♪ >> i have a chance to talk to the american people directly. >> everything is on the blink of explosion. >> he has not made the sale. that's why i think tonight is so important. >> the people aren't with you. >> yeah, well, not yet. if you ask michelle, do we want to be involved in another war, the answer is no. >> are you confident you're going to get the votes? >> i'm confident members of congress are taking this issue very seriously. >> unlimited kind of effort. >> what does that mean? >> the u.s. does not do pinpr k pinpric pinpricks. >> try to help the president provide a unified front. >> you don't send out a save the date card to the enemy. >> kerry would consider international inspections. do you believe it? >> these are conversations i've had directly with mr. putin. >> we see this as potentially a positive development. >> it has to be swift, real, verifiable. >> a famous american president once said -- >> trust, but verify. >> i'll have a chance to talk to the american people directly.

>> just five hours until the president addresses the nation, and what action should be taken against syria's use of chemical weapons. a joint resolution is being hammered out between the united states, france and great britain that may yet avert the necessity of military entire inventiterve. the resolution, a direct response to a russian proposal that syria's chemical weapons be placed under international control and ultimately dismantled, was actually foreshadowed by informal discussions between presidents of the united states and russian at the g-20 summit friday. syria appears receptive, suggesting today it would declare its chemical weapons and sign the chemical weapons treaty. but there are already signs that there are potential cracks in the deal. and at a hearing of the house armed services committee,

secretary of state john kerry warned that time is running out. >> president obama will take a hard look at it. but it has to be swift. it has to be real. it has to be verifiable. we have to continue to show syria, russian and the world that we are not going to fall for stalling tactics. >> meanwhile, the president has been busily involved in shuttle diplomacy. not among international partners, but within the factions of his own democratic caucus and senate republicans. and now he's preparing the final argument for why he believes the american people should support air strikes on syria. and in what may be a preview of the administration's confidence, the secretary of state claimed the makings of a possible deal with syria are already signs of important progress. >> a lot of people say nothing focuses the mind like the prospect of a hanging. >> meanwhile, republican leaders whose support will be critical

for any authorization of military strikes today sounded passive in their support. that's when they weren't outright rejecting the president and his plan. >> there's absolutely no reason, no reason to signal to the enemy when and how and for how long you plan to strike them. none. as i've said before, you don't send out a save the date card to the enemy. >> with a seventh democratic senator declaring himself now in opposition to strikes, congressional opposition appears to mirror that of the american people whose own opposition to strikes has only grown in the past week. and as for president assad, he sounds as belligerent as he has at any point during the last two years of civil war. >> the red line, obama drew the red line and he can draw that for himself and his country. we have our red lines like our

sovereignty and independence. >> let's get right to our panel. david corn, washington bureau chief and msnbc political analyst. and robert costa, editor for national review. welcome to you both. david, the president is giving a speech before the nation in something like five hours. so does he attempt to persuade the nation that air strikes are essential, because assad has crossed a red line, or does he hail the mediation of the foreign -- russian foreign minister and say let's go to the u.n.? >> i think he does both. it sounds like a copout. >> it does sound a bit like one. >> but i think what he'll argue is that the tough line he's taken and has tried to nudge congress towards and the american public as well, has brought about this possibility of a deal. and so keeping the pressure on while continuing to talk and trying to work this out through the u.n. is the best way to go. and i think that, you know, he has a logical case there. and the public -- a lot of

people in congress clearly don't want to go to war. but if his tough stance is starting to get results, it may give him momentum. but also may lead to the need to, you know -- not to get this resolution right away or to tweak the resolution, so it's tied to punishment in case the deal doesn't come through. and just gives him a lot more man ufrg room than he had going into this. and the key thing here, though, is whatever the deal is, if it comes through, if it's a great deal, bad deal, his goal is to deter bashir assad from using chemical weapons again in the future. and if they're talking about a deal, if they're talking about signing the chemical weapons treaty, if russia is on the hook as well as being the guarantor of whatever happens, it makes it much, much more difficult for assad to go back to using chemical weapons as we proceed here. >> and so david, are you saying that the president's strong

