>> cable news anchors. they deserve it. they have to work three to five hours a day. a whole three to five. >> if everything works out today, it will be deserve it, sometimes they have to work three five hours. >> if everything works out it will be a four hour work day for me. eric, your christmas present has been given to somebody else. >> "morning joe" is starting now. >> they are calling it the bipartisan budget act of 2013. >> they actually pass ad budget. the fact that we have to applaud that is unbelievable but it's a good thing. they are doing their job. >> wrong. it's not a good thing. they are not doing their jobs. americans sent politicians to washington to accomplish one thing, zero thing.

with this bipartisan budget we have no chance for another government shutdown for two full years. you fools. you can't leave our national parks open that long. it will give the wolves time to unionize. >> good morning. it is friday the 13th. oh, boy. a big day. friday, december 13th. welcome to "morning joe." with us on set we have msnbc contributor mike barnacle. you're here. >> i got stuck last night in traffic. i decided to stay. >> msnbc's thomas roberts is here. where have you been all my life? >> i've been hiding. >> absence makes the heart grow fonder. >> that's correct. he's saying it's traffic but it's really me. >> there we go. and former governor of pennsylvania -- i know i can see that. nbc news political analyst ed

rendell. good to see you. haven't seen you in a long time. joe, get dressed. who? what, alex? that's kind of interesting. no, i don't want to start with that. i want to go right to the republicans. we'll get to joe. he knows what happened. it's interesting. i think something is happening here and i'm almost afraid to say it because if i say something nice about it god knows. >> you think the fever is breaking? >> i'll just continue to be critical of john boehner and paul ryan to wish them good luck. good luck. they are doing good. members of the house can begin their winter break knowing they have accomplished something that hasn't been done in years, passing a budget. i know it sounds like not a big deal but in this atmosphere it is. the bill moved through the house with a majority of support from

both parties, 332 to 94 happen 62 republicans and 32 democrats voted against it. for conservatives this budget isn't just the latest battleground for the control of the republican party just the latest battle for the republican party. john boehner slammed outside groups that oppose the bill. >> frankly i think they are misleading their followers. i think they are pushing our members in places where they don't want to be. frankly, i just think that they've lost all credibility. you know, they pushed us into this fight to defund obama care and to shut down the government. most of you know, my members know it wasn't exactly the strategy i had in mind. if you recall the day before the government re-opened one of these groups stood up and said well we never really thought it would work.

are you kidding me? >> he's doubling down. >> if you're one of these groups. >> any of these special interest groups and it works until the day that you don't intimidate them and that happened yesterday and now they are going home and people aren't yelling at you. these groups like politicians and parties overreached and they overreached. >> the issue whether the fever has broken depends on what comes back. does donor pivot off of this and does real immigration reform. he wants to do it. does he have the guts to confront the same group. do we do real tax reform and a plan for the grand bargain. if we do that. it's a historic moment for america. if not -- >> he seems very free from the

grips. >> if we do entitlement reform, yes. i have to tell you i'm one of the conservatives i hate the deal. i think the deal stinks when your $17 trillion in debt. these are the first caps. everybody whines about sequestration. it's the first time washington, d.c. showed any discipline whatsoever on spending in the last 15 years. do i hate the fact we're going have the discretionary spending. yeah i hate that fact. until they get real about entitlement spending, please don't come to me and ask me to lift any caps whatsoever. that's right. so, okay, fine. if we did this and we're now ready to actually talk about what's bankrupting america then i'm cool with it. >> that's the key. >> you know what? we're not. harry reid is saying don't talk to him about social security or medicare. why should we? after all america's financial stability rests on tackling

medicare and medicaid. >> that's where the president has to step in and seize the moment and drive the process. >> okay. so i actually think in response to what you just said, you ought to listen to what paul ryan said. >> did paul talk about entitlement reform? >> he talked about how to get there and i think you will recognize the words as something you have been saying for four years once a week. at least. if not twice, three times, four times, five times. first those conservative groups were quick to respond to speaker boehner. let's see how this sounds. from freedom works. when it comes to credibility, actions speak louder than words. and right now it looks like the speak certificate leading the charge for spending increases and recruiting democratic votes in the house to help get it done. from the tea party patriots, pitting your colleagues against

their constituents is how you lose credibility with your conference. not upholding conservative principles is how you lose credibility with the voters who will find someone else if you are not willing to do your job. and from the senate conservative fund. john boehner has apparently decided to join mitch mcconnell. and this. guy who says he'd hold the line on sequestration says those who believed him have lost their credibility. >> eric ericson, he's done as speaker. this is allele gacy building now. paul ryan defended the bill saying it's not just about the budget it's about the future of the republican party. >> we've been at each other's throats for a long time. look, i was part of the last presidential election. we tried defeating this president. i wish we would have. elections have consequences, mr.

speaker. and i fundamentally believe, this is just my personal opinion, slightly partisan thing to say, to really do what we think needs to be done we have to win some elections and in the meantime let's try and make this divided government work. i think our constituents are expecting a little more from us. they are expecting us to not keep shutting the government down. they are expecting us to pay the bills. they are expecting us to be accountability. they are expecting us to watch how their dollars are being spent and expecting us to find common ground. >> anything sound like something you said before? something about winning. >> we got to win, no doubt about it. you just can't even begin to calculate the damage that was done to the republican brand in these sort of showdowns over the past four months. part of the reason why paul ryan and a lot of people felt like they had to fold this time, mike barnacle is because of what

happened over the summer, where you actually had members of congress pitting their constituents against other members of congress to take on a strategy that was doomed from the very beginning. so, sometimes people misinterpret what i say on the air here. i still am can completely blown away that they are not talking about the issues that really matter when it comes to the deficit. when it comes to long term debt. that's medicare and medicaid. and there's not a study that doesn't show it. maybe paul krugman and his accolades that are living in an alternative reality. maybe they think that we can bankrupt ourselves and the government can just print more money. the rest of us americans that live in the real world understand that's just not true and washington is not taking care of it. >> all of that is a subtheme to

the stories that mika just read and the biggest theme involved what we just heard since 6:00 this morning, is the war within the republican party. you have a war within the republican party that is raging now -- it's a full blown war. you saw it right there in the quotes. it's basically the republican party going to become a rural regional party? that's what you get from the quotes from the conservative wing in the republican party or are they going to try to win elections? are they going to try to come not towards the middle but maintain their principles as paul ryan alluded to and win a couple of elections. >> i hate this deal. i'll be honest with you i'm not sure if i voted on this deal but no doubt paul ryan was exactly right when he was standing there on the house floor saying they don't want us to shut the government down. >> it's a killer. >> that's obvious. thomas.

>> let's go ahead bring in kasie hunt. casey will bring us up to speed whether or not this has the chance to advance through the senate, which, you know, casey, it does. this is the situation that we come to now what was done in a bipartisan way with patty murray and paul ryan. >> thomas i would say there are n more republicans sounding like joe. so far i'm having trouble tracking down a lot of vocal support for this. senator lindsey graham came out against it. senator ayotte came out against it. both were expected to be in favor for it. senator john mccain hasn't come out and said yet what he's going to do. it's widely expected mcconnell

will oppose it although he hasn't put out an official statement. senator corker came out against it. senator chambliss. i think that while you saw that overwhelming vote in the house last night and that will help on the senate side there are no guarantees and it's going to be much more of a squeaker at this point. >> are you surprised? >> i am. the senate has always been more reasonable than the house and the question is what about democrats? we lost some democrats in the house, far left part of our party, it's up to chuck schumer to hold most of the democrats in check. if we do that it will pass. i'm not sure that's a given. >> okay. >> sorry to be the bearer of bad news. >> thanks a lot. you went around. how did you get those numbers together? >> i just spent last night, the

senate has been voting on this marathon, they have been arguing about judges. i started keeping tabs talking to members, seeing where they stand and this is what i came up with. i would describe this more as a tone among these senators. i mean it's not that this is -- many of them are drawing a definitive line in the sand where we can say it's not going past. they need toe republican support to pass this. you need five people to back them on cloture. there's some rumblings on the democratic side. there's reasons why senate democrats could be unhappy with this. people like tom harkin from iowa who are focused to making sure the social safety net stays in place. democrats have concerns. while harry reid has shown he's extraordinarily good at keeping them in line there may be some

they want to let go. >> you keep hearing, speaking to a few of them, you keep hearing the failure to extend unemployment benefits is really striking at the heart of the democratic party. let me ask you, joe, do we know or do you know or does anyone know what percentage of the sequestration cuts are still in effect after this deal? >> paul ryan came on yesterday and said i guess 70%. he was throwing a lot of numbers around. 70%, 75%, 80%. >> a majority. >> they will blow the caps by $63 billion. they claim they will make it up at the end of the decade. >> that's the very problem. that's what republicans are saying. they are saying we'll restore these cuts now and promise cuts to the budget or the deficit later on. where is my -- they don't see that as working out. >> all right.

