assad, but will it be enough to gain international allies for a u.s.-led strike against syria? hi, everybody, good morning. i'm thomas roberts. topping our agenda, the president's most pivotal week on syria and the next 34 hours which will culminate in a primetime address to the nation are absolutely crucial to building a coalition in congress. and this ask is an uphill climb. expect ray fluid day with a lot of fast-moving parts, starting with the united nations briefing in the next half hour. then at 12:30, national security adviser susan rice will deliver remarks and former secretary of state hillary clinton will make public remarks at 1:00 p.m. at 2:00, the senate where the president has the most support for military action convenes. at 3:00 p.m., the house armed services and intelligence committees will hold their own briefings. also this afternoon, the president will sit down for interviews with nbc and five other networks, hoping to blitz the american air waves at dinner time tonight. but it was this morning where syria's bashar al assad got the

jump on the propaganda database, warning against any action with cbs' charlie rose. >> they didn't present anything. nothing so far. not a single shred of evidence. the united states is an all low time -- their credibility is at an all-time low. >> and assad didn't mince words about how he would react to u.s. involvement in his country's civil war. >> should expect everything, should expect everything. >> tell me what you mean by expect everything. >> expect every action. >> including chemical warfare? >> that depends. >> nbc's white house correspondent, peter alexander, joins me now. peter, in just the last hour, russia called on syria to put its chemical weapons under international control to avoid u.s. strikes. i understand that you have reaction to that. >> reporter: yeah, we do. i just heard from a senior administration official just a few moments ago responding to this. this person writes the russians

are using this as another delay tactic to protect the assad regime and prevent them from being accountable for gassing its own people. we're making our own decisions about the military response on our own timeline, period. that follows john kerry's remarks a little earlier today during a news conference that he did while in london where kerry basically said that if assad was willing to turn over his chemical weapons within the next week, that may be one week he could avoid an attack from the u.s. but then kerry went on to say that there was no way that that would take -- would happen whatsoever. if we can quickly, let's pan the camera over. this could be messy but i want to show you what's happening outside the white house right now. several hundred people have gathered there. you can see a sign with bashar al assad's face on it. right now this protest taking place live, as many protesters not just in washington, d.c., over the course of the weekend and today have been protesting the potential for a u.s. strike on syria. we've heard those people.

they have been chanting things like "don't bomb syria," just one of many moving parts taking place today, even as just a short distance away from them, thomas, the president will sit down later this afternoon with the network anchors, including savannah guthrie from nbc. >> peter, i'm so glad you did that because i was curious to know exactly what those voices were because we could hear those in the background. thank you for that. as you talk about these moving parts, not only is the president going to be sitting down with those six networks, also there are a lot of surrogates showing up today to make the case. >> reporter: yeah, no, that's exactly right. you mentioned susan rice, you talked about hillary clinton who's expected to speak not just today during an event that's supposed to be focused on wildlife conservation here at the white house but expected to make some remarks in support of the president's position on syria. she has another event where she may make similar remarks again tomorrow in philadelphia. this is all about building up the crescendo for the closer, which is president obama, who ultimately has to make the case

himself, which he will do personally both today and again tomorrow evening. >> nbc's peter alexander. peter, thank you, sir. i want to bring in nbc's jim maceda. he's live in turkey. jim, secretary of state john kerry is making the case overseas. while turkey has added some troops on the border over the past few days, explain reaction in the region. >> reporter: hi, thomas. yeah, on the theme of moving parts, certainly diplomatically there have been plenty of those meetings in paris, in london, but really not so much to show for it yet. secretary kerry said he did make progress drumming up some support among arab nations. saudi arabia and qatar, who, by the way, supply weapons and financing to the rebels. they did come around to blame assad's regime for the alleged sarin gas attack outside damascus and they both now support a strong response. but just like the europeans in earlier meetings, they feel

