if you could take gummy injection and make and you top performer in your career, would you. what did we get? >> rose said she wouldn't because that would be sad if i took drugs to be to be the bess sitter and phone yeller ever. brian says it would be worth the money and attention and worth the year not playing if caught. >> i inject my yogurt with something but i'm not telling. not this early. "morning joe" starts right now. ♪ so the mayor stopped by in staten island this afternoon. he cut his pizza with a knife and a fork. >> mother [ bleep ]er! supposed to be champion of the middle class. two weeks in your term and we catch you eating pizza ala

trump? and you call yourself a radical socialist? >> i often start with a knife and fork, but then i cross over to the american approach and pick it up when i go farther into the pizza. >> oh, start here and start over here, start over there? what is this? mixed martial arts? you're eat ago slice of pizza, for crying outloud! i start with the italian approach and the then the american and no, you pick it up and you eat it with your [ bleep ] hands! >> good morning! well, it's -- well, i don't -- good morning. fun with barnyard aneleimals on "morning joe." >> fair to say not the first ass on this show.

>> i don't think it will like it at all. >> two days away from being a sweater. >> what? >> that is awfully cold. i don't understand it. t.j., get the el paca man. you're missing the shot. >> we are not sure what is going on here but a lot of animals are coming in from the barn. it's tuesday. nothing to see here. january 14th. with us on the set is msnbc mike barnicle and "new york" magaz e magazine. >> and famed al qaeda expert. >> and famed al qaeda expert. >> can i ask you guys a question? >> about el paca? >> no. i think if you look back the past couple of weeks on this show, it's safe to say we might have answered questions about pot and el pacas. i'm tired.

i just want to say i'm not talking about either topic again. i've never smoked pot before and i've never ridden an el paca but i reserve the right to do so. >> two weeks later? >> especially after going to the neil young concert with you. >> as soon as you walked out the door, the first thing you said, i'm going to ride an el paca. >> to helpless. >> you said it. oh, okay. oh, my lord! okay. you know, after the show, i'm going to have to have mika explain exactly why she brought a donkey and el paca in this morning. because i don't -- some things you don't have an answer to. like for instance why would anybody eat pizza with a knife and a fork? i'm dead series. i've been here for half a century and i eat pizza live. i love pizza. you can tell right here.

i never thought about getting a utensil out for a pizza. >> no need for it. >> i thought about stacking two or three before but has anybody ever used a fork and a knife with a pizza? >> no. >> oh, de blasio? >> you pick it up and fold it in half and go to town on it. >> but he knew there was a camera. >> jon stewart in the course of an mockery of de blasio made the point that mike bloomberg would have somebody cut up the pizza and feed it him like a bird. >> is that what he said? >> that's what he said. >> do politicians eat pizza the way the rest of us do? >> he was afraid to say he ate it with a knife and a fork. >> are we really talking about this 4:00 minutes past the hour? >> confetti in her hair and brings in an el paca and a

donkey! >> no. i thought it was you. sorry. what is in my hair? >> is it on my face? >> on your chin. >> a little bit of a mess. oh, god! okay. >> so let's do the news. >> it's going to be fine. >> come home with glitter? >> come on kids. >> do you feel like you're completely out of it? >> more like limelight in 1999 to tell you the truth. >> are we ready? >> yeah. >> has the show started? >> do we need glow sticks for this, pacifiers? >> can you all take me seriously. >> go ahead. let's do the news with the glitter in our hair. new jersey governor chris christie is state to deliver his state of the state's speech today wow as two legislative panels will investigate the september lane closures on the george washington bridge with subpoenas expected this week for christie's top advisers. and, now, federal auditors are looking into the way his

administration spent sandy disaster recovery funds to promote the jersey shore. at the center of all of it, ads like these encouraging new jersey tourism and prominently featuring the governor and his family. according to a release from a democratic congressman, the company that won the lucrative 25 million dollar contract charged $2 million more than a similar bid. >> i don't think there is any question that, you know, this was an effort to promote him but the problem is it was at the expense of money from the taxpayers that could have been used for other sandy purposes. >> but for all of the bad press, christie's brand seems to be weathering the political storm. a pew poll shows 60% of the americans views of the governor are unchanged and 16% say their view of him has dimmed and 6% says his stock has actually risen? polling from in this new jersey shows christie's job approval has dipped somewhat but still

remains high. republicans still overwhelmingly back him with 89% support. and while nearly 4 in 10 democrats approve of the governor today, he has lost some ground in that demographic as well as with independents, although 62% still gave him positive marks. >> so john heilemann, still strong numbers for the governor. >> yeah. >> what is your gut? >> i think all of the damage being put on christie has nothing to do with what the public thinks of him right now and everything to do with what the people who are going to, over the course of the next year in the republican party, as he is trying to get himself ready to run for president, what the people in the world of the invisible primary. >> you mean like the downers? >> what donors and grassroots think of him and a small slice of the republican party that are really the people who are focused on this. it's really early to be thinking about the presidential election from the voters standpoint but from the elite standpoint and within the interparty competition that determines who is the front-runner and not the

front-runner and who gets key supporters and donors is where this matters. i think the questions now coming down on him, whether it's this investigation in a federal level of the allocation of money from the sandy relief from the ads or the additional information that came out yesterday about how he seems to have punished the mayor of jersey city for not endorsing him not in a similar way but in a way also quite evident from some of the e-mails and text traffic that came out yesterday, i think there is in the water now and he will have a hard next few months. i'll be interested to see what the polling says when we get out the other side of this six months from now. >> i'll just say democrats need to be careful, just like the republicans need to be careful, not to overreach. >> yep. >> the guy ran ads and you've got a democratic congressman talking about a bid that went 2 million over. americans look at that and say, okay, obamacare, that bid went a

hundred million. i don't know the exact number. but a bid 2 million over is not going to freak people out. democrats need to be careful about staying focused on what is the important -- >> i think republicans need to be careful not to make ridiculous parallels too. >> like what? >> look. this is a story within itself that has little -- they are screaming things like benghazi and irs and this and that and comparing. this is new jersey. i said this yesterday. this is governor chris christie and this is fascinating and it has its own dimension. you really don't need to bring anything else into it and paralleling looks like you're flailing, looks like grabbing for anything. >> not grabbing or flailing. but democrats who are shocked, shocked, shocked, and stunned at what happened here and we're obviously very disturbed about it as well. and we're apologizing for the president after benghazi, after

the irs scandal, after the tapping of the phones or the a.p. reporters, after what they did with james rosen at fox news. the very same people that went on their blogs and said nothing to see here, move along, move along. lois lerner is allowed -- i mean, if some of these democrats are screaming that this is the worst thing ever -- you see your twitter feed. >> yes. >> you've asked tough questions about the governor. you've still been absolutely crucified from the far left. >> yes. >> those people are jokes when they turn a blind eye to everything that is happening in washington, d.c. over the past year. and act as if, you know, somehow this is worse than all of that combined. i do think you bring it up just to show that there are important questions to be answered but some of the people that are hyperventilating are jokes because they sure as hel didn't

ask any tough questions about benghazi or the irs or the a.p. or the nsa or scandals that are so much more important. >> this is what i'm talking about. this is a distraction. >> no, it's not a distraction. >> you spent two minutes naming all sorts of scandals or pseudoscandals that happened within the obama administration in the past two years. >> right. >> we are talking about abuse of power potentially. >> right. >> for a man who could be the presidential contender for 2016 in the republican party and to have people like rudy giuliani stepping out there and flailing widely about benghazi and saying that the gwb scandal was just a prank, get over it? it's not helpful. >> right. but i would say that the irs scandal was a full-blown scandal. >> what is the point? >> i think that is every bit as important where you actually have an administration that has actually narrowly focused on -- >> why are you talking about it right now? why are you talking about -- we are talking about chris

christie! >> do you want to know why i'm talking about that? >> yes! >> because you brought it up. >> no. i said stop bringing it up. >> i didn't bring this up. you started it. and i'm explaining to you why there are some of us that think some of these people on the far left that are crucifying. >> frothing at the mouth. >> frothing at the mouth are raging relationship krits. that's all i'm saying other than why we all just get along and why did you bring a donkey and el paca? mike barnicle, doesn't seem to be damage with chris christie. >> there has been some damage, but i'm with john on this. call me six months from now. i don't think the damage is lasting and i think if you do go to places like manchester, and if you sit down and try to link benghazi with the george washington bridge, people would look at you and say, what are you talking about? it's not on people's screens right now.