one more story here if we can, access to the president has been a recurring issue for the press corps. it became a major point of discussion yesterday as press secretary jay carney defended the administration's relationship with the media. carney addressed the access white house photograph certificate pete souza has compared to members of the media has. >> what exists on the internet is for everyone to take a picture and put this on the internet. some has to do with fundamental transformation in the media in which we and others are participants. we didn't create the internet this administration. [ talking all at once ] >> the problem is access. you can put out a million pictures from white house photographers. but you bar -- >> we're going to work -- as

past white houses have done. >> do you acknowledge this white house has provided less access than previous white houses, for instance to the oval office. >> the statement in that piece about the oval office was factually wrong. i can tell you that, in my experience, as a reporter now i wasn't a photographer the assistance to that is i completely reject it. >> you know, it's ridiculous, mike, what they are doing now. of course, they have their white house photographer that will take glam shots and sends them out over the internet. >> he's with the president 24/7. >> he's the president's guy. then you have ap photographers and "new york times" photographers and others that are given almost absolutely no access whatsoever and the dangers of this are so obvious, including doctored pictures that

the white house sends out. they doctor pictures of meetings. i think most famously the bin laden raid, those famous pictures around there. you know, they air brush things out of there. it's ridiculous. this administration is -- >> white house photographers, they have a legitimate beef in terms of access to the president that they don't get. they have a legitimate beef. editors of all major newspapers should decree we're not running white house photos. pete souza is a terrific guy. he works for the president of the united states. some of the shots that he takes and puts out on his own account are amazing stuff. sorry, don't put them in the newspaper. >> it's not journalism. can thereabout a -- what's the solution? >> that's -- >> this stuff goes to

whitehouse.gov. access equal opportunity is what everybody is struggling to figure out. >> they can send in an ap reporter or have pete -- >> rotating. >> yeah. a pool camera. the white house doesn't want that. they want to control every image. if they want to doctor the pictures like they did during the bin laden raid. this has gotten significantly worse in this white house and past white houses. >> this is the same president that you would argue is on tv all the time and overexposes himself. he's very accessible. >> no he's not. he's one of the least accessible presidents in the history of this country especially in the modern television age. >> in terms of press conferences he has ronald reagan beat. how many press conferences did reagan have? >> as far as access goes, ed,

they have squeezed -- they did it from the campaign. they release on the internet. they release what they want to release. as far as access -- ask anyone who works inside the white house -- >> to worry about pictures. >> what do you mean? >> it's phenomenal to me. denying access on the photographs. what's a photograph. your is going to look silly once in a while? of course. i made a career out of looking silly. >> is this a logical interpretation of the modern day press society where not only regular journalists we have joe journalists who has the iphone. everybody is a photographer, everybody is critic. >> let them in. let people with iphones in to take pictures. i don't understand jay carney's logic where we're in this new age so gee we're only going to

have our guy take pictures and send to it the internet. that's a silly argument. >> mika is right. can you have a rotating pool. >> get selfies. i do understand that it's a little too much to have everybody -- you want a webcam following him around? >> come on, mika, they shut off access. they got their guy in there taking pictures. so you bring up this -- >> i'm not grumpy. >> you bring up the selfie thing. if you are at the celebration of somebody tease life, right, and you have, as a governor and you have somebody from another state saying hey let's take a selfie, everybody is celebrating and they go like this. would you push them away or sit there and smile? >> sit there and smile. >> what's the big thing about

the selfie. >> we're wasting time discussing this. >> we're not wasting time. people are freaking out online. you brought it up. >> i'll take the blame. >> about what? >> that he took a selfie. >> you're so grumpy today. look. >> the hand. great picture. >> what's the big deal? >> it's a celebration. >> celebration of his life. i don't think the criticism is necessary and people are trying to critique human nature. i don't think that picture has been laced because the prime minister didn't like it, it didn't turn out well. >> it was a bad one? >> yeah. to get a good selfie you have to take several. >> coming up on "morning joe," we got the ranking member of the house budget committee, congressman chris van hollen with us.

david gregory. chuck todd and later actor dan lauria is back with another run of "the christmas story." up next the top stories in politico but first bill karins has a check on the forecast. bill, a lot of snow this weekend. >> new england, forecast has gotten worse overnight. even more snow. let's break it down. travel trouble this morning heading for missouri. temperature in springfield at 28 degrees. this is cold rain coming out of oklahoma and that will move into areas like st. louis and kansas city. be careful traveling in missouri. later on tonight the snow breaks out from areas around chicago, detroit, cleveland, indianapolis, central illinois. saturday is the difficult travel day. in the afternoon the snow will be moving through pennsylvania and new york state and the late afternoon up into areas of central new england. how much snow? this area of pink is six to 12 inches of snow.

some areas over a foot. skiers love it. if you have to travel on saturday it will be difficult. snow totals, three to six for detroit, cleveland, indianapolis. chicago, pittsburgh, st. louis, one to three. as far as washington, d.c. goes really not much for you. sleet in the beginning. new york city three to six. it's up in new england where you'll be doing a lot of plowing as much as six to 12 inches widespread. d.c. another snowstorm missed for you. you're watching "morning joe". ♪ 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

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ordered the execution of his own uncle. he was widely considered the second in command. state-run media announced jang song thaek's execution calling him a traitor. he was convicted of trying to overthrow the state and called despicable human scum worse than a dog. the uncle was tasked with training kim jong-un and was said to be liaison between china and north korea. so if you think your family has some bad dynamics -- >> christmas gifts this year. no doubt about it. especially if you're in the wrong korea. mexico will open its oil industry to investors. leftist politician actually stripped down to his underwear at the bode yum in protest. this happens all the time in congress when i was there. he stood in front of the cameras in his briefs and called the oil

proposal a plunder of the nation. >> i don't get it. >> thank you so much. you don't understand the symbolism of that? >> no, i don't. please explain. oh, no. no. >> stop it. >> despite the protest, it looks so persuasive the vote passed and is awaiting final approval. >> was that black little skimpy briefs. >> yeah. >> that's gross. >> that's repulsive. >> black is slimming. >> i would say. >> not in that case. this from the detroit news. ford announced it will add a total of 11,000 jobs across america and asia. it will release 23 new car models possibly even including the redesigned mustang ford. ford is reporting a 50% bump in

sales this year. you guys have a mustang an old classic -- >> '66. >> 1966. >> can you believe that? it sits a beaut. i like it. from our parade of papers the "san francisco chronicle," lululemon stock took a tumble after the company lowered its sales predictions for the year. in march the company pulled its black yoga pants from the shelves for being see through. earlier this week the company's board chose a new ceo to replace founder chip wilson and hopefully they will replace the pants as well. >> yeah. wow. >> i did see an outdoor yoga lesson after i ran a half marathon and it was in the bright sun and everyone was wearing those pants and they were all like contorted and -- >> you can see right through them. >> it was a butt fest.

it was chunky. didn't he say chunky women shouldn't wear his clothes. >> it was women of all beautiful shapes and sizes. >> you could see right through those things? >> lots of thongs. >> come on, man, they ought to go down to mexico. >> "l.a. times," a change of course on airplanes using cell phones. the fcc may lift the ban on texting and checking emails. >> we know he referred his

martinis shaken but not stirred but james bond has a serious drinking problem. study published in a british medical journal analyzed all 14 ian fleming novels and calculated bond drinks four times -- who cares. >> four times the recommended -- >> who cares. the research said bond would be dead by teenage of 56 after consuming 92 drinks a week. these people that did this study never followed the life of winston churchill. also it could lead to hand tremors that could prevent him from shooting his gun. >> in parade this week, emma thomas discusses her new role in the film "saving mr. banks." >> mike, are you going to say

it? >> first time fully clothed and secondly, happy friday. >> thank you. is that what we're asking for, the first part. >> i don't think so. >> good to know. sometimes he's not. mike, you say president obama is making a left turn to strike a more liberal tone like senator elizabeth warren and new york mayor elect de blasio. >> de blasio will be meet with president obama and vice president joe biden and other 15 newly elected meyers. de blasio said he'll be aggressive about pushing the white house, pushing congress in a way that would help new york city to invest in infrastructure, education. we're told that at the white house the president is going to make rising inequality, the difficulty of people in achieving upward mobility, we'll hear more and more about that from him. we'll hear it in the state of

the union address, we'll see it in his budget coming up and see him talking more about that, looking altmire de blasio's big win, the attention senator elizabeth warren is gets. he senses the same thing they are. >> what's that? >> that is the increased worry among people about whether or not the government is doing enough to create the conditions that can make them more successful. >> all right politico's mike allen. >> they will move left. okay. let's see how that works. >> mike, thanks very much. what's coming up. >> peyton manning tease historic season hits a speed bump. sports is next. as a business owner, i'm constantly putting out fires.

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time for sports. chargers and broncos on thursday night football. peyton manning, first quarter peyton 15 yards, andre caldwell right out of the gate they lead but that was it. he didn't do it again. philip rivers did it. pair of touchdowns.

little hurdle the into the end zone. hooked up later. seven-point lead. >> denver is playing at home? >> peyton manning got picked off in the fourth and the chargers win, 27-20. >> patriots back in this thing. >> they are the number one seed. they only play with seven guys. gronkowski is out. >> alabama quarterback a.j. mccarren spoke to espn yesterday about the head coach nick sabin and possibility that sabin will leave the crimson tide. >> i asked a while back and he told me he wasn't going anywhere and the man has never lied to me in the five years i've been there. as i always said he's like a second danielle adams to me so i don't see why he would leave and why he would leave.

