what did we get? >> natalie completed 20 marathons in under five out how many licks it takes to get to the center of a tootsie pop. >> i don't know if it's directed at me or lewis. >> endured another awkward segment with lewis. sorry i'm still trying. was i awkward? >> never. >> never. >> i might have been a little awkward. time to go. "morning joe" starts right now. >> i have three messages. one is we should never ever give up. two is, never too old to chase

your dreams. three is, it looks like a solitary sport but it's a team effort. >> good morning. it's tuesday, september 3rd. with us on set chairman of deutsch inc donny deutsch, visiting professor at nyu and former congressman heard ford jr. >> and president on foreign relations richard haas. in washington, d.c., we've got abc fuse political commentary and npr analyst cokie roberts, columnist and associate editor for "the washington post" david ignatius, and in new york, "new york times" reporter jeremy peters actually in washington. cokie, i heard that miss nyad has been an npr contributor for some time and i guess i hear you're the next to make that swim if into yeah, right. that will happen. >> what an extraordinary -- >> maybe the atlantic.

>> what an extraordinary, absolutely extraordinary story. 110-mile swim and -- through shark infested waters and she's 64 years old and just did something no one has ever done before. >> no. it's an inspiration to old broads everywhere. she's tried it a couple times. i didn't think she could make it. i really didn't. i kept going, stop, stop trying. she did it. good for her. >> when i wake up in the morning, donny deutsch, i have a hard time getting down the stairs. >> yeah. >> hurts my knees. one of the reasons, though, i know i have to get down the stairs is because if i don't come here there will be an imposter that comes in my place and do we have that? right there. >> oh, my. >> what are you doing? you steal my hair, my glasses. >> look at that.

>> you steal my -- >> it's mutating. >> it's mutating. let's take that down. i'm flinching. i know that even though it hurts when i wake up early in the morning i have to get downstairs. how was your summer, harold? did you have a good summer? >> i did have a good summer. >> tell them about the party. >> i went to charity benefit for the apollo theater that turned out to be ronald perlman and dick parsons -- >> they -- >> they raised almost $2 million fort education program. it turned out to be one enjoyable evening. >> everybody from ellen degeneres, lenny krav victim snooze richard and i were just cooking hot dogs. >> somebody had to work. >> but we enjoyed it. >> we got a lot of news. obviously you all know what's going on and what's been going on and what's going to occupy, i

think, washington and the world over the next week. the obama administration has begun its latest sell and they're doing a hard sell over the fate of u.s. foreign policy in syria. it's now, of course, in the hands of congress. today secretary of state john kerry and defense secretary chuck hagel are going to be going before a senate committee to lobby for military strikes against syria. you know there are going to be fireworks there. the president must sell both the international community and a body at home that is deeply divided over the way forward. >> i think the line in the sand should be that america gets involved when american interests are threatened. i don't see american interests involved on either side of this syrian war. >> i believe we will rally behind the principle that use of chemical weapons is wrong and can't go unpunished. >> i'm afraid it's shown weakness there. >> not something that should be undertaken lightly. the mood in the district i

represent is do not do this. >> god forbid that in the suburbs i represent a tyrant went after our babies, that a nation as strong as the united states would stand up for my children. >> i don't see any way that a civil war in syria and the fact that this evil man is using chemicals to kill his own people how that affects directly or indirectly our national security. >> there are a lot of people, a lot of people who even supported the president's plan to strike syria, who were absolutely flummoxed by the president's late call for a vote. >> a vote against that resolution by congress i think would be catastrophic because it would undermine the credibility of the united states of america and the president of the united states. none of us want that. >> cokie roberts, i don't understand what the president's doing. he can't even hide behind the war powers act.

i'm one of these guys that believes a president should go to congress if he's going to war or if she's going to war, but in this case, as we all know, the president has a time period before he has to get congressional approval. this looked, excuse me, this looked like a political move, not a military move, to hide behind congress' decision. >> certainly it would help him if congress shared responsibility. i like that insertion by the way of she as president, from your lips to the voters' ears. >> yeah. >> but the -- the truth is, this was just a mess. the president, you know, sends the secretary of state out on friday and says this is terrible and we need to take action and on saturday he says wait a minute, we'll wait until congress gets back on september 9th and let them vote and see if we take action. >> cokie, i seem to be asking you this question a lot and ask

it of sam and richard, have you ever seen anything like this before where a president sends a secretary of state to go out, either look strong or rattle the war drums or whatever you want to call it, and then cuts him out at the knees the next day? >> no. it was extraordinary. and i think probably we were all surprised when the president called for congressional action, but i think john kerry was the most surprised. and then the next day, sunday, he was sent out again on five television talk shows to make the case again and to tell us it was sarin gas, but still we could wait. i think it's a jumble of messages there. but if, in fact, the congress does come back around and does endorse strikes of some kind, that obviously does strengthen the president's hand. if they don't he's in real trouble. >> and then, of course, you have the president's top military man come out saying, well, doesn't really time doesn't really matter whenever we make this strike.

i've never seen anything like it. richard haas, who's with us, of course, wrote this in the financial "times," america must stick to a course on syria. the obama administration has made a difficult situation worse by articulating a series of objectives, assad must go, chemical weapons crosses a red line and policies we must arm the opposition and then failing to follow through them, requiring authority from congress at the 11th hour introduced further undesirable uncertainty and policy making on the fly can be disastrous. this president's policy on syria is unmoored. it is chaotic and it seems like the president is trying to hide behind congress or anybody he can here. he does not want to come out and take a strong position. >> well, as he himself said, he already has the authority to do the kind of limited strike he

has contemplated doing. >> why go to congress? >> obviously for the desire to get some kind of political covering or backing. two things will back fire. even if he does get it, it's going to be narrow. he's not going to get a blanket authorization. he's going to get something much more specific in terms of time and what the green light, what the approval is for. he will have to potentially go back to congress. what this is going to do is add uncertainty down the road to syria policy and more broadly to american foreign policy. it's interesting. all along and even in his presidency he did not go to congress on a regular basis for authorities. never went for libya. at the 11th hour he called an audible a after he set up the secretary of state to come out. this introduces a question mark. if you're israel, if you're syria, if you're other countries in north korea, if you're other countries in the world you basically now look at the united

states through the lens of greater uncertainty. >> david ignatius, perhaps you can clarify what the president's strategy and approach has been. >> joe, i don't think the president was ever weaker when he seeks political support for his policies. with this president it's been a consistent problem both in foreign and domestic policy that he's moved forward without having an adequate political flank. people who are behind him who understand the policy. america is a war weary country and the idea of taking us into a new battle zone without having to explain it to the public is wrong and you can see how he might have pushed and gotten away with it, but i don't think this is a bad thing. i'll give you an interesting example of how this plays out. after kerry's hawkish speech last week the syrian opposition thoughts the strike is coming in 15 minutes and you had syrian army generals rushing to defect at the 11th hour, moving their

families out of syria because they thought, boy, here comes the u.s. then came obama's speech and the initial reaction was enormous disappointment. but i spent a lot over the weekend talking to syrian opposition members who say if this is a prelude to a carefully thought out and serious policy that's going to lead to a change in syria and is going to work with the opposition to build them up, vis-a-vis the extremists, that's a better policy than we would have had a week ago. >> what is the president's policy in syria? >> the president has test two aims. first he does seek with whatever military action he's authorized to take, to degrade syria's ability to mount another chemical weapons attack like the one that ef we've seen. it's easy to forget how horrific what happened on august 21 was. nothing like this i think has happened since the world wars. it was so pervasive. the rockets were so heavily

armed with chemical weapons. the victims went down, you know, in droves. so that's the first thing. degrade their capability to ever do this again. the second thing is, step up our covert action, we call it, but it's not very covert, working with the syrian opposition to build them into a stronger military that can one day help rule a new syria. let me give you one further example. in the last few days, there have been meetings begun in the damascus area to think about how stability and political order would be maintained in damascus if bashar al assad should fall. let's assume for the moment this isn't going to go on forever, how would we govern? those are the kinds of discussions that are urgently needed. they are coming out of this period of reevaluation of u.s. policy and i think they're good. >> all right. you know if the vote were held today, the "washington post" is breaking it down, this is how they say it would go.

20 force are either against action in syria or leaning no, 57 undecided, 23 or for the strikes. in the house, in the "post" tracking, 94 would vote no outright, 90 undecided and 16 are firmly for military action. jeremy peters, obviously you and i and anybody else who followed the house of representatives, don't really need a chart to know the president's going to have a lot of trouble in the house, not just because of the progressives on the far left, but because of the conservatives on the far right. >> that's absolutely right. and then there's the issue of the senate and i think if you were to poll 5 different senators you would get 75 different reasons for why a military strike in syria may not be such a good idea. i think those really run the gamut. people like mitch mcconnell who think the president waited too long to consult the state on this. people like marco rubio who

think there ought to be some kind of longer term strategic plan that involves identifying a more reliable ally on the ground in the syrian opposition and people like rand paul who say that the united states has no business getting involved in an intractable syrian civil war. those are the republicans. the democrats from what i'm told have signaled to the white house you have to do the heavy lifting here. this is your idea and if you want this to pass, it's on you. >> it is fascinating, though, isn't it, donny, when you look at the buildup to attacks or to wars, that the parties' positions change so quickly base odd on who's in the white house. nancy pelosi banging the drums of war and you can go down the line and, of course, republicans who were the biggest hawks, now suddenly shocked, shocked -- >> crazed man in the white house. >> that the president would go

to war. this is -- i think this is one of dozens of reasons why americans hate politics. >> look, i'm a hawk on this and i would have no problem if obama had pushed the button. having said that -- >> why are you a hawk? >> because i think, as the united states, throughout our history, this is what we do. we stand up against atrocities of the world. this is not boots on the ground. when you do a poll to americans and say we're going to war, these are missiles fired. we're not sending troops in. having said that, if congress votes against it, that's a catastrophe. if they vote for it i have no problem with his pause and let's get congress on board, let's step back for a day. to me that's a considered leader. that's if he gets the yes. to me what is wrong with him taking a pause, getting congress involved, what's -- why is that not a leader? i don't understand that? >> richard? >> it would have been one thing if it was part of his foreign policy or syrian policy all

along, but it was introduced at the 11th hour. under the war powers resolution he has the authority. >> i know he has the authority. i'm talking as far as with something that is as -- >> don't send your secretary of state out one day and the next day retreat. >> this is a limited strike. we're not going to war. this is not some open-ended campaign. this is something quite limited, the sort of thing he will have to do time and time again in the future in other parts of the world. to set the bar that high that you've got to get congress on board is, i think, an unsustainable way to conduct american national security policy. >> harold? >> all the points that have been made, enumerated this morning, color the concerns i have. the most interesting is the one that richard raised. if the president achieves this, joe, and we've been in the congress, achieves a narrow passages in the house and senate, it raises concerns about the kind of support the country may show this. two, if it is narrowly written and senator leahy and others said they will take this proposal, water it down in many

ways in terms of the duration and scope, does that mean the president has to come back each and every time because he has set this precedent. that seems to me the confused policy in the middle east and might send the wrong signals to iran and north korea and other places around the globe. what is our overarching goal? the national security goal, some question, including charlie rangel, those are answerable. allies of this position have to make that case in a fuller, more comprehensive and forceful way than they have. if they don't, i think it poses -- invites real world problems going forward for other parts of the world as we try to enact policy. >> cokie, we always have commentators and pundits and columnists talking about what sort of message this sends to the rest of the world. i actually do believe in this case that a weak president, that backs down after congress says no, after chemical weapons has

been used twice, after 100,000 people have been killed in syria, sends a pretty specific message to iranians who are developing nuclear weapons right now. >> well, obviously. this is all with iran and israel in mind, which does also flip the congressional calculation to some degree. so, obviously, if congress says to, we are looking at a serious foreign policy problem. but look, to the just up to the president now. now that he has lobbed this into the congressional court, it's up to the institution of congress to see if they can rise to this occasion and generally, when we are debating something like war, congress does. you remember well, joe, the very substantial debate over going to war with the first persian gulf war. where congress really did rise to the occasion. there's a big difference now.

then there were these world war ii vets in the congress and you remember they spoke with such authority and such experience. there's nobody like that in this congress. and there's no real willingness to act responsibly as an institution and i think that's a tremendous risk. >> cokie, one important, though, historical fact, because i was involved in that because i was at the white house working for president bush the father, he never went to congress for the authority to go to war in 1990 and 1991. he said he had the authorityp. congress wanted to do a resolution. he said he was only going for approval and support. he would have gone to congress any way they voted -- >> strike you mean. >> this is something very different. the president has said i am going for authorization. he has put himself, shall we say, in a pickle politically and constitutionally if they vote no or some very constrained way.

