concierge? well there's lots of ways you can get cash back. i'm here to help you get the most out of your cash rewards. it's personalized, and it's free. i want that. we have a concierge! at discover, we treat you like you'd treat you. get the it card with cashback concierge. hello, everyone. it is high noon here in the east. 9:00 a.m. out west. welcome to "weekends with alex witt." sweeping new developments on the situation in syria today. both here and overseas a day after the president's surprise announcement to seek approval from congress for a military strike. in washington today, secretary of state john kerry charged with delivering the administration's message appearing on all of the sunday talk shows sharing new details exclusively with "meet the press." >> let me just add this morning a very important recent development that in the last 24 hours we have learned through

samples that were provided to the united states that have now been tested from first responders in east damascus and hair samples and blood samples have tested positive for signatures of sarin. >> on capitol hill reaction is fast and fierce. stark divides among laumwmakersn the same party. >> i think the line in the sand should be that america gets involved when american interests of threatened. i don't see american interests involved on either side of this syrian war. >> if the vote were today, it would probably be a no vote. i hope by the time next week comes around and hopefully the president can make his case that he'll be able to get a majority of the house of representatives. right now it would be very difficult and also we have an increasing isolationist wing in our party which is damaging to

the party and the nation. >> the senate foreign relations committee will hold a meeting on syria on tuesday. new reaction today from a united nations spokesman. >> the secretary-general took note of the announcement by president obama yesterday on the referral to congress. i can tell you he regards it as one aspect of an effort to achieve a broad based international consensus on measures in response to any use of chemical weapons. use of chemical weapons will not be acceptable under any set of circumstances. >> let's go to the white house and kristen welker. we had secretary kerry who also shed more light on the president's decision to seek congress' approval before a strike. what did he say about that? >> reporter: he did. good afternoon, alex. secretary kerry saying that part of the calculation was to have congress onboard and ultimately that would be a stronger way to go into any type of military strike or attack against syria.

secretary kerry also interestingly today, alex, saying that he was onboard with this decision. david gregory pressed him on the point. take a listen to a bit more of what secretary kerry had to say. >> i did not oppose going nor did anybody else that i know of originally. the issue originally was should the president of the united states take action in order to enforce the credibility and the interest of our country and to deter assad from using these weapons and to degrade his capacity to do so. that was the issue. and that's the issue that we debated. >> reporter: now, as we've been reporting, president obama's decision to put this to a vote in congress is a political gamble. so this administration is going to be pressing congress continuing to build their case to lawmakers. that will continue today. there is going to be a classified briefing with members of the house in just a short

while and we're also learning this hour that senators will be visiting the white house tomorrow meeting with president obama. of course, these are two hawkish members of the senate that said limited strikes against syria are not enough. they have argued really more for regime change. so i think you're going to continue to see this kind of outreach to the hill in the coming days and of course president obama heads to g-20 summit on tuesday so he will try to continue to build an international coalition around this. as you know, alex, it was a real setback to president obama when the british parliament voted no to military engagement. so president obama will continue to try to build his international base as he presses members of congress. right now the big question mark about whether he can actually get this through the sharply divided body. >> that british parliament vote failed by 13 votes. okay. thank you so much, kristen welker. new word from the united nations this morning as samples

from the site of the alleged attack in syria arrived in the netherlands. every effort is being made to expedite the analysis of those sampl samples. >> use of chemical weapons will not be accepted under any circumstances and there should be no perpetrators of such an horrific crime against humanity should be held accountable. so what has been the reaction inside syria and the region to president obama's statement? our jim miklaszewsaceda is with. >> reporter: a mix of emotions today in terms of syrian reaction. it depends on what side of the front lines you find yourself on. the official syrian opposition, the syrian national coalition said today that it was deeply

disappointed in what it described as president obama's flip-flopping and indecision. on the upside it says it believes the u.s. congress may well authorize military action against assad and some syrian option we understand based in washington were working the phones today to that end lobbying congress. on the other hand, there's almost gloating on the part of the assad regime today in one of the main state run dailies. the government called obama's sudden backing off a sign of his defeat and isolation. the regime is sewing its oats. for more syrians it means more fear and worry not knowing when the attack will happen or even if an attack will happen. residents are trying to go about their business in damascus and other cities putting on a brave face but some reportedly have seen syrian soldiers, a large number of syrian soldiers and

material being dispersed inside these residential areas next to their homes and their schools. assad taking advantage of the next ten days or two weeks it would seem while the focus is on washington to hide his heavy weapons from what has to be the world's most telegraphed attack but uncertainty of that attack has syrians tormented here. back to you. >> in terms of timing, there may be a significant period of time to wait as you heard the president said yesterday, it could be up to a month. not a time sensitive situation. how fast is this war moving and how different might things be a month from now? >> reporter: that's right. it could be -- we were told days, weeks, and that could mean a month. and what it has meant is that it has given assad and his troops ample time to prepare themselves. again, that report that residents are seeing soldiers,

equipment, things are being hidden and of course chemical weapons may well be hidden as well if it turns out that chemical weapons are a target. so it is developing slowly. it was building momentum extremely quickly. the war drums were beating very, very hard and now it seems to have really pulled back here too. back to you. >> jim maceda, thank you so much. joining me in studio with reaction from the house is democratic congressman charlie rangel. representative rangel, always a pleasure. thank you for being here. if the vote was taken today, sir, how would you vote? >> no question on how i would vote. i would vote no because so far there's been no evidence that what's happening in libya is a threat to our national security. if it's an international problem, it should be an international solution. >> right, in syria. so what about the presence of

chemical weapons or the use of that? do you at all question that? i know we have yet to have absolute confirmation from where those attacks may have come but the presence of chemical weapon and its usage. do you at all question that? >> well the united nations is about to complete the investigation of the actions in syria on august 21st and so i don't have any reason to doubt that the violations of international law has been committed nor do i believe it should go unchallenged. >> i know the administration is holding as you heard kristen welker report and you have gotten an e-mail, i believe, about this briefing in about two hours or so from now. clearly you are here. you will not be on capitol hill in two hours. talk about that. why did you choose not to attend or do you have a proxy attending or will you be on a phone call? how will that work? how will you get that informati information?