>> a.j. also said his wife isn't going anywhere. she's also said -- >> you think he's staying? >> if i'm sabin i would be doing this. i would be doing this because there's no doubt he's the best coach in college football. you know what the best coach in college football deserves to be the highest paid coach. so alabama, really? you want to keep me? don't listen to this, phil. cover your ears. pay me. if i'm the best college coach in football pay me. if not i'm leaving. >> he'll get a renegotiation like every 18 months. >> i know he did. a lot of people do that. >> i just want to say -- >> does he not destoemb terve te highest paid coach. >> didn't he lose? >> he lost one game. he won three out of four national championships. he's the best college coach in

what would you say -- >> wait a minute. >> i would just say -- >> you lose a game. >> so a lot can happen. i don't know what a while back means. i say good riddance. alabama is going 3-9 next year. >> is he gone? >> he's the kind of guy who gets twitchy. >> he'll be in the booth as an analyst before he's in texas. >> he'll be a great analyst. be awful. >> come on. >> he would be awful. >> woe be so grumpy. >> he would be like one or two words. >> you guys don't know the guy. he's mr. wonderful. he's mr. wonderful. >> do you know anybody who has renegotiated contracts like

that? >> listen. i was going to make a joke about that but i was nervous. it's official. robinson cano is a seattle mariner. he signed a ten year, $240 million contract, just a little bit less than joe gets after seven seasons with the yankees. >> wait a second. if this guy is getting more than me i'm renegotiating. this is an outrage. >> it's an insult. >> how about insults he spoke to the media yesterday saying quote the mariners showed me love. you always want to be with people who want you and make you feel like family. >> you're playing in seattle instead of new york. >> cano said this about the yankees. i didn't feel respect, i didn't get any respect from them and i didn't see any effort. they off fed him seven years at 175. i wouldn't mind being loved like that. >> 175. >> even though he's out of new york, new york press still loves him.

they are giving him respect. he hasn't paid his child support. he gets $240 million, hasn't paid his child support and his mama, baby mama only gets 600 a month. >> nice job. have fun playing in the aleutian islands. >> seattle is an awesome town. i know you're from boston. i've never seen anybody like an east coast snob. seattle has gone from being beijing to aleutian islands. >> getting close to home. >> i'm appalled at the amount of money -- >> it's incredible. >> it's not right. think -- >> coming up next -- don't go away. >> i'm calling phil right now. [ male announcer ] this is jim,

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pretty sunrise over washington, d.c. first closie guantanamo bay. >> president will do it. >> it was one of president obama's first campaign promises dating back 2008. >> it's closed. he closed it four years ago. >> today, 11 years after it opened, what a fantastic idea that was, it remains the most expensive. and easily the most controversial prison operated by the u.s. and now, in an op-ed for the "detroit free press" the general who helped open the facility says it should be shut down. retired major general michael leonard writes in part this. in retrospect the entire detention and interrogation strategy was wrong. we squandered the goodwill of the world after we were attacked by our actions in guantanamo,

both in terms of detention and torture. our decision to keep guantanamo open has helped our enemies because it valid dates every negative perception was united states. >> where would the general want us to send these people? we let them go and guess what? a lot filter back, go in, commit acts of terror that kill civilians in their own countries and kill foreigners. so where would the general have us send them? >> before you even get to that question, what do you do with them? do you try snem do you put them on trial? if so, where do you have the trial? do you have it in guantanamo, fort disc. what do you do. let's get this thing moving. >> the problem is where do you send them? we could ask our allies to take them. but, we've tried that before and then american newspapers leak which countries take them. so then they have problems in their own country. devastating 2005 "the washington

post" expose which totally undercut our allies and one of the reasons that gitmo is still open because our allies know they can't trust us. ed. >> we have to try them. if we can't try them, regrettably they got to be released. to hold someone without a trial for this length of time goes against everything we stand for. >> i agree. >> you know what's going to happen when we try them, some will be released -- >> that will go back out. >> how do you release them? listen, the brutal reality of this war on terror you put them on a plane, fly them wherever. kandahar, afghanistan. tell people here they come, take care of them on the ground. >> the fact is and ed you are right, we cannot hold these people indefinitely. we either have evidence to

convict them or we let them go. and 11 years later it's time to do one of the two. >> okay. peggy noonan writes this. tea-party lawmakers and their supporters should recognize an opportunity when it appears. they suffer from a reputation of selfishness. they only have to look to their base. thoen lie have to take care of themselves. and do. the republican party must operate nationally and make an impression on a big and various nation of 315 million. there are moments when the tea party has to tug the republicans right. this is a moment when cooperating backing a deal that is better than the absence of a deal would be statesmanlike. the thing about statesmen is they're taken seriously. and it isn't only democrats who would benefit from looking serious.

>> what i wrote in my book is it's one thing to get elected in northwest florida congressman and say whatever you want to say. another thing to win the suburbs of philly if you're a republican or the i-4 corridor or all these other swing areas. and peggy is exactly right. what works for tea party congressmen does not always work for presidential candidates and this is a party that's got to figure out how to do two or three things at once. there has to be give and take for that to happen. >> key thing was the selfishness. people who respond to the base because their area is dominated by the base are being very selfish republicans hurting the national party. no question about it. >> but they are allowed to become selfish. because of john boehner's fear of them. they were allowed to. >> we'll see where that goes. >> one thing about interesting about john boehner. he's attacking these outside

groups. which i don't think that's helpful at all. we've got to bring the party together. we republicans, if we want to win in 2016. i think it's a bad mistake. if you have control of your caucus, you won't go out holding press conference, attacking the base. you know what you do? go to your members, are you with me? because you better with me. are you with me? are you with these outside groups? because these outside groups -- are you with me? then you get all the people that say with me and then you sit there, go out, hold the press conference, confident, smile and you say nice things about these outside groups. >> this has gotten to an extent calling for him to be unleashed. >> hasn't he said nice things about these outside groups that they have some control over john boehner and the way he operates. >> if john boehner has control of his caucus, he doesn't have to bring up -- i guess what i'm saying it shows a sign of weakness he feels a need to

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in the age of digital media

the music industry continues to seek out new ways to put out a profit. late last night beyonce released her fifth album exclusively on itunes, no marketing, no fan fare. individual singles not available so the download is turns - is toutted. album will start selling next saturday. >> they will be running to itunes. >> look, it got our attention. >> you're the beyonce correspondent. >> i am. we'll see. she's beyonce. >> she's beyonce. >> mika, your kids are big beyonce fans. are they going to go, do you think they will call you and say

mommy can we download this? >> that is the rule that they are supposed to call first. >> will they download it on their own? >> i don't know. i don't know. >> really in >> i don't know. it just sort of seems strange. like, for example, one direction. my daughter has been waiting and waiting and waiting for their next album and that's part it. >> with the promotion she gets out of this look no promotion. this is amazing. it's like an album with no singing. >> i think it will work. radio decided to put out an album several years ago -- >> with no promo. >> they put it out. they were so big. they said you guys can just download it for free. give us whatever you want to give us. and they made millions that way. and then they put out the cd

high quality people bought it again. so, yeah. >> it's like the people that put out the candy bowl at halloween, just take one. >> coming up at the top of the hour, david gregory and chuck todd joins us for the little roundtable. we'll be right back with more "morning joe." turn to roc® retinol correxion®. one week, fine lines appear to fade. one month, deep wrinkles look smoother. after one year, skin looks ageless. high performance skincare™ only from roc®. take skincare to the next level with new roc® multi correxion® 5 in 1, proven to hydrate dryness, illuminate dullness, lift sagging, diminish the look of dark spots, and smooth the appearance of wrinkles. high performance skincare™ only from roc®.

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♪ what really hurts is who stabbed us in the fiscal back? republican congressman and reagan tribute scout paul ryan. lu just listen to the lame way he separates himself from real conservatives. >> marco rubio said quote your deal will make it harder for americans to achieve the american dream. what would you say to marco? >> read the deal and get back to me. >> there's something i have to do, okay. i can't believe, i can't believe -- i can't believe i hung this poster on the ceiling of my dream closet. i guess it's time now for a new 2016 fantasy candidate. oh, ted cruz. oh, ted cruz, you'll never betray me. oh, toed, have you been working

out? >> just strange. >> welcome back. in a really good way. welcome back to "morning joe." mike barnacle, ed rendell, thomas roberts. joining us from washington we have nbc news we've courthouse correspondent and host daily run down chuck todd. good to have you on board, chuck. members of the house can begin their winter break, knowing they have accomplished something. it's something that hasn't been done in years, joe. do you know what that is? >> what's that? >> come on, can you think of it. >> oh, i know. they busted the caps on the budget deal. >> no. they passed passing a budget. the bill moved through house to with majority of support from both parties. 62 republicans and 32 democrats voted against it. for conservatives this budget is just the latest battleground for control of the republican party. here we go. yesterday house speaker john boehner took a victory lap

slamming outside groups that oppose the bill. >> frankly, i think they are misleading their followers. i think they are pushing our members in places where they don't want to be. and frankly i just think that they've lost all credibility. you know, they pushed us into this fight to defund obama care and to shutdown the government. most of you know, my members know it wasn't the strategy i had in mind. but if you recall the day before the government re-opened one of the people, one of these groups stood up and said well we never really thought it would work. are you kidding me? >> wow. frustrated. >> yeah. >> those conservative groups were quick to respond to speaker boehner. from freedom works, when it comes to credibility, actions speak louder than words. and right now it looks like the speak certificate leading the charge for spending increases and recruiting democrat votes in

the house to help get it tone. from tea party patriots, pitting your colleagues against their constituents is how you lose credibility with your conference. not upholding conservative principles is how you lose credibility with voters who will find someone else if you are not willing to do your job. and from the senate conservatives fund, john boehner has apparently decideded to join mitch mcconnell in the war on conservatives. >> i don't know why john boehner needed to take a victory lap. you get the votes, you pass the bill and as the governor knows and anybody that is good at this knows, you're gracious in victory. in fact, you pick up the phone and you call these people and say hey, listen, we're on opposite sides this time. i won this time. i'm going to need you next time. let's get together and talk. i don't understand that response. >> well, i think other than you

could tell john boehner feels pretty burned by the entire shutdown. so he feels pretty burned. let's put yourself back into john boehner's shoes. these groups almost led the charge to get rid of him as speaker at one point. okay. these groups let him down to take the fall of making the republican party as its most unpopular in the modern era as far as unfavorable ratings thanks to the shutdown. so, i think it is human reaction, it's human nature for john boehner to be reacting the w way he's reacting because he feels he's given to these groups and these groups never say thank you. instead they always say you've not done enough. you've not done enough. you're still too weak. you're still not a real -- you still don't show enough spine. so i think there was only so much that somebody could get pushed -- >> right.