>> he says he has the authority as well. he says he has the authority to strike without them as well. >> it's a little complicated after you say you have the authority and go ask for the authority. it's hard for him -- i'm not saying he shouldn't do it but it will be difficult for him to do that if he were to lose the vote. >> congress says no, it would be a disaster. if there's one thing that history has proven and i do not think kerry was stretching, unanswered aggression breedses more aggression. this congress has to get behind the president. if he does not, if they do not it's a disasser. >> you understand politics. the president is saying this is a terrible situation and requires action if you vote no in the house you give yourself cover and force the president to make a decision on his own. i hope people don't apply that logic. >> if you just look at politics of this and look at the way that the house is split up and we've talked about this all the time you've got a lot of very liberal people in there, a lot of

conservative people in there, and in their districts in liberal districts and conservative districts they're saying the same thing for different reasons, don't go to war. i think the president faces a real uphill battle in the house of representatives. cokie, apac is going to come into play obviously. >> right. >> and apparently -- >> we'll see what happens there. >> apparently putin is talking about sending russians over to lobby, so that should help the president. you also know, harold, you also know that we weakening a president of your own party, weakens him for everything else coming down the line. >> yeah. >> i mean, again, back to president george h.w. bush, every veto that he made right up until the very end, october of 1992, was sustained even by people who had voted for the bill in the first place, voted to sustain the veto, because they wanted to keep him stronger as president. >> cokie, i'm not -- i would be

inclined if i were still in the congress, inclined to vote with the president, not just because he's a democrat. i happen to agree more with donny than others. i only make the point from the politics and the way the president described this situation, he indicated how important it was, strategically for america's interests yet still wanted to give it to congress to make this based on early reports, looks as if he's running into voting challenges. >> in a vacuum, i don't think it would pass. i do think that the two biggest forces going on the democratic side, you're going to hear a thousand times, you can't leave your president hanging with the single most important decision the president makes. it's going to be hard for anybody this side of charlie rangel not to go with the president. on the republican side and i don't say this tongue in cheek, you've got a lot t lo aipac supporters and supporters of israel and when apac or israel

comes and says we need this done to protect the people of israel, that's going to be very strong pull on republicans and if this passes, it's through the house, ta will i think david ignatius, be why, won't it? >> yeah. i think israel's support will matter a lot and the vote count. i would note one other issue we haven't discussed which is that there are some diplomatic wheels that are turning, even as the u.s. ticks down toward military action. it is possible that when the u.n. inspectors come back and report on what they found, there will be a leak out of that group saying, yes, these were chemical weapons. that puts a lot of pressure on the u.n. to act. there was an american diplomat now working for the united nations in tehran, jeffrey feltman, who was meeting with iranian officials in fairly carefully orchestrated visit to discuss how can the situation in syria be contained? i think it's also possible that there will be new discussions

with the russians. how do we bring the parties back. everybody stargs with the president and kerry and every person i knows there is no military solution from this. you can bomb a week from now, month from now, but bombing isn't going to get you there. you need some diplomatic platform to ratchet this down. >> coming up, senator john mccain will be with us. also senator tim kaine. also "the daily beast's" tina brown and moderator of "meet the press." coming up next the top stories in the politico playbook. but first, here's bill karins. he's got a check on the forecast. >> joe, can you believe it's the first week of september. we still have yet to have a hurricane. i mean this is very rare air we're in right now. we don't want any hurricanes out there but it's unusual. three areas of interest we're watching in the tropics. doesn't look like either of the

two in the atlantic will be an issue at all. we'll watch this one down by the yucatan. overall, again, very quiet. we're one week away from what we consider the peak of the hurricane season. that's when we have the frequency of the most storms out there. it would be amazing if we go another week or two without a hurricane forming. in the northeast, wasn'ts the best of labor day weekends. very humid. lot of tropical downpours. cold front on the way. we could see a few showers. boston and hartford, new york city maybe a sprinkle and we are for the most part watching one more warm day in d.c. and then it will cool off for tomorrow. still hot in texas by the way. still 100 degrees all week long from dallas all the way to san antonio. nice sunrise this morning for you in washington, d.c. it's tuesday. you're watching "morning joe." with the spark miles card from capital one,

bjorn earns unlimited rewards for his small business. take these bags to room 12 please. [ garth ] bjorn's small business earns double miles on every purchase every day. produce delivery. [ bjorn ] just put it on my spark card. [ garth ] why settle for less? ahh, oh! [ garth ] great businesses deserve unlimited rewards. here's your wake up call. [ male announcer ] get the spark business card from capital one and earn unlimited rewards. choose double miles or 2% cash back on every purchase every day. what's in your wallet? [ crows ] now where's the snooze button? wit's hard to find contractors with the passion and the skill, and that's why we use angie's list. online or on the phone, we help you hire right the first time with honest reviews on over 720 local services. i want it done right. i don't want to have to worry about it or have to come back and redo it. with angie's list, i was able to turn my home into the home of my dreams. for over 18 years, we've helped people take care of the things that matter most. join today.

good morning. let's take a look at the morning papers. from our parade of papers, "the washington post," david frost, the british broadcaster who famously got richard nixon to apologize after watergate died on august 31st from a heart attack. >> i think that there are three things, since you asked me, i would like to hear you say. i think the american people would like to hear you say. thirdly, i put the american people through two years of needless agony and i apologize for that. >> i let down the country. i let down our system of government. dreams of all those young people that ought to get into government, that will think it's all too corrupt. yep, i let the american people down. and i have to carry that burden with me for the rest of my life.

>> just amazing. frost also sat down with nelson mandela, muhammed ali and beatles, known for befriending his interviewees to help them open up. he was 74 years old. he was a fascinating man, fascinating journalist. >> and a career over a sweep of history. he off the air, he was an unmade bet and you would sit there and say, how can he possibly get this together. you couldn't imagine this was all going to come together into a program that made any sense and then the lights would go on and he would be incredible. so it was something to behold, to actually see him doing what he did so well. >> yeah. and he did it -- >> unmade bet. >> an unmade bet. >> supposed to interview tam mer ran this week. >> really? >> wow. >> from the "new york daily news," exclusive, i wonder if

this will shake up the race, bill de blasio, who made a name for himself with the worst landlords list is raising eyebrows for a relationship with a building owner in staten island. michael shaw's buildings have racked up 200 code violations. it's being reported in 2011 shaw contributed the maximum amount he could to de blasio's campaign. shaw's buildings, oddly enough, are not listed on de blasio's worst land lord list, despite the fact he's considered one of the worst landlords. what are you going to do about this race? >> it's a fascinating -- i mean it's a sad race as new yorkers. i listen to new yorkers just be in shock at the pick of the field. i think the republican candidate, the ex-mta president, if he's got anything, is going to win this election. >> are you serious? >> i really believe new yorkers, de blasio is a nice fella, i

think new yorkers we've come too far to go backwards this way, and i can see us having a republican mayor. i can see it. >> wow. >> man -- >> i was going to say, and i can see pigs flying over the smoke stacks in queens. >> one other thing, throw this out, nobody has talked about this -- i want to say this the right way. >> donny, we're in the middle of a news paper segment. bring this plane in for a landing. >> about christine quinn. >> this stop and frisk policy has come to define this mayoral race. i think a democrat will find their way to victory because -- >> and the "usa today" after nearly a blackout, time warner cable and cbs reached a deal. the terms weren't released but service resumed on monday for customers in eight markets including new york, dallas and los angeles. 3 million subscribers were affected by the blackout and you knew this was going to be taken care of before the start of the nfl season. "the wall street

journal" microsoft is going to purchase nokia smartphone and cellular handset business for $7.2 billion. experts say the size of the deal shows microsoft is shifting its focus toward hardware and away from software. this is the second largest deal from microsoft, $9.3 billion purchase of skype. and "the new york times" says verizon communications going to spend $130 billion in cash, a the lot of cash flowing out there, in telecom, and buyouts for vodafones, 45% stake in the company as the largest u.s. carrier in the united states, verizon has full control of its wireless division. the cell will be the third largest merger transaction in history and completed by next year. and t"the new york post," very important for all of our children, and grandchildren, a hospital in pennsylvania is the first in the country to offer inpatient programs for internet

addiction. the ten-day program costs $14,000, internet addiction treatment will not be covered by insurance. donny, you know, it's a i think there is -- it's horrible. it's unspoken. i think new yorkers say there's something about her we don't like. >> we're in new york city and not north dakota. >> i think it hurts her. nobody is talking about it and it needs to be talked about. nobody can explain it.

something about her. where she's incredibly qualified and it's one of the great last prejudices -- not one of the great last prejudices in this country as far as we've come with gay rights i believe that. >> with us now, to not talk about that, chief white house correspondent from politico here with the morning playbook. what's going on today in politico, mike allen. >> we're looking at why the syria vote is going to be so tough for members even if they know what they want to do. you were talking a little bit about how these lines are going to break down. here's the choice that members have to make. it's clear that out in the country, there's at least a very mixed feeling to opposition in these republican districts to syrian intervention and yet, for democrats, you have the president who's for it. senator mccain, lindsey graham, the establishment republicans are for it. you mentioned aipac. jonathan martin has a piece in the "new york times" pointing

out big republican donors supporting israel are going to be for it. and yet, for these republicans, a lot of their constituents are against it, the tea party is against it. so you have senator rand paul saying that he -- something very rare. he's going to cross chambers and lobby in the house against these votes and we also have senator ted cruz, also a big tea party voice, at the very least very skeptical, i talked to his advisors yesterday, he might come out against this too. >> you know, this is, though, cokie, these are the type of votes you don't think are going to pass and somehow they manage to pass. >> that's right. >> i remember, i was against bosnia and kosovo, having milita military intervention in bosnia and kosovo. we had it, we had the votes, newt kept the votes open, went after john boehner and several

others, switch your votes. these are the type of votes that always pass. as you know, better than anybody. 218-215 or 216. >> but what is now as richard pointed out, though, that's a very narrow victory and it could indicate the president having to come back again and we also don't know, they've always passed. but we're dealing with a very different congress from the one you were in, joe. >> yeah. >> and that could make a big difference and what you just heard from mike about ted cruz and rand paul, and we heard about marco rubio, they're all running for president. >> right. >> and when you have a vote like this that can get you in trouble with your base, think hillary rodham clinton and the vote on iraq, it really throws another wrench into it. do i think in the end the president will get this? yes. but i think there's all kinds of dynamics from here to there.

>> jeremy peters, marco rubio will be fascinating. marco's been twisting and turning over the past couple of years since ted cruz has come on the national scene and so he's got a choice once again. is he going to be ap republican foreign policy establishment hawk or is he going to be more like the tea party senator he's been trying to pose as? >> well, joe, i think you're right. he's going to be one of the most fascinating senators to watch today in the senate foreign relations committee. he's towed a careful line on this. he believes the united states needs to identify groups on the ground it can work with. he's in, you know, the leaning no camp right now i would say, but here's another interesting point, this vote is going to be as close as we think it is, in the senate it's going to make a big difference whether or not there's a 51-vote threshold or a 60-vote threshold which is almost always the norm for any

major vote right now. this has not been settled. if it's 60 votes that's going to be a much, much more difficult road for the president to hoe. >> we shall see what happens. much more straight ahead, mike allen, thank you. coming up -- >> have a great week. >> you too. >> a major surprise at the u.s. open. as five-time champ roger federer is eliminated by the 19th seed. how it happened and who's still in it. much more in sports. i'm sure we're going to be talking about the beginning of college football season. started off with a bang. >> you work. and you want to get an mba.

but going back to school is hard... because you work. now, capella university offers a revolutionary new way to get your degree. it's called flexpath and it's the most direct path, leveraging what you've learned on the job and focusing on what you need to know so you can get a degree at your pace. and graduate at the speed of you. flexpath from capella university learn more at capella.edu nascar is ab.out excitement but tracking all the action and hearing everything from our marketing partners, the media and millions of fans on social media can be a challenge. that's why we partnered with hp to build the new nascar fan and media engagement center. hp's technology helps us turn millions of tweets, posts and stories into real-time business insights that help nascar win with our fans.

i got this. [thinking] is it that time? the son picks up the check? [thinking] i'm still working. he's retired. i hope he's saving. i hope he saved enough. who matters most to you says the most about you. at massmutual we're owned by our policyowners, and they matter most to us. whether you're just starting your 401(k) or you are ready for retirement, we'll help you get there.

experience beyond his years. >> wise. >> all right. >> all right. hi, good morning. >> hey, good morning, thomas. how are you doing, man? >> kick back, relax. here with sports. >> how was your weekend? >> i went to target. >> did you really? >> that's pretty exciting. >> yeah. big stuff for me. >> well -- >> 18 rolls of bounty paper towels and i'm like a pig in slop. >> we don't need the details. >> all right. you want the details of this? >> deutsch client i can't -- >> seriously donny. >> tennis. many consider him to be one of the greatest tennis players of all time, if not the greatest. at this year's u.s. open falling

way short. 19 seed tommy row braydo taking out the champ in straight sets. federer looked slow in the match. not accustomed to seeing this all-time leader miss so much after going night straight years after making every grand slam quarterfinal, federer has missed the last two. after losing in the second round of wimbledon he's not considering retirement. >> florida state and pittsburgh, freshman quarterback winston looking sharp in his debut tossed four touchdowns for 356 yards, ran one in himself. the 11th ranked seminoles winning 4 1-13. high school football, we don't cover that a lot but see this. two coaches came to blows in alabama when pushing turns to punching amid -- >> oh. >> the scrum on the ground. one of the coaches suspended. another walked away from the fight with visible injuries. >> it's not clear what started that. who said what to who. >> alabama.