i do agree with you that the democrats could, in the end, proper him up in new jersey. you know? >> by overreaching? >> yes. >> the thing that could change is what john talked about yesterday and two days ago, we saw out of hoboken you have mayors looking retroactively wondering, wait a minute, i had a face-to-face with chris christie and did not give him my endorsement and i don't have all of the details on jersey city. >> i can do it. >> like the mayor of jersey city had a war -- an iraq war veteran and former goldman sachs bank and came a mayor in in a local city in new jersey and who received a warm embrace from the christie administration on immediately being re-elected and told him he would have tons of meetings with the state officials and people closest to christie. the paper trail suggested the moment he announced he would not endorse christie in his

gubernatorial appearance, all of the meetings that had been scheduled cancelled within ho s hours. i think in the next six months, the state legislature is now going to renew subpoena power and they are going to subpoena all of the documents about this bridge thing. we still don't have a final answer on that. there are significant questions about that. democrats might overreach but right now, they are doing what is a proper investigation. we are going to see where that leads but in addition to that, there is now, as i say, chum in the water for the president, for democrats, for christie's foes within the parties and everybody is looking for other stores that echo the bridge story and you could see over the course of the next six to nine months story after story like this if this is the culture within the governor's office you could see a flood of stories like the ones we saw yesterday that go on the next six to nine months easily.

he is the republican front-runner. >> are you shocked by the fact that a governor would put his arm around somebody and say i'm going to help you out and then when they find out they are not going to endorse him, the meetings are cancelled? is anybody in manchester going to be shocked that politicians behave that way? >> no. >> are they going to be shocked that the guy who plays hardball? >> no. >> these mayors that come out and complain all they want and it's terrible it happened to them, but voters know that's how it's done. when you do something that ties up the george washington bridge and endanger people's lives, that is quite enough. >> the mayor of jersey city, a little different twist on that story. >> because there was a scandal -- go ahead. >> the mayor of jersey city, newly elected, young 36-year-old iraqi war veteran and guy of great potentially of the democratic party, told the governor's staff the reason why he couldn't endorse him. he may have been inclined to endorse him but said he couldn't

endorse him because a lot of gays and lesbians in his city who he has shown support for in terms of marriage, equity, things like that, and christie was against marriage equity in new jersey and he told him why. that's why i can't endorse you. and within 24 hours, sorry, all those meetings have been cancelled and you're getting nothing. >> there were like 12 meetings set up. could they have kept a few? they just yanked them all. >> it is the second biggest city in the state. >> mayor of jersey city, they really needed help in jersey city and it was a shame. >> find somebody on the city council that is going to support you and help through them. i'm saying it's politics at work. i would never do such a thing but i've heard it happens. i would guarantee you go to all 50 states, 45 of the 50 governors operate this way. they help people who help them and they don't help people who help the republicans. >> it's not a question of any individual thing.

it's a question of does this become part of a pattern that people seize on and this becomes part of, for most people in the country, many people in new jersey, they have a perception of chris christie as a guy whose narrative has been i work with democrats to get things done for the people of new jersey. that is what he has been selling, in addition to his toughness and so if there a series of stories of which this is just one. i'm not saying any one story. >> it under mines the -- >> if this is happens the next six months as reporters focus on the way they haven't focused on it before, it could be significantly damaging to that brand which is appealing to so many people and why he is a leading republican candidate for the nomination. >> general election, not so appealing in the primary election. willie, i think for me the biggest problem for chris christie out of this entire story after the bridge situation has to do with the fact that so few republicans came to his defense. you talk about an acid test on

how somebody is going to be doing in a primary, he just doesn't -- he has got no natural constituency out there. >> was a lot of glee as he was going through this, a lot of people celebrating privately. >> is that rand paul celebrating publicly? >> he was celebrating publicly. aides will either be forced to plead the fifth or provide e-mails and testify. perhaps we have no evidence to this. that chris christie in some way knew about this. that is where the real trouble comes and if that happened and he gave this defiant press conference and said under no uncertain terms he knew nothing about it and he has nowhere to go if some e-mail comes out that connects him with it. >> before we go, people in their basement on the far left wolfing down cheetos this morning as

their fat lops over their underwear and their mother is upstairs getting the other kids who are still going to school, getting them ready for school. do you think the mainstream media handled benghazi and irs and these other issues and asked the tough questions the same way they are about chris christie? >> i know we did. i think we did. >> just asking in general. >> it was on the front page of the paper every day. >> benghazi was? >> i think the president was asked time and time again. he put himself out there and was asked about it. on benghazi -- >> and he blamed other people. >> i think -- >> didn't president obama blame himself the way chris christie blame himself? >> yes. >> did you ever hear him say thg my administration and i am responsible for what happened. >> on the obamacare on the website, that is exactly what he did. i'm sorry. that is exactly what he did.

>> what about the irs, the nsa, the a.p.? >> i think the irs was a slower roll because they had to figure out what was going on and what ultimately was going on wasn't as egregious or motivated by hatred and coming from above as some would contend. >> well, listen we don't need to go on. i think we have given fodder enough. >> you keep bringing them up. >> i think we have done our duty. you guys have something to write about this morning. now, please, put a t-shirt on at least. your younger brothers and sisters are upstairs and your mom wants you to know that you're 26 now and obamacare didn't keep you on our health care insurance any more. you have to go and get a real job. what coming up next? >> senator joe manchin joins us. a big story out of west virginia. also former governor jon huntsman will be on the show and jane pauley we will talk to her about her new book and she is amazing. and mark mckinnon is on the set.

>> a hippie. >> most amazing man in the world and he's in colorado. do you think he's smoked a few? >> no comment. up next, the top stories in the politico playbook. first, bill karins with a check on the forecast. didn't i just see you in the hall? >> no. which one would i be? the donkey or the el paca? don't answer that. good morning, everyone. let's talk about this forecast out on there. the rain is moving up the eastern seaboard. like we have been in march the last four or five days. remember all of the snow we had about the country? a quarter of that is gone and melted. we have rain this morning. the green on the map is light rain all the way to northern new england. we have rain around washington, d.c. and baltimore. it's a light rain at that. but it will be with you for much of the morning commute and into the afternoon. it should taper off by the time you drive home. as far as the snow goes, we do have that back in the central plains from minneapolis to green bay, la crosse and maum today

a milwaukee today and maybe a snow day for the kids in wisconsin as much as 3 to 6 inches from green bay to milwaukee. look at that 82 in l.a. today. really not a lot of cold air on this weather map. just a little bit of snow there in the northern plains. you're watching "morning joe." we will be right back. ♪ love love is strange ♪ in the nation, what's precious to you is precious to us. so when coverage really counts, count on nationwide insurance. we put members first. join the nation. ♪ nationwide is on your side ♪

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argument over texting led to a shooting at a florida movie theater. a retired police officer reported got into a fight with another couple sitting a few rows in front of him. his father was texting his daughter while waiting for the movie to begin. the man asked the officer to top texting several times.

popcorn was thrown and ultimately he pulled out a handgun and shot the texter. >> oh, my gosh! >> the alleged shooter is charged with second-degree homicide. >> that is awfully! from the consikansas city s. southwest airline was headed to branson, missouri. they were in contact with the branson airport and cleared to land on approach they lined up with the runway at the wrong airport instead going to a smaller air field nearby about half as long. pilots had to slam on the break to avoid going over an embankment. "the new york times." charter communications made an offer to buy time warner cable for more than $60 billion in cash and stocks. time warner says the deal is, quote, a nonstarter marking the third time the company has rejected a proposal from

charter. if the companies reach a deal, it would be one of the media industry's largest mergers. the detroit free press. nine foundations pledge $330 million to prevent the sale of artwork in the institute of arts. it was considering selling some of its art to help detroit pay its $18 billion in debt. still as much as 500 million dollars may be needed to fully protect the collection. the tech company announced it purchased the company nest for 3.2 billion in cash. nest makes high tech thermostats and smoke detectors but some people say nest products are too smart. the thermostats can detect when you're home and when you're away. information google will now have access to. >> from the "usa today," a new study says drinking just 200 million grams of caffeine a day with improve your memory and what you're finding one cup of

strong coffee but more isn't necessarily better. those who drink 300 million grams of caffeine experience the same effects. researchers say the source of the caffeine doesn't matter. time for politico. willie geist? >> mike, let's talk virginia senate race. one of mitt romney's increasing looking like he is running for senate in virginia and talking about ed gillespie who ran the rnc a while. is he a good candidate in that state? >> he's a very strong candidate but he is going to be the underdog against mark horner. the democratic senator very popular. this didn't look like it was a race at all. this was a senate race on no one's radar and now ed gillespie saying he is going to run, ed will raise a lot of money from his many years working in d.c. but this rnc chairman started on