>> it's members only. it's classified. it's secret. i cannot possibly attend a meeting where i cannot share with my constituents why i would be voting to put our troops in harm's way. i know this is called a limited war but having been involved in combat, i never heard of such a thing as a limited war. war is war. people are put into danger. again, even if the possibility is that america would join in with the international community, i truly believe we should have a national draft act before the congress acts. there is no question in my mind that time and time again presidents of the united states introduce our young men and women to harm's way and members supporting it knowing that their families, their loved ones, would not be placed in this. if you take a look at the background as to where they are recruiting, they're not in the hamptons or in the wealthy areas. they go where unemployment is

high and so the whole idea of going to war i am so pleased that the president decided to come to the congress to have a debate and a final decision will be made by some who may believe that we can go it alone. i don't. >> now, sir, when you say going to war, i know you say even though we talk about use of these surgical tactical limited strikes, you don't think that it could stop there? what are you most concerned? >> well, it's been ten years ago when we heard that iraq was going to take a weekend, a week, a month, a year. you can't tell what is going to happen when you declare war. and there's no such thing as a limited war. you attack a country and everything that comes with their reaction is what you have to be prepared to deal with. not only us but israel and surrounding countries. we don't know what kind of

pandora's box is there and quite frankly perhaps some of the people that are attending the secret briefing would be prepared to say that they're impressed. as far as i'm concerned, there's no mandate that the united states of america has to get rid of every evil person whether saddam hussein, qaddafi, these are international problems and for the life of me i can't figure out if great britain has not supported us, the security council won't, the u.n. won't, where do we get the idea that it's just the united states of america that draws these red lines. >> well, sir, the president has said and i know you know this, a chemical weapons attack demonstrated in syria offers some serious danger to our own national security. how do you think the president is defining that? does that mean that he fears chemical weapons attack being

launched domestically or on our allies and does that to you mean a threat to our national security? >> if i had the slightest idea how this gross violation of international law affects citizens and the united states of america, my ears are wide open to see the connection. again, for sometime there was some question as to who was responsible for using this dangerous gas but as a result of what the secretary of state has said and what the president has said and the pending investigation being concluded, i will assume for the purpose of our discussion that it was assad who has done that. now, he didn't do it against the united states of america. he did it to humankind. to the world. and this idea that the president's credibility is on the line or the united states credibility is on the line,

mainly because he said he would not stand for it, well, the constitution means americans won't stand for it and that's what the votes are going to be about. >> representative charlie rangel, as always, a pleasure. thank you for your time on this important weekend. what was the tipping point in the president's decision to seek approval from congress? we'll talk to contacts deep inside the white house about that. also nelson mandela leaves the hospital. a live report from johannsburg coming your way.

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>> this is a clear failure of leadership and if you feel so strongly about it and if he doesn't want to take the action himself, then he should call us back into session tomorrow. we can't be waiting nine, ten days and allowing syria to prepare for this and send mixed signals to the world and particularly to iran.

if we can't stop syria on a red line with chemical weapons how can you stop iran? >> that was representative king. he said president obama should not wait for congress. joining me now, former u.s. ambassador to iraq christopher hill. mr. ambassador, you were on for quite some time during the breaking news when the assumption was the president was about to announce air strikes any minute now. he's decided to send it to congress with eight days before they will take it up officially. what is your reaction? >> well, i think the president was feeling increasingly lonely over the last few weeks. you could see that there was british parliament decision but then it was pretty clear the countries in the middle east suddenly went quiet and then

within the u.s. you saw that a kind of peace movement got going and before he knew it, the president was rather isolated and so i think he decided to take a breath and try to see if the congress is prepared to share this with them and early signs are that it's not. this is going to be remember painful in the next week or two and i would like to point out that i think the president really does have it right that somebody has used chemical weapons and has failed to pay a price for it. >> is this kind of a worse nightmare scenario. it's easier to rail against the president in interviews or on television than to cast a vote that gets recorded in history. >> it gets 535 members of congress an opportunity to pretend to be commander in chief and second-guess the president for his decisions and it will divide a lot.

there are some frustration you just had peter king on. i was just talking to senator joe manchin who is a member of the armed services committee, we ought to be back in session immediately and we should respect the religion but those staff members can go to temple on wednesday and that this is an important war and peace debate for the nation and we should not delay it eight or nine days. >> that's having sort of another level of things to consider when you are dealing with people largely muslim country and then perhaps saying we're going to wait and allow the jewish holidays to be celebrated. you wonder how that's interpreted over there. any indication if that's being read any way? >> the first person i heard mention that and i haven't seen any reaction that. it was on senator manchin's mind. he made this very clear in a call yesterday when secretary kerry, national security adviser susan rice, they had a meeting

that has been really reported of senators and manchin was one of the leading voices that said we should be in session today. he's communicating with carl levin and made the important point they ought to set the tone right now that there ought not to be a political bickering over this and partisan bickering over this and they should set the tone and interacting with each other in a way that demonstrates when it comes to important questions that the parties can overlook their differences and look at what is both supportive and constructive in terms of this debate and ultimately supportive of the president's judgment call. >> ultimately, mr. ambassador, you say that vote would probably be a tough one. uphill battle for the president to get. what happens if congress ultimately votes no? should the president go ahead with strikes any way because he has the authority to do so? >> i think the president has made it clear he believes he has the authority and i don't think he should wait until they vote

him down before exercising that authority. it is kind of a delicate matter of timing. i think there ought to be a lot of diplomacy with our friends and allies on this. i think it's very important that understanding that cameron felt he had a parliamentary vote that he couldn't ignore but nonetheless we need a little more declaratory support from some of our allies and again, i think it's so important to keep in focus what we're talking about. we're talking about weapons that have been banned for almost 100 years and now blatantly used in a suburb of a capital and it's only the u.s. at this point. the u.s. president that stood up and said something needs to be done about this. i would hope in addition to a congressional strategy, we'll also have a diplomatic strategy because i think there needs to be an understanding that assad can't just get away with this. >> steve, quickly, can i ask you

how this plays out with voters. do you see an administration that's careful with force or do they come across as unsure and k cont cont cont cont contradictory? >> when you put a big question mark over everything and you delay the railings, i do worry that particularly in the house of representatives that that war fatigue and frankly that sense of uncertainty that the president doesn't know where he's going and isn't acting decisively will feed into resistance in supporting him. i hope i'm wrong. i tend to think the president has been on the right track and i think that he should act and i agree with chris hill but at the same time i think this can't -- while i think he may win in the end, i think that botches up the works and the american public is going to be confused. >> gentlemen, many thanks. nelson mandela returns home.

