some of the responses for us. what did we get. >> west says he lost his 7 foot boa in his apartment and he found it three months later under the couch and chad says an aggressive squirrel chased him down in his dorm courtyard, knocked down his cognac and capri sun mix and ran away. liquor snob. >> i would run away too. who mixes capri sun with cognac? >> let's give it a try. >> yeah. i mean that animal had some taste. thanks so much.

that's going to do it for me. "morning joe" starts right now live from washington. ♪ hey, good morning. welcome to "morning joe." it's thursday, july 11th. you take a live look at capitol hill. you know it's really, gene robinson, a picture that makes my heart swell with pride. you look at what those kids on the hill are doing every day. >> i know. >> the people's business. i get -- >> it -- >> it's like 1965 and lbj. one piece of legislation after another. spitting it out. it's like an assembly line. >> everywhere i go -- >> people are like rotator cuff -- >> americans are walking around with their chest pumped out. so proud of their congress. >> obama running out of pens to sign. >> hey, seriously -- somebody -- >> anyway with us on set, senior political editor and white house

correspondent for the "the huffington post," sam stein. also pulitzer-prize winning columnist and associate editor of the "washington post" and msnbc political analyst eugene robinson. columnist for "bloomberg view" al hunt and economic policy reporter for "the new york times"p annie lowry who specializes in tweeting out pictures of -- >> a meat rock. a living rock you break it open and meat inside. it's really horrifying. >> it is cut open and it's -- it's gross and intestines all over the place and breeds with itself. in new york we've got -- i can't do -- even a segway for that, thomas roberts. >> we can talk about the sigh psi network sharkado, the next movie the meat rock. >> yeah. >> synergy, now it all makes ceps. >> it does. new york, washington, cats, dogs, coming together, beautiful thomas, it's beautiful. so speaking of new york, al

hunt, this eliot spitzer guy, a new poll coming out, we're going to show the poll, he's zooming ahead. we all live in spitzer nation. >> spitzer here today. weiner can't be far behind, right? >> i don't know. and in the house, we've got immigration we're going to be talking about. gene, it looks kind of -- like it's in trouble in the house. >> you think? >> i know. >> you think? you got your finger on the pulse there. >> yeah. >> yeah. i mean, they say they want to do it incrementally, maybe like some day later. >> some day later. >> it's not going to happen. >> looks like it's not going to happen. i mean theoretically ways it could happen. john boehner could change his mind and bring it up for a vote, it could happen tomorrow. >> sam stein, think about this, where does this president go if he doesn't get immigration reform, lost on background checks where 90% of americans were with him, where does he go

next for an agenda? how do the last two years end up. >> things only get done if there's a trigger mechanism attached to them. you have to look down the road and see what has a trigger and sadly the next thing with a trigger is the debt ceiling. and so maybe there's some sort of negotiations around that, but the white house has pledged not to do it. it does seem like for the next two years, three years, we're in this constant state of nothing getting done. >> nothing. absolutely nothing. really quickly before we go to the news, wall street, absolutely horrified. like the state puff marshmallow man was coming around the corner and going to eat them all. you probably don't remember. ben bernanke is saying that just relax, big ben's here, going to take care of everything. we're not drawing all the money supply up yet. >> yeah. i mean they've merely mentioned the existence of the punch bowl they've been refilling and it's really freaked the markets out. >> freaking them out.

>> internationally too. it's a big problem for europe, a big problem for emerging markets. you're looking at turbulence the next six months. another thing to remember ben bernanke is probably going to leave his post and the obama administration will name somebody new and that will come with a lot of queasiness for the markets. >> bernanke tried to say we're on the right path. just relax. >> he's been trying to calm them. they've had this whole strategy of trying to explain themselves more to the market and it hasn't worked out terribly well. it hasn't had the intended effect of assuring markets they're going to keep their foot on the gas until they see a little bit better and there's no signs they're going to start tapering quite yet but even the mention that they will. >> even the mere threat. >> yeah. >> so sensitive, those markets. >> they really are. >> bizarre. >> let's go to thomas now for the morning's other top stories. what are we looking at, thomas? >> let's bring everybody up to speed on what we've been watching. after hearing from 18 witnesses

the defense has rested its case in the murder trial of george zimmerman. yesterday the big question was whether or not the neighborhood watch volunteer should actually take the stand in his own defense. nbc's ron mott reports for us. >> reporter: george zimmerman made up his mind. >> what is your decision, sir? >> after consulting with counsel, not to testify, your honor. >> reporter: earlier as the defense wound up its case with witnesses yet to call, things got testy. >> i am asking your client questions. please, mr. west. >> i object to the court inquiring of mr. zimmerman as to his decision about whether or not to testify -- >> your objection is overruled. mr. zimmerman, i will give you more time to discuss this with your attorneys. thank you very much. >> the tension between don west and judge debra nelson appears leftover from an afterhours court session. >> judge, i'm not physically able to keep up this pace much longer. it's 10:00 at night. we started this morning. we've had full days every day.

weekends, depositions at night. >> reporter: most of this final day in the defense case focused on the testimony of an expert on the use of force. >> if you haven't been able to successfully win the event in the first 30 seconds, you need to change tactics. >> reporter: who said zimmerman had no other options but to shoot trayvon martin because he wasn't adept at fighting and felt his life was being threatened by the teen. zimmerman has pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder saying he fired in self-defense. >> i don't know what else he could have done based on his abilities because, not to be offensive to mr. zimmerman, he doesn't seem to have any. >> reporter: under cross-examinati cross-examination, prosecutor john guy used a foam dummy to question where zimmerman's gun was located when he pulled it. >> if this mannequin were carrying a firearm on their waist where would the gun be in relation to me? >> would be at your left inner thigh. >> right here, right? >> yes. >> reporter: later -- >> may i use your doll a moment?

>> reporter: defense attorney mark o'mara got physical. george zimmerman, trayvon martin. >> reporter: refocusing on head and face injuries whether consistent with an attack. how about somebody resisting the injuries, the two lacerations could that have come from cement. somebody resisting me, pushing down like this? >> i believe so. >> they're going to start the closing arguments today, joe, at 1:00. again, that's supposed to last roughly about three hours, but it's been very interesting for people, court observers anyway, to question whether or not zimmerman was going to take the stand and a lot of people said, it just depends on the type of defense case that is put up and they'll make that decision, you know, at game time decision at the last moment. seems as if the defense feels they've been strong enough, zimmerman doesn't need to get up and speak. >> listen, gene, if i'm the defense, and i got a lawyer that the judge loves as much as the judge loves this defense lawyer. >> right. you're feeling good, aren't you? >> can you believe that?

>> she cannot stand that guy. >> told him to shut up. she hates him. >> look, you're a lawyer. is it taught in law school you're supposed to yammer at the judge as she's leaving the bench and complain about the way she's running her courtroom. >> he's doing it for a reason. maybe he's trying to take the attention off of his client. i have no idea why he's doing it. but from people who have actually watched this thing, i haven't, they say he's doing a very good job. >> joe, also the other thing, quickly to point out, the tension in this room, a lot of people may have missed yesterday when judge nelson was evaluating and questioning zimmerman himself about whether he was going to testify, west objected to her questioning and she said, you can't object to the judge questioning. >> and you know what -- >> so she got a little mad at that. >> he did it ten times. i mean the guy kept doing it. anyway.

we'll let everybody else in the world talk about this for the rest of the day. we're moving on now. yeah. thomas, what else is going on today? >> the other -- >> we have interest in. >> when it comes to that sfo crash dramatic recordings revealed the scene inside asiana flight 214 after last weekend's crash in san francisco. take a look. >> we just got in a plane crash and there are a bunch of people who still need help and there's not enough medics out here that need help. there is a woman out here on the street, on the runway, who is pretty much burned very severely on the head and we don't know what to do. >> were you on the plane, ma'am? >> yes, i was on the plane. we've been on the ground 20 minutes or half hour. there are people laying on the tarmac with head injury, we're almost losing one here, trying to keep her alive. >> reporter: the head of the ntsb revealed on wednesday that doors of the plane were not opened until about 90 seconds after the jet had come to a full stop with more now, nbc's tom

costello. >> reporter: 12 flight attendants were on board flight 214p. rescuers credit their quick action with helping to save 307 lives. >> as the evacuation went on, the fire did continue and the flight attendants and the flight crew were involved in trying to fight the fire on the inside. >> reporter: two flight attendants were ejected from the rear of the plane on impact. one sustained massive head injuries, the other a broken leg. in support submitted to united airlines, a first officer waiting to take off on the same runway after 214 landed described the crash and two subvivers summabling but moving. i saw one stand up, walk a few feet and then appear to squat down. the other appeared to be a woman walking and then fell off to her side and remained on the ground until rescue personnel arrived. some of the flight attendants left for seoul, south korea, and talk briefly to reporters. >> translator: asiana airlines and all the flight attendants

and personnel are working hard as possible to recover from this accident. >> reporter: the three pilots in the cockpit told investigators they struggle to line up properly for a visual landing. then they realized too late their auto throttle had not maintained the minimum speed. but investigators have not found any evidence of the auto throttle malfunctioning. retired 777 captain tom casey says auto throttle isn't designed to suddenly kick in when a plane is set up for a landing. >> if the airplane thinks it's landing because the radio al tim my ter says it's 50 feet it will not come in. captain is landing the airplane. >> we have to go back there is automation to support the pilots but the pilots also have to fly the airplane. they have to monitor and they have to fly. >> joe, still so much debate about what was going on in the final seconds between the pilots. it's still miraculous, though, that there wasn't more loss of life as we learn more about what went down and the images that have been coming out of there. the ntsb has been tweeting

photos from inside the plane and they've been really forthcoming with a lot of the information with their investigation as quickly as they can. it's just amazing that it wasn't a lot worse. >> i know. amazing it's not a lot worse. you hear, gene, these stories of people being on the ground for quite some time without emergency workers coming out there. >> yeah. and i want to hear more about that. i want to know more about that. because that's not the story we got initially. you know, my impression was that it had been a pretty rapid and pretty successful response, but first responders there in san francisco -- by the first responders in san francisco. 20 minutes. can't have that. >> that is really something. al, you don't like flying. >> i don't. >> but it's what we show these pictures. we have to remind everybody, especially my two olders boys, this is the longest stretch of safety in the history of u.s. aviation and none of that means anything to you, does it? >> no. because it's -- >> you and john madden are still going to get in your van. >> and mika. >> right. >> and now annie who like mika

says she doesn't understand how they stay up in the air. >> can't trust it. >> listen, i was in a flight with my daughter about a month ago from atlanta and we were delayed for five hours because of lousy weather. when we were about to take off, the guy across the aisle calmly called his wife and said if i don't make it i want you to do, a, b, c. >> good lord. >> i did not need that. >> seriously. >> okay. en to happier news now, new poll numbers give -- what's that, thomas? >> i was going to say, send it back it to debbie downer, you want the new poll numbers? eliot spitzer? >> i was going to say, are you okay with flying, thomas? >> it's a necessary evil. >> okay. >> yeah. i'm good with it. especially when it's for vacation. >> it's safe, man. it's safe. >> it is -- it's at lot safer than getting in a car and having 16-year-old girls going like this while they're coming the other way 80 miles an hour. >> exactly. >> in their daddy's pick-up truck.

fly. it's safer. all right. now give us the new poll numbers. >> new poll numbers. eliot spitzer, early lead in the race for the new york city comptroller according to a survey released yesterday, 42% of registered democrats support the former governor. 33% backing scott stringer, that is stringer being the manhattan borough president. 44% believe that spitzer who resigned amid a prostitution scandal is a changed man and 67% believe he deserves a second chance. so five years later it seems people are responding to him being back out there publicly. >> i'll tell you what, he was on the show the other day and a lot of people were asking whether he really cried or not. i wasn't there. but -- >> right. >> by remote. mika was there, and she said hey, he had all the tell-tale signs, he was sweating, his skin was changing colors, he was deeply anguished and she's one of the more cynical people towards spitzer but said it was real and it was compelling. the thing about eliot spitzer, he reminded me of mark sanford

and his comeback attempt. mark would go anywhere, talk to anybody, and annie, it was people -- people would sit there and keep asking tough questions and he would stay in there. i think that's -- i think that puts spitzer in a good place too. >> i think spitzer and weiner are an object lesson that in the fact in american politics there are always second acts. when these scandals are happening, the united states is apparently pretty quick to forgive, right? >> why are we surprised by this? bill clinton was fine, mark sanford was fine. >> right. >> you know. there's plenty. david vitter was fine. example after example -- >> david vitter, it was his wife. she was so tough, people were scared not to vote for him. remember, she goes out to the lawn, she goes, you know, david is back up in washington, d.c., now, and the kids and i are here. can you leave us alone? go after him. >> david vitter is having a family night fund-raiser next week. i think we ought to go to it.