the hill and started as a garage attendant on capitol hill and worked his way up. a great d.c. story, but we are going to see playing out the tea party dynamic is such a problem for the party. there is a couple of candidates who will be running to the right of ed gillespie. for the people who followed him over the years aren't able to believe that but the tea party in virginia, ed gillespie is a sign of the establishment. our james holmesman decided that on gillespie's website he took down a video and link to an article he was calling for comprehensive grags immigration reform. a bunch of national issues crystallized in this fascinating race. >> people weren't expecting much of that race from senator warner. now here comes ed gillespie. he might attach senator warner

for the vote for obama care and paint him a tool of president obama. does that work in virginia which has gotten a little bluer than in the past. >> absolutely. that is the republican playbook nationwide but you point out virginia much more democratic and went for president obama both times and as of saturday when governor -- when governor terry mcauliffe was inaugurated all five democrats. coming up, a-rod strikes back. new details of his lawsuit against major league baseball and the arbitrator saying his decision was cut and dry to suspend a-rod for all of the 2014 season. more "morning joe" next. ♪ down a dirty road started out ♪ if you didn't kno that posting your travel plans online may attract burglars? [woman] off to hawaii!

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patriots locker room after the game. i think he's a friend of the owner's. either way, he believes patriots fans have been spoiled by how well the team is run. >> i'm impressed with the patriots organization. it's like they have lost so many people and y'all take winning for granted.

let me tell you something. when bill belichick leaves and tom brady leave, y'all team going to [ bleep ] suck. >> i'm not sure -- i think that is the opposite of a pep talk. >> funny and absolutely true. >> absolutely. >> charles barkley speaks the truth to the new england patriots pa media and fans. >> absolutely. >> a-rod is on the front page of the papers including "the new york times." yankees third baseman filed a suit after an arbitrator cut his 211-game suspension down to 162 games and still a if you season for his alleged use of performance-enhancing drugs. a "wall street journal" reports the lawsuit says the lead arbitrator was biased and the union did an inadequate job is what a-rod claims. major league baseball says a-rod

not only used peds but interfered with the investigation and a-rod is trying to get the entire suspension thrown out but legal experts say judges do not want to hear cases dealing with collective bargaining agreement. fed rick horowitz says the length of suspension may be unprecedented for a mlb player so is the misconduct he admitted. ho horowitz says he committed multiple violations of the drug agreement between the mlb and the union. that report with the arbitrary goes with a cocktail he took on mondays and a cocktail on fridays and a special cream this morning and testosterone cream and lozenges. >> i took one there will the alpaca. it was jazzed. the guy was on "60 minutes."

the guy who allegedly supplied the peds to a-rod. the guy is obviously a little skeevy but they showed the documentation that the investigators are using and it's quite compelling to see the text messages between the two of them by rodriguez steroid regimen. >> he has been given and accepted more bad advice with regard to his career than alex rodriguez. he could have cut a deal with major league baseball last may for the rest -- ban for last season and ready to go to spring training this season and it would have been over. he chose not to do that deal and now he is literally a man alone having sued the players association as well as major league baseball. >> but that deal would have involved admitting to steroid use and he is not going to do it, just not going to do it. >> even though the evidence is

overwhelming could he be charged with perjury like bonds? >> you know what could happen? it could happen that elements of what he has said, his behavior during this whole process would cause the yankees to void his contract. >> they should be able to, right? >> you would think so. >> has he been under sworn testimony? >> no. >> there is no perjury charges. he hasn't been before congress and he hasn't been in court so he doesn't face any criminal prosecution going forward. >> if the yankees drop him, he can decide whether to sue them or not. if he does, then he goes to court. >> when he comes back -- this season is gong. he comes back next year, if he tries to show up at spring training he will be nearly 40 years old with bad hips and legs and going through this and hard to imagine a future for him in baseball. >> amazing to think about how much money the yankees paid him when they did this contract on the assumption that he would be in the home run chase for the rest of his career and now he will the no get close to that number and, as you say, probably

done. >> what bosch said in the "60 minutes" saying a-rod would be the one to break the home run record and here it is catching up to him. >> speaking of perjury. whatever happened to roger clemens apparently lying before congress? certainly seemed observe. did they just decide not to prosecute him? >> that just went away, faded away as roger's hall of fame bid has faded away. >> let's go to a place where people don't use performance-enhancing drugs. >> somebody will die and i wonder when they will test them for performance-enhancing drugs. it's ridiculous. >> you mean humans can't be 6'4" and 270 and run a 4.4? like every linebacker in the nfl? >> it's absolutely ridiculous

and everybody knows they are all cheating so the question is when do you test these people? >> not now. >> although the shame is they are not really cheating because there is really no policy in the nfl which is why the whole thing is so outrageous. >> two great games coming up this weekend. one of them involves peyton manning and denver may not be actually peyton manning favorite city if you listen to this. >> omaha! omaha! omaha! >> so has that is one of his calls. peyton manning omaha. he barked the word omaha 44 times during sunday's game and the city of omaha loves it. omaha was a trending topic on twitter during the game and the greater omaha visitors bureau even tweeted thanks to manning. and meat manufacturer omaha steaks getting in on the celebration and celebrating peyton manning and omaha. mark mckinnon joins us for

mika's must read opinion pages. don't go away. we will be right back with more "morning joe." ♪ shattered ♪

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of the dusty basement at 1406 35th street the old dining table at 25th and hoffman. ...and the little room above the strip mall off roble avenue. ♪ this magic moment it is the story of where every great idea begins. and of those who believed they had the power to do more. dell is honored to be part of some of the world's great stories. that began much the same way ours did. in a little dorm room -- 2713. ♪ this magic moment ♪

♪ that's aspen. he is so cute. >> why did you bring a donkey to work? can you tell us? >> no. it's sort after long story. >> okay, fair enough. >> there was -- what is it called? what was the black thing? >> alpaca. >> that thing was cute. made a little funny sound. >> there is the alpaca. funny little teeth. >> he can run. so here with us now for the must read opinion pages, former adviser to george w. bush and cofounder of no labels, mark mckinnon. i want to read this about chris christie and get your take. this by bill press and in "the

hill." christie might be asked to testify in two ongoing investigations throughout the state legislature and port th t authority of new jersey and north and his misuse of hurricane sandy funds allegedly. and will bridget kelly fall on her sword for christie or stab him in the chest with it? they say in new jersey it ain't over until the fat lady sings. the question of christie's political future is still very much in the air. if he was lying, he is toast. but even without evidence of direct involvement in the bridge shutdown, the new jersey governor has already been weakened by the certainty he created a work environment where political vendettas were not only tolerated but encouraged. when you have to insist i'm not a bully, you probably are one. >> mark, how did he handle the bridge flap and what impact does it have? >> the press conference was

textbook. he did everything you should do. >> yeah. >> he took ownership. he accepted the blame. he heads rolled and he took every question until it was exhausted. from that point of view, it was perfect. the problem as you pointed out does it reinforce bad perceptions about him? the fact he may have not known about it but he had people around him who did so -- >> you say he may not have known about it. >> yeah. i think that is quite possible. >> please tell me how that is possible. >> nobody told him. >> okay. but two people resigned weeks and weeks earlier. it's on the front page of the papers. >> they knew they would be fired if they told him and they didn't tell him. >> really? is that very possible? >> yeah. >> i think that's very possible but let me ask another question, though. these people are so close to him. i think equally troubling

question is who would do that to their boss? i find it hard to believe that people that close -- again, if you believe chris christie and, as i said, i am inclined to do that, there is another issue -- >> people believe their boss wanted them to do things like that creating an environment. >> what about when he asked and you think he asked, right? >> he had an obligation to ask. >> so? >> i assume that he asked and i assume that he was lied to. >> the problem is he had those kind of people around him foster that kind of a culture and it's also problematic two of his closest aides are gone and replace those aides and find others that are capable. >> what is the impact? >> it's a huge, huge distraction, joe. at a time when he was really, you know, teeing this up perfectly. he couldn't have positioned himself any better and then the whole thing blows up. >> to run for president? >> yeah. i'm not saying certainly handicaps him and i'm not saying

