we got tired of google being able to do everything. what can't they do? we have a few answers. >> google can't twerk, anyway, "morning joe" from d.c. starts right now. all right. what's going on here in washington, d.c.? good morning, everyone, it is friday, september 27th, welcome to "morning joe." with us on set, we have the washington anchor for bbc world news america, katty kaye and eugene robinson and former white house press secretary and msnbc contributor, robert gibbs, senior political editor and white house correspondent for

the "huffington post," sam stein. and senior national correspondent for bloomberg business week, josh green. we'll get right to the news. does anyone want to crystallize what's been going down on the past 24 hours? >> not exactly crystallizable. >> it's confusing. i think it's now republicans self-destruct. i don't know what the word -- >> chaos is the industry here. >> that's what we've been seeing all the time. this is different. >> special chaos. >> seasonal chaos. for breakfast every morning. >> it's not special word, it's chaos part 7. >> we'll let the story speak for itself. there are just three days before the threat of the federal government shutting down becomes a reality. later today, the senate will begin voting on a bill to fund the government. majority leader, harry reid will then look to amend the bill, stripping of it any language to

defund obama care. after today's vote, the bill goes back to the house, where lawmakers will have to accept the senate's changes or risk a government shutdown. yesterday the president's health care plan remained the center of the debate and it again was republicans taking on republicans. or more specifically, taking on senator ted cruz. >> i don't think ever in the history of the senate, have we had a 21-hour filibuster and then the persons carrying out the filibuster voted for the issue. they were filibustering. you all have sent out releases and emails and you want everybody to be able to watch. and it doesn't seem to me that that's in our nation's interest. >> why is majority leader harry reid going to vote the same way you're proposing to vote? >> you voted in favor of a thing you're filibustering and senator harry reid joined new that, too. so it seems to me a that they're

very similar. >> stay with us here. now senator corker's exchange prompted andy roth of the conservative club for growth to tweet this -- senator corker effectively became a democrat just now on the senate floor. oh, is that what that is? the only hope senate republicans have is if some democrats go along with the proposal to pass funding for the government with the delay to fund for obama care. it's a plan senator joe manchin endorsed. there's no way i could not vote for it it's very reasonable and sensible. don't put the mandate on the american public right now. give them at least a year. if you know you couldn't bring the corporate sector and you gave them a year, don't think it would be fair? meanwhile, house speaker, john boehner, already has his eyes set on the next fight in washington and that is the nation's borrowing limit. >> we're going to introduce a plan that ties important spending cuts and pro growth reforms to a debt limit

increase. now the president says i'm not going to negotiate. well, i'm sorry, but it just doesn't work that way. >> i will not negotiate on anything when it comes to the full faith and credit of the united states of america. we're not going to submit so this kind of total irresponsibility. congress needs to pay our bills on time. congress needs to pass a budget on time. congress needs to put an end to governing from crisis to crisis. >> i feel like i've heard that somewhere. i don't know. i'm thinking circa 1985. another great icon, a president, who really stood his ground on this. take a look. >> this autumn, the congress has faced the unhappy task of raising the debt ceiling to over $2 trillion. but only few days left before that deadline, congress must realize that by failing to act, they're entering very dangerous territory.

never before in our history has the federal government failed to honor its financial obligations. to fail to do so now would be an outrage. and congress must understand this and bear full responsibility. >> gene, help me understand. what's going on? >> well what's going on is that frankly, republicans have dug themselves a hole and they keep digging. they are dug in on the issue of funding the government. they're dug in on the issue of the debt ceiling, they want the president to somehow gut or delay his signature piece of legislation, his biggest legislative accomplishment. he's not going to do that. >> they have this list of gibbs' incredible demands. >> i thought everything sounded fine. >> if you were in the white house right now, wouldn't you say just sit back and let the show go on?

>> i think so look, i don't know that -- that's a list of demands that is fairly nonnegotiable, my sense is on their part. i think the hardest thing is, how do you begin to unwind this? we only have a few days now before the government shutdown. and i think the biggest thing for republicans, they've gotten pretty worked up on this. and at some point in the next three or four days they're going to have to unwind this. that's not going to be an easy thing to do. and the sequencing of that i think will greatly impact the debt ceiling, which will probably likely have them more dug in to sort of the last fight on this. which i think quite honestly, with all due respect to the federal government employees, probably more at stake on the debt ceiling than on a three-day government shutdown. >> the debt ceiling seems like to be the big elephant charging over the horizon, we're going to have to tackle at some point. i was wondering whether most americans are starting to think, whatever happens in washington doesn't make very much

difference to me. even if they default on the debt, i don't see any economic implications. i was told that sequestration was going to be armageddon and i haven't seen the impacts. are people discounting this? >> that is to me the single scariest things. if you look at polls of americans who say, should we raise the debt ceiling? most of them say no, we shouldn't. if you poll my readers on wall street, in banks, they are terrified when they hear john boehner say something like, let's move this thing to the debt ceiling. let's raise the drama and the risk and the stakes of when we're fighting over and that will be our way out of the crisis. all it does is make things worse. >> josh, you write in the cover of this week's bloomberg "business week," john boehner doesn't run the congress, you meet the man who does. you write two things are apparent, conservative activists have rejected a call for moderation and boehner has lost

control of the house. the second has everything to do with the first. and explains why we're corining towards shutdown. all of those trying to defund obama care drew precisely the wrong lesson than everything else did from the last election. republicans are told, don't stand for anything, make it about obama. what happened in 2012 is that there was a void of inspiration and attempt to lead. it certainly wasn't because the party was too conservative, it was because there was no conservative leadership at all. sam? >> i disagree with that. i don't know, you know, it's ironic, jim demint did support mitt romney. >> they have made the story about themselves. >> i think this is the big problem right now. you asked what does the white house do. i don't know what the white house can do. how does the president negotiate with the republican party that can't negotiate with itself? they talk about pushing this off to the debt ceiling and they put this together, this conservative

wish list of ideas for the debt ceiling. well reports emerged last night that the house republican caucus might not even be able to pass their grab bag of policies, as a debt ceiling bill. and if that's the case, what is anything to do other than to wait for the drama to unfold? the problem is that we only have three days. i should just note, andy roth, the club for growth guy, just tweeted that reagan effectively became a democrat after you played that bit. >> thank you for add being in that footnote. >> it's amazing because the president is now emerging looking especially on obama care, which he has no problem with it being called that, i mean, even just look at his speeches yesterday, compared to this clown show that we're seeing in congress. besides the potential government shutdown, october 1st of course marks another big day for the white house, that's the official start to obama care. and yesterday the president spent the day defending his

signature piece of legislation against its critics. takes a look. >> you had a state representative somewhere, say that it's as destructive to personal and individual liberty as the fugitive slave act. think about that. affordable health care is worse than a law that lets slave owners get their runaway slaves back. i like this one. we have to and i'm quoting here, we have to repeal this failure before it literally kills women, kills children, kills senior citizens. now i have to say that one was from six months ago, i just want to point out, we still have women, we still have children, we still have senior citizens. medicare and social security face the same kind of criticism.

before medicare came into law, one republican warned that one of these days you and i are going to spend our sunset years telling our children and our children's children what it once was like in america when men were free. that was ronald reagan. and eventually ronald reagan came around to medicare and thought it was pretty good and actually helped make it better. so that's what's going to happen with the affordable care act. and once it's working really well, i guarantee you, they will not call it obama care. >> you know what's interesting here, the president takes about deny and it looks really simple. there will be glitches, i'm sure. but if this works, think some republicans are very nervous this will work, number one. and the president pointed out,

you know, they're expecting this to go well and they're expecting a lot of people who did not vote for the president to sign up for this thing. is there a fear, josh, that this will go quite well, actually? >> that's really what's driving a lot of the republican mania around shutdown and debt ceiling. and the profile with demint, it's clear that sort of d-day for them is october 1st. they think that's the last chance they have to kill obama care and therefore this are willing to slow down or shut down the government, in order to draw attention to this law that they think is a socialist menace and they're banking on the fact that americans will rally to their side in that event and eventually force obama to cry uncle and repeal the thing. but it's become clear that that's not going to happen. and so you have these angry conservatives who don't want to settle. who don't want to give up and then you have a more realistic branch, i think like boehner and leadership who understand they have to find a way to climb down from this. it's not clear three days before the shutdown, how that's going to happen. >> to your point, how people who

are critics of the law might eventually like the law. my colleague went down to kentucky when they were doing the open enrollment education part. they call it something like kentucky connect. they don't call it obama care, the exchange. he witnessed a guy go up to the booth and say, look at all the premiums in the kentucky connect that they're offering and said wow, this deal sure beats the hell out of obama care. and secondly, there was a poll that came out that showed that the opposition to obama care was much higher than opposition to the affordable care act. which is ironic, because they're also the same thing. so there is a lot in a name and i think josh is right. as soon as people get more comfortable with the law, as soon as they recognize the benefits that it's giving them, opinions are going to change. and -- >> republicans are going to want to call it reagan care. >> exactly. >> i will say this i think the danger of some of the sound bytes, the one thing you consistently see out of polling are the number of people who don't really understand what's about to go into effect and what

does get ushered in on october 1st. in other words the exchange become public and searchable and things like that i will say the downside for the president and the white house is i would much rather see those sound bytes be an explanation of what goes into effect on october 1st. than a lot of quotes around what's happening in the shutdown. and in some sense is, that is a little bit of a victory for conservatives, because the president is right now having an argument with them, rather i think what they would be doing, which is public display of what's about to go into effect on obama care. >> to answer the question, ha does this mean to me. and you know, the "washington post" did a series of eight profiles the other day of individuals, just ordinary individuals, some liked obama care, some, some really were looking forward to it. some were not. but it just kind of laid out what it meant to them. what they were paying for

insurance now. what, whether they had insurance now. what basically they would be paying under obama care and it was just kind of an interesting -- >> beyond the sort of specifics of obama care and whether people are going to like it or not, the politics of this got to hold some risk for the white house, right? the advice that they sit back and let the republicans have their civil war going on in public is right, except that if we hit the debt ceiling and we default and if really rebounds on the american economy, the president is bound to take some of the hits for this, right? >> let me be clear -- >> does he then have to negotiate? >> i think i got transferred to mika. but -- >> it could be worse. >> my answer was, i think it's hard to figure out who and how to negotiate or who and how to talk to. because what we saw with corker there and cruz really was a private meeting that burst out into the u.s. senate. those are arguments that those guys would love to have i think

behind closed doors. >> but they were not using their inside voices, bob, okay? >> this has happened virtually in every one of these scenarios. is that we've had three or four, five of these over the course of time. that, this drags all of washington down, right? there's nobody that comes out riding on a white horse in a white suit. everybody gets dirty from this. i think the white house anticipates that. obviously republicans in congress have anticipated that. and think quite frankly, that what they could gain from this greatly exceeds the baggage that they could take. >> the more worrying, it drags the whole country down. people look at this from the outside world and it's like, here's this exceptional country. sel self-described exceptional country, behaving in a way that's not exceptional. >> i think the change we want to