stance on this has always had this strategic intention? >> well, you know, my dad used to tell me, it's -- you know, it's smarter to be lucky than it's lucky to be smart. >> right. he was right. >> and we haven't gotten all the back story. robert and i are journalists and we want to know the tick tock, what was going on with these negotiations. and it could just be the president was talking to putin and trying to move him in this direction and got the cold shoulder and putin yesterday surprised everybody. we don't know what was going on. but clearly, the president was trying to work some diplomatic back channels while he was talking very tough in public. >> okay. robert, there is, as david says, so much about this possible deal that we just don't know. we do know that secretary of state john kerry was holding up this, as a small sign of diplomatic progress. you spent the day talking to gop senators. what are they telling you? >> a lot of fascinating developments right now, martin, on capitol hill. there is really an emerging

diplomatic option on the table, and the white house is working closely with republican hawks. i just spoke with senator john mccain of arizona, he says denis mcdonough is in close touch with him, trying to come up with a third way. they know the votes aren't there in the house and may not be there in the senate and both parties seem to want to coalesce around a diplomatic option and that's where things seem to be trending at the moment. >> that's staggering, robert. it's unbelievable they should even consider working together, given the way things have happened during this president's tenure. i mean, this is really encouraging news. >> it really is. i asked senator mccain, what do you make of this fast-moving development? he said it really is almost like an accident. it just seemed to come together with the way russia proposed the deal and the u.n. getting involved, the white house working with the u.n. but the white house i think has done something pretty smart by reaching out to mccain, lindsey graham and kelly ayotte, as well as chuck schumer on the democratic side in trying to get a new group together, a new gang, to get behind a diplomatic option to drive through a congress already skeptical. >> and yet, david, we know that the russians can selled

discussions at the u.n. today. how confident can we really be about their role in this? >> well, we can't be confident of any, you know -- any specifics of the deal or a deal holding. but it's clear that the president and the people who wanted the resolution to pass were in trouble. not just in the house, but far more so in the senate than people might have predicted a few days ago. so it's not that odd that john mccain and others, republicans who want to see something happen in syria, are now joining with the president, and trying to take advantage of what might be a diplomatic opening, and trying to, you know, attach it, stitch it together, with some, you know -- show of muscle, so that maybe the diplomatic opening will actually bear fruit. there is a lot to go here. but, again, the bottom line for the president, he wants to do something to deter the use of chemical weapons. so even if this takes a couple weeks, even if this doesn't come together as quickly or as

authoritively as john kerry and others might want, it still is going to be a restraint. it's going to hinder assad from doing this again, which was the ultimate goal here. >> well, from your lips to god's ears. robert, you were talking about some kind of new consensus, and yet we know that rand paul is expected to give a response to the speech tonight. it's not an official republican response. do you expect to see steam coming out of john mccain's ears afterwards? >> no. i think rand paul has always been pushing the anti-war coalition. i was actually at the capitol at 8:00 a.m. this morning with senator paul. he had a group meeting with not only republican skeptics, but with democrats. you had some democrats like allen grayson meeting with rand paul at the capitol, trying to go over an anti war agenda. but this new diplomatic strategy that's emerging from both mccain and the white house is really almost throwing cold water on what rand paul is trying to do. rand paul probably gets credit from moving both parties in the anti-war direction but now it's the diplomatic solution on the

table that everyone is talking about. >> robert and david, thank you so much. be sure to watch msnbc special coverage leading up to the president's prime time dress on syria, hosted by our own rachel mad do you and chris matthews right here on msnbc. coming up, the polls are open here in new york city. and what a wild race for mayor it has been. uh, i'm in a timeout because apparently riding the dog like it's a small horse is frowned upon in this establishment! luckily though, ya know, i conceal this bad boy underneath my blanket just so i can get on e-trade. check my investment portfolio, research stocks... wait, why are you taking... oh, i see...solitary. just a man and his thoughts. and a smartphone... with an e-trade app.