short of specifically calling for military action against syria. so, so far they are believed to be about a dozen nations who are for limited air strikes at various degrees. just yesterday the turkish government said that it would join the fight. by my math that makes two nations, france and turkey, who have publicly signed on. meanwhile, you're right, tensions in the region are on the rise. assad has preparedly threatened retaliation if attacked. syria, jordan -- israel, pardon me, jordan and turkey, all u.s. allies have been singled out for reprisal. so going around the horn, here in turkey and in iraq, reports of thousands of troops and tanks have reinforced their borders with syria. jordan is on a heightened state of alert. israel has added that anti-missile battery to its so-called iron dome system. and in lebanon, the u.s. embassy has called for pulling out all non-essential staff and families out of the country.

so, thomas, the whole region it would seem is bracing for war. back to you. >> nbc's jim maceda from turkey there. jim, thank you. i want to bring in independent senator bernie sanders of vermont. sir, it's good to have you with us. i want to start out with this because there's a new poll out today showing 59% of americans say congress shouldn't approve a resolution authorizing even limited military action against syria. have you made up your mind how you'll vote? >> no, i haven't. i want to listen to the debate and get as much information as i can. but i can say this, in vermont the people who are calling and e-mailing my office are opposed to the tune of 95%. and i think when we understand that congress' favorability rating is 10% to 15%, there is an understanding in vermont and throughout this country, is that the united states congress and the president are not addressing the issues that the american people care most about, and that is the collapsing middle class, high unemployment, growing

wealth and income inequality, global warming. we have a huge menu of issues that we are not addressing. i think what the people of vermont, the people all over this country are worried about, is if we get into the third war in the middle east in 11 years, those issues will be even put further behind in terms of our capability of addressing them. >> senator, what's your reaction, though, to syrian president's bashar al assad's comments with cbs news denying using chemical weapons, warning about the possibility of retaliation if there is any type of u.s.-led military strike on syria. did he help president obama make his case for striking syria at all or do you think he is just tapping into the fears of a war-fatigued american public and is just trying to intimidate people with lies about how syrians, innocent syrians have died? >> assad is a ruthless dictator. he is a billionaire in an

impoverished country. and i believe what the white house is saying, that he has used chemical weapons against his own people. the question is, how do we address that issue? is the united states virtually unilaterally getting sucked into a bloody and complicated civil war in syria, the best way to do that. and i have serious doubts that it is. remember, what the american people understand, we were told that when we went into afghanistan, that would be short. afghanistan didn't even have an army. that was 11 years ago. in iraq, we were talking -- president bush was talking about mission accomplished. well, 4600 deaths later and tens of thousands of soldiers who came back with -- >> but does president obama not have any type of credibility with you on the fact that he was able to take out osama bin laden, the fact that he has drawn down the wars in iraq and afghanistan? >> sure he does. >> that gadhafi is gone, mubarak is gone out of egypt? does the president have any credibility on foreign policy

with our elected leaders? >> sure he does, sure he does and i supported barack obama for president on two occasions. i'm not somebody who is beating him up every day. but i think where the president does not have credibility, nor does the congress have credibility in doing what the american people want them to do. and that is to address the very, very serious issues in this country. and i think there is a widespread understanding that if you get sucked into a civil war in syria, it will be harder to deal with 14% unemployment or 20% youth unemployment or 40% black youth unemployment and the many, many other problems that this country faces. >> sir, i understand, though, the senate most likely this is where the president could find the most support, if anything is to move forward with this. do you think it was a mistake for the president to even come to congress on this? >> no. >> for lack of a better phrase, should the president ask forgiveness and not permission for what needs to be done in syria? >> well, you know what, i know

it's hard for some people to appreciate or respect, but we do live in a democratic society. and what i hear a lot of people out there saying, well, yeah, the vast majority of the american people don't want to go to war in syria and that's why the president should not have gone to the congress. i think that's a backwards argument. i think we should listen to the american people. let me be very clear. in vermont, and i think throughout this country, there is profound disgust with assad and what he has done, and we have to search for a way with the united nations and the global community to address that issue. >> senator bernie sanders of vermont, senator, as you said, you still have not made up your mind on this. we'll follow it to see which way you do go. thank you for joining us. i appreciate it. >> thank you. as a reminder, president obama addresses the nation live from the oval office at 9:00 p.m. on tuesday. you can watch the president's address live right here on msnbc. this also leads to today's big question. the crisis in syria.