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legendary south african leader nelson mandela is returning home. he's in critical but stable condition and the decision was reached an physicians consulted with his family. we go to johannesburg. good evening your time. we heard reports that mr. mandela died earlier today. where did that come from? >> reporter: hello, alex. this all came from a false report that came from the office of president george bush, sr., that said that he and barbara were mourning the passing of former south african president nelson mandela. it was a mistake. later there was an apology. nelson mandela is certainly alive here at his home in the suburbs of johannesburg.

he was treated for close to three months and he was transferred back to his home here for around 24 hours now there were rumors that he was about to be discharged from the hospital and earlier today that happened. with him was his entire team of doctors, hospital doctors as well as medical people from a military were transferred here as well. in addition, they have reconfigured parts of his mansion here to allow those doctors to give him the same level of intensive care they were able to offer him inside of the hospital. what does that say about his condition? he hasn't improved significantly. he's still critically ill but in stable condition. >> in all likelihood much more comfortable at home. thank you very much. new reaction from capitol hill to the president's announcement on syria. ♪ ho ho ho

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members of congress will soon review a draft resolution offer president obama to use military force against syria. the president sent it to congress saturday. the earliest a vote could happen is the week of september 9th. a french presidential official says he'll wait for a debate in washington to wrap up before making a decision on military intervention. the two agreed to act together on the issue. syrians continue to flee to lebanon and turkey as violence in their country continues. a state run newspaper says if president obama's decision to seek congressional approval marks the historic american retreat. let's go to capitol hill now and nbc's casey hunt staying by for us. another hello to you on this sunday. lots of reaction pouring in today. what's the latest you hear on capitol hill? >> reporter: this sunday is the only thing that's clear is debate in congress is already

fractured. there's very little consensus. we did hear members of congress lay out what they would like to see over the course of the next week. >> we need to have a strategy and a plan and that plan in our view, the best way to eliminate the threat of the continued use of chemical weapons and he used them a number of time before would be the threat of his removal from power. >> the best way to educate the american public about a matter like this is to have that full debate in congress that the framers of the constitution intended. they intended that before or when the nation initiates military action, it should be with the approval of congress. >> so you already see in addition to those comments sort of looking ahead to the debate that a number of particularly republican members said they don't think that this authorization is going to pass or that the congress at the very least the president has an uphill battle over the course of

the next week to sell this to members on the hill. >> but nonetheless with regard to the time frame with congress voting on this authorization for a strike on syria, when do you think that's going happen? any word on that? they said not until next week, right? >> reporter: right. harry reid put out a statement yesterday saying they'll vote the week of the ninth in the senate and there will be hearings on tuesday in the foreign relations committee and the ranking member on the armed services committee said that committee will hold meetings on wednesday of this current week. >> okay. thank you. let's speak with one of our congressman right now. joining me now democratic congressman alan gracen. representative, thank you for being here. >> thank you for having me. >> you have been very vocal in your opposition to any kind of intervention. what's your argument against

this? >> first it's not our responsibility. secondly, whatever we do won't actually accomplish anything useful. third, it's expensive and fourth it's dangerous. >> okay. you're pretty definitive in that. how much pushback are you getting? >> my position is the popular position. we set up a website that within a few hours we had 10,000 signatures petitioning the president not to go forward. we are one country. we have our own problems to deal with and we're not the world's policeman, nor the judge and executi executioner. >> you have said you don't think it's clear a chemical attack occurred. doctors without borders says its

partners have treated 3,600 people for chemical weapons symptoms. do you not believe them? >> you're misquoting me out of context. i said that several days ago before that evidence came in. >> so where do you stand on it now? >> now i think that substantial evidence there was a chemical attack. >> do you question from where it came? >> it doesn't change my mind about anything i said though. it's not our responsibility. it's expensive. it's dangerous. and our attack won't do any good. i have yet to have anyone explain how our attacking syria will prevent them from committing the attack in the future. it's meant to give us a sense we're doing something. >> do you question the president saying that this is a threat to our national security, the use of chemical weapons in syria? >> absolutely. we haven't been attacked at all. not a single american has been attacked during the course of this entire civil war. i think americans understand that. let's tend to our own garden. >> okay. what about our allies, neighbors

there in the region, jordan, turkey, israel? >> they haven't been attacked either. >> what if they were to be attacked? >> that would be a different story. turkey is a member of nato. we have collective responsibilities. if turkey were attacked by syria, we would act under our nato treaty. that's not this situation. >> would you feel better if the u.s. weapons inspectors come back with a report confirming as anticipated the use of chemical weapons in the region and were able to point even though this isn't their mandate, if others were to find proof to point to president assad's regime as being those who launched that chemical attack, would that change your mind at all? >> no. what would change my mind is someone explaining to me what the heck this has to do with us. >> the president spoke directly to you and your colleagues yesterday. let's take a listen to this. >> my question for every member

of congress and every member of the global community, what message will we send if a dictator can gas hundreds of children to death in plain sight and pay no price? what's the purpose of the international system that we built if a prohibition on the use of chemical weapons that has been agreed to by the governments of 98% of the world's people and approved overwhelmingly by the congress of the united states is not enforced? >> so what's your response to that? >> first of all, not a single other country feels that way. just a few days ago we had british parliament debate -- >> france does, i believe. >> well, no. france is saying we'll wait and see. that's not the case at all. how

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oversaw a same-sex marriage over the weekend. let's take a check on the weather now that we're smack dab in the middle of the holiday weekend. do we have good stuff to travel to or from? here's a live look at new york city where it is humid. i can tell you that. a chance of showers. not a good hair day. dylan dryer is here. >> when it rains in the northeast because of the humidity, it's going to downpour. when it's nice, it's a typical summer, humid muggy day. that's what we'll flip-flop between the entire day today and labor day itself. sometimes it's nice and other times we see downpours and unfortunately it is that 50-50 forecast for the rest of the holiday weekend. in new england, more organized showers. we had rain move through new jersey earlier this morning. that fizzled out and now we wait for the next line of showers and

storms to redevelop. a cold front will cool off chicago. today it will be once again in the 80s with higher humidity. tomorrow it should be back down into the 70s. it did come with some showers and storms. right now some of the heavier rain is still coming down across parts of missouri and that's moving into western tennessee and also northern arkansas. that's also an area today where we could see some stronger storms. missouri up into illinois and western indiana where we could have isolated large hail and damaging wind gusts. then that threat slowly shifts eastward as that cold front moves eastward tomorrow. today it will be hot in chicago with a high of 88 degrees. 91 degrees very humid in washington, d.c. where it will feel like we're up around 100 degrees. and then for labor day itself, it does cool off in chicago. still stays muggy and unsettled up and down the east coast. keep the umbrella handy. it's not raining all the time but there is the potential for the downpours off and on throughout the day. >> and thumbs up on the pony tail. looks cute. events that led up to