see, we'll get a couple of other news stories in. put a period at the end of the sentence, i think what we are going to see is a change for obama care, finally. because there has been this literally constant drumbeat against it about how it hurts businesses, how they're going to have to fire people. how it's going to ruin the economy. and now people are going to be able to log on or get the paperwork. they'll be able to go to walgreen's or somewhere else and see how easy it is to sign up. they will also see the prices and i'm sorry, people are about their wallets, ultimately and when they can save 200, 300, $4 00 a month on health insurance, this is going to become attractive to them. what's happening in washington is not. >> there's no doubt that if you look at, at the exchange and obviously as eugene just said, look, different people have different plans and different regions of the country. i think by and large, everything has come in much less expensive than people originally believed that it would. and i think that will, that will

be a hul relief to a lot of people. that could give them some certificate just security as it receipts to health care. >> as other important programs that people depend on. big news out of the u.n. after weeks of doubt and distrust. there's a deal at the united nations to dispose syria of its chemical weapons. remember that process? key countries on the security council have agreed to terms which do not include an automatic threat of force if syria doesn't keep its word that was once a key sticking point for the u.s. just weeks ago, the obama administration tried unilaterally to sell limited military strikes to congress and the american people. but since then, assad's government has surprised international observers by acquiesing to global pressure led by russia to inventory and disclose locations of its stockpiles, a vote on the u.n. plan could come later today and chemical inspections could start as early as next week. meanwhile, secretary of state john kerry met with his

iranian counterpart, the highest-level meeting between the two countries since the 1970s, the tone was positive but cautious with both sides noting that historical obstacles remain to overcome. >> i think it was 1979, gene, that this happened. this has given all the criticism that the administration has received for having such a transparent process as it pertains to syria, my conclusion is, americans got what they wanted out of the syria situation. in terms of having a voice in it. but still the president received a lot of criticism for appearing to bumble on this. i mean this is important. this is a good step. >> this is important, this is something that you have to do. you have to explore the sort of potential opening with iran. because looming down the road, is the possibility of a military strike against iran. for its nuclear program. but you know who had a really bad day yesterday, was bashar al assad. his friends, the russians are taking away his chemical

weapons. and his friends, the iranians are making cozy with the americans. that's got to make him feel even more lonely than he has been feeling. >> what's important here is that there isn't an automatic threat of force, this is now part of a u.n. resolution which will have to be enforceable and provide some international legal framework. that probably was missing originally in the initial crossing of the red line. so while not an automatic threat of force, it gives the administration, if inspectors are blocked or assad starts it play big games with this, to be able to go back to the u.n., back through the security council, and have the imprimateur of a strong security council. >> the likelihood of american strikes has just been severely diminished by this resolution. because the prospect that you would can go back to the u.n. and the russians say, this hasn't worked, we say we should strike is pretty small.

in this lez, they would have to go back. >> i would argue that the administration -- >> would strike anyway? >> would not going to be -- >> we're not going to go back to congress. >> i like that you called it a transparent process. if joe were here, i'm assuming he would probably disagree with you. >> come on. >> but he's not here. >> it was very transparent. i liked putting it that way. >> i think there's clearly something going on with the iranians. there has been a shift in tone largely, my hunch is because economic sanctions are beginning to have a real appreciable effect on their economy, it's brought them to a table in a way that they haven't been before. look, secretary kerry, the president, everybody is right to be cautious. and every step in this process should be met by something tangible on behalf of the iranians, if the process is going to continue.

but this was the point of economic sanctions. economic sanctions are to drive somebody to the table that's at least where we are and that's a good thing. >> coming up on "morning joe," the moderator of "meet the press," david gregory, author walter isaacson and congressman joaquin castro. and later kidnapped and held captive for 15 months in somalia, author amanda manhout joins us with her story of survival. and mike allen is here with the top stories in the politico playbook. but first, bill karins with a check on the forecast. bill? >> good morning, mika. this morning the big news, the huge climate report is out from the ipcc, the intergovernmental panel on the climate change, 259 scientists got together, the big headline they're saying for the first time, it's extremely likely that humans dominate the cause of observed warming since 1950. that's up from likelihood. they're saying 95% chance that

the warming of the planet is caused by us humans. left unchecked, they're saying the surface temperatures could increase two to four degrees by the end of the century and in the northern hemisphere, the last 30 years was likely the warmest we've seen in 1,400 years. i have a link to that on my twitter account. if you want to read the 31-page report for policy makers, including that's what's sent to everyone there in washington, d.c. so as far as today's weather, very warm in the middle of the country. we're going to see little bit of snow and rain in wyoming. over the weekend, the middle of the country is going to have the stormy weather, the east coast, you look fantastic, what a september it's been, it will continue that way for the last weekend of september. [ tires screech ]

♪ [ male announcer ] 1.21 gigawatts. today, that's easy. ge is revolutionizing power. supercharging turbines with advanced hardware and innovative software. using data predictively to help power entire cities. so the turbines of today... will power us all... into the future. ♪

26 past the hour, time to take a look at the morning papers, shall we, katty. "the new york times," white house officials will be in detroit today to propose $300 million in federal and private aid, to help the bankruptcy. the proposal is a small fraction of the billions of dollars detroit owes, but the white house says, a bailout is not an option. the money will be used to redevelop run-down properties, improve transportation systems and boost the city's police presence. the "washington post" new declassified documents reveal nsa eavesdropping dates back to the vietnam war. the agency tapped overseas communications of war critics, including martin luther king jr., muhammed ali, senator frank church and humor columnist, art buchwald. this has been going on for a long time. and the watch list included 1600

names, the documents say former president lyndon johnson wanted to know if the anti-war movement was receiving help from abroad. things don't change. >> the "washington times," the airs and boeing completed the first test flight of an unmanned f-16 fighter jet. it successfully performed takeoff and landing procedures in a series of flight maneuvers without a pilot in the cockpit. the jet was controlled by two pilots at a ground control station. unmanned flights may be used to train pilots in air-to-air combat. >> look at the photo. i think i would be a bit nervous about that one. >> a plane that's flying around without a pilot. >> and when machines -- going to be in trouble. nobody -- >> new haven register. connecticut governor's daniel malloy says that metro north trains may see partial electric

service restored as early as next week. it follows a massive power failure which disrupted service for 125,000 commuters. currently service between stanford, connecticut and grand central station in new york can only accommodate a third of its daily riders. con-ed says it could take three weeks to restore the service. the poor commuters. "the wall street journal," mcdonald's is offering customers healthier food choices. i have -- well, okay. i'm nothing go to complain about everything, but i could, but i won't. you will be able to get a salad, fruit or a vegetable with a value meal instead of french fries for nor additional charge. mcdonald's will only promote milk, juice or water with happy meals. on its menu boards and ads, the changes will be on the menu early next year. that's a step in the right direction. >> better than burger king's healthier fries. >> satisfries.

>> remember olestra? >> they need to take the toys out of the happy meals. >> toys out of happy meals if. >> that's what the gets going. >> don't get him started on that. >> i think whatever you know -- "u.s.a. today," the series finale of "breaking bad" will air this sunday night on amc at 9:00 p.m. ratings for the show have been on the rise throughout the season. viewership is expected to soar to eight million on sunday night. 30-second commercials during the finale are selling for as much as $350,000. >> that show is so good. the atlanta "journal-constitution" o.j. simpson ran into a little trouble in his nevada prison when was caught stealing cookies from the prison commissary. he was caught with 12 oatmeal cookies, when guards noticed

something under his clothing. the diabetic is serving a 33-year sentence for robbery and is eligible for parole in 2017. this sunday, "parade" visits mindy keeling, the creator and writer and star of "the mindy project." let's go to white house correspondent for politico, mike allen who is here with the morning playbook. we're starting with wendy davis. >> well, no, we're starting with half the fried egg. happy friday. >> happy friday, mike, good to see you. >> a new chance to stand with wendy, wendy davis has gotten a lot of encouragement from washington, a big fundraiser here after her actual filibuster in texas and so next week she's going to make a formal announcement running for governor. this is an uphill race. but it could be a real barn-burner.

because robert, your former colleagues, see a chance to eventually make headway in texas, a state that went 16 points for romney, 60% of the statewide officers are right now republicans. but with the demographic changes they see -- that's why a lot of people will pour in help for wendy davis. her big question is that texas is on the wrong track. if you look at the number of insured people. you look at education, you look at the growth in low-wage jobs, the attorney general distinct favorite, will talk about economic progress in texas and they've had growth in the number of jobs. >> let's talk a bit about the obama care and the shutdown. you got a piece in politico saying that the unions have been curiously silent. >> the unions say that the white house heath been consulting them either about the message in the next couple of days. and there's a big reason for that. and that is that the white house hopes to keep funding their best case is to keep funding where it is. unions want to get rid of the sequester, want to bring funding

back where it was. and there's really high stakes here for government employees. because the last two government shutdowns in the '90s employees got back pay. this year, there's no guarantee of that. i can't, yeah, i can't imagine this republican house wanting to do back-pay. there's about two million federal workers who are essential. 800,000 who could lose their pay. >> okay. so i can't imagine this wouldn't backfire on the republicans in a big way. >> this whole thing? >> yeah. and the potential shutdown. >> it's hard for me to imagine that it won't backfire on them. i think they take the bigger hit. no matter what happens. but as robert said earlier, i think everybody gets taken down a notch. because washington just looks ridiculous. >> there's no notches to go down any more. >> there are? >> are we going to go into the negatives, josh? i mean seriously. >> here's why that's right and here's why it's not all republicans. a lot of people in the country don't know john boehner.

there's no one in the world who doesn't know barack obama. so when washington is not working, is going off the rails in a very visible way, with as vivid touches people, that's not good ultimately on the president. >> but you have these republican fights like you had on the floor of the senate between corker yesterday and cruz. and i think some of those anonymous republicans are suddenly going to become very well known. if the government shuts down. and people are looking to point the finger of blame. >> no doubt. but take something real, not just image, if what the administration is saying about the effects on the economy is right, then the president has a bad economy, that's no doubt on him. >> mike allen, happy friday. >> where's the -- >> take some satisfries and you'll be fine. it was an emotional night at yankee stadium as all-time great mariano rivera pitches his last game there. my customers can shop around.

but it doesn't usually work that way with health care. with unitedhealthcare, i get information on quality rated doctors, treatment options and cost estimates, so we can make better health decisions. that's health in numbers. unitedhealthcare. you raise her spirits. we tackled your shoulder pain. you make him rookie of the year. we took care of your cold symptoms. you take him on an adventure. tylenol® has been the number 1 doctor recommended brand of pain reliever for over 20 years.

but for everything we do, we know you do so much more. tylenol®. but for everything we do, we know you do so much more. make my mark i wawith pride.ork. create moments of value. build character through quality. and earn the right to be called a classic. the lands' end no iron dress shirt. starting at 49 dollars.

i want peacocks. peacocks? walking the grounds. in tuscany. [ man ] her parents didn't expect her dreams to be so ambitious. italy? oh, that's not good. [ man ] by exploring their options, they learned that instead of going to italy, they could use a home equity loan to renovate their yard and have a beautiful wedding right here while possibly increasing the value of their home. you and roger could get married in our backyard. it's robert, dad. [ female announcer ] come in to find the right credit options for your needs. because when people talk, great things happen.

it looks like it's going to be mo greatness coming into the yankee game for the final time here in the bronx. >> number 42, mariano rivera.

