(announcer) take their taste buds for a little spin with more than 50 delicious flavors. friskies. feed the senses. good saturday afternoon. i'm craig melvin. here's what's happening right now. >> we can't ignore chemical weapons attacks like this one. even if they happened halfway around the world. >> convincing the country. president obama is back in d.c. today. he's preparing to take his case straight to the american people. we are live as protesters gather outside the white house right now. also today, a new dawn for labor? the major plan from the aflcio to add millions of nonunion workers. we'll preview the plan ahead of tomorrow's big vote. and cleaning up the city, from a smartphone. the woman trying to improve

neighborhoods with just the touch of a button. it's today's "big idea." well get to all those stories in just a moment. but we start with the administration's continued push for military strike in syria. secretary of state john kerry met with leaders of the european union earlier today where once again he argued for more support for military strikes against syria. he spoke just moments ago from paris. >> this is our munich moment. this is our chance to join together and pursue accountability over appeasement. we in the united states know and our french partners know that this is not the time to be silent spectators to slaughter. >> msnbc chief foreign affairs correspondent andrea mitchell is traveling with secretary kerry. she has more on the response to military action from paris. >> reporter: secretary kerry is here in paris trying to build on support from the europeans. but so far they are not endorsing military action.

the european union condemned the strike, the chemical attack as a hideous war crime but said they want to wait for the u.n. inspector's report even though the u.n. inspectors are not tasked to find out who caused the attack, simply that an attack took place. the european leaders are divided. they don't dispute that this attack had to come from the assad regime. but at the same time, they don't want military action and are not willing to endorse it yet. tomorrow here in paris, secretary kerry meets after seeing the french with arab leaders who are also divided, the saudis strongly supporting a military strike but the others not committed. this is a tough, tough diplomatic mission. then he comes home and tries to persuade congress which itself is losing support for military action as each day passes. back to you. >> there's andrea mitchell for us in paris, traveling, again, with secretary kerry. meanwhile, president obama now

back from the g-20 summit, faces quite the uphill battle to get backing from congress and the american public as well. msnbc's peter alexander is live for us at the white house where we should note, protests against military action have been going on all morning. peter, first of all, if congress voted today, does president obama have the support? >> reporter: i think it's pretty clear this time that this white house's president doesn't have support. it doesn't appear that congress would authorize military strikes in syria. the white house knows it. that's why they've launched this aggressive push. those protests have just cleared up outside the white house today. but we have heard their echoes here and around the country over the course of the last many days, either in the form of protests or at these town halls with members of congress. the latest of whom, mark pryor, the democratic senator from arkansas, today said he will vote no. the president right now is not here at the white house. he left a short time ago to play

golf at andrews air force base. but we were told by the white house that the president was told by his chief of staff about the latest taking place between the administration and members of congress. we've been told by officials that the president will make more calls to members of congress before the weekend is out. he made some of those calls to republicans and democrats even before he got back from that trip to that summit, the g-20 summit in russia. he made those calls from on board air force one late yesterday. craig? >> peter, congress reconvenes monday. what can we expect from them over the next few days? >> reporter: well, i think what the white house hopes is they will finally -- and specifically members of the house will get their first real chance to see all the intelligence, to see all the information, the case that the white house, that the administration has gathered up on why this needs to take place. so many of those administration officials are convinced. so many members have heard from

just the constituents in their own districts. they hope when they come here with a classified briefing scheduled for monday, that will help turn the tide. perhaps as significantly, the president will be making that national address on tuesday night. earlier in that day, the chief of staff, dennis mcdonagh, will visit with house democrats trying to convince them. the democrats have been as challenging as any group to get on board with this because so many of them oppose the idea of intervention. as you have noted multiple times, it's an uphill battle this white house faces but one they're aggressively pursuing as they fan out the forces across television and to the capitol. >> this tuesday evening address that we've been talking about, what more will president obama say that he has not said yet publicly? >> reporter: it's a good question and they're not exactly revealing their hand on what exactly we expect to hear from the president. i think a lot of people believe that it would add value if the president revealed some of that

which he has been showing or the administration has been showing in these classify briefings up on capitol hill. but based on the conversations i've been having, it appears pretty unlikely the president is going to detail anything new specifically. it's likely, i think, that the remarks he makes to a national audience tuesday night will be very similar to those made last saturday when he said he was going to pursue the authorization of congress. that may be disappointing to some of his critics who say he needs to make a stronger case. but a lot of members of congress say they want to see the president put his neck out. he said it's not my red line but the world's red line. the members of congress who have to vote want to see the president put himself out a little bit further as well. >> peter alexander for us, we'll check in with you later. thank you, sir. what a difference seven days makes a week ago, the president and secretary kerry were making

a case for immediate action against syria. now the administration is in a holding pattern as it pleads with congress with act. a short time ago, our kelly o'donnell reported. pete just noted here, senator mark pryor, the arkansas democrat, he is now is "no" vote as well. here's the whip count. according to "the washington post," in the house, 225 congress members are against military action. 183 are undecided. and just 25, 25 so far have pledged to get behind the administration. meanwhile, in the senate, a quarter of members say they are against military action or are leaning no, just over half. 52 are undecided. 23 senators right now say they support a strike. joining me live, jonathan allen for politico, bill schneider and reed wilson with "the washington post." jonathan, the president keeps the pressure on congress to

approve action in syria even though it seems military action is the last thing the american public wants. four major polls now show a low level of public support for a u.s. missile attack on syria. is it mainly those polls -- mainly the will of the people keeping congress from acting? is that all we're looking at here, jonathan, or is there more to it than that? >> i think it's that simple for the most part, craig. these are elected representatives. they respond to the public. the president tried to make the case to the international community. he hasn't done that so far. tried to make the case to congress, hasn't done that so far. so now he's going american public. if he can turn them around, perhaps he can get them to turn the members of congress around. it looks pretty bleak right now. but basically the president has the task of explaining to the american public why this is in the interest of the united states of america. and that might mean talking a little bit more about the horror

of chemical weapons and about whether there's any chance they could ever be used here if we don't do anything to stop assad or generally stop the proliferation and spread of them. right now, that argument hasn't been made and the american public is not with them. >> sounds like you think the white house has a messaging problem? >> a huge messaging problem on this. and congress is sick of war and the american people are sick of war. even though the president isn't talking about a war, it feels like the administration is talking about a war. i think that he's got an opportunity before the american public to turn the tide on this. george h.w. bush before the persian gulf war in 1990 went to congress to the joint session. the president is going to do this from the white house. but still a major address that i think was effective for him and starting to rally public support for his position. we'll see if president obama gets better talking points. >> bill, historically when presidents make these kinds of speeches from the white house, primetime address, you look at reagan, you just mentioned bush,

you can talk about clinton and somalia. historically when that happens, there's military action. if it doesn't happen this time, that would be fairly unprecedented. same question i just asked peter, what more can president obama say to the american public that he has not said? >> he's got to make the case much more strongly that this is in the international interest of the united states. we have more than national interests in this country. our international interest is that we are the guarantor of world order, the enforcer of global rules. we have played that role for the last 65 years, since world war ii. if something happens that threatens international order or stability and the united states doesn't do anything, nothing happens. if we hadn't stepped in to kuwait or kosovo or libya or afghanistan, nothing would have happened. we didn't do anything in rwanda and nothing happened. that's a crucial role for the united states and he's got to make the case that this is bigger than simply our national security interests.

