributed plans to release the 3d blueprints for the weapon after it runs a few more tests. brian, your documentary which you put together and spent so much time on, it's important on so many levels. you took a look at this angle as well. >> i met cody wilson, who did this. i watched gun magazines being created out of these 3d printers. i watched the technology evolve. when we talk about background checks which is important. most gun owners would support background checks. even the girl who was shot in aurora, colorado and lived. this could eliminate the discussion we are having here because if you can print out a gun in your house, it is

untraceable and undetectable. no serial number on it. >> destroy it easily. >> destroy it, good point. >> why is he doing it? >> he calls himself an anarchist. i don't want to give him too much publicity he wants to create chaos for the state is what he told us. he's a very smart guy, right? wired magazine called him one of the 15 most dangerous people in america. he's a law school student at the university of texas. >> what is the difference between creating a device where you can literally print a handgun and cook up bombs off the internet from instructional manuals? >> i don't know what the difference is, mike. a good question. >> back to the nra meeting. the president and people here talk a lot about the next election and punishing people.

how much talk was there about the midterm elections in houston? it was a pretty good focus to wayne lapierre's speech to the membership. it was basically a call to arms to the members there. the nra is good about many extremely political from the top. the lifetime memberships are on sale at the convention for $600 instead of a thousand it. right in there is a less of their sort of political agenda and how they want their folks to vote. for the president and vice president joe biden is the challenge. they have to try to encourage these grassroots groups to organize on a similar level. >> casey hunt, thank you so much for your coverage. brian, stay with us, if you can. tomorrow on "morning joe," former governor mark sanford will be here ahead of tuesday's special election for south carolina's first district. up next, nbc chief white house correspondent chuck todd joins the conversation and later, emmy aaward recording

star vanessa williams is back on broadway with an exciting new play. first, not so exciting. i'm sorry. that was too easy. >> i thought another person you were talking about. >> no, we were actually going to you. bill karins with a check on the forecast. >> good monday morning to you and everyone else. a wide weather week. the fact we don't have severe weather or tornadoes this week is rare for may and wait until i show you one of the hottest locations of the in the country is today. who needs the umbrella today? definitely from dayton to cincinnati good rains going through southern ohio. that is about it and sneak up 70 and rain on and off today. north carolina and virginia definitely have the umbrella. a lot of our friends out west, the near mountain west and california are dealing with wet weather too. the reason that they were in a strange weather pattern our jems are split one way up in canada and the other in mexico and leaves us in murky stuff in the middle and slow moving storms across the country. everyone out here on the west coast from san diego to l.a. has

rain showers this morning. that's kind of a big deal for them. better for the fires too. remember we have the horrible fires last week. where is the warmest spot on the map? i think mike barnicle could find it. we are looking at 86 today in seattle, washington. your record high is 79. the northwest is like warm, if not hot. we are actually much cooler in areas like l.a. middle of the country, you finally get your reward. remember that snow of last week? gone. we are 74 tomorrow in minneapolis and 71 today and enjoy that in chicago. you've paid your price this spring too. enjoy 72, warm beautiful degrees. washington, d.c. you've had a good run of it. looks like cloud and rain in your forecast starting later today. you're watching "morning joe," brewed by starbucks. ♪ our house in the middle of our streets our house in the middle of our ♪ for seeing your business in a whole new way.

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james, what do you make of the recent defeat of background

checks in congress, despite the fact that 90% of americans support the measure? >> seth, let me start by saying i have nothing against guns and i'm not just saying that because i look like a bullet! you got to have background checks, seth. i mean, i mean, i mean, if this guy can walk out of a gun store without answering some questions, something has gone wrong. i mean, they make me answer five questions at the deli! >> so, james, how do you think it is that the republicans managed to defeat the bill -- they defeated the bill, despite the overwhelming public support? >> i think, after the last election, all republicans had a meeting that went like this. we lost. what are we going to do? why don't we just pretend we won! and it's working! >> that was pretty funny. joining us now from washington,

nbc chief white house correspondent and political director and host of "the daily rundown" chuck todd. i want to get to the special election going on in south carolina in a moment. let's start with syria. still the issue of the president's red line statement coming into play and being blasted by certain members of the senate. having said that, some sort of involvement probably inevitable at this point and dialing back on information about chemical weapons? what are you hearing from the white house? >> that is it. as i said last week, that there was some regret on the red line phrase, the question is the white house, i think, pushing back on this notion that what they said was -- was -- was wrong, instead, what they claim is what they said was misinterpreted and it was overinterpreted, that is if once the red line was crossed it meant air strikes began immediately and what they have been pushing is that's not necessarily the case. but now you've got a much more

complicated scenario and the question is does what israel did and their totally focused on hezbollah and they are focused on this idea of weapons transfer essentially of assad getting weapons to hezbollah which helps them in their fight to israel, what they were able to do does that open the door for the u.s. to do more? or does it actually delay things even further. >> a lot of it may depend on assad's reaction. right now he has rhetorical reaction on israel but does he try to strike back which then, in turn, could draw israel in further? create sort of a side show, if you will, and then leave himself vulnerable to more rebel attacks. it is an understatement to say it's implicated and the u.s. is still in the buying time mode, right? still trying to work with figuring out is this something they do with the british, the

french, cobbled together group of folks that looked a lot like libya and pushing putin to help him stop from helping assad. >> a new york city story yesterday suggested some white house officials thought the president's public words on this issue have not necessarily helped. is the white house now feeling they need to be visible on this? are we going to hear the president talk a lot about it or something they would rather just be out of the story at least in front of the creams? >> i don't think there seems to be a lot of anxiousness to be out in front of the camera. he essentially gets syria questions off the table last week to let some steam out. so i don't think there is anxiousness. again, i detect the same issue that the times reported on yesterday last week, where they are clearly regret something of the words or regretting the interpretation. we can go through, however they want to say, the regret is, whether whether it's the interpretation of what he said

or him using some words that were going to get interpreted a certain way regardless of whether he wanted them interpreted that way or not. they know there is still pressure on them to do something. they have got to keep marching forward on this investigation. on the chemical weapons. but, mark, i'd be surprised if he's out front this week, we hear more from him on syria unless it's dragged out of the white house this week. i think they are more content to be behind the scenes. >> let's move to south carolina. we have a special election this week. mark sanford and elizabeth colbert-busch. we reported that sanford will be on the show tomorrow. have we asked colbert-busch on the show? >> we have and she has not responded yet. >> chuck, two considerable candidates with really interesting stories. >> the results will tell us nothing about american politics. >> do you know what i mean?