>> it's something had it to do with -- >> the tide won but the offense -- >> like the kids they're coaching, you know, talking about this before with bill karins, that's not the way -- >> it's probably not. >> but -- >> state is crazy. >> i've coached little league baseball before. i'm not going to cast the first stone. i live in -- >> you were encouraging i'll give you a quarter if you pitch to the head. >> worse than that. >> i can't even talk about my little league baseball coaching stories. so alabama, man, thank goodness they had christian jones because -- >> and your defense. >> and the defense but offense, offensive line not good. by the way, did you see, we got to get the clips of this. see johnny manziel. he's a train wreck. no. >> he's got -- they got to calm this kid down. >> listen, it's a couple weeks interest now. the guy goes past his own coach and bumps his own coach. >> that was inexcusable.

>> any coach worth his weight in salt would bench the kid for two weeks. >> i mean seriously, you bump me, i'm trying to tell you not to taunt players and fans and you walk off the sidelines and you bump me, you're in the locker room. not just me, but any great coach would do that. >> not just me. >> you call yourself a great coach. >> no. >> i agree with you. >> it's easy for me sitting here in this chair to say that's what i'd do. >> you have to. >> but joe namath before the national championship was like one minute late on a curfew and bear bryant wouldn't let him play. >> i didn't see him fully apologize for that. >> he didn't apologize. >> in the press conference. >> he taunted the fans, got two flags, walked off the field, coach tried to talk to him, he bumped the coach. this kid who we all were excited about last year, is completely out of control. and he needs to be suspended. >> yeah. >> let him play the alabama game and sit him for a couple weeks. he's out of control.

>> yep. >> you either play for your coach or you don't. if you don't play for your coach, get out and go to the nfl you're not wanted around here. >> not big enough for the nfl. >> coming up next, no more editorials about college football players. we're going to be joined by senators john mccain and tim kaine straight ahead. up next the must-read opinion pages. [ male announcer ] at hebrew national,

we're so choosy about the cuts of beef that meet our higher kosher standards that only a slow-motion bite can capture all that kosher delight. and when your hot dog's kosher, that's a hot dog you can trust. hebrew national. 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. jim's doctor recommended xarelto®. like warfarin, xarelto® is proven effective to reduce afib-related stroke risk. but xarelto® is the first and only once-a-day prescription blood thinner for patients with afib not caused by a heart valve problem. that doesn't require routine blood monitoring. so jim's not tied to that monitoring routine. [ gps ] proceed to the designated route. not today.

[ male announcer ] for patients currently well managed on warfarin, there is limited information on how xarelto® and warfarin compare in reducing the risk of stroke. xarelto® is just one pill a day taken with the evening meal. plus, with no known dietary restrictions, jim can eat the healthy foods he likes. do not stop taking xarelto®, rivaroxaban, without talking to the doctor who prescribes it as this may increase the risk of having a stroke. get help right away if you develop any symptoms like bleeding, unusual bruising, or tingling. you may have a higher risk of bleeding if you take xarelto® with aspirin products, nsaids or blood thinners. talk to your doctor before taking xarelto® if you have abnormal bleeding. xarelto® can cause bleeding, which can be serious, and rarely may lead to death. you are likely to bruise more easily on xarelto® and it may take longer for bleeding to stop. tell your doctors you are taking xarelto® before any planned medical or dental procedures. before starting xarelto®, tell your doctor about any conditions such as kidney, liver, or bleeding problems. xarelto® is not for patients with artificial heart valves.

jim changed his routine. ask your doctor about xarelto®. once a day xarelto® means no regular blood monitoring -- no known dietary restrictions. for more information and savings options, call 1-888-xarelto or visit goxarelto.com. we're not gonna give up what we love. and when the pounds still come off... we'll be like, "whoa!" weight watchers. join for free. because it works. hurry, join by september 14th and you'll get a free month. welcome back to "morning joe." on syria david ignatius writes in part, what does the world look like when people begin to doubt the credibility of u.s. power. we're finding that out in syria and other nations where leaders have concluded they can defy a war weary united states without paying a price using military

power to maintain a nation's credibility may sound like an antiquated idea, but it's all too relevant in the real world we inhabit. it's become obvious in recent weeks that president obama who's restrained and realistic foreign policy i generally admire needs to demonstrate there are consequences for crossing a u.s. red line otherwise the coherence of the global system begins to dissolve. we remain, whether we like it or not, after a decade of war and a war weary populace, we remain the indispensable nation. >> i think events in syria have demonstrated that so powerfully, joe. you have to ask, why did bashar al assad, after using chemical weapons, despite the warning from president obama that this was a red line, go ahead and do it, apparently on a massive scale that killed nearly 1500 people? and the answer has to be that he saw this president as weak and unable, unwilling to enforce his

will and he was joined in that by russia. syria's ally. russia doesn't take obama's word seriously at all. he was joined in that by some of our allies in the gulf. one worries the iranians have this feeling. i hate to be in the position of arguing that you need to use military action for credibility reasons, that sounds like the cold war, but in this case, we're seeing the consequences of that kind of credibility of american power slip out of the system and it's dangerous. >> cokie roberts, the president said assad must go like he said mubarak must go, like he said gadhafi must go and then, of course, he, quote, led from behind. this appears to be the president's first rhetorical jab in every major international crisis, how much credibility does the united states lose if they do not follow through after that and two red lines being cross sfds. >> i think that's why we're here

today. that's why we're having this conversation. the president has to do something. it's as if assad is taunting him, using these horrible, horrific weapons against children, and saying okay, big guy, let's see what you've got. and i think that is really where we are. and that's what congress now is in the position of having to respond to. whether that's fair or not, is another question. but that is where we are. and if the congress doesn't go along with this, it really does put the united states in a very weakened position around the world. and you're right, we are the indispensable nation. so, you know, if that happens, if we are weakened around the world, then what? chaos. >> richard haas? >> we have to do something but we also have to have a ceiling on that something. syria is not the entire chessboard. it's one square on the chessboard. we have to reserve things for iran, balancing china and japan

and asia, repairing things at home. so the challenge is not just to do something. but it's to be smart. what can we do and sustain it in terms of the whole american national security. you want to use limited force in terms of the chemicals. you want to be arming the opposition and you want to reserve some of your fire power for other parts of the world. that's also the challenge. >> jeremy peters what are you looking for today on the hill? >> well, i'm looking actually at the issue of credibility that david was talking about just earlier. i think instead of credibility on the global stage, you have the president's credibility in congress which we know has been gravely wounded recently. i think what you're hearing from a lot of republicans is, look, do we really want to go out on a limb for this president and at nis point this think there's a lot of doubt on whether or not people will fall in line behind him. >> talking about health care, domestic policy, no, you don't go out for this president. one of the things republicans will have to face whether they

like the president or not, whether they voted for him or not, whether they like what's been going on in syria or not, whether he backed america into this corner or not, they're not just undermining the president's reputation across the country, they could be undermining america's reputation across the globe. those are the tough questions asked. david ignatius, thank you so much for being with us. >> thanks, joe. >> appreciate it. >> jeremy peters, same with you as well. >> thank you. >> still ahead this morning, picks nary with vladimir putin and i think about halfway through he starts taking his shirt off. we'll be right back with that. hero: if you had a chance to go anywhere in the world, but you had to leave right now, would you go? man: 'oh i can't go tonight'

woman: 'i can't.' hero : that's what expedia asked me. host: book the flight but you have to go right now. hero: (laughs) and i just go? this is for real right? this is for real? i always said one day i'd go to china, just never thought it'd be today. anncr: we're giving away a trip every day. download the expedia app and your next trip could be on us. expedia, find yours. [ male announcer ] staying warm and dry has never been our priority. our priority is, was and always will be serving you, the american people. so we improved priority mail flat rate to give you a more reliable way to ship. now with tracking up to eleven scans, specified delivery dates, and free insurance up to $50 all for the same low rate. [ woman ] we are the united states postal service. [ man ] we are the united states postal service. [ male announcer ] and our priority is you. go to usps.com® and try it today. about the walmart low price guarantee, backed by ad match. look at walmart's price. awesome! if you find a lower advertised price, they'll match it

at the register. really? yeah! ready? wow! that's the walmart low price guarantee. bring in your receipt before game time and see for yourself. no two people have the same financial goals. pnc investments works with you to understand yours and helps plan for your retirement. talk to a pnc investments financial advisor today. ♪ ♪ ♪ i've got something for you too. (announcer) fancy feast delights with cheddar. a meal that is sure to delight your cheese lover.

now available in the classic form she loves. fancy feast. the best ingredient is love.

coming up, moderator of "meet the press" david gregory with us. also tina brown and bloomberg view's jeffrey goldberg. he's been writing some fascinating stuff lately. we will be talking more syria when we return. ore and didn't know where to start. at angie's list, you'll find reviews on everything from home repair to healthcare written by people just like you. no company can pay to be on angie's list, so you can trust what you're reading. angie's list is like having thousands of close neighbors, where i can go ask for personal recommendations. that's the idea. before you have any work done, check angie's list. find out why more than two million members count on angie's list. angie's list -- reviews you can trust. i love you, angie. sorry, honey.

before mike could see his banking and investing accounts on one page... before he could easily transfer funds between the two in real time... before he could even think about planning for his daughters' future... mike opened a merrill edge investment account and linked it to his bank of america bank account to help free up plenty of time for the here and now. that's the wonder of streamlined connections. that's merrill edge and bank of america.

more than 50 times a day? so brighten your smile a healthy way with listerine® whitening plus restoring rinse. it's the only rinse that makes your teeth two shades whiter and two times stronger. ♪ listerine® whitening... power to your mouth.

snoets. i think the line in the sand should be america gets involved when american interests are threatened. i don't see american interests on either side of this syrian war. >> i believe we will rally behind the principle that use of chemical weapons is wrong and can't go unpunished. >> i'm afraid what it's shown is weakness there. >> not something that should be undertaken lightly. the mood in the district that i represent is, do not do this. >> god forbid in the suburbs that i represent, a tyrant went after our babies, that a nation as strong as the united states would stand up for my children. >> i don't see any way that a civil war in syria and the fact that this evil man is using chemicals to kill his own people, how that affects directly or indirectly our national security? >> all those comments this weekend about the most telegraphed missile strike in

history, as jeffrey goldberg called it. welcome back to "morning joe." donny deutsch and richard haas with us, cokie roberts in washington and joining the table, editor and chief of the daily beast and in washington moderator of "meet the press" david gregory and columnist for bloomberg view, jeffrey goldberg who wrote this in bloomberg view. the a assad ejeem seems to recognize the practical terrorizing power of poison gas. hitler understood gas to be important not in the cause of battlefield victory but in the larger struggle to send his enemies a message. the removal of the assad regime which violates all known norms of international behavior is the reasonable and moral goal of millions of syrians and their friends around the world but it would not be meaningless to teach a regime a lesson about the cuonsequence of usine ing p

gas. this u.s. message to assad, understood this way, would be we don't yet have a plan or the two will to help the syrian people bring you to justice. we can make you pay a price for deploying some of the most terrible weapons known to man. it really doesn't have the punch of mcarthur's, there is no substitute for victory, does it? >> no. but it's the best we're getting, i think. i'm not sure we're getting it. that's the point. i've been of two minds on this. i think a missile strike alone is semi useless thing. i wish we had spent the last two years helping the syrian opposition build itself up, help the moderates marginalize the al qaeda elements. we didn't do it and we're left with this terrible choice, a missile strike that might not do anything or a signal to assad and to the rest of the world that hey, if you use chemical