>> reed, let's talk politics here for a second. is it an exaggeration to say that this vote, this vote to strike in syria could very well define president obama's second term? is that an overstatement? is that hyperbole? >> a little bit. one of the things that strikes me most about this is just how much of president obama's administration has been defined by his predecessor. the first term was defined by a democratic agenda that sort of reversed the eight years of george w. bush evenings policy. now as he tries to go to syria, he's experiencing this sort of anti-war feeling not only within his own party, which was largely against the war in iraq to begin with and that sort of anger about the direction of the war in iraq helped democrats in 2006 and 2008, but he's also experiencing some pushback from house republicans who are equally sort of -- isolationist

is a strong word. but they're not the interventionists of george w. bush. i don't know if there's another president whose two terms have been defined by his pred ses sor. >> what does it mean for immigration? what will it mean for the president's legislative agenda domestically? >> he has a serious problem. this could be a debilitating loss. he'll look like a president who can't hold his party together in congress. it will be hard for him to get much more immigration reform or a budget deal or even raising the debt ceiling. these things are going to be much tougher for him. in a way, democrats have to understand the consequences of this vote. if they do not support their president, his presidency may very well be all but over. >> jonathan, the white house also finding it difficult to get

support from the international community as well, again, with john kerry in europe today. we heard from him a few moments ago, trying to get more of eu on board. samantha power, the u.s. ambassador, talked yesterday. take a listen. >> we assess that although assad used more chemical weapons on august 21 than he had before, he has barely put a dent in his enormous stockpile. and the international community has clearly not yet put a dent in his willingness to use them. >> is the international community just as war weary as the american public, jonathan? >> if not more so, craig. i think the world doesn't want to act. i think they're tired of the united states leading action with the exception of a couple of countries that seemed to always be there for the united states. if you look at president obama's coalition of the willing, it's much smaller than george w. bush's coalition of the willing for iraq. yeah, the world's not interested in this. and right now, the american

people aren't interested in this. if the president wants to rally them, he's got to dig deep and find a better message than he's had so far. he's got to make people understand exactly why chemical weapons are so bad. 50 years ago that wouldn't have been a problem when there's a collective memory of world war i and the horrors of mustard gas. but we haven't seen chemical weapons used in quite the way that they were back then. as a result of the chemical weapons ban and as a result of that, the american people probably don't see it as that different than the use of conventional weapons to kill people. i think he's got to make the case for the horror. he's got to make the case for why it's in american's national interest. and with a congress that has incentive to not be with him, all kinds of political incentive because the people aren't with him, he really does have to turn the people to get congress to go along with him. >> jonathan allen, bill schneider and reed wilson, a big thanks to all of you. israel's interests in the syrian crisis.

we'll talk to that country's former chief negotiator with syria. also, reworking labor, the aflcio is out with a bold new plan as thousands of protesters march. and the race is on to the 2020 olympics. the host city will be announced this afternoon. we'll tell you which cities are on pins and needles at this hour. [ school bell rings ]

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the united states is now a distinguished fellow at the brookings institution. honored to have you on, sir. do you agree with that assessment? is it in israel's interest for assad to stay in power? >> no, it is not. if assad stays in power under the present circumstances, this would be a victory for the axis of russia, iran, hezbollah and assad. assad will be even more of an iranian puppet than he is now. and definitely it is not in our interest. >> why, then, has israel not been more of a vocal ally of the white house in this particular instance with regards to striking syria? >> because we don't want to be part of this conflict. this conflict is not about israel. it's a syrian conflict. it is a regional conflict. it has now become very much a defining international issue.

what the regime tries to do is to turn it into yet another israeli issue and we do not want to fall into that trap. so we try to say as much as we can, both in practice and in word. >> israel has attacked weapons convoys in syria several times this year alone with no response from syria. senator john mccain used that rationale in a town hall meeting in arizona yesterday. take a listen. >> four times the syrian -- the israelis have struck syria. four times. they've gone in, they've stood off and hit specific targets within syria. the syrians haven't done a damn thing. >> is it a valid assumption that syria would not respond to a narrowly targeted u.s. attack? is that a valid assumption? >> it may very well be the case. but this is -- when you prepare a military action, you always

prepare for the worst case scenario. so while it is likely that they will not respond, you cannot act on that assumption. and may i say something. you said we attack -- if i may, you referred to four israeli attacks on convoys. these were convoys taking very sophisticated weapons to hezbollah in lebanon. this is where we drew a red line. >> at the same time, what military retaliation by syria is israel preparing for should there be a u.s. strike? >> we are prepared for the worst. we assume they will not launch a major retaliation because they know that in that case, we are likely to retaliate to their retaliation in a very major way and conflict very heavy damage on their military. in that way, tilt the balance in

favor of the insurgents and bring the syrian war to an end. by the same token, i would say he would not have used chemical weapons when u.n. inspectors were around. >> i want to call your attention to a report here in this country about aipac, politico reporting that aipac, the massive israel lobby in this consider is planning a major push in congress. do you think that kind of pressure is going to help the administration's case considerably? >> i never take reports at face value. it may or may not be true. but if aipac is doing that, i think it is doing that precisely because it is worried that the administration may lose its standing in managing the international arena. very important for israel, for the friends of israel and i think for the whole world that

there will be a credible administration managing the world. in the absence of that, we may see a world in chaos. >> former israeli ambassador to the united states, thank you so much for your time, sir. >> thank you. thank you for having me. a spectacular sight over the east coast last night as nasa launched an unmanned rocket headed for the moon. ♪ fly me to the moon >> i love it. i love it. going to be studying the moon's atmosphere and dust. the spacecraft had equipment trouble today. but everything is still on track. this is the first mission to take off from nasa's virginia facility, allowing people from south carolina all the way to maine to see that launch. quite the sight if you got a glimpse last night. you are watching msnbc. [ male announcer ] don't miss red lobster's endless shrimp.