it is a race unique. let's not pretend grand sentiment that is stated that you can read these results and learn something about where democrats or republicans are headed. if sanford wins it's a reality check that this district was a lot more republican than people realizes and if he loses, he had one too many carry-on bags for his baggage. i think that -- i think we know how the results should be interpreted after we learn. i still will be surprised if sanford wins. what is interesting to me over the weekend he got really aggressive. any reporter that asked about his ability to win women voters or whether his own family has signed off on, he got aggressive, you know, with one of our reporters. he started walking around town saying, let's go find women who hate me, with another reporter,

huffington post reporter asked about his son. here, talk to my son on his cell phone. you ask him whether he was comfortable or uncomfortable with what kind of father i was. he clearly knows this stuff is hurting him. he is getting more aggressive about it. and maybe it's enough to put him over the finish line. special elections are about passion. does he have the passion? does the base of the republican party want to crawl a broken glass to vote for him tomorrow? that sort is the doubt i have. >> wow. interesting reporting. mark? >> the president is going to do a tour starting in texas. talk about the middle class. how does the message and effort he is going put out connect to moving his legislative agenda forward so som som forward? >> ultimately the lagging agenda

is all focused on this budget and can he get a budget? he can't get anything else done. immigration on a track that can get done but everything else he'd like to do domestically can't get off the ground until they figure out how to get a budget deal started. and that is what they are trying to do right now is just get the conversation restarted again. they are having these dinners but they need a mechanism to actually get some negotiations going to actually start this conversation and that hasn't begun. >> chuck, it's brian from cnbc. there are second acts in american lives. >> third acts and fourth acts, forever. >> here is the question about the economy and the president. i know the jobs numbers are pretty good. 7.5% unemployment still too high. the fed will keep their bond buying program, whatever you want to call it until we get unemployment at 6.56.

do we expect any big push from the president on jobs aside from his push to raise the minimum wage to9? >> no. i think he is going to say one of the things has heartened job creation is the stalemate in washington. i think you're going to see him use that as a way to jump-start the budget talks but this all goes back to the budget conversation and you talk to a lot of folks in the private sector and they say that stalemate has some impact. whether it's sequester, whether it's the fact that they can't get a long-term deal. however you want to interpret it that it does have an impact on the private secretarier in their own planning and own decision making. >> quickly, chuck. i know they do -- >> i feel like i'm on a firing line here. >> i know they do a lot of polling daily in the white house but do they have a real sense of the anger/annoyance that is out there among the public who see the dow shooting through 15,000 briefly last week and, get, there are millions of people in this country who haven't received a pay raise, an hourly

pay raise in years? >> that's why the dow is where it is. >> yeah. >> they seem more in touch with it during the campaign than today. don't miss something the president did over the weekend which is he did something that he rarely does which is sort of gives more of a view of his own personal philosophy and ideol y ideology. he had an interesting defensive government at ohio state yesterday at the commencement. he has used commencements before where you sort of get this more unvarnished view how he sees how government should be in america. whatever you are as a political innocent, it's a good read. >> chuck todd, thanks so much and see you this morning on "the daily rundown." coming up, he won an oscar for his 1971 film "the french connection." that is the tip of the iceberg for the storiyed career of director william freedkin who

joins us with his new memoir. but first, diane smith will join us. pow her personal story intertwiinte intertwines with mine. more "morning joe" when we come back. when you're carrying forda lot of weight, c-max has a nice little trait, you see, c-max helps you load your freight, with its foot-activated lift gate. but that's not all you'll see, cause c-max also beats prius v, with better mpg. say hi to the 47 combined mpg c-max hybrid.

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34 past the hour. here with us now is dr. nancy snyderman and radio talk show host diane smith who all about brated with me on my new book "obsessed america's food addiction and my own." i'll let you run the segment, nancy. >> thanks. this is sort of interesting for me because as someone who normally interviews people have a new friend and old friend and three women who have struggled with food, i usually don't have that. i want to know about your personal relationship. this is a friendship has spanned more than a decade. >> that is actually what sparked this because we kind of realized that even though we had shared everything for 15 years, i had my second child, diane came to the hospital and helped me have her. we even had a baby together. you know, we hadn't talked about

what was happening with our bodies and the issue of diane gaining a lot of weight and mine always being so skinny and looking to easy. >> you guys are really sort of book ends for the problem and i think a part of that is women and food and america's obsession with food and -- >> and the friction between us. >> i've been fat. i weighed 200 pounds at one point. >> you're in the book. >> how much? >> 200 pounds. >> it's an incredible story. to put myself in the middle of this, unfortunately, i was sexually assaulted in college and i think when women are young they resort to food. to me meaning fat meant i would disappear and no one would notice me so i'm now 65 pounds lighter than i was in college but it was a decade long war of struggle dealing with food as fuel and not as a way to nurture myself. you and i have talked a lot about using the word fat.

>> i used it, nancy. >> diane? >> she said to me, we had this confrontation on labor day in twven we were out on a boat, a beautiful day, and we started talking and i said, mika, i never know what to cook when you come over with the family because you have become the food police. you're on the air every day. >> you are. you are a policewoman. >> i said i'm so self-conscious about my weight and i don't know what to cook for you. and she said to me, you really don't know how much i struggle with food? we have known each other all these years and you don't know that? and i looked at her and said, come on, you're a size 2. when you're wearing xxl stretch pants then tell me what it's like to struggle with your weight. and she looked at me and said, you're fat, i'm skinny, but we have the same problems. >> when she said you're fat, did that hurt your feelings? >> at first, it did. it was a little bit of one of these moments but as we talked and she started revealing all of her issues with food, how could i be mad at her some she was clearly in pain. >> your issues were just the

polar opposite. >> yes and they were worse. >> when you say worse, what do you mean? how could it be worse? >> that, i'm sure, people -- because i realized when we embarked on this challenge together, which we will get to which involves this book, i sort of took a real look at not only the science which we address in this book, but where my head was at all of these years. >> anorexia, bulimia? >> uh-huh. >> both? >> uh-huh. >> was it a body image? >> definitely. please people. >> you're a pleaser? >> i was 118 pounds when we had this conversation. whenever i was that weight everybody told me how great it looked. >> the madison avenue aspect of skinny is beautiful? >> i thought she looked too skinny. i thought she looked gaunt. >> barnicle, do you think this is weird having three women obsessed talking about food and body image from a white guy's standpoint? >> no. >> where women see themselves in a society?