weapons on your own people, it's okay. we're not really going to say anything about it. >> there are all those options and even if the united states decided to go in and do whatever it could to help the opposition remove assad, then jeffery, as you said, this has been going on two years. there were moderate elements in damascus two years ago. the question is whether they're still there or not. >> well, that's the question. it might be too late. this is why if you're a member of congress these are good questions to ask. is this problem -- are we too late to fix this? should we get sucked into this. and those are all very legitimate questions. what i'm arguing for is a long-term plan to reconfigure the opposition, a plan that doesn't necessarily mean missile strikes or american involvement at all, but just a plan to rebuild this opposition in a way that over time makes it more effective. >> david gregory, even the

president's supporters this weekend scratching their heads as he sends out john kerry with the united states is coming with a tough strike. he makes a decision. 20 people in the room. john kerry isn't one of those people. the secretary of state cut off at the knees. and the president's behavior leading up to this, just absolutely baffling, decides to go to congress, says he has the authority even if he doesn't go to congress. what is going on at 1600 pennsylvania avenue? >> i think the president felt increasingly isolated. he looked at the public polling -- >> how do you think john kerry felt? >> well, you know, i asked him that direct question. republican assumption, he didn't feel undermined or disagreed with the idea of going to congress. my reporting is otherwise. that basically everyone on the national security team said no, don't do this, and john kerry was sent out there because they were going to hit syria and he made the case for it in a very, very strong and passionate way and the president reversed course. so i think the president felt

more isolated. i think you're the president of the united states right now, a lot of members of congress and the american public, you look at syria and even what jeffrey is saying, and saying no thanks. we don't want to interview veen in the internal dynamics of this country we don't presume to be able to turn around. i think that is the prevailing view. here's something that has emerged from the president's decision to go to congress. look who he met with yesterday, mccain and graham. came out and said look, we don't want to support this authorization if you don't go farther to either bolster the opposition or do more to degrade assad's arsenal, both conventionally and chemically. something i've discussed with richard in the past few days. the president was on a course to punish assad, but with what? a narrow, limited strike, perhaps waiting, gathering more support in congress if he can get it, will result in something a bit more punishing. >> what have we been hearing

coming out of the white house, the leaks have been outrageous. first the president wants to send a signal and then the president wants to do something that's strong enough he sends a signal but he's not mocked because it's not strong enough to do anything more than just send a signal. i don't think they know what they're doing and i think there's no doubt that their cages were rattled at the white house by what happened over in parliament. >> yeah. it's very interesting about how much obama may have been rattled by the david cameron reverse. but, you know, it's interesting, jeffery mentions hitler and the nazis and that wonderful piece, but what you don't see in the king's speech is the british people cheering themselves as chamberlain comes back waving his piece of paper. the brits actually were not very much against war at that time and, you know, i do think that ed milliband the leader of the labor party who won this stunning victory in a sense, i think it's going to be a short lived triumph because the next attack that assad makes killing a whole bunch of children is going to be a moral sort of horror show for the labor party

in terms of what they've done and for david cameron, it's a terrible reverse. he cannot go back to parliament. they're talking about a second vote. if he loses the next one he has to resign. >> did you see what the sun wrote this weekend. after the british parliament voted against supporting the u.s. in military action against syria britain's sun newspaper in a obituary for the special relationship between our two nations, it reads, beloved offspring of winston churchill and franklin d. roosevelt, dearly loved by thatcher, reagan, bush and clinton, goes on to say france has taken england's place as u.s.'s closest ally. >> what be tabloid journalism at its best. >> so the question is, richard haas, what do we call english muffins now? >> freedom muffins? are they freedom muffins. >> the sun said the services would be held at the french embassy. just a twist. say one thing, there is

something people are talking about here, a division of labor. the administration can and should strike with military force to underscore the norm against chemical use. we should be helping the moderate elements of the opposition to the extent we can find them, building them up, we should be helping the refugees in places like jordan. there still is the chance of a comprehensive policy. it's not going to turn things around. but it does get things moving in the right direction. >> i find it stunning that 50% of americans and what david gregory was talking about, why are we getting involved it has nothing to do with us. it has everything to do with us. if we have a leader the world thinks they can mock, if we stand by and the parallels to hitler's germany are the same to your point as far as chamberlain with this wonderful peace treaty this is a nonissue as far as do we do it. it's a question of what we do and when we do it. >> donny, wait a minute -- >> let me finish. >> go ahead. >> and i also think the thing everybody is saying, which i agree with it what's plan b

afterwar afterwards, gives pause, take ten days, get congress behind. that's common sense. >> a lot of people want to get at you. >> story of my life. >> i want to remind everyone what the debate was like during the iraq war. particularly as we got to the surge because what donny just said is precisely what republicans including president bush said about u.s. credibility being on the line in iraq. here you're it taking a stand against chemical weapons. you know, makes a lot of sense to a lot of people. but ultimately, what i think jeffrey and others are arguing is, we need to try to use u.s. leverage to engineer a political outcome in syria. i think that's what people think is a fool's errand in this country a lot of people, perhaps the majority of people at this point. i think jeffrey's argument and other people are saying you can do this in a way that doesn't require boots on the ground, more political, send more

weapons which apparently we still have not done, but this argument is split a little bit between saying we have to take a stand against chemical weapons, wmd, and trying to engineer a political outcome. >> cokie, one of the things that, as i look at -- and have been looking over the past year at what's been going on in syria, i'm reminded, i go back to '93 and '94 and '95 and all the talk about how we needed to do something in bosnia, how we needed to do something in kosovo, that we had ignored the horrors of rwanda, of course we ignored the horrors of sudan a few years later, but more syrians have died over the past year -- and we knew it was happening. it was 20,000, then 40,000. than died in kosovo or bosnia. chemical weapons have been used several times. there's also a question, we love to look at the republican or

democratic president, look at u.s. foreign policy and the entire syria tragedy has just -- had to make foreign leaders scratch their headses and say okay, when does the u.s. intervene and when don't they intervene? because actually bosnia and kosovo had no strategic impact on the united states of america and syria, obviously, is a sworn enemy, an agent state of iran, funder of hezbollah. i'm not making the argument to go into war, boots on the ground. the inconsistencies of our foreign policy to foreign leaders baffling. >> i think it's because ever since the end of the cold war, there is no sort of overriding policy that says, this is where we -- this is where we go in, this is where we don't go in, because they're shifting friends and enemies. but i do think that the bottom line here is, when people say, why is it in america's interests

to do this? i do think, as donny said, it's in america's interest because you cannot have an america that is seen as feckless around the world. and you cannot have an american president who is seen as someone that can be just run over by dictators and strong men. and so i think that is the case. as richard says, then what? and is there a comprehensive policy? i think that's part of what the president has to do in these next couple of weeks, is to say to the members of congress, in particular, but the american people in general, that this is not just some one off, that it is something in a broader context and that's what's missing. >> and they -- jeffrey goldberg, perhaps we should have started the conversation with this question, but you said something in your first answer that raises the question that some have been

raising, have we proven beyond a shadow of a doubt, is is, in fact, a slam dunk it was assad who used the chemical weapons? >> well, you know, we've all learned the lessons of iraq. that said, you know, the french have a new chemical weapons report out much more detailed as our and ours is nearly incontrovertible. one important point to remember here unlike the bush administration which seemed to really, really want to go to war in iraq, and mustered evidence to mike that case, you're dealing with an administration or a president specifically, who really, really doesn't want to go to war in syria and yet, all of the evidence they're marshalling seems to suggest that this did happen. so there is some added credibility when you have john kerry, you know, the famous vietnam protester, not exactly the most hawkish guy in the world, making this arden case. that said, if you're in

congress, you don't want to be, you know, you don't want to be left holding the bag two years from now when it turns out there wasn't. i think that we still in a period where the administration has it to make this argument and release as much technical information as it humanly can, as it possibly can. >> david gregory, we've heard congressmen and senators on the democratic side complain for five years now that the president does not talk to them enough, does not spend enough time with them, does not give them the type of attention they expect, but the question is when the president needs them now, do you believe they'll be there? >> well, i think it depends on the case that's made. i was struck by secretary kerry saying to me on sunday that his former colleagues will not turn their back on his moment. that they will not risk american credibility. that's the argument that's being made. and i think if there is any benefit to going to congress, whatever hits the president takes, that he's going to flesh out more of a policy that

congressmen and women, members of the state will say, what then, what is the broader policy, what is our, you know, our staying power in this kind of campaign and this will get developed a little bit further in terms of an actual strategy moving forward. >> all right. david gregory, thanks so much. tensions have flared this morning in the region. the russian military detected what they called a ballistic object in the mediterranean sea. israel says it was responsible. with us now nbc news chief pentagon correspondent jim mccla chefsy. >> this falls under the category the timing couldn't be worse with all the heightened tensions in that region over syria. but u.s. officials confirm as the israeli defense ministry has itself, that israel conducted a missile test over the mediterranean early this morning and claims the israelis claim anyway that the u.s. was directly involved somehow,

jointly involved, in this missile test. now according to military officials here, it appears that the israelis launched a missile from an airplane and then intercepted that missile with another missile and destroyed it. it was done over open waters, no danger. in terms of u.s. military involvement, officials we're talking to at most, it probably would have been the u.s. warships in region providing radar surveillance to make sure the area was clear and the u.s. military would want to track it to see whaeps what happened, what went wrong, but we're also told that it may not have involved the military, but the missile defense agency. now this is all early reporting at this point. and as richard haas will tell you, first reports in the military are always wrong. joe? >> thank you so much. encouraged. >> all is wrong. that's encouraging. usa, but yeah, certainly provocative action this morning

and the question is, we're in an interesting position where if the united states at the end lobs missiles into syria, how is the rest of the middle east going to respond? >> it's one of the real questions, which is we might say it's a limit ted attack, it onl stays limited if the other side agrees to leave it there. the syrians have options for war widening. all those would bring risks. if the syrians were reckless enough to do something against israel i don't think the israelis would be constrained when in what they would do. there's hezbollah and iran. the russians could provide more arms. one of the problems for the administration is going to the hill, guaranteeing, and it can't, whatever we do in our response will stop there. that said you can analyze yourself into paralysis. the administration has to deal with the reality if it doesn't do anything, what are the consequences of that. they'll get a narrow vote of support from congress, narrow authorization, they will do something. >> jeffrey, how big of a role

will israel, when supporters of israel play, in pushing this resolution over the finish line? >> that's a very good question. let me jump on one thing real quick that richard -- i think this missile test was kind of like a pre-rash shah sana greeting to assad in a way. unlike obama, netanyahu has made no bones about the fact he will respond disproportionately to any syrian attack. this is another way of saying hey, we're going into our holiday season here, please leave us alone. to your first question, you know, this is a great -- there's a supreme irony here, right. remember, obama has had a difficult relationship with aipac, aipac has mistrusted obama. now it looks as if -- i mean you have obama going to mccain and graham needing their help to move this resolution through. from what i understand the administration is also asking aipac to help move this through. in other words, aipac to talk to as many friends the hill and say

look, we're for this and this is really about not just syria, but the word we haven't mentioned yet in this conversation which is iran. in other words, if we send the wrong signal, if we send a dithering signal or a signal of weakness to syria, this will be interpreted by iran as okay, the president has said he's all options are on the table and he's going to stop us from building a nuclear weapon but we see that even when he says a red line is crossed he doesn't do anything. aipac is going to carry that message on the hill and that could be effective for the president. >> here we go again. another proxy war. afghanistan was never about afghanistan it's about pakistan. syria is not about syria it's about iran. >> it's interesting how much really the iranians want to continue with this supporting assad. one does -- their economy is in tatters. the new regime, you know, is making more friendly overtures and about to have talks. the fact is, perhaps they're not as keen to support assad long

term as we imagine. maybe they're not. i mean, you know, one could get that wrong and find that actually secretly it's become their vietnam and they would like to get the hell out of there. >> i wish you were right. i am skeptical. >> okay. >> i don't know. it could be the great unseen wild card here. >> let us hope. jeffrey goldberg, thank you so much for being with us. tina, thank you. >> thank you. >> still ahead, senator john mccain says a vote against a military strike would be catastrophic. we'll ask him about that. his weekend visit to the white house, straight ahead. we're going to ask him if he saw john kerry. senator tim kaine says he's confident congress will approve military action? syria with us next along with gene robinson. an achievement 35 years in the making live report on diana n nyad's swim from cuba to the united states. you're watching "morning joe." we'll be right back. helicopthierhis hibuzzing, andk engine humming.

sfx: birds chirping sfx: birds chirping as your life changes, fidelity is there for your personal economy, helping you readjust along the way, refocus as careers change and kids head off to college, and revisit your investments as retirement gets closer. wherever you are today, fidelity's guidance can help you fine-tune your personal economy. start today with a free one-on-one review of your retirement plan. to fly home for the big family reunion. you must be garth's father? hello. mother. mother! traveling is easy with the venture card because you can fly any airline anytime. two words. double miles! this guy can act. wanna play dodge rock?