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. as new yorkers head to the polls today, they do have some tough decisions to make on a few tight democratic primary races. the big one, of course, is a

contentious and at times salacious mayoral race with three separate candidates leading the polls at different times. and according to the latest polling, when it counts most, it's bill de blasio leading the pack with 39% of the vote he hopes, of course, to top 40. so as to avoid a runoff with bill thompson or christine quinn, who are battling it out for second place. and with just 6% of the vote, it's our self proclaimed future two-term mayor of new york, anthony weiner. meanwhile, eliot spitzer continues his attempt at a political comeback after a sizeable lead over opponent scott stringer early in the race. spitzer now finds himself neck and neck, if not trailing, according to some polls. we're also told there is apparently some sort of republican primary race for mayor going on today, as well. more on that coming up. but first, with the nation gripped with tough questions over syria, leave it to the tea party all-stars to go completely off-road. >> anybody here want to wait in line for their gallbladder to

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tail light's out.. fix it. digital insurance id cards. just a click away with the geico mobile app. as congress returns to washington this week, there is, of course, one thing on the mind of many republicans much. chemical weapons in syria and how that is distracting us all from the real issue, which is to defund the affordable care act. that's right. as the nation debates a military strike on syria, some in congress continue to spend their time trying to defund legislation that's been voted on, made law, and ruled constitutional by the highest court in the land. at a tea party rally in washington this afternoon, some of the laws most vociferous opponents took to the stage. >> how about we defund the whole damn thing? >> i can't win this fight. mike lee can't win this fight,

rand paul can't win this fight. no elected politician in washington can win this fight. only you can win this fight. >> and if you think their statements are too extreme, perhaps this new video released by sarah palin's super pac will cause you to recalibrate the thermometer. >> the lie of the year. >> that death panel argument from sarah palin. >> such a charge would be laughable. >> just another example of president obama lying. >> cynical and irresponsible. >> deceiving the people. >> deception. the death panels, which were never really? . >> for more, i'm pleased to be joined by politics editor for business insider, josh barrow and from the "huffington post" ryan grim. josh, we're going to get to health care in a minute. but first i have to ask you about today's primary elections, sure. >> in new york. last night you tweeted quite beautifully, i'm psyched to be one of, like, nine people voting in the nyc/gop primary tomorrow.

how does it feel to know that your vote is so important? i mean, proportionately, phenomenal. >> i might change the outcome of the election. i went to vote this morning around 9:00 a.m., and the polls had been open for three hours. and i go, and i sign the book, and they hand me a democratic voter card. and i was like, no, i'm a republican. and they're like, oh, you're the first republican voter we've had so far today. and all the poll workers had to get together, because they didn't know -- they have to write a number on your voter card and they didn't know, did i get to be number one or am i counted with the democrats? they hadn't been planning on any republicans showing up to vote at all at my polling place. >> so sad to hear. ryan, after the circus dies down and we do have a democrat versus a republican in the general election, how much of a chance do you think the republican candidate will actually have? >> well, i mean, virtually none. >> really, that much? >> sure, i don't think -- yeah, i think this is basically it. which is interesting, because,

you know, for more than a decade, the city has been run by republicans. but you wouldn't know it, based on the fact that there are essentially -- are no republicans in new york, as josh said. and, you know, they're not fielding anybody that looks like they're going to put up any competition against whoever emerges from this primary. >> and do you think, josh, that's because of the relative quality of the field? >> no. i think this is actually a pretty weak democratic field. >> forget about the republican field. >> joe loeta, who is probably going to be the republican nominee is a talented public sector manager, deputy mayor under guiliani and ran the largest transportation authority in the country. he was good at that and probably should have stayed at doing that. he doesn't have a ton of charisma. i would have said a month ago if bill de blasio, the democratic nominee, gave the republicans an outside shot, because he has been running left and doing things that alien ate a lot of the business establishment in the city that's been very much