>> no. nor do i think it's inappropriate to use the word fat in this culture of ours of it is in the availability of food in our culture. they have these grand openings of supermarkets. i love supermarkets. you go to wiegmans or whole foods. when people come to america from other nations, other than freedom which is the first thing they are amazed by, it's supermarkets and the availability of food and the attractiveness the way food is presented in supermarkets. it's amazing all of us don't weigh 400 pounds. >> mika, you have been the food police and talk about bad today and toxic food. >> i have felt it for 30 years because i am so drawn to these foods and i would eat them alone and i would do terrible things to myself to make sure that they didn't show up on me. and that was not healthy. so while i was telling diane on that day on the boat that since she had gained about a hundred

pounds over the course of my friendship with her, she was not healthy. then we realized i was not healthy. and we both realized that we needed to do something to get healthy together instead of avoid this conversation. >> that became an economic challenge? >> sure. why don't you say it, diane? >> mika got this book deal and called me up two weeks after our conversation on the boat. she said we are going to write a book together. i suggested to her at the end of the first day, you ought to write a book and tell people what she has gone through. she calls me up and says we are going to write a book and use the money we get paid for the book you are going to lose thus to lose weight. get fit, hire a trainer, hire a nutritionist. >> you were at the beginning of that journey and you've lost how

many? >> 75 pounds. our challenge i would lose 75. >> look at her before and after. >> do you see a different person? >> i do. i feel like myself again. at the time that mika made this announcement to me, i could hardly get out of the boat and what she said to me. she said, i can't watch you live like this. >> tears in your eyes. >> she said your weight is going to kill you. >> you guys are so smart and you both have done so much research. i went from both of you the one scientific fact you learned thaw didn't know before, what did you learn? >> i think the most valuable thing in the book for me is i need a lot of therapy, first of all. which i did. but is that every woman has a set point, a natural one that looks great. >> and your body wants you to buy logically to stay there. >> my is well into 130. and i was trying to be 120. i was always hungry and i was always worrying about it and always trying to fit into these dress. i went from a size 2 to a size 6

and now i'm working on saying this looks great. >> your scientific a mom was set point. >> what was yours? >> finding out what mika had been saying for years about processed food. all of the people i talked to, all of the doctors i talked to, including you, nancy, all said, you know, the processed food is a major problem. not just the foot climate where food is available 24/7 and is being pushed at us all the time but what is in our food. because food is really engineered to have a certain amount of salt, sugar, and fat to make it cravable. >> we make the leap that it's addictive. i do. >> what is your reaction as a doctor to in our culture the sigma that is pervasive on smoking? and there is none on overeating. >> a recent study a few weeks ago showed doctors who have fat patients don't treat them as well as patients who are thin. listen. there's a stigma. but i would raise a question as

we sort of go to break and that is can a stigma be a motivation? i'm not so sure that stigma isn't good if used as a carrot. >> that's a good one. >> i think we had that conversation. you have to follow up and say i'm going to help you. >> i think a buddy system makes sense. but stigma like it has been for cigarettes, i think that may be okay. >> whatever works at this point. diane smith, thank you. >> thank you, mika. >> we will see you on the book tour. dr. nancy snyderman, stay with us, if you can. thank you so much. we are kicking off our book tour tomorrow. we will be at the philadelphia library at 7:30 and joe and i will be there. on friday, we are at r.j. julia in madison, connecticut, you and me. go to msnbc.com for a tour of the book.

>> congratulations. >> thanks. >> a lot of heart in this. >> we are both still working on it. >> it's a little vulnerable and you put yourself out there. >> very raw. i will not go on twitter today. i won't do it. coming up, vanessa williams joins the table to discuss her road to broadway, the trip to bountiful. aw, shoot. i missed a payment. discover card. i missed a payment. aw, shoot. shoot! this is bad, isn't it? oh no! we're good! this is your first time missing a payment. and you've got our new card, so we don't charge you a late fee for for that. plus, we won't hike up your apr for paying late either.

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i can't stand people snooping in my dresser drawers. >> all right then. next time, find it yourself. >> pick that recipe up, if you please. >> pick it up yourself. i have no intention of picking it up. >> you pick that up. >> i wouldn't. >> mom. >> come on, y'all are acting like children. heaven sakes, it's 1:30 in the morning. >> you tell her to pick that up. >> i won't. >> you will. this is my house and you will do as you're told. that was clip from "the trip to bountiful" with just nominated for a tony award for best revival of a play, four tony nominations in all. here with us now, the co-star of the show, emmy award-nominated actress, recording star, vanessa

williams. vanessa part of a new campaign to bring awareness to heart risk for women. talk about that in a moment. great to see you. >> thank you. >> you take a snapshot of that picture, cicely tyson, vanessa williams, cuba gooding jr. not a bad cast. >> not a bad cast at all. she is phenomenal it is really her "trip to bountiful" and she is a woman of a certain age who is doing it eight shows a week and extraordinary. >> incredible. for people who don't know about this show it is a horton foote play, goes back, like, 60 years? >> originally done ooze a telefly 1953 for television and then they did a broadway script in the same these they're we are in now, incredible. >> that right? >> henry milliner 1953 and we are back 60 years later in the same exact theater that it was in. and it's a story about a woman who's nearing the last years of her life and she wants to go back to her hometown one more time and she is having a hard

time, you know, leaving a two-bedroom apartment out of the house and escaping. and i'm the daughter-in-law who has to kind of watch for her and it's kind of a pain in my ass. she is always trying to escape and causing us a lot of trouble. >> the storyline is eons old it is played out across generations. >> absolutely. no colors. and everybody has, you know, multigenerational issues in their house. and economic issues. i mean, they had to go from a farm town in texas, in bountiful, texas, and move to houston, because that's where they could afford living. right now, they are working, living off a pension check because looty, the husband, issues with depression, out of work for a while. and these are, you know, issues this deal with everybody. >> vanessa, you are already such an accomplished actress and i have seen you so many times. when you were on stage with someone like sicily, is there a space in your sort of creative being where you're still learning and you're watching and