>> joe, i hear what you're saying about why stick the finger in the eye. why poke them. >> you're going to need them again. and the thing is -- >> maybe he thinks it's time that if he's going to accomplish what he needs to accomplish to fix the republican party's brand nationally, then maybe he needs to do this. because, joe, what's the big picture here? the big picture is they got democrats to basically say, okay, we know you want to cut the government i want to cut it less. the entire flofliccal debate and discussion in the way this law was written was through the prism of republican ideology what government budget should look like. that's why boehner is frustrated. >> david gregory, again, you actually have john boehner winning the debate now. it seems to me some of these groups that have controlled the

debates since 2010 now is a good time to sue for peace, so to speak. it's not like barack obama doesn't experience the same frustration from progressive groups ofry daevery day. progressive groups say you're not doing enough. >> obama has had more ability to go center for american progress, talk to the base and keep them in line a little bit more. there's less -- less ideological purity on the right. >> you know why? he's president of the united states. george w. bush was able to do that when he was president of the united states. when you're president of the united states you have more leverage than speaker of the house with your special interest groups. >> i think that's it. i think boehner feels burned. excuse me. to the extent that he's looking down the road a little bit. and they are focused on what they have not done. this is a very modest deal.

they are not dealing with the big questions around the drivers of our debt how we pay for medicare or change medicare. those questions will require, you know, a lot of debate, ideologically between the two parties and it seems to me boehner wants to lay down a little bit of a marker. what he knows as a national leader a lot of these guys who are leading the charge, giving a little bit more spine by these outside groups they are not worried about the flow of the national party. they can satisfy themselves by worrying about individual districts where there's no penalty for ideological purity and they have to think larger than that. >> no time for that segment of the show where we talk to the pros. governor ed rendell, all right. you just heard john boehner say in that clip that these outside groups are quote pushing our members to places where they don't want to be. unquote. which indicates these members are pretty weak, they are being pushed to place where they don't want to be. yet if you look at the whole

spectrum of what's been going on for months and years in washington it seems to me we're in a very weird time politically, where there is not a whole lot of fear of the president. there's not a whole lot of fear of the speaker. two powerful positions politically where even as governor you could inject fear into a state representative. what's going on here from your view? >> not only is there no fear, there's no rewards that the president can offer. >> what do you mean? >> when history looks back at the removal of earmarks which was a good government stroke, it took away the president's ability to get in there and if you saw the movie "lincoln," lincoln bought votes at the end for something very noble of getting rid of slavery. the president doesn't have the earmarks so he can't punish and he can't reward which makes the system work a little less well. i can always say to a representative i need your vote and by the way that bridge

project you care about is a good project maybe we can move it up. i didn't have to say any more to that. >> access to the president has been a recurring issue for the press corps during the obama presidency. it became a major point of discussion yesterday as jay carney defended the administration's relationship with the media. carney addressed the access white house access pete souza has. >> what exists now on the internet is for everyone, everyone of you, everyone on the street to take a picture and put it on the internet. some of it has to do with fundamental transformations of the media which he and others are participants but we did not create the internet, this administration -- guys [ talking all at once ] >> our problem is access. you can put out a million pictures a day from white house photographer. you bar -- >> what i'm saying is that we're

going to work with -- as past white houses have done. >> do you acknowledge this white house has provided less access than previous white houses, you know, for instance to the oval office that you put out -- >> i can say the statement in that piece about oval office was wrong. i can tell you that in my experience as a reporter now, i wasn't a photograph terrify answer to that is i completely reject it. >> chuck, it's thomas. we saw you sitting there in the front row as jay carney was talking about these changes that's happening in the media. there are, obviously, updates that are happening in this country and the wild west of the internet but jay incarnaty is saying this to a roomful of reporters telling you to your face why you have limited access. so the two don't match up. >> no, they don't. what the house -- they will acknowledge that they know that

there's a precedent, whatever precedent they set. one of the reasons why we have our backs up because whatever precedent this white house sends, president hillary clinton, president scott walker, president chris christie, whoever comes next, president joe biden, i don't want to leave anybody out, president martin o'malley -- >> make your friends early, chuck. >> exactly. whatever precedent this white house sets on this issue, the next president will use it and then erode access just a little bit more. every single white house has eroded access just a little bit more. they will use technology as an excuse. this issue with the photographers, this issue started on day two of the presidency. and you know what it was? you know where this white house went way awry when they decided that the second oath of office that john roberts had to give because he messed up the initial oath with the president was somehow a closed press private

event. that news photographers shouldn't be invited to take a picture of. instead -- i'll tell you. that is the bar they set at that time and i can tell you photographers have -- the photojournalists have never forgiven this white house for that and it goes more and more. this isn't that pete souza gets more access. of course he does. it's that there are news events that take place like the ex-president and the current president flying on air force one together to go honor one of the giants of the 20th century and over 40 hours of flight time they didn't find five minutes to invite the photojournalists that are traveling with the president to come up and take a picture. but pete souza could and then they release all those. look we're at fault here because we put them up. we basically give out these visual press releases and that's what they are. and we don't fight this enough.

>> chuck, here was the issue in the bush administration, we were, when i was covering the white house we were dealing with fact that they would invite news photographers in without print or broadcast journalists along with them. >> at least they invite ad journalist. >> we saw some erosion there. people have to understand, nobody is particularly sensitive to whining by the press nor should they be. you have to understand when you cover the white house, the white house is a heavily scripted place, highly choreographed with limited access by its very design. it's important for a free press to have opportunities to question the president that are more on the press's timetable and not just when the president wants to have some kind of availability or offer himself up for questions. and the more you limit that. so if you can't go into the oval office when he meets a foreign leader -- he may not answer but you still apartment press there that has an opportunity to try

to get questions answered and to the point about flying to south africa with the president we would never be invited to the front cabin on air force one unless invited. george w. bush came back and came back off the record but company have come back on the record, allow some pictures to keep that transparency up. that tension is always going there and it should be. >> one more small point to liberal viewers out there who are especially going to be the ones bashing us of late. you'll be upset about this lack of access when somebody is in that oval office that you don't agree with. >> i think it should -- >> no doubt about it. >> chuck put his finger on it. we mentioned it earlier. stop running the pictures. pete souza is a terrific guy. stop running the pictures. >> if they are not going to give any access and only sending out -- >> it's called a media blackout.

>> just pr shots that sometimes are dock toward then don't run the pictures. let me ask both of you guys, though, because you were heavily involved in the 2008 campaign, this really started with barack obama in the 2008 campaign. he didn't really give much access at all to reporters. there were press releases on the internet. please, tell me, has there ever been a candidate that won a major party's nomination that gave less access to reporters during campaign than barack obama? >> well here's the thing that's been unique -- mitt romney. that's the point. actually no. that makes the bigger -- this makes the point. this is where these operatives for these presidential campaigns. >> were you running mitt romney's campaign would you allow access. >> go ahead, chuck. >> this is the point is that every successful -- you know, this is a slippery slope, you know, issue.