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>> just as i will take this case to congress, i will deliver this message to the world while the u.n. investigation has time to report on its findings, we'll insist that an atrocity committed with chemical weapons is not simply investigated, it must be confronted. >> that is president obama declaring action must be taken against syria and deferring said action for a time to congress. joining me now to discuss this surprise about-face, author of the book "the center holds" jonathan alter. i love getting the behind the scenes. jonathan, with your contacts inside the white house, did you get any sense of when a tipping

point happened? the president said i'm going to congress. >> indications are, others have reported, chuck todd and others, it's the walk the president took with chief of staff on the white house lawn on friday where they essentially came to this decision and then he informed the rest of them. where i think there's been some misreporting in the last day is there's a kind of an assumption this is going to be so hard and that if a vote were taken today it would fail and that the president is facing a stinging rebuke from congress. i think it's unlikely that the congress will rebuff the president on this. i think about ten days from now you will see a stronger united states moving forward to enforce a ban on chemical weapons that goes back to the aftermath of world war i when mustard gas was used on the battlefield. >> did you read anywhere or get

from your sources there was an internal fight for the president to come to this decision after talking with his chief of staff? >> the political people were concerned about it because they do have work to do on capitol hill. it's not an easy vote. there were worries about the risks. the president has always taken political risks going back to when he first ran for president. so there was some concern on the political side about this but there wasn't active opposition. no, you should not go to congress. because when you think about it, it's consistent with where barack obama has been from the get-go which is for us to return to some constitutional principles as applied to u.s. war making and even though he's not bound by this, the idea in a democracy of not just talking the talk but walking the walk, which i think in the arab world is causing puzzlement. what do you mean? why hasn't the president acted?

the other thing that helped him is reaction this morning from assad and the syrians. they are gloating. this is going to make approval in congress considerably easier. >> it's interesting. we were talking about this during the commercial break. the extent to which you covered barack obama being from chicago and when you look at this man and this character that you have come to know over the years, his decision to be prudent, does that fall in sync with what would you expect from him? >> yes. especially since i think he's very pragmatic on this one. if i could underscore and amplify some of the points that jonathan made. at this point it also is a practical decision to go to congress because he still has his domestic agenda. so even as he face s uphill battle to get votes in the house, had he not done this, everything he wants to do to move ahead especially with legacy issue of immigration reform, it would have just made it harder with republicans who

want to be against him any way. it would have added one more thing. because what he did, there was a debate about having a vote. now that's done. the harder question is can he get the votes and for the individual lawmakers, what are you going to do? >> this is reflected in your article today, lynn. let's talk about it. jonathan said that he certainly hopes and expects, correct, that congress will support the president. you think it's an uphill battle. >> i think it's harder. respectfully i disagree a little bit. it's a harder challenge because the first biggest group of people obama has to work with are within his own democratic party. you have a coalition of progressives who are dovish and anti-war and a lot of questions raised by members of the african-american caucus about the practicality of what we could achieve by doing this. so he's got a lot of work to do working on the base. >> i agree he has a lot of work. i would be amazed if the

congressional black caucus defied the president on a threshold issue of this kind. alan grayson was on and will vote against. there will be a handful. i think they'll get a strong majority of democrats and then remember, then they only need about 20% of the republicans and you have people like eric cantor who are now moving toward support of the president on this and so i think the task of getting 20%, 25% of the republican caucus to go along with the president on this, i do not think it's insurmountable. >> we're talking about a horrific situation, atrocity in syria, the political equation goes how do you get down to 215 votes in the house because the senate is run by democrats. it just will be easier to do senate leader reid is for this

authorization. so how do you get to 215? and obama has to figure out what coalitions he can cobble together. it's interesting that he knows it will have a vote. so many legislative initiatives in the house never even get to a house. >> to 215 there are also 200 democrats to give people a sense of math. to get an additional call it 25 votes because you'll lose some democrats, to get those 25, 30, 40, republican votes is going to be a challenge but it is doable. >> they have a week to work on it. we'll see what happens. jonathan alter, lynn sweet, good to see you both. next up, reaction in moscow to the president's decision on syria. ♪ now you can give yourself a kick in the rear! v8 v-fusion plus energy. natural energy from green tea plus fruits and veggies. need a little kick? ooh! could've had a v8. in the juice aisle.

officials are closely monitor russia's reaction. president obama and russian president putin will be face to

face at the g-20. the russian leader called u.s. claims of a syrian government chemical attack as nonsense. >> reporter: good afternoon. we haven't heard from president putin today since that attack on president obama's plans yesterday. we have heard from a member of his party. he is the head of the international committee on international relations and he is saying that in his words president obama will use the meeting of leaders that will gather here later this week as a platform to argue for in his words an attack on syria. so what he's clearly flagging up if you like i think, is that russia will plan to use that g-20 meeting to make its arguments that an attack shouldn't happen and many of the leaders who will be gathered here will have a deep interest. turkey will be here who of course shares a border with

syria. chinese will be here. saudis will be here. i think the russians feel this meeting here with syria on the agenda will have them on the front foot. you remember the g-8 meeting six months ago back in northern ireland when president obama met with president putin just how sour president putin look eing like he was isolated over the syrian issue now perhaps they feel like they have temporarily gotten back on the front foot and have an opportunity, if you like, to make their arguments on a world forum. the question i suppose will be whether or not the russians will consider what affect what they have to say will have on congress and whether they will calibrate what they have to say or make robust arguments they've been making so far. based on previous experience, i suspect they won't consider too much what u.s. lawmakers -- how u.s. lawmakers will react but instead will just make the

arguments that they continue to make. >> okay. thanks. ahead, why some intelligence officials say the evidence linking chemical weapons to assad is not a slam dunk. [ male announcer ] this is jim, a man who doesn't stand still. but jim has afib, atrial fibrillation -- an irregular heartbeat, not caused by a heart valve problem. that puts jim at a greater risk of stroke. for years, jim's medicine tied him to a monthly trip to the clinic to get his blood tested. but now, with once-a-day xarelto®, jim's on the move.

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that lets you swipe images to multiple people. the new droid ultra by motorola. when intelligence matters. droid does. hello, everyone. welcome to "weekends with alex witt." new developments on sirthe syri crisis here and overseas. john kerry telling "meet the press" that samples recovered by u.n. investigators have tested positive for sarin. the president said yesterday he would seek authorization from congress before a strike on syria. here is john kerry on "meet the press." >> we are saying that the high

confidence that the intelligence community has expressed in a case that i laid out the other day is growing stronger by the day. we know where this attack came from. we know exactly where it went. we know what happened exactly afterwards. >> we are also getting new reaction today from key lawmakers including the chairman of the house intelligence committee. republican mike rogers. he says he believes congress will authorize a strike against syria. >> there's some real challenges. i think at the end of the day congress will rise to the occasion. this is a national security issue. this isn't about barack obama versus the congress. this isn't about republicans versus democrats. this has a very important worldwide reach in this decision. >> the top u.n. spokesman says secretary-general has spoken with the u.n. chemical weapons inspection team and asked them to speed up analysis of tests collected in syria. let's go to capitol hill now