number 42. at 39 past the hour, let's go to sports now, with brian shackman in new york. brian. >> just what i'm going to show you is just moving. especially we don't see grown men, professional athletes react emotionally like this. he's the best closer of all time. one of the most dominant players, last night, mariano rivera threw his last pitch at yankee stadium. >> how is this for drama. [ cheers and applause ] [ cheers and applause ]

>> hugging andy pettitte and derek jeter were out there to take him off the field. tears in his eyes, 48,000 people. his appearance was perfect. no hits, no runs, an inning and a third he grabbed some dirt from the mound that made him famous and later answered questions with his family by his side. >> during the game, especially during the ninth inning, the first few pitches, i mean i couldn't control. i mean it's -- i was bombarded with emotions and feelings that i couldn't describe. knowing that again, everything hit at that time. and i knew that that was the last time, period. so now i never felt something like that before. >> a great pitcher, classy guy, authentic. the yankees finished their series with a weekend series in

houston where he's expected to take a little time in center field. by the way, mariano rivera may not be the only yankee to play his last game at yankee stadium. espn reporting pending free agent robinson cano is seeking a 10-year, $300 million contract. that sounds staggering, but cano is the top talent in the off-season free agent market in both the yankees and dodgers, who both spend a lot of money, they both need a second baseman. he said he would like to stay in new york, but he would probably like to get the contract even more. let's get 0 to other baseball, minnesota indians leading the twins, bottom of the ninth. pinto hits a two-run shot. but the indians squash the minnesota rally. ericsson leading off for texas, boom. walkoff home run.

the first of his career. youngest in club history to do so. guy is 20 years old. what a thrill. 6-5 win, they stay a game behind cleveland for the second wild card. now thursday night football for you, 49ers and the rams colin kaepernick, a pair of touchdowns, including that one to anquan boldin. second quarter, fourth and inches, he didn't need inches, he took 34 yards, frank gore takes it to the house, beat up on the rams, 35-11. how about this from the wnba playoffs, diana taurasi with phoenix, getting into it with simone augustus. fighting for position, whoops. a little kiss, they both got fouls not for the kiss but for the physical play, mika. diana taurasi is one of the great personalities in sports. >> a kiss. >> just awesome. >> that was definitely a kiss. i don't understand. >> it was so intense she had to

break the tension there was tension, so she had a sense of humor, she gave her a little kiss. >> i'll try that sometime. >> that's weird -- that is weird. can he do that? he can. >> i went opposites first. i know now, bill karins was sitting there. okay. up next, nbc's kelly o'donnell and "time" magazine's michael crowley join us for the must-read opinion pages. ♪

♪

hey lady! noooo! no! [ tires screech ] ♪ nooo! nooo! nooo! hey lady, that's diesel! i know. ♪ ♪ [ dings ] ♪ [ male announcer ] every thought... every movement... ♪ ...carefully planned, coordinated and synchronized. ♪ performing together with a single, united purpose. ♪ that's what makes the world's leading airline... flyer friendly. ♪

vietnam in 1972. [ all ] fort benning, georgia in 1999. [ male announcer ] usaa auto insurance is often handed down from generation to generation. because it offers a superior level of protection and because usaa's commitment to serve military members, veterans, and their families is without equal. begin your legacy, get an auto insurance quote. usaa. we know what it means to serve. ♪ live look at capitol hill. oh joy, all that's going on there. here with us now, "time" magazine's chief foreign affairs correspondent, michael crowley

and nbc news capitol hill correspondent, kelly o'donnell. kelly, is there a precedent for what's going on in there, in your mind? or just a way to crystallize where we're at right now? >> here's a moment. you've been talking about the smackdown between senator corker and cruz and lee. what struck me is when i turned a corner there were about six u.s. capital police huddled around a monitor watching it. that tells you something, they're there every day and it caught everybody's attention. the gallery was filled at that time. why? because it's so rare to see that sort of open hostility between republicans. and i think that's important, because it gives us a window into how tense this process is right now. >> those guys have seen it all. so if they're huddled around the monitor. >> that's my point, yes. >> let's get to the must-reads, "washington post," i'm going to read yours, eugene. obama's reality check, if president obama ever was a foreign policy idealist, he's not one now. the address he delivered tuesday at the united nations amounted

to realist manifesto for defending u.s. core interests. the speech laid out an obama doctrine for confronting rapidly changing world full of dangers, new and old. i believe america is exceptional, the president said, citing the nation's historic willingness to offer the sacrifice of blood and treasure for the interest of all. but his updated vision of u.s. leadership, although sweetly phrased, was tightly focused, and unsentimental. >> i don't know how many times the president has to use the word "exceptional" to burst this conservative myth that he does not believe the country is exceptional. he said it again there. how is this different, gene, from leading from behind? >> well, he didn't say anything about leading from behind. in fact he specifically -- >> are you saying it? >> said the united states will take the lead and including in the use of military force when

its core interests are threatened. he listed the core interests in the middle east, protecting our allies from aggression. and preventing weapons of mass destruction and the others. but he specifically relegated promotion of democracy and human rights. to a lower tier. he didn't describe those as part of a core agenda. he, it was an explicit, i thought, abandonment of the george w. bush freedom agenda. and kind of more rail politic approach to foreign policy. >> michael crowley? >> it's interesting, i think it's not leading from behind, but it's saying, we'll lead if you're behind us. there was a real angst and frustration in the speech because he was saying, where is everybody? the world wants american leadership, and american leadership is necessary, but the world is driving us crazy.

you have wild conspiracy theories and accuse us of doing all of these things when we're trying to provide the leadership and stability that people say they want. through the bush era, america was castgated for this unilateral cowboy diplomacy. and i think the president is trying to return to the era of building coalitions and rallying the world to just causes. i think it was frustrating for him in syria to see how few people stepped forward. he was leading out front and the behind wasn't there. in that speech i heard a lot of angst and really a certain degree of contradiction, he was saying we want to provide this leadership, but you're making it hard and you're driving us a little crazy. >> politics and "the wall street journal," kim by letter strasle writes this, defunders give democrats a pass. the tragic reality is that the vote isn't shaping up to be all that perilous for the owners of the law. nobody is talking about democrats, nobody has put an iota of pressure on them for months, every camera, every microphone has been trained on the gop.

as kelly pointed out. the republican pointed out that balked didn't do so because it lacked conviction. they balked because this was sprung on them and they feared the plan had no forethought. is this our best leverage? no strategy, which democrats do we target? and no end game. what's our fall-back? the lack of all that is the real reason harry reid will win this vote. >> robert, is that entirely fair? is this just that republicans didn't know how to take on the democrats? >> well i think that must have been the bubble box thought of just about everybody watching what kelly described. which is how did we get do this point? how did we -- they thought this was a moment of maximum leverage. and it ended up with mom and dad fighting in front of the kids. and the question is, how now do you unwind this? how do you, how do you, if you're republicans and you're three days from a shutdown, how do you present some united fight that uses whatever leverage you

think you possess to get something? right now there's a list of demands quite frankly that's -- >> ridiculous. >> it is. but at the same time it's also not coordinated. my guess is if kelly asked ten republicans on capitol hill what do you want to get out of this, you would probably get eight answers. >> there's a christmas tree sort of characterization to it where everybody gets their trinket and hangs it on this bill. one of the things we will watch. there will be a moment where the red state democrats up for re-election will get some pressure. one of the things that you're finding is in talking with them in hallway, they don't want to have the proverbial gun to the head moment, either. with this kind of lurching, you'll hear about the medical device tax unpopular. harry reid slipped and called it a stupid tax in front of cameras. they don't want to have that fight now with so much at stake. even if there are some issues

where they might be inclined to say delay a year, do this, do that, chip a way because of their own home state political pressures. >> where's the list? how did they get it together? and how is this not putting them even more in a corner? >> once the senate does actually vote and that will begin rolling out this afternoon, early this afternoon. then john boehner is liberated to put out a real alternative. part of what he's doing is keeping every possible option open for as long as possible. it's truly the moment they narrow it down, that's when the attack on whatever the plan of the moment begins the. if you have the 15-point list, you've got more flexibility as to what you're going to do in the 11th hour. >> the "new york magazine" points out that the list is the romney agenda that lost in november. said we couldn't get it done in the presidential election, it's back. >> how many, 15 on that? number 16 would be when pigs fly. seriously. >> the other reason that harry reid is going to win that vote is because he has more votes. >> that's the reality, numbers.

>> do we have a shutdown? >> i think it is more likely than not, short-term. >> kelly o'donnell, thank you very much and michael crowley, thank you as well. coming up, chuck todd live in mount vernon, virginia for the grand opening of the george washington presidential library. we'll ask him how is it that george washington didn't already have one. more "morning joe," when we come back.

thank you orville and wilbur... ...amelia... neil and buzz: for teaching us that you can't create the future... by clinging to the past. and with that: you're history. instead of looking behind... delta is looking beyond. 80 thousand of us investing billions... in everything from the best experiences below... to the finest comforts above. we're not simply saluting history... we're making it. seasonal... doesn't begin to describe it. running a bike shop has it's ups and downs. my cashflow can literally change with the weather. anything that gives me some breathing room makes a big difference. the plum card from american express gives your business flexibility. get 1.5% discount for paying early, or up to 60 days to pay without interest, or both each month. i'm nelson gutierrez and i'm a member of the smarter money. this is what membership is. this is what membership does.

( ♪ ) for those nights when it's more than a bad dream, be ready. for the days when you get a sudden call from the school, be ready. for the times you need to double-check the temperature on the thermometer, be ready. when you have children's motrin on hand, you're ready. for high fever, nothing works faster or lasts longer than children's motrin. be ready with children's motrin.

coming up next, the moderator of "meet the press," david gregory. and walter isaacson. he said that ted cruz has changed washington, as he had promised. he's made it worse. thank you. texas congressman, joaquin castro joins us. as your life changes, fidelity is there

for your personal economy, helping you readjust along the way, refocus as careers change and kids head off to college, and revisit your investments as retirement gets closer. wherever you are today, fidelity's guidance can help you fine-tune your personal economy. start today with a free one-on-one review of your retirement plan. [ agent smith ] i've found software that intrigues me. it appears it's an agent of good. ♪ [ agent smith ] ge software connects patients to nurses to the right machines while dramatically reducing waiting time. [ telephone ringing ] now a waiting room is just a room. [ static warbles ] [ telephone ringing ] now a waiting room maestro of project management. baron of the build-out.

you need a permit... to be this awesome. and you...rent from national. because only national lets you choose any car in the aisle... and go. you can even take a full-size or above, and still pay the mid-size price. (aaron) purrrfect. (vo) meee-ow, business pro. meee-ow. go national. go like a pro.