that it's over, but it's just a huge distraction at a time when he was building great momentum for a perfect launch. >> is there anybody else like you that thinks unequivocally he could have not known anything? >> i think so. >> you do? i'm still struggling how could he have not known? i think most people think how could he have not known, right? >> it depends. it depends on the people who are around you. you could go back through one administration after another in the white house of things that, you know, were done that the president didn't know about. >> but we know chris christie and we know that he would have known. >> no. >> he is an inquisitive person. >> he said early on in the press conference, there is this m mistaken belief i'm a micro

manager. i put good people around mean i let them run with the ball. we have all known leaders like that and all known micro managers. it happens. >> it does. >> that's a huge -- >> you guys don't feel awkward right now? >> that's a huge decision for an aide to take upon in this case, herself. for her to say i'm not going to tell anybody about this and shut down traffic on the george washington? like that just -- it's possible, it's certainly possible he had no idea. it seems a lot for a deputy chief of staff to take on herself and make an executive decision like that. >> i want to know the redacted. i want to know who the person that she was e-mailing with, who that redacted person was. >> it's technically possible so far but do you believe that? >> i think for a lot of people the thing got ordered in the middle of the traffic crisis that all this is happening and nobody -- that -- clearly there was a triumph within the office. people were excited about it and high fiving about it that chris

christie didn't know anything about it at that time and when the story started to break no one asked about it and when he asked his aides, they lied it and when two people quit from the port authority and didn't tell him about it. all of those things over the course of months and i think for a lot of people and republicans not coming to chris christie's defense, it gives them pause that all of that could be true over all of those months and things have to be true for chris christie to be telling the truth in his press conference people say if he is not lying i take him at his word. most people are still on the condition -- >> mark, you take him at his word. >> i do. >> i take him at his word. do you, mika? >> as his friend, i am inclined to believe him. i think he has to answer the time how he did not know and still time to do that. there are three huge gaps in this. >> and an investigation and a paper trail and if there is one, we will know.

>> mark, stay with us. ahead this morning, u.s. senate candidate ben sasse joins you. >> i guarantee you there is a paper trail. as you and i both know, as well as anybody, chris christie texts a lot. so if he knows anything about it, it will come out and he's already said in the press conference quite defiantly that he had absolutely no idea. so, i mean, if he is not telling the truth, it's going to be a very rapid fall from the top. >> yes. jane pauley stops by the set. this piece of video is funny enough but the audio is actually -- that's not funny. why is that funny? >> that is awful! >> news you can't use is next. >> why is that funny? >> it's not funny. there's a saying around here, you stand behind what you say.

around here you don't make excuses. 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. . anncr vo: introducing the schwab accountability guarantee. if you're not happy with one of our participating investment advisory services, we'll refund your program fee from the previous quarter. while, it's no guarantee against loss and other fees and expenses may still apply, we stand by our word.

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>> she is like, man. >> look! >> come on. >> poor thing. don't do that to her! >> no, no, no. >> which one is her father, do we know? so she is with her dad right now. now she met her uncle. okay, she is starting to figure it out. >> that is so cute. >> one other video. mitt romney is at a conference for young mormons at arizona state university and getting loose. ♪

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sing my song ♪ ♪ >> 300,000 people in west virginia are facing now a fifth day without tap water after a chemical spill contaminated their water ply supply. >> the only appropriate use is toilet flushing. flushing your commode will be appropriate but don't make baby formula with it and don't wash with it or brush your teeth with it. >> a group of people from washington can't brush their teeth or feed their babies. >> welcome to "morning joe." a live look at the white house as the sun has yet to come up over washington. john heilemann and mark mckinnon are still with us. joining us is democratic senator from west virginia senator joe manchin and former republican governor of utah, jon huntsman. the organization is out with a new ebook. no labels. a shared vision for a stronger america and we will get to that in a moment. first, we want to start in west

virginia where officials, yesterday, started to lift a tap water ban that affected 300 thousand residents since a chemical spill on thursday. the customers must flush their own systems first. there is a color coded zone map to determine who can use the water. there are growing questions this morning about the company responsible for the leak. more than a dozen lawsuits have been filed against freedom industries and its facility near the river potentially never inspected because it was considered a storage facility. the company's ceo is having a tough time with the media. this is a look at him talking last friday for reporters. >> look, guys, it has been an extremely long day. i'm having a hard time talking at the moment. i would appreciate it if we could wrap this thing up. i will -- >> we have actually have a lot of questions and it's been a long day for a lot of people who don't have water. >> at this moment in time, i think that's all we have time for so thanks for coming.

>> we have more questions. hey! hey! we are not done! >> you're not done? >> all right. senator manchin, maybe you can do a little better and give us, first of all, an update because this affects so many people in your state. >> good morning, mika and joe. and you're right. it does. it's a very tough situation back home. we had so many people that have been out of water and a lot of our shut-ins and nursing homes and our hospitals were very much high concern. i want to applaud fema, the national guard and all of the state employees who have been working hard to get potable water to all of the people. we have outposterioring of love and people from different states sending water in. it's been tremendous and we thank them for that. we are getting back to normal stage-by-stage. it's just a horrific situation and should never happened and tells you we have an awful lot of chemicals throughout this country that are being stored and never inspected and it's a

wake-up call for a lot of us. >> questions about the safety of the water supplies across the country and how vulnerable they can be to a lot of different type of situations. let's talk about the task at hand right now. how long is it going to take to get things back to normal? i can't imagine how hospitals are functioning. >> well, they were on emergency. they got relief first. they got all of the water supplies they needed and backup they needed first. with that being said, basically, what we are into right now is getting the system back up. the system is back up. the levels are safe levels now. they are coming on stages at a time. i would say by tomorrow, should be everything should be back up and running. it's been a horrific situation and all of our people have been working so hard and pulling together. >> senator, it's willie geist, senator. good to hear it's moving forward and by some point this week it will be all okay. i got two young kids and thinking about a mother and father in west virginia enhearing while the water is fine, i'm not sure i want to drink that water to my kids.

what assurances can you give people inside the state of west virginia who have a baby or a child of some kind it's okay to give their kid that water? >> first of all, willie, we were told and been told it's not toxic and not lethal. it's still hazardous material and being cautious how we are dealing with it. i think basically that people -- it had a licorice smell to it and that smell would detect it was still in the system. i'm understanding with the flushing you're not getting that and it's very safe and drinkable as they come back on. i would have to rely on the authorities they are bringing it back on and i think they were overcautious which was good and should have been done the way it was and when they come back on, they will be overcautious about br they tell you it's safe to use. >> senator, we will certainly be checking back in on that. let's move to other political news right now. governor huntsman, we would love to get both of your takes on the situation with chris christie. where do you both stand on that?

governor huntsman, you first. >> well, we're here to talk about a national strategic agenda. i don't know that chris christie rises to that national strategic agenda. first of all, i think chris christie is a pretty impressive figure and i think he would make a great candidate eventually for the presidency but i have to tell you having run a governor's office and joe has done the same thing, and every governor's office, whether your state is large or small, it's pretty much organized the same way. your neighbor is a chief of staff and your deputy chief of staff is right down the hall. everybody knows day in and day out what is playing out in your state. down to, you know, a minuscule details. so there's something here that just does not connect fully in terms of how communication was handled and the issues were put forward to the governor. i hope that part is clairived because i know how governors offices run. i ran one. joe knows how governor's offices

run. he ran one too. i think any governor would probably tell you the same thing about how tight those internal staffs are and the extent of the detail that flows through the governor's office. >> thas why i'm asked you both and we will get to the agenda in a second. joe, do you agree? it's surprising in terms of the governor's office that you ran? what is plausible and implausible about the situation that chris christie finds himself in? >> mika, as a former governor and also working with all of the governors, i know chris christie. i consider chris christie a friend. his lovely wife mary pat and family through our interactions through the national governors association. i have never seen any indication of what we are seeing now. we just have to wait until things unfold here. i would believe chris for what he is saying and i would take him at his word and if it's going to be any different, it will be a horrific price to pay. >> i will actually second that knowing him as well.

i haven't seen anything and knowing him personally and would lead me to believe he would do that to get back at people. >> we want to become governors and executives of our state to do the best for our state. we talk back and forth to get our best ideas to help each other. i assumed that all governors at 245 level want to do the best they can to protect and help the people of their state. i've never seen any indication of anything otherwise so we have to wait and see. >> let's get to the task at hand. john heilemann? >> you're here to talk about the no labels agenda and i see four bullet points. one is pressing and creating 10 million jobs and third is balance the federal budget by 302030 and make america's manager self-sufficient by 2035. hard to imagine that any parties would disagree with those.