behind bloomberg and back when we had democratic mayors like ed koch, they were more aligned than de blasio. de blasio particularly has strong ties to the real estate industry, which much more so than wall street and other big businesses in new york really plays a lot -- >> yeah. >> yeah. >> okay. ryan, let's get to health care, because despite the much more significant debate going on in washington, senators rabd paul and ted cruz took time to continue their effort to defund the affordable care act. why other than for political reasons do these senators continue to waste so much time on what is, you know, a futile effort? >> well, why do they need a reason beyond political reasons? you know, i don't think -- that they have one. >> well, the functioning of the country. like the forthcoming debate about the debt ceiling. like issues of war and peace in syria. i mean, are these not issues they can be attending to? >> i think they're quite comfortable spending as much time as they think they -- they can get away with on obamacare.

they kind of have a self-fulfilling problem in that they have ginned up so much antagonism towards obamacare, and ted cruz is on fox every 15 minutes with a commercial. mike lee is on there, as well. urge youing people to, you know, basically give them money to continue their fight to defund obamacare, they have the grass roots hugely fired up. thanks largely to cruz, paul, lee, these folks. so they just have to kind of keep it up. and it pays. you know, what they're doing is they're list-building. and they're growing their base of support while they're doing this. so they have every reason, every incentive, to keep doing it. >> josh, the republican house leadersh leadership, including eric cantor, and mccarthy, had this to say about health care this morning. take a listen to this. >> it's time for the senate to stand up and tell their constituents where they stand on

this atrocity of a law. >> the atrocity of obamacare. >> an atrocity. i mean, we're talking about 1,400, nearly 1,500 people killed with chemical weapons in syria. >> that's an atrocity. stepping up rhetoric. they have to punt. and basically allow the house to vote and the senate will be able to. and will continue to use obamacare. rhetoric as a substitute policy so conservatives are not happy with eric cantor today. i mean, just like liberals are not happy. because substantively they know what he is proposing. >> completely hollow. >> ryan, it's almost not worth

discussing sarah palin's new political ad, wherein president kills the old and the young and is trying to get us -- i suppose kill all of us. has this death panel issue not been put to rest or is sarah palin just simply desperately trying, i don't know, to say something that keeps her in the national conversation? >> i mean, i guess her super -- not super pac, it's a partly cloudy -- >> it's a super pac. my favorite part of that entire ad she made was that she uses bear but takes him at face value. she uses a clip of him as if nobody knows that he's clowning her. it's -- and maybe she actually doesn't. >> ryan, are you suggesting she doesn't understand sarcasm and irony? >> she deploys it a lot. it's on her facebook page and twitter feed. so clearly she has some sense of

it. but i can't explain how he wound up in there. i think she is running a con on everybody. and maybe that's her subtle hint she knows this is a con. >> do you agree? >> it's not clear to me what sarah palin's purpose is anymore. keith olbermann is back in sports casting, that's where sarah palin started her career, maybe she could find her way back there. i don't know, why is she on tv at all, why is anybody listening to her? i don't think she is popular with conservatives anymore. >> you're right. josh barrow and ryan grim. thank you so much. stay with us. the day's top lines are coming up. and warning, the trols are well and truly out. >> putin has time after time made obama a monkey. first he takes snowden. this with assad. >> why saw saying that? you know people are going to criticize you. why are you saying that? are you doing that to be provocative? restaurant we all like?

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responsibility. what's your policy? from shock and jive to monkeys and midgets. here are today's top lines. feel the vibrations. >> if you're going to strike an enemy, you've got to hit them with all the force that their mothers will feel the vibration. >> bush had shock and awe. >> we've had enough bushes. >> bring back the cowboy from texas. >> being a super power is more than showing you have the super might to do what you want to do militarily. >> now you've got john kerry actually saying the words " -- >> unbelievably small limited effort. >> america is going to bring down the unbelievably small hammer. >> such pathetic weakness and pin wimpineswimpiness. it's embarrassing. >> she pushed her husband off a cliff, that guy? >> so wimpy on the world stage. >> putin is the one who is looking like a man here.