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senator john mccain about his support for a military strike. >> who are we fighting? we're not fighting assad. we're fighting russia and iran. >> drop a bunker bomb from a b-52 and take him out and cut off the head of the snake. >> and why do we think that we should be the police always? >> how do we sort out who the good rebels and the bad rebels? >> lawmakers around the country were hearing similar sentiments in their home districts this week. the president is back in d.c. preparing for a primetime address tuesday. much more on the march to military action coming up.

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fire. the wildfire has been burning for three weeks now, tearing through almost 250,000 acres. that's about three times the size of atlanta. it's the third largest wildfire in state history. and right now, that blaze is 80% contained. i'm craig melvin. here's a look at what's making news. new allegations of corruption this weekend involving the 2010 bp gulf oil spill. the former fbi director is recommending the justice department take another look at that case. freeh says several lawyers involved in awarding money to victims may have been taking kickbacks. and google may be beefing up its own security, according to a new wort report in "the washing post." it's encrypting all of its data. apparently the idea here is to protect customer information from snooping by the united states and foreign governments.

google, as you might imagine, is not talking about the report. right now, the international olympic committee is deciding who will host the 2020 summer games. they've narrowed it down to three cities -- istanbul, madrid and tokyo. the winner is set to be announced in about two hours. >> on t on the heels of labor day, the afl-cio is announcing a plan to add millions of workers to the nonfederation. this comes as nonunionized workers are taking to the streets. walmart workers in 15 cities thursday protested against low wages and for the right to unionize. this follows a series of one-day job walkouts by fastfood workers demanding higher wages and better working conditions as well. michel k covers labor for in these times magazine. he just wrapped up a cross-country trip with a group of labor activists.

mike, always good to see you, sir. >> good to see you. >> the afl-cio is going to be announcing this plan tomorrow, according to "the new york times." many liberals and union members worry that if unions grow weaker, that will lead to more income inequality and less of a political counterweight to corporate america and conservative billionaires. first of all, what are the chances that the afl-cio -- the chances that this plan gets approved that allows millions of these nonunionized workers? >> i'd say it's likely something is going to get approved. it's not clear exactly what it's going to be. basically in this country it's very difficult to join a union. one out of three organizing campaigns a worker gets fired. the penalty for firing a worker in this country is you have to post a piece of paper saying you fired an employee.

what the afl-cio is trying to do is continue a trend they've done in the past and form organizations of nonunion workers and try to figure out ways for workers that are difficult to organize in low wage industries and industries with a lot of turn afternooover get them involved. it's going to be a question of how long the afl-cio is going to be able to commit to this. >> let's talk about the protest of walmart workers. how effective have these demonstrations been? are workers making any gains? >> it's unclear exactly where it's going. it's a long, uphill struggle. walmart has retaliated against a lot of these workers. 60 workers have been fired. so they're raising consciousness among walmart workers but walmart is fighting back at the same time. >> how much of the demonstrations themselves -- how much have they also been about big labor's search for new members? >> i think that's a big thing.

organized labor is trying to figure out ways to get communities involved. and often organized labor is involved in very small shops, a little tool shop here. they're trying to go after big corporations and get the community behind it. >> federal minimum wage is $7.25 an hour. fast-food workers are at about $8.72 an hour. how are families simply managing? how are they managing on these wages? what are they doing? >> i just got done with a cross-country with a bunch of rank-and-file steel workers. we visited a lot of families. workers are struggling all across this country. it's a very difficult time. a lot of people aren't getting through. people are losing their homes. and it's very rough. >> the jobs numbers came out yesterday. unemployment rate dropped

slightly last month, although most experts contend that that's simply because a lot of folks dropped out of the labor force. folks who are finding jobs, a number of them, part-time workers. last month, 7.4% to 7.3%. you've been to detroit, minneapolis. what does the jobs picture look like on the ground? >> it looks bad. unemployment is going down. but as you said, more people are going to part-time work and wages are falling. i think what's happening is this economic crisis was so bad that employers realized workers are scared. so they're offering them worse and worse conditions. and the question that the afl-cio and other labor groups are trying to answer is what are they going to do to fight back? can they rise to the occasion? this is a make-or-break moment for the labor union. >> michke elk, always appreciat it. got potholes?

there's an app for that. it's a start-up called public stuff and it is making it easier for cities and residents to talk. users can report things like graph fi and broken streetlights. and it's going to be forwarded to city workers to fix. this weekend the app was debuted. the founder and ceo of public stuff, good to have you in. thanks for coming by. it's a fairly simple idea. >> thanks for having me. very excited that we're launching with new york city as well. >> if someone spots a problem in their city, in the simplest of terms, how can they use public stuff to get it fixed? >> public stuff is really the best, fastest way to interact with your government. it's changing how we can communicate things like potholes, missing street signs,

broken street signs, graffiti. you can report it online and through mobile apps. >> walk me through one of the reports here, hypothetically, if i've got some sort of problem in connecticut. >> here's nyc 311 plus. you can access this in any community across the nation. you have a lot of functionality. if we submit a pothole here, we can go ahead and say that we saw a pothole and then you can attach an image, you can select your location. then it gets sent straight to the managing city. the other thing you can do on our application is view other issues -- you can see what other issues have been submitted in your community. so we're making it social so that you can actually start to share with your co-workers or your friends and family the other things that are being submitted. so these are other things that have been submitted across new

york city. >> a lot of cities have 311. you can pick up the phone, call your local municipality and tell them about the sidewalk that's cracked or pothole. how is this different from that? >> what's different about this is that we make it social. the data is out there, the data is open and anyone can access it. you can understand where you work better, your location proposal community better and help improve your neighborhoods. it's also translated in over 20 different languages on mobile and over 50 different languages online. so we're breaking down the barriers for language that you might see at city hall. really utilizing the power of technology. >> how has your original idea for public stuff evolved? >> the initial idea of public stuff was really very simple. how do we utilize technology to improve how you can communicate with your government? now we're utilizing images that can be attached, geo location. all the technology has taken the company to the next level and

has really allowed governments to be smarter about how they operate their cities. >> and what's the website again for folks who are watching or listening and might be interested in learning more about it? >> go to www.publicstuff.com. >> that's easy enough. publicstuff.com. what's next for you guys? >> we're looking to expand in cities across not only the u.s. but international as well. >> thank you so much for your time. do you have a big idea that's making a difference? we'd love to hear from you. tell us about it. all you have to do is e-mail us. there it is right there on your screen. if you've got a big idea, tell us all about it. back to the crisis in syria now as congress debates military strikes against syria, lawmakers are raising some new and fresh concerns about the rebels fighting the assad regime. some groups like the one