none of those things currently are state of play. one of the biggest obstacles to making those happen and what is the political strategy? it seems to me that those are all broadly acceptable goals but how will you make this happen given all of the obstacles we have seen to any of these things taking place previously? >> well, this book, john s a reminder that this country can still do big things when we get our act together. today, we simply don't have our act together with such a dysfunctional congress. if you go to no labels.org, you can access the book and it basically lays out some arguments that members of congress are putting forward, that even former chiefs of staffs and republicans and democrats have put forward this country is able to do bold things and korgeus things when we do get our act together. we are laying out this political strategy in about five different phases. the first phase would basically be getting this book out, getting our problem solvers caucus on capitol hill which is

90 strong to begin sorting through the big issues of the day. why are they the big issues of the day? because if we fail at those, we lose our competitive position in the 21st century. all of those that you just talked about, john. then phase two which basically will be bringing in a lot of stake holders including state and local government who will gather around the no labels banner this summer, first time ever. a business community members and others and then to infuse some specifics in terms of how we get from point a to point b into the 2016 election cycle. >> mark mckinnon? i think joe wanted to jump in? >> go ahead, senator. >> mark, i just wanted to say that basically we are talking about a vision shared. if we don't have a shared vision as americans, whether you're democrat or republican, independent, whether you're from labor or you're from business, in west virginia, a previous governor had put a group together we called a shared vision. i energized that when i was governor. we came together.

labor and business, democrats and republicans, of where the state of west virginia could go and should go and how we would get there. we didn't always agree but basically we agreed this is where we should be. if we are looking at it no labels is the only venue we have bringing people together right now saying is the american dream still alive and is it attainable. if that is the case why don't we come together as americans and the best politics is good government make something good happen but get something we can attain. that's what we are trying to do. >> we have been dysfunctional for so long that we forget that we are not even doing the simple obvious things and obvious thing is having shared goals. governor huntsman has lived in four countries and one has a national strategic agenda and one does and we have james baker and alice ripland and matt mclaurelty and a bipartisan group talking about when they were in their nings how they established goals like clinton

and tax reform with president reagan. once you establish a destination can you get there but now the compass is rolling around. >> how do you cut through that? everything that governor huntsman and senator manchin have said and everything you j you said makes perfect seps. i don't know who would disagree with we have got to work to go. >> mika, you've got to have two things to succeed. i certainly found this out as governor and i'm sure joe did too. you have to have a vision and you have to have ideas and break the ideas down to specific components that are actually implementable. second you've got to have an implementation vehicle which is a caucus on capitol hill that can get it done. where no labels is absolutely extraordinary is we're putting forward this vision, this master plan of the big issues that we must get right for sake of 21st century competitiveness and we couple of that with the implementation mechanism called our problem solvers caucus on capitol hill. this has never been done before. we have always had presidents stand up and say that they want

to be uniters and not dividers by telling us how to get it done. this is a how we get it done part i think is so important for the american people. >> i know since you arrived in washington after having been a chief executive of a state and getting used to getting things done on a daily basis you're not alone in this but you were surprised about the lack of progress and lack of ability of congress to get things done in a quick, smart way. what gives you hope that this sort of partisan brand of politics can be shed and that the no labels e, this hos will be adopted by washington when it seems things are moving from the other direction on the outside? >> not just from the political leaders in washington unable to get together, if we had corporate titans and corporate leaders and small businesses, if we had labor leaders, small and large, get together and say, we want corporate tax reform, if we can't come to an agreement here but no labels is bringing a group together that says, okay, labor is going to benefit. we got more jobs coming back to

america. we are all going to benefit. corporate america is going to benefit by having a good work force and in a stable country, then we can all move forward. maybe the form of no labels can bring that group together. we can't seem to do it in halls of congress but a form like no labels and problem solvers that is willing to say, we will cross over and basically look at the end result. the end result is better, more jobs and better jobs for americans. if that can be done, then why shouldn't we have a more competitive corporate tax rate that is fair and poses loopholes? we can't seem to get past the gridlock on the hill here but we can in the halls of basically of america people want jobs and want something done. i've talked to corporate and labor leaders who are willing to sit down and work through this. we give them that form. >> the new ebook maybe every member. congress should get a copy of is no labels for a stronger

america. senator manchin, good to see you and good luck with the water emergency in your state. former governor jon huntsman, thank you. great to see you as well. >> thank you, mika. >> mark mckinnon, great to have you on the show with your interesting outfits. you can click on the afternoon mojo section of our website for more info. still ahead, it's not just college grads asking what am i going to do now? jane pauley says baby boomers are facing the same question and her new book helps pave the way for an entire generation at a crossroads. you're watching "morning joe." we will be right back. go-gurt?

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nobody in your family ever said you're a bit of a dreamer and you could get hurt. >> oh, yeah. i mean, they would say that to me. but, at the same time, they would let me do it. i was really a flake when i was a kid. i wanted to be a writer.

i wanted to be a hockey player. i wanted to be a rock star. i wanted -- until i finally stumbled into active which is the most respect i ever got! >> that was jane pauley then interviewing michael fox in 1991. jane credits that interview with helping change her outlook on life and changing your life is the focus of her new book. jane joins us now. i just love this story. >> thank you. >> good to have you on board. >> michael j. fox grew up to do all of those things he described. he still does all of those things. >> it's amazing. you can do a lot more than what you think you're setting out to do. i watched the coverage of this and i noticed that you had a conversation with one of your kids about kind of getting off -- >> i had a day time show. you don't remember it. >> it was huge. >> because it was opposite

oprah. the hair was on fire the whole time. it was not successful but i remember it proudly. when you try something and fail, my psyche things, good for you, girl, you tried. but a year went by, people would ask what are you doing, jane? and i'd say, well, basically i'm unemployed. gary would roll his eyes. and then they said, "how are you enjoying retirement?" i. in my mid to late 50s. i wasn't retired. but i was working on things in the comfort of my sofa at home on my laptop. i was working the things. but my son tom, my youngest, send me an e-mail one morning. dear mom. i think you've surveyed the field long enough. what you might be good at, what you want to do. the bottom line was, it's time to make your move. now, i can't say that e-mail made me say, i'll make my move. i don't take their advice any

more than they take mine. it did kind of sum up i had been, after three or four years, it was time to stop thinking and do. >> talk about the michael j. fox interview, though, how it changed your life. you asked him if he should conserve his energy and his answer was? >> and what would you be conserving your energy for? at the time, he didn't know that i had an illness. this was 10, 12 years ago when i was then, at that point, two years recovered from a serious illness which he did not know about. a few people did. i later wrote about it in my memoir ten years ago. last spring, i think it was last spring, the 20th anniversary of "date line" he did my final interview with "dateline." and he said conserve your energy for what? he said something else. he said, say yes more than no. no doesn't move you forward. so as often as you can, say yes.

so late in 2013, that was my new year's resolution, say yes more. my 2014 resolution, which i came up with some time in october because you need some momentum for these things, is say yes to more new things. i think we need some intentionality as we go forward in life, because at 63, i could have another decade to have a productive life ahead of me, as can my generation, to whom i am speaking really. we are setting a template for x-generations to follow. welcome on board. for what later mid-life looks like. it's not -- >> it's not what it used to be. >> it's not the end of a line. it's the beginning of a new line. >> everybody is healthier. >> your father is 86. >> and working full-time. >> no, seriously. >> going to mongolia without any

aides. your mother is 83 and. >> working with a chain saw on her sculptures and writing a book. >> james baker is mid-80s and still extraordinary. >> ruth bader ginsburg. when we drop names like that, the purpose of my stories are down to earth. they are real people. i always have a reality check. the fact is we are not all your father. you know? we are not all of those super exceptional people, but the fact is that as demographics change, as people do live healthier, more vital lives longer, there comes a time when you're in your mid-50s or even my age, 63, and you think what am i going to do? so we still talk about retirement. we still look forward to it and maybe we don't look forward to it, but whatever, i describe retirement as a door that swings on a hinge moving us from

something into something else, but we don't always know what that something else is. >> how old was your son when he wrote you that e-mail and what was the context? why did he write you? were you walking around in a bath bathrobe. >> no, i was sitting on my sofa working the problem. i was being active and pro active in looking for something to do. i knew i needed structure in my life because i do inertia really well. i do nothing really well. i thought i was wasting my talents. he didn't want to worry about, you know -- he has always been concerned that -- what are you doing? he is the youngest but he is a lot like me. he is future oriented in that sense and kind of, you know, thinking strategically about mom's life and i think when i went back to work with your life calling series that i do on "today," they were all relieved. you know, i travel a lot. they never know i'm gong but

that is one of the advantages of this time of life when i was yurng and nbc sent me to very glamorous places and waved at the queen and met the pope twice, i never wanted to go, i had small kids at home. >> i hear you. >> now i don't go to glamorous places like that, but i am really eager to go. >> isn't it fun to meet people and to hear their stories? >> i'm on this book tour and meeting people one to one and hearing their reinventions. i met a handsome guy who looked like a movie star. he explained to me carefully, i had a stroke and i couldn't talk for three years. he can obviously talk now. he says, i still can't read but he had this information he was starting a coffee company. >> there you go. >> at 73. >> this is where we're going. and it's not to put people off

you've got to do something extraordinary. >> no but you got to do something. >> you got to kind of have an answer to the question. >> yeah, what are you doing? willie? >> jane, reinvention is a great concept but can be very daunting. >> paralyzing. >> especially in this economy. a lot of people in their 50s who have been working at one place or at least in one industry for 25 years and, all of a sudden, they are out of a job and they are being told it's time to reinvent yourself. learn a new trade and learn to do something new. that is a lot easier said than done. >> we have a lot in common with our millennials if we have kids in our 20s and mine just turned 30. starting out in life where you see it looks like your friends have all got it going, they have got the career going, maybe they are married, maybe they have got families, maybe they are getting promotions, hmaybe they are getting a lot of attention. at 20 something have eight jobs on average by the time they turn 30. it's the churn. so whether you're starting out in life or starting over, yeah, it's perplexing and it does take

some time and, no, you're not the only one who hasn't got it figured out yet. it doesn't need to be -- it's more values oriented. it's more about making my life matter, finding purpose or just something that is creative or keeps you engaged. overthinking it or exaggerating what you're supposed to do. my next cycle i'm probably not going to be invited to talk to you. >> i hope you are because i love talking to you. >> you know what i think you're doing and i don't think you're trying to, but you're breaking stereotypes about age. >> totally. >> especially for women. i talk about my age and my weight all the time. i just say it. i tweet it. and i love hearing you say, i'm 63. like the sky is blue. >> i always talk about myself being middle age and nbc executive in my late 30s, told me to knock it off! >> yeah. i could see that.

but, no. it's great. we have got to get over this thing. >> yeah. >> and people are scared to share their age. how old are you, joe? >> 50. >> willie? >> 38. >> 27. >> okay! see? >> if i could say, though, i'm a very, very old 50. >> no! handsome 50, isn't he? i think that it's -- i think it's really cool and i love the book. it's great to see you back. >> joe was in kindergarten while i was graduating from high school. >> i'm 46, almost 47. frightening! you know, it happens. the book is "your life calling." jane pauley, thank you so much. >> we love having you here. thank you. >> thank you. >> come back. why wouldn't you come back? >> because you haven't asked me until now. >> i would love for you to come back! are you serious? >> yeah. it will be my third time. when will it happen? >> alex, make it happen. president obama responds to his former defense secretary's new book, what he said about bob gates critical assessments

coming up on "morning joe."

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♪ i know nothing to say ♪ >> first, president obama is reacting to robert gates new book which at times offered a highly critical assessment of

their tenure together. >> secretary gates did an outstanding job for me as secretary of defense, as he notes, he and i and the rest of my national security team came up with a strategy for afghanistan that was the right strategy and we are continuing to execute. and i think that what is important is that we got the policy right but that this is hard and it always has been. >> the former secretary of defense will join us live tomorrow morning right here on "morning joe." >> fascinating book. >> should be very interesting. coming up, the game that changed the world. how ping-pong, not politics, helped break down barriers between the u.s. and china. "morning joe" will be right back. [ male announcer ] this is the story of the little room

over the pizza place on chestnut street the modest first floor bedroom in tallinn, estonia and the southbound bus barreling down i-95. ♪ this magic moment it is the story of where every great idea begins. and of those who believed they had the power to do more. dell is honored to be part of some of the world's great stories. that began much the same way ours did. in a little dorm room -- 2713. ♪ this magic moment ♪

and his new boss told him two things -- cook what you love, and save your money. joe doesn't know it yet, but he'll work his way up from busser to waiter to chef before opening a restaurant specializing in fish and game from the great northwest. he'll start investing early, he'll find some good people to help guide him, and he'll set money aside from his first day of work to his last, which isn't rocket science.

it's just common sense. from td ameritrade. i was so good that some years later, they decided i should be on the all-american ping-pong team. somebody said world peace was in our hands. but all i did was play ping-pong. >> here with us now is journalist nicholas griffin who is the author of ping-pong diplomacy. the secret history behind the game that changed the world. and in it, he writes, in part this. when china surviving team members reconvened at the 1971 world championships in japan, the political implications became clear. the americans, a team of odds and ends, were also present in

nagoya at a diplomatic level a meeting between the two countries was considered impossible. mao would have been torn do you by his party for approaching the americans directly as richard nixon would have been accused by -- of treason by the republican right for holding out an olive branch to the chinese. the first steps between the two distant nations weren't carried out by politicians. they were conducted by ping-pong players. welcome to the show. >> talk about the bridge from that to the opening of china by nixon. >> well, it's this sort of key piece. we only got 12 months and it all happens very, very quickly and that is part of the point of the ping-pong diplomacy is this wonderfully warm moment creates an enormous amount of political space for everybody to maneuver it. within three months, you've got kissinger's secret mission to beijing and then the invitation. it's boom, boom, boom. >> a year earlier, that

obviously you explained would have been impossible because both parties to it would have been torn apart by their own side? >> that's right. that's right. i mean, nixon wouldn't have stood a chance just wanteding into t -- cannedwandering in. >> you wrote ping-pong suited china perfectly. why is that? >> the number one reason was the international bodies, the only international sporting body ever to have been headed by a british aristocrat who happened to be a spy for the soviet union so they knew they were in capable hands before the they beginning. >> hard to believe that the chairman mao thought that ping pock w pong was strong. >> winning a world championship of any kind was the first step. it won't last forever but you

had to start somewhere. they knew they had a warm guy leading the federation so he really put it on a plate and welcomed them into international federation. >> you also wrote at the time they understood they weren't powerful militarily and culturally not make a big difference across the globe that this was their best shot? >> yeah. in some ways, it was more about hiding stuff than promoting stuff. for instance, during the great leap forward, you know, china really forced the peace. the familine there kills 40 million people depending on who you believe. they bring in foreign journalists and a great way to cover things up. >> you talked how they attracted the attention from ping-pong but able to hide this from the journalists. if the estimate is up to 44 million people that is a huge number to hide it's an extraordinary number. the way they did it, the

communist spy made shuver done spoke a word of mandarin. they had had the people who led them around and things were kept very tight. the only time to go out of beijing is visit the great wall and they don't realize the chinese are stealing the sand wishes when they are out visiting the great wall. >> explain kissinger's role in making the opportunity for ping-pong diplomacy to work. >> kissinger is vital because the sporting diplomacy doesn't work if the political framework doesn't preexist behind it. so in this case, you've got kissinger setting up this amazing slow motion diplomacy with handwritten notes going back and forth between the pakistani channel between china. it's not a perfect form of communication. the problem is the subtleties get lost and the chinese put an american journalist on -- right

next to mao during a parade and we miss it and don't understand that over here. suddenly this channel is closed again and why they choose something so remarkably obvious, ping-pong that we can't miss it as a political signal. >> of course, politics and sports have always been intertwined here. the 1980 olympics. the '84 olympics. and now the olympics in russia, barack obama -- what is that? >> don't forget dennis rodman. >> oh, my lord. >> hoops diplomacy. >> and now over to russia and now russia what barack obama is doing by sending billie jean king to lead the delegation. >> and he came out saying he needed to raise his voice and be a part of that delegation and interesting to see if other members of that delegation join in. >> yeah. >> come out.

>> i know what you mean. >> i was hearing that -- maybe this is in the book too but our brains would be much better off if we all played ping-pong. that hand/eye coordination will help us with our memories in later age. >> it's true. there are a few papers talking about how if you want to stay mentally fit into your old age, ping-pong is a good way to do it. >> really? >> are you good? >> no, i'm not. >> you wrote this book? i think you might want to practice. joe, you keep playing, okay? >> i play some. mike barnicle, mike is in trouble. >> mike hates ping-pong. >> i never met anybody that hate it. >> this explains henry kissinger why he is spry to this day. all of that ping-pong has kept him nimble. >> do you like ping-pong? >> no. i want to slam that ball really hard and hurt people and it's so light and small. i prefer tennis and so does my father. my teenagfather has a strategic

approach to tennis. >> you can read the fear in their eyes. >> really? you don't think my father can see the fear in your eyes across the court? trust me. trust me. >> kissinger loved ping-pong and brzezinski obsessed with tennis. >> he plays every day. >> somewhere in the middle there is paddle tennis. >> all right. >> not good enough. >> nicholas, thank you so much for being with us. absolutely fascinating. up next, here is jimmy! "the tonight show" new man out jimmy fallon is poised to break up late night tv, next. [ male announcer ] this is jim. a man who doesn't stand still. but jim has afib, atrial fibrillation,

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progressive.here to help you turn your dream into a reality. ♪ welcome back to "morning joe" on this tuesday morning. wow. it looks dark for this time of day. new york city cloudy and light rain. a lot of light rain. almost like a march spring morning out there. it's very mild. we have rain from the northern portions of new england all the way down to florida. d.c. has had on and off rain and looks like the commute is going okay. thankfully the airports are doing all right. with the cloudy rainy conditions you my have minor delays during

the day today but for the most part, we are at no delays from boston to new york and d.c. and look at the temperatures. we are in the mid to upper 40s. whatever snow was on the ground even in new england a lot of it is gone after our january thaw. so where do we go from here? snow day for you. green bay down to milwaukee. about four to six inches by the end of the day. a lot of schools may dismiss early or maybe they didn't have them today. you'll see some snowflakes in chicago, but not a lot of accumulation. the rest of the east coast looking very wet on this tuesday morning. back to you, mika. >> bill, thank you. deputy editor, "vanity fair," featuring jimmy fallon. >> let's start with jimmy fallon. right off the top, you write how this guy could not be any

different from the consonant "tonight show" host johnny carson. >> the only thing in common they have is shooting "the tonight show" in new york. it moved from this building out to l.a. jimmy is bringing it back. they're very different people. johnny was out on the town every night, you know, boozing it up and having a great time. and jimmy is a very different kind of guy, different sense of humor. totally different all around. >> how different? in what ways? >> you know, his sense of humor. jimmy stands out from the rest of them. he doesn't have that hard edge, i think, that johnny had, that dave has, that a lot of these guys have. he's sort of -- he's a throwback almost to the era before johnny. >> the sweetness. >> yes. >> comedic heroes, you look at them and they are people that are great on tv and make you laugh. but you hear, you sense -- they just don't like talking to

people. tina fey says that jimmy actually likes talking to people. in fact, i've got to say, we've come across through the years some snl stars that can be a little -- little strange. >> little prickly. >> not even prickly, just kind of -- i was shocked the first time jimmy was on here. >> he's really nice. >> down to earth. sweet, sweet guy. >> gregarious and just to contrast with johnny carson a little bit more, we have a johnny carson story in the issue also. there was a surprise birthday party for johnny once and eight people were there. he didn't go out much. he didn't have any friends. stayed in most of the time. if he went out drinking, it was a few buddies and then he went home alone. very quiet life. >> for people too young to ever see johnny carson on "the

tonight show" you missed the best of the best. >> i think when you're a big star there's something to be said about having a close inner circle and not a lot of friends. that actually says more to me. >> letterman lives a quiet life up in connecticut. you never see him out and about. jim jimmy, going back for all of us to work here at 30 rock, we know the extreme work that's taking place to get the studio -- they expanded his studio. that is the original "tonight show" place. they've made it bigger, fancier. >> is there something symbolic about it coming back to new york? possibly. editor's letter, we have this liberal mayor now and it's like a throw back to lindsay and the '60s all again with "the tonight show" coming here. i don't know. i'm excited about it coming to new york. >> plus, seth will have jimmy's

old spot. >> loren michaels runs late night, period. >> deborah harry, looking great. 40th anniversary of her first tour. >> she's so cool. >> going back out on the road. what is blondie doing? >> we had annie liebowitz shoot her. it's exciting seminole punk band. still kind of are. i'm curious to see how they do. >> where do you come down on blondie? "call me" or "heart of glass"? >> i have to say "dreaming." i saw -- i don't know where it was, on snl, just standing up there, looking unbelievably stoned singing "dreaming." it was -- for me, it's as

transfixing as when elvis costello cut off the song and broke into radio, radio. >> i remember her on solid gold. >> really? >> at a time when -- >> "solid gold"? i remember "solid gold." >> that many women from the punk new wave era that were that important, deborah harry and, of course, both going strong. can we talk quickly about the swim suit issue thing? >> yeah. >> you guys have a story about the sports illustrated swim suit models with a lot of pictures, including cheryl tiegs. get that on camera. get that on camera quick. >> okay. >> you know, i don't understand why. i know you can see through it, but you could see through it in

1977, too. >> there's christie brinkley, i believe, and elle mcpherson on the next page. >> oh, dear lord. do you guys really want to do this? >> you went there first. don't act shy. >> no, you know what -- >> yes, you did. >> there's elle. >> awfully gorgeous -- >> pippa middleton has a column. >> we're talking about the swim suit issue, story. >> tell us about your story. >> 50th anniversary this year. it was an idea that 50 years ago they thought there's nothing happening in february. baseball hasn't started. football's ended. what are we going to do? and they just thought girl, bikini on a beach. let's give it a shot. >> that could work. >> it's a huge, huge franchise now. valued at something between $40 and $50 million, that one issue. >> in vegas when they put the westminster dog show on the

cover. no, it is huge. pippa. >> pippa is one of our columnists, writing about rugby. very big sports fan. very big sports fan. and likes writing about sports. i know nothing about rugby. most americans don't know the rules about rugby. >> the new issue of "vanity fair" is out now. >> looks great. >> i like reading this magazine. it makes me actually want to read a magazine. >> very good issue. >> more "morning joe" in just a moment. ♪ >> what are you doing? >> we're bringing back "tonight show" to new york, right?

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so the mayor stopped by staten island this afternoon. he cut his pizza with a knife and a fork. >> mother [ bleep ]. two weeks into your term and we catch you eating pizza? how about trump? and you call yourself a radical

sociali socialist. >> i often start with a knife and fork but then i cross over to the american approach and pick it up when i go farther into the pizza. >> do you start over here, start over there? what is this, mixed martial arts? what do you mean, you start with -- you're eating a slice of pizza, for crying out. i start out with the italian approach, go to american, and then go to mongolian -- no, you pick it up and eat it with your [ bleep ] hands! >> well, i don't -- good morning. good morning. fun with barn yard animals, "morning joe." donkey. >> that's not the first ass that's been on this set. >> i don't think the alpaca is going to like this at all. >> about two days away from being a sweater. >> what? that's just awfully cold. i don't understand it.

get the alpaca, man. you're missing the shot. all right. we're not exactly sure what's going on here, but a lot of animals are coming in from the barn. it's tuesday. nothing to see here. january 14th. with us on set, msnbc contributor mike barnacle. famed alpaca expert. and john heilman. can i ask you guys a question? >> about alpacas? >> no. if you go back the past couple of weeks on this show, i think it's safe to say that you've answered every question somebody might have about pot and alpacas. right? >> true. >> i'm not talking about either topic again. i never smoked pot before and i've never ridden an alpaca, but

i reserve the right to do so. especially after going to the neil young concert with you. >> as soon as you walk out the door, the first thing you said was i'm going to ride an alpaca. >> while smoking a bomb. >> well, you said it. but also -- oh, okay. oh, my lord. okay. >> you know, after the show, i'm going to have to have mika explain exactly why she brought a donkey and an alpaca in this morning. i have to say -- some things you don't have an answer to. for instance, why would anybody eat pizza with a knife and a fork? i'm dead serious. >> yeah. >> okay. i've been here for half a century. i eat pizza a lot. i love pizza. you can tell. you can tell right here. i never thought about getting a utensil out for a pizza. >> no need for it. >> i thought about stacking two or three together but has anybody ever used a fork and

knife for a pizza? >> no. >> oh, de blasio? >> you pick it up, fold it in half and go to town. >> but he knew there was a camera. >> jon stewart in the course of an epic mockery of de blasio made the point that mike bloomberg would have someone cut up the pizza for him, chew it up and eat it like a bird. >> did he do that? >> that is what he said. >> are politicians not eating pizza the way the rest of us? >> he said i started it that way and then finished it -- >> are we talking about this? >> alpaca and a donkey. >> no. i thought it was you. sorry. what's in my -- >> on your face. >> is it on my face? >> and on your chin. >> sorry. >> little bit of a mess.

>> oh, god. okay. so, let's do the news. >> come home with glitter. >> it's going to be fine. come on, kids. >> more like 1999, to tell you the truth. >> are we ready? has the show started ? >> do we need glow sticks for this? >> no. >> pacifiers. >> can you all take me seriously? >> 1999. >> let's do the news with glitter in our hair. >> new jersey governor chris christie is set to deliver his state of the state speech today. wow! just as two legislative panels will investigate the september lane closures on the george washington bridge with subpoenas expected this week for christie's top advisers. and now federal auditors are looking into the way his administration spent sandy disaster recovery funds to promote the jersey shore. at the center of all of it, ads like these, encouraging new jersey tourism and prominently

featuring the governor and his family. according to a release from a democratic congressman, the company that won the lucrative $25 million contract charged $2 million more than a similar bid. >> i don't think there's any question that, you know, this was an effort to promote him. but the problem is, it was at the expense of money from taxpayers that could have been used for other sandy purposes. >> but for all the bad press, christie's brand seems to be weathering the political storm. pew poll shows that 60% of americans' views are unchanged, 16% say that their opinion has dimmed and polling from inside new jersey shows that christie's job approval has dipped somewhat but still remains high. backing him with 89% support. and while nearly 4 in 10 democrats approve of the governor today, he has lost some ground in that demographic, as

well as with independents. although 62% still give him positive marks. >> so, still strong numbers for the governor? >> yeah. >> okay. >> what's your gut? >> i just don't -- i think that all the damage inflicted on christie has nothing to do with what the public thinks of him right now and everything to do with what the people who, over the course of the next year, in the republican party, as he is getting himself ready to run for president -- >> what donors -- >> what donors think of him and the people who are really focused on this, it's really early to be thinking about the presidential election from a voter standpoint. from the elite standpoint and intra- party competition who determines who is the front-runner, who gets key supporters and donors, that's where all this matters. and i think the questions that are now coming down on him, whether it's this investigation at a federal level of the

allocation of money from the sandy relief from the ads, the additional information about how he seems to have punished the mayor of jersey city for not endorsing him. not in a similar way but in a way that was quite evident from all the e-mails and text traffic that came out. i think there's chum in the water now and he will have a very hard next few months. i will be interested to see what the polling says when we get out the other side of this six months from now. >> i'll say, though, that democrats need to be careful. just like i would say that republicans need to be careful not to overreach. the guy ran ads and a democratic congressman talking about a bid that went $2 million over. americans need to look at that and say, okay, obamacare, that bid went 100 million -- i don't know the exact number. but a bid $2 million over is not going to freak people out. democrats need to be careful about staying focused on what's

the important -- >> i think republicans need to be careful not to make ridiculous parallels, too. >> like what? >> look, this is a story within itself that has little -- they're screaming things like benghazi and irs and this and that, and comparing -- this is new jersey. i said this yesterday. this is governor chris christie and this is fascinating and it has its own dimension. you don't really need to bring anything else in it. and paralleling looks like you're grabbing or flailing. >> democrats are shocked, shocked, shocked and stunned at what happened here. we're obviously very disturbed about it as well. and we're apologizing for the president after benghazi, after the irs scandal, after the tapping of the phones or the ap reporters, after what they did

with james rosen at fox news and the same people that went on their blogs and said nothing to see here. move along. lois lerner. you've seen your twitter feed. >> yes. >> you've asked tough questions about the governor. and still have been absolutely crucified from the far left. >> yes. >> those people are jokes when they turn a blind eye to everything that's happened in washington, d.c. over the past year and act as if, you know, somehow this is worse than all of that combined. i do think you bring it up just to show that there are important questions to be answered. but some of the people that were hyperventilating are jokes, because they sure as hell didn't ask any tough questions about benghazi or the irs or the ap or the nsa or -- >> this is what i'm talking about. this is a distraction. >> no, it's not a distraction.

>> you just spent two minutes naming all sorts of scandals or pseudoscandals that happened in the obama administration in the past two years. >> right. >> we're talking about abuse of power potentially. >> right. >> for a man who could be the presidential contender for 2016 in the republican party and to have people like rudy giuliani stepping out there and flailing loudly about benghazi and saying the gwb scandal was just a prank, get over it, is not helpful. >> right. i would say the irs scandal was a full-blown scandal. >> what's the point? >> i think that's every bit as important where you actually have an administration that is actually narrowly focused on -- >> why are you talking about it right now? we're talking about chris christie. >> do you want to know why i'm talking about it? >> yes. >> because you brought it up. >> nochlt i said stop bringing it up.

>> i didn't bring this up. you started it. and i'm explaining to you why there are some of us that think some of these people on the far left that are -- >> frothing at the mouth. >> -- are raging hypocrites. that's all i'm saying other than can't we all just get along and why did you bring a donkey and alpaca? mike barnic barnacle, doesn't s be a lot of -- >> there's some. call me six months from now. i don't think the damage is lasting. if you go to places like manchester or dubuque, iowa, if you sat down right now and tried to link benghazi with the george washington bridge, people look at you and say what are you talking about? it's not on people's screens right now. i do agree with you that the democrats could, in the end, prop him up in new jersey, you know. >> by overreaching? >> yes. yeah.

>> the thing that could change, though, is what john talked about in jersey city and two days ago out of hoboken with mayors looking retroactively, wait a minute. i had a face to face with chris christie. >> explain jersey city. >> i don't have all the details. >> i can do it. >> the mayor of jersey city, newly elected mayor, former goldman sachs banker, kind of a rising star certainly at the local level in new jersey, who received a warm embrace from the christie administration on immediately being elected. they were told that he would have tons and tons of meetings with all these state officials and people closest to christie. again, look at the paper trail yesterday. it suggests that the moment that he announced that he was not going to be endorsing christie in his gubernatorial run, all those meetings -- >> were canceled. >> -- canceled within minutes of

him making that announcement. in the next six months the city legislator will renew subpoena power, all the documents about this bridge thing. we still don't have a final answer on that. democrats might overreach. right now they're doing what is a proper investigation. with we'll see where that leads. in addition to that, there is now, as i say, chum in the water. for the press, for democrats, for christie's foes within the party. other stories will echo the bridge story. in the next six to nine months you could see story after story like this, if this is a culture like this within the governor's office, you could see just a flood of stories like the one weiss started to see yesterday that go on the next six or nine months. easily. he's the republican front-runner. >> are you shocked by the fact that a governor would put hm his arm around somebody and say i'm going to help you out and when they find out that he's not

going to endorse him, then meetings are canceled? is anybody in manchester going to be shocked at politicians that way? >> no. >> are they going to be shocked that the guy plays hard ball? >> no. and it's terrible it happen ed o the mayors but voters know that's how it's done. now when you do something that ties up the george washington bridge and endangers people's lives, that's quite another. >> the mayor of jersey city, there's a little different twist on that inventory. >> uh-huh. there was a scandal that -- go ahead. >> the mayor of jersey city, newly elected, young 36 democrat, iraq veteran. he told the governor staff the reason he couldn't endorse him. he may have been inclined to endorse him but said he couldn't because there are a lot of gays and lesbians in his city, who he has shown support for in terms of marriage equity and things

like that and christie was against marriage equity, and he told him that's why i can't endorse you. within 24 hours, all those meetings have been canceled and you're getting nothing from me. >> there were like 12 meetings set up. could they have kept a few? they just yanked them all. >> it is the second biggest city. >> but the mayor before jersey city. they really need to help jersey city and it was a shame. >> find somebody on the city council that's going to support him. i'm just saying that's how politics work. i would never do such a thing, but i have heard it happens. i guarantee you go to all 50 states, 45 of the 50 governors operate this way. they help people who help them and they don't help people who don't -- >> it's not a question of any individual thing. it's a question of does this become part of a pattern that people seize on? and this becomes part of -- for most people in the country, many people in new jersey, they have a perception of chris christie whose narrative has been i work

with democrats to get things done for the people of new jersey. that's what he has been selling, in addition to his toughness and tenacity. if there are a series of stories -- i'm not saying any one story -- >> under mines the -- >> as national reporters and local reporters focus on this the way they haven't focused on it before it could be damaging to that brand, which is so appealing to so many people and the reason he is the republican leading candidate. >> appealing in the general election not so appealing in the primary election. and willie, the biggest problem for chris christie out of this entire story after the bridge situation has to do with the fact that so few republicans came to his defense. >> yes. >> that is -- talking about an acid test on how somebody will be doing in a primary. he has no natural constituency out there. >> there was a lot of glee

perhaps as he was going through this, a lot of people celebrating privately. >> rand paul, i think, was celebrating publicly. >> i