>> vladimir putin in a woman's slip, brushing the hair of dmitry medvedev. >> i read polls like everybody else. >> he's making a monkey of obama. >> you have take it with a grain of salt initially. >> if this whole thing was set up by putin to make obama look like a monkey. >> that's what i'm going to name this. the obama operation in syria. >> you have to have super patience, super negotiating, super diplomacy. >> operation shuck and jive. because that's what this is. >> to get you in trouble tonight. >> no one should be faulted for being skeptical. >> that's up to you. i'm not responsible. >> or for being dumbfounded. >> putin has time after time after time made obama a monkey. >> why are you saying that? are you doing that to be provocative? >> no, i'm saying -- putin is playing with him. and making him look ridiculous. >> let's get right to our panel. joining us now is joy reid, managing editor of the agrgrio..

joy, for critics even of this president, you would think in a week like this, where we're reflecting on what to do, when a dictator murders children, adult civilians with chemical weapons, the people wouldn't use terms like that to address the president of the united states. and yet that feels to me like it was repetitive, it was core graphed. >> yeah, serious times call for serious commentary. whether you favor strikes in syria or not, whatever your critique of this president's policy, it is a serious situation, both from the point of view of the attacks on civilians, the murder of 1,400 people, including children in syria, and also the gravity of using military force on the part of the united states. this is a serious thing. but those aren't serious people. those people are playing the part in a carnival. and their only audience are people who want to hear carnival barkers all of the time, and whose only interest is in a narrative of how stupid and how

illegitimate barack obama is. they don't even hear the policy, they don't even care what the policy is. they just want to hear obama mocked in the most racist, i have to say, and silly and useless terms. >> ari, conservatives in congress are actually wanting to have a serious discussion about this issue. and parts of the conservative media just find themselves incapable of resisting the temptation, as joy says, of going back to this derogatory, cretinous, offensive, ridiculous, nasty rhetoric that they just spew out. >> yeah. and i think joy is right. if what you want is to hear all the carnival barking, if barking is what you're looking for, you don't really need fox news, you can go to a dog fighting show, find a dmx album if that's what you want, the hate. there's two things going on in the political strategy that overlaps with part of what does matter, as you point out, martin, what people are going to do in this congress, faced with this decision.

you had rumsfeld, who is considered more serious, even if he was wrong on many things. also echoing a piece by saying the so-called commander in chief. this desire to undercut the competence and, quite honestly, the hawkishness of this president goes to the fact there is a scramble for many conservatives, including the neo conservative wing, which sean hannity is in from his prior support for intervention. they want the president not to be hawkish, because they have spent so much time and capital saying that's a good thing. >> right. >> and that's why we have all these diversionary attacks. >> joy, isn't it also the case, to ari's point, on foreign policy, this is the president under whose tenure osama bin laden's body is at the bottom of the north aasian sea. >> i was just going to say as you mentioned that martin, the other component of what you see on the right is envy. they rallied around george w. bush at a time when his foreign policy was 100% wrong. diverted the united states -- out of afghanistan. >> bogus evidence. >> and full of lies that that

administration and that those media figures helped to sell to the american people. a false case. we're going to have the anniversary of 9/11 tomorrow. they used and essentially pimped the feelings and the emotions and the gravity of a situation like that, the pain that americans felt and, used that to divert us into a war of choice we did not have to fight that had nothing to do with 9/11. it was completely based on falsehoods. and now the envy that this president, the arab spring, you have seen dictators fall under this president without putting boots on the ground, osama bin laden captured. his foreign policy has been a success. theirs, collective failure and envy. >> they may be filled with hatred but there was a moment of unity in washington today, an emotional gathering inside the capitol where a bipartisan group of congressional leaders bestowed its highest civilian honor on the four little girls killed in a 1963 church bombing in birmingham, alabama.