reportedly seen in this video seen fighting assad's army have been linked to al qaeda. shed some light on these groups. the united states hopes the strikes will help rebels gain an upper hand. but what do we know about these opposition fighters that we would be helping? >> reporter: well, we can say that they are generally divided into a few different types of categories. on one hand, you have what are known as the free syrian army. these are a loose-knit group of rebel fighters made of either defectors of the professional syrian army or those affiliated with -- they tend to be secular. they are calling for a lot more substantial military support, weapons, even perhaps vehicles to tip the balance in their favor. you then also have moderate

islamist fighters that belong to groups like the muslim brotherhood. and you have those that are a little bit more stringent in their interpretation of the kind of laws they want to apply socially and politically. then you have the jihadist groups, the groups drawn in from around the world believing they can tip the balance for a global ideological fight in the middle east to try and create a larger islamist state. the jihadist groups are the ones that are drawn ideologically, inspired by al qaeda and others and could pose a serious problem for the future of syria if there is regime change there at some point. >> if there is a regime change -- when there is a regime change in that country, is there one rebel group right now that if this regime change happened in the short term, in the near future, one rebel faction that

would more than likely become the dominant of the rebel factions? >> reporter: the short answer to that is no. we don't know just yet. however, there is a political opposition. that is the syrian national council. those are the umbrella organizations which fall underneath it. those organizations are the ones that the united states government is dealing with. so, too, are western and arab countries. many people have recognized them, many international governments have recognized them as the official representatives of the syrian people in organizations like the arab league. the aim or at least the hope is that if there is regime change, it would be this political opposition that could quickly move to damascus and try to create a government that can then ultimately bring in many of these various rebel groups and others under the command and control of a new government. however, that is going to be a very tall order because we simply don't know what the more extremist rebel groups will likely do. will they acknowledge it, will they recognize it? will they turn their weapons

against those to have taken power? that's going to be the ultimate test. that's why there's so much concern among the opposition rebel groups. >> "the new york times" released video this week showing rebels executing regime fighters. we now know the video is from 2012, not 2013 as originally reported. how does the release of such a video make it harder for rebels to gain international support or domestic support as well here in this country? >> reporter: well, it certainly complicates the efforts of the secular opposition, the opposition that is trying to win international legitimacy because they now have to fight two separate battles. one, they have to convince syrians why they are a better alternative to president bashar al assad and his regime but they have to convince the international community that if they do come into power they will respect universal human rights and the rights of

minorities including christians and alawites and others. that is tough for them to do with these videos coming out. keep in mind, we don't know the nature of that video, whether or not it belongs to members of the free syrian army or some of the other extremist groups we were talking about. but believe it or not, that video is actually not the most disturbing video that's come out f of syria in the past two years. we've seen some of the other rebel groups do some very horrendous things that definitely defy humans rights and raise concerns among the type of state they want to have in a post-assad era. because of that, it is a very difficult sell for the international community to completely support the free syrian army because it's uncertain what kind of values they're going to uphold once they actually do come into power. it's easy to say when they're in exile and outside the country to try to win that international support. once they have the reins of power, it's a whole different

game. >> ayman, always appreciate your work, sir. thank you. birthers, truthers, who killed kennedy? what are they really hiding in area 51? the united states of paranoia. that's a guy who just finished a book about the conspiracies that consume us. i'll talk to him after this. 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 ♪

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as the nation awaits a possible u.s. strike on syria, conspiracy theories abound about the chemical weapons attack on august 21st that led us here. the theories cover a wide range. the chemical attack was accidental, the united states did it, the syrian government was framed and there's even the one about the biblical prophecy as well. the proof offered for these theories so far?

nonexistent. but historically, that has not stopped conspiracy buffs. the united states has long been an incubator for grand conspiracy theories. jesse walker is the editor of "reason" magazine and is the author of the new book "the united states of paranoia." always good to see you. thank you for coming on. >> thanks for having me. >> first of all, how do scenarios like the one i just talked about in syria, how do these kinds of scenarios become so widespread so quickly? >> well, i argue in the book that even when a conspiracy theory says absolutely nothing true -- and there are real conspiracies out there. but even when it is absolutely nothing true, it says something about the anxieties and thto th people it appeals to. i can't speak about the conspiracy theories about the chemical attacks in syria.

but i can say when you've had -- when people remember the absence of the weapons of mass destruction in iraq or if they have longer memories or paid attention in history class, they have the gulf of tonkin incident wasn't what it was presented as. family there's going to be more appeal for a story that says something similar about the road to another war. >> there were new revelations on the extent of the national security agency's ability to monitor encrypted internet communications, the adage, it isn't paranoia if they're really out to get you. that adage seems especially relevant. have t have the nsa disclosures given fuel to the conspiracy theorists? >> even beyond that, the flip side is there's been a lot of paranoia within the government about leakers. and you have people being asked to look at federal -- fellow

federal employees to see if they're exhibiting supposed signs of possibly revealing classified information and this whole sort of enemy within paranoia enveloping the people at the top of the social hierarchy as well as at the bottom. >> in your book, you also trace the history of conspiracy theories. what were the earliest widely believed conspiracy theories in this country? >> it goes back to the colonial days. conspiracies about indians and about satan being the manipulator that brought indians to the country because he wanted his own empire here. and also fear of indian attacks. there was the salem witch trials and other witch hunts, but that was the big one. and moving forward, a whole bunch of conspiracy theories around the run-up to the american revolution, the run-up to the civil war and so on. >> really quickly here, what is it that makes us as a country so

prone to conspiracy theorists? >> i don't know that we're more prone than other countries. i wrote about america because i'm from here. i'm looking at american history through this prism. but in general, people look for patterns. they have things that they're nervous about. you put those two together and you throw in the headlines, real conspiracies being revealed every couple of years, all that makes people imagine more conspiracy theories. >> jesse walker, thank you, sir. >> thank you. up next, military plans in syria, is the pentagon preparing for a bigger battle than americans expect? we'll take a look at that. also, on the fence, we'll go behind the scenes with a lawmaker who is still undecided on a strike in syria. this is msnbc. and just give them the basics, you know. i got this. [thinking] is it that time? the son picks up the check?