♪ answer my question, when has it ever been used to kill a law that's been enacted by the congress and signed by the president and the president got re-elected after doing it it's called health care. >> and so did the republican congress got elected at the same time and the american people said we don't like that law and they want you to change it. things are going to be paid for and the president is the one who is revising history. he continues to. we remember what he said. >> you're speaking words but not an answer. those are words, those are words, will you answer the question with words? >>? an negotiation by an intractable president. >> fourth time i'll ask it. >> who will negotiate with syria. who will negotiate with putin. who will negotiate with iran, but won't negotiate with 50% of his countrymen. >> that's good rhetoric.

how about the federal government's debts. >> the president is just saying raise the limit on your credit card, it doesn't mean anything. people in america understand it is. >> no, no, no. >> that was vintage "hardball," that was good. republican congressman from pennsylvania, scott perry with chris matthews on "hardball" last night. chris was brilliant. his face was as amusing as the conversation. kept a smile on his face. welcome back to "morning joe," katty kaye, robert gibbs eugene robinson still with us and joining us on set, the moderator of "meet the press" and the president and ceo of the aspen institute, walter isaacson. david, are we going to have a shutdown? >> it's looking more likely than i even thought it was yesterday. in the end, i certainly don't think it's what republicans want to do. i don't think it's what the leadership wants to do. but there's enough you know, there's enough gum in the works at this particular point that you may have something

short-term. maybe it's a couple of days until they get their act together. the thinking of speaker boehner was look, let's try to migrate the fight over to the debt ceiling and get away from defunding obama care and talk about delaying it. it would be a more palatable conversation to have with the country. given how unpopular the law is. but he's got this intractable group of conservative who is say no. you know, that's not what we want to do, we don't want to get off this government shutdown fight. i've talked to republicans in that caucus who met with the speaker yesterday and said, look, guys, we got to get to the point of actually legislating, actually governing here. you have conservative who is are part of the republican caucus in the house who are very frustrated. with the fact that you have basically 40 members who are dictating how this should go. >> that might have been a better idea, the concept of delaying it. might have been a better strategy. a little late now, though, don't you think? i mean the pains are ready to go. people are being trained on how

to sign up. it seems to me that that's -- just a little -- >> well you have the employer mandate that has been delayed, small businesses can't sign up now. you know, the implementation of obama care is going to have fits and starts. i spoke to a hospital administrator this week in illinois who said we're not going to know for about five years what the real impacts of this are. >> nobody really knows. >> the big question for government on that is why would you implement something the effect of which you don't truly understand. this is part of the case against it. your question still stands. which is are they trying to cut something off that has really left the station. >> the train has left the station. later today the senate will begin voting on a bill to fund the government, majority leader, harry reid will look to amend the bill, stripping it of any language to defund obama care. after today's vote, the bill goes back to the house where lawmakers will have to accept the senate's changes or risk that government shutdown. yesterday, the president's

health care plan remained the center of the debate. and it again was republicans taking on republicans, and more specifically, taking on senator ted cruz. >> i don't think ever in the history of the senate, have we had a 21-hour filibuster, and then the persons carrying out the filibuster voted for the issue they were filibustering. y'all have sent out releases and emails and you want everybody to be able to watch. and it just doesn't seem to me, that that's in our nation's interests. >> why is majority leader harry reid going to vote the same way you're proposing to vote? why is every democrat in this chamber going to vote the same way you're proposing to vote. >> you voted in favor of a thing you're filibustering and senator harry reid joined new that, too. so it seems to me they're very similar. >> bob corker looks good, though. >> he looks good, doesn't he, walter? >> finally there are some people

who emerge from all this and say, these are reasonable people, maybe we can get throughs this. >> it's a crazy question, how could a republican possibly vote the same way as a democrat. for me, it underlines the whole problem. how could you possibly do something that's in the right interests of the country, if that meant voting with the opposition? >> unthinkable. >> unthinkable. we have got to the stage where that's an unthinkable proposition. >> it is true, you've got 40 to 50 republicans who are entrenched and who will not be moved. there's an option for john boehner. he can probably only do it once. or one more time, actually. but he could put up a clean continuing resolution and a clean raise of the debt ceiling. and let the house vote. count on getting all the democratic votes. and enough republicans for it to pass. and then hand over the gavel to somebody else. >> the republican caucus. >> a long-term life expectancy plan for your speakership. >> why does he want this job?

>> i don't think he does. >> and leave show business? look, i think one of the questions is, you saw this again, you play out kelly o'donnell's fascinating report that the capitol hill police are -- >> that's such a good drama. >> are on the monitors, watching this back and forth. and the question i think is how do you get down from this? how do you get down if the pole? they've climbed so far up, wanting to defund obama care. i think what corker is basically saying to cruz is sort of like, you know how do we unwind what we've wound up here? and i think that's the question that has to be answered over of the course of the next three days and whether or not the shutdown we have happens, whether it's a two-day shutdown or a six-day shutdown and what it means for the debt ceiling. because i think the notion they can just simply have this fight and say you know what, we're going to pass this clean continuing resolution to have governments funding go forward, i don't think that's going to fly at all.

>> well, katty to your point, senator corker's exchange prompted andy roth of the conservative club for growth, to tweet this. senator corker effectively became a democrat just now on the senate floor. really? the only hope senate republicans have is if some democrats go along with the proposal to pass funding for the government. with a delay of funds for obama care. it's a plan, now i'm really confused, senator joe manchin endorsed, quote there's no way i could not vote for it it's very reasonable and sensible. don't put the mandate on the american public right now. give them at least a year. if you know you couldn't bring the corporate sector, you gave them a year, don't you think it would be fair? meanwhile, house speaker john boehner already has his eyes set on the next fight in washington. the nation's borrowing limit. >> we're going to introduce a plan that ties important spending cuts to a debt limit increase. now the president says i'm not

going to negotiate. well, i'm sorry, but it just doesn't work that way. >> i will not negotiate on anything when it comes to the full faith and credit of the united states of america. >> we're not going to submit to this kind of total irresponsibility. congress needs to pay our bills on time. congress needs to pass a budget on time. congress needs to put an end to governing from crisis to crisis. >> so, david gregory, was watching the president yesterday and this is what they do. this is what they do well. they're starting to campaign to sell obama care. and they're happy to call it that. >> you say this is what they do well. >> begs the question -- >> why obama care is so deeply unpopular. it was unpopular when they were trying to get it passed. and robert, was part of this, just that they faced the struggle of explaining, no -- >> i'll answer that. >> it's your fault? >> no, but he had a great line from that -- there's never a policy crisis, only a

communications crisis. >> but i just think there's been one of the reasons why some of this is vulnerable is that it's still unpopular. and i don't think, i think they've deliberately weighted in part for the roll-out piece of it to try to deal with some of the unpopularity out there. but -- >> it becomes more popular starting on tuesday. >> it does. >> and friends of my daughter and people in their 20s who didn't think they would get health insurance. start signing up, as they will start signing up and people say hey, the world didn't end, we got health insurance. >> and we don't want people to take that away from us now. >> and it becomes more popular when you start calling it the affordable health care act than when you call it the obama care. >> a poll that said the positives and negatives increase when you put in obama care. you've got base democrats that might be confused about some of the principles that like it. look again i say this earlier. i think the one thing that you're concerned about in a

rally and a campaign in which you're explaining obama care, is there was very little in those sound bytes that walked people through what we know they're still confused about on obama care. so it goes to what some of david said, which is the campaign has been timed not sort of six months ago, but literally for the beginning of the exchanges. and i wonder if that's a strategic question that they might reexamine going forward. >> to this point, i don't know if they waited strategically to try and -- i think it's going to work. a think a lot of money has been spent to try to kill this and show the bad points of this and make it look like some evil thing that's being imposed on our society. when people start looking at the paperwork and try to fill it out and see how easy it is and seeing how much money they will save on health insurance, this is not going to be hard to sell or understand. >> we'll see what happens.

just looking analytically, the issue is that since 2010, this has been the great pinata out there and republicans have been organized against it. and they did so successfully in 2010. you know, to the extent it was an issue in 2012, it was muddied by the fact that lot of ideas embedded in mitt romney's plan for massachusetts were absorbed into what became the affordable care act. but there is still this question of look, how about the fact that health care jobs have fuelled what economic recovery we've had? a lot of those jobs are going away. why? because reimbursements to hospitals are going to be cut back. so there's real concerns. now when that starts happening, that could make it less popular. utilization has gone way down. i've tucked to hospital administrators, i've mentioned who were talking about that. does it ultimately affect quality. there's a lot of questions we don't know the answers to yet. but once people say this is the part that's working for me, i

think you're right. >> some people it will save them money, for some people it might cost them money. but there will be something concrete to talk about. >> and republicans have a vested interest politically in throughing to make sure this thing doesn't work, right? they're having such a field day rallying the base around this. >> a couple of weekends ago, i'm a college football addict, there's no cure for it and i'm in my car and listening on satellite radio to a college football game in arkansas. and during one of the time-outs, is a commercial for, from an insurance company about the arkansas exchange. about all the benefits that you can see in getting cheaper health insurance. and i think we have a tendency to look at, what is the club for growth and what is the coke brothers spending do versus the spending on the other side. i think one of the great unknowns is you've got insurance companies that see now, quite frankly, tens of millions of new customers. and i think it will be interesting to see the practical

impact of their advertising efforts, to get people into the exchanges and into an affordable insurance plan that we're not really watching as well. >> so now robert this college football addiction, i know it's a preexisting condition. you know up, you sign up for the bronze plan, you are covered, it's cheap. it's fantastic. >> i'm sitting there watching kaiser permanente. who are just normal people. they watch "morning joe," but otherwise they do not do things like obsess over what's the club for growth saying about this, that and the other and they're saying if you sign up for this exchange, you pay this much. there are a lot of questions. but starting on tuesday, there will be 10% fewer questions per week as people start doing it and you're not going to be able to say, hey, i'm a republican and i'm still trying to take this away from you. >> i think that's the difficulty. and not only has that divided republicans and so the spectacle of republicans being so

disunited on this is a problem. but you also have problems, senator kelly ayotte among them, one voice i read yesterday, saying why are we not focused on the tried-and-true kerps, broader entitlement reform. that should be the conservative position. there is a view out there, this is i think something that has been building really since the bailout of 2009. which is that this was so, actually it goes back furth to prescription d under medicare. where conservatives said look, this is how we lost our way. we allowed government it take on more and more and more. and one of the policy questions, and it's not something that people signing up are going to feel. is ultimately do employers, big employers get out of the insurance game? we don't know, are they going to say to their employees -- head into the exchange, let's let government run this? >> the single most important thing in the obama second term is implementation of health care. >> exactly.

>> it is the single most important thing. the single lasting legacy, regardless of whether it goes positively or negatively. it will be what the president is judged on in 20 years. >> david, when i'm saying this is what they do. here is the president yesterday campaigning for his signature plan. >> you had a state representative somewhere say that it's as destructive to personal and individual liberty as the fugitive slave act. how about that? affordable health care is worse than a law that lets slave owners get their runaway slaves back. i like this one. we have to, and i'm quoting here, we have to repeal kills women, kills children, kills senior citizens.

now, i have to say that one was from six months ago, i just want to point out, we still have women,e have children, we still have senior citizens. >> all i'm saying is they're enjoying it. >> well, because the great advantage at the moment is that republicans are arguing amongst themselves, right? so the president just wants to get out of the way. two? if the president's personal approval ratings are what they are for health care now and the campaign, they would be very or worried. but the difference is there's not exit polls on this. and two, once this thing becomes part of the firmament of the entitlement state, you're not going to dial that back. you could still be judged harshly to robert's point on implementation, but you're not going to just tak history of entitlements in this country that show us that. coming up next, chuck todd is live in mount vernon, virginia, for the grand opening of george washington's presidential library. and democratic congressman

from texas, joaquin castro, why he said fellow texan ted cruz has indeed followed through with his promise to change washington. and later, spotlight on somalia. amanda lynnhout's emotional trip back to the country where she was held captive. i want peacocks. peacocks? walking the grounds. in tuscany. [ man ] her parents didn't expect her dreams to be so ambitious. italy? oh, that's not good. [ man ] by exploring their options, they learned that instead of going to italy, they could use a home equity loan to renovate their yard and have a beautiful wedding right here while possibly increasing the value of their home. you and roger could get married in our backyard. it's robert, dad. [ female announcer ] come in to find the right credit options for your needs. because when people talk, great things happen.

because when people talk, life could be hectic. as a working mom of two young boys angie's list saves me a lot of time. after reading all the reviews i know i'm making the right choice. online or on the phone, we help you hire right the first time. with honest reviews on over 720 local services. keeping up with these two is more than a full time job, and i don't have time for unreliable companies. angie's list definitely saves me time and money. for over 18 years we've helped people take care of the things that matter most. join today.