you're be a sooshing the reactions of someone else >> absolutely that's the great thing about being an actor and also doing it eight shows a week, it's always different, every show is different, the tempo is different. the mood is different. and she is a true comedienne. i want people to know that it's -- it's sentimental and heartfelt but she gets some laughs and she is no joke. she knows exactly,get those laughs. so, watching her in her element and taking sentences that normally wouldn't get a laugh and seeing where the glimmer of i can make this into a laugh and seeing her do it every night? amazing. >> i was thinking about the scope of your career from miss america to film star. >> 30 years. 30 years. >> tv star. saved the best for last, mixed tapes for my girlfriend. >> did you really? >> of course i did. of course i did. >> you're admitting that? >> i made the tape. vanessa -- >> did it work? >> did it work? i married her. >> oh! >> thanks to vanessa williams "saving the best for last." now here you are, on stage with cicely tyson where. does this fit into your career

in terms of what you enjoy doing? >> i grew up in westchester. so i came to see broadway shows every year with my mom as a huge theater advocate. and both my parents are music teachers so the arts were something that were celebrated in my household. but that was one of my tangible goals, i did theater my whole life. and also in -- summer theater, i majored in musical theater in syracuse and i knew in i got a good audition i would be able to make it on the broadway stage. bag recording artist is one of those things so lofty and being on television and film but the broadway stage, i knew, i have a good audition, i work hard, i will be able to get it. so the fact that i'm doing it again, you know, 30-plus years later and living my dream. and also, cicely tyson, you know, between "sounder" and "roots" and jane pittman, those are the characters i watched in my parents' bedroom at night when it was a tv event. you know, only a few networks out there and those were the events that said i want to be

like her. i want to do that role. i want to emulate what she has done and do it with such class. and the fact that i can share the stage with her is extraordinary. >> must be a thrill. we want to ask you, too bring nancy in with this the work you are doing with bayer aspirin. >> fascinating. why heart disease? >> it's funny. it seems like it's all full circle. in the show, we talk about having sinking spells and i'm saying your heart, it is your heart. i teamed one bayer aspirin because of my own heart history. my grandmother died of 28 of a heart attack, my dad's mom. my mom's mom died at 64 of a heart attack. heart health has been absolutely from the very beginning. and we are kicking off a campaign about the handbags and hearts, which is about this little packet. but women carrying aspirin and bayer aspirin in their pocketbooks because we all don't leave the house without our handbag and our purse. and it's heart awareness, also a list in there about symptoms which, of course, you know,

different than men. >> very different. >> nausea. i'm sure you can listen -- >> shortness of breath, sweating, the gut feeling that something is wrong. >> not the usual what men tingle down the one arm and things. so, it's an opportunity to go to -- go online and pledge that you're gonna actually have bayer aspirin and you can actually get the kit if you donate. >> i know we talk about individualizing, every doctor i know takes a baby aspirin every day. >> and please call 911, too. >> you can't say to everyone you should do it because you have to individualize who you are, but that is pretty strong. >> do they make a fanny pack for barnacle? >> i'm sure we can work it out. >> he can wear. >> a bustle. >> vanessa, great work and congratulations on the show. >> thank you so much. >> four tony nominations. >> great seeing you again. >> catch "the trip to bountiful" at the broadway steven sondheim theater, trip to bountiful broadway.com for tickets. important handbag and hearts

program, visit hand bags and hearts.com. thanks, vanessa. up next, sarah palin plays to the crowd at the nra meeting in houston but republicans looking to rebound from last year's elections, does the party need a different messenger? we will be right back. , 1903, the wright brothers became the first in flight. [ goodall ] i think the most amazing thing is how like us these chimpanzees are. [ laughing ] [ woman ] can you hear me? and you hear your voice? oh, it's exciting! [ man ] touchdown confirmed. we're safe on mars. [ cheers and applause ] ♪ hi. [ baby fussing ] ♪ withyou'll find reviewsve time, on home repair to healthcareon. [ baby fussing ] written by people just like you. you want to be sure the money you're about to spend is money well spent. angie's list -- reviews you can trust. trust your instincts to make the call.

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it is over. take a live look at new york city, see everybody hustling and bustling. back with us on set, we have mike barnicle, who is still asleep and mark halperin. we will start this morning with syria. tensions are mounting there and across the wider region where a new front has opened in that country's brutal civil war. israel launched attacks twice in the last three days, in apparent attempts to keep sophisticated weapons made in iran being transferred to hezbollah in lebanon. a massive missile strike near bam mass cuss targeting long-range missiles on a military research center sent shockwaves across the city, killing dozens of elite troops not far from the presidential palace. israel would not officially confirm its role in the attack bus syrian state tv blamed israel. according to nbc's richard engel, many activists welcome the attack, though israel has faced promises of retaliation, it is not clear if syria, iran or hezbollah will make good on those threats. for its part, the u.s. said it was not surprised by the strikes

and his real may have used american intelligence to carry it out. in an interview telemundo, president obama defended the raid. >> the israelis justifiably have to guard against the transfer of advanced weaponry to terrorist organizations like hezbollah. and, you know, we coordinate closely with the israelis, recognizing that, you know, they are very close to syria. they are very close to lebanon. hezbollah has repeatedly said that they would be willing to attack as far as tel aviv. the israelis have to be vigilant and they have to be concerned. and you know, we will continue to coordinate with israel. >> in yet another complication, a u.n. human rights investigator says it may have been rebel forces that used chemical weapons in at least one attack. according to the official, they have not seen evidence that the

government was behind the use of sarin gas. president obama famously said that chemical weapons used in syria would be a red line that would change his calculus on american involvement. senator john mccain is now using those words against him. >> the whole thing is escalating, as you may have noticed. the leader of hezbollah committed to helping bashar assad, the conflict is spilling over into lebanon and jordan. the whole situation is becoming more and more expansive. and unfortunately, the red line that the president of the united states written was apparently written in disappearing ink. >> secretary of state john kerry heads to moscow this week to try to get russia, a key syrian ally, to back off on its support for the assad regime. with us now from the pentagon, nbc news chief pog correspondent, jim miklaszewski. jim, two things. first of all, you have senator john mccain and others gnawing

at the red line statement and yet there's controversy at this point as exactly who was using chemical weapons in syria at this point. still, is the concept of arming vetted rebel groups becoming more inevitable? >> the administration and pentagon officials actually have said that the u.s. is inching ever closer to providing lethal weapons to the rebels there in syria, but nobody is there yet, mika. and i can tell you, there are still serious questions about the validity of some of the evidence indicating that syria may have used chemical weapons against some of those syrian rebels and, in fact, civilians. just this past week, the british defense minister was here at the pentagon, kenneth hammond, and when asked about the evidence, he said, and it's the first time i have heard anybody in the international community talk about this, the chain of evidence. that's legal sort of a police