should the president go it alone if congress says no? you can go to twitter and facebook, put your responses there. so what's the white house's end game when it comes to syria? general barry mccaffrey and former ambassador christopher hill will join me next. plus new incendiary comments from new york mayor michael bloomberg, including accusations that one of the men running to replace him has been racist in his campaign. the agenda will jump into bloomberg's interview with "new york" magazine. that's coming up in just a few minutes. and ask. being active. and being with this guy. [ male announcer ] getting to know you is how we help you choose the humana medicare plan that works best for you. mi familia. ♪ [ male announcer ] we want to help you achieve your best health, so you can keep doing the things that are important to you. taking care of our customers. taking care of her. and the next thing on our list is bungee jumping. [ male announcer ] helping you -- now that's what's important to us.

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say to our government, listen to the people. >> protesters gather on capitol hill this morning to urge members of congress returning today not to approve a resolution authorizing u.s. military strikes against syria. and more protests today outside

the white house. all this coming with new polls showing americans arely opposed military action in syria. president obama will lay it out tomorrow night. it will come with many expressing concern about what such strikes would accomplish. joining me now, chris fer hill a former ambassador to iraq and former chief negotiator with north korea, retired four-star general barry mccaffrey is a military analyst and commanded forces in vietnam and operation desert storm. ambassador hill, let me start with you. you support u.s. strikes against syria. explain why. >> well, i mean the chemical weapons ban has been around some 80 years. and for assad to get away with using chemical weapons in practically downtown damascus i think would send a terrible signal around the world. it would really, i think,

undermine u.s. credibility. it would undermine the credibility of the entire world that has said countries cannot use these banned weapons. so i think there's a lot of bad options. this is one of them, but i think we need to hit them with some kind of cruise missile attack. what has worried me from the get-go is the administration has not had a diplomatic strategy and i think that's part of the problem in selling this to this war-weary american public. >> let's talk about that, the post strike, if there is one, and the diplomatic strategy. general, you have expressed major reservations about striking syria. in fact you said it could make the situation there much worse. it's not so much about how we enter, it truly is about the exit strategy and are we leaving it better than when we arrived and that's something we have learned with iraq and afghanistan. >> well, you know, i think the problem here is, and i could buy ambassador hill's argument completely. i think the administration made a very strong moral and

humanitarian argument that this is an outrage. i think they have clearly connected it to assad. i think they were correct to go to congress, thank god. we had no support in the united nations, nato, the arab league, so all this falls into place. the problem is the military measures they're considering are unlikely to achieve a political purpose. there will be some retaliation. there will be tremendous pressures to escalate. the u.s. air force and navy can break assad in under two months, but not with a strike that reassures him in advance is not intended to bring him down or change the trajectory of the war. >> gentlemen, let me get you on the record with this. ambassador hill, it was just at the top of the hour that the russian foreign minister said moscow would like to push syria to place its chemical weapons under international control, saying such a move could help avert syria from any type of u.s.-led military strike.