and nbc's kasie hunt. another hello to you. we have a classified briefing set to take place about an hour or so from now there at the capitol. what can you tell us about that? >> reporter: a host of officials will be here to brief the few lawmakers who are here in washington and who want to hear the rationale for potentially striking syria. the deputy national security adviser will be here and officials from the pentagon and the state department. what this is is really the beginning of the push to explain to lawmakers why they should back the strikes. the white house is clearly going to be pushing for that. you saw john kerry on all sunday shows today making that case. they started by saying that there was evidence that sarin gas had been used. you also saw lawmakers today on sunday shows illustrating just how steep that climb is going to be for the white house and a number of them said this might not pass. it's clear that especially in the republican led house there's a real chance that they might

not authorize the use of force. >> what about a time line in terms of how this is going to play out? do you have any indication of what will happen when? >> reporter: what we're going to see over the course of the next week is a continuation of this push to convince lawmakers. you'll see administration officials on the phone. lawmakers talking to each other. congress isn't going to be here. you're going to see hearings in the senate foreign relations committee and then meetings in the armed services and intelligence committees. and then congress will be back the week of september 9th and that's when the debate will start in earnest. >> okay. you know, i don't have to tell you this is one of the most -- least productive congresses on record. why did the president think lawmakers will come to any sort of agraeeement on syria? >> not necessarily he thinks they'll come to some sort of an agreement but rather that congress spent the last week saying we want a say in this. this is the president and administration saying to congress, okay. here you go. you can have your say.

in a way it makes it so that both the congress and the administration owns whatever decision it has taken and you saw congressman mike rogers, a republican, the chairman of the house intelligence committee saying that that's okay. this is how our constitution is written and congress is supposed to own a piece of this decision. >> are you hearing anything about what happens if congress does not vote to authorize a strike? >> reporter: that's the big question looming over congress at the moment. john kerry was pressed pretty hard about what happens in that event? he insisted that the administration plans to win this vote. it looks like they are already getting some signs that senator john mccain and lindsey graham might be willing to come onboard the way they weren't. the two put out a statement yesterday saying these limited strikes may not go far enough but today mccain was pretty aggressive in warning about the consequences of not going along with the president in this instance. >> okay. kasie hunt, thank you.

the united nations is weighing in. in a press conference a few hours ago, the spokesman for the secretary-general said the u.n. sees congressional approval as a step toward getting global consensus and he had strong words for bashar al assad. >> use of chemical weapons will be not be accepted under any circumstances and any perpetrators of a horrific crime against humanity must be held accountable. >> joining me now is christopher dickey and kimberly dozier. good to have you here. christopher, you wrote this piece yesterday and i want to talk about what you said after president obama's statement. we should all be relieved for now. >> i think the president felt strongly that he was being stampeded by his own remarks and the way the press and congress were talking about this question

of red lines. if an attack begins, it's not going to end there. there will be retaliation by assad. there will be ratcheting up of the conflict. he doesn't want to get into that vortex of conflict and war without much more support and much more deliberation than he had. what i think your reporting shows now is putting his ducks in a row. he wants congress onboard. he won't to get the international community onboard in way it wasn't before. he'll do that at the g-20 and the general assembly. we may see movement in britain and we'll see support of france. he can have a lot more things and more elements in place two weeks from now or three weeks from now than if he went to war this weekend. >> kimberly, this is what you wrote on thursday.

you say that it's not a "slam dunk." let's listen to secretary kerry on me"meet the press" this morning. >> the word slam dunk should be retired from national security issues. we say that the high confidence that the intelligence community has expressed in a case i laid out the other day is growing stronger by the day. we know where this attack came from. we know exactly where it went. we know what happened exactly afterwards. >> kimberly, can you categorize what high confidence means from your sources there on the intelligence community? >> high confidence is the highest rating they give an intelligence report. intelligence is always goingto be fuzzy. some of the officials i spoke to last week had some hard questions. it shows you that there are real debates going on behind closed doors. they want to know, do we have some peace of intelligence that

links this directly to bashar al assad himself? did he make the call to expand chemical weapons use beyond the smaller attacks we have seen earlier this year that killed 100 to 150 people up to this attack that killed according to the administration, 1,400 people. they also want assurances that some of the chemical weapons stores that have gone astray haven't ended up in rebel hands. they want to rule out the chance that this may have been a rebel operation calculated and designed to pull the west into the war. the administration did answer some of those questions on friday. >> how complete is the cia's portrait of assad? you heard christopher saying what happens after the first strike however that is classified. is the cia and intelligence confident they know how assad would react if and when the u.s. does strike? >> that is a guess at this

point. they don't think that assad would strike israel. they think that syria doesn't want to pull the israeli military into this conflict. you could say proxy groups likes hezbollah carrying out attacks against western targets in other locations, not in syria. i also have to point out, it's not just the cia. it's defense intelligence agency. it's the national geospacial agency and satellites from above. what we saw when they presented intelligence was satellite pictures showing rockets being fired from regime held areas into rebel held areas. that's one of the pieces of intelligence that they are basing their high confidence on. >> okay. much of the argument against a strike is u.s. interests is not at stake. if president assad was removed

from power, considerably weakened, that would deliver a blow to iran and russia. would that be worth it? >> it might be as long as al qaeda didn't replace it. that's one of the big concerns especially al qaeda with chemical weapons. imagine that. you know, i think one of the immediate concerns on chemical weapons hasn't been talked about very much is that there's nothing more effective than the business of ethnic cleansing than chemical weapons. once assad starts to use them regularly, if he does that, and his most likely response to an air raid or kind of attacks discussed would be to use chemical weapons again to say to obama, i can do it. i'll continue doing it. you can't stop me. if he does that a few times, you'll see really a mass exodus from rebel controlled areas sending millions of refugees into other parts of syria and neighboring countries and you'll have a disastrous situation.

ethic cleansing is one of the biggest concerns right now and they want to say to assad, do not use this weapon. use other things if you have to to keep your regime alive for the moment but don't use this weapon. that's where we want to draw the line. we'll see if he will listen. i don't think he will. >> when we talk about a man who would have a strike against him and then go ahead and continue to use chemical weapons on his old people, the thought of using diplomacy to his heels or at least to the table -- >> you know, his back is to the wall. and he acts like a cornered rat. he'll do things that are almost suicidal and insane to stay in power at this point, which is one reason ironically you hear the obama administration saying our goal is not regime change. we would like him to leave but we won't push him further to the wall because we don't know what he might do under those circumstances. >> okay. i could speak with you both all day. unfortunately not this time. thank you so much. >> thank you.

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>> if i had the slightest idea how this gross violation of international law affects citizens in the united states of america, my ears are wide open to see the connection. >> that was democratic congressman charlie rangel who spoke to us about an hour or so ago saying he doesn't believe the u.s. should intervene in syria. joining me from the other side of the aisle, republican congressman messer. thank you for joining me. here's the big question. if the vote was held today, would you approve air strikes against syria?