oh, you guys! and with double miles you can actually use, you never miss the fun. beard growing contest and go! ♪ i win! what's in your wallet? ng out of pipe. sfx: birds chirping.

we want it to be a one and done. the president's made that very clear. limited strikes, very limited objectives. deterring, degrading the potential use of chemical weapons. he's doing, our president, to show resolve. guess what? assad, and his iranian and hezbollah allies will want to show resolve too. they don't want to give the united states a free ride for this kind of action. >> with us from capitol hill, democratic senator from virginia senator tim kaine and washington pulitzer-prize winning columnist associate editor for "the washington post" and msnbc political analyst eugene robinson. senator kaine, what are -- what threshold do you think the president needs to cross as far as proving the need to take action against assad militarily to get enough members of the senate and house to go along with the resolution? >> i think the threshold question we're here to wrestle with, we have classified briefings today and then foreign

relations committee meetings today, armed services committee meetings tomorrow, i'm on both, the threshold question is getting all the intel to make sure that chemical weapons were used, in fact, by the syrian government. but it seems very clear to me based on what i've seen that was the case. once that case has been made, this isn't iraq, are there weapons of mass destruction. no, they have they have and they've used them and used them against civilians -- >> you're supporting the president's efforts, right? >> i think we have to take steps to show that the use of chemical weapons against civilians has a consequence. >> did the president make the right decision to go to congress with this? >> he absolutely did. i gave a speech in july on the 40th anniversary of the passage of the war powers resolution of 1973, a floor speech in the senate and talked about the sloppiness we've allowed ourselves to get into where presidents overreach and do things without congressional approval and congress intentionally avoids responsibility for going on the board yes or no about military. the president needed to do it

constitutionally but more importantly if we're going to put service men and women in harm's way, they have to be able to count on the fact that the nation's political leadership is unified behind them. if they go in on a presidential order with members of congress griping about it it's unfair to them. >> just to be clear the president did have the constitutional power to strike and come to you within a reasonable period of time. >> that is correct. if he were to do that with all the angst and you need to come to us first and we're not sure what we want to do, how does that make the servicemen and women we're asking to potentially risk their lives feel when the political class can't unify behind the mission. >> we have cokie roberts with us and she has a question. >> senator, you talk about the political class being unified, but we're unlikely to see much unity in the congressional debate. first of all, what kind of harm can that do? but secondly, what's your thresh hold here? does the senate have to have 60 votes to pass this?

do you see a filibuster coming? is that possible to do? >> you know, there might be an effort by some on the other side to filibuster but i remember back, cokie, when we were debating chuck hagel. i think there was a sense for the approval of a secretary of defense, there was sort of a strategic filibuster for a couple days, but then why isser heads prevailed and said we shouldn't be using the filibuster technique to block the secretary of defense when it's such a critical position. there will be jousting procedurally but i believe based on the discussions i've had with senate colleagues on a number of conference calls with them, democratic and republican last week prior to the president making the decision about coming to congress, i think you'll see a strong congressional support because i think we still care about the international principle that you don't use chemical weapons against civilians. vladimir putin may not care, but i think members of the american congress do care and will care. >> gene robinson?

>> senator kaine, you've got one group of senators who -- mostly democrats probably, who really want to constrain the strike and have it be a one off and another group, john mccain and lindsey graham, who really want a more expansive perhaps longer strike that hits more targets and that really affects the war. are we going to have the senate or even the house trying to run a war and is that to the a recipe for disaster? >> gene, i think, to your question, it would be a recipe for disaster to try to micro manage. my view of the constitution is, congress has to be involved in the initiation of military action, but the president's the commander in chief and you've got to give the president some latitude in terms of implementing the congressional decision to initiate military action. that said, i think there have some appropriate questions we need to ask and even potentially put into the authorization that

we're authorizing military action for some finite period of time. we've seen that the authorization done in the aftermath of 9/11 is still being used 12 years ator as an open ended authorization. putting some duration in place, putting some requirement that a president come back for additional authority, for example, before any boots would be on the ground, the white house has said there won't be boots on the ground in this operation, that's probably pretty important to specify in an authorization. so we shouldn't run the, you know, run it. the commander in chief and the military needs to run it. but some appropriate limitations, that's a good subject for discussion. >> we've got three people that still have questions for you, only 45 seconds. this is lightning round. tina brown. >> senator, do you think it could have been a tactical mistake for the president for whatever the vote he was going to do this anyway because doesn't that risk offending congress and making them feel they're part of a student activities committee? what's the point in risking that vote? >> right. >> if you're a congressman whose

constituentsy doesn't want you to do it? >> that's a questionable legal position but i don't think cups is offended. we're here now in committee meetings and taking this responsibility if a solemn way, and i don't think that's going to be a factor in how congress talks. >> worse case scenario, congress votes no, that's not going to happen, but if it does, the president still goes ahead anyway? >> i don't think that's going to happen. i think the president -- i believe that he's made a precedent setting move that we need to move back to the way that jefferson and madison and all the framers intended this. you bring congress in because it's in the constitution but you also bring congress in because we can't have servicemen and women to risk their lives without political support. >> two founding father es and the u.s. constitution. harold ford. >> people argue this will strengthen the opposition, those we're going after in the middle east. do you think the syrian government has been strengthened by this delay? >> i think the delay they can run, but they can't hide. we're going to be stronger as a nation if we do this with a president and congress having

debated it before the pubic and decided to go forward. we're stronger following this constitutional principle. >> lightning round completed. senator tim kaine, you advance to the next round. >> thank you. joe, you didn't even give me trouble about virginia tech. i feel very successful this morning. >> you know why i didn't? virginia tech actually i thought their defense held alabama -- >> 00 yards. >> and we had four big plays. >> yeah. >> just four big plays. without those four, virginia tech could have won the game. you had a good team. >> talk to you soon. >> good luck. and gene, stay with us if you will. coming up a historic swim from cuba to the united states. swimmer diana nyad accomplishes something no one else has done. that's next when "morning joe" returns.

♪ from the classic lines to the elegant trim in each and every piece, ♪ kohler will make your reality a dream.

loses his computer, exposing thousands of patient records to identity theft. data breaches can happen that easily. we don't believe you should be a victim of someone else's mistake. we're lifelock. we constantly monitor the web so if any of your personal information is misused, we're on it. ♪ ow. [ male announcer ] call 1-800-lifelock or go to lifelock.com today. we're not gonna give up what we love. and when the pounds still come off... we'll be like, "whoa!" weight watchers. join for free. because it works. hurry, join by september 14th and you'll get a free month. because it works.

no two people have the same financial goals. pnc investments works with you to understand yours and helps plan for your retirement. talk to a pnc investments financial advisor today. ♪

♪ at the age of 64 swimmer diana nyad became the first person to swim from cuba to florida without a shark cage. live from key west, florida, nbc news correspondent kerry sanders. he has more details on a historic journey. she's tried it before.

she's come up short a few times. this has been a dream for decades and she accomplishes it at the age of 64. remarkable. >> it's beyond remarkable. coaches are always telling athletes the mental game can be more importance than their physical skill. well, i think nowhere is that more evidence than in diana nyad's victory. this is what raw determination looks like. after 54 hours, 52 minutes and 18 seconds, of stroke after stroke after stroke, more than 110 miles, one strike at a time. >> you should never ever give up. >> reporter: at 64 years old, this is what triumph sounds like. >> we knew you were going to do it. we're so proud of you. >> and what inspiration means. >> never are too old to chase your dreams. >> i'm going to find a goal, a

dream and i'm going to do it too. >> reporter: diana nyad's record-breaking swim took two nights to complete, but was 35 years in the making. beginning with her first attempt in 1978. the bee gees were at the top of the charts ♪ >> reporter: but despite attempt after attempt, plagued by strong currents, rough weather, sharks, and painful jellyfish stings, she persisted. >> i'm not a quitter. >> this time she was ready with a new protective suit, a specially designed mask and a sting stopper cream. as she neared her goal, i talked to her team by radio. >> can you believe that diana has made it this far? >> unbelievable. we witnessed it ourselves and we can't believe it. >> reporter: and then finally, to the cheers of a crowd waiting on the beach, the moment her supporters around the world had been waiting for. >> i love the journey. >> reporter: hours later she

lefts the hospital, still sun burned, her lips and tongue still swollen, diana nyad's spirit seems as resolute as the moment she set out from havana and swam into the record books. >> you can dream, you can be vital and in your prime even. i may not look it right now, but catch me on a good day i'm in my prime. >> that's great. >> unbelievable. kerry sanders, thank you so much. diana nyad, herself, will be joining us live in the next hour. >> wow. >> i'm going to tell you about the time i swam halfway across the y pool. >> that is incredible. >> it is incredible. it's been called the crime of the century. a film argues millions of deaths in africa could have been prevented by western pharmaceutical companies but weren't. we've got the director and producer of that documentary, "fire in the blood," dylan gray joins us next.

you can reuse almost anything. paper bags. soda bottles handcuffs i'm just saying. so see what you can reuse. you'll reduce what's sent to landfills. the more you know. nascar is ab.out excitement but tracking all the action and hearing everything from our marketing partners, the media and millions of fans on social media can be a challenge. that's why we partnered with hp to build the new nascar fan and media engagement center. hp's technology helps us turn millions of tweets, posts and stories into real-time business insights that help nascar win with our fans.

man: sometimes it's like we're still in college. but with a mortgage. and the furniture's a lot nicer. and suddenly, the most important person in my life is someone i haven't even met yet. who matters most to you says the most about you. at massmutual we're owned by our policyowners, and they matter most to us. as you plan your next step, we'll help you get there. she loves a lot of it's what you love about her. but your erectile dysfunction - that could be a question of blood flow. cialis tadalafil for daily use helps you be ready anytime the moment's right. you can be more confident in your ability to be ready. and the same cialis is the only daily ed tablet approved to treat ed and symptoms of bph, like needing to go frequently or urgently. tell your doctor about all your medical conditions and medications, and ask if your heart is healthy enough for sexual activity. do not take cialis if you take nitrates for chest pain,

as this may cause an unsafe drop in blood pressure. do not drink alcohol in excess with cialis. side effects may include headache, upset stomach, delayed backache or muscle ache. to avoid long-term injury, seek immediate medical help for an erection lasting more than 4 hours. if you have any sudden decrease or loss in hearing or vision, or if you have any allergic reactions such as rash, hives, swelling of the lips, tongue or throat, or difficulty breathing or swallowing, stop taking cialis and get medical help right away. ask your doctor about cialis for daily use and a 30-tablet free trial.

if it is true that one death is a tragedy and a million deaths a statistic, this is a story about statistics. millions of people in poor countries who died needlessly of aids while giant pharmaceutical companies blocked access to the low cost medicine which could have saved their lives. >> there were nonstop funerals taking place on a daily basis. the population had exploded. the backyards of most homesteads were full of graves, all of them. >> that was a clip from the documentary "fire in the blood." with us the film's director, writer, producer and editor dylan gray. how many lives do you think were

lost that could have been prevented in africa by just the absolutely unspeakable aids epidemic that swept through there over the past 20 years? >> well, you know, it's hard to pin down the number. we conservatively estimated it's a minimum of 10 million lives that were unnecessarily lost. people that could have been saved with existing affordable medication. >> why did the pharmaceutical companies, why do you believe the pharmaceutical companies blocked access to the affordable drugs that could have saved those lives? >> primarily they did so in order to maintain their profit margins and with a view to future profits in major emerging markets. >> explain what that means. i've worked over the years with pharmaceuticals. i haven't seen your documentary but every ceo i sat down with would not look at the world that way. explain what you mean, that okay, to protect their profits they didn't get the drugs to

people that needed them. >> well, it's interesting, i mean hiv/aids is a special case in the sense that, you know, it's a disease that primarily affects people in the developing world, 95% plus of the people with hiv live in developing countrieses. however, there is a sizable market in the western countries as well and it's a perfect drug in the sense -- a perfect therapy for pharmaceutical companies because they can charge very high prices for the drugs, and people who are on anti-retroviral drugs have to remain on those the rest of their lives. it is the perfect type of drug. >> gene robinson with us in washington. gene? >> yeah. dylan, my question is, i'm going to take my annual occasion to praise george w. bush, but wasn't it bush's program in africa that essentially broke this logjam and made these drugs available to the millions of people who needed them? >> it played a huge role. you're correct. in fact we give president bush a

lot of credit in the film. i mean, i think this is one area possibly the only area, where he could look back, you know, universally praised from all sides of the political spectrum. he remains very, very popular in africa because of that. it's interesting that the program was announced at the state of the union in 2003 at the time when, you know, there was very contentious debate going on in the country about invading iraq and many people feel that this was sort of a sweetener put into the state of the union address to make it clear that, you know, the administration wasn't against brown people and black people all over the world, but that, you know, they felt that was, you know, a specific -- >> the fact is bush did have a -- a lot of people believe it may bes because he's an evangelical and sort of a missionary, whether it's a missionary instinct or a pull, he had a lot of people that were pushing him to move on sudan and stop the suffering there, but