do you agree with that type of strategy? do you think that would help to lessen the situation and draw down what would be -- what could turn out to be a much messier situation if the u.s. goes in? >> well, i share the sentiments of those who feel that this is some delaying action on the part of the russians. i must say if i'd been in the white house, i would have been a little less vigorous in denouncing the russians for doing it, but it's pretty clear that people in the white house are putting their war paint on and consider any and all suggestions of this kind at the 11th hour ones that are really just keeping the white house from its goal. that said, i am really troubled by the degree to which we are really willing to go out there publicly and excoriate the russians. if the upshot is to create a bigger mess in u.s./russian relations, i think it's quite a problem. >> absolutely agree. >> general, let me ask you about your reaction to bashar al

assad's interview with charlie rose and his reaction to if there were a military strike to expect everything and questioned the credibility of america internationally and calling into -- evoking the bush effect, basically. because of what happened in iraq, how we got into iraq that, our credibility is so tarnished. how do you responsible to that? >> well, you know, personally i'm astonished we gave such prominence to an interview. the guy is a mass murderer. secretary kerry has made the argument that assad's military carried out the strike. whether it was his direct approval or not is almost nonsensical. we shouldn't pay much attention to that. i think ambassador hill made a huge point. to what extent are we willing to alienate many of our allies? we've isolated ourselves from the brits, we don't have support in nato. and we've got big interest with the russians at stake and syria

is not one of them. >> gentlemen, thanks for joining us. i appreciate it. all right. so back here at home, we're talking about a frenetic final 24 hours. we're here in the big apple, and tomorrow is the big primary day in the race for who could be new york city's next mayor. joining me coming up is candidate and current city council speaker christine quinn. of getting something "new." and now, there's a plan that lets you experience that "new" phone thrill again and again. and again. can you close your new phone box? we're picking up some feedback. introducing verizon edge. the plan that lets you upgrade to a new verizon 4glte phone when you want to. having what you want on the network you rely on. that's powerful. verizon. upgrade to the new moto x by motorola with zero down payment. this is the creamy chicken corn chowder. i mean, look at it. so indulgent. did i tell you i am on the... [ both ] chicken pot pie diet! me too!

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this campaign isn't about me. i know you have this fascination about making this a soap opera, but for citizens of the city of new york, a lot of them wanted this to be about the issues of the campaign and maybe i have that wrong. maybe you turned out to be right, i turned out to be wrong. >> that was anthony weiner getting in some last-minute words for nbc's savannah guthrie today as we head into the final hours of the new york city mayoral campaign. the primaries are held tomorrow. it's a race that's become national in scope thanks to part to mr. weiner and thanks to the issue of race. the latest polls have bill de

blasio taking the lead. this is on the heels of the current mayor, michael bloomberg, injecting himself into the campaign with an anti-endorsement for de blasio for using his family in this one. in "new york" magazine bloomberg described the de blasio campaign as using class warfare and racist, only to back track and saying he's making an appeal using his family to gain support. i think it's pretty obvious to anyone watching what he has been doing. i do not think he himself is racist. joining me now is new york city council speaker christine quinn and a mayoral candidate as well. it's great to have you here. >> thank you. >> we had an opportunity to talk several times. you were an early front runner in this race. you had the hat trick from the top three new york city newspapers and they remain yours. now polls are indicating you're struggling to potentially make the runoff. do you think that de blasio's campaign, as mayor bloombergin sin waited there, was using

class warfare or racism? >> first, let me say i couldn't disagree with mayor bloomberg more. his comments were totally inappropriate, should never have been made. bill de blasio has a lovely family, he's clearly very proud of them and he should be, as we're all proud of our families. the mayor should never have made those comments. >> is that putting you in a tricky spot? >> no, absolute -- >> to come out and take the mayor's comments apart almost in a way protect bill de blasio. >> look, when people say something that is wrong, particularly about public officials' families, you have to respond. it doesn't matter who said it, it doesn't matter who it was said about. you cannot say wrongful things like what the mayor said and not be challenged. you just shouldn't be unkind about people's families, period. i don't care who said it and who they said it about. i'm never going to be siel silent in the face of that. >> some people would say there