>> i'm about to go into a classified briefing within an hour and i want to withhold information until i get additional information. i would say based on facts as i know them, i could support an attack on syria. murdering more than 1,000 people is terrible. i think the president has to continue to make the case. it's not enough to just call a press conference at the rose garden and run off to a golf match and dump it in the lap of congress. i believe we ought to be back here debating this issue now. i think the time that we take in the next few days is time that the president needs to take to sell the american people. >> okay. so you have about 45 minutes until you have that classified meeting. you heard charlie rangel that sound bite from my show an hour ago in which he said he has yet to hear anything that makes it a connection between what's happening in syria and how this is affecting the american public. now, do you know something that

you could share with him, classified information you could change his mind. he says he's all ears. >> this is an issue that's not going to break down along partisan lines or political lines. >> isn't that interesting. are you surprised by that? >> listen, this is serious business. sending people to war is serious business. attacks on a foreign nation is serious business. i think this delay is sending the wrong message to the american people. the fact that either what happened in syria is a big deal or not. if it's a big deal, we need to act now. i think delaying doesn't send a message of urgency to congress or message of urgency to the american people and it doesn't send a message of urgency to the assad regime in syria. >> have you heard anything from your leadership about calling a special session? >> well, i have spoken with our leadership yesterday. i'm going to work to try to rally more to this cause over the coming hours and next day or two. i believe the president could

help lead here as well. again, the matters as i understand it have occurred in syria and are a big deal and congress should be back here debating it now. >> it's been interesting getting people to express their opinion on whether or not this president has the votes in congress for air strikes and really they have come down on both sides of the aisle going in both directions. what do you think? >> listen, i think it's hard to whip what that vote would be now. i think the key is the job the president does communicating with the american people and communicating with congress. the urgency of this situation. it's not enough to have one press conference. this is a president that has toured the country and done pep rallies to sell his position on obama care and the sequester and the like. it's important that we not just have a press conference but that we continue to communicate with the american people. >> what would the little impact be, sir, if military action is voted down but the president goes in any way? >> listen, i think now that the

president has agreed to having a vote of congress, i think he needs to abide by that vote. this should not just be a charade. we're talking about sending men and women into war. the politics of it should be our last concern. >> let's take a look at assad's friends if you will. particularly russia and china. what do you think the impact is on the united states' relationship with them if it launches an attack? >> listen, russia has been very clear it would veto efforts in the u.n. to sanction this activity. i think we have to act on the best interest of the american people, best interest of our ally in the region, israel, and frankly i think what vladimir putin believes while certainly not irrelevant ought to be not among the foremost of our concerns. >> i'm curious because apri'm s you're aware there were protests

outside of minneapolis. what do you hearing from your constituents? >> it's a mix. what's already clear is the american people are not sold on this action yet. our commander in chief needs to help sell it. we need to have as members of congress the president it takes to communicate as well. >> it sounds like members of congress there. well, good luck with that classified briefing in about 45 minutes. we'll be eager to hear whatever we can on the other side of it. thank you, representative luke messer. could it change the nature of the way the u.s. does business or how the u.s. might be perceived?

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important than partisan differences or the politics of the moment. ultimately this is not about who occupan occupies this office at any given time. it's about who we are as a country. >> president obama explaining in part about his decision to obtain approval from congress. i'm joined by douglas brinkley, presidential historian. you heard the president frame it there. the decision is who we are as a country. how does this about-face fit with political decisions in the past. any precedence? >> you have to go back to 1999 when bill clinton went into kosovo as a humanitarian mission. he did so without congressional approval. one could go back into ronald reagan and clinton regularly did strikes without congressional approval. president obama is taking this to congress so it resonates more with both of the bushes, bush 41

and the first gulf war and george w. bush in the war in iraq after 9/11. >> what does this say about us as a country? could it change the nature of how the u.s. does its business or how the u.s. might be perceived? >> as an academic we once in a while go to conferences on war powers. it's been highly debated what the president can do or can't do particularly since the vietnam war. it shows president obama trying to bring back the old democratic tradition of you don't go to war unless you bring it to congress. it doesn't always lead to a smart result. i mean, lyndon johnson took the gulf incident to congress and they voted to go in there and now we deeply -- many americans regret getting engaged in vietnam like this. just because you take it to congress doesn't mean that it's a slam dunk as john kerry told us not to use anymore.

it's just a new chess move for the president. he is going to have a herculean sales job ahead of him. leaders of republican foreign policy making to convince them to go along with this. >> do you think you can argue that sometimes it is more courageous for a president or in this case this president to walk back a decision like this? most anticipated a military strike. >> i think it's starting to -- the optics of this are working in his favor. it's just enough time. the problem is you have to build momentum now and it's why secretary kerry was on all of the shows. they'll have to ratchet up the prosecution of assad. if they are successful in getting the congressional vote, everybody is going to say barack obama showed a great leadership and not just military leadership but moral leadership. if he gets fired down, it could be the talk of a lame duck pt

presidency. someone the world doesn't listen to and can't get something like an attack on a rogue nation accomplished. it's a high-stakes gamble for the president. >> when you consider military strike of this limited nature, is it more established president that a president acts without congressional approval or seeks congress' approval? >> it's smarter to go with congress if you can pull it off. debates sometimes creates confusion too. there's already some people wondering if this is so urgent, why aren't we immediately calling legislators into washington and get a quick vote on it. why a delay of possibly up to a month. can it be that urgent? the president can do diplomacy coming up here meeting with putin or talking to putin and getting putin to somehow put pressure on syria to never again use chemical weapons would be very helpful and russia can say

we'll stop any funding to the assad regime if they can use chemical weapons yet again because it creates too much economic and military instability in the world. >> what about from a humanitarian perspective? how much might the president weigh. i was talking to jonathan alter here during a commercial break and he said that that is president clinton's greatest regret of his presidency. do you think that's on his mind? >> i think so. i mean, bill clinton has gone all over the country and said i wish i would have acted quicker and done more in bosnia sooner. this president has been kind of just put red lines in the sand not to cross for over a year dealing with syria. he's not been rushing the war but it's come to the point now when the gassing and images of those children dying and being really tortured to death, i think it pushed the president

over the line. he says this as a global humanitarian human rights issue and he's resolved to do something about it. >> just from that humanitarian perspective, when you look at the members of congress, they are now left with a very important vote and depending on how the situation plays out, they risk being on the wrong side of history, right? >> absolutely. i think the president first has to as i said get the mccain wing in order. then it's vote by vote game in congress. he has to go to his base. there's a large anti-war movement in the republican party. they are sick of iraq and afghanistan and environmentalists don't want to see oil fields on fire. he's going to have to convince his base as much as anybody else. i think he'll get enough of his 20 or 30 republicans to join him in congress but can he hold his base together and we'll see. it will tell us a lot about how powerful this president is within his own party.