22 past the hour, mount vernon, and chuck todd is there for the grand opening for the presidential library for george washington. political director and host of the "daily rundown" chuck todd is there today. >> good morning, well they're dedicating you know the first presidential library, they're dedicating it here today, david

mccullough, author of revolutionary war era books, including "1776" he basically is the man in charge of giving the keynote for this library. he's going to channel washington in his remarks a little bit. in some ways it feels like being at any presidential library grand opening. in other ways, it's not your ordinary presidential library grand opening. it's like old home week here, right? >> chuck, what would washington be doing now? >> well that's actually one of the library directors here. one of the goals with the library, is that they think because washington is known that he was always trying to straddle the fence, nobody knew which political party he was falling in, the federalist side or

jefferson, they're hoping this place serves a as a meeting area, a retreat for when things get really bad on capitol hill. they're hoping people use this out here as a way to, okay, let's realize it was pretty divisive back in the 18th century, too. and yet they seem to work it out. they seem to be able to get a constitution passed before oh say everything crumbled. so you know -- >> maybe on monday you'll be heading down there? >> they seem to think that washington wouldn't have allowed a government shutdown and neither would those guys. >> exactly. >> we'll see you at 9:00 a.m. on the "daily rundown." here with us now in the studio, democratic representative from texas, congressman joaquin castro. you tweeted ted cruz said he would go to washington and change washington. he has. he's made it worse.

>> i think he wanted to make a big splash and he certainly has. he's doing something to make it worse, he's made the polarization worse, it was really hard to hear ted speak about representing 26 million texans when he was getting who were without health care coverage and who very much disagree with his point of view and are also looking forward to the chance to get health care coverage. >> what became clear this week is that he can't be president. and the reason is, nobody will follow him. even people within his own party won't follow him. so i think in terms of his long-term prospects, it was fairly damaging. >> congressman, we've been talking all morning about what happens once the health care law actually kicks in next week. once people can actually sign up for it. from what you see in texas are

we going to see a change in the popularity of the law do you think, once people can actually go online. tick the box, pay their money, get health insurance? >> i think that's absolutely right. i know you guys are talking about it, 25% of people in texas. one in four don't have health insurance. 38% of hispanics, don't have health care coverage in texas. this is going to be a good thing. already in san antonio, we're going to have 58 plans to choose from. so people are already talking and asking questions about how they can sign up. >> what happens in the next week? how does the house of representatives, congressman, get itself out of this? >> it depends on how the house republicans, how they do with the cr, once harry reid sends it back. i think all of us are hoping there isn't a government shutdown. think it would be devastating for our country. there's no good that can come of it. the financial markets will suffer. all of the issues -- one thing

we've got to get past. >> how, ultimately, though, i would say that even if you look at the republicans as causing some of the problems leading to potentially not even meeting up our responsibilitresponsibiliti on the president, ultimately to be able to work this out? >> absolutely. the president plays a role, the senate plays a role. there's an appropriate forum for negotiating that wish list that republicans put out. and it's certainly not when -- >> how is that wish list. >> delaying obama care and all of these other things that they wanted. there's an appropriate forum in washington and in politics to, but it's not -- the standing, the credit standing of the united states is at stake. >> congressman, there's an appropriate forum and there are things to negotiate.

things like we figure out how to deal with entitlements and isn't it true that the sequester is a meat axe approach? why isn't this happening, why aren't people like you getting together with some republicans and saying you know what, we're going to be the grown-ups here. >> fair question. >> if you look at the freshman class of republicans and democrats, we've tried to bring a different spirit. >> i'm going to speak for the freshman in the house of representatives, not the senate. because i don't know what they're doing as much. but in the house of representatives, we've tried to do that. we watched the last congress that had until this congress, the lowest approval ratings in u.s. history for the congress. and so this class came in with the attitude that we were going to try harder to be more bipartisan. >> give me an example, i haven't seen it yet. the freshmen have taken the lead. >> in terms of us working together, we've had a few different forums where we've all come together. and state by state, people are still meeting, the texas

delegation met yesterday for the second time. >> they're trying in their own way -- >> i wish you well. >> we need all the well wishes and luck we can get. >> how many of your colleagues on the republican side, do you feel that you can in good faith work with and cooperate with? is it, dozens? over 100? under 10? >> i think you know, there are a lot of very well-intentioned people. even philosophically where we disagree. i think there are people who are well intention who had are not trying to put a wrench in the whole process. i think for the most part people are well intentioned. as freshman i'm still meeting a lot of people, also, i'm in my ninth month now. but there are a lot of people -- >> you come to congress and found a spirit of cooperation? >> well, i wouldn't say that. it's evident right now that that's not the case. >> it's got to be the weirdest

way to start, ever. >> this new class, i've learned a lot of lessons, so i do think as you get new people into congress, including the class that will come in 2015, i think more and more you'll see us move away from this. >> congressman joaquin castro, thank you so much. thoughts on wendy davis running for governor? >> she's going to be a strong candidate. i think she can beat greg bab it. >> for everything you have on "meet the press" and how is it going to end? >> ted cruz will be my special guest on sunday. >> wait a minute, your show, how is that -- he's going to keep talking. until people can no longer stand. >> i'll try to get a few questions in there as well. >> david, thank you we look forward to watching. later tonight, msnbc will broadcast the 2013 alma awards, at 10:00 p.m., one of the biggest names in latino hollywood will be on hand

celebrating achievement in television, film, music and a acti activism. eva longoria will be the host and after the awards be sure to stick around for after the almas with alex wagner. coming up, taking the leaning out of the leaning tower of pisa, how engineers are trying to straighten up one of the wonders of the world, and of course, michelle kosinski joins us next live from pisa. [ taps baton ] [ dings ] ♪ [ male announcer ] every thought... every movement... ♪ ...carefully planned, coordinated and synchronized. ♪ performing together with a single, united purpose.

♪ that's what makes the world's leading airline... flyer friendly. ♪ flyer friendly. let's make an entrance. let's go against the grain. this way, that way, even up that way. let's measure this, and how-to that. let's save, and then, let's get down to it. let's make your home feel like this,

and make you feel like this. let's do this. more saving. more doing. that's the power of the home depot. right now handscraped saratoga hickory, 99¢ a square foot. man: sometimes it's like we're still in college. but with a mortgage. and the furniture's a lot nicer. and suddenly, the most important person in my life is someone i haven't even met yet. who matters most to you says the most about you. at massmutual we're owned by our policyowners, and they matter most to us. as you plan your next step, we'll help you get there.

the leaning tower of pisa is leaning a little less than usual thanks to restoration efforts by engineers. joining us of course because this is a glamorous location, nbc news correspondent, michelle kosinski, michelle? >> not so glamorous, mika, not so glamorous. not only is it leaning less, it's actually moving in the other direction. i mean the assumption is always that it's leaning more and more this way, right? well about a decade ago, some

major protective work was finished on it and now the tower is moving the other way. it's continuing to straighten up. on its own. >> for ofry one of those pictures -- the leaning tower nearly 1,000 years old, still attracts amateur special effects enthusiasts like a dysfunctional magnet. all 300 narrow stairs, worn and polished through time, to the very -- >> wow. >> top. >> once you get to about step 100, you start to feel it. i mean you're upright and not falling over. something definitely feels a little off. >> what the tower is not still doing? leaning. >> really? >> at least not actively. in fact after its worst period in the 19900s when the beautiful power was severe danger of toppling and scientists used lead weights, cables and soil

extraction in a desperate bid to save it, the tower has been moving the other way. we went to find the top engineers. up several more flights of stairs -- so as we speak, the tower is ever so slowly straightening up? yes, yes. it's more or less two millimeters per year. >> in the last decade it gained nearly an inch and would you believe it moves every day. people don't budge it, but the sun straightens it even more. >> these are sunny days, cloudy day. rainy day. >> totally awesome. >> even impressing these chicago honeymooners. >> it might be straighter by the time you get to the bottom of it. >> i'll have to carry you. >> you guys aren't going to make out up here, are you. >> leaning or not, you love the monument? >> i like the lean better. >> the movement is incredibly slight. but scientists think it will continue straightening for about

the next 100 years and then stabilize for 200 years after that. and then will probably start leaning again unless people can find way to stop it. so don't worry, it's going to look just like this, just the way you like it, for a good long time. mika? >> michelle. >> hey, michelle. >> here's walter, but first katty and i want to know what we're doing wrong. every time we go to you, she's in corsica or the south of france. >> it's not that great. i mean last night, our dinner had, didn't have enough sauce on it. i mean come on. the bread was just slightly -- not hot enough. and that delicious wine? we ran out. >> hey, michelle. >> i got a question for you. i got a question, did galileo actually drop the cannon balls off the leaning tower in order to prove the theory of gravity. >> apparently so. >> i mean -- >> that was in a biography.

what i've read is that it was written in a biography of him by his students. so that's -- you know, whether it was true or he was embellishing, i don't know. but the scientists tell us there are all kinds of histories, interesting architectural mysteries, for example, the columns around the bottom, there are 15 of them. they say why 15? it's much easier to divide a circle into 16. it's almost like they wanted to prove something, how great they were at architecture by making it that way. you can see the results, one of the biggest tourist attractions in the world. maybe that's the lesson, build a slightly imperfect building, more interesting that way. up next, she may be the most wanted woman in the world, why kenya just asked interpol to launch an international search for this woman. who is known as the white widow. also ahead, an incredible survival story.

journalist, amanda linhout was held captive for 460 days by terrorists in somalia. she joins us, next.

i had pain in my abdomen... it just wouldn't go away.thing.

i was spotting, but i had already gone through menopause. these symptoms may be nothing... but they could be early warning signs of a gynecologic cancer, such as cervical, ovarian, or uterine cancer. feeling bloated for no reason. that's what i remember. seeing my doctor probably saved my life. warning signs are not the same for everyone. if you think something's wrong... see your doctor. ask about gynecologic cancer. and get the inside knowledge. then you'll love lactose-free lactaid® it's 100% real milk that's easy to digest so you can fully enjoy the dairy you love. lactaid®. for 25 years, easy to digest. easy to love.