might be a little bit of a curse that comes along with the speakership. it's a tough uphill. but as we look among women voters, de blasio has 34%, you have 21%, bill thompson has 19%. how much do you think that gender, race and even sexuality has played a part in the campaigns for all of the candidates? >> look, these public polls, one thing you know, i knew about them from day one was that they were going to close and the early numbers i had were not reflective, they were about name recognition. i knew at the end things would move dramatically. i've been in every position in the polls. just about every person in the top three has been every position in the poll. well, the first poll that matters is tomorrow and three weeks later there will be a runoff between the top two candidates. what i can tell you, tom, is i'm out there every day, been out there all day today already talking to voters. the response i'm getting from women, from older new yorkers, from parents, i was just at some

public schools, is really terrific. and what they are telling me is that they have now in the final hours, which is when we knew people would make up their mind, decided to vote for me because they know that i am both someone with a progressive vision to move the city forward, but also i'm the only person who's running who has a long and extensive record of having delivered progressive results for new yorkers. you know, today is the first day of school. i got a law passed last year that makes kindergarten mandatory. today in every school in every neighborhood in new york city. that means the 4% of 5-year-olds who used to miss out on kindergarten and started first grade, you know, a year behind, that's not going to happen anymore. and new yorkers, it's what they're telling me. they have made a decision in the final hours, they want a mayor who can improve the city, leave no one behind, and you need to have done that to be able to do that. >> let me ask you real quickly, though. i know you haven't had a chance to see the charlie rose

interview with ba sashar al ass. but he said to expect everything if the u.s. goes ahead to strike syria. i know you agree with general barry mccaffrey why this guy is getting so much air time. but ray kelly has said no candidate has asked for a terrorism briefing. based on what assad is saying now, do you worry about what this means for new york city residents if we have somebody, a regime dictator, that is looking to play dirty? >> but, first of all, my staff is constantly in touch with ray kelly's staff at the police department getting regular updates, checking in and getting briefings on a regular basis. we have to worry every day in new york city about being a terror attack. we've been attacked twice. the day after tomorrow is the anniversary of september 11th. so a situation like this, does it heighten your concern? absolutely. but the truth is, in new york city we can never rest in this area. we have to be constantly

vigilant in fighting terror in our city, being on alert, looking, keeping our counterintelligence efforts alive and strong in the police department while we're also fighting traditional crime in this city. we cannot allow our city to sustain another terrorist attack, nor can we let crime go up in this city. >> i'm going to leave you with this. if and when you make the runoff -- >> not if, when. >> okay. so you say when you make the runoff, who do you want, de blasio or thompson? >> i want whoever the voters send to the runoff with me and then i'm confident that i will win that runoff. >> speaker christine quinn. great to have you here. a reminder, andrea mitchell interviews anthony weiner later today. watch andrea mitchell reports today 1:00 p.m. eastern right here on msnbc. we're back after this. ♪

♪ i see you made yourself breakfast. how'd you know? ♪ welcome back, everybody of the developing right now, live pictures from the united nations where any minute from now we are

expecting the secretary general to speak directly about syria. we are going to bring you those comments live as soon as we get them right now. as we've been talking about today, congress returns to work in just a few hours and immediately facing some very tough choices on whether or not to back the president's

should this be conformed by the report from a doctor and his investigation team.

two and a half years of conflict in syria have produced only embarrassing paralysis. should the doctor's report confirm the use of chemical weapons, then this would surely be something around which the security council could unite in response and indeed something that should merit universal condemnation. i am already considering certain proposals that i could make to the security council when presenting the investigation team's report. there would be a need for accountability both to bring to justice those who used them. should the doctor confirm their use -- >> this is the secretary general of the u.n. speaking directly on syria, and talking that if they have their investigation, and they did have investigators