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good saturday morning. i'm craig melvin. you're watching msnbc. here's what's happening right now. >> this is our munich moment. this is our chance to join together and pursue accountability over appeasement. we in the united states know and our french partners know that this is not the time to be silent spectators to slaughter. >> making the case. secretary of state john kerry is in europe urging the world to help take action in syria. we'll talk to one u.s. lawmaker who says he's still undecided. also, the big business of college football. universities are generating tens of millions, hundreds of millions even. but athletes are not seeing a penny of that. what paying college athletes could look like. and game on. we're just an hour or so away from learning which city will host the 2020 summer olympics. which three cities are in suspense right now?

all those stories straight ahead. but we start with debate over whether to take military action in syria. secretary of state john kerry is in europe today in a bid to build support from european union leaders, speaking in paris a short time ago, he said the united states is not looking to go to war but to launch military strikes. >> what we are talking about is standing together and speaking with one voice in opposition to a clear violation of a red line the world has defended for nearly 100 years. >> msnbc news chief foreign affairs correspondent andrea mitchell is traveling with secretary of state kerry and has the latest now from paris. >> reporter: secretary of state john kerry and his french counterpart both argued that they are gaining diplomatic support and have more military support from allies than they are ready to admit. but more than they will even need by the time they take what they describe as limited

targeted air-strikes against syria. they both spoke passionately about the need to respond to the chemical attacks. they need there's no doubt who perpetrating them. and they said waiting for the u.n. inspector's report will not be an unnecessary delay because the french have been assured by the u.n. secretary general that that report is coming much more rapidly than anyone had expected. that said, they acknowledge that the american people, the french people are against this taking place but they both argued passionately and emotionally that they have to take a stand and they have to persuade their publics that this is in their national security. back to you. >> andrea mitchell there for us from paris, traveling with secretary of state john kerry. want to go now to peter alexander who is at the white house for us on this saturday afternoon. we know the president is getting ready for this tuesday evening address from the white house to talk to the american public about syria. what's the president doing today? is he making calls? is he preparing that speech?

>> reporter: at this very moment, the president is out playing golf, as a matter of fact. but we are told by white house officials that before the weekend is out, he will make more calls to members of congress, even before he returned back from the world leaders summit, that g-20 summit in russia yesterday aboard air force one, officials tell us the president made calls to democratic and republican members of congress. they recognize in his own language that this is going to be a hard sell. that's why over the course of the next several days leading up to that address from here at the white house, leading up to what could be a senate vote on the topic of syria as early as wednesday, the administration, the white house specifically is fanning out its forces. the chief of staff doing the sunday news shows tomorrow. republican senators being invited over to the home of vice president joe biden. susan rice speaking on monday and there's a classified briefing if members of congress, specifically all house members are being invited to that briefing, where they'll get to see a little piece of the

intelligence that the administration has gathered. >> pete, before i let you go, you just indicated the president is playing golf. just the optics of it. any word from the white house as to -- is he perhaps playing golf with a lawmaker who might be on the fence or is it just a saturday afternoon golf outing? >> reporter: i think the white house would probably say that everybody's entitled to a little time off to breathe and that he's the president 24/7. when it comes to the issue of optics on the topic of syria, the optics of the bodies of more than 1,400 syrians killed on august 21st, they think, trumps any other pitch. they're not going to allow video, i trust, today of the president playing golf. but they feel confidently when that classified briefing takes place on monday -- and nbc just obtained videos we're trying to get to you as soon as possible that show authenticated attacks that took place on august 21st.

these were authenticiated. these were the videos played before the senate intelligence committee last thursday. they are some of the videos, 12 in total, out of 100 that exist, according to a u.s. government source. and they believe that those videos will help provide more information for members of the house, members of congress to make their decision, as the conversation exists throughout this country, including a debate that was taking place with protesters just outside the white house a short time ago. i think u.s. government officials, certainly administration officials believe that americans should have the opportunity to see as much information as can conceivably be provided as the decision process is being made. >> peter alexander from the white house, pete, if you get your hands on that video, please pass it along to us during this hour. >> reporter: i will do that. right now, the whip count, according to "the washington post," in the house, 225 members

of congress, 225 congress members say they are against military action or they are leaning no. 183 say they are undecided. just 25 so far have pledged to get behind the administration. meanwhile in the senate, a quarter of members are against military action or they are leaning no. we can add mark pryor to that column, the arkansas democrat announcing just a few hours ago that he is also going to be voting no. 52 say they're undecided. 23 senators say they support a strike. one of the lawmakers the president is trying to win over is nevada democrat, steven horseford, still on the fence. thank you for joining us. >> thank you for having me on. >> i understand you have attended five briefings and the house foreign relations committee hearing. but you're still on the fence. i'll start with the obvious question. how are you still on the fence after five briefings, hearing from constituents and the foreign relations committee

meeting? >> well, as a new member of congress, i take this responsibility to authorize a vote and a strike and to send our men and women from the military into a military action very seriously. so i have spent the time to study the issue, to attend the briefings, to hear from the intelligence community and now my constituents, their concerns and their questions. and i still have some unanswered questions before i can make a final decision. >> questions like? >> some of my questions include and i hope the president will answer during his address on tuesday, why is there not more of a multinational coalition of partners? why is it that the united states has to act alone? what are the costs? who's going to pay for this? we have enormous budget constraints right now in our

country. we have a sequestration that's affecting air force personnel. in my district, for example, 1,400 people who are on layoffs or who have gotten furloughs. and finally, what are the long-term objectives following a strike? what is our strategy in syria and the region in the middle east? >> this syria vote poses a serious dilemma for members of the congressional black caucus, which tends to historically support the president. national security adviser susan rice is scheduled, i understand, to brief cbc members on monday. do you think action in syria threatens much-needed resources from poor and minority districts specifically? >> yes, it does. the sequestration and the budget constraints that we are already under are affecting communities across this country. in my district, which is a very diverse district, i have

individuals on one spectrum that are being kicked off head start and not getting funding for nutrition programs, seniors who are losing funding for nutrition services. and as i said, four military bases in my district, many of whom on the civilian side are going without one month of pay and each pay period that's affecting their livelihoods. the question is if we can afford this strike, where is the money coming from and why aren't more international partners willing to join with the united states? i don't question the fact that chemical weapons were used by the assad regime. >> right. >> but the question remains, why aren't there more international partners willing to respond as well? >> congressman, playing devil's advocate, to those who say, waiting for an international coalition should not be an essential prerequisite for action by the united states of

america, what would be your response to that? >> well, first is this is an international norm that has been in place since 1925 that some 180 nations have agreed to. the united nations security council, which the administration has attempted to get a resolution on, has been blocked by russia and china. but that doesn't mean that this still should not be an international community response. >> okay. >> the united states has tremendous problems of our own and we can't be asked to intervene in every conflict and step in. i respect, though, the concerns by those who are concerned that there are risks of not acting that could threaten us with iran, with north korea, with hezbollah. and that's the other side of the coin and one that i'm continuing to balance my decision on. >> nevada congressman steven horsford.