>> well -- >> eliot spitzer the next day. >> do i feel bad for scott stringer? like a week ago his life seemed so simple. comptroller. >> that's politics. >> he was on yesterday and did very well. >> yeah. >> impressive guy. but -- >> guy with 100% name recognition comes into the race. >> and self-financed. >> that's the way it works. >> no. i think he's going to do it. and again, there is, though, i wonder about anthony weiner, al hunt, when he was down here he wasn't known as a guy that got a lot of things done. >> or made a lot of friends. >> or made a lot of friends. eliot spitzer didn't make a lot of friends but eliot spitzer would come up to you and talk and engage and wasn't afraid to come on the show. i think we're going to see a big difference between how eliot spitzer tries his comeback and anthony weiner tries had is. >> there's something else which you have mentioned which is eliot spitzer is going for a lesser office than he held before. he's kind of starting more in the beginning if you will,

whereas anthony weiner is going for an office that is ten times bigger than anything he ever aspired to before. >> and by the way, the question answers itself and -- which is, well, you know, if you get elected, you haven't paid at all. you're back in public service. comptroller of new york city instead of governor of new york state. i think it does show -- >> sure. >> the other question for weiner is if you get elected, why? what do you want to do? why do you want to be mayor of new york? i'm not sure he's answered that question to my satisfaction. then again i don't vote in new york state. >> i think spitzer has one of the good things with this, is he's try to say an agenda with comptroller. >> you know he will do stuff. >> yeah. if he is comp stroller he will do stuff. billions of pension money he can

invest and throw that weight around. >> good luck for the mayor and -- >> oh, yeah. >> city council. that's going to be a tough four years. speaking of it tough, immigration, al, i've been saying for some time that everybody that thought all you had to do is get through the senate and check it off didn't know what was going on. what lay beneath in the house. i still, i don't see a way forward. certainly not for citizenship. >> joe, you may well have been more pressing than i. i always thought that they'd kick and scream and yell but at the end couldn't walk away. whatever they had to do. i think your view is close to reality today. it was a difficult caucus yesterday. there clearly is a strong majority of republicans who are opposed to doing much of anything. but there is counter pressure and i think john boehner and paul ryan reflected that yesterday. i think high-tech industry, even evangelic evangelicals, haley barbours, george w. bush, not that they're very influential on that group, they're not, but in the end to envision the house just walking

away doing nothing, is still difficult for me. i think a critical question may be here is, do they piecemeal, do piecemeal legislation and go to conference. the bill crystal/rich lowry piece said do not go to conference. once they go to conference you probably get something, but they may resist that. >> annie, if this house rejected -- if the senate even rejected background checks at 90% of americans supported why are they going to weigh in on immigration which is a much more mixed bag, especially in these districts that made the republicans, the majority party in the house? >> i mean the problem with disaggrating the bill and passing it in pieces the least popular and politically hardest part of this legislation is the most important. you know, h1b visas and visas for folks who have ph.d.s those aren't the controversial portions. the path to citizenship is the controversial portion but it's taken care of the problem, of

the broken immigration system here. it's one of the things like al said, on the one hand you can't imagine them doing nothing and on the other hand you can't see them doing anything. >> how many republicans are there in the house who would kind of like to see something passed who will never vote for it, never vote for immigration reform, but realize having it pass would be good for the party? if that's a large enough block, are there enough of those guys and gals to permit boehner to allow a vote on it? >> that depends. >> won't take it on bo on boehn bouncing him out as speak er. how big is the block that won't fire me as speaker if i bring it for a vote. >> i think legalization is one thing but citizenship is another. i don't think there are more than a handful of republicans that want citizenship.

legalization perhaps. >> can i make the case that this doom's day about immigration may be a bit overblown. my colleague had an interesting piece, a lot of the narrative is coming from republican aides on the hill themselves. they want to set a template, set expectations incredibly low so if this thing does fail, it's not a shock to the system. it's not all down on boehner if this thing doesn't get through the house. i still think there is a slight chance that something happens. i think that the political pressures are there. the -- >> from where? >> there is, obviously, wall street that is on board this. the agriculture community is on board this. the big wigs in the republican party who actually have a national vision are on board. >> yeah. >> and high-tech is on board. so at some point they will weigh in. whether that's enough, i don't know. i think we're rushing a little bit to declare something dead in part because that's what the house republicans want. they want us to think nothing can happen. >> joe, the other thing, appearances matter more than reality in politics i know. i can't find an example where

someone lost a primary because of immigration. if a republican votes to increase taxes, climate change, a lot of other things. clearly the sense is out there this could be a killer in a primary. i don't see the examples of it. >> her brick perry in the primary said you don't have a heart if you don't support in-state tuition. >> he had other problems. >> he had other problems. >> only remember two of the three. he had other problems. thomas, what's your take? >> well, just want to put this out there. we've got this tweet from congressman tim huelskamp saying that most house republicans agree with most senate republicans and americans trusting obama with border security is like trusting bill clinton with your daughter. >> and there you go. >> that's a really mature way to -- >> and -- >> all right. coming up on "morning joe," we have the moderator of "meet the press" david gregory who we trust with anybody and dr. brzezinski and andrea mitchell and senator john thune.

coming up jim vandehei joins us fors the politico playbook. here's bill karins with a check on the forecast. tell me it's going to be clear this weekend in the northeast. >> yeah. if we're so lucky, joe. joe, over the years i've seen many things, people in tornadoes with videos, people videoing from the inside of a hurricane, and blizzard, but i've never seen this before. this is video of a man that got caught in a mudslide yesterday in his car. >> oh, my god. oh, my god. oh, my god. [ bleep ]. >> ride of his life. it's funny, actually trying to steer as the river of mud took him down highway 24. outside of colorado springs.

[ bleep ]. >> that was from the waldo canyon area. where the big waldo fire was earlier this fire season. so just amazing pictures there. show you what happened yesterday. amazing in the ohio valley. we had a bunch, 421 wind damage reports. a lot of cleanup today out there. those storms will move to the east coast today. we've already got a lot of pop-up. it's so humid this morning on the eastern seaboard that there will be numerous showers and storms from this morning's drive right through the day and especially late this afternoon. so airport delays are possible. big cities of i-95, also the storms from the southeast. areas like colorado and texas you'll be dry today and very hot. look at our friends in dallas. 102, one of the hottest spots in the country today. you're watching "morning joe" we're brewed by starbucks.

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it's time to look at our morning papers. the dallas morning news from our parade of papers, randy travis out of surgery following a stroke suffered yesterday. it's the latest setback in the country singer's battle with congestive heart failure. travis, who was first hospitalized on sunday, remains in critical condition. and "the chicago tribune" illinois governor path quinn suspended state lawmakers pay yesterday after they failed to come to a resolution on pension reform. the state's unfunded pension liability has ballooned to more than $100 billion. the governor has voluntarily suspended his own pay until that matter is resolved. and is it me, is there a state in more of a mess than illinois? it is just -- you're from wisconsin. you have to hate illinois -- >> such a superior state to --

>> oh! >> is that it? >> smart governing and people. >> people as well. >> thank youp. all of our viewers thank you. and "the washington times" secretary of state john kerry became emotional while discussing his wife teresa heinz kerry who remains hospitalized after experiencing seizure-like symptoms on sunday. >> i just want to thank everybody for your extraordinary well wishes in the last days. teresa is doing better, under evaluation and we hope improving. i want to thank everybody for the remarkable outpouring of good wishes. it's been really very special. >> so glad to hear she's doing better. from "the washington post" walmart employees in washington, d.c., may be getting a slightly bigger paycheck. a new bill passed by the

district council requires the retail giant to pay workers 50% premium over the minimum wage. walmart had threatened to cancel plans to open new stores if the bill passed. with us now from the politico playbook, jim vandehei what's going on today? >> you had a good conversation going on immigration and al and i were talking off set saying i just can't imagine they're going to let this thing die. they're probably going to let this thing die. the person i would watch is tom cotton. you served in congress. most of these guys aren't that impressive that are members of congress. cotton is. >> listen, state for the record, that politico depends on cooperation from people from the house of representatives and the senate. >> that's why i didn't name names. >> those unimpressive people. >> repeat your characterization of 435 members of the people's house. go ahead. >> i didn't name any of the individuals. >> pretty safe -- >> you've been here too long. >> if you run into them, of

course you're one of the most impressive members of congress. >> i wasn't talking -- >> tom cotton is a freshman, a smart guy, one of the people leading the charge to kill immigration reform. he says we want to do border security only. stood up at the conference meeting yesterday. has an editorial in the "wall street journal" today. i think there's a huge movement among republicans going to be led by him in the house and i think on the outside by people like bill crystal and lowery -- to try to avoid a conference and not have a chance where there's a compromise with the senate. they don't want to go to any sort of conference -- >> why? >> they don't want anything that smacks of a pathway to citizenship or broad immigration bill. they would like to focus on securing the border and then maybe some of the most popular provisions that annie was talking about earlier and come back later if they can prove that the border has been secured and then go to those measures. and that's radically different than what the senate did. for people who say that's never going to happen, republicans

would never be that crazy, listen, they've only got 14 votes in the senate and that's after marco rubio, karl rove, "wall street journal," everybody advocated to do something big on immigration reform. they defanged a lot of the folks on fox news and only got 14 senate votes. the house is way, way way more conservative than the senate. this is going to be a much, much tougher sell. we've talked about it on the show before. i think it's unlikely you get anything that smacks of that senate bill. >> gene, you agree? >> i agree if you're just talking about the republican caucus in the house. i continue to recognize that it could pass the house tomorrow with democratic votes. boehner won't do that. if the republican party wants to get on the right side of this issue, they're going to have to figure a way to get something through. and you know, i think the implications for the party, if

nothing gets through, if the house blocks it as the majority of the republican caucus would like to do in the house, i think you kind of kiss national elections good-bye for the republican party for some time. >> al -- >> they win -- >> do you agree with that? >> you certainly have a huge disadvantage. it's a fast growing part of the population. not just hispanics but also asian americans which should be republicans who voted almost as much for obama as -- >> a little more. asian americans. >> and you know, the exit polls may be a little off there. but, in fact, they say too that's one of the driving forces. i have difficulty disagreeing with jim's analysis. my gut still tells me something is going to happen. you can't find it when you start talking to people. the stuff they do pass, jim, may cause problems for them. for instance, the border security, a lot of that cotton is talking about is fraudulent. the idea of spending 46 or $50 billion -- they proposed to have almost as many troops on the mexican border as we do in the dmz. i mean, it really is -- it may

be great cover for voting for a bill, but if you do that stand alone, it seems to me you really look foolish. >> yeah. if this doesn't pass i think it's pretty clear what 2014 will be about in a lot of races. and you know, i think that is -- that is the political calculus here. it's going to be more painful to pass than not to. despite the fact that i think a lot of republicans think that that's not the best possible way forward. >> yeah. and the great challenge for the republicans will be going into 2014, whether you're talking specifically about immigration or a background check bill that 90% of americans, what did you do? what did you do over the past two years? harry truman would have had a hell of a lot of fun with this congress because they will be called a do nothing congress. >> the problem for an individual republican member of congress, it's in his or her political interest to vote immigration down. >> right. >> for the party, it's definitely the party's interest to do something on immigration

and so how do they square that? >> if you just did a gut check -- >> you can't be squared but i'm not convinced we should give up hope. >> if you did a gut check and rewound the tape and listen to what every republican was saying after the election, we have to do better with hispanics, asians, gay voters, women -- think about the republican congress and the rhetoric since then. ask yourself have they made any progress? no. you can argue they probably set themselves back if you think about the reaction to the gay marriage ruling, this debate. i don't think your initial analysis washyperbole. you can't win reelections if you're just relying on white voters. those are demographic trends. >> it's happening. >> and we're not, so lots of luck, fellas. stay with us, jim. we have sports next. time is running out for the breakout star yasiel puig to

make the all-star team. why he may not make it to citifield next week. sports is coming up next. if you've got it, you know how hard it can be to breathe