it erodes every time. whatever the precedent is that's set by the successful candidate then suddenly -- look ronald reagan didn't give a lot of access during his campaigns. whatever precedent is set the next one follows suit. i can tell you this. had john mccain won the presidency in 2000, in 2004 every single presidential candidate who have been open borders, open barriers and allowed every member of the press to question at all times. right? it obviously is whatever is seen as the successful thing. do i believe this. i think this control, attempt to control access to a candidate is going to get to the point where the voter will punish the next candidate that tries to do that and they are going to be interested in somebody who is more, truly accessible, not phoney accessible. >> there's a bottom line. when presidents get in trouble they open up because they got to. they got to take more questions. they got to be a little bit more

humble towards the public and the press. it happens every time. i agree with jay carney in this respect. the world has changed. if you're the white house why not put a picture on your twirt feed and feed. if you have an opportunity to go over the heads who wouldn't do that. whether you're in government or a campaign you'll do that. the fight needs be about continuing to have access, not to be barred from, you know, a swearing in ceremony. not to be barred from a setting where as a journalist you can't ask a question of the president. fut are you on lie shot to ask a question of the president on an important day you ought to fight to get that access. this tension has to be kept up over administration to administration. >> david gregory, thank you very much. we'll be watching your exclusive interview with patty murray and paul ryan on sunday's "meet the

press." congratulations. chuck we'll see you coming up on "the daily rundown." up next bipartisan spending bill open the door to other compromises on capitol hill? congressman chris van hollen thinks so. we'll ask him what's on the table. but first, dillon dryer is in a very snowy new york. >> reporter: we're in this band about 30 miles from north to south and we have so much snow here in sandy creek, new york. we have about 18 inches of snow on the ground right now. people are driving into these snow banks behind us. we protect by other mound of snow. to our east we have four to five feet of snow on the ground and lake-effect snow is going to continue. it's all because of the arctic air in the northeast crossing over the great lakes and the arctic air will set the stage for a big storm moving into northeast. it will start in the midwest today as some ice, especially back through parts of missouri

then move into illinois and indiana. it will be mainly snow for parts of the mid-atlantic moving up into new england and interior areas where we don't have much of a chance of a change over to a wintry mix. six to 12 inches from interior northwestern new jersey up into new york state and especially on up into new england as well. so it is going to get extremely snowy in the northeast this weekend. mika? >> dillon, thank you very much. you're watching "morning joe." we'll be right back. >> look at that. ♪ i want to spread a little love this year ♪

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♪ joining us now from washington -- by the way look at that beautiful shot of capitol hill. ranking member of budget house

committee, congressman chris van hollen. chris, good to have you on the show this morning. >> good morning. >> it's a good day, right? moving forward. >> it is a good day. yesterday's agreement is a small agreement but it's a positive step forward, and it will provide greater certainty and it will also provide the economy with a little boost according to the congressional budget office. that's all good. >> yeah, go ahead. keep going. >> we were very disappointed with one thing, which is that we had proposed an extension of unemployment insurance. as you know, three days after christmas over 1 million americans are going to lose their unemployment support that they get right now. we had asked for a simple vote in the house of representatives to make sure that didn't happen, that we extend unemployment insurance for three months. we were denied that vote. that's a big issue coming back in january. >> gosh, that really seems kind of like a no brainer in this

climate in this in. how does that happen? >> well, the reality is in the house of representatives. the speaker and the republicans don't want to extend unemployment insurance which is why they denied us a vote. congressman levin and i went to the house rules committee the other day. we had a plan to extend unemployment insurance. we had a way to pay for it by getting rid of these high excessive agricultural subsidies. republicans didn't want to allow a vote on that. so that was a very disappointing note on an otherwise positive day on the budget agreement. >> and positive, thomas, of course, all in perspective given that better than a shutdown is what a lot of people are saying? >> as we've been talking about here that this is about the republicans trying to modestly rebuild their own brand by putting paul ryan out front on this and then senator patty

murray doing the bipartisan deal with the senate. this will go the senate side. i want to ask you, what's the tone? we had our kasie hunt on earlier saying it's very tepid in moving forward. what are you hearing? >> i'm hearing it's very tepid on the senate republican side. you've had people like marco rubio, other tea party republican senators come out strongly against this. jeff sessions, who was the, one of the conferrees. he was the senate republican conferree to this budget negotiation. has stated that he's against it. so, i think the jury is still out with respect to senate republicans. i do think you'll find strong support among senate democrats because it does significantly reduce the very deep across the board cuts from the sequester. it will provide additional funds to invest in things like our education, scientific research, without this agreement those

things would be cut by over $22 billion just this year. >> mike barnacle. >> congressman, you're lucky by geography. you get to go home every night. you take a ride on wisconsin avenue and go home. as a result of the fact that the geography of your district and proximity to where you work, you get a chance more than most members of congress do to see people who get damaged by inaction in congress. so let's get to the most important word in the english language, j-o-b, jobs. education. all that stuff is great. why has there not been a jobs program that has been discussed in congress over a period now of five, six years as this economy bumps along with jumper cables. why no jobs program being discussed. >> mike, i'm glad you asked that because the house democratic caucus and our conferrees in

this budget conference put on the table a plan that included a significant investment in our national infrastructure. that's an area where we have huge unmet needs as you know. you know, we're talking roads, bridges, transit. we're also talking you know, building out our infrastructure on the energy side. we had a way to pay for it. we said let's use the war savings to offset it. we've done enough nation building overseas. let's invest more to invest right here at home. and the reality is, as you know, the construction industry has been particularly hard hit. so this is a win-win. this would be helping grow good middle class jobs at the same time we meet these unmet needs. unfortunately, the republicans in this negotiation rejected that just as they rejected when it we put that in our budget. >> why don't you take a few them out and show a few crumbling bridges by your house. >> you remember back during the economic recovery and stimulus

bill they said they were all against it and then writing in requests to have that money invested in their local communities. it is a -- this used to be a bipartisan issue, the idea of the federal government having a role in building our national infrastructure. you can go back to the very earliest day of the republic and the eisenhower administration, all sorts of examples. and yet the tea party crowd has totally rejected what once was a bipartisan philosophy. >> to get bipartisan results you need to build that trust and let's hope this is a start with this small step forward. >> we can only hope. >> congressman chris van hollen, thank you so much. coming up, uncovering a secret buried by the cia, the story of the american who went missing in iran and how the spy agency played a major role in his disappearance. that's next on "morning joe."

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the cia is good at keeping secrets but the associated press has uncovered a big one. stunning new report reveals a retired american who disappeared in iran back in 2007 was, in fact, working for the spy agency. that completely contradicts repeated statements from american officials who insisted as recently as last month that robert levinson was a private citizen doing business overseas.

but according to the ap the retired fbi agent was actually meeting with sources about iran's nuclear program as part of an unapproved mission to gathering intelligence there. he was reportedly working on behalf of cia analysts who lacked the proper authority to run spy operations. once levinson went missing and u.s. officials found out what was happening several people were disciplined at the agency and the government paid his family to keep quiet. his relatives received proof of live images back in 2010 and 2011. but since then it's been radio silence. it's unclear if the 65-year-old is still alive and u.s. officials can only guess who might be holding him and where. wow. up next she inspired kerry washington's character on the hit show "scandal." judy smith has helped a long list of famous clients dig out

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are you lying about your military record? are you lying to me? >> like you did with defiance? you want to talk to me about life? about your boyfriend? about how much i missed you? about the upcoming election? about the weather? great. i'll tell you anything you want to know. when it comes to you i'm an open book. but if you want to ball club from operation wilmington, you're not talking to me, you're talking to the commander-in-chief of the armed force. you're talking about the leader of the free world. remington is a highly classified military operation which means

it does not exist. so like i said, i don't know what you're talking about. >> that was a scene from "scandal," a drama about olivia pope that protects the images of the nation's leaders. now here the woman who inspired the show, the president and ceo of crisis management firm, judy smith. welcome. she's the author testify new book "good self, bad self" how to bounce back from a personal crisis. i think we all need this book in general. >> thank you. >> it's got a lot of really good messages in terms of how you want to conduct yourself whether you're in a crisis or not. am i right? >> absolutely. i wanted to write the book, really, because whether you're a celebrity or, you know, a fortune 500 ceo, we all have problems. i think we need to address them in our lives so hopefully it will be helpful. >> in the book are basically

strategies on how to do what? >> how to fix your life. how to avoid problems and crisis in the first place. and i think that's important because so often just for us in our work, when we usually get clients it's when a crisis has already happened. so what we try to do with work is really try to manage and mitigate crisis prior to a controversy erupting. >> your clients are come towing when there's a crisis. what is something you've seen again and again as the principal mistake they make? >> they don't tell the truth. and they usually -- they usually wait too late. what we hope to do is mitigate the crisis prior to the controversy, and you guys talking about it here on "morning joe." and we definitely try to do that. it's interesting, because, obviously, with "scandal" we represent a lot of politicians,

and celebrities. but the bulk of our day-to-day work is working with corporations, but as you guys know it doesn't necessarily make for sexy television. so, yes, good mix. >> when you say, you know, one of the biggest issues is that they don't tell you the truth -- >> right. >> is it that, or is it that they are infinitely capable of wallowing in self-delusion about the truth. chapter 2 in your back, denial. you can be walking down the hallway, festooned with arrows in your back, people saying you're in trouble. no i'm fine. but denial leads to self-delusion. what do you do about that? >> that's key. you have to present them with a real set of facts that they can get their arms around. sometime that takes time. >> when somebody hits bottom. >> yes. >> is there like a general, they deny the truth then tell the truth and hit bottom. is there something, a template for everybody from celebrity to

politician to average person who might have had an affair and lost their job or what have you and can dig out. >> once you hit bottom you want to think about what the come back looks like. in terms of come back it's important to have a strategy, a message. but the most important thing is really orchestrating it and it's on execution. >> okay. you deal with politicians and scandals and things like that. has there ever been a politician you couldn't help and who was it and why? >> oh, yeah. i think the mayor of toronto wouldn't do that. i don't know what you do with that. we've gone from -- >> rob ford, our favorite. >> your favorite. >> he's our guy. >> what do you do with that? >> you love it. >> what about anthony weiner, could he have been helped? >> yeah. therapy. that would be -- that would have been key. no. i think the american public is forgiving but i also think that

people need to be realistic. and when he came out and asked for forgiveness, one thought that the texting and those kinds of things had stopped and we were all surprised about that. >> what about how his wife composed herself which remains one of the most fascinating inside stories of the year. >> yeah. i think more and more -- i think there are two views of this. i think sometimes you see when there's a crisis that, you know, women are obviously flight and standing by the man and supporting them. but i think you're also seeing a group of women now that are looking to say well that's not the path that i'm going to choose. i'm going look out for what's best for myself and what's best for my kids and not necessarily best for your political career. >> would you have advised elliot spitzer to run for office again as he did. >> no, i wouldn't. >> ever? >> not ever. there's a time and place for it.