i would like you to take a listen to this. >> birmingham had to go through hell, pushed itself forward, and pushed the whole country forward, as well. >> joy, he said that birmingham had to go through hell. and that appears to be an attempt to achieve at least some level of unity on these issues. rather than referring to the president of the united states as a monkey. >> yeah, absolutely. there is a capability of american politics to be dignified, and unifying. because there are some principles that are universal, whether you're a conservative, liberal, republican or democrat. it is really refreshing, let's just say, to see the same component of the republican party emerge every once in a while because it's possible. and the violence and murder of those four children just after the march on washington, couple weeks after, that's something i can't imagine anyone could be divisive about. i'm sure some will try, though. unfortunately. >> ari, in light of what's happened today in washington, can we conclude that actions

like that will speak louder than the ludicrous words we heard earlier? >> i think it's an important piece of this, and i think the conservatives who do want to engage and care about this, and the power of these anniversaries for the symbolism and the action in our politics is important. joy refers to it as a murder, it was a murder of these children. it is also what, if it happened today, what we would call terrorism. the targeting of civilians to address a political point. and that case, a church that was used by core and other groups to register voters. that was 1963, and we know as many of us reflected on the anniversary, a year later in concert with some of that hate and some of that murder and some of that terrorism, as well as tremendous courage and organizing, that we got the voting rights act. so my appeal to those in congress to boehner, who looked personally moved and remembering this, this can't be drained of its political and voter organizing significance. >> nor should it remain in the past. >> that's what it was about. so eric cantor, we talked on

this program about his trip to selma. i credited him for going to selma. it's great he went there as a symbolic event. but until these republicans come along with renewing the voting rights act, until they do that, then unfortunately, they will risk looking like this symbolism alone. >> and remember, that was a bipartisan effort. edward dirkson, arch conservative, former mccarthyite from illinois, put through that voting right, the civil rights after 1964, really rewrote it in the senate. and so it is possible, you know, there was a time when democrats and republicans could do what was morally right in congress. >> let's hope that'sin car natured in the president. joy reid, ari melber, thank you so much. coming up, the speech writers are now working overtime. ♪ [ male announcer ] this is claira. to prove to you that aleve is the better choice for her, she's agreed to give it up. that's today? [ male announcer ] we'll be with her all day

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as busy a day as it has been

for the president to meet on capitol hill to persuade certain members of congress, one gets the sense it may be busier for speech writers as they try to keep up by the hour. the president earlier this afternoon returned to the white house and now only has a few short hours before he'll make that prime time address to the nation from the white house let's turn now to michael owe han lynn, a senior fellow at the brookings institution. he's there. mike, the russians have cancelled the emergency meeting of the u.n. security council. but the united states, britain and france are still trying to hammer out some kind of resolution. do you believe that assad is prepared to shed light on his chemical weapons program, and allow it to be dismantled at some point? >> hi, martin. well, i wouldn't be surprised if he's prepared to begin the process. as we know, he has a lot of chemicals. he probably has more than he

needs. he may even be persuadable to get rid of all of them. but we have to think through why. what would the logic be? maybe it's to avoid this american attack that would otherwise perhaps be pending. although who knows? but i'm not so sure that's reason enough, because assad's watched us enough over the years to know this attack feels like a fairly limited thing on its own terms, at least. so maybe he's also thinking to the point where if there were more international inspectors and he was part of an international diplomatic deal, it's harder for us to escalate and change our minds about the role we want to play in the civil war, somewhere down the road. as you know, there have been all these discussions, should we have a no fly zone, even use air power against the syrian regime in support of the insurgents. president obama has never been very interested in that conversation. but maybe assad's worried that could change in the future. and he could rather have, i don't know if you want to call them potential hostages but some kind of international presence in syria that makes it harder for us to contemplate that kind of move.