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all right. everybody welcome back to "morning joe." time for sports. we start with baseball for you. a last day of fan voting in the final two all-star spots.

chuck todd is holding his breath while he writes first read for yasiel puig, the super star dodgers rookie. according to mlb, puig is trailing atlanta's freddie freeman in the vote. fans have until 4:00 p.m. today that's it to cast their ballots on-line. we turn now to highlights for you, red sox and mariners. david ortiz made history, notching his 1,689th hit passing harold baines for the most at designated hitter position. the crowd gave him a standing ovation for his efforts. sox beat the mariners 11-4. boston three and a half games ahead of the rays in the al east. nationals and phillys in washington put on a show. on the road in philadelphia, in the fifth, hitting back-to-back homers and then in the ninth zimmerman and werth added their own back-to-back jacks adding insult to injury here, one of the fans in the crowd took the run off the noggin. look at this guy. that's why you bring a glove.

it's going to hurt your head if you don't have hair. good news for yankee fans, derek jeter activated by the team today. the 39-year-old short stop returns after missing the season with an ankle injury. in the four rehab starts with the minor league club he was 1 for 9 with an error. this is a great one, if you've ever wondered how spiderman would do on the basketball court we have the answer for you. take a look. here he is crashing the court at a local park embarrassing everybody who tries to challenge him. it's with a bunch of kids but they look like tall kids. pretty impressive. this wasn't peter parker. the man behind the mask, grayson beau shay, a famous street baller who goes by the name of the professor. he' good, right, guys? >> i can do that. >> you can do that? >> no. >> have you ever rented a superhero to come to your kid's birthday parties before? >> oh, yeah. >> joe's done that. >> lots of times. >> i rented spiderman to come to my nephew's birthday party and

he showed up overweight. so when he went down to make balloon animals for the kids -- >> no. >> yeah. >> no. >> obese spiderman. >> no. >> yes. >> that doesn't work. >> we still had to pay him at the end of the day. did we get good photographs. >> nothing super about -- >> good stuff. >> put that one up on-line. al hunt, your nats are doing okay. >> that's disturbing. >> coming back a little bit. >> five down. >> what about the sox are doing great, man. >> surprisingly. and i guess we're at the break so -- >> we're at the break. >> i mean, oakland, man, muddy ball. >> how about the pirates too. >> and the pirates. >> yeah. >> what about the orioles? why do we have to always omit the orioles? you know. >> that is a good question. >> why? >> i think the same reason why you have to talk about plumber's cracks. i mean -- >> yeah. >> hey, thomas -- >> bring those pictures in. i would like to see them.

>> i'll get -- they're funny. they're really good stuff. >> good. >> all right. >> news you can't use. >> can't wait. >> coming up next, we have mika's must-read opinion pages. she has just jetted in from the south of france. >> enough of that. >> you're going to love these. you're watching "morning joe," brewed by starbucks. oh, he's a fighter alright. since aflac is helping with his expenses while he can't work, he can focus on his recovery. he doesn't have to worry so much about his mortgage, groceries, or even gas bills. kick! kick... feel it! feel it! feel it! nice work!

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try outside of politics to serve the common good. then, suddenly, this week he was back inside politics. announcing that he was going to run for office again because, as he said on msnbc's "morning joe," i believe in service. time after time we hear a scandal tarred politician vow to go away and make amends. time after time we envision a stint as a missionary or a hospital volunteer. time after time we are disappointed. spitzer said on "morning joe" that during his five years in exile, i've tried to do things that matter in a small, quiet way. this seemed like a strange way to describe multiple stints hosting political talk shows. nobody knows what drove spitzer to jump in. did weiner's entry trigger a case of disgraced politician competitiveness? is he bored? if this guy wins all hopes of getting errant politicians to do penance anywhere but a cnn studio is gone forever. >> is this not public service? i don't -- >> i thought that's -- >> it's not charity. >> good point.

>> i just do this because i love the kids, i love america. >> exactly. >> i want to make it the best place to live. >> jesus loves you for it. >> i don't think eliot spitzer gave eliot spitzer a show on cnn. >> at $90 million a year, yes, he does. >> is he ahead of you or slightly behind? >> on the $90 million. >> it's hard to say. you know how much money you have, you obviously don't have enough money. isn't that what you're telling me, sam stein. >> basically, be yeah. the idea that politicians are ego testcle shouldn't shock anyone. i'm not shocked eliot spitzer likes being in the spotlight basically. >> a question of what you want to do with your life. eliot spitzer has money. people that know him in law firms say he's absolutely bored. there is nothing wrong, though, with somebody loving -- he says public service. whether you want to call it public service, al, or politics, some people that, you know, let's give an example, bill clinton could have made millions and millions of dollars, he

would have much rather been in politics. some people just prefer serving whether you call it public service or politics. >> it's in them. >> it's in them. good at it. eliot spitzer is one of those people. >> you want to have more people who could that. you air what his problems are. i don't have any problem. i don't have any problem with eliot spitzer running for this office. >> just because he had this scandal he could never run for elected office again. the people will decide whether it taints him irrevocably. there shouldn't be a restriction on what you can do because you got caught -- >> start doing for other people that we suck up into unbelievable ways who have done far worse things. would you like me to name some names. >> no. stop it. just stop it. >> it would take too long. >> and such a hypocrisy in the

way we respond to certain people and actions and all i'll say is i don't really know what -- how i feel about eliot spitzer's performance on our show and whether it makes a difference. >> okay. >> but there are others who -- d -- >> we know there are others! we know who you're talking about. >> we do? >> let's move on. so anyway -- >> it's hypocritical. >> what do we have next? >> only one word necessary to tease the news you can't use. and it is not the two word phrase plumber's crack. it is sharknado. >> we're going to explain. mika you will be happy to know, called my husband, woke him up, patrick is searching for the picture of spiderman with plumber's crack. >> i would like to see that. spiderman. we'll be right back. so... [ gasps ] these are sandra's "homemade" yummy, scrumptious bars. hmm? i just wanted you to eat more fiber.

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news you can't use. something so incredibly amazing i'm having a hard time finding the words properly to describe it. ladies and gentlemen, i give you, "sharknado." >> the fostorm is coming and it coming fast. >> just can't sit back and watch this. >> tornado is heading towards the airport. we need to destroy it before it gets to them. >> watch out.

>> all right. this film comes from the production company that has brought us certain hits like "mega shark versus giant octopus". >> i love that one. >> starred debbie gibson and lorenzo llamas, remember him from "falcon crest" fame. "mega shark staring crock" and two-headed shark attack featuring car men electra. >> thomas, where can i catch all of this -- >> it's funny you ask, because you can catch all this action tonight when "sharknado" premiers on sci-fi. >> i know what i'm doing this weekend. i know what i'm doing this weekend. >> that looks so bad. >> that's awesome. >> that's good, right? >> terrible. >> advice to the viewers when the "sharknado" actually happens, be -- >> where's the picture -- >> what's that? >> what were you saying, gene? >> when the "sharknado" happens, what you should do is let the

shark flop around until the dies. step away from it and let it flop around and it dies. >> gene is a veteran of many -- >> i've been through "sharknado." >> why don't bill karins forecasts look more like this. >> sharks flying through the sky. >> mika -- >> i want somebody to get these snakes off the plane. >> mika, i'm working on the spiderman's picture for you. >> all right. i can't wait to see it. >> right through the billboard. that shark flew through the billboard. >> it must be july. >> i can watch that all night. coming up next, nbc's david gregory and andrea mitchell, responding to "sharknado" and what america's response should be. on the set, steve ratner standing by. what would you rather look at this or steve ratner's charts? oh! we'll see. "morning joe" back in one minute. mine was earned in djibouti, africa. 2004.

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♪ ♪ i will never say never ♪ i will fight >> justin bieber is doing weird stuff again. tmz got ahold of a video, appears to have been be shot by one of justin's friends and shows him in the kitchen of a restaurant in new york, peeing into a mop bucket. there he is peeing too. when you're justin bieber the world is your toilet. what i like most about the video his pants are the same pulled down as they are pulled up. no different. all right.

all right. >> this is just a little -- [ inaudible ]. >> weirdest part of the video this guy standing on the stairs. watching him. either a very diligent bodyguard or omnis you pervert. >> you have to remember that. >> you're not going to remember -- [ inaudible ]. >> everybody does that. >> what are you -- >> that's the coolest spot [ inaudible ]. >> you know what, canada, time to pick him up. >> i think it is. welcome back to "morning joe." still at the table. that's ridiculous. joining us on set former treasury official and "morning joe" economic analyst steve ratner. here in washington with us. also the moderator of "meet the press" david gregory and nbc

chief foreign appears correspondent and host of "andrea mitchell reports" andrea mitchell. good to have you all on board this morning. >> well -- >> i wasn't prepared to respond to justin bieber. >> i know. >> i wasn't either actually. >> i don't think justin bieber was prepared. >> got a lot to talk about. a picture of george w. bush stepping back into the fray and if you believe what you hear from capitol hill, republicans are going to just say no again. >> yeah. >> for the second time on immigration, david gregory. >> you know, george w. bush represented a lot of the right answers on immigration in the view of more moderate republicans and a lot of democrats. that's today and even true then. it was conservatives -- and some democrats -- but conservatives who did immigration reform in when he tried it. now he is not a voice that conservative rank and file republicans in the house are listening to and saying oh, that gives us cover or he's right, we

should do something. they are as opposed to this idea of a comprehensive amnesty bill as they described as ever. >> here you've got the business community, the chamber of commerce, agriculture community, evangelicals, catholics, clergymen across the country, and they are not listening because in their districts, it doesn't pay any benefit. there is no cost to voting against immigration. and the piecemeal approach is basically saying let's throw a lot of money at border security. john mccain has pointed out -- and he's been hero ig on this issue, it is a total waste of money what they did in the senate, but it is political cover. but just to do border security and nothing else, would be fiscal conservatives ought to be ashamed. >> you know, the thing is, again, steve ratner, we were saying here before, if the house was not going to be moved anymore than republicans in the senate were going to be moved,