thank you. >> thank you. nbc . the president yesterday called a report yesterday, quote, inaccurate. >> i'm not going to comment on operational issues that are sourced by some military official. >> retired u.s. army colonel jack jacobs is here, medal of honor recipient. also an msnbc military analyst. what a difference a week makes. just last week, you and i were sitting, same spots, talking about whether these strikes would begin in the next few hours. now we're talking about whether these strikes will happen at all. >> at all. >> let's talk about the strike ust hed from the president there. he insists the strike would be limited in scope. the conflicti from the white house tell you about the administration's

plans? not that the target list t it has been increased. it's that the original target list was may increase again, b target list is no different than e one that wasplanned. we've got plans to do everything you can possibly think of internationally and particularly and these plans have been on the books and verified for a long, long time. when the president calls for a limited strike, the pentagon works up a target include, in this case, mostly airfields and other places. mobile missile and control sites and maybe some troop concentrationsrom built-up areas. and make it extremely small.some or two days with third day tt that he report is now is that

list will be expanded. expanded targets. it will just be targets that were on the previous list that they decided not to hit. >> let's talk about what's happened over the ps the debaten any idea what might be in syria with regards to some of theseare th moving around ro populated areas, hinkg exactly like any blood-thirsty despot. that'sctly what you're talking about. hi chemical weapons know they know we're not going to hit them because they're close to built-up areas.

planes being moved to areas where they can move them, where they can perhaps be hidden. but remember this, as they move them, we can see them, using satellites, not only where they were -- maybe we didn't know where they were but now we know because we've been following them. >> i want to get your take on something we came across in "the washington post." a military strike on syria would be, quote, the first military action in american history that was not meant to save lives or win a war. if that's an accurate statement, is it worth it? or is it even an accurate statement? >> it's not an accurate statement. you could argue whether or not this strike would be worth it. and i think there's plenty of argument -- cogent argument that says it's a mistake to do this, there are -- there's a lot of ancillary fallout that's not going to be very nice and we're going to have a big problem if we launch this strike. but that statement is not accurate. just about every strike we've

launched, not all of them, but most of the strikes we've launch in the modern era, certainly since the end of the korean war, has been -- and definitely since the end of the war in vietnam has been couched in the terms that we're there to save lives. and this is no different. it's a way to get political support for something that nobody wants to do. >> colonel jack jacobs, always appreciate your insight. >> thanks, craig. meanwhile, we've got our eye on buenos aires this hour where -- it happened earlier than we thought it would. madrid, madrid has just been eliminated in the voting for the 2020 olympics. we do not have a winner just yet. but count madrid out. tokyo and istanbul now beatling it out. no, the united states does not have a dog in this fight. the winning host city expected to be announced within the hour. won't be madrid. coming up, as president obama pushes for a strike on

syria, is his old campaign team abandoning him? we'll talk about that. first we'll talk about the big business of college football. millions of dollars trading hands. is it time for players to get their hands on some of that money? and florida senator milissa rehberger and his family gracing the cover of this weekend's "parade" magazine. ♪ [ male announcer ] clearly this isn't one of those speed-eating contests. that's a hebrew national hot dog.

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so first of all i want to clear up some confusion. contrary to what some of you have been saying, i'm not wearing this tie because i'm a clemson fan. go, south carolina, beat georgia. perhaps you heard college football season is now. and in case you did not know, the sport itself has become a

license to print money. most big-name programs rake in tens of millions every year, according to a new report in "the portland business journal." companies like nike, under armour are giving schools millions of dollars in cash, royals on apparel and even internships for some students. how did we get here? how fair is this considering student athletes aren't being paid a time? patrick rich is a writer for "forbes" magazine. this week's "time" magazine cover, you've seen it, it makes the case for why college athletes deserve to be paid saying the idea of paying players is no longer just fodder for academic debate, it's an ethical imperative. on the cover, heisman trophy winner johnny manziel. manziel's heisman-winning season

earned texas a&m about $37 million in publicity. you called his punishment half-witted and you said, as an economist, i believe student athletes with his kind of brand appeal should be allowed to strike while the iron is hot because it may never be this hot again. is the era of not paying college athletes -- is that era coming to an end? >> you would certainly think so, craig. thanks for having me on. especially you mentioned manziel but the lawsuit that the former ucla star is levying against the ncaa for the use of former players, their likeness, their names in video games. you would think at some point this wall is going to be broken down and players will start getting paid. i think they have to be reasonable about how they do it but i think it is going to happen very soon. >> to understand the type of money we're talking about here, here's some examples of sponsorship contracts. just in the big ten and the big

12, this is also from "the portland business journal." the university of oklahoma, which has a $40 million deal with nike is receiving $2.1 million in equipment, $1 million in cash, two summer internships for students at nike's washington county headquarters, indiana university which has an eight-year deal with adidas is getting $500,000 signing bonus, $200,000 in royalties. how would school share that income with athletes? >> when you have particular athletes like the manziels of the world -- and there's probably about 200 or 300 student athletes in football and men's basketball that you could say have marquee value. i say create clearinghouses with the conferences and if anyone wants to do autograph signing or endorsement deals with these particular student athletes, you can do it legitimately through the clearinghouse.

you don't have to do it dirty deals under the table. this is a way that those players who have marquee value can monetize that value. if johnny manziel plays this year and doesn't win the heisman or falls or slips a bit and next year when he goes to the pros he washes out, he will have missed his chance to strike while the iron is hot. >> here's the other part of this story. we're talking about the big universities, the big colleges in this university, these blue-chip programs. what has this new era of college athletics -- what has it done to the chasm between the big schools, the big universities like the texas a&ms, like the michigans and the smaller schools, like my alma mater, wofford university? >> there's always been a degree of competitive imbalance. and that's exacerbated because of what's happened with the big money. but you have to understand when

you look at people that are in athletic administration, they have to be able to generate revenue to finance all the other olympic sports, a nice way of saying sports that don't make money. so when you have all that money coming in, espn has injected $10 billion over the last five years and they're paying over $7 billion the next 12 years for the new college playoff system starting in 2014. i don't get that upset about conference realignment. i don't get upset about schools getting this money because they are spending a lot of it back and trying to finance the rest of their athletic programs. >> patrick, always enjoy your work. thank you for your time. thanks again. >> thank you. i'm going to break my pledge here and actually use the word on the air. thanks to miley cyrus we've all heard about twerking by now. this twerk went terribly wrong. someone opens the door at the worst moment.