inside syria collecting evidence of what took place in damascus, if they have concrete proof that this was a chemical weapons attack and directly linked to bashar al assad and his regime that they would need to have a response. and secretary general saying there he is already coming up with some ideas on proposals for what would merit the proper condemnation, the proper unified response from the u.n. you know, we heard from president bashar al assad today in this interview with cbs news and charlie rose threatening possible retaliation if the u.s. strikes syria. ayman mohyeldin will join us with how that area is reacting to the possibility of any u.s. strike. let's go back to ayman mohyel n mohyeldin. ayman, give us an update on the region and how reaction and word is spreading of the drum beats of potential air strikes or any type of u.s.-led military

action. >> reporter: well, the comment that came out from that interview with president bashar al assad, it's not going to calm nerves here across the region. tensions have been running high. in fact the lebanese government and other government its that have been concerned about the u.s. military strike saying the unpredict ability of what could happen follow the strike is precisely why there should be no action. the concern among many people is precisely what president bashar al assad tried to touch on today. he didn't give any specific details as to what that worst case scenario could look like but the veiled threat is enough to keep jitters here very high and that is exactly why countries like lebanon, buckling under pressure from refugees and others are extremely worried about the fallout from a u.s. strike and more importantly what it would actually do to curb the violence inside syria. that's something the u.s. says

it does not going to try to limit. it does not want to get involved in syria's civil war. without a doubt, taking action against this syrian regime may tip the balance, weaken the regime and that could lead to the violence and perhaps the terrorism that president bashar al assad alluded to. that is a major card that he continues to play saying that if he is attacked, it would become the global epicenter of worldwide terrorism. >> ayman mohyeldin reporting. thank you, appreciate it. back here at home, lost in the conversation, what are we not talking about, because syria is taking the top lines. and choice words, outgoing new york city city mayor bloomberg made comments about the racism in the mayoral race. timothy noah is a contributing writer for msnbc.com and the author of "the great divergence." keli goff and sahil kapul.

gang, let's first talk about syria. could syria lead to fiscal armageddon back at home. with roughly nine working days to figure out how to keep the government funded past september 30th, do we know how much syria is going to affect things like the debt limit discussion? >> we don't know for certain until we know how this is going to get resolved and things are very much up in the air in terms of how syria is going to go and what congress is going to say. what we can say with some certainty is the time window will be compressed because congress was supposed to return today, which it has, but immediately start debating the fiscal issues, like how to keep the government funned after september 30th and how to avoid a debt default. now they're going to have a little less time to do that. so i think it depends on how things turn out. i think what is likely to happen, turning out that syria is a heavier lift than some might have expected is the fiscal battles get postponed.

so they avoid a debt default and that will keep congress mired in debates about this for the rest of the year. >> that seems like the norm of how we get along now in washington, d.c., just kicking the can down the road. tim, you said earlier you didn't think syria was going to be holding anything up. why? >> no, i don't. i think the syria situation will resolve itself pretty quickly. if it does for some reason lead to a delay in the reckoning with regard to the debt ceiling, i consider that win-win actually because the longer we can postpone a big fight over whether to raise the debt ceiling, the better off certainly the obama white house will be. the better off the country will be in putting off the moment when we might risk default. >> it definitely does seem as if there are so many domestic issues going on that syria is such an added -- such an added lift, sahil, you used that word pointing out for everybody returning.

we just had speaker quinn on, but the new york city mayoral race with the michael bloomberg's words saying that bill de blasio was running a class war fare and racist campaign. he was criticizing de blasio using his son in campaign ads saying it's like him pointing out he's jewish to get the jewish vote. bill de blasio is doing what all politicians do, trot out their families. keli, does he have a point about the style of campaign that de blasio is using? >> let me say this. mayor michael bloomberg is a long-time sufferer of foot in mouth disease. so this is not the first time he will insert his foot in his mouth. but i will say in terms of the way gaffes go, this one was a doozy. even mayor bloomberg's predecessors, rudy giuliani, who endorsed him, whose endorsement he sought, used his family in his ads. this is something like you said, thomas, all politicians tend to do. as far as highlighting