there's no doubt about it, whether you're talking about bob geldove or bono, people that have devoted so much time and effort to africa, say what you will about the rest of his policies but george w. bush's policies in africa were unbelievable. >> what's the actual proof you use in the documentary? there's a bigger difference between not providing low cost drugs to the actual statement of blocking low cost drugs. especially to these more developing nations where pharmaceutical companies aren't going to look at them as that's where i want to go to make a profit. >> whether it's food or -- >> i guess that's my question. it's terrible but same with food companies, they're not pouring unfortunately -- they're going where the capital markets are pointing them. i'm trying to get other than this is a cruel, unfair world, what happened here? >> well, i think it's more than that, to be honest. it wasn't just a case of benign neglect or a confluence of circumstances. there were very specific pressures brought to bear using political relationships in

united states government and other western governments, i won't let europeans or others off the hook, they were are part of this, pharmaceutical industries are politically well connected and those are their bread and butter. where they make their money is having pat it tent monopolies and monopolies which are granted by government writ. >> i don't understand is why would it be in their best interest to block cheap, affordable drug therapy -- it would be one thing to have -- couldn't they have an existing price in the developed world and allow

one, the drug companies were determined that people in western countries not find out that drug prices were so much lower in these other countries. that was very important to them. they continue to charge the high prices they were charging. secondly all these companies know their future prospects are very much bound up with emerging markets particularly in china. now, africa was very, very marginal for them, 1% of their revenue. it wasn't about africa. it was really about the other emerging markets. they didn't want to set a precedent and say we're going to give awe price break. the drugs to solve this crisis are 2% what they are in lesser countries because that would be cutting off nose for future emerging markets. >> we have to leave it there. thank you so much, dylan, for coming in. for more information on "fire in the blood" visit fireintheblood.com. gene robinson, thank you so much. what are you writing about this

week, syria, syria, syria? >> i had to write it before the weekend will it's about the budget balance. we're about to get into a grinding war nobody wants. not syria, debt ceiling. >> yet another debt ceiling ballots. gene, thank you so much. coming up a real live spy story in new york city. why the nypd's counter-terror programs are more invasive than ever. that's the subject of the new book "enemies within." we'll be talking to the authors later. up next, pictionary with vladimir putin. we're trying to figure out what he's drawing and whether he keeps his shirt on. "morning joe" will be right back.

a writer and a performer. ther, i'm also a survivor of ovarian and uterine cancers. i even wrote a play about that. my symptoms were a pain in my abdomen and periods that were heavier and longer than usual for me. if you have symptoms that last two weeks or longer, be brave, go to the doctor. ovarian and uterine cancers are gynecologic cancers. symptoms are not the same for everyone. i got sick... and then i got better. ...amelia... neil and buzz: for teaching us that you can't create the future... by clinging to the past. and with that: you're history. instead of looking behind... delta is looking beyond. 80 thousand of us investing billions...

in everything from the best experiences below... to the finest comforts above. we're not simply saluting history... we're making it. vietnam in 1972. [ all ] fort benning, georgia in 1999. [ male announcer ] usaa auto insurance is often handed down from generation to generation. because it offers a superior level of protection and because usaa's commitment to serve military members,

veterans, and their families is without equal. begin your legacy, get an auto insurance quote. usaa. we know what it means to serve.

putin using a visit to the school to try a new white board. look at the board. you've got to dress what the president is drawing. take a guess. >> submarine. >> first thing that comes to your mind. >> wow. >> keep going, guys. give me something. >> it's a cat. >> you might be onto something. getting warmer. >> genitalia. cruise ship. >> no. this is a cat from behind.

>> wow? >> or something very bad that happened to a russian genitalia. >> who, gentile? >> not gentile but gentile's genitalia. >> that is a cat from behind. >> who is scared. >> anyway, it started out -- >> putin, he's a wild and crazy guy. >> creative imagination. >> up next we're going to talk to the woman who swam more than 100 miles from cuba to florida. diana nyad. the president pushes congress for an attack on syria, supporters and skeptics on both sides of the aisle. back after this. for your first day? yeah. ♪

dad: you'll be fine, ok? girl: ok. dad: you look so pretty. ♪ i'm overprotective. that's why i got a subaru. love. it's what makes a subaru, a subaru. he was a matted messiley in a small cage. ng day. so that was our first task, was getting him to wellness. without angie's list, i don't know if we could have found all the services we needed for our riley. from contractors and doctors to dog sitters and landscapers, you can find it all on angie's list. we found riley at the shelter, and found everything he needed at angie's list. join today at angieslist.com cheryl burke is cha-cha-ing in depend silhouette briefs for charity, to prove that with soft fabric and waistband,

the best protection looks, fits, and feels just like underwear. get a free sample and try for yourself. [ female announcer ] with the weight watchers app you have the power of weight watchers. and helpful tools like the pizza cheat sheet so you can make the most of any situation. what can i get you? i'll have that one. even saturday nights. and the barcode scanner so weekend road trips don't mean losing your way. you can lose weight and still live big.

get the app today when you join weight watchers online. hurry, join by september 14th and get one month free. bjorn earns unlimited rewards for his small business. take these bags to room 12 please. [ garth ] bjorn's small business earns double miles on every purchase every day. produce delivery. [ bjorn ] just put it on my spark card. [ garth ] why settle for less? ahh, oh! [ garth ] great businesses deserve unlimited rewards. here's your wake up call. [ male announcer ] get the spark business card from capital one and earn unlimited rewards. choose double miles or 2% cash back on every purchase every day. what's in your wallet? [ crows ] now where's the snooze button?

[ applause ] >> you're never too old to chase your dream. it looks like a solitary sport but it's a team. >> good morning, 7:00 a.m. on the e. coli, 5:00 a.m. on the

west coast, take a live look at new york city. back here on the set my older brother donny deutsch. he's got the look, the specs, hair, whatever,man. cokie roberts, david ignatius. cokie, i heard miss nyad, and i hear you're the next to make the swim. >> that will happen. maybe the atlantic. >> what an extraordinary story. 110 mile swim through shark infested waters. she's 64 years old and just did something no one has done before. >> it's an inspiration to old broads everywhere. it's true.

she's tried it a couple of times. i didn't think she could make it. i was going stop, stop trying. but she did. good for her. >> we've got a lot of news. obviously you all know what's going on and what's going to occupy washington and the world over the next week. the obama administration has begun its late est sale over policy. it's now in the hands of congress. today secretary of state john kerry and chuck hagel are going to be going before senate committees to lobby for military strikes against syria. you know there will be fireworks there. the president must sell international community and a body at home that is deeply divided over the way forward. >> i think the line in the sand should be that america gets involved when american interests are threatened. i don't see american interest

involved on either side of the syrian war. >> i believe we'll rally behind the principle that the use of chemical weapons is wrong and can't go unpunished. >> i'm afraid what is shown is weakness there. >> not something that should be undertaken lightly. certainly the mood of the district i represent is do not do this. >> god forbid in the suburbs i represent a tyrant went after our babies, that a nation as strong as the united states would stand up for my children. >> i don't see any way that a civil war in syria and the fact this evil man is using chemicals to kill his own people, how that affects directly or indirectly our national security. >> there are a lot of people, a lot of people, who even supported the president's plans to strike syria that were absolutely flummoxed by the president's late call for a vote. >> a vote against that

resolution by congress i think would be catastrophic because it would undermine the credibility of the united states of america and the president of the united states. none of us wan that. >> cokie roberts, i don't understand exactly what the president is doing. he can't even hide behind the war powers act. i'm one of these guys who actually believe the president should go to congress if he's going to war or she's going to war. in this case, as we all know, the president has a time period before he has to get congressional approval. this looked -- excuse me. this looked like a political move, not a military move, to hide behind congress's decision. >> certainly it would help him if congress shared responsibility. i liked that she, from your lips to the voters' ears. the truth is this was just a mess. the president sends secretary of state out on friday to say this

is terrill and we need to take action. then on saturday he says, wait a minute. we'll wait until congress gets back on september 9th and then let them vote and then see if we take action. >> cokie, i seem to be asking this question to you an awful lot and i'll ask the same of richard. have you ever seen anything like this before where a president sends his secretary of state to go out either look strong or rattle the war drums, whatever you want to call it, and then cuts him out at the knees the next day. >> no. it was extraordinary. i think we were all surprised when the president called for congressional action but john kerry was the most surprised. the next day sunday he was sent out again on five television talk shows to make the case again and tell us it was sarin gas but still we could wait. i think it's a jumble of messages there. but if, in fact, the congress does come back around and does

endorse strikes of some kind, that obviously does strengthen the president's hand. if they don't, he's in real trouble. >> of course the president's top miller man come out saying, well, time doesn't really matter whenever we make this strike. i've never seen anything like it. richard is with us, from the financial times. america must stick to a course on syria. the obama administration made a difficult situation worse by articulating a series of objectives, assad must go, chemical weapons crosses a red line and policies, we must arm the opposition and then failing to follow through them. requiring the 11th hour produced further uncertainty, improvisation and policymaking on the fly can be disastrous. this president's policy on syria is unmoored. it has been unmoored.

it is chaotic. it seems like the president is trying to hide behind congress or anybody he can here. he does not want to come out and take a strong position. >> he himself said he already has the authority to do the kind of limited strike he's contemplated doing. >> why go to congress? >> obviously it's the desire to get some kind of political cover or political backing. two things will backfire besides the possibility he might not get it. even if he does get it, it's going to be narrow. he's not going to get a blanket authorization. he's going to get something much more specific in terms of time and in terms of what the green light, what the approval is for. so he's going to have to potentially go back to congress. what this is going to do, add uncertainty down the road to syria and american farm policy. it's interesting, all along and even in his presidency, he did not go to congress on a regular basis for authorities. he didn't for libya.

suddenly here at the 11th hour he basically called an audible after he set up the secretary of state to come out. this just introduces a question mark. if you're israel, if you're syria, other countries in north korea, other countries in the world, you basically now look at the united states through this lens of greater uncertainty. >> david ignatius, perhaps you can clarify what the president's strategy and approach has been. >> i don't think a president is ever weaker when he seeks political support for his policies. i think with this president it's been a consistent problem both in foreign and domestic policy. he's moved forward without having an adequate political flank. people behind him will understand the policy. america is a -- the idea of taking us into the battle zone without explaining to the public is wrong.

you can see why he might have gotten away with it. i'll give you an interesting example how this plays out. after kerry's hawkish speech, the syrian opposition thought they are coming in 15 minutes. you had syrian generals rushing to the 11th hour, moving their families out of syria. they thought, here comes the u.s. then came obama's speech and the initial reaction was enormous disappointment. i spent a lot of the weekend talking to syrian opposition members who say if this is a prelude to a more carefully thought out and serious policy that's going to really lead to a change in syria and is going to work with the opposition and build them up, vis-a-vis the extremist, then that's a better policy than we would have had a week ago. >> what is the president's policy in syria? >> the president has two aims? >> first he does seek with whatever axes authorized to

take, to degrade ability to mount another chemical attack like the one we've seen. it's easy to forget how horrific what happened on august 21 was. nothing like this has happened since the world wars. it was so pervasive. the rockets were so heavily armed with chemical weapons. the victims went down, you know in droves. degrade their capability ever to do this again. the second is step up our covert action, not really covert, with the syrian opposition to build them into a stronger military that can one day help rule a new syria. let me give you one further example. in the last few days there have been meetings in the damascus area to think how stability and political order would be maintained in damascus if assad

continues to rule. those are discussions urgently needed, coming out of this period of reevaluation of u.s. policy and i think they are good. >> you know, if the vote were held today, "the washington post" is breaking it down, this is how they say it would go. twenty senators are against action or leaning no, 57 are undecided, 23 are for the strikes. now, in the house in the post tracking, 94 leaning no or would vote no out right, 90 undecided and 16 for action. obviously you and i and anybody who followed the house of representatives don't really need a chart to know that the president is going to have a lot of trouble in the house, not just because of the progressives on the far left but because of the conservatives on the far right. >> that's absolutely right. then there's the issue of the senate. i think if you were to poll 75 different senators, you'd get 75

different reasons for why a military strike in syria may not be such a good idea. i think those really run the gamut. you have the people like mitch mcconnell who think he waited too long to consult the senate on this. you have marco rubio who thinks there should be a longer term strategic plan that involves identifying a more reliable ally on the ground in the syrian opposition. and you have people like rand paul saying the u.s. has no business getting involved in a syrian war. those are republicans. democrats, from what i've told, signaled to the white house saying, look, you're going to have to do the heavy lifting here. this is your idea. you want this to pass, it's on you. >> it is fascinating, though, isn't it donnie when you look at the build up to attacks or wars that the parties position change so quickly based on who is in the white house.