on background checks for criminals and background checks for the mentally ill and background checks for terrorists, they weren't going to be any more likely to run and embrace an immigration bill that a lot of them believe is amnesty. >> that certainly seems to be what's happening. i think a lot of us are kind of incredulous after the election, after the people spoke, after the republicans all did their mea culpa and went off and thought about it and came back and said we want to be a more reasonable party, that these two pieces of legislation would go down on this basis. the immigration bill is not an economic issue. economists on both sides of the political spectrum agree immigration is a positive force. this is a social and political issue that we're seeing reflected. you got people, steve king from iowa, how many immigrants are there in his district. this is not about the risk of -- of immigrants in his district. it's a completely different political issue. >> a lot of people in steve king's district that don't want this. this is a rationale decision politically for a lot of

republicans in the house of representatives who were not -- who will still look at mitt romney and correctly say this was a flawed candidate. >> right. >> he lost because he was a terrible candidate, ran a terrible campaign. don't try to make me make a vote in my district that i believe and people in my district believe are amnesty. >> there's the national versus the local republican mindset and in dan ball's new book, even romney advisers and i think romney himself admitted they probably went too far with the anti-immigration rhetoric, the self-deportation line was harmful. i want to pick up on andrea's point, which is that a lot of the excuses the house republicans are putting out there, just don't hold up. the border is probably more secure now, metrically more secure than any other time. $40 billion more to the border security is excessive. and the vast majority of illegal immigration comes from overstaying visas. you don't fix that throwing more people at the border or fences at the border. you have to do something else. the excuses put up are just a

convenient way to say no to a pathway to citizenship which has all the house republicans bothered. >> broken down all the time. this was the issue in 2006 as well. it's not a matter -- it always breaks down around -- at what point do illegal immigrants become legal citizens or on a pathway to legal citizenship. and i just think the politics are totally different. you know, paul ryan has made the case that, in fact, there is an economic benefit from immigration reform. he's taken on the heritage foundation and others that said that's not the case. he's not willing and perhaps not able to play that marco rubio role in the senate. marco rubio is a lot more sensitive to what the national trends are for the republican party winning the white house in part because it's likely he'll run for president. but a lot of these rank and file house members are not similarly swayed and ryan does not -- is not committed to making this his issue. >> and just tells you how much john boehner is afraid of

mccarthy and cantor and of leadership fights to come. the fact that the speaker of the house can -- the fact that he decided to gor the hastert rule saying he would not do anything unless there were a majority of republicans when there is a way that with nancy pelosi they could have cobbled together a majority to get something out and at least go to conference but they don't want to go to conference, don't want be to ruled by the senate. >> the tweet by congressman tim huelskamp. tweeted this most house republicans agree with most senate republicans and americans. trusting obama with border security is like trusting bill clinton with your daughter. >> that's unfortunate. there's a bigger point which i actually think health care has had a bigger impact. republicans i've talked to and some of this may be political cover, but they say look, look at rule change on the employer mandate, how can you trust the administration to execute on a big immigration reform plan. i think that's going to fuel a lot of the midterm cycle campaigning. again whether that's cover or a

real belief or combination. >> not just that. i was talking to a really good friend of mine. i wanted to talk music because we were both big beatle fans. he wanted to talk politics. and i heard for about 30 minutes, you know, what's going on in washington, joe, he's like bengha benghazi. >> come on, really. >> at lot of people are asking that question. >> still? >> asking all those questions. and then the irs and he goes into the irs. and a lot of really damming questions. then he goes into the nsa. and my friend who's always been fairly moderate politically, like what's going on in washington, d.c.? and against this backdrop, barack obama telling everybody and the obama administration and saying hey, trust washington, we're going to take care of border security, and a lot of americans aren't trusting their government right now because there's been one shock after another after another over the past six months. >> i understand they're saying it and i think we can all infer

why they're saying it, but it's such a cop out to say the solution is government should never do anything because government can't do anything. >> no. >> let's all go back in our bunkers and have no government. it's ridiculous. >> but you would agree, though, that there's been -- there's been one negative story after another after another about government incompetence here, or government failures -- >> but i would say just to get your blood boiling at this hour. >> thank you, steve. >> the affordable care act will go down as one of the most important pieces of social legislation -- >> i agree. >> that just makes me laugh. >> i wouldn't laugh. i would not laugh. >> government or a lot of government. it's not -- it's the idea -- >> government is getting smaller under the obama administration. >> are you putting a program in place like the affordable care act, like immigration reform, when you don't know the impact. are you executing on something you don't know the impact of. a lot of people who are distrustful of that. >> that's true of any piece of legislation. you pass a piece of legislation, do your best to figure out the consequences how it will work,

get the experts to tell you -- >> no. hold on a second not to make your blood boil, the first two big things the obama administration did. first of all they had to bail out the largest spending bill in the history of the american country. >> yeah. >> and nobody read it. nobody knew what was in it. we interviewed one congressman, one congresswoman, one senator after another, nobody had any idea what was in that piece of legislation before it passed and it has failed on many fronts for that reason. secondly the affordable health care act, nancy pelosi herself said, we need to pass this so we'll know what's in it. people still don't know who voted on it what's in the affordable care act. come on, steve of courthere is e ground between passing these monstrous pieces of legislation where nobody knows the details and passing items bit by bit and piece by piece where the people who vote on it knows what's in the legislation before it passed. >> i agree with that.

>> let's go to break. >> because the bills were too large, sort of dodd/frank for that matter doesn't mean you take a problem like immigration which everybody agrees is a major problem and say it's too big a problem we can't pass a bill we have confidence will work we're not going to do anything. >> why not take the bill crystal approach, bill crystal was for immigration reform in '06 when others weren't and said please, let's just stop with all of these super-sized bills, approach immigration one problem at a time and pass them piecemeal and if we pass them piecemeal. >> that will never happen. >> we will know what's in the legislation and do it thoughtfully. >> because what -- the thoughtful approach per bill crystal would be just do the border security and then there's no pressure to do the pathway. that's all they want. the border security. that's all they'll do. one other point here, minor point, is background checks. i peen, there are all these issues like background checks and immigration that are nationally popular but not

popular within these largely republican safe districts. as long as that's the case, the administration thought after newtown they could jump in with a passion and horror over newtown and get something done and joe manchin really showing huge courage and i interviewed mark kelly and gabby gifford and mark kelly said where is the legislative action all these months later and how could this be happening? because if you look at the districts and look at midterm elections they don't feel any pressure. it's a national issue, polling is 95%, but not in the districts. >> yeah. >> we have to get to tom costello who's standing by for an update on the asiana flight 214. we're learn morgue about the evac ways protocols used during last week's crash. he joins us live from san francisco with that. tom? >> hi, mika, guys, good morning to you. behind me the flood lights out there on runway 28 left the ntsb has cleared the runway from its investigators, that means they've turned it over, can start cleaning it up and move it to a warehouse where they will

examine the debris, but it's going to be a while before 28 left is open. meanwhile we know that the pilots waited 90 seconds before ordering passengers to evacuate during that time, the fire started of course underneath the plane, when they got off, many passengers called 911. >> 911 emergency. what are you reporting? >> reporter: the first harrowing calls to 911 from passengers who just escaped the burning 777. >> i think the majority of people who got off. i tried to stay back but i think there was at least a handful of people behind me before everyone was telling us to get out. >> reporter: as more than 300 people escaped down the emergency chutes and the smoke poured out of the plane the calls became frantic. >> yes. i was on the plane. we've been on the ground, i don't know, 20 minutes or a half hour. there are people laying op the tarmac with critical injuries, head injuries, we're almost losing a woman here. we're trying to keep her alive. >> reporter: the pilots waited 90 seconds before ordering passengers to evacuate not

realizing how bad the crash was. the tower was already sending fire/rescue. >> two minutes after the crash, the first emergency response vehicle arrived on scene. >> reporter: back at the crash scene, late wednesday evening, survivors and family members were escorted to the remains of flight 214 for a final look and to remember the two young girls who died. meanwhile, the seat belts inside the asiana 777 are now getting special attention. >> if i did not have the one more, you know, strap going around my chest, i probably would hit the ceiling on the plane. that's how hard it was. >> reporter: some of the passengers sitting in asiana's business class seats had three point seat belts similar to those used in cars. while passengers sitting in economy had only traditional lap belts. during the crash doctors say many of those passengers were violently folded over their seat belts and then snapped back again, causing serious internal and spinal injuries. orthopedic surgeon has seen it

before. >> the injury occurs between the thoracic and lumbar spine and the crushes the front of the vertebrae and can damage the spinal cord. >> reporter: sometimes use three point belts when the seat in front is too far away to provide protection. u.s. airlines have resisted three-point belts because they don't allow passengers to brace for impact and not required by the faa. we want to talk to you briefly about that lag time allegation an getting medics, ambulances to the crash scene. we talked to the fire department about that. they told us that the first ambulances on the scene were private ambulances, the fire department's ambulances arrived within 13 minutes, but the incident commander staged them away from the crash scene at first concerned that the plane was going to blow up. meanwhile, the pilot has told investigators he thought he saw a flash of light that blinded him at 500 feet. the investigator's are looking at that and also about whether

the auto throttle was working, not working or whether the pilots did not know how to use the auto throttle. back to you. >> wow. tom costello, thank you very much. >> steve, what's your take, all these days later? >> the 90 second delay? >> when the dust settles op this you're going to see some great acts on the part of the crew in getting those people off the plane because they did eventually get them off safely and see some incredibly disorganized and confused and lack of observance of the protocols and procedures, both getting them off the plane but also just flying the plane. four pilots on that plane and they just seemed not to be able to communicate with each other or perform their duties the way -- >> one was in the cabin. only three in the cockpit. >> right. >> wow. >> all right. steve ratner and david gregory, david you're going to take off for the hill but steve stay with us if you can. andrea mitchell, thank you. see you at 1:00 on "andrea mitchell reports." why "time" magazine says

egyptians are great at protesting but terrible at democracy. rick stengel reveals the new issue next. you want to stay for that. >> i can stay for that. >> i need help. dr. zbigniew brzezinski joins us here on set. you're watching "morning joe" brewed by starbucks. dionne wants to save on dinner with her family. what if changing from fast food just once a week could save you over $690 a year? wow, i'd love that. let me show you something. okay. walmart has a ton of dinner options,