>> ultimately isn't it even a bigger risk for the president being on the wrong side of history here? >> we never know what the right or wrong side of history is. when it's a war of choice, world war ii is a war of necessity. this is a war of choice. this is mr. obama's war but trying to make it the american people's war and congress' war. he doesn't want to go it alone. the decision came when he didn't have green bat britain with us. we're going in with france and turkey and saudi arabia so you see a president trying to develop a coalition on this on a humanitarian basis saying if we can't stand up to do something about the use of chemical weapons, what can we do? >> douglas brinkley, as always, a pleasure. thanks so much. >> thank you. reaction in israel to the plan to seek congressional approval. we're live in tel aviv. oked nic? soft would be great, but we really just need "kid-proof." softsprings got both, let me show you. right over here. here, feel this.

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said the speaker's office received a draft that follows president obama's announcement in the rose garden this weekend he'll seek congressional authority for punitive strike against syria. let's go to kristen welker. john kerry sharing new details about the what went into the president's decision all of the behind the scenes there. what's he saying? >> reporter: good afternoon, alex. secretary kerry making the case today on "meet the press" that part of the president's decision was driven by a desire to really be emboldened once he does launch a strike against syria. the secretary saying that president obama would be coming at it from a much stronger moral authority if he had congress onboard. remember, president obama was feeling isolated. the british parliament voted no to military action. he didn't have the u.n. and then you had the public that was very divided over this issue. secretary of state john kerry saying that president obama

wanted congress onboard to feel emboldened and stronger going in. take a listen to more of what secretary kerry had to say. >> i hope and pray we'll be seeing careful deliberation as appropriate exercise of american constitutional process. the united states is strongest when the congress speaks with the president, when the american people are invested because we've had an appropriate vetting of all of the facts. >> reporter: so moving forward the white house will continue to sort of build up its case for military action against syria. that continues today. administration officials are going to brief lawmakers on capitol hill. that starts at 2:00 p.m. then on monday, senators john mccain, lindsey graham will be here at the white house and will meet with president obama. their support could be key. they are hawkish members of this senate. they have called for regime change. they think president obama should be acting more forcefully

in wards to syria. having them onboard could be key because a big vote in the senate could put more pressure on the house to pass this resolution and of course the house is going to be a much tougher sell. the republican led house is divided. you have some republicans in support of this but other republicans who are more isolationist who say they are not going to vote yes for military intervention. >> those that are bold enough, it has been a mixed bag. there's a lot riding on this. >> reporter: there is. >> thank you very much. with potential u.s. military strike on syria in the hands of congress and likely more than a week away now, leaders in the region are preparing for the unknown. in his cabinet meeting this morning, israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu said his country is ready for any scenario and issued a warning for those that would test israel. we get the latest from tel aviv. good evening your time. so the new comments from benjamin netanyahu, what's the

reaction been like in israel for the president's decision to ask approval from congress and putting in this waiting period? >> reporter: hi there, alex. israeli tv like television channels all over the globe televised the speech live late last night and reaction has been varied. some say that it shows weakness and that it is worrying for benjamin netanyahu if he needs america's fight in the future if iran continues with its nuclear program. and if they decide to strike iran, will america be there to help? other analysts are saying this is is not worrying for israel and that president obama's decision not to strike syria doesn't affect israel or the israel partnership because america is the biggest ally in the middle east because these analysts say there really is no right side when it comes to syria. bashar al assad, the president of syria is, no friend to israel but at the same time the

quietest border that israel has had has been that border with syria especially when you look at the border up north with lebanon. so really that side doesn't look good for israel but other side doesn't look good when you look at the rebel fighters infested with al qaeda militants and what does that mean for israel if they take over from president assad? so the israelis don't really have a choice in this. they won't pick one side or another. the opinion polls show that the majority of israelis did support if it was the u.s. and europe to strike syria but the majority of them also said they don't want israel involved in the syrian civil war. alex? >> okay. thank you very much from tel aviv for that update. joining me in studio, retired colonel jack jacobs. also a medal of honor recipient. i want to get your reaction to the president's somewhat

surprise decision to seek congressional approval and not go ahead with military sprietri as we anticipated would happen. >> you can't have the secretary of state coming out and making probably the best speech of his entire career. a very impassioned and per swasive. getting kerry out front and cutting his legs out from under him makes it extremely difficult for kerry in the future to be able to represent that he is actually representing in foreign courts representing the will of the united states or even of the white house. >> okay. let's get to the military event if it happens, if congress gives approval and president carries it out. you have the goods to show us where would be the strikes.

show us. >> the most important thing right away is to take out the air fields here represented by red airplanes. there are a number of significant airfields and they are the first targets for any attack. to the extent there are planes on the ground, they'll go as well. here we have represented a couple of brigades of the fourth armored division commanded by bashar al assad's brother in which we think is probably the source of the gas attacks on the civilians. the latest gas attacks which killed almost 1,500 people. those will also be targets. so airfields. troop concentrations to the extent they are away from buildup areas and command and control facilities and mobile missile launches. we've got satellites up there. we can take a look at where mobile missile launches are and when they move, we can take them out where they are.

>> we would use tomahawk missiles to do so and you think it would be effective against any entities your showing? >> it's a tremendous weapon. it's got a range of 1,500 miles. it's got an enormous warhead by missile standards. 1,000-pound warhead. and that can -- it's not enormous accuracy and can fly through a window but with 1,000 pounds it can really take out any installation. >> then do you worry about civilian casualties as a result? with the precision, i know it's been said you can say you want to target a window 1,500 miles away and you'll hit it. >> yes, you will hit it. you have to be careful about what you're targeting. that's why we'll try our very best not to target installations near built up areas but when the discussion take place in congress, there will be lots of questions about the accuracy, about collateral damage and civilian casualties and

administration is going to have to say there will be -- we can't guarantee this won't be any. >> what about capabilities of the syrian army post any sort of attack or reduced to? >> i suspect that bashar al assad after the attacks will renew his effort against the opposition and you expect there will be civilian casualties and lots of them afterwards. >> thank you. the syria decision and the gop gop's vanishing act. the big three tackle these subjects next. like carpools... polly wants to know if we can pick her up. yeah, we can make room. yeah. [ male announcer ] ...office space. yes, we're loving this communal seating. it's great. [ male announcer ] the best thing to share? a data plan. at&t mobile share for business. one bucket of data for everyone on the plan, unlimited talk and text on smart phones. now, everyone's in the spirit of sharing. hey, can i borrow your boat this weekend? no. [ male announcer ] share more. save more. at&t mobile share for business. ♪