but i think more likely he probably is trying to look semi reasonable, lighten up the immediate international pressure, maybe reduce the odds, we'll arm the rebels with any greater intensity and then somewhere down the road maybe figures the world's attention will be diverted and he can sort of impede the inspections or maybe never declare some of his chemical weapons in the first place and have them at his disposal if he needs them down the road. so i don't know how to assess his calculus, but could include a lot of possibilities. >> that sounds like a fairly september california analysis of this man's willingness to engage at this point. >> absolutely. i'm a little more hopeful about russia's motives. i think russia, even though i'm dubious, russia may enjoy the idea of playing the central figure on the world stage in this particular negotiation, although as you point out, the deliberations at the security council may or may not be going forward with a russian role and maybe i can dismiss that possibility. but with assad, i mean, come on. assad is not a reasonable guy. assad is trying to win a civil

war. there really isn't that much more you need to know about this guy right now to understand the full range of his motives. his life, the life of everyone around him, is at risk. certainly his hold on power is at risk. and he is playing to win. i see no other reason, no other motive, to really attribute to him in the situation. so if giving up the chemicals can help him win by reducing the chances the united states will intervene down the road in anymore muscular way or if it can lighten up the diplomatic pressure on him, not because he's decided chemical weapons are a bad thing. >> on the issue of this deal, mike, are we talking about u.n. weapons inspectors being given the responsibility of locating and dismantling this material? because the last time they were in syria, they were shot at with live ammunition. >> yes. excellent point. and the other thing is, it takes some technology to get rid of chemical munitions. you have to basicallyin sen rate them, and i used to study this

issue in the states as we were trying to get rid of chemical weapon stocks 15, 20 years ago and you had to build these very elaborate complexes. now, of course, we have tighter environmental regulations than syria does right now. but nonetheless, the point is, if you're going to do this responsibly, you need some technology. and it takes some time. so i accept your point. there are a lot of complexities. this would be, i think, a prolonged process. probably take several years to do it right. certainly a year or two. you can't just blow it up and sort of consider that to be a 95% acceptable solution. it doesn't work that way with chemicals. >> right. now, the administration and other democrats have claimed that it's threat of force that has brought the seerns to the table. i would like you to listen to what nancy pelosi said earlier today. take a listen, mike. >> i think this is a victory for president obama, if it is real. it doesn't take the wind out. it validates what the president is doing. the russian proposal value daid

what the president is doing. >> she did put a bit of conditionality around the term victory. but how convinced are you? is there not a risk that the white house and its allies will be embarrassed by this claim if the diplomatic solution collapses? >> yes. and i think you're putting your finger, as was the congresswoman on the issue i find most intriguing going into the speech tonight. is the president going to make a full-throated argument we absolutely still need those resolutions as soon as we can have them. because the possibility of striking syria is crucial to get this kind of a deal, not just initiated, but implemented or to the next step. or as the president can basically say, let's give it a little time, and maybe i'll come back to you in a week or two for that resolution, if i really need it. but i hope i won't, because i hope that diplomacy is going to succeed. certainly, his cabinet is tending towards the first position. and as was ms. pelosi, saying we need this kind of threat to get a diplomatic solution that's

acceptable. vladimir putin, of course, taking the opposite approach, saying this can only work diplomatically if you take the military option off the table. i don't really know where president obama is going to come down. i actually find the whole process fascinating, and quite unpredictable. and that's what i'm going to be listening for most tonight. >> absolutely. and we'll all be listening, because we have no idea, as you say, what -- which way he's going to go. julia jaffe writes, there are two clear winners in this slow motion train wreck, and they are not obama or kerry. they are assad and putin. both wanted for their own reasons to avert a military strike, and a military strike was averted. assad wanted to go on killing his opposition, and he will continue to do so. i mean, that makes the point you were just making, which is that assad wants to continue to win a civil war in which he's already murdered over 100,000 of his own people. >> that's true. but in so far as president obama's intention was to re-establish deterrence against the use or proliferation of