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there is a crisis in egypt and the way to move egypt beyond crisis and towards a better future is for the authorities to embrace a process that is inclusive, that leads to a transition back to a civilian/democratically elected government, and that responds to the hopes and aspirations of the egyptian people. of all the egyptian people. >> how is that working out? do you see any indications of the -- >> wow. 21 past the hour. joining us now, former national security adviser for president

carter and author of "strategic vision, america and the crisis of global power" dr. zbigniew brzezinski. dad, thanks for being on the set this morning. and in new york, we have "time" magazine managing editor rick stengel here to unveil the latest issue of "time" magazine, perfect for our panel on set in washington, with andrea mitchell, steve ratner and eugene robinson. rick, go ahead. what's on the cover? >> it's sort of witty treatment of what's happening in egypt, world's best protesters, world's worst democrats. it's a combination of stories by our middle east correspondent carl vick and fa reed za car ya about what really is the world historical events going on in egypt. egypt, of course, was the sort of the birth of the arab spring and what we've seen now is the overturning of the first democratic election in egyptian history. that goes basically back 6,000 years. the question is, the larger question is, when is it ac teptble to overturn the results of a democratic election. the people who have done it says

when you have an authoritarian figure who's undermining democracy and there are those that say look, this is a return to the military autocracy they were all protesting about a year and a half ago. it's an interesting story. it presents a strategic problem for the u.s. fareed talks about egypt as a perfect example of what he calls ill liberal democracies. where there's democracy but isn't freedom. the irony is that for many years, the people in the west have wanted the muslim brotherhood, organizations like that, to embrace politics, become part of the political process. they finally did do that and then they have seen this blow up in their faces and what fareid talks about, does this now incentivize the muslim brotherhood to do what they have done for 80 years before, be in the opposition underground trying to undermine progressive

trends in that country. it's a catch 22 situation and difficult to know what to do and how to respond. >> you have in "time" carl vick reporting from cairo on the troubling precedence set by last week's military coup. dad, to you, what are the ramifications of what went down over the last ten days and possibilities out of it? can you call it a coup? >> the ramifications are enormous. and things can go dramatically wrong throughout the region because the issues are interwoven, egypt, the israeli/palestinian peace process, iran, things can go terribly badly. i think "time" magazine is rendering us a public service addressing this issue in a larger perspective and i have a strange feeling about this whole thing. i have a sense that the president, president obama, has a unique choice now, unique opportunity. he'll either go down in history as being very ineffective, or he may be presiding, if he's stedfast and clear headed, over

a remarkable turnaround. because things in egypt may work out well. this was a coup against anarchy. and the brazilian army, turkish army has given us examples how you can return to constitutional militaryism through military coups. doing a heroic job in the israeli/palestinian process. in my wildest dreams i can see some day netanyahu, abbas and kerry walking down the aisle to get the nobel peace prize. syria may calm down if we get not only the russians but the chinese, the japanese, the indians involved in larger approach to that issue because it all depends on the oil. last but not least look at the change in iran which gives us an opportunity to negotiate. now if all of that comes together, it will be a remarkable turnaround and a dangerous moment in history. >> andrea? >> as the person who presided over with jimmy carter at the

helm the last and first great peace treaty between arabs and jews, do you think that john kerry really has a chance here dealing with netanyahu and a weak palestinian leader? he's trying to clear out the underbrush and doing all of this shuttle diplomacy. no one has done this in decades. is there real chance here between these two leaders? >> i think there is a chance in the sense that the israeli public opinion, 63% now clearly favor a solution along the lines that actually i have been talking about for years, four things. no right of return. so israel is not endangered demographically. sharing of jerusalem in some fashion that gives the two religions a sense of equality. demille tarization of the palestinian state and a deal based on 67 lines accommodations. 63% of israelis support that. i think netanyahu is clever. sometimes too opportunistic, but

he's smart. >> he's pragmatic. >> 90% of americans support background checks and can not get that done here. public opinion polls don't always get you where you want -- >> sometimes they open the doors. >> i agree. >> let me ask you, because you talked about the possibility of obama being a transformational president in the foreign policy area. we can go through country by country. back to egypt, what, if anything, should he be doing differently than what he's doing now, which is not very much obviously, to make it come out the right way and assure his place in history? >> well, first of all, not to get overly involved publicly, this is a sensitive issue obviously within egypt and american meddling can be extremely counter productive. people don't like medalers and america has gotten the reputation of beak imperialistic. we have to stay back. give it a chance. we gave the brazilian military several chances and they restored democracy in brazil in an important way. the army saved democracy in

turkey several times. not every military coup is in itself evil. it depends on what it is against. and this particular case, i think it's quite clear that country was sliding into anarchy and 80 million people in a militaristic fanatical religious frenzy combined could be explosive. >> sure. >> what does it mean, dr. brzezinski, that we're being outspent in egypt in terms of aid, the saudis and the uae are pouring -- and kuwait are pouring something like $12 billion into the country now that the military is back in charge. the qataris were giving billions of dollars to the muslim brotherhood government and presumably will continue funding the brotherhood perhaps under the table? we're giving $1.5 billion a year and that's kind of looking like chump change at this point. does that make a difference? >> that may be a good thing. i think the region can settle itself if it gets itself

organized in a fashion as rationale, strategically mindful, alert. the fact that these countries are helping the military stabilize the situation is something we should quietly applaud. i wouldn't applaud it publicly either. i think we have to have a low profile. >> sure. >> stedfast, try to protect the israeli/egyptian peace, because that's a very important source of stability in the middle east. beyond that, not dictate. >> rick stengel? >> yes. dr. brzezinski, thank you for endorsing our story. i'm curious where you see the progressive elements in the military? i mean, i'm heartened by how optimistic you are, but i'm curious to see who in the military, what are the strains in the military, where people are, yes, what we really want to do now is we ousted this incompetent leader and now we want to restore progressive democracy and, of course, what will now happen to the muslim brotherhood who until now were basically the only organized

force in egyptian politics at all? >> look, it's not up to us to make that choice. it's up to the egyptians. who knew what sadat would be like before sadat became what he was. people surface. i have no idea what general alsisy is like. no way of judging. i don't know what morsi is really like. but i do know that there was a definite slide towards anarchy in egypt. our question to your term optimistic, i'm not optimistic but i see a shadow of opportunity, which if seized, could be really transformational. >> and the thing is, the idea -- what i do endorse, is this idea that the transition to democracy, is never an yees thing. this was the first democratic election in egypt in 6,000 years. the idea that they would immediately get it right, when we've been working on it for 200 years ourselves, is a little unrealistic as well. >> absolutely right. >> although 6,000 years, you know, america has been around

for 6,000 years, even if it hasn't been fully. when did our democracy arrive. >> that's a good question. a final note out of foreign policy magazine, a piece entitled "the new arab awakening" and in part says this, islamism or any ideology for that matter is no replacement for competent, responsible leadership. but let us not discount this momentous opportunity. the second egyptian revolution is a bellwether for moderates in the region who should now seek to regain the initiative. this call for tolerance risks being drowned out by an increase in violence, an unwelcome rise in sec tarism, the uncertain role of islamist political groups, the growth and foreign meddling by regional aggressors and a deepening economic crisis. the voice of moderation, the spirit of compassion and respect for others must be nurtured and protected by anwar garrgash. how that happens i think is the next question, can it happen? >> exactly.

i don't exclude the possibility that it can happen if we address all of these four issues intelligently, moderately, patiently and in the case of the presidential leadership with decisive support. the president ultimately has to be involved. i think obama has a unique chance, it may not work, but if you think of the interaction of these four things, it really is an alternative between massive regional chaos in which we become involved for a long time, or perhaps a breakthrough to something which promises transformational result. >> dad, thank you. the new issue of "time" is out now. rick stengel, thank you very much. dr. zbigniew brzezinski, to be more formal, thank you as well. >> thank you. >> senator john thune on the new republican push to block key aspects of obama care. >> good. thank goodness somebody is out there doing god's work. >> "morning joe" will be right back. ♪

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okay. >> gentlemen, you need to lesisn up. >> we have a show to do. >> work to be done. >> okay. >> yeah. the world is getting healthier. >> good, see. >> no. >> the u.s. is lagging behind in

the progress. >> okay. >> that's part of findings from a report on health in america and listen to this, nbc's dr. nancy snyderman breaks it all down. it's important. >> i'm sure it is. >> reporter: the report out is a snapshot of how america's health compares to other developed nations and just as important, it's a look at what's happening within our own communities. while we are living longer, we are falling behind. >> things are getting better over the last two decades, but the pace of improvement is slower than in other high-income countries. >> reporter: on average life expectancy for men in the united states is now 76 years. that's up from age 67, 40 years ago. for women it's now 81, up from 76. but that varies dramatically by region. men living in fairfax county, virginia, are expected to live the longest, about 81 years. but travel 350 miles, and men in mcdowell county, west virginia, live on average to just 64 years. that's similar to the life expectancy in gambia, west

africa, one of the world's poorest countries. women fair better with the highest life expectancy, 85 years, in marin county, california. lowest, age 72 in perry county, kentucky. that's on par with life expectancy in vietnam, a nation plagued by poverty. the biggest risk factors for an early death, what and how much we eat. >> the most dramatic change in the u.s. in the past 20 years, this extraordinary obesity epidemic. and if you look at how much we eat, that trumps the fact that we seem to be doing a little bit more exercise. >> reporter: people living in certain areas of the south have the highest body mass index. using this measure, men living in osly county, kentucky, have the highest rates of obesity. so do women living in osweega county, mississippi. how we die in the u.s. hasn't changed much since 1990. the top three causes of

premature death, heart disease, lung cancer and stroke. >> wow. that was dr. nancy snyderman reporting. did you hear that? it's not cigarettes anymore. it's the food. >> so you're saying -- >> we can smoke? >> no. >> but we shouldn't eat. >> my god. filling in for joe, eugene. up next, the public view them as the most trusted news man. his family knew him as so much more. walter cronkite iv joins us with a new book on his legendary grandfather. keep it right here on "morning joe." oh, he's a fighter alright.

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africa by american troops. >> it was my first time on camera. i just fell into whatever it is i do naturally. i never took any lessons. i might have been a pretty decent broadcaster if i had. >> america knew walter cronkite as the legendary newsman. but not many knew him as the doting husband to his wife betsy. here grandson of walter cronkite iv. he's the owe author of "cronkites war his world war ii letters home." great to have you on the show. i hear you watch. >> yes, i do. >> i want to know what it's like to be walter cronkite iv. is that tough? >> no. it's a privilege. >> and honor, right? >> it's an honor. >> tell us about the book and why you put together these letters? some of them are deeply personal and was everybody in the family on board with that? what's the back story?

>> everyone is on board, everyone is very excited. we didn't know they existed and when we discovered them, they were amazed and we thought it was very interesting. >> how were they discovered? >> i went down with my father to the university of it texas which is where my grandfather donated all of his papers and the university of texas staff cur rated these boxes and many dozens of boxes of papers and found these world war ii papers he had written home to my grandmother and she had saved every one of them. >> wow. >> and they lasted all these years. >> i can't imagine to go through all those papers and to find these letters, because some of them are so personal. i'll read from one, this is december 12th, 1943. cronkite's letter to his wife. another gloomy sunday. this time made even lonelier by the fact that it is just a year ago today that i left you on this last longest trip of all. i held a secret hope, almost a belief, that nothing would really keep us apart for long and that somehow we would be

together before many more months had passed. well now it has been a year and although some say the end is in sight, it still seems to be a far stretch down the road. it hasn't been much fun. it won't be fun until we can be together again. must have been so moving to go through those letters. >> it was. and they had a wonderful marriage, as you can see here, 65 years they were married, just shy of 65 years. and they truly loved each other. they had a good time. a great rapport with each other. funny, kind of both ripped on each other. especially my grandmother, but a great sense of humor and always trying to bring my grandfather's ego down a peg. they had a really great relationship. >> lovely. >> so what -- >> did you -- what did you learn from the book about your grandparents that you didn't know? what surprised you? what was new and interesting, particularly for you as a grandson? >> the adventures my grandfather had in the war. i had grown up hearing stories about his war time experiences,

but reading about them and reading about all these things he did like flyingp. his firsthand account of flying and bombing raids over germany, crash landing in gliders, these are the stories i heard growing up, but reading his account that he wrote right after, right after participating in it, was pretty interesting. >> i'm curious what you learned about journalism as you read the book and the way your grandfather practiced it and what does it say about journalism today, if anything? >> on one of the -- this is one of the early stages of completely unbiased objective journalism with the wire services, one of the first practitioners of totally objective journalism, and they're competitive. all the wire services werep really, you know, up, ap, were very competitive with each other and cutthroat and trying to race back and write their stories faster and get it out quickly and accuracy, very much first, but they wanted to get the story in first as well. >> yeah.