nancy pelosi banging the drums of war. you can go down the line. of course republicans who were the biggest hawks now suddenly shocked -- shocked -- >> a crazed man in the white house. >> that we would go to war. this is one of dozens of reasons why americans hate politics. >> look, i'm a hawk on this and i would have no problem if obama had pushed the button. >> why are you a hawk? >> i think as the united states, throughout our history, this is what we do. we stand up against atrocities of the world. this is not boots on the ground. when you do a poll to americans saying we're going to war, these are missiles fired. we're not sending troops in. having said that, if congress votes against it, that's a catastrophe. if they vote for it, i have no problem with his cause and lets get congress on board. lets step back for a day. to me that's a considered

leader. that's if he gets the yes. to me, what is wrong with him taking a pause, getting congress involved? why is that not a leader? i don't understand that. >> richard. >> one thing if part of a foreign policy or syria policy all along but it was introduced at the 11th hour. second, under the war powers he has the authority -- >> i know he has the authority. i'm talking as far as something as -- >> don't send your secretary of state out one day and the next day -- >> this is a limited strike. we're not going to war. this is not some open ended campaign. this is something quite limited. it's the sort of thing he's going to have to do time and time again in the future and other parts of the world, to basically set the bar that high that you've got to get congress on board is a sustainable way to conduct a national security policy. >> harold. >> all the points made, number rated this morning really color the concerns i have. the most interesting is the one that richard raised.

if the president achieves this -- joe, we've been in the congress -- achieves house, raises the kind of support the country may show this. two, if it's narrowly written and senator leahy said they are going to take the proposal, water it down in terms of the duration and scope, the president articulating his remarks, does that mean the president has to come back each and every time because he's the president. the confused policy in the middle east might send a signal to iran and other areas around the globe. s.e.c., what is the goal. some questioned, including charlie rankel. i think those questions are answerable. white house, allies of this position are going to have take too make the case in a fuller, more comprehensive way than they have. if they don't, i think it invites real problems going forward for other parts of the world as we try to enact policy. >> still ahead on "morning joe," senator john mccain says a vote

against military action in syria would be, quote, catastrophic. he's going to be with us to explain. coming up next, do the nypd's counter-terror efforts after 9/11 do more harm than good? it's the topic of a new good, enemies within. we're going to be talking to the authors of that book. first bill karins with a check on the forecast. bill. >> good morning, joe. after the holiday weekend we're in the peak of the hurricane season. i don't have a tropical depression, storm or hurricane. three areas of interest. none of great concern. we'll watch the one by the yucatan. it could be more mexico's problem in the days ahead. how crazy is this? we haven't had a hurricane yet. one week away from the peak of the season. then we have seven weeks of active time period in the middle of october and it drops off quickly. year by year, remember, 2005 was the crazy year with katrina and 15 hurricanes. we had 10 hurricanes last year. so far 0. so it's very unusual. it's looking like one of those

years maybe we'll have two or three or four. who knows? maybe they will stay in the ocean. as far as bad weather, heavy rain around seattle, tacoma, not a lot of bad weather across the country. we are brutally hot in texas. that's the one place holding onto middle of summer temperatures. near 100 in dallas all week long. up next we'll talk live to the woman who swam more than 100 miles. do you need inspiration on tuesday morning? she will give you it. she failed and then she conquered. diana nyad's incredible story coming up. sfx: oil gushing out of pipe. sfx: birds chirping.

too small. too soft. too tasty. [ both laugh ] [ male announcer ] introducing progresso's new creamy alfredo soup. inspired by perfection. more than 50 times a day? so brighten your smile a healthy way with listerine® whitening plus restoring rinse. it's the only rinse that makes your teeth two shades whiter and two times stronger. ♪ listerine® whitening... power to your mouth. listerine® whitening... cheryl burke is cha-cha-ing in depend silhouette briefs for charity, to prove that with soft fabric and waistband, the best protection looks, fits, and feels just like underwear. get a free sample and try for yourself. we're gonna stop beating ourselves up about our weight. we're not gonna give up what we love. it's not gonna happen. and when the pounds still come off... we'll be like, "whoa!" one night we'll even eat a cupcake like it's our job. just not the entire cake. that's part of the weight watchers plan.

we're gonna feel happy... healthy... and good. weight watchers. join for free. because we understand. because we've been there. because it works. hurry, join by september 14th and you'll get a free month. hing, helicopthierhis hibuzzing, andk engine humming. because it works. sfx: birds chirping sfx: birds chirping exact

welcome back to "morning joe." donny deutsch, i don't know what you did this weekend, but you sure didn't do what diana nyad did this weekend? >> what diana nyad did i could not do in a lifetime. 54 hours straight. cuba -- look at that. that's about as far as i go. >> little help, little help over here. 54 hours. >> incredible. >> 110 miles. >> shark infested waters. >> shark infested waters. >> unbelievable, richard. >> we were just talking about it. she was the throw-back to the year when kids didn't get awards for showing up. this shows amazing commitment, endurance, guts. just amazing guts. >> 64 years old.

she's 64 years old. does this inspire you? >> it inspires me to realize i will never do anything like this. this is really -- physically i don't know how any human being swims for 54 hours straight. >> it's a great question. kerry sanders, nbc news filed this report. >> reporter: this is what raw determination looks like. after 54 hours, 52 minutes, and 18 seconds of stroke after stroke after stroke, more than 110 miles, one stroke at a time. >> you should never, ever give up. >> and at 64 years old, this is what triumph sounds like. >> we know you were going to do it. we're so proud of you. >> and what inspiration means. >> never too old to chase your dreams. >> i'm going to find a goal, a dream, and i'm going to do it,

too. >> diana nyad's record breaking swim took two nights to complete but 35 years in the making. beginning with her first attempt in 1978. the bee gees were at the top of the charts. ♪ ♪ >> despite occurrence, rough weather, sharks, painful jellry fish stings. >> i'm not a quitter. >> this time she was designed with a specially designed suit, a mask, and a especially designed cream. as she neared i talked to her team on the radio. >> can you believe diana has made it so far? >> unbelievable. we witnessed it ourselves and we can't believe it. >> and then finally to the cheers of a crowd waiting on the beach, the moment her supporters around the world had been waiting for. >> i love the journey. >> hours later she left the

hospital still sun burned. her lips and tongue still swollen. diana nyad's spirit seems as resolute as the moment she sat out from havana and swam into the record books. >> you can dream. can you be vital. you can be in your prime even. i may not look it right now. but you catch me on a good day and i'm in my prime. >> in credible story. we'll be right back. humans.

even when we cross our t's and dot our i's, we still run into problems. namely, other humans. which is why at liberty mutual insurance, auto policies come with new car replacement and accident forgiveness if you qualify. see what else comes standard at libertymutual.com. liberty mutual insurance. responsibility. what's your policy? bjorn earns unlimited rewards for his small business. take these bags to room 12 please. [ garth ] bjorn's small business earns double miles on every purchase every day. produce delivery. [ bjorn ] just put it on my spark card. [ garth ] why settle for less? ahh, oh! [ garth ] great businesses deserve unlimited rewards. here's your wake up call. [ male announcer ] get the spark business card from capital one and earn unlimited rewards. choose double miles or 2% cash back on every purchase every day. what's in your wallet? [ crows ] now where's the snooze button? about the walmart low price guarantee, backed by ad match. look at walmart's price. awesome! if you find a lower advertised price, they'll match it

at the register. really? yeah! ready? wow! that's the walmart low price guarantee. bring in your receipt before game time and see for yourself.

here with us, best selling, prize winning, "associated press," co-authors of "enemies within" inside nypd secret spy unit and bin laden's final plot against america. enemies within, what do you mean? >> after 9/11, the nypd created a revamped intelligence to go look after muslim communities, to monitor daily life in all aspects of muslim neighborhoods, the idea being we're going to find those among us, the enemies among us. >> any suggestion that the enemies are those trying to find the terrorists? >> i think if you read the book and that's the conclusion you want to draw from the book, it's obviously open to your interpretation. >> what would be the most surprising thing for new yorkers and americans reading this book

about what's been going on to keep america safe snf h? >> nypd has been pushing this mythology about how good -- >> we haven't had an attack in the last decade and that's pretty good. >> that doesn't prove it works. >> it did work. that is empirical. >> that's about as good as it gets. >> i went to university of alabama, i'm not good at math. >> if every night before i go to bed i have a bowl of vanilla ice cream and haven't been trampled by elephants left, does that prove vanilla ice cream keeps elephants away? >> if only it were that simple. >> the nypd missed it completely. they had no idea it was going on. all the efforts they put in place to catch these guys radicalized they missed it at every level. muslim student organization, the mosque, they surveilled the travel agency. >> guys, not to be overly

aggressive but how do you know they missed. >> we have thousands of their documents. >> look, i'm a stop and frisk guy. basically you say to me 92% of guys committed by young hispanics and african-american males the business of stopping crime goes in that direction. goings on the premise 99.9% of muslims are peaceful, honest people but you're still going to target your efforts there versus going to upper east side and talking to jews or going to queens -- >> majority of terror attacks in the last 25 years have not actually been carried out by muslim terrorists. >> the super bowl, the big one was in this city. >> this was going to be the world series. the question is we're going to look at how do the programs work. it's not an indictment of a department as much as we want to

know if these programs work. we want to know if it's not working in new york -- >> how do we know we're safer if they are not working. they are cloaked in secrecy. as the book shows, when it mattered most it doesn't stop zazi. >> you think these programs haven't worked at all. they are a complete failure? >> it was built to do one thing, catch somebody radicalized in new york city, trained with al qaeda and plotted against new york. in this instance it didn't work. >> the times square bomber, that bomb almost went off. it was a failure for the federal government. they had to do a review of what went wrong but the nypd never had to answer that question. what if that bomb went off, would you be sitting here asking, hey, why didn't these programs -- all the fancy cram race they have in the city didn't catch that smoking truck, it was a muslim vendor. >> here is what i'm saying.

i'm not saying by just targeting these communities you'll get every terrorist but why wouldn't you. that's still the way it goes. even if a terrorist pops up someplace else, that doesn't mean -- >> i think the question is more than a decade after 9/11, i think we can have an intellectual discussion about that, that exact policy without it being cloaked in if you raise questions about it you're anti-american or you're for the terrorists. you know what, that's a completely fine discussion to have. ray kelly has tried to make this an nypd fbi thing. the fbi has its own history, it's own problems in the past 10 years. >> which we document in the book. >> i asked ray kelly last week about one of the charges in the book that they targeted an entire mosque as terror centers. this is what he said. >> if it's a reflection of the article, then the book will be a fair amount of fiction, half truths, lots of quotes from

unnamed sources. and our sin is to have the temerity, chutzpah to go into the federal government's territory of counter-terrorism and trying to protect this decide by supplementing what the federal government has done. >> there's no truth the new york police department is labeling the mosque and city terrorist organizations. >> we have an agreement that has been authorized by a federal judge. we follow that agreement to the letter, or that stipulation, i should say, and it authorizes us to do a whole series of things. certainly investigations are part of it. we follow leads wherever they take us. >> went on and said if they were targeting an entire mosque, i don't know why we cut this part, but i ended up asking him again because he didn't answer the first time. so, if nypd was targeting an

entire mosque, would you disagree with that. he said, yes, of course. >> there are three parts to that. first of all, kelly says this book is fiction. the book is meticulously documented, based on nypd documents made public today on enemieswithin.com. secondly kelly's own people from nypd are on the record. what's unique about this book is there aren't that many anonymous records. many went on the record. kelly said they didn't target mosques as terrorist organizations, flatly wrong. we released the documents last wednesday. >> what do the documents say? >> the documents show there were at least a dozen terrorist enterprise investigations opened into new york mosques, entire mosques, went out for years. a terrorist enterprise investigation is what you use when you are investigating a terrorist organization. two or more people. once you label a mosque a terrorist enterprise, it allows you to make the subject of the investigation anybody who comes

in the mosque. >> what is the exact phrase. >> terrorist enterprise. >> if they are the subject, anybody that shows up to pray is fair game for surveillance. we've documented -- >> so it gives them a lot more freedom to investigate. how many mosques? >> we tracked at least a dozen. there have been more than 50. >> what was the largest mosque? i'm just curious if -- >> there's one in brooklyn -- probably one of the biggest is in brooklyn, islamic society of bay ridge, on friday prayers maybe 1,000 people there. >> so you label it a terrorist enterprise, you're able anybody who comes and goes -- >> it's like joining the mob. anybody at their socialite club. >> frankly no different than the nsa. they go through our phone records. if i'm calling yemen 50 times a

day -- >> i'll tell you this, if they do this to a synagogue or first baptist church of pensacola, you and i are raising hell. >> if they are world trade center -- >> not evangelical churches. most people that murder abortion doctors come from hard line evangelicals. >> just day an online magazine that produced a tei on some guys who were part of what was then america group, the tei shows they didn't go after the synagogue. >> donny, i support very aggressive, i made a lot of people angry, i supported enhanced interrogation programs. senator mccain is coming up next. we disagreed on that. i support aggressive doing whatever it takes to stop terrorism. let me tell you something, we've got something called the first amendment. when you label entire mosques or synagogues or churches terror

organizations -- >> there's a difference between label and say we're going to look into it. that's an internal label. they are not putting it out to the public. >> i think there are huge first amendment problems there and i think the supreme court would agree. guys, obviously we don't agree with everything here but you have started a conversation. i'm sure there's going to be an explosion. congratulations. >> thanks. thanks for having us. >> the book "enemies within, inside nypd's secret spying unit and bin laden's final plot against america." do not deutsch scares me. >> i'm a target marketer. >> you know what you are, you are a limousine liberal. you're an upper east side liberal -- >> you're leaving me hanging out to dry. all of your liberal friends are starting to get to you. >> what? >> your liberal friends are making you soft. >> limousine liberal. coming up next we have senator john mccain. he says a strike -- a vote

against the strike in syria would be catastrophic. we're going to talk to him about that this weekend, his visit to the white house, and much, much more, about the president undercutting his friend john kerry when "morning joe" returns. [ 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.