i also think that people will sort of mark in the sand the kinds of things that they can forgive. so, no. i think i would have wait ad bit. >> the spitzer example, how much of a solution is involved in the person's personality? you can fix up -- i screwed up. okay. but if the person's personality isn't adaptive to coming across on tv or in person gee the guy isn't a great guy what do you do about that? >> that's a huge problem because we've all seen situations when people have come out the to apologize, sort of like a lance armstrong and you're really did we believe that? and that's a huge issue. i do think, though, when there are situations where an individual has a base of goodwill and a base of credibility that that helps a

lot. >> how close is "scandal" to reality? >> well, let's see. i don't move dead bodies from crime scenes. >> okay. >> i don't. and, you know, wanted to come on to -- come on the show to let you guys i did not sleep with the president. >> okay. >> for the record. >> check. >> that include any president. >> check. got that. >> otherwise pretty true -- >> yeah. i mean, as i said the bulk of our work is with companies and corporations and we do represent celebrities and politicians. but we try to work to prevent you guys from dissecting it on the "morning joe." >> good luck with that. >> i know. >> we got three hours to do that. the book is "good self, bad self." it looks like a good life handbook. 0 years after it first came out

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that night as i lay there in the darkness with my cold blue steel beauty, the greatest christmas gift i ever received. are you kidding? my old man, my dad gave it to me. that's why it would be the greatest gift i ever received. >> that was a scene from the tony-nominated show, the christmas story, the musical. here is the costar with producer peter billingsley. he played the original ralphy. look at him in the he's all grown up in the classic 1983 film. my goodness. so cute. why does christmas music make me cry? i bet you would be experts on that.

>> it's written for the heard. how do you listen to little drummer boy and not cry? >> it's okay to get sad sometimes? >> we have a ballad in our show that brings a tear to everyone. >> you see in the clip here a lot more emotion here than the film. the film had an excentric tone to go the line and not cross it. the only emotion of christmas. >> the musical captures it in what way? >> you have an opportunity to take the fantasy sequences of all of ralphy's dreams in the movies and who blow them into set pieces. when the dad wins the leg lamp, everything comes for their imagination. there tons of kids in the show and they sing and dance and it

really follows the same story line and the film and a flag pole and everything. >> he brought a girl a box of mormon. i looked around and this is not parent of the year. >> great play. totally inappropriate. >> i think your girls would like it. >> there is a fudge, but that's about it. oh, fudge. >> one of the more interesting aspects is you can see it each year and it's still moved to you in the eye of the beholder. the ticket holder and whatever. the clip we just showed, you are talking about your dad. your own father. >> everybody is thinking of dad. >> yeah. >> we grew up in a different time. it brings back memories.

we grew up where we got one christmas present and you knew what it was because dad would ask you what you wanted at thanksgiving. what do you want? >> it's an easy question and you haven't been at a table before. what is it like to be asked the questions and they have seen you captured as a child. >> it was a very little movie when it came out and it didn't come out in the box office. there was no shelf live for films back then. then as cable and video came out, the title kept returning year after year. it wasn't an overnight thing. >> you were in your late 20s?

>> late teens and early twens and when the music came out, i thought that's how you take advantage of that. you don't want to do a tv show or remake the movie, but that takes the fun spirit to the stage and dan is the narrator and makes it through the stage. >> perfect. >> i don't sing or dance. >> oh, good. that's a relief. so dan, you are the coauthor of the children's book, the blue hair club? excuse me? tell us about it. >> i'm so tired of my godson playing with the computer. it is true. there is a young student who doesn't think he knows more than his teacher. if you ask what are the original 13 colonies. they know more than you. i am trying to get my godson that creates, i make up the weird stories. the boy who swallowed his car

and the ugliest princess in the world and the girl with the rhinocerous in her mouth. i want him to create. the other day i said something today will happen at school and i want you to make a story about it. i can't do that. the school teacher explained to him what a self portrait was. he said i have a great story. the moose who painted a self portrait. he thought he was so ugly and he participated a beautiful picture and the moral is you have to see yourself in a good light before others. >> that's nice. good book. >> i am trying to get -- i think education is going to change and when we talk about cutting the creative s pekts of education like the arts and music and making movies, you are really cutting the future of education. you can't keep teaching them what they have on their phone. >> or the sats.

you can catch a christmas story the musical at madison square garden. visit for more details. we'll be right back. thank you very much. >> i tried to remember what it was i wanted. i was blowing it, blowing it. >> come on, kid. >> how about a nice football. >> football? what's a football. in my conscious world, my voice squeaked out football. a football? oh, no. what was i doing? wake up, stupid, wake up. >> no! no, no, i want a rifle. >> you'll shoot your eye out, kid. merry christmas.

ho, ho, ho. >> no! there's a saying around here,

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they are calling it the bipartisan budget act of 2013. >> they passed a budget and the fact that we have to applaud

that is unbelievable, but it's a good thing. they are doing their job. >> wrong. it is not a good thing and they are not doing their jobs. american sends republicans to washington to accomplish one thing. zero things. the bipartisan budget will have no chance of a government shut down for two whole years. you fools! you can't leave our national parks open that long. it will give the wolves time to unionize. >> good morning. it's 8:00 on the east coast and 5:00 on the west coast as you take a live look at new york city. back with us, we have mike barnacle and thomas roberts and ed rendell. members of the house can begin knowing they have accomplished something that hasn't been done in years. passing a budget. i know it sounds like not a big deal, but in this atmosphere it is. the bill moved through with the

majority of support with both parties. just 62 republicans and 32 democrats voted against it. this is just the latest battle ground for the control of the republican party. john boehner slammed outside groups that opposed the bill. >> frankly i think they are misleading their followers and i think they are pushing our members in places where they don't want to be and frankly i just think that they have lot of all credibility. they pushed us to defund obama care and shut down the government. that was not the strategy that i had in mind, but the day before the government reopened, one of the people at the groups said we never thought it would work.

are you kidding me? >> he is doubling down. >> he is. he is taking a victory lap. i talked about it yesterday. if you are one of these groups and can intimidate people, that's great. i'm not talking about on the right, but the special interest groups and it works until the day that you don't intimidate them and it happened yesterday. they are going go home and yell at them and say we will vote you out of office. these groups were just like politicians and parties that overreached. >> the issue of whether it's broken depends on what comes next. do they do real immigration reform. does he have the guts to confront the same group? do we do real tax reform and a plan that the grand bargain? if we do, this was an historic moment for america. if we fall back in --

>>ee seems very free from the grips. >> if we do entitlement reform, yes. i'm one of the conservatives and i hate the deal when you are $17 trillion in debt. these are the first caps. everybody whines about sequestration. it's a 50 time washington, d.c. has shown discipline whatsoever on spending over the past 15 years. listen, do i hate the fact that we are going after the discretionary spending? yeah, i hate that fact. you know what, until they get real about a littlement, don't come and ask me to lift any caps whatsoever. fine. if we did this and we are now ready to talk about what's bankrupting america, i'm cool with it. >> that's the key. >> we're not. don't even talk to him about social security and medicare. why should we?

america's financial stability rests on tackling medication. >> that's where the president has to seize the moment and driveway the process. >> okay. i actually think in response to what you just said, you had to listen to what paul ryan said. >> did paul talk about entitlement reform? >> he talked about how to get there and i think you will recognize the words as something you have been saying for four years, once a week. at least. if not twice or three or four or five times. the conservative groups were quick to respond to speaker boehner. let's see how this sounds in light of how he sound. from freedom works. when it comes to credibility, action speaks louder than words and it looks like the leader is leading the charge and recruiting democratic votes to help get it done. from the tea party patriots, pitting your colleagues against

constit wends is how you lose credibility. this is how you lose credibility with the voters who will find someone else in you are not willing to do your job. john boehner decided to join mitch mcconnell in the war. editor in chief, eric erickson tweeted this. the guy who said he would hold the line said those who believed him have lot of credibility before adding on his website he's done as speaker. this is all legacy-building now. if he has to cry on television and attack the conservative base, he will do it. how budget committee chairman paul ryan defended the bill saying it's not just about the budget. it's about the future of the republican party. >> we have been at each other's throats for a long time. i was part of the last presidential election. we tried defeating this president. i wish we would have.

elections have consequences, mr. speaker. i fundamentally believe and this is my personal opinion and it's a partisan thing to say, to really do what we think needs to be done, we will have to win elections. in the meantime, let's try to make this government work. i think our constituents are expecting more from us. they are expecting us to not keep shutting the government down and pay the bills and be accountable and watch how the dollars are being spent and expecting us to find common ground. >> does that sound like anything you have heard before? anything about winning? >> we have to win. no doubt about it. you can't even begin to calculate the damage that was done to the republican brand in these showdowns over the past four months. part of the reason why paul ryan and a lot of people felt like

they had to fold this time, what happened over the summer where you actually had members of congress pitting constituents against other members of congress to take on a strategy that was doomed from the beginning. sometimes people misinterpret what i sigh the air. i still am cleatly blown away that they are not talking about the issues that really matter when it comes to the deficit. when it comes to long 2er78 debt. that is medicare and medicaid. there is not a study that doesn't show it. maybe paul and his accolades that are living in an alternative reality. maybe they think we can bankrupt ourselves and the government can print more money. the rest of us americans that live in the real world know that's not true. washington is not taking care of it.