>> these letters are amazing. they're so -- he writes long, beautiful letters to his wife. >> yeah. >> sam, do you to that? >> no. we have a thing called e-mail. we don't have to do letters these days. >> sam, write long beautiful e-mails. >> every day. >> 50 years from now, somebody's going to try to reconstruct a life or an era in somebody's life from text messages. it's going to be -- >> exactly. >> lol. >> yeah. >> and stuff. it's not the same. >> no. >> obviously not. >> he starts out, my darlingest one. i've got to rush now, honey, i love you. this is after an eight-page letter. i love you, be you know, and miss you terribly. tell little judy and the family howdy for me, forever walter. >> and judy is the family dog. judy is the spanle. he was obsessed with judy. we had to edit almost a little of judy out because there's so

much judy in these letters. >> a little inappropriate like who is judy. i love it. tom brokaw wrote the forward of the book. he calls your grandparents' story a quintessential american love story. it's lovely. the book is "cronkite's war." walter cronkite iv, thank you so much. great to have you on the show. >> up next a big announcement in the fight against poverty. how some of the world's biggest musical acts are pitching in for this important cause. you're watching "morning joe" brewed by starbucks. [ tap ] [ tap ] ♪ 'cause tonight [ tap ] ♪ we'll share the same dream ♪ ♪ at the dark end of the street ♪ ♪ ♪ you and me ♪ you and me

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♪ all night long i dreamed ♪ when it comes around and it's taken away ♪ that was the band the foo fighters performing at the global citizen festival last september. joining us now from new york, the ceo of the global poverty project, hugh evans, with an exclusive announcement on the organization's next major event. i'm told it is going to be mass itch. what is it? >> it is so exciting. today we are so excited to announce the second annual global citizen festival to take place on the great lawn of central park. this free concert will feature stevie wonder, kings of leon, alicia keys and john mayer all

headlining and making a massive impact for the world's poor. this concert is taking place on september 28 on the great lawn of central park. we're going to make a massive impact as world leaders gather in new york city for this year's u.n. general assembly meeting. >> so every time you guys do something, it gets bigger. this is definitely -- this is impressive. is it raising money? funneling money in specific directions to try and pare down, make a difference on the issue of poverty, which has so many different angles you could take that you could spend the rest of your life and not tackle it? how do you focus on what you're doing? >> we focus on four key policy issues. we want to ultimately take action on global education and prioritize the 57 million children who currently are denied education. we want to focus on women's equality and see that women's equality becomes a central issue for the post-millennium gulf

framework. also see that children receive basic immunizations they deserve. and that health care workers in sub-saharan africa get the training they need to do their job effectively. and highlight public/private partnerships for development. where public corporations and develop work together for the world's poor. >> i remember back in may of this year on this very show we had a debate around the roundtable about whether or not global poverty would be eradicated on its own and that it was basically a process that was going to happen regardless of what ngos did because countries like india and china were growing economically and that would lift the entire boat, or the entire ocean i should say. what is your take on that? and if it's not going to happen on its own, what role do ngos play in filling in the gaps? >> it's a great question. all the data suggests if you

left it up to the economy alone, there would be be 60 million people in our world living in poverty if you simply allowed economic forces by themselves. that's where intervention such as access to health care, education, women's equality come in and that's where ngos have a critical role to play. when they deliver mosquito bed nets, they help the economic process. when people provide basic vaccines to support the world's poorest people. or when children are educated, particularly women, because the education of women has a much greater effect on economic growth because ultimately women are inclined to invest back into their economy. and so if you leave it up to economic forces alone, you're going to get somewhere. but ngos have a critical role to play to end extreme poverty. >> i have a quick question. what about poverty in america? we've been seeing articles about hunger, children hunger, child hunger in america. do you focus on that? is that a problem on the scale

of what's happening globally? >> poverty in america is a huge challenge. there are some fantastic organizations such as robinhood and so many others on the cutting edge of fighting poverty in america. our focus is on global poverty. we focus on the sort of useless suffering where a child would die for lack of a 30-cent immunizati immunization. we focus on the bottom billion. . 1 billion people on this planet who live on less than $1.25 per day. we believe that's why this global citizen festival is important. it's going to provide an opportunity to build a long-lasting movement to see an end to extreme poverty by 2030. >> for more information, you can get tickets and other things that you can do to h ep, visit globalfestiv globalfestival.com. hugh evans is the ceo of the global poverty project. you're 30 years old and i just, i so hope you can find something

substantive to do with your life, but thank you for coming on the show today. >> i really appreciate it. up next, forgive and forget? new polling shows eliot spitzer with an early lead in the race for new york city comptroller. plus, what newly released 911 calls reveal about the crash of flight 214 in san francisco. we're going to play the tapes when "morning joe" coming right back. wi drive a ford fusion. who is healthier, you or your car? i would say my car. probably the car. cause as you get older you start breaking down. i love my car. i want to take care of it. i have a bad wheel - i must say. my car is running quite well. keep your car healthy with the works. $29.95 or less after $10 mail-in rebate at your participating ford dealer. so you gotta take care of yourself? yes you do.

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♪ come take my hand ♪ right now tonight to case the promised land ♪ good moral in, it's 8:00 a.n the east coast. as we come back to the set. and in new york, thomas roberts. >> joe, let's bring everybody up to speed on what we've been watching. after hearing from 18 witnesses, the defense has rested its case in the murder trial of george zimmerman. yesterday the big question was whether or not the neighborhood watch volunteer should take the stand in his own defense. >> reporter: george zimmerman made up his mind. >> what is your decision, sir? >> after consulting with counsel, not to testify, your honor. >> reporter: earlier as the defense wound up its case with witnesses yet to call, things got testy. >> i am asking your client questions. please, mr. west. >> i object to the court inquiring of mr. zimmerman as to

his decision about whether or not to testify -- >> your objection is overruled. mr. zimmerman, i will give you more time, sir, to discuss this with your attorneys. thank you very much. >> the tension between defense attorney don west and judge nelson appears leftover from a previous session. >> it's 10:00 at night. we started this morning. we've had full days every day. weekends, depositions at night. >> reporter: most of this final day in the case focused on the testimony of an expert on the use of force. >> if you haven't been successfully able to win the event in the first 30 seconds, you need to change tactics. >> reporter: who said zimmerman had no other options but to shoot martin because he wasn't adept at fighting and felt his life was threatened by the teen. saying he fired in self-defense. >> i don't know what else he could have done based on his

abilities. because not to be offensive to mr. zimmerman but he doesn't seem to have any. >> reporter: under cross examination, prosecutor john guy used a foam dummy to question where zimmerman's gun was located when he pulled it. >> if this person, this mannequin, were carrying a firearm on their waist, where would the gun be right now in relation to me? >> would be at your left inner thigh. >> right here, right? >> yes. >> reporter: later -- >> may i use -- >> reporter: defense attorney mark o'mara also got physical. refocussing attention on zimmerman's face and head injuries and whether they're consistent with an attack. >> how about this? how about somebody resisting the attempt, the injuries, the lacerations? could that have come from cement, if somebody was resisting me? >> i believe so. >> reporter: so again they're going to start the close arguments today at 1:00. that's supposed to last roughly about three hours. but it's been very interesting for court observers to question

whether or not zimmerman was going to take the stand. a lot of people said it depends on the type of defense case that is put up and they'll make that decision, you know, at the last moment. it seems as the defense feels they've been strong enough that zimmerman doesn't need to get up and speak. >> listen, gene, if i'm the defense and i got a lawyer that the judge loves as much as the judge loves this defense lawyer -- >> right, you're feeling good, aren't you. >> can you believe that? she told the guy to shut up. she hates him. >> well, look, you're a lawyer, is it taught in law school you're supposed to yammer at the judge as she's leaving the bench? and complain about the way she's running her courtroom? >> he's doing it for a reason. maybe he's trying to take the attention off of his client. i have no idea why he's doing it. but from people who have actually watched this thing, i haven't, they say he's doing a very good job.

>> real quickly, to point out the tension that's in this room, a lot of people may have missed yesterday when judge nelson was evague wa evaluating and questioning zimmerman himself about whether he would testify, west objected to her questioning, and she said, you can't object to the judge questioning. >> well, and you know what -- >> so she got a little mad at that. >> did it ten times, i mean, kept doing it. we'll let everybody else in the world talk about this for the rest of the day. we're moving on now. thomas, what else is going on today that -- >> there's other big news, especially when it comes to that sfo crash. dramatic recordings reveal the scene inside just moments after last weekend's crash in san francisco. take a listen. >> we just got in a plane crash, and there are a bunch of people who still need help and there's not enough medics out here. there's a woman out here on the street, on the runway, who is

pretty much burned very severely on the head and we don't know what to do. >> are you on the plane, ma'am? >> yes, i was on the plane. we've been on the ground, i don't know, 20 minutes or a half hour. there are people laying on the tarmac with critical injuries, head injuries. we're trying to keep her alive. >> the head of the ntsb revealed on wednesday that the doors of the plane were not open till about 90 seconds after the jet had come to a full stop. with more now, nbc's tom costello. >> reporter: 12 flight attendants were on board flight 214. rescuers credit their quick action with helping to save 307 lives. >> as the evacuation went on, the fire did continue. and the flight attendants and the flight crew were involved in trying to fight the fire on the inside. >> reporter: two flight attendants were ejected from the rear of the plane on impact. one sustained massive head injuries. the other, a broken leg. in a report, a first officer in a 747 waiting to take off on the

same runway after flight 214 landed described the crash and then two survivors stumbling but moving. i saw one survivor stand up, walk a few feet, then appear to squat down. the other appeared to be a one and was walking, then fell off to her side and remained on the ground till rescue personnel arrived. some flight attendants left for seoul south korea and talked briefly to reporters. >> translator: asiana airlines and all the flight attendants are working as hard as possible to recover. >> reporter: meanwhile, the three pilots in the congress pill told investigators they struggled to line up properly for a visual landing, then realized too late their auto throttle had not maintained a minimum speed but investigators have not found any evidence of the throttle malfunctioning. retired 777 captain tom casey says auto throttle isn't designed to suddenly kick in when a plane is set up for a landing. >> if the airplane thinks its landing because it's only at 50 feet, then it will not come in,

it just says, well, captain's landing the airplane. >> we have to go back to there is automation there to support the pilots but the pilots have to fly the airplane, monitor and fly. >> there's still so much debate about what was going on in the final seconds between the pilots. it's still miraculous there wasn't more loss of life as we learn more about what went down and the images that have been coming out of there. the ntsb has been tweeting photos. they've been forthcoming with a lot of the information, with there information. it's just amazing that it wasn't a lot worse. >> i know. amazing it's not a lot worse. you hear these stories of people being on the ground for quite some time without emergency workers. >> yeah, that's -- i want to hear more about that. because that's not the story we got initially. my impression was it had been a pretty rapid and successful response by the first responders there in san francisco.