jim's doctor recommended xarelto®. like warfarin, xarelto® is proven effective to reduce afib-related stroke risk. but xarelto® is the first and only once-a-day prescription blood thinner for patients with afib not caused by a heart valve problem. that doesn't require routine blood monitoring. so jim's not tied to that monitoring routine. [ gps ] proceed to the designated route. not today. [ male announcer ] for patients currently well managed on warfarin, there is limited information on how xarelto® and warfarin compare in reducing the risk of stroke. xarelto® is just one pill a day taken with the evening meal. plus, with no known dietary restrictions, jim can eat the healthy foods he likes. do not stop taking xarelto®, rivaroxaban, without talking to the doctor who prescribes it as this may increase the risk of having a stroke. get help right away if you develop any symptoms like bleeding, unusual bruising, or tingling. you may have a higher risk of bleeding if you take xarelto® with aspirin products, nsaids or blood thinners. talk to your doctor before taking xarelto® if you have abnormal bleeding.

xarelto® can cause bleeding, which can be serious, and rarely may lead to death. you are likely to bruise more easily on xarelto® and it may take longer for bleeding to stop. tell your doctors you are taking xarelto® before any planned medical or dental procedures. before starting xarelto®, tell your doctor about any conditions such as kidney, liver, or bleeding problems. xarelto® is not for patients with artificial heart valves. jim changed his routine. ask your doctor about xarelto®. once a day xarelto® means no regular blood monitoring -- no known dietary restrictions. for more information and savings options, call 1-888-xarelto or visit goxarelto.com. as your life and career change, fidelity is there for your personal economy, helping you readjust your retirement plan along the way, rethink how you're invested, and refocus as your career moves forward. wherever you are today, a fidelity i.r.a. has a wide range

of investment choices to help you fine-tune your personal economy. call today, and we'll make it easy to move that old 401(k) to a fidelity i.r.a. what's wrong with you. >> republican senator john mccain. senator, you went in to the white house this weekend skeptical about the president's resolution. you came out in support of it. why? >> well, i came out in support of the concepts and strategy that the president said that was certainly something they could seriously consider and employ and that is getting weapons and increasing the capabilities of the free syrian army and getting weapons they need to them that

includes anti-armor and anti-air and also degrading bashar assad's capabilities to deliver chemical weapons as well as other weapons. i was encouraged by that. i'm not signing on until i see the details. the resolution has to include that capability for the president before i would vote for a resolution. i was encouraged by what he had to say, but i've got to know the details. i was told a long time ago we were going to give weapons to the free syrian army and they haven't gotten a single president left. >> we were talking about the president allowing secretary of state to go out and make a tough statement on syria and undercutting him the next day. were you surprised the president cut his own secretary of state and when the decision was made on what they were going to do, 23 people in the meeting, that the secretary of state wasn't

one of them. >> i'm not sure of the different machinations that went on. i think the first mistake was to say that we were going to have a strike and then to say we had to have a congressional resolution. >> why did he do that? >> you know, i don't know. i don't know why he said it was unacceptable bashar assad why he had to be removed from power and didn't do it, why he said there was a red line and that red line was crossed. and now it's crossed again. rather than saying he's going to act and then saying he's going to only act with a resolution from congress, i think frankly from talking with our friends and allies, it's very discouraging to them. >> senator, richard haass, a lot of people talking about the possibility of this getting defeated. seems a more hikely possibility in order to get it passed you've got to narrow or constrain the president's powers. what's your thinking about this possibility? >> richard, i think from time to

time we're not in agreement and from time to time we're in agreement. i think it would be a very serious situation we're we're now 535 commanders in chief. look, the president of the united states is the only commander. ronald reagan invade grenada, bill clinton acted, other presidents have acted in keeping with the war powers act. so i think that it would be -- frankly it would be a risk. if i thought it was a meaningless resolution that constrained the president from doing what's necessary, i couldn't vote for it. >> would you insist on inserting language in the resolution that he makes good on his promise to provide serious military help to the opposition. >> i'd like to see it in the resolution but i'll take him at his word. there's other ways of me get the information that we are actually doing that. but again, you know, we've

really got to -- it's disspiriting our friends and encouraging our enemies. for chairman of the joint chiefs of staff to say it doesn't matter when we strike, of course, is just nonsense. it's nonsense. that makes you really cynical about what they are really going to do. >> harold ford. senator mccain, harold ford. two questions. some argue opposition groups could be worse. could you give me information. second, senator graham on tv saying if opposition group took over, one condition would be they had to turn over all chemical weapons. would you insist on that in any resolution you go before the congress? >> generally the syrian national council are more than eager to do that. they would like to get it off of their hands. tell me the first question again? >> syrian opposition group, how can you give me some comfort they can be trusted? >> i know these people. the institute for the study of

war, general keen and others, those people have been in and out of there. they are doing the bulk of the fighting. they are in the areas not controlled by al nusra and kooid spending time trying to enforce law rather than fighting. we know who they are. saudis know who they are. they are getting weapons to them directly. there's no doubt in my mind and there should be no doubt in anybody's mind that the free syrian army is not an extremist group and nor are the syrian people given to extremes. they are very cultured modernist nation. they are not going to stand for some kind of extremist government. >> donny deutsch, let me play devil's advocate for a moment. the president said he's going in. then he paused and said, i want to get congress behind me. i'm going on the congress you're going to get congress and the senate dragging and they are going to support him.

what is wrong with all of our points saying we don't want one off, you're the one saying we need a longer range plan, with pausing and taking these next seven days to get a resolution that does incorporate a next step. why are we maligning the president for making shuch a move. >> donny, i think you make a good point. if the president had initially said, look, there's clear evidence that chemical weapons have been used by bashar al-assad. i said there's a red line he could not cross. therefore i'm going to go to congress and getting a resolution backing that up. instead, he said he was going to launch strike and then said he was going to go to congress. donny, i wish i had your confidence about the willingness, particularly the house of representatives. i think the president needs to go on national television from his desk in the oval office, speak directly to the american people and talk about not only the massacre of 100,000 people and a million children who were

refugees but the regional aspect of this including that syria is a client state of iran. if we don't ask against syria in this instance, what message does that send to iran and north korea. the stakes are incredibly high here. >> all right. senator john mccain, thank you so much for being with us this morning. it's always great to talk to you. >> thanks for having me on. bob kraft needs to get that super bowl ring back. >> you know what, lets take care of syria first and assad and then we're going to get that ring back. coming up next, the big shake-up in the mobile phone world. details of that when "morning joe" returns. ♪ nascar is ab.out excitement but tracking all the action and hearing everything from our marketing partners, the media and millions of fans on social media

can be a challenge. that's why we partnered with hp to build the new nascar fan and media engagement center. hp's technology helps us turn millions of tweets, posts and stories into real-time business insights that help nascar win with our fans.

i got this. [thinking] is it that time? the son picks up the check? [thinking] i'm still working. he's retired. i hope he's saving. i hope he saved enough. who matters most to you says the most about you. at massmutual we're owned by our policyowners, and they matter most to us. whether you're just starting your 401(k)

or you are ready for retirement, we'll help you get there. well, you've found delicious! ♪ ♪ must be the honey! ♪ it is so honey swagalish ♪ so much crunch, can you handle this? ♪ ♪ the party in the bowl don't stop! ♪ ♪ must be the honey!

telecom world. >> where is our virginia tech? he was wearing his virginia tech cap on friday. >> sullivan. >> they are going to beat alabama. >> he didn't show up. >> he's hiding. >> so we've got all these telecom things going on. tell us about it. >> after a month long blackout

time-warner cable and cbs reached a deal, in eight markets, dallas, los angeles, nearly 3 million subscribers affected by the blockout. not coincidentally this deal was done several days before nfl. never bet against -- >> that's the only reason i asked the question. don't cross les. >> microsoft will purchase nokia smartphone handset business for $7.2 billion. experts say the size of this deal shows microsoft is shifting its focus towards hardware and away from software. the second largest deal for microsoft behind $9.3 billion purchase of skype. full disclosure, microsoft another deutsch client. we can't get through this show. versus communications will spend stocks to buy vodafone's 45% stake in the country. the largest carrier in the uss. versus has full control of wireless.

the sale will be the third largest sale and merger transaction in history and will be completed -- >> verizon -- >> shows how rising interest rates -- interest rates going up and borrowing costs going up so you have companies making decisions. >> moving now. >> buy low, sell high. >> higher interest rates bad. >> you should buy that boat. >> what did we learn today. >> roll tide. >> up next. 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. no two people have the same financial goals. pnc investments works with you to understand yours and helps plan for your retirement. talk to a pnc investments financial advisor today. ♪ ...amelia... neil and buzz: for teaching us that you can't create the future... by clinging to the past. and with that: you're history. instead of looking behind... delta is looking beyond. 80 thousand of us investing billions...

in everything from the best experiences below... to the finest comforts above. we're not simply saluting history... we're making it. [ jen garner ] what skincare brand is so effective... so trusted... so clinically proven dermatologists recommend it twice as much as any other brand? neutrogena®. recommended by dermatologists 2 times more than any other brand. now that's beautiful. neutrogena®. ♪ we're gonna stop beating ourselves up about our weight. we're not gonna give up what we love. it's not gonna happen. and when the pounds still come off... we'll be like, "whoa!" one night we'll even eat a cupcake like it's our job. just not the entire cake. that's part of the weight watchers plan.

we're gonna feel happy... healthy... and good. weight watchers. join for free. because we understand. because we've been there. because it works. hurry, join by september 14th and you'll get a free month. because it works. and didn't know where to start. a contractor before at angie's list, you'll find reviews on everything from home repair to healthcare written by people just like you. no company can pay to be on angie's list, so you can trust what you're reading. angie's list is like having thousands of close neighbors, where i can go ask for personal recommendations. that's the idea. before you have any work done, check angie's list. find out why more than two million members count on angie's list. angie's list -- reviews you can trust. i love you, angie. sorry, honey.

. >> thomas, what did you learn. >> intrepid diana nyad is extremely popular and we'll have her hopefully live at 11:00. and putin is a weird doodler. >> he is a weird dude. >> doodler. >> raised $3 million. >> that's fantastic. is that one of those parties i don't get invited to. >> i'll work to get you on. >> could you get me on the list? there's only so much you can do. >> richard, what did you learn? >> john mccain is not sure that he necessarily has the votes, the president necessarily has the votes in the house. this resolution could still go down. >> this comes down to the house, democrats can have their arms broken politically. they are going to have to support their president. a lot of supporters of israel are going to have to go hard -- >> in the house.

>> in the house? i think in the end it passes. >> absolutely. >> i think it passes because the reasons i just said. i think a lot of strong supporters of israel on the republican side that don't want it to pass but lets do it. >> it's going to be hard. >> i learned 64 is the new 34. diana nyad. old guys like me, we have hope. we have to depend on pills and other things to get us through. >> we just learned too much. >> wow, we learned all of that. >> way too early. >> we're done. that's it. >> a hard sell on syria. president obama and his team try to make the case as unrest continues. the region remains on edge and refugees flood into neighboring countries. live reports from the syrian