investigation term. because they have no idea where this evidence came from, how long it had been in existence and who had it. you know, it could have been tampered with. and the defense minister was very emphatic in saying the british people really keenly remember 2003 and the fact that the u.s. and the coalition of the willing went to war in iraq against weapons of mass destruction that never existed some, there's a lot of reluctance right now to get involved internationally. just the french this morning said that they would like to pursue a political solution to this problem. so, without any top cover from other governments, particularly nato nations, it doesn't appear that the u.s. is willing, at least for the time being, to enter this fray militarily, mika. >> mick, it's willie. good see you this morning. >> you bet. >> you said the british people

want to pause and look at the evidence, they've question. i think the american people would agree with that sentiment, let's pump the brakes and see what the evidence of chemical weapons is. turning to what israel is alleged to have done in these air strikes, we know that the united states and his real rarely act without the other knowing. what kind of coordination is there at this point between the united states and his real? >> well, with israel, it's always a tricky situation, walking a thin line between u.s. support for israeli operations -- whether they are overt or covert, has always been problematic for the u.s. in particular, because the u.s. doesn't want to get dragged in -- into israel's regional fights. but i can tell you that u.s. intelligence apparently, according to officials, did play a role in these back-to-back air strikes. and late yet yesterday, president assad there in syria called a cabinet meeting, don't know how many showed up, but

they said that all options were on the table. israeli officials, however, counter, saying they were quite confident that syria would not strike back at israel because their hands are full with the rebels. but very quickly, you know, the israelis have put the northern border on alert. they have suspended commercial airline traffic and they have moved two iron-domed missile batteries, countermissile batteries into the northern regions just in case. >> mick, stick around. we have a couple stories to get to and then we will get to politics here at home. but in afghanistan over the weekend, at least seven american service members were killed in attacks across the country in southern afghanistan on saturday a roadside bomb killed five u.s. personnel two others died after an afghan soldier turned his gun on them, an insider attack, the fifth this year. 19 american personnel have died over the last week alone as the violence rages on, afghan president hamid karzai said at a news conference that he hoped

the cia would continue furnishing him with large stashes of secret cash. a week ago, the "new york times" revealed that for more than a decade, karzai's office had been receiving secret bags of "ghost money" totaling millions of dollars. on saturday, karzai said the money had helped solve problems, adding "because of all these rumors in the media, please do not cut all this money because we really need it. we want to continue this sort of assistance." and the cia station chief in kabul promised that they are not going to cut this money. mike barnicle? >> mick, this is -- the knowledge of the money being given to karzai by the cia, it's been thought for some time. before it was in the "times," you hear it anecdotely. i'm wondering what you're hearing in the pentagonsome there any interdepartmental anger, strife, whatever, the people at the pentagon and the cia over the distribution of money? >> absolutely. on my many trips to afghanistan, senior military officials and

some senior political or diplomatic officials have, in fact, complained about that pipeline of cash that goes straight into -- now karzai says he is spreading the wealth but u.s. military officials and intel officials have told us that over the years, karzai was socking away tens of millions of dollars, al girgss, of course that nobody could prove on paper. but the only comfort they took in the fact that karzai was apparently funneling a lot of this money out of the country was the fact that much of that money had gone into real estate in dubai. when the market crashed, karzai was affected. this talks about corruption, the money the support agencies and the money have been spending, much of that money is funneled indirectly to karzai in the go

>> jim miklaszewski, thank you so much for joining us. >> you bet. now to the nra. using words like battle, war and stand and fight, leaders of the nra are focussing in on the 2014 elections using the ongoing debate over gun legislation as a backdrop to counter what the group's historic attack on the second amendment. this year's annual meeting in houston drew an estimated 70,000 people. there, gunmakers showed off their latest products while celebrity speakers and politicians framed the struggle to reform the law as an assault on personal freedom. among them, nra ceo, wayne lapierre, who suggested the boston bombings underscored the need for more americans to arm themselves. >> frightened citizens shelt nerd place wi-- snerltd place w

means to defend themselves or their families from whatever might come crashing through their door. how many boss tone yans wish they had a gun two weeks ago? the only way to stop a bad guy with a gun is a good guyhad a g? the only way to stop a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun. >> you know if wasn'ts to talk about frightened steps, he is the frightened step. >> yeah. >> no one in watertown or boston or cambridge was sitting behind their doors frightened, as wayne lapierre frightened. he is the frightened citizens. he is fright uned of losing what power he has. >> so, we have nope you, mike, for years as someone who sort of symbol lisz boston, so i think it's legitimate to ask you the question. how many bostonians wish they had a gun two weeks ago, wished they were armed and locked and loaded?

>> some, i'm sure. most i know were happy about the police going about their business gaentd the job done. that's what the police is form the fbi is for. there was no rush to gun shops. >> different points of view you the folks who showed up at the nra convention are probably really good people, family people, people who love this country. i think that's fair to say. are we missing something completely here? how would you characterize debate after looking at 70,000 people showing up to listen to wayne lapierre saying he hoped people in boss-arms so they could protect themselves? because the only way to fight people with gun suss to have guns yourself? >> this is not a group that historically has ever thought showing weakness was a good idea. i listened to fair number of the

speakers this weekend. none of them showed any weakness. none of them talked about compromise, bringing the country together a lot of people go to that convention care about hunting and just are there to look at the latest wares for sale, but there's a fair number of people three who are concerned with the second amendment and a lot of people there concerned with their own personal safety and believe that the way our society should be organized is their personal safety involves owning their own gun puss and a lot of them. >> we shouldn't talk about people who go to nra conventions like some strange tribe. >> i know. >> people from a foreign country. they are -- >> you and me. >> 99.9% of them are us, law-abiding citizens care their rights and their guns, yes, they had children's day, many people in the nra view as a time to teach children gun safety. so i don't think they are represented well by wayne lapierre. you got that big group of people there who care about their right, who care about their guns but he is not speaking on behalf of them. we talk about things like universal background checks,

most of them, most gun owners supported that. >> yeah. >> and he is out saying well they are coming for your guns. >> he is inciting a riot. >> wayne lapierre, i azbrirks not the best representative, he was not the only person who was there. sarah palin got a standing ovation. take a look. >> this parent, flying in grieving parents on air force one, making them backdrops in their perpetual campaign-style press events. instead of leaders offer real slurks we have leaders who practice the politics of emotion. what keeps me optimistic, keeps us olutions, we have leaders wh practice the politics of emotion. what keeps me optimistic, keeps us reloading in this fight what keeps us going this fight and about this country that i love, i know we love, it's the faces that i see here today. you don't give up. the washington establishment

sneers at you and you don't give up. the lamestream media just plain doesn't get you and you don't give up. you don't retreat. >> there was a part where she brought the tobacco out -- >> mike bloomberg and tobacco. do we have that clip? i mean, her -- >> we will get it. >> campaign for attention at this point. and we are playing into it by showing her. >> well, actually, think it's -- these were their signature speakers. then you had rick perry's prerecorded target practice. i mean, i'm sorry. i will just let it speak for itself. just sort of like we let kelly ayotte's answer in a whole minute 42 of tape speak for itself and we can decide. i don't think they want to hear it from me. they might want to hear it from you. definitely want to hear it from willie and barnacle, but come on, take a look, go online, watch the nra convention and decide where you stand on this because it just seems to me to be a little frightening.