it's time for the top three. let's bring in my big three panel. goldy taylor, congressional report ed o'keefe and welcome to

you. gol gol goldie, republican peter king issued this statement. president obama is advocating his responsibilities commander in chief and undermining the authority of future presidents. the president does not need congress to authorize a strike on syria. tough words there advocating his responsibility. do you sign any degree of fairness to them? >> they are tough words but words that don't align with our recent history as a nation. we had presidents bush and clinton take these surgical strikes in countries that did not pose a direct threat to us. we did it in libya and afghanistan and yemen. we've done it across the middle east. the problem is our history with the region. and our issue today is how the american public really feels about this. we are fighting wars differently. they're not traditional wars. we need an act of congress to wage war. they are surgical strikes on

countries that don't necessarily pose an immediate threat to us and the president has the ability to do that on his own. this president has chosen to do it with the constitutional authority to further buttress his moral authority in the region. chances are he'll have to go further than a simple surgical strike because there will be retaliation. to know that means that you have to have a bit of a broader power and that can only come through congress. >> in fact, robert, there are some republicans who support the president's decision. here's texas senator ted cruz. let's take a listen. >> i'm glad the president listened to bipartisan calls to come before the american people and congress to make the case. >> i hate reducing the human tragedy in syria to political questions. here we are politically speaking is this a plus for the president? americans are more weary after

all. >> it's a mixed bag when you go before congress because congress can give you cover if they vote in affirmative or they can weaken your authority to goldie's point if they go against you. here's the question. the question is two things. what your interpretation of the constitution is. the constitution is clear. i looked at it ten minutes ago. if in fact you are trying to decare war, only congress can do that. a surgical strike is clearly within the purview of the preside presidency. the president wants political cover. if the congress says yes, mr. president, you have our permission to do this, he'll do it obviously. if in fact the congress says no, i don't think he'll do it. he'll blame congress and say guess what? not only in parliament did they say no but my congress says no so there will be covert activity with the cia. >> politically speaking and

realistically, ed, what portion of the house and senate want to be on record with this vote? >> if you look at the statements they issued in the last 24 hours, alex, virtually nobody is on the record yet on how exactly they would vote. most are reserving judgment saying they want to see what the administration presents to the american public, to congress in coming days and then listen to their colleagues when the debate begins next week. very few have said they support full blown military action in syria. folks like nancy pelosi, john mccain, lindsey graham, several are opposed. you talked to charlie rangel earlier today. other republicans say absolutely not. in the middle there's a big chunk, hundreds of lawmakers who say they are skeptical about this. they want to learn more. the president has to make the case. if he does, i'll support him. >> can i respond to that quickly? >> very quickly. >> these have been conscious votes for the congress on whether you think we should do this or not. those are very hard to whip. it will be interesting to see where congress stands on this.

>> next topic here. we've been syria all day today. i want to talk about gop. you write that not a single republican elected official stood on the steps of the lincoln memorial on wednesday. a notable absence from a party seeking to attract minority voters. robert, i'll have you answer this first. forget attracting minority voters, shouldn't they be out there in respect to a moment that changed u.s. history. >> i'm really troubled by this. at the end of the day the anniversary of dr. king's speech was not a political event. it should not have been a political event. when you look at condoleezza rice, a colin powell, there are several individuals out there of color that are conservative. my understanding is march organizers did reach out to republican national committee and to republicans to ask for their advice and republicans came back with a memo but it was dead on arrival. this is unfortunate. >> since writing your article,

has anyone given you good answers why no republican leadership was present? >> organizers only began inviting political figures about five weeks ago. while it may be no excuse, it's difficult to rip up a congressional summer recess schedule four or five weeks out. the entire congress was invited on august 8th, about 20 days before this event. i don't know about you, but if i'm invited to a big party and have to travel for it, i would like more than 20 days heads-up. the event organizers it's on them for only doing so a few days beforehand. generally, you know, republican leaders admit, we weren't there. there were scheduling conflicts. health concerns for the two bush presidents for example. just reasons why no senior official wrapped up. >> quick wrap-up comment from you goldie? >> invitations did go out but a number of people did in fact alter their schedules but everyone is known for 50 years when this 50th anniversary would be. the very idea that not a single republican would show up that

day, exception of abraham lincoln who is always there, no republican would show up and answer this invitation in the affirmative says a lot more about this party than it does the event itself. i think they have some soul searching to do and reaching out to minorities and those that are peace loving, freedom loving people across this country. >> coming up next, the big threes must reads including why mary cheney says liz cheney is dead wrong. aaaaah! theres a guy on the window! do something, dad! aaaah! aaaah! what is happening? they're rate suckers. their bad driving makes car insurance more expensive for the rest of us. good thing there's snapshot from progressive. snap it in and get a discount based on your good driving. stop paying for rate suckers. try snapshot free at progressive.com.

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we are back with the big three for this week's must reads. goldie, what's yours? >> it comes from the atlantic. it's basically why americans are a little bit weary about intervening in foreign wars. the issue here is that we are too far away from 9/11. the way we wage wars differently these days and we haven't taken care of domestic concerns so at the end of the day this article

really does address what's really behind american apathy when you have children and boys and girls dying of chemical gas attacks. >> ed, what about yours? >> it's the definitive take on why president obama reversed course and asked congress to authorize military action in syria. it was really nailed today. >> behind the scenes tough in it? >> absolutely. understanding of why he's doing what he's doing. >> robert, how about yours? >> mary cheney came out against her sister liz cheney in reference to the senate race saying she's against gay marriage and says i love my sister but she's dead wrong on this issue. although she's not my biological sister, she's my sister in the lgbt community. a must read. very much right on history when it comes to lgbt. >> good to see you all. thank you so much.

and that is a wrap of this sunday's edition of "weekends with alex witt." up next we have "meet the press." his guest is secretary of state john kerry. i'll see you next weekend. have yourself a great sunday and great labor day tomorrow. 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.

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i help support bones... [ ding! ] ...the immune system... [ ding! ] ...heart health... [ ding! ] ...and muscles. [ ding! ] that can only be ensure complete! [ female announcer ] the four-in-one nutrition of ensure complete. a simple choice to help you eat right. [ major nutrition ] nutrition in charge. breaking news this morning -- secretary of state john kerry joins me to explain president obama's political gamble. why he breaking news this morning -- secretary of state john kerry joins me to explain president obama's political gamble. why he decided to seek congressional authority for military action against syria. >> this attack is an assault on human dignity. it also presents a serious danger to our national security. >> with the debate now shifting to congress, we'll have reaction from kentucky republican senator rand paul, a member of the foreign relations committee, plus our roundtable on president obama's leadership. has he presented a convincing case to a skeptical american public? will the abrupt delay of military action be interpreted by the world as weakness or careful deliberation? >>