42 past the hour, a team of u.s. investigators are on the ground in kenya as militants strike back against police officials. meanwhile an international arrest warrant has been issue for a british woman known as the white widow. nbc's ron allen has that story. >> the devastation of the westgate mall up close. new pictures show the parking structure in ruins. still smoldering. exactly what caused this much damage? authorities aren't saying. meanwhile, intense speculation about this woman -- samantha luthwaite of britain, once married to one of the subway

bombers. she's known as the white widow, a convert to islam who married a kenyan. she may now be the most wanted woman in the world. at kenyan request, they issued a warrant for her arrest. no known connection to the mall attack, but there were unconfirmed reports of a white woman among the gunmen. in kenya near the somali border, two kenyan police officers killed, al-shabaab claiming responsibility. while at the mall itself, investigators including fbi agents looked for clues, trying to piece together exactly what happened here. >> this program has learned from multiple sources, that the identities of two of the attackers. >> a british tv report says a former kenyan special forces soldier also a convert to islam linked to al-shabaab who led the assault. how big a threat is al-shabaab. >> groups like al-shabaab are the new face of al qaeda. and the attack that we saw in

nairobi represents the worst face. but what we have to make sure is that those threats remain regionally focused and not towards the west and the united states. >> al-shabaab has claimed that some americans participated in the mall attack. but there's been no evidence of that so far. >> we don't have any ver final information that would indicate one way or another whether americans were involved. >> kenya's grief continues. >> as people here found comfort in stories of survival and powerful images of heroic rescues and lives saved. >> the attack on the kenyan mall has raised questions about the role extreme militants will play in the region in the future in 2008, journalist amanda linhout travelled to somalia to report on the country's civil war and famine. on the her fourth day in the country, she and a photo journalist she was traveling with were abducted.

they spent 15 months as captives before donors paid a $500,000 ransom to free them. in 2011, she traveled back to somalia to help provide humanitarian aid to its people. >> how do you feel going back? >> i guess i feel a little bit nervous. this morning i'm also worried about what i'm going to see on the ground there. i've heard so many different reports about what a terrible situation it is there and how many people are suffering. and so trying to prepare myself, i guess to see the worst. >> her new book, "a house in the sky" retells the harrowing story and mike barnicle nancy snyderman and kate snow asked her how she was able to come out of the worst conditions

possible. >> i spent 460 days in absolutely horrific conditions. to survive that it required me to go pretty deep within myself. to see what i was made of. and what helped me survive day in and day out was you know, choosing gratitude for small moments. and not allowing an accumulation of hate and rage and anger to build up inside of me. you know for my own survival. and so choosing forgiveness and cultivating a sense of compassion became important to me when i was in captivity, both to have a sense of understanding why what was happening to me was happening. i had these teenaged boys and young men who had abducted me, who were very much products of their environment. young men who were completely shaped by the war and the violence around them. i understood that very clearly. so when i came out and speaking about the choice to forgive.

it did surprise a lot of people. but coming from that place of understanding, you know their environment, that my captors were from, not saying they're innocent in any way, it's not such a stretch to get there. >> i have to tell you, mike, i met amanda two years ago, in 2011, we were both in kenya. there was a famine going on in the horn of africa and i had gone to cover it for nbc. amanda happened to be there, this was two years after she was released from captivity, the 15 months of hell. two years later she's going back into somalia for the first time. we ended up going on that trip with her. back into the country where she had been held. where people had treated her so badly. to see her and to understand that this is what she wanted to do with the rest of her people. is there this enriched part of you that is your dna.

versus a little stockholm syndrome. versus this need to survive. versus this wanderlust that is also part of your dna that you are a child of the globe. >> uh-huh. well you know it's a mix of all of that, i guess. you know i grew up in a really poor household where i didn't have the opportunity to travel and experience the world. but i always wanted to. i kept a stack of national geographics beside my bed and the world to me was the images on those pages, i so wanted to be part of the world. and a young woman i was able to do that. i was able to get myself out in the world as an aspiring journalist. what i discovered about the world is that it is essentially a really beautiful place. i think people everywhere are you know, essentially good. but yet, are also products of their environment. so you know, in long before i had been to somalia.

i spent time in afghanistan, in iraq. and i found that it was very often the countries with the most problems, the places where the most afraid of which are home to some of the kindest people. you know in a country like hom kindest people. somalia has been completely destroyed boy war for two decades and there is still a sort of quirk in that country that i see in the people that motivates me to want to work there. >> as days drift into days and nights drift into the next day, which are harder? the long nights or the days of trying to figure out how to make something out of boredom? >> certainly boredom was not one aspect, but the truth was. at every moment i was fearing for my physical self because the conditions were that bad. it wasn't like a survival day by

day. it literally became minute to minute. when it got that bad. days weren't so different from night. it was constant and within that constant state of fear and panic that i realized that i had to make positive changes for myself. i made the choice to forgive not for them, but for myself. just letting go. the accumulation of negative feelings inside myself. i had a keen understanding that my kidnappers were a product of this environment. with that awareness comes responsibility. because of what happened to me there, i had awareness of poverty and awareness of war and now that i'm free and i can choose what i want to do in my life, i want to act on that

responsibility and i have. i started to build the foundation and we raised millions of dollars to provide aid and education to hundreds of thousands of people in somalia. i can't take full credit for it. we have wonderful partners on the ground and the idea that one person happens to be me had to create positive difference in the world. that was born out of a negative situation. people have far more in common. people everywhere are trying to get by and provide for their families and want access to education and people across the world in syria and iraq and somalia are really not that different than we are here at home. >> amazing. absolutely amazing. your piece is amazing and the book is amazing. thank you so much for sharing

your story. house in the sky is available now. go buy it. it's quite a story about amanda's situation and her life. there is a lot more things we should be talking about. it's called survival. more "morning joe" in a moment. ♪ [ agent smith ] i've found software that intrigues me.

it appears it's an agent of good. ♪ [ agent smith ] ge software connects patients to nurses to the right machines while dramatically reducing waiting time. [ telephone ringing ] now a waiting room is just a room. [ static warbles ] bjorn earns unlimited rewards for his small business. take these bags to room 12 please. [ garth ] bjorn's small business earns double miles on every purchase every day. produce delivery. [ bjorn ] just put it on my spark card. [ garth ] why settle for less? ahh, oh! [ garth ] great businesses deserve unlimited rewards. here's your wake up call. [ male announcer ] get the spark business card from capital one and earn unlimited rewards. choose double miles or 2% cash back on every purchase every day. what's in your wallet? [ crows ] now where's the snooze button? american express credit card, every purchase earns you 2% cash back, which is deposited in your fidelity account.

is that it? actually... there's no annual fee and no limits on rewards. and with the fidelity cash management account debit card, you get reimbursed for all atm fees. is that it? oh, this guy, too. turn more of the money you spend into money you invest. it's everyday reinvesting for your personal economy.

>> still ahead, there just three days left before a full-fledged government shut down kicks in and that's not taking into account the debt ceiling fight. house speaker john boehner hits back at president obama for saying he won't negotiate on raising that debt limit. turns out he may well have been arguing against president reagan too. we will explain. more "morning joe" in a moment. g you really love, what would you do?" ♪ [ woman ] i'd be a writer. [ man ] i'd be a baker. [ woman ] i wanna be a pie maker. [ man ] i wanna be a pilot. [ woman ] i'd be an architect. what if i told you someone could pay you and what if that person were you? ♪ when you think about it, isn't that what retirement should be, paying ourselves to do what we love? ♪ we are the thinkers.

the job jugglers. the up all-nighters. and the ones who turn ideas into action. we've made our passions our life's work. we strive for the moments where we can say, "i did it!" ♪ we are entrepreneurs who started it all... with a signature. legalzoom has helped start over 1 million businesses, turning dreamers into business owners. and we're here to help start yours. you raise her spirits. we tackled your shoulder pain. you make him rookie of the year. we took care of your cold symptoms. you take him on an adventure. tylenol® has been the number 1 doctor recommended brand of pain reliever for over 20 years. but for everything we do, we know you do so much more. tylenol®.

good morning, everyone. it is friday, september 27th. welcome to "morning joe." with us we have the washington anchor for bbc's world news america, katy kay with us. associate editor of the "washington post" and eugene robinson. press secretary and msnbc robert gibbs and white house correspondent for the "huffington post" sam stein and correspondent for bloomberg business week josh green. we will get right to the news. i didn't want to crystallize what has been going on in five seconds or less. >> it is confusing. i think it's -- i don't know what the word is. >> chaos is the local industry. >> that's what we have been seeing all the time. this is different.

special chaos. for breakfast every morning. we got it. >> this is like chaos part 7. >> we will let the story speak for itself. three days before the threat of the government shutting down becomes a reality. later the senate will vote on a bill to fund the government. harry reid will look to amend the bill, stripping it of any language to defund obama care. lawmakers will have to accept the changes or risk of a government shut down. yesterday the health care plan remained the center of the debate and it was republicans taking on republicans or more specifically taking on senator ted cruz. >> i don't think ever in the history of the senate have we had a 21 hour filibuster and then the purchases carrying out the filibuster voted for the

issue you were filibustering. you were sending out releases and e-mails and it doesn't seem to me that that's in our nation's interest. >> why is majority leader harry reid going to vote the way you are proposing to vote. it seems to me that they are very similar. >> stay with me here. senator corker's exchange prompted andy roth of the conservative club for growth to tweet this. he became a democrat just now. the only hope senate republicans have is if some democrats go along with the proposal to pass funding with the delay to fund for obama care. it's a plan joe mansion endorsed. 3 no way i could not vote for it. it's reasonable and sensible.

don't put the mandate on the american public right now. give them at least a year. if you know you couldn't bring the corporate sector, you gave them a year. don't you think it be fair? john boehner has eyes set on the next fight in washington. that is the nation's borrowing limit. >> we will introduce a plan that ties important spending cuts and a pro growth reform to a debt imt increase. the president says i'm not going to negotiate. well, i'm sorry, but it doesn't work that way. >> i will not negotiate on anything when it comes to the full faith and credit of the united states of america. we are not going to submit to this kind of total irresponsibility. congress needs to pay our bills on time. congress needs to pass a budget on time. congress needs to put an end to governing from crisis to crisis. >> i feel like i heard that

somewhere. i don't know. i'm thinking circa 1985. another great icon. a president who really stood his ground on this. take a look. >> the unhappy task of raising the debt ceiling to over 2 trillion $. congress must realize by failing to act, they are entering dangerous territory. never before in our history has the federal government failed to honor its financial obligations. to fail to do so now would be an outrage. and congress must understand this and bear full responsibility. >> gene, help me understand. what's going on? >> what's going on is that frankly republicans have dug themselves a hole and they keep digging. they are dug in on the issue of

funding the government and they are dug in on the issue of the debt ceiling and want the president to gut or delay the signature piece of legislative accomplishment and he's not going to do that. >> we have this list of gibbs' incredible demands. >> i thought everything sounded fine. >> sit back and let the show go on. >> i think so. it's a list of demands that is fairly negotiable my sense is on their part. i think the hardest thing is how do you begin to unwind this? you have a few days before the government shut down. the biggest thing for republicans, they have gotten worked up on this. at some point in the next three or four days, they will have to unwind this. that's not going to be the easy thing to do and the sequencing of that will impact the debt ceiling that will likely have

them more dug into the last fight on this. i think quite honestly with all due respect is probably more at stake on the debt ceiling than on a three-day government shut down. >> it's like the big elephant charging over. most americans are starting to think whatever happens in washington does not make a difference. i don't see the economic consequences. i was told it would be armageddon and that didn't seem to have the impact. are people discounting this where the consequences would be serious. >> that is to me the single scariest thing. if you look at polls shlgs they say somewhere like 2-1, no, we shouldn't. most don't understand what it is. if you poled my readers in business week, people in banks and wall street are terrified. when they hear john binner say