ethnicity, mayor bloomberg has done the same thing. by his own definition, he would be considered a racist. so there really is a double standard at play which is what i wrote about which is troubling. essentially what he's saying is that it's okay for other candidates to do it. for some reason, it's trouble when a white candidate shows his black family. then it's racist and inappropriate. it's really troubling, especially when you combine it with some of his previous racially charged comments, such as his comments about stop and frisk, which disproportionally affects african-americans, latinos. a federal judge agreed and struck it out. >> bloomberg is going to be out and will be yesterday's news soon enough. we've got to figure out who's going to be the next mayor in new york. we just had chris quinn on a moment ago responding to all of this. they put all the candidates where they have to step out and take a listen how she responded. >> i couldn't disagree with mayor bloomberg more.

his comments were totally inappropriate, should never have been made. bill de blasio has a lovely family. he's clearly very proud of them and he should be. >> let me ask you, how do these words then go ahead to hurt the democrats? i was trying to get the speaker, you know, with the question to react to the fact that instead of talking about her campaign, she's got to come out and try to defend bill de blasio against mayor bloomberg. >> i'm not sure bloomberg realize what he had a gift he was giving bill de blasio with those comments. now bill de blasio gets to spend the final days talking about how much he loves his family and how proud he is of them. and the other candidates can not attack him for fear of a backlash. if i were bill de blasio, i'd be sending bloomberg a thank you card for this. but as far as the interview goes, there was a lot there in terms of bloomberg sort of fighting back or pushing back very strongly against perceived criticisms against him. there were some eyebrow-raising

comments about how poor people have air conditioners and cars and also talked about if the city is -- if new york is two cities as de blasio has been pointing out, then it's one group subsidizing services for the other. >> let's talk about subsidizing because bloomberg mentioned he would love it more millionaires moved to the city because that revenue helps to take care of everybody else. is he just trying to stay relevant? what's his point? >> i don't know. sure, it would be fine if more billionaires moved to new york city. yeah, to me the real tell here was how unhinged mayor bloomberg gets on the whole topic of income distribution. and i think that's why de blasio gets under his skin. he was just sounding like somebody's crazy uncle when he was talking about how poor people have air conditioning and we took out air conditioning in the schools. incidentally, by the way, a third of new york city schools don't have air conditioning and that's become kind of an issue. he clearly hates the topic of

income distribution and it's a reminder that he is liberal on many issues but an economic conservative. >> keli, you have described him as a limousine liberal. but i'm going to give you the last word for the democratic runoff, who do you think will make it? it most likely will be a runoff between two. what are the candidates you pick? >> actually, bill de blasio is so far ahead it's possible he could avoid one altogether. but if there is a runoff, it will between him and christine quinn. it will be fun but he crushes her in any runoff scenario. >> thanks to all three of you. i appreciate it. you can always find more on msnbc.com, just follow the link to my name. and wh? another article that says investors could lose tens of thousands of dollars in hidden fees on their 401(k)s?! seriously? seriously. you don't believe it? search it. "401(k) hidden fees." then go to e-trade and roll over your old 401(k)s to a new e-trade retirement account. we have every type of retirement account. none of them charge annual fees and all of them offer low cost investments.

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for more information and savings options, call 1-888-xarelto or visit goxarelto.com. how can i be a more fun mom? hmmm. can you dance? ♪ bum ba bum ba bum ♪ bum ba bum ba bum no. no? can you make campbell's chicken noodle soup? yes! [ wisest kid ] every can has 32 feet of slurpable noodles. now that's fun. mom, you're awesome. oh yeah! ♪ bum ba bum ba bum [ gong ] [ wisest kid ] m'm! m'm! good! so to be young. republican and refreshingly liberal. that's a radio host pushing his message to the next generation. if you remember how young voters overwhelmly flocked to president obama during the presidential elections last year, getting