20 minutes. i mean, that -- can't have that. >> that is really something. al, you tonigdon't like flying. >> i don't. it's why we show these pictures. we got to remind en, especially my two older boys, that this is the strong et stretch of safety in the history of u.s. aviation and none of that means anything to you, does it, you and john madden are still going to get in your van -- >> and mika. >> and now like mika who doesn't understand how they stay up in the air. >> i was in a flight with my daughter about a month ago from atlanta and we were delayed five hours because of lousy weather. the guy across the aisle very calmly called his wife and said, if i don't make it, i want you to do -- at which point -- >> if we don't make it. >> i did not need that. >> serious. >> okay. on to happier news now. what's that, thomas? >> i was going to say, send it back to debby downer, you want

these new poll numbers for eliot spitzer? >> i was going to say, are you okay with flying, thomas? >> it's a necessary evil. >> good guy. >> yeah, i'm good with it. especially when it's for vacation. >> it's safe, man, it's safe. >> it is. it's a lot safer than getting in a car and having 16-year-old girls going like this while they're coming the other way 80 miles an hour in their daddy's pickup truck. why? it's safer. all right, now, give us the new poll numbers. >> eliot spitzer, early lead in the race for new york city comptroller. 42% of registered democrats support the former government. 33% backing scott stringer. stringer being the manhattan borough president. 44% believe spitzer, who resigned from office amid a prosecution scandal, is a changed man now. and believe he deserves a second chance. >> i'll tell you what, he was on

the show the other day and a lot of people are asking whether he really cried or not. of course i wasn't there. but mika was there and she said he had all the telltale signs. he was sketch iweating. he was deeply anguished. she's one of the more cynical people. but said it was real and it was compelling. you know, the thing about eliot spitz spitzer, he reminded me of mark sanford. that mark would go anywhere, he'd talk to anybody, and, annie, people would sit there and keep asking tough questions and he'd stay in there. i think that put spitzer in a good place too. >> i think spitzer and weiner are an object lesson in the fact that in american politics there are always second acts. as bad as it is when these scandals are happening, the united states is apparently pretty quick to forgive. >> why are we surprised by this? bill clinton was fine.

mark sanford was fine. you know, there's plenty -- there's been example after example -- >> by the way, david vitter, it was his wife. she was so tough, people were scared not to vote for him. whenever she goes out to the lawn, she goes, you know david is back up in washington, d.c. now and the kids and i are here, can you leave us alone? go after him. >> you know, we all -- >> david vitter is having a family night fund-raiser next week. >> well, spitzer the next day -- >> like a week ago, his life seemed so simple. >> that's politics. he was on yesterday and did very well. he's a preimpressive guy. >> a guy with 100% name recognition comes into the race. >> i think he's going to do it. again, there is though -- i wonder about anthony weiner. when he was down here, he wasn't really known as a guy that got a lot of things done.

>> or made a lot of friends. >> or made a lot of friends. eliot spitzer didn't make a lot of friends but eliot spitzer would always come up to you and talk and engage. again, wasn't afraid to come on the show. i think we're going to see a big difference between how eliot spitzer tries his comeback and anthony weiner tries his. >> i think there's something else, which you had mentioned, eliot spitzer is going for a lesser office than he hold before. starting more in the beginning. whereas anthony weiner is going for an office ten ties bigger than anything he ever aspired to before. >> by the way, the question abcs itself. which is, you know, if you get re-elected, if you get elected, why, you haven't paid at all, you haven't been punished at all, you're back in public service. comptroller of new york city instead of governor of new york state. i think it does show some humility. >> the other question for weiner is, if you get elected, why, i mean, what do you want to do, why do you want to be mayor of

new york. i'm not sure he answered that question to my satisfaction. >> i think spitzer has actually one of the good things he's done is he's actually tried to say a productive agenda. so you can associate him with the office much more -- >> you know he will do stuff. he will do stuff. he'll have a pot of billions of dollars pension money that he can invest and throw that weight around. >> good luck for the mayor. and city council. it's going to be a tough four years. speaking of tough, immigration. al, have been saying for some time that everybody thought all it had to do was get through the senate and sort of check it off. didn't know what was going on, what lay beneath in the house. still, i don't see a way forward. certainly not for citizenship. >> joe, you may well have been more prescient than i. in the end, they couldn't walk

away, whatever they had to do. i think your view is closer to reality. really was a difficult caucus yesterday. clearly is a strong majority of republicans who are opposed, i think, to doing much of anything. >> right. >> but i think there is counterpressure. boehner and ryan reflected that yesterday. i think high-tech industry, even some evangelical, the haley barbours, the george w. bush. it's not that their very influential, they're not, but i think in the end, to envision the house just walking away, doing nothing, is still difficult for me. i think a critical question may be here, do they do piecemeal legislation and go to conference? said above all, do not go to conference. once they go to conference, i think you probably get something, but i think they resist that. >> coming up on "morning joe," he's leading a push to permanently delay the president's health care law. senator john thune on set. also, dee dee myers, "new york times" reporter. first, a look at the forecast.

>> it's very humid in the eastern portions of the u.s. we all like to think we'd play it cool if we ever got caught in anything bad while driving our car. let's judge how john handled driving into a mudslide yesterday. >> oh, my god. oh, my god. oh, my god. [ bleep ] wow. [ bleep ]

oh, my god, [ bleep ] >> he did end up safe. that onramp up ahead on the let, his car came to a stop. he actually said that about five seconds before the mudslide hit him, a cop car went in reverse at about 30 miles per hour past him. he said that was a sign that he should have done the same exact thing. he was recording it because he was actually going -- he heard about the flooding and he wanted to go videotape it. he found it. as far as this morning, we got the very high humidity levels. the dew points are off the charts. there's always showers and thunderstorms on i-95 from boston to new york to d.c. that will continue all day. shouldn't be too severe. we will get airport delays because of that. more comfortable air mass today over the ohio valley, up to buffalo. it's very hot in dallas today. 102. it looks like the heat's going to continue there all week long. still pretty warm in the intermountain west. at least we're not in the 100s

anymore. you know who is having beautiful weather? the northwest. gorgeous in seattle and through oregon this july. enjoy it. looks like it's going to continue as we go throughout much of this week. we leave you the shot of new york city. this is just about as thick and soupy as the air gets for around here. more showers and storms on the way this afternoon. good time to get away from the big apple. you're whatting "morning joe" brewed by starbucks. ♪ pnc virtual wallet®. for a whole new way to view your finances. for organizing debit card purchases, credit card purchases and even your bills. for seeing your spending by category or by month. so you can set a budget and get alerts when you're running low. for keeping track of your spending to see when you're coming close to the limit you've set. for seeing how pnc virtual wallet® can help you manage your money in one simple to use place,

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i was calling him perfect and joe disagreed. >> i thought you said you were too perfect. >> i don't know. republican senator from south dakota, senator john thune. former white house press secretary under clinton and continuing editor at "vanity fair" dee dee myers back with us. >> fperfect as well. >> fabulous is the word i use. jeremy. >> hair is perfect. >> and then sam stein's back at the table as well. >> not perfect. very much not perfect. so let's talk about a couple things. you first, because you cover the hill for "the times." immigration reform. we hear the republicans on the house side are going to kill it. what do you think? >> did you reach the op-ed in "the wall street journal"? there was a 12 point list of

grievances. i think that illustrates how difficult it's going to be to get this through the house. is it dead-dead? nothing's dead till it's -- >> right, right. >> but there is a tough road. >> senator, agree? >> i think it is, joe, but i'm been inner is me er in several house republicans. there are a lot who want to legislate on this issue. it's going to be tough to thread the needle. you have to find that combination of people who -- there are going to be a lot of people who aren't going to be for a path for citizenship but there are people who are for -- >> would democrats in the senate support that? for democrats in the senate, it's about -- is it about citizenship or nothing? >> pretty much. that's where if you get into a conference, that's going to be the big rub. i think that in chatting with a lot of house republicans including a number of the conservatives, many would like to see the house act on the issue. it is going to be difficult. they can't do it like the senate did. they can't do a big

comprehensive bill. if they do some of the border security pieces first and give people something to vote for there, they may be able to get some legislation passed in the house. >> would the senate agree to a bill that doesn't grant citizenship but provides legalization? >> i think it's a tough sell for the senate. especially since they passed a comprehensive bill that does all of this. they're going back, you know, and take that provision away when it's already passed the senate, that would be a very tough sell. >> the big bet right now is the house will come back and they'll do something with border security and something like the dream act which is sort of the pared down version of this comb pr prehencive bill and then, you know, walk home and say we did something. i wonder if that's going to be good enough for pro-reform advocates at this juncture, probably not. >> they're not going to give one group the path to citizenship

without dealing with it more broadly. >> if it's a choice of nothing or passing the dream act, do they really walk away from the dream act? >> it's a good question. there's such a cry, as senator said, for a path to citizenship. i think there's an interesting split happening now with conservatives in the house. some the most conservative members saying they want the children taken care of. the people who were brought here unwittingly, through no fault of their own. that is the kind compassionate conservativism, if you will, that i think a lot of republicans are saying, okay, well, this is something we can handle, but legalization for the others, no way. >> you know, it might be you need to wait till the next congress to do something this. that's when a presidential election is actually in focus as opposed to midterms. >> you can say that about a of things. >> does that make it easier or hard harder? >> a nominee running for office isn't going to be bogged down with a platform.

>> they're going to have to come up with a strategy where they can pass it with republican votes because i don't think they'll get help from democrats. if they do these things piecemeal. there may be some democrats in some states that would vote for elements of an immigration bill. i think the republicans are going to have to think about, as they pursue this, how do we get 218 republicans to vote for this? >> let's get to obama care or the president's health care plan. senator thune, you, along with 45 other republican senators, sent a letter to president obama. >> mika's going to love this one. >> i love the way you state you want to permanently delay the implementation. you want to get rid of it. >> right. okay. semantics, come on. there have been a number of appeals in the house to repeal it entirely. when they came out last week on tuesday before independence day through a blog post and dumped

this idea of, you know, canceling the employer mandate in the bill obviously a lot of us seized on that, said, wait, that's great for small businesses who have been complaining about complying with the mandate, but what about everybody else, the individuals hit with the individual mandate? let's delay this. at least delay it as they proposed for a year. many of us would love to see it permanently. >> you even have progressives talking about getting rid of the mandate, getting rid of the employer mandate. this is actually something that could happen on a permanent basis. because liberals have always thought, a lot of liberals and think tankings have always thought it was a bad idea. >> if you think about how it works operationally, it's 50 employees or more. have to or plans that are government approved. full time is defined as 30 or more hours. so up gyou've got more and more people pushed into part-tyime jobs. it was hurting the economy. i think the administration

recognized its expensive, it's complicated. they were hearing from businesses. and they decided to delay it. >> dee dee myers, i was saying this during the debate, i had so many small business owners in pensacola and across my district come up to me while this debate was going on saying, just saying, you know, a couple years ago, i'm going to have to take my best employees, i'll have to knock them down to under 30 hours. i'm going to probably lose them. because i don't have a big enough margin to be able to afford this. it seems the white house heard that so much, so often, that they realized this really was, as the republicans have been saying, going to cause a drain on the economy. >> the vast majority of businesses with 50-plus employees already provide insurance. the notion this creates some new paradigm is not true. there are some that don't. and it is complicated. but i think the white house has always recognized that the devil's in the details. now they're living in that space

where this is a very complicated bill. one that was -- there's a lot of compromises in getting it done. now they're in the phase of trying to passing the regs, write the regs, create the exchanges and stuff for the individuals and make it operational. they understand if they don't get it right, the bill can't -- the law in the long term will be much more difficult for it to succeed. this is where the rubber meets the road for them. >> i think so. i understand the debate other the employer mandate. even "the new york times" had a piece on a restaurant that would love to see what you're trying to make happen, happen. having said that, are there parts -- >> john thune -- >> are there parts of the bill that you think would be good for america? >> you guys clip this part right here. >> are there parts of the bill that are good for this country? >> i think things have to be addressed that are problems. you've talked about them, mika. you have to deal with pre-existing conditions for sure. most insurance companies have