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they are juggling four kids and possibly white house dreams. the magazine featured the rubio's feature. and finally first lady michelle obama spoke at a back-to-school event about her anti-obesity campaign. >> we are changing the conversation in this country. we are creating a cultural shift in how we live and eat. and our efforts are beginning to have a real impact on our children's lives. >> the first lady then donned her workout gear and, yes, teamed up with none other than the shaq himself. teamed up with shaquille o'neal to help promote "let's move active schools."

live pictures now from buenos aires where the international olympic committee is voting right now to select which city will host the 2020

summer games. as you can see there, the folks from turkey, very excited. that's because turkey, now one of two nations -- there were three nations -- a dog also very excited. istanbul and tokyo are the two finalists. madrid was also in the top three. madrid was eliminated just moments ago. we expect that city to be announced within the hour. if and when it does happen, we will, of course, bring it to you live. i'm craig melvin. here's a look at other top stories making news. google is responding to allegations of nsa spying by upping its own security. that's according to a new report in "the washington post" claiming google is speeding up a program to encrypt all of its data. apparently google is trying to protect customer information from snooping by the united states and foreign governments as well. google is not talking about that report. a break-in at buckingham palace. british police have arrested two

men for trying to enter questionnaire elizabeth's home this week. a man climbed a fence to get onto the palace grounds. the other man arrested outside the palace. according to police, no members of the royal family were there at the time of the incident. take a look at this. man, that's a section of bleachers collapsing at an ohio high school football game last night. the collapse sent dozens of students to the ground there, as you just saw there. amazingly, only five of them were hurt. and it looks like at this point none of them had serious injuries. but that's a high school football game in ohio. as president obama and lawmakers on capitol hill continue to debate whether to take action in syria, there have been some inevitable comparisons to afghanistan and iraq. >> the military plan that has

been developed by our joint chiefs and that i believe is appropriate is proportional, it is limited. it does not involve boots on the ground. this is not iraq and this is not afghanistan. >> one thing the federal government can learn from those experiences is to perhaps take better care of people in those countries who helped the united states rebuild or at least tried to. kirk johnson has been reminding officials of those responsibilities for years now. he's also the author of "to be a friend is fatal," the fight to save the iraqis america left behind. he's also the founder of the list project. kirk, thanks for coming on with me. >> thanks for having me. >> you went to iraq as a civilian employee of the united states government for the agency -- for international development after you left. what did you find out about the status of many of the iraqi civilians you'd worked with? >> well, when i got back to the states, i learned that many of the iraqis that had been working

alongside me and the u.s. government and our military had been killed because they were seen as collaborators or traitors. and i realized that our government was doing nothing to help them. so in late 2006, i started speaking out about this. and for the last seven years or so, i've been working to push the case of thousands of these iraqis. >> you write about your dealings with the washington bureaucracy. and you asked the state department, i understand, to help resettle some iraqi civilians who had ties to the united states government. what was the reaction? what was the reaction to your requests? >> well, it's pointless to try to be -- to mince words at this point. neither the bush administration nor the obama administration really want to help these people. and so they take my list. they've been taking my list for years and they say, we're going to look into this and we'll do

what we can. but they then basically subject these iraqis and now our afghan interpreters to years of waiting. and that's how they're looking into it. >> just willful neglect? is that what we're talking about here or is there more to it than that? >> no. it's not neglect. i think it's a -- there's an utter lack of urgency. and i also think there's just an apathy about this. our country is very good at charging into war. and we're not very good at mitigating the longer-term consequences of these wars. so five years ago, congress passed a bill that opened up 25,000 visas for these iraqis. five years later, we're up to a couple of weeks left now of this deadline. it's going to expire. and about 15,000 of these visas were unused due to bureaucratic incompetence. it's frustrating to witness to say we want to help these

people, that we need to honor our obligation to them but we're not very good at doing it because nobody cares and particularly obama doesn't care. >> you started a project. it's called the list project, i understand. how many iraqis have you been able to help? >> we've gotten in over 1,500 of these iraqis now. and while i'm really proud of that work and of the work of our partnering law firms, there are still thousands of iraqis that are languishing. i'm now getting e-mails from afghan interpreters and from marines who worked with them who are desperately trying to get their guys out before we leave. >> the book is called "to be a friend is fatal, the fight to save iraqis." thank you so much, kirk johnson. i appreciate your time on a saturday afternoon. >> thanks for having me. we've got some breaking news right now. breaking news out of the white house where administration officials are now releasing this video that peter alexander mentioned at the top of the

hour. we want to warn you that some of the images here could be a little tough to look at. nbc news receiving this video. the white house says it conclusively shows evidence of the august 21st chemical attack on syrian civilians. this is what white house officials have been showing members of the senate intelligence committee in those closed-door briefings on capitol hill. this video just being released from the white house where administration officials are releasing this video. more video, they say, that conclusively shows more evidence of the august 21st chemical attack. let's get right to the braintrust. let's start with that video. do images like that -- are seeing more images like that in any way, shape or form going to change the dynamic right now? you've seen the polls,e esther and bob.

no poll that i've seen show that americans support any strike in syria. seeing a video like that, is that going to change it? >> the images are deeply disturbing but they're not necessarily moving the people because we are in the middle of the legacy of images around iraq and the lies that the president and the intelligence told to the people. a war-weary populace is not going to be moved by those images. in addition to that, you have a whole set of challenges with the politics of how "the zone" played out. the way the president gave kerry a big push. kerry gave a huge speech that politicians argue was persuasive with the drumbeat of war. no matter how you slice and dice it, people are opposed. the trouble is, you now have this unholy alliance because the conservatives, who have wanted to "defeat" the president see

this vote in congress as that political defeat. but the progressives who don't want to go to war ends up being on the same side. the challenge for the president -- i call it a politics of swagger. the way in which that red line was drawn and the consequence of that have left him literally between a rock and a hard place. >> seems to me the fundamental issue really is a credibility issue. we've seen this video and variations of this video. american people are well aware of the horror. but the credibility issue, the negligible one, was the responsibility of the regime or was it subterfuge by the rebels. >> do you buy that? do you really -- >> i think a lot of people still have a question about that. no, i think the evidence is pretty persuasive. but having said that, the other problem is, the credibility about a government that has gotten the united states into wars that started out as police actions that started out as a

few trainers on the ground -- speaking about vietnam. and of course we have the modern times with the iraq war and afghanistan. they turned into morasses and they started out as these much more negligible operations that turned into something where thousands of americans were killed. >> let's take a quick break. we're getting new information about this video. after the break, we'll come back. i'll show you that new information that we're just getting in about this particular video. and we'll talk about what it means and what it does not mean as well. this is msnbc. ert on softball. and tea parties. i'll have more awkward conversations than i'm equipped for, because i'm raising two girls on my own. i'll worry about the economy more than a few times before they're grown. but it's for them, so i've found a way. who matters most to you says the most about you. at massmutual we're owned by our policyowners, and they matter most to us. ready to plan for your future? we'll help you get there.