let's move this thing to the debt ceiling and raise the drama and the risk in the stakes of what we are fighting over. that will be our way out of the crisis. all it does is make things worse. >> in the cover story of this week's business week, john boehner doesn't run congress. meet the man who does. you write in part two things. conservative activists rejected this call for moderation and boehner lost control of the house. the second has everything to do with the first and explains why we are careening towards shut down. demint and cruz drew the opposite lesson from the last election than just about everyone else. republicans were told don't do anything. don't stand for anything. make it about obama. what happened in 2012 is there was a void of inseparation and an attempt to lead and it wasn't because the party was too conservative. there was no conservative

leadership at all. >> i disagree with that. it's ironic. >> the white house, i don't know what the white house can do and how do they negotiate with the party that can't negotiate with itself. they push to get the wish list. reports emerged that the house republican caucus may not be able to pass their grab bag of policies as a debt ceiling bill. if that's the case, what is anyone to do to wait for the drama to unfold. we only have three days. they treated that reagan effectively became a democrat. >> i forgot. thank you for adding in that

footnote. the republican hero. >> it's amazing because the president is looking especially on obama care. even look at his features. october 1st marks a big day for the white house and that's the official start to obama care. the president spent the day defending legislation against the critics. take a look. >> you had a state representative say it's as destructive to personal and individual liberty as the fugitive slave act. think about that. affordable health care is worse than a law that lets slave ownerships get their run away slave acts. i like this one. we have to and i'm quoting here,

we have to repeal this failure before it literally kills women, kills children, kills senior citizens. that was from six months ago. i want to point out we still have women, we still have children, we still have senior citizens. medicare and social security pays for the same criticism. before medicare came into law, one republican warned that one of these days you and i will spend our sunset years telling our children and children's children what it once was like when men were free. that was ronald reagan. and event why you willy ronald reagan came around to medicare and thought it was pretty good and helped make it better. that's what happened to the

affordable care act and once it's working well, they will not call it obama care. >> what's interesting here is the president said a lot of people will sign up for that and i looked at the website and the process to sign up. it takes 25 minutes and the bulk takes about ten and it looks simple. there will be glitches i'm sure, but if it works some republicans are nervous this will work number one and the president pointed out, they are expecting this to go well and a lot of people who did not vote for the approximate the to sign up for this thing. is there a fear that this will go well? >> it's what's driving a lot of republican mania around shut down and debt ceiling. in the profile, it's clear that d-day for them is october 1st. that's the last chance they have to kill obama care. they are willing to slow down or shut down the government thrd to draw attention to the law they think is a socialist menace and

effect why you willy force obama to cry uncle and repeal the thing and it's clear that is not going to happen. you have these angry conservatives who don't want to settle and give up and you have a more realistic branch like bane in leadership they have to find a way to climb down from this. it's not clear how that's going to happen. >> to your point how people are critics of the law may like the law. they were doing it the open enrollment education part and call kentucky connector. he witnessed a guy go up to the booth and say and look at the premiums and the kentucky connect that they were offering and said wow, this biel beats the hell out of obama care. they had no idea it was the same thing. there was a poll that showed the opposition to obama care was much higher than opposition to

the affordable care act which is ironic because they are the same thing. there is a lot in the name. as soon as people get more comfortable and recognize the benefits it's giving them, opinions will change. >> the opinions want to call it reagan care. >> exactly. >> the danger of the sound bytes, and the one thing you see are the number of people that don't understand what's about to go into effect and what does get ushered in on october 1st. in other words, the exchange has become public and searchable and things like that. i will say the downside for the president is i would much rather see the sound bytes be an explanation of what goes into effect on october 1st than a lot of quotes around what's happening in the shut down. in some and senses that is a little bit of a victory for conservatives. the president is right now having an argument with them

rather than what they would be doing which is a public display of what's about to go into effect. >> what are does it mean to me? "the washington post" did a series of profiles the other day of individuals. ordinary individuals and some liked obama care and some really were looking forward to it and some were not. what it meant for them. what they are paying now and what they would be paying under obama care. >> beyond the specifics of obama care and whether people like it or not, the politics have to hold a risk for the white house. they sit back and let the republicans have their civil war going on in public is right except that if we hit the debt ceiling and default, it really rebounds on the american economy, the president is bound to take some of the hit.

>> let me be clear. >> does it have to negotiate? >> i think i just got transferred to mika. it's hard to figure out who and how to talk to. what we saw with corker and cruz was a private meeting that burst out into the senate. those are arguments that they would love to have. >> they were not using their inside voices. >> they were not. this happened in every one of these scenarios with three or four or five of these. this drags all of washington down. nobody comes out riding on a whitehorse and white suit. everyone gets dirty. >> roger bennett is here not for football, but for some faith?

he teamed up with some of the today's thought leaders for a fresh lock at the old testament. this is going to be really interesting. roger is very surprising. he has all these things going on that you never expect. i'm serious. he dashes off from one thing to the next. >> filibuster star wendy davis has big plans for the lone star state. next in another installment of this morning's politico playbook. here's an installment of bill with the forecast. >> good friday morning. the big news is we have the new climate report out. it's a correlation of all the best scientists in the world and all reviewed stuff. this is one of the big headlines. it's extremely likely, 95% that human dominant cause since the

1950s, they said 90%. they are more certain now that the global warming thing caused by us. they are saying it will increase by 2 to 4 degrees. in the last 30 years, we all just lived through the warmest period of the last 1,400 years. as far as what we are dealing with, in the weekend forecast, big slow moving storm in the west, the east coast will hold on to the forecast, but not the case in the middle. summer-like. 86 in minneapolis. by saturday that heads into the plains and we will see thunderstorms. strong and isolated tornados. be careful there while the west coast clears out. the other trouble spot will be the pacific northwest. one 20eds and another on saturday. as far as the eastern seaboard, we will wrap up one of the best weather septembers in recent memories. new york city included. you are watching "morning joe" on this friday. [ female announcer ] we lowered her fever.

you raise her spirits. we tackled your shoulder pain. you make him rookie of the year. we took care of your cold symptoms. you take him on an adventure. tylenol® has been the number 1 doctor recommended brand of pain reliever for over 20 years. but for everything we do, we know you do so much more. tylenol®. but for everything we do, we know you do so much more. i missed a payment. aw, shoot. shoot! this is bad. no! we're good! this is your first time missing a payment. and you've got the it card, so we won't hike up your apr for paying late. that's great! it is great! thank you. at discover, we treat you like you'd treat you. get the it card with late payment forgiveness.

time to take a look at the morning paper. shall we? the "new york times." the white house officials will be in detroit to propose 300 million $ in federal and private aid to help the bankrupt city. the proposal is the small fraction of the billions of dollars detroit owes. a bailout is not an option. the money will be used to

redevelop run down properties and improve transportation systems and boost the city's police presence. "the washington post" new declassified documents dates back to the vietnam war. the agency tapped overseas communications of war critics including martin luther king,jr. and muhammad ali. this is not new, guys. this is going on for a long time. there 1600 names. they said lyndon johnson wanted to know if the antiwar movement was receiving help. things don't change. >> no. the air force and both completed the first test flight of an unmanned fighter jet. it successfully performed take off and landing procedures in a series of maneuvers without a pilot in the cockpit. the jet was controlled by two pilots at a ground controlled

station. flights may be used to train pilots in air to air combat. >> i think i would be nervous about that one. wanting to have drones and another plane that is flying around without a pilot. >> yes. and they are going to be in trouble. >> that's for us. the new haven register of connecticut governor daniel malloy says that north trains may see service restored as early as next week. this follows a power failure that disrupted service for 25,000 commuters between stanford and grand central station in new york can only accommodate a third of the daily riders. it could take three weeks to finish school service. >> let's go to the "wall street journal." mcdonald's is offering customers healthier food choices.

okay. i'm not going to complain about everything, but i could. but i won't. you can get a salad with a value meal instead of french fries for no additional charge. mcdonald's will also only promote milk, juice, or water with happy meals. that's good. on the menu boards and ads. the changes will be on the menu early next year. >> that's better than burger king's healthier fries. >> remember lester? >> they just need to take the toys out of the happy meals. >> they need to do that. >> it's my kids. >> take the toys out? >> i'm the grinch. take the happy out of happy meals. done. the series finale of breaking bad will air this sunday night on amc at 9:00 p.m.

ratings have been on the rise throughout the final season. viewership is expected to soar to 8 million on sunday night. 30-second commercials are selling forasmuch as $350,000. >> that show is so good. the journal of constitution, o.j. simpson ran into trouble when he was caught stealing cookies from the prison com sear. he was caught with 12 oatmeal cookies when the guards noticed something under his clothing. >> he does not need cookies. >> he is serving a 33-year sentence for robbery and eligible for parole in 2017. >> this sunday parade visits mindy keeling. the star of her show at her los angeles home. >> that are looks good. let's go to politico now. right here on set, white house correspondent for politico mike allen is here with the morning

playbook. we are starting with wendy davis. >> we are starting with happy friday. first things first. >> happy friday. >> to you. a new chance to stand with wendy. wendy davis has gotten a lot of encouragement here after her actual filibuster in texas. next week she is going to make a formal announcement of running for govern nor. this is an uphill race and can be a real barn burner. your former colleagues see a chance to eventually make headway in texas, a state that went 16 points for romney's 60% of the statewide officers are republican and with the changes, they see a lot of people are pouring in help for wendy davis. the message is that texas is on the wrong track. if you look at ensured people and education and the growth in low wage jobs, the republican

and now the attorney general favorite will talk about economic progress in texas and they have a number of jobs. >> let's talk about obama care and the shut down. you have a piece saying the unions are being curiously silent. >> you tell us that the white house has not been consulting them either about the message in the next couple of days. there is a good reason for that. the white house hopes to keep funding the best cases and keep funding where it is. unions want to get rid of the sequester and bring funding back where it was. it was really high stakes for government employees. the last two shutdowns in the 90s, employees got back pay. there is no guarantee that i can't -- i can't imagine this republican house wanting to do back pay. there was about two million federal workers who were essential and 800,000 could lsez

their pay. >> i can't imagine this wouldn't backfire in a big way. >> it's hard for me to imagine it won't backfire on them. they take the bigger hit no matter what happens. as robert said earlier, everyone gets taken down a notch. >> there is no notches to go down anymore. >> yes there. >> there are? we are going into the negatives? >> a lot of people don't know john boehner. no one in the world doesn't know barack obama. when washington is not working and going off the rails and a visible way with it, it touches people. that's not good. >> you have these republican fights between corker yesterday and cruz. some of those anonymous republicans are suddenly going to be well-known if the government shuts down and people are looking to point the finger. >> no doubt. it takes something real.

not just image. is what the administration is saying right and the president has a bad economy. no doubt. >> mike allen, happy friday. >> where is the screaming? >> a lot. >> it is easy. >> up next, a fresh take on some of the most iconic stories from the bible. chief football fan and our new faith correspondent roger bennett is here with his new book. that and a look at what's drivewaying today's marks here on "morning joe." with the spark miles card from capital one,

bjorn earns unlimited rewards for his small business. take these bags to room 12 please. [ garth ] bjorn's small business earns double miles on every purchase every day. produce delivery. [ bjorn ] just put it on my spark card. [ garth ] why settle for less? ahh, oh! [ garth ] great businesses deserve unlimited rewards. here's your wake up call. [ male announcer ] get the spark business card from capital one and earn unlimited rewards.

choose double miles or 2% cash back on every purchase every day. what's in your wallet? [ crows ] now where's the snooze button?