i don't -- >> well, you've got a president -- >> i'm sorry. >> who most didn't vote for who is now the most outspoken advocate for new gun control laws we have ever seen. and a lot of people down there have, particularly the leadership, have a paranoid style that takes the emotions, sarah palin talks about emotion. >> paranoia. >> of the moment, and tries to rally its members. they have a lot of new members a lot of new guns being purchased in this country, they want to be -- this san organization always wants to be an offense, does not want to be on defense, feeling pretty good after what happened in the senate. >> all right. go ahead. >> she, as mark pointed out, stands up and complains about a president who relies on emotion, but the emotion she is trying to emit from the crowd is that if you pass background checks on a monday morning, by wednesday, the government will come for your guns. >> i know. i mean, it's just -- but she got a standing ovation, 70,000

people. i don't know. maybe we have a lot to learn. one more story before we get to break, we have a lot to cover today. well known for his sometimes outlandish comments, south carolina democratic party chair dick har footlyian waded into controversy over the weekend for remarks he made at the party's jefferson jackson different. here's what he said about the upcoming gubernatorial election and the state's indian-american republican governor, nikki haley. >> now, i do call him senator or do i call him governor she mean? about 18 months from now, hopefully he will have sent nikki haley back to wherever the hell she came from. and this country can move forward. >> yeah, you don't do that. haley was raised in south carolina, attended clemson university and her parents were sikh immigrants to this country. politico's jonathan marten asked har footlyian asked if the comments could be touching on her race.

har footlyian claimed he was talking about which county in south carolina she lived in, saying "no, she was born in bamburg, south carolina, and lived in lexing tonight. anybody implying anything different is attempting to fain insult." a spokesperson from governor haley's office described har footlyian's comments as one of his consistent attempts to play to the loews common denominator and last year, he accused haley of being missing in action, saying the governor was down in the bunker, a la, eva braun, a reference to -- oh, my god, hitler's mistress. so, let me just say, fair enough that if a republican did this, we'd be covering it like crazy, because we are covering it because it was wrong and those statements were absolutely wrong. i don't care what he meant. he should just say he regrets it agreed. anyone disagree? ridiculous. >> he's good man but has a history of making sloppy remarks. >> that's gaffe at best. >> yeah. >> and say that. how about just i'm really sorry.

that was the wrong choice of words and i am so sorry. >> i bet he says it today. >> yeah. >> i bet he does. >> i think he might. >> you are right, mika, role play that flip the role. >> my lord. >> head of the republican party. >> we would have led with t >> yeah. still ahead on morning joe, one of the best directors in the business, academy award winner william freed kin of "the french connection" and "the exorcist" joins with his new memoir. and up next, she has been credited with rescuing the 2004 olympics for her home country of greece. gianni angie lop poe louse joins us with her new book, "my greek drama." first, here is bill karins with a check of the weather. pretty amazing stuff in the weather world, obviously. ♪ last week we dealt with which was off the charts, this week, no severe weather. here we are going into the second week of may. we haven't had any really significant tornadoes, actually, only had one total, 257 tornados is how many we normally have in the month of may.

we actually just got done with a very quiet april, too. remember, only two years thanking we dealt with those horrible tornadoes and thought maybe that was the new norm. apparently not. here is what we are looking at as we go throughout date today, a pretty quiet day little bit of rain out there as we head out door the you will have to be aware of, especially go in a few spots in the southeast and on the west coast. rain this morning in areas of tennessee once again, up through north carolina and virginia, in southern ohio, southern indiana, bring that umbrella with you. then our friends on the west coast, remember, we have horrible fires at the end of last week? completely different today. it's much cooler. we have rain showers and temperatures in the 60s for those firefighters and those blazes going out in you a hurry. if you are driving i-5 this mortgage, we actually have rain on and off in san diego all the way to l.a., which is pretty rare in itself. so, what ho is going to be the hottest in the entire country today, how rare is this? talk about an upside down world, seattle could be the warmest spot in the entire country at 86 sunny, warm degrees, your record

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greece, an ambassador of the greek stage, gianna angell lop poe louse you can author of the new book "my greek drama, life, love and one woman's olympic effort to bring glory to her country." let me ask you about your country, right off the top. i was going through some of the book. obviously some of the fact sheets we have. nearly 60% of young people in greece are without jobs, i assume, a huge percentage without hope. where are we going here with greece? >> it breaks my heart. but a mike, i wrote this book, "my greek drama" because i wrote a different greece. a greece who had a modern face shown to the world a successful olympics, who else has organized olympics in four years instead ofselfen? greeks who have a can-do attitude. now, everything has changed.

everything has changed. it's their lives upside now. now, if you ask me who to blame, like i have to say, we are in a bad marriage, you know, with the european union and the euro. we are not the only spouse there. it's spain, it's italy, it's portugal, it's cyprus. going goes on, maybe we should pay more attention to our prenup. >> okay, we talk about greece a lot on cnbc. >> yeah. >> should greece leave the european yoorng the monetary currency and go back to the drachma? >> look, i'm not an economist. currency and go back to the drachma? >> look, i'm not an economist. i know we are in a bad marriage with the european union. >> you want a divorce? >> probably we need some marital counseling, you know, for the moment. i don't see a divorce on the

horizon, otherwise, all spouses they will ask settlements for the divorce and i'm talking about other countries in the european union. don't tell me that nobody would foreseen the crisis coming. and please, please, don't blame the greek people. if you have to blame somebody, you have to blame the politicians. >> you there go i have been to greece, i was there reporting for a week during the riots, right after the fire bombing. the olympics are a metaphor for greece right now. when you took over the olympics, they were a mess. too much red tape. too much pure rock crass circumstance nothing getting done. everybody yelling. nobody talking. that's -- >> arrived in my book. this is what i'm writing in the greek drama. >> gianna, how do we fix it in the parliament is a mess. political parties are a mess. 60% unemployment -- >> listen -- >> how do you fix it? >> i want to speak about two greeces are i kno s ars i know. one is the one of today, it

sands me, love my country, i live in this country and i have seen a different country. the country that i know from this time, yes, it was again like a third world country. you know, people they underestimate -- they underestimated us. in a way, they say this greeks, the stereotype, they are losers, they don't perform, they don't deliver. actually in a way we rallied for a common cause. it's like greece came up to support a different role, you know? a different role, a modern country, a can-do country. we cut red tape. we battle with bureaucracy and we delivered on time and under budget. doesn't that surprise you? that happened. that's why i say this is the greece i knew and i want to remind these people they have gone there before p >> reminding people, you have led quite an accomplished life.