already agreed to cover kids up to 26 which is something that was required in the bill. obviously, there are a lot of people who don't have access to health care coverage in this country who need to have access to it. >> do you think they should? >> sure, absolutely. we just decide -- our view was you didn't need a massive 2,700 page bill to deal with some of these problems in the health care system. that's the way we'd like to see this approach. when you do something this big and this massive that affects one-sixth of the american economy, i think you create a lot of problems. >> i have a question on that. at some point, you have to recognize the law of the land is the law of the land. seems to me from the big macro perspective is the republicans are by and large trying to hurt the implementation law, then turning around and saying the law's not working. a perfect example of this is the nfl trying to help facilitate the exchanges. making sure the information is out there. why was it so important to you

guys to make sure they didn't help facilitate the exchanges? part of what makes the exchanges work is getting people signed up. >> our view is anything we can do to delay the implementation of this, to insulate people from the impacts of this, is a good thing. there was another thing that was sort of underreported this last week. with regard to this whole subject. that is the administration is going to allow people to self-report their income when it comes to eligibility for subsidies and the exchanges. astounding you would allow people to say, this is my income. if i can get a bigger subsidy by having this amount of income versus this amount, they're going to allow that self-reporting. that's a recipe for fraud. >> can you work on the irs for us? >> good luck with that. >> i'd appreciate that. >> one question is why not work with the administration and make the law better? recognize that it is the law of the land rather than say we're only going to work -- >> well, i think in the end, i mean, we recognize there are

things about this that could be done that might fix it. the medical device tax, a big vote to repeal that. there's a great op-ed earlier this week, talked about how that's impacting innovation. there are things we'd like to do with deal with the more problem attic pieces of this. if they say we're going to delay the implementation of the major key component, our argument is let's delay this thing and get to a point hopefully where we cab do this the right way. >> one of the things i hear some your republican colleagues slightly concerned about is, you know, while you were a lot of you were their thrilled to hear this president was delaying a key part of this, you risk sounding like "i told you so" if you say this is failing, see, we knew all along. i wonder if you're concerned you might be dancing on the grave a little bit too gleefully. >> i think in many respects if you look we're responding to where the public is on this.

people are still very sour on this idea. i think they see the idea -- the possibility they could lose the coverage they have. they see premiums going up. they know taxes that are going up. our taxes are going up. i think there are lots of issues related to this. so i think where we are right now is on the side of the public. we don't want to be -- most of us voted against it. being naysayers about it and suggesting in its implementation it's going to be very difficult i don't think is anything we haven't said before. >> obviously we've been hearing and talking about democrats in the senate especially concerned about the inpla men tation, afraid that maybe kathleen sebelius and hhs weren't going to be up to responding as quickly. was there at least behind the scenes relief from democrats on the hill, like, thank god we're not going to have to defend that in 2014?

>> right, well, i look at it this way. to the extend the employer mandate is no longer in the picture, it doesn't help democrats, it just takes away something bad that might have happened. i think what they need to do is they need to find a way -- you're seeing this with the group advertising about the benefits of obama care. i think they need to find a way to sell this and convince the public as the senator said, a skeptical public, this is sound policy. >> senator john thune, thank you very much. >> i'm glad to see you've got joe eating healthy. those are surely his apple slices. >> no, they're mine. he wouldn't touch these. >> hey, john, john, they're right here. right here. >> got to get here in the 6:00 hour. >> stay with us. still ahead, our next guest says ben bernanke is winning his standoff with the financial markets.

"the wall street journal's" john hilsonrath joins us when "morning joe" comes right back. discover card. i missed a payment. aw, shoot. shoot! this is bad. no! we're good! this is your first time missing a payment. and you've got the it card, so we won't hike up your apr for paying late. that's great! it is great! thank you. at discover, we treat you like you'd treat you. get the it card with late payment forgiveness. when she was only fifteen hours first open hold. surgery... handing her over for surgery is the hardest thing i've... ever had to do. before obamacare, insurance companies could put lifetime... caps on your health insurance. once you hit that cap... they don't pay anymore. zoe was half way to her cap before her first birthday. anncr: obamacare ended lifetime caps stacey: thanks to obamacare, we can now afford the care... that zoe needs. and for her, that's a lifesaver.

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>> talking through the segment. >> somebody's got to do it. i'm doing it for you to make you feel comfortable. >> joining us now, "the wall street journal's" john hilsonrath. you're talking about the bernanke winning his standoff over the markets. how many's that happening? >> we've had this drama unfolding for the last month and a half where the fed's -- >> weird words for it all. >> i try to avoid using them all because nobody understands them. they've basically been buying $85 billion worth of bonds every month. pumping money into the financial system. they want to stop it. they want to start slowing it down later this year and finish it by the middle of next year. and the market had a seizure basically when bernanke started talking about this. everyone were saying, you know, he blew it, he really messed up -- >> and why? >> because, you know, the afally is the market's kind of like on steroids, right, that it needs this medication to keep going.

when he talked about pulling it back, people flipped out. the point i'm making today is they're starting to get comfortable with the idea. the dow's back over 15,000. he was out talking yesterday up in boston. again, kind of reiterating this message. the market shrugged it off. after spending a lot of june kind of going up and down every time he said anything about it. >> the question is sort one i ask myself every day, samstein, how long can you overmedicate? >> i don't know. i find it amazing how sensitive the market is to whatever bernanke did. if he ate the wrong thing for lunch, will our interest rates skyrocket? they study this man with such scrutiny, it's crazy. >> and they end up getting mixed messages. because they spend so much time reading tea leaves they don't listen to what he's saying. takes weeks and weeks for him to get this message -- >> i'm a prospective homebuyer. it looks like real estate's doing pretty well. but i'm worried about the

interest rate on a loan. what should i take from all this? >> we had a big spasm in the last month, interest rates shot up. people asking this question, are rates going up? do i need to lock in now? i think the spasm got out of the system and things are settling down. basically the market knows what the fed is going to tell it. i think rates probably settle down for the next few months. >> go ahead, jeremy. >> as you point out, the sweepstakes for a fed replacement for bernanke, they're heating up. given the makeup of the senate and the strong resistance to just about anybody president obama appoints, is there somebody who can satisfy the more conservative element of the party? >> this is where i think there's a really interesting drama playing out. between two people, janet yellen who worked in the white house in

1990s and larry somers. with janet yellen, obama has a chance to do something historic, to announce the first woman to run the central bank on its 100th year anniversary. then you have larry somers who also worked at the treasury, he was the treasury secretary. he's close to obama. >> slightly more polarizing. >> his eating habits -- >> my colleague had a story earlier this week talking about his close relationship with obama, and it looks like he's getting serious consideration. so then you look at the senate. how would they handle a somer's nomination to the fed? >> i thing with yellen, i think she has a much easier ride. it's kind of like obama would be daring republicans to challenge a very competent woman to run

the fed. >> so another piece of the puzzle would be hedge funds and how they're doing. help me out here because i'm going to show the new cover of bloomberg business week. they have a provocative symbol i guess in terms of the question of all this. wow. okay. alex, when you told me it was provocative, i didn't think you meant that provocative. hedge funds are an posh piece of this puzzle, are they not? >> well, concernly are. i think the story there is they don't have the kind of returns, you know, that they claim to and they basically take all the money from the investors. i guess how would you say -- i'm not sure what the word would be, but if you're an investor in these things -- >> about hedge funds or men? >> let's not expand this criticism, okay.

trying to make that one a little polite. >> i think so actually. "the wall street journal's" john hilsonrath. thank you very much. i wasn't ready for it myself. coming up, after eight long sad months, it's back. the twinkie. i have no idea why but i'm glad jobs are being saved i guess. the sweet details are next when "morning joe" returns. american express credit card, every purchase earns you 2% cash back, which is deposited in your fidelity account. is that it? actually... there's no annual fee and no limits on rewards. and with the fidelity cash management account debit card, you get reimbursed for all atm fees. is that it? oh, this guy, too.

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they're calling it the sweetest comeback in the history of ever. >> ain't that america. >> right. >> next week, more than 50 million twinkies will return to store shelves for the first time since hostess went bankrupt last year. i'm going to eat half of those

50 million twinkies. nbc's kevin tibbles has the story. >> reporter: at the time, it was unimaginable. the golden child of american confections. spongy, creamy, rumored to last forever without going bad, and then -- it was curtains. >> could we soon see the end of the twinkie? >> the twinkie apocalypse. >> reporter: the future of these guilty pleasures may be crumbling. >> is this really it? >> no, it's over. >> no more twinkies? >> this is it. >> reporter: a labor dispute ended in bankruptcy. depriving snack cake lovers of their daily dose. some folks even started hoarding them. peddled them on ebay. now a miracle. a guilty pleasure is back. >> july 15, twinkies are coming back out on the shelves. >> you like sweets, you like cake? >> reporter: they're calling it the sweetest comeback in the

history of ever. hostess, bought by two private equity firms, has returned with a full-blown marketing bonanza. an online countdown. and cheery twinkie teens fan out across the nation, heralding their arrival to stores next week. the response? >> i miss my good old friend. >> twinkies! >> you're not going to do that, are you? >> no, sir. >> man, this is going to be like this. >> reporter: and on twitter, there really is christmas in july. thank you, lord of sugar. there is a god. nothing it seems lasts forever except of course the twinkie. >> the tiwinkie. what is the shelf life? i understand it's 45 days. >> perfect. >> so that fallout shelter that i built and stacked full of twinkies, i'll be finished. >> these poor people who went out and bought 100 boxes of

twinkies, what are they going to do now? >> sell them to me. i'm buying low. all right, coming up, what do you get when you combine the fear of sharks and the destruction of a tornado? my friends, #sharknado. that's news you can't use next. this is so good. "and one of the most efficient trucking networks," "with safe, experienced drivers." "we work directly with manufacturers," "eliminating costly markups," "and buy directly from local farmers in every region of the country." "when you see our low prices, remember the wheels turning behind the scenes, delivering for millions of americans, everyday. "dedication: that's the real walmart"

well, everything but palm trees, sunshine and fruity drinks, that is.

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time now for some news you can't use. something so incredibly amazing, i'm having a hard time properly

describe it. i give you "sharknado." >> the storm's coming, coming fast. >> i just can't sit back and watch this. >> ahh! >> tornadoes heading towards the airport. we need to destroy it before it gets to this. >> watch out! >> all right so this film comes from the production company that has brought us certain hits like "mega shark versus giant octopus." >> i love that one. >> that starred debby gibson and lorenzo lamos. and "the two headed shark attack" with carmen electra. >> where can i catch all of this shark tastic action? >> you can catch that tonight

when "sharknado" appears on sci-fi. >> what is that? >> i know what i'm doing this weekend! >> that looks so bad. >> that's awesome! >> some advice to the viewers -- >> that's the only news you can't use. >> what's that? >> we're going to get a picture. >> when the "sharknado" actually happens, what you should do is just let the shark flop around till it dies. just step away from it and it dies. >> gene's a veteran of many -- >> i've been through many sharknados. >> why don't bill's forecasts look more like this? >> sharks are flying through the sky. >> somebody should get these snakes off the plane. >> mika, i'm working on the picture for you. >> i can't wait to see it. >> right through the billboard. that shark flew right through the billboard! i could watch this all night. out there owning it.

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produced and just put them back on the shelf. >> yes, they're still good. >> tv is finally taking seriously existential threat of sharks and tornadoes. >> stick around, we got chuck todd in new york. good morning from new york city. it's thursday, july 11th, 2013. we've got a mix of a show today. some zimmerman trial. some politics. after 56 witnesses. there is a whole bunch of instructions that have to take place today before the actual closing arguments begin this afternoon. you're looking at live pictures of the courtroom. both sides have rested their case. they're now debating the instructions that will go to the jury. among the issues is the state's rekwecht to include the lesser charges of manslaughter and aggravated assault. the defense is arguing those judges should be exed