>> i shall give these laws unto thigh people. hear me. oh, hear me! the lord, the lord jehovah has given unto you these 15 -- 10, 10 commandments for all to obey. >> that was mel brooks for his take on the old testament and his comedy history of the world part one. joins us in new york with his own take on the bible, soccer

analyst and host of men in blazers, roger bennett. the classic biblical stories and also with us are two of the contributors of the book partner at hw and "new york times" best selling author, sloan bossily. all with us here in washington. roger -- >> mika! >> i have so many questions about this segment, but first of all, what do you reveal in this new version some. >> we are watching mel brooks and that was pretty well like the past three years. i'm struggling with this too. it began with the realization like many people who watch the show, i have strong feelings about the bible, but i haven't actually read it when i was an

adult. not for a long, long time. the gentlemen who created that, he challenged us to read the founding of isaac from genesis. theology, meaning value ritual and good and bad parenting. we did it again with the story of noah. in the wake of it, we decided why have just this conversation amongst ourselves. what if we can get loads of people to pick up the bible and read it again and find their own meaning and the lack of meaning and wrestle with it. it's a very jewish tradition. the bible is read in 54 portions. it starts this week, this saturday. so we created this book with writers like him. architects and each wrestled with it and came up with their

own definition with the hope that they would do the same. that's the hope that they would know what it's all about. >>. >> this is gene robinson. it has been around for a long, long time. what is unwrestled with. what did you find that needed to be wrestled to the ground. >> the joy of the project that is designed to add new members to the oldest book club in the world, the torah is the torah, the bible is the bible. what changes is every generation picking it up and wrestling and finding their own meaning and own definition. that's what makes it live. that's what makes the thing breathe and the beauty of the piece and our hope. they both picked up the protection and wrestled with them. redesigned the tabernacle. there is nothing new about the

torah and it's individuals who read books like the tibetan book of the dead and found meaning in them and haven't picked up the first five books of the bible. that's what we are trying to engage. we have a big website and people have been picking up the text, tweeting in definitions via the hash tag. >> scroll.org. >> i recognize the tone of the voice and it's this classic jewish guilt. i didn't go to services and i didn't go to the high holiday services. you wro et this i assume so you can be safe spiritually? >> someone who was expelled from hebrew school at 12 when my father was president, i can relate to that. >> sloan? >> were you looking for spiritual salvation. i don't know about you.

i was pging on the way over here. in any other context when you are making a reference as a writer and creator and human being making a joke, you would be embarrassed if you hadn't seen what you were referencing. a lot of people have not read it. this is a great way for me who is not a very pius religious person to lock at a section of it and see what it really says. i have known about the plagues my entire and it's a well written passage and fascinating. >> biblical jokes not better? >> i think so. it's alwaysed if to know what you are talking about. >>. as an architect, we are looking for clients. i forgot that god is the you'

ultimate client where he lays out specific architectural plans. we took that and found the area that they missed. he never specified whether he wanted it horizontal or vertical. >> right. i noticed you did the pharaoh with the searches on web md or something. talk about that. >> you do start and it humanizes it a little bit more. not that you have sympathy, but all this stuff is happening to him. why would he be on web md? there was a section and i'm not sure what it was. i had to google it myself. it was unpleasant and the whole thing ends with wrestling was

modernizing and the whole thing ends with the paperless post, invite to a firstborn son's something. >> will people read this and have their own wrestle? what's the take away? >> they should hire me to design the synagogues. that's the first segue. per me the chapter we looked at is such an articulate and confusing and architectural plan for giving burnt offerings. that was something jews had not done. taking that and landing in manhattan and imagine the ecosystem that would evolve around it. all of a sudden you would need shots selling red heaviers and bringing their sacrifices to the temple. it almost had a brooklyn feel to it. >> local food. >> and the architecture becomes

something public in a way our religious buildings are not so much anymore. through architecture we manage to bring the bible into the urban environment. that's an exciting thing for them to play with. >> i think there is a red heavier shot in brooklyn. is your tabernacle international style glass and steel or more sort of roman ruin style? what does it lock like? >> i'm glad you asked. there is no jewish architectural style all over the world. when you go back and look in thor toa, god gave us a style. we took that and didn't mess with it. we couldn't find dolphin skins that god asked for and we can dole with that later. we took it as is and lifted it up and it looks like a skyscraper and like the un. maybe that was god telling us we

should be modernists instead of class sifts. >> what it was doing in 2013 in the middle of new york city. mark a beautiful piece. it was a piece about abraham and the possibility of killing his own son. it's all in there and we want everyone to read it. whether they like it or don't, wrestle with their own meaning. >> thank you. still ahead, the historic meeting between john kerry and his iranian counterpart. the first step in breaking 30 years of bad feelings? is it why bill gates said control alt delete was a huge mistake. business before the bell is coming up. my customers can shop around--

see who does good work and compare costs. it doesn't usually work that way with health care. but with unitedhealthcare, i get information on quality rated doctors, treatment options and estimates for how much i'll pay. that helps me, and my guys, make better decisions. i don't like guesses with my business, and definitely not with our health. innovations that work for you. that's health in numbers.

unitedhealthcare. [ male announcer ] staying warm and dry has never been our priority. our priority is, was and always will be serving you, the american people. so we improved priority mail flat rate to give you a more reliable way to ship. now with tracking up to eleven scans, specified delivery dates, and free insurance up to $50 all for the same low rate. [ woman ] we are the united states postal service. [ man ] we are the united states postal service. [ male announcer ] and our priority is you. go to usps.com® and try it today.

[ jen garner ] what skincare brand is so effective... so trusted... so clinically proven dermatologists recommend it twice as much as any other brand? neutrogena®. recommended by dermatologists 2 times more than any other brand. now that's beautiful. neutrogena®. ♪

this morning un inspectors are announcing they are invest fating possible chemical attacks that allegedly took place after the attack on august 21st amid news that there is a deal at the un to dispose of syria. it does not include a threat of force if syria does not keep its word. a vote on the plan could come later today and chemical weapons inspections could start as early as next week. yesterday secretary of state john kerry met with his iranian counter part, the highest level meeting between the two since the 70s. it was positive with both sides

noting the historical obstacles to overcome. the real story behind control, alt, delete. [ woman ] ring. ring. progresso.

i just served my mother-in-law your chicken noodle soup but she loved it so much... i told her it was homemade. everyone tells a little white lie now and then. but now she wants my recipe [ clears his throat ] [ softly ] she's right behind me isn't she? [ male announcer ] progresso. you gotta taste this soup.

we could have a button that the guy who did the keyboard design didn't want to give a

single button. we had reported that, but it was a mistake. >> it was a mistake? that's it? you were there, walter. my gosh. he didn't tell us that story. business before the bell with brian sullivan. top that, brian. >> i can't and i hit control alt delete. it's a cool piece of honesty saying that and the guy who designed it said we thought about it for five minutes and now it's a cultural icon that we all hate. you shouldn't just say computer, turn on and it turns on. blackberry reporting a nearly $1 billion quarterly loss. i know the company is in big trouble. lumber liquidators which is a chain selling discount and wood flooring getting rated by the feds yesterday. the headquarters and the department of homeland security and the department of

immigration as well, there is concern touching on imports to the company. the ticker stock is tanking and it's a story we have to watch closely. we will hit control alt delete and logon. >> up next, the "morning joe" week in review and what if anything did we learn. all in one. was a truly amazing day. he was a matted mess in a small cage. so that was our first task, was getting him to wellness. without angie's list, i don't know if we could have found all the services we needed for our riley. from contractors and doctors to dog sitters and landscapers, you can find it all on angie's list. we found riley at the shelter, and found everything he needed at angie's list. join today at angieslist.com i want peacocks. peacocks? walking the grounds. in tuscany. [ man ] her parents didn't expect her dreams to be so ambitious. italy? oh, that's not good. [ man ] by exploring their options, they learned that instead of going to italy, they could use a home equity loan to renovate their yard

and have a beautiful wedding right here while possibly increasing the value of their home. you and roger could get married in our backyard. it's robert, dad. [ female announcer ] come in to find the right credit options for your needs. because when people talk, great things happen. ♪ [ male announcer ] 1.21 gigawatts. today, that's easy. ge is revolutionizing power. supercharging turbines with advanced hardware and innovative software. using data predictively to help power entire cities. so the turbines of today... will power us all... into the future. ♪

you feel...squeezed. congested. beat down. crushed. as if the weight of the world is resting on your face. but sudafed gives you maximum strength sinus pressure and pain relief. so you feel free. liberated. released. decongested. open for business. [ inhales, exhales ] [ male announcer ] powerful sinus relief from the #1 pharmacist recommended brand. sudafed. open up. ...amelia... neil and buzz: for teaching us that you can't create the future... by clinging to the past. and with that: you're history. instead of looking behind... delta is looking beyond. 80 thousand of us investing billions... in everything from the best experiences below... to the finest comforts above. we're not simply saluting history... we're making it.

>> it is unbelievable. i will be hosting this.

>> it's a tip of the hat and in return it's a cohost. >> is it a filibuster to do what he wants to do. can we stop showing ted cruz. i'm surs. >>. >> sometimes you feel that. >> it does. the longest one minute in tv. >> we are officially launching the "morning joe" book club after have done our homework. that means you show up to class on time. i'm sorry. >> sam stein, you are a hipster and you watch breaking bad, right? >> you are embarrassing me. i'm going to binge watch. everyone in the newsroom watch breaking bad? what do you watch? the news.

you don't have to watch. some of the most respected journalists in washington hang with strippers. >> that's right. >> you remembered? >> highlights of squirrels. >> now that's weird. >> please. >> why is brian shackman so handsome. it came up to a home gym company. >> you don't get paid by the second on screen, louis. >> i always wanted to do that. >> he's got to be a whack job. is that fair to say? >> to be on the team you have to be a whack job. i think you are a whack job. >> duh. >> i don't check the "wall street journal."

i listen to you. >> i read it so you don't have to. >> the cullner skills and now i make a dinner to prove my worth. >> i want to know. >> nobody follows cues like joe. >> a better relationship with their d skrrks. >> you can plank the teleprompter. i can't hear more of this. it makes my teeth hurt. >> another week. another dollar. time to talk about what we learned today. has anyone learned anything some. >> no. i'm fascinated by kelly o'donnell's report. >> i love it. >> i love that. >> i love the fact that they use

that to connect the hardware to the software and the somalia piece because it reminded me. >> absolutely. >> i know it's better for my emotional well being when joe is not here. >> that's scary. all right. it's time to go. if it's way too early, it's time for "morning joe." we want you to have a great weekend. time for "the daily rundown" with chuck todd from virginia. >> two centuries in the making. thankfully no cherry trees were lost to make room for a library for president george washington. it's a beautiful $100 million facility for research and preservation. we are live at mount vernon for the grand opening. they hope congress will use it to cool down when things get too hot. there is no time like the present. the speaker of the house is feeling the pressure. 24 hours to go. it looked like the shut down was not going to happen. now