it's all here in my greek drama, a member of parliament ran the olympics. i mean, you brought the olympics back in greece, sort of way mitt romney brought the olympics back -- >> yeah, but that was the winter olympics. if you ask mitt romney, you ask, he delivered. >> so the seeds of democracy obviously are rooted in greece and your role in greece through all those years, when greece was a prominent, functioning government, what has happened in the interim in the last four or five years? can you put your finger on anything in your lifetime, last four or five years, happened to alter the course of greek history? >> you know, greeks, as i told you, they have a history of not delivering, of not performing. greeks -- >> but they do here in america. >> yeah. but that's paradox. it's a gap, and i speak about that in "my greek drama" the greek paradox is that greeks within greece don't perform and

greeks outside of greece, they flourish. they are prominent in so many fields. you cannot see in show business, a -- >> media, tv news, a guy on another network with a greek name. >> academics, you know? we are proud of them. what holds greeks back? now, during the preparation of the olympics, i am a witness. i watched that. and in a way, a humbler way, i believed that i helped people in a way rise and perform differently. because they had an inspiration. you know, what holds us back but leadership? i insist on that. they don't lead people. they don't lead by example. they don't sacrifice. they don't have a tough truth to people. they don't ask their best from them to deliver. why perform so well between 2000 and 2004? you know why greeks they did it? you know why? because it was not just the

olympics. in a way, they were preparing for their life after the olympics. but then, we changed the way we do business in greece. we did it in a modern way. then we pass the baton to the politician and they dropped it. that's why greece pays this price now. >> the book requestst "my greek drama" and clearly plenty of it. gianna angelopolous, thank you very much. >> thank you. up next is america obsessed with food? mika sits down with our friends at the today show to talk about it. "morning joe" is back in a morning.

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well, if you have been paying attention this morning, we have been talking about america's food addiction, the topic, mika's new book "obsessed", a couple minutes ago, she went across the street to 30 rock to talk with savannah guthrie on nbc on today. >> you said this is a book you were afraid to write, you reveal something very personal about your own struggle with food over the years. >> something i think we don't talk about on the show and as a result, i get called the food police and i have been wanting to tell this story for a long

time. >> you write in the book, writ rite out there the beginning, how does a person who is not overweight write about her life long obsession with overeating without sounding like a narcissistic, woe is me skinny girl? >> that's fair response and i address it in the book and i think if you read the book, you will see that there's not a lot of difference between me and someone else who strug reallies with food who may have a very different result. >> well, tell us a little bit about what this struggle has looked like for you. you have said that you were held hostage by food. what does that mean? >> it looks like an addiction it looks like alcoholism. it looks like truck addiction. and i actually go there in the book and i look at the growing amount of science behind the addiction to salt, sugar and fat. have you heard those words before lately? there has been a lot of science and some books that have come out recently that are starting to show that there may be an actual process is to becoming obese that has nothing to do with a lack of discipline, nothing to do with being a slob, nothing to do with the judgments that we put on people who are

obese and they have everything to do with being addicted to certain foods that are surrounded. we are surrounded with. >> and this went on for decades for you. i mean, you talked about having a cycle of bin onlying and purging, even exercise bulimia? >> everything. and you know, still kind of struggled, writing this book is -- i fell off the wagon a few times. so, yeah, no pretty extreme behavior. >> what does ma mean, falling off the wagon? >> well, i would -- the nutella story that happened while i was writing the book and it -- actually, i write in the book about how i think ambien is a truth sear rum, i used to take a little bit to try get up early and do the show. i can't anymore, because one day i woke up in the middle of the night and went downstairs and literally ate one of those large jars of nutella, starting with a spoon, ending up with it all over my arms. and my husband was standing right there going what is going on? but it was that kind of demon coming out in the middle of the night. it was disgusting. >> these rush us that you have cared about for a long, long

time. and know you think we have more of an insight as to why. there came a time when you approached one of your best girlfriend, diane to talk about her issues with weight. >> right. >> and that led to this book. can you explain? >> we had known each other 15 years, we had shared everything, talked about our relationships, our johns, we even had a baby together because she helped me deliver by second child because my husband was out of town. we had shared everything, and yet diane, over the course of our relationship, had gamed 100 pounds and we never talked about it. so we had this incredible conversation write went there and i said, you know, i'm scared for you. you're fat. i even used the word obese, where she looked completely shocked. but she then heard my story and the things that i did to myself to be this thin or to be much thinner, because we ended up challenging each other. she said you ought to write a book on this. and i said you need to join me. you need to lose 75 pounds by the time this book is written and i'm going to figure out how

to gain ten and be okay with it. so she is, today, 75 pounds lighter. i'm ten pounds heavier, sort of okay with it, still working on t and went from a size 2 to a size 6. we are both healthier. >> i was going to say you both look fabulous. the results speak for themselves. >> yes. yes. but it was an interesting issue because we discovered that even her at her weight and me at mine, we did the same things with food. we were drawn to the same things and we got that same brain reaction that science backs up as a natural reward when you are eating certain foods, which points to addiction. >> mika will be knocking off her book tour for "obsessed" tomorrow, at the philadelphia free library starting tomorrow at 7:30 p.m. thursday, join her at the politics and prose book store at 4:00 in the afternoon. up next, business head lines with, guess who, brian sullivan. and he is right here. beautiful.