>> i would submit that's a subtheme to the stories mika just read. the biggest theme that we just heard since 6:00 this morning is the war within the republican party. you have a war that is raging now and it's a full-blown war. you saw it there in the quotes. it's basically the republican party going to be a rural regional party. that's what you get from the conservative wing on the right or will they try to win elections and come not towards the middle, but maintain the principals as paul ryan alluded to. >> i hate this deal. i will be honest with you. i'm not sure i would have voted on the deal, but there is no doubt he was exactly right from the house floor saying they don't want us to shut the government down again. they will blame the republican party for whatever reason would have been devastating. >> a killer.

>> that's obvious. thomas? >> let's bring in political reporter casey hunt. she will bring us up to speed on whether or not they have a chance to advance through the senate. casey? it does. the situation that we come to now in what was done with patty murray and paul ryan. >> thomas, i would say there probably more senate republicans who are sounding like joe just was right now than who are sounding like john boehner. i talked to probably close to a dozen senate republicans last night as they were on the floor voting. so far i'm having trouble tracking down a lot of vocal support for this. senator lindsay graham came out against it. both of them were expected to maybe be in favor of it because it does mitigate the sequestration cuts to the defense community. that's something they cared about a lot. senator john mccain hasn't said

what he is going do. it is expected that connell is going to oppose it. he has not put out an official statement. another sort of deal maker and still on the fence. i think that while you saw that overwhelming vote in the house last night and that's going to happen on the senate side, there no guarantees and it's much more of a squeaker. >> shaking your head. are you surprised by this? >> i 78 surprised. the senate has been more reasonable than the house. what about the democrats? we lot of democrats in the house and the progressive far left is up to chuck shumer to hold hosting the democrats in check. i'm not sure that's a given. >> one more story if we can. access to the president has been a recurring issue for the press corps during the obama presidency. it became a major point of discussion yesterday as press secretary jay carney defended

the administration's relationship with the media. carney addressed the access white house photographer pete sousa has. compared to the access members of the media has. >> what exists now on the internet is the ability for everyone on the street and everyone around the world to take a picture and put it on the internet. some has to do with transformations in the media which we and other institutions are participants. we did not create the internet. >> the problem is access. you can put out a million pictures a day from the white house photographer. >> we are going to work with -- as past white houses have done. >> do you acknowledge that this white house provided less access than previous white houses for instance to the oval office that you put out?

>> i can say the statement is factually wrong, but i can tell you that in my experience as a reporter now, the answer to that is i completely do. >> it's ridiculous what they are doing. of course they have their white house photographer that will take glam shots and send them out over the internet. >> with the president 24-7. >> he is the president's guy. then you have ap photographers and "new york times" photographers and others that are given absolutely no access whatsoever. the determines are so obvious including doctored picture that is the white house sends out. they doctor pictures of meetings. i think most famously the bin laden raid, the famous pictures around there.

they airbrush things out of there. this is ridiculous. this administration. >> the white house photographers have a legitimate beef. editors of all major newspapers should decree we are not running white house photos. he is a terrific guy doing a terrific job and he works for the president of the united states. some of the shots he takes are amazing. amazing stuff. sorry, don't put them in the newspaper. don't run them. >> what's the solution? there so many -- >> this stuff goes to white house.gov. put the images there. the equal access opportunity is what everyone is trying to figure out. >> there cameras. >> they can cent them in.

>> if you wrote to them. >> they can have a camera and the white house doesn't want that. they want to control every image and if they want to doctor the pictures like they did, this has gotten worse in this white house and past white houses. >> this is the same president you would argue is on tv all the time and overexposes himself. he is very accessible. >> no, he's not. he's one of the least accessible presidents in the history of the country especially the modern television age. >> in terms of press conferences, he's got a lot of reagan. how many press conferences did reagan have? >> as far as access goes, they have squeezes. they did it all the way from the campaign. they release what they want to release. as far as access, don't ask me. ask anybody who works inside the

white house. >> it is phenomenal to me to worry about pictures. to worry about pictures. it's phenomenal the divine access and photographs. what's a photograph? you will look silly once in a while? of course. i made a career out of this. what's the big deal? >> is this a logical interpretation of the modern day press society we live in where not just regular journalists are. the journalists, we have joe journalist. everybody is a critic. >> let people in with iphones to take pictures. i don't understand jay carney's logic. we are in this new age where we only have our guy take the pictures. >> i agree. i think it should be a pool cam. >> you should be embarrassed.

>> why? get selfies. there should be a camera and i understand it's too much to have everybody. do you want a web cam? they have their guy. you bring this up. >> grumpy. >> you bring up this selfie thing. let's talk about the selfie thing. if you are at the cell briebratf somebody's life as a governor and you have somebody from another state saying hey, let's take a selfie and everybody is celebrating. they go like this, would you put that away or smile for the selfie? >> sit there and smile. >> what's the big deal about the selfie. the fact that we are wasting time discussing this? >> we haven't done the story, but people are froeking out

onlio online. that he took a selfie. you are so grumpy today. look! >> talk to the hand. look at that. >> it's a celebration. i don't think that the criticism is necessary and people are trying to critique human nature and tried to capture a moment. maybe because the prime minister said she didn't like it. >> it's a bad one. hate it when that happens. >> to get a good selfie, you have to take it with the cell phone. >> leaning left. why president obama may soon sound a lot like elizabeth warren and bill deblasio. what's behind his populism. first bill has a check on the forecast. >> a snowy forecast. the beginning of the winter storm affects millions. we are watching the rain that

was in oklahoma and texas, turning to freezing rain in missouri. if you look to the north, st. louis at 24 degrees where the ice will come later this afternoon. here's a break down of the entire storm over the next 48 hours. the snow is in the white and the pink shows where it will be. an icy mess. snow to rain from d.c. to philadelphia. as far as totals go, the highest total going to be up in new england. the mountains with over a food of snow. cleveland 3-6. indianapolis is 3-6. pittsburgh will get a mix and watch out for the icy stuff at st. louis. the higher totals are in new england and even the city. portland is 12 to 16 inches of snow. that's a big storm for you. downtown maine, not much snow on the ground now. that will look different come sunday morning. you are watching "morning joe." my customers can shop around--

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time to take a look at the morning papers. kim jung unordered the execution of his own uncle considered second in command. they announced his execution, calling him a traitor. during a trial he was convicted of trying to overthrow the state

and called despicable scum worse than a dog. he was tasked with training kim jung un, and said to be the liaison. if you think your family has bad dynamics. >> less christmas gifts this year. >> good point. >> especially if you are in the wrong korea. >> to foreign investors, they met with unusual backlash. a leftist politician stripped down to his underwear in protest and stood in front of the cameras and called the proposal a plunder of the nation. thank you so much. >> oh, my god. >> you don't understand the symbolism of that? >> no,i don't. please complain. oh, no. it's not -- no.

>> despite the protest and i know this will shock you because it looked so persuasive from here, the vote passed and is awaiting final approval. >> the black skimpy briefs. that's gross. black is slimming. >> not in that case. this from the detroit news, will add 5,000 jobs across the nation and release 23 new car models, possibly even including the redesigned mustang ford. ford is reporting a 50% bump in sales this year. you have a must apg. an old classic gem. >> 66. >> 1966. >> it's a beaut. i like it. the "san francisco chronicle,"

lululemon stock took a tumble after a lowered sales predictions for the year. they dropped six months in march. they pulled out black yoga pants from the shelves from being see through. they chose a new ceo to replace chip wilson and hopefully replace the pants as well. >> yeah, wow. >> i did see an outdoor yoga lesson after running a half marathon. everyone was wearing the pants and they were contorted. >> you can see through them? >> it was a butt fest. yes. >> didn't the guy say chunky women shouldn't wear his clothes? >> he did that. it was women of all beautiful shapes and sizes. >> you can see right through? >> lots of thongs. >> come on, man. >> just saying. >> they had to go down to

mexico. >> they were bending over and that's when they become see through. but nobody knew this. >> yeah, i wear the sweats. i wear the heavy -- >> i have seen you in the lulus. >> you haven't. the l.a. times. >> they are definitely see through. >> now on airplanes when it comes to using cell phones. they took the first step in eliminating the ban on texting, checking the e-mail and surfing the web. cell phone calls and wall flying would still be banned, thank god. >> "usa today," he prefers his martinis shaken not stirred. james bond has a serious drinking problem. a study published in a medical journal analyzed all 14 ian fleming novels and calculated bond drinks four times the recommended -- who cares?

who cares? >> the reason that bond would be dead at the age of 96 assuming 92 drinks a week. these people never followed the life of winston churchill. >> why did they? >> that can leave him unable to shoot his gun. what's coming up in parade magazine? >> actress emma thompson, love her. >> how can you not love her. >> chats about glamour, love, and fame and her role in saving mr. banks. >> mike allen is here with the morning playbook. >> mike, are you going to say it? >> first, i'm fully clothed and second, happy friday. >> thank you. is that what we were asking for? it's good to know. sometimes i guess he's not. mike, you say president obama is making a left turn to strike a more liberal tone like e liz

bath warren and bill deblasio. why is that? >> the mayor will be at the white house meeting with president obama, vice president biden along with 15 other newly elected mayors. deblasio said he will be aggressive about pushing congress in a way that would help new york city to invest in infrastructure, education. we are told that at the white house, the president is going to make rising equality the difficulty of people in achieving upward mobility. we will hear more and more about that from him. hear from the state of the union and the budget and we will see him pauk talking more about that and looking at the mayor's big win. looking at the attention that elizabeth warren is getting. he senses the same thing they are. >> what's that?