weapons of mass destruction and have that message be heard in damascus, tehran, pong jyong or else why, will be more effective outcome than a limited strike would have been. and so i'm trying to stay flexible on this. i think, you know, i'm worried about how the diplomacy could evolve and how assad and putin could use it to their advantage and totally manipulate us. but i actually think there's a decent chance that russia, at least, will cooperate in trying to get rid of much of assad's arsenal. and without a military strike, not such a horrible thing, as long as the principle remains firm and clear in people's minds that obama's willingness to make assad pay a price here is part of what produced whatever outcome we get. again, that outcome is going to have to include some substantial fraction of syria's chemical weapons being destroyed and hopefully all of them. but it might be better than a

military strike would have been. >> let's hope so. michael owe hannan, thank you. >> my pleasure. coming up, war and peace of mind. we'll take you to the white house with just hours to go until the president addresses the nation. hey linda! what are you guys doing? having some fiber! with new phillips' fiber good gummies. they're fruity delicious! just two gummies have 4 grams of fiber! to help support regularity! i want some... [ woman ] hop on over! [ marge ] fiber the fun way, from phillips'.

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all eyes on the white house tonight as the president's media campaign culminates in a rare prime time address to the american people. for more now, i'm joined by nbc's kristen welker, who is at the white house. kristen, i take it the president is still preparing the nation for air strikes. even though the administration has publicly agreed to talks on the russian proposal for syria's chemical weapons. >> i think that that is definitely an accurate characterization of what we will hear tonight, martin. i am told that according to a

senior administration official, the president has updated his speech to reflect the latest diplomatic veldevelopments of t day. he will make the same argument he has been planning to make, which is assad having chemical weapons is a threat to the united states' national security, and that essentially his chemical weapons stockpile needs to be destroyed and degraded. so the message is going to stay the same. the president is going to also, i am told, emphasize the fact that a military option will remain on the table. that is significant, because earlier today, russia had called on the u.s. to remove a military option. however, the president will also talk about the fact that diplomatic conversations are also moving forward, with russia's proposal to have international inspectors remove and have control of assad's chemical weapons stockpile. so those are sort of the basic themes we will hear tonight when president obama speaks. i am told behind the scenes that in terms of the strategy here,

the president thinks it is a good thing that the senate has essentially paused its vote. that allows the diplomatic process to move forward without complicating it. but, again, they are leaving this diplomatic option on the table. white house officials are consulting with lawmakers as they draft what could be new legislation that would include inspectors having control of syria's weapons. martin? >> and kristin, the president has been working hard to make sure he has some kind of international support for anything he says tonight. i understand he has spoken to the british prime minister and french president. is that right? >> that's accurate. he has spoken to both of them earlier today. all of them expressing their support and desire to move forward with this possible diplomatic action. a desire to move forward with the u.n., a possible u.n. resolution. we are also told that secretary kerry will be traveling to geneva as early as tomorrow to

meet with his russian counterpart to discuss this diplomatic option on the table. so a lot of moving parts here, martin. and, of course, president obama spent several hours on the hill today, meeting with lawmakers, updating them on what he is preparing to say this evening. martin? >> we should look forward to what he says. kristen welker live for us at the white house this afternoon. thank you, kristen. >> thank you, martin. and we'll be right back in a moment. at coca-cola we believe in giving people choices. especially today, as people are looking for more low, and no calorie options. that's why on vending machines, we're making it easy for people to know how many calories are in their favorite beverages, before they choose. and we're offering more low calorie options, including over 70 in our innovative coca-cola

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prime time address to the nation at 9:00 p.m., followed by expert analysis all night by my colleagues, lawrence o'donnell, chris hayes and many others. right now, it's ed schultz and "the ed show." good evening, americans and welcome to "the ed show" live from new york. let's get to work. not war. ♪ the russians happen to have a proposal to settle all of this. >> we accept the russian proposal. >> this represents a potentially positive development. >> i'm sure some leader, somewhere, of a country went to this guy right here and said, you know what, he's gonna strike syria. you guys better get involved in this. >> the russians coming to the -- bringing to the table a proposal. the president deserves a great deal of credit for. >> turn over every single bit of his chemical weapons to the international community, in the next wee