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contest time, kids, beautiful shot of lower manhattan. contest time, brian sullivan, here with today's business two minutes to do it, starting right now. go ahead. >> two minutes version generous there listen we got talk about the stock market, you reference it had earlier. >> i did. >> stock market at record highs, corporate profits, by the way, record highs, a lot those do with maybe cutting. we need corporations to perhaps invest more in human capital, hire more workers, i know it's going to hurt earnings. >> give them a raise. >> give them a raise. and investors need to start rewarding corporations that do that rather than cut, cut, cut. that aside, looks like we could have another record high today. futures, as you just saw, up a little bit, not a lot. guess what, this weekend was the

big berkshire hathaway shareholder meeting, warren buffett, greatest investors of all time, his annual conference draws thousands, including cnbc. buffett spent all morning on cnbc talking about whatever we wanted to ask him about and he did reference the economy, said he is still positive on stocks. he said the economy is getting better, not soaring, barnicle, but berkshire hathaway owns geico, insurance companies, retail stores, see's candy it is. across everything. sees things getting better, 82% of buffett's earnings comes from the united states, bullish on the united states, watch oil. new survey says $100 oil may be around the corner. >> warren buffett is the second greatest investor of all time, i'm first. i invented in tupperware before it was even created. >> you and dustin hoffman from "mrs. robinson." blastic. >> a lot of avon, too. >> i was an avon lady for a couple of years.

>> what's changed? up next, from "the exorcist" to "the french connection," william freed kin joins us with surprising stories. ♪ [ male announcer ] start with a dodge dart. now give it a "tiger shark" engine and 41 mpg. good. now add some of this. and that. definitely him. and her. a little more of her. perfect. time out. how we doin? [ car accelerating ] okay, let's take it up a notch. give it a heap of this, one of those and that. got anything with grappling hooks and a plane? [ explosions ] yeah, that'll work. ♪

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[ horn honking ] >> that was the iconic car chase in the academy award-winning film "the french connection." here with us now the oscar-winning director of that 1971 crime drama, william friedkin, who followed that film up with another classic "the exorcist." william is out with a new book "the freeds can din connection, a memoir." >> "the french connection" won five academy awards. ask you about that chase scene, i have seen it we have all seen

it so many times, the iconic chase scene. i didn't realize until now that you were actually in the car -- >> that shot, over the shoulder. >> no. >> yeah. >> you were in that shot, tell everybody why. it was you. >> the cameraman and the assistant cameraman had families, children and wives and i was single. >> you didn't. >> we went 90 miles an hour for 26 blong, we had no permits to do it we blew through every red light. >> that's unbelievable. >> i wouldn't do that again, i tell you. i was young and crazy. >> i'm appalled. >> isn't that amazing -- >> so am i. >> oh, my gosh. >> do that sitting in the back seat, again, that choice is made for you to be there instead of your other cameraman because you were expandible at the time. >> yes, and i had no fear and i had -- really, it was irresponsible, i have to tell

you. because we went right through big city traffic, through people. i wasn't concerned about my own safety, you i'm lot different now. >> how old were you? >> about 30. maybe not quite. >> that will cause problems. late bloomer. >> then a couple years later, of course, "the exorcist" with -- everything was frightening, the music, the soundtrack, mika runs up and down the stairs all the time. >> i call them the exorcist steps. >> you know what they are called? the hitchcock steps. nothing to do with alfred hitchcock, they are named after the builder of the steps. >> i call them the exorcist step he is. >> so does everyone else in georgetown, mika. >> ten times a pop. >> no wonder you have such great leg he is. >> oh, thank you. >> so, did you have any idea when you started with either one of these movies, that they would have such a huge impact in hollywood and its history? >> no.

you do these films because you like them. and because you have certain expectations about them. and you have no idea whether the public's gonna take to it or not. >> why did "the exorcist" break through the way it did? >> because it is about faith. no one knows what's going to happen after we put off this mortal coil. and it's about the mystery of faith and it deals with a lot of transcendent things, took place in 1949 in silver spring, maryland, based on a true story. you can google it and you can see a three-page front page article on the "washington post" in 1949 about this case. it was a 14-year-old boy, not a 12-year-old girl. but the diocese in washington asked bill blatty, who wrote the novel, to change the gender to protect the boy.

the boy retired from nasa about seven years ago. >> oh, wow. >> moved back to silver spring and has no memory of what happened to him when he was 14. >> you were part of hollywood's second golden abl en able -- ag. it is hard to compare that with previous decades. >> they tell me about that but at the time, cope pole la and steven spielberg and i were getting fired every day. anyone that fires spielberg off of "jaws," cope pole la was being fired every day off of "the godfather" and warner brothers was after my scalp because this exorcist was taking so long. it was all experimental. no one had ever done this stuff. like to show breath in a room, in the old days when they did that they filmed at a place called the glen dale ice house, where they made huge blocks of

ice, you know, and that was gone. so, what i did was i took a set, about as big as this room and i put gigantic air conditioners over the top of it. we turn on the air conditioners a the night a-- at night and th morning, 30 below zero. >> how you got the idea for it. >> we had to experiment with a lot of stuff and today, if i was doing this film today, i would use computer-generated imagery but we didn't have that then. we had to do everything mechanically. >> the book is "the freedkin connection," william friedkin, thank you so much. really great to meet you. thank you. >> my pleasure, guys. >> thank you so much. thanks for waking up at 3 in the morning sometimes to watch us. >> exactly. >> more "morning joe" when we come back. i describe myself as a mother, a writer and a performer.

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your chance to rise and shine. with centurylink as your trusted technology partner, you can do just that. with our visionary cloud infrastructure, global broadband network and custom communications solutions, your business is more reliable - secure - agile. and with responsive, dedicated support, we help you shine every day of the week. this is what you've been waiting for to find out what we've learned today. brian what have you learned today? >> i'm going to read mika's book, especially the chant ber talking to kids. i have a 9-year-old daughter down in virginia racing cars in weekend, my parents' hometown in winchester, virginia r the portion sizes, eating out, i'm looking forward to reading t not just staying because i was on the show today. >> what did you learn today,

mark? >> congratulations, mika? >> i learned this studio is like a test tube, scientific experiments conducted here daily. >> i know, i think part has do with the cologne you have been wearing this morning, stale residue of it in the air. >> musty. >> what it s >> named after ed muskie. >> jazz flute. >> have he important and obsessed. right now, you know what's up right now? you know who's up right now? >> chuck todd, "the daily rundown," the daily diary of the american dream of politics. >> chuck, take it away. >> i like that little catchphrase. the daily diary of the american dream of politics. all right, on alert, israel is bracing for possible retaliation from one or more of its neighbors after launching two attacks on the syrian capital the last three days, while here at home that red line regret we told you about complicating the white house's efforts to decide how and you when intervene. demographics aren't always