>> that is the increased worry among people about whether or not the government is doing enough to create. >> the biography of jesus christ. we will explain how they track the life of the man even the boibl is not clear about. ahead on "morning joe." ♪ [ male announcer ] if we could see energy... what would we see? ♪ the billions of gallons of fuel that get us to work.

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. >> author and professor of middle bury college. amhurst and williams. middle burry is also one of the best. jay is out with a new book, jesus, the human face of god. he joins us now. good to have you on the show. >> fun to be here. >> tell us about this book and how you go about trying to track it. >> my editor thought i was crazy. he said the series is called icons. he said pick an icon. i said jesus. he thought i was crazy. you are trying to peel through 20 centuries of theology and

speculation and church doctrine and story telling and i'm trying to get back to the basic story of who was jesus and what was he keaching and who was jesus? jesus was this religious genius who grows up on this silk road and this commerce thing that goes from the west to the east. he is getting from the west all these greek ideas about and soul. he's getting from the east inside from india from china and persia, karma. blessed are the merciful. he has an astonishing way of synthesizing all great truth. it's controversial, but i think is essential. jesus is the greatest story of all time. a myth is a story. it's like a tear in the fabric

of reality through which all this spiritual energy cores. i think this is what we have got with the jesus story, the greatest story ever cold. we have to get at the core of what was happening. >> who is he? >> your mission is -- your mission in writing this book to talk about jesus the man? do you come to any conclusions that jesus was only a man or a man in god? >> it's not my job. my job is to say what was it like on the ground to be jesus? you wake up and all of this religious truth comes to you. god speaks to you. it's about his discovery that he is in fact god. the spark of god is inside of him. one of the real tasks to me was go to back to the bible and get at the real story. >> you read the bible in groek.

>> on welcomes only. >> the new testament is rip in greek. i was talking about translations. one of the things i thought was exciting is i get back to key words. for instance, the key thing is the greek word meta noticea. that's to go beyond missics in the mind. it is used 58 times in the new testament. 22 times jesus uses this word. another word that means salvation in one translation, but i see it as enlightenment or reconciliation with god. i translate it with greek. jesus said repent and you will be saved. what he is really saying is open your mind to the light and go beyond yourself into the larger mind of god and you will

experience enlightenment. 500 years after christ they translate the bible into latin. the catholic church calls it the vuligate. he translates the word open your mind as do penance. that gets picked up by english translators and the king james version. >> the world is very nelson mandela as we speak who will soon be mythology if he is not already. given the culture we're a part of, that mythology will last whoever knows. you call this life of jesus the greatest story ever told, but is part of this not the greatest story ever believed and sustained for nearly 2,000 years? if i read this, is jesus the same? will i have the same feeling about who jesus was reading this

book as you did from passages of the bible? >> absolutely more so. i think a lot of theology misses jesus's teachings if we go to the center. matthew five, six, and seven. blessed are the meek and the poor. he gives you this antethesis and they said an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. if someone strikes you, turn the other cheek. i will go further. love your enemies. if someone said we want your shirt, i will give them your jacket as well. >> how would the reading of the sermon be more transforming by reading your book? >> i think that people like gandy and martin luther king and nelson mandela really register

and put it into practice. christianity as jesus is teaching people over and over again. it's a way of and the way of jesus and the way of practicing being in the world. i think that's the essence of this thing. i am not saying jesus was not crucified. this is 170 pages. it's 170 pages. as a scholar, you couldn't have read 1/1,000th of what's out there. how do you start with something that ends up 170 pages? >> if you lock at jesus now, it's a great moment to do that. in the last half century there is so much new material available. not just the four gospels, but the 20 that were discovered in egypt in 1945. the dead sea scrolls and all of this amazing archaeological stuff. we know a lot more about the

period in which jesus lived. >> this is what happens when your professor is living in an old house that overlooks the grown mountains. you think about these things. the book is jesus, the human face of god. thank you so much for sharing. >> thank you. >> coming up, what's driving today's markets. business before the bell is next. ♪ by the end of december, we'll be delivering ♪ ♪ through 12 blizzards blowing ♪ 6 snowballs flying ♪ 5 packages addressed by toddlers ♪

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you make commitments. and when you can't live up to them, you own up, and make it right. some people think the kind of accountability that thrives on so many streets in this country has gone missing in the places where it's needed most. but i know you'll still find it when you know where to look. time for business before the bell. what are we following? >> the stock market is rebounding after a couple of days. the fed is all people are thinking about. two stories. amazon has a leak about the new service that might be called amazon pantry and they are going after costco and sam's club.

they are saying they are amazon prime customers. there is about 2000 then products to choose from and as long as it is under a srp weight, they ship for free. revenue was about $61 billion. this could be just for amazon of over $200 billion. if you get your cleaning products and bulky stuff in the mail for nothing, why would you go to costco? >> and drag everything around. >> did you hear about beyonce? >> what do you make of it? >> by the whole album. >> and videos. >> and itunes. >> 17 videos and 14 songs. there is a battle between streaming and downloading. the sales with us will dictate how people feel about it. i don't want to buy whole albums really. >> what do you kids want to do? >> they are not old enough. it will be interesting to

challenge and people want it that bad that they pay the $16 for the whole thing. >> up next, the short list. >> that's how the industry makes money. >> yeah. if anyone could do it, it's probably her. >> up next, the short list for republican contenders for president may be getting longer. which former governor may be throwing his hat into the ring. keep it here. munity: the environment, seniors, kids, and animals. that's why we created the share the love event. by the end of this year, the total donated by subaru could reach 35 million dollars. you get a great deal on a new subaru. we'll donate 250 dollars to a choice of charities that benefit your community. it feels good to be a helping hand. kand i don't have time foris morunreliable companies.b angie's list definitely saves me time and money. for over 18 years we've helped people

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>> former arkansas governor mike huckabee told the "new york times" i'm keeping the door open. i am saved. i'm keeping the door open. i think right now the focus needs to be on 2014, but i'm mindful of the opportunity for me. he offered up polling that shows him leading in iowa and south carolina even though his name is not thrown around as much as other contenders. chris christie he said would struggle in the battle ground states. huckabee won the iowa caucuses in 2008 and struggled to keep his campaign funded. >> mike. a good guy. >> he blessed me. >> full emerging.

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>> i had been with mandela. she gave me a hug and kissed me on the lips and said my husband. >> what happened? >> it's robo pundit. >> it was like with his trainer. >> it turns out that is

dangerous. >> having more people get injured. >> is that true? >> how these humorless people are. they don't realize it's love. >> it's tasty style affection. >> this is how you win the world cup. >> you see dick cheney go all crazy. i think you have a crush on him. i think you like dick cheney. >> a tribute to my inseparation. tom selleck. >> we thought others were more appropriate. >> i'm sign languaging. mika, when you were talking, i was doing better than the other guy. >> we will start there then. >> he started hearing voices and

hallucinating and he said he saw angels in the stadium. he was trying not to panic. stop. >> we will exclude donny. nothing good comes out of talking. it doesn't work. stay over here. it is much safer. love conquers all, baby. just like you me. >> after you thank me for my patience. >> what did you learn, brian? >> i'm amazed that you can reduce the life of jesus into cliff notes. >> here we have -- huh?

>> i'm saying goodbye to our interns. come here. thank you for everything. joe, what did you learn? >> i did. you did shave. thank god. thank you for everything. wonderful. >> what are you doing? going to disneyland? >> that would be great. >> with the snow, that would be good. >> and listen, we ask about the families who wanted this day to pass by in newtown, most of them have left town from what we understand. we didn't talk about what happened a year ago, but we just ask that you keep your thoughts and prayers with the people of newtown and sandy hook. not only those who tragically lot of the loves of their life, but those who survived such a terrible, terrible day. over the next year, may we make

progress on mental health and so many other issues. background checks and so many other issues that we think might make this place a safer country for our children. >> well said. >> if it's way too early, it's "morning joe." stick around for chuck todd. >> wheeling and dealing and reeling? the house has a rare moment of bipartisan productivity on the budget bill. speaker boehner has a rarer moment of beating back at conservative critics. we will talk about the target from heritage action. the latest on a developing story overnight. it's about an american who disappeared in iran seven years ago. we will talk to the coauthor of the story about unauthorized espionage for the cia. one year after the newtown tragedy, the fight for more gun control in washington is back to where it was before that horrific day.