through that demographic will be critical to the gop come 2016. joining me is josh nass. josh, it's great to have you here. i want to play for everybody your clip from your introduction video. take a peek. >> we are not the party of aken and murdoch. we're the party of lincoln, the party of reagan. republicans have failed to excite the youth of this country election after election, and the reason is simple. young people disagree with the conservative social platform. >> all right. you've got the dulcid tones, the voices down there, josh. you said the primary goal of your group is to change the way the republican party is viewed both by youth around the country, those coming up. so how do you intend to do that? >> that's right, thomas. you know, we don't think that young people are liberal. they vote for democrats, but overwhelmingly on the issues that matter, on fiscal issues, on the size and scope of government, poll after poll

indicates they actually do trend conservative. in fact in a recent poll it was indicated that 62% of young people fear that the government is becoming too large in both size and scope and that it's infringing on their infringing their freedoms and liberties. that is what creates that philosophical divide between liberals and conservatives. i think republicans haven't done enough in reaching out to young people and are underestimating the importance of young people. >> lets talk about social divides. as we dig into certain topics there's old guard, new guard on marriage equality. the post took a vote, 81% of young voters in the age group of 18 to 29 support marriage equality. how do you convince young people to embrace the conservative platform when there is such a split from that view. i'll just remind everybody rnc voted earlier this year to incorporate anti-marriage equality language into its

platform unifying that into its party motion going forward. >> that poll is correct. of the 81%, the group that doesn't get as much attention, 40% of young registered republican voters are also for marriage equality. that's one of the motivating factors that led me to create this group. i think our voices should be heard as well. look, i think we've had a generational gap that's developed and i think public sentiment has changed on this issue. we have gay friends, gay co-workers, gay family members. i think it's an important issue, a gateway issue for young voters. having said that, it's not what the organization is solely about but it is a distinguishing factor. we're the only conservative faction for marriage equality. >> you mentioned ronald reagan. name one modern day name in the conservative party you like? >> if you want to get me in trouble you're doing a good job. >> i don't want to get you in

trouble but we have to run. do you have a name? >> christie, rubio, there's a bunch. >> josh, great to have you on. >> thank you so much. it's concerning news according to a new survey by disease control one in eight baby boomers are experiencing memory problems. one-third of the 60,000 boomers surveyed said memory loss was affecting their work and personal life, half didn't tell doctors about symptoms which is important to identify possible solutions. a change indict, physical activities may be predescribed to help. es. one a day men's 50+ is a complete multivitamin designed for men's health concerns as we age. with 7 antioxidants to support cell health. one a day men's 50+.

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all right. we asked and you answered, the crisis in syria, should we go it alone if congress says no? hell no, republicans are itching for impeachment. if congress votes no then obama should go it along based on the legit evidence presented. doing nothing is not an option. do not go it alone. can we please take care of americans first for once. keep comments coming in on facebook and twitter. that's going to wrap things up for me. i'll see you tomorrow at 11:00

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president assad are both taking to the airwaves to convince a skeptical public. it is monday september 9th, and this is "now." two and a half years after the civil war began in syriasyria, death toll stands at 100,000 and u.s. military strikes loom on the horizon. yesterday syrian president bashar al assad decided to reach out to the american people. sitting down with charlie rose at the presidential palace in dam skas, assad gave his first interview with a television network since 2011. in the interview he denied assertions his government used chemical weapons on its own citizens. >> what was the reality of august 21st? what happened, in your judgment?

>> we're not in the area where the alleged chemical attack happened. i said alleged. i said alleged. we're not sure anything happened where they think the government used chemical weapons. we only have videos and pictures and allegations. our forces, police, institutions don't exist. how can you talk about what's happening if you don't have evidence. >> assad also threatened retaliation. >> will there be attacks against american bases in the middle east if there's an airstrike? >> you can expect everything. you can expect everything. not necessarily for the government. the governments are not the only player in this region. you have different parties. you have different factions. you have different ideology. so you have to expect that. >> tell me what you mean by expect