msnbc news has acquired some 13 videos now, according to the white house, videos that, once again, show a chemical attack on august 21st in syria. this is aftermath of that attack. we've also gotten some new information from the intel assessment, the intelligence assessment, that is being shared

with members of congress in these closed-doors sessions. quote, we have identified 100 videos attributed to the attack, many of which show large numbers of bodies exhibiting physical signs consistent with but not unique to nerve agent exposure. we should note here that nbc news has not been able to independently verify the authenticity of these videos. but, again, these videos just coming in to nbc. another bit of information here, president obama is going to be sitting down with six television networks on monday now, we're told. he'll be doing six tv interviews on monday afternoon. those interviews will be airing monday evening. that, of course, coming before the tuesday evening primetime address to the nation. matt welch is joining us. let's start with the president's push. do those videos do anything at all to change the calculation or

do we think that even people who see those images are not going to be moved to back this military strike? >> we've already seen video images of people suffering under chemical gas attacks. i think the issue is how much and how credible is the evidence linking this to assad directly? there's an interesting op ed today in today's "new york times" by alan grayson. and he said he has no real way of assessing the quality of the evidence -- both the public evidence and the background evidence that he's unable to share with other people. he's calling for the administration to do a better job of saying where the sources of the information -- he says the evidence is not persuasive. he needs to be able to check it more. so video is not enough. >> and that's the problem. the intelligence community will say, we have intelligence. then the next question is, as

representative grayson said is, okay, share the intelligence with us. and they say something like, oh, we can't because we'd betray sources and methods. >> the trouble is, for the american people, they remember that that was what was said for iraq. and so although the president says, this is not iraq, for the american people, their memory is that, of course, what else would the government say? that this is from the assad side -- >> this is more of a manifestation of our renewed distrust of government? >> but in addition to which the members of the intelligence community act in ways that really inspire a lack of trust. they will say, well, we can't give you this information but suddenly they decide, oh, sure we can because we're trying to make our case. or they put out information that turns out to be false, that kind of thing. yes, there's been an accumulated distrust in government. i think that's healthy except for the fact that it makes it very tough to govern when you are in fact being trustworthy. >> sounds like the general consensus is even seeing

additional images like that aren't going to do anything to sway public opinion, aren't going to do anything to sway congressional opinion at this point. let's talk about the president's address on tuesday night. anything, matt welch, that the president can say that has not been said heretofore that might sway members of congresses who are undecided or might sway john q.? >> i don't think the more he talks about it, the more persuaded americans are. we saw it with sandy hook and obama care. you'll see it in this case. the fundamentals of the case are the problem. when john kerry gave his first speech, a lot of people like that were very persuasive. but when you put him in front of congress and he has to answer questions like, why are you unilaterally enforcing the geneva convention of 1925 and all these inconsistencies come up, it's a hard sell. and it should be a hard sell

when you're going to war, when you're going to lob bombs at a country. it should be a degree of difficulty making that case. >> we're going to take a quick break. we'll start with you, bob, because your hand was up.

the brain trust is back. let's start with you, bob, again, because your hand was up. if congress -- >> i don't know why my hand was up. >> if congress says no to the president next week, do we think president obama actually considers a military strike in syria even after lawmaker have said, no, mr. president? >> quite frankly, there are any number of people who say there will be impeachment proceedings filed against him. whether they succeed or not, that is the kind of distraction that can totally sabotage a

presidency. beyond that, we have in just a couple of weeks, a vote on increasing the borrowing authority. if that is also turned down, you have not only a lame duck president because seriously diminished president both at home and around the world. >> what does this do? what does this vote do to the president's domestic agenda? you mentioned the looming budget battle. immigration at last check was something being considered. what does all of this do to that? >> i think part of it, the american people want to focus on a domestic agenda. part of the challenge assault framing around this vote has become about victory or defeat. so if the president loses the vote, he back's defeated president. actually, when you think about the reality of how politics sits with the people, this is about what do the people say they want if congress is described as the elective representative of that body. so for, whether the president

goes ahead will then become the defining point of his spire presidential legacy. in the second term, that's what is on his mind. >> we were talking about the image that's we've been looking at. the images out of syria that have been released. new video out of syria. ten years ago, if video like that, i want to warn our viewers that some of these images may be disturbing. if images like that were played ten years ago in this circus people would be taking to the streets, demanding that we do something. >> i don't know that demanding but they would have linked it a lot more to 9/11 at the time. and everyone was, felt the wound, freshly back then. we also feel after 12 years of this type of fortune policy, glug libya which there was not any link to anything, and the president didn't to go congress at all and he was very contemptuous of congress. and people are tired of congress deciding where and when it goats enforce unilateral norms on its

own judgment. so after 12 years, there is understandable skepticism and people are tired of politicians being away from their actual politics. >> and politicians lead from behind. i don't think you'll see any number of them defying the poll in their constituents and voting against what they've heard in the people who vote for them. >> and lastly, the people are fed up of politicians using emotionality for the case for war. and they're asking for reason and informing and evidence. >> i will say this is one of the few issues in recent history that has created some very strange political bedfellows. this table, notwithstanding. this is very strange to hear so many people from so many different stripes, nodding in agreement. thank you, bob, for being here. esther, commentator, playwright. bob franken, syndicated

columnist. a big thanks to them as well. i'll be back tomorrow at 3:00 eastern. now "disrupt with karen finney." have a great saturday. to prove febreze eliminates tough odors, we threw a party. the next day, we sprayed febreze air effects and led in real people. i'd say it was very pleasant. flowers everywhere. oh! [ chuckles ] febreze did a really great job. impressive. febreze air effects eliminates tough odors for good. and try febreze stick & refresh. designed to stick to eliminate odors anywhere. simply click, peel off the strip and attach to surfaces in your house. febreze stick & refresh, another way to breathe happy. and attach to surfaces in your house.

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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. thanks for disrupting your saturday afternoon. as the president continues to press for the case in syria, opposition from tea partier to progressives continue to mount. madonna has even weighed in. >> almost three weeks ago in syria, more than 1,000 innocent people including hundreds of children were murdered in the worst chemical weapons attack of the 21st century. >> raise your hand if you're opposed to military strikes so i can get a sense. >> what we're not talking about is an open ended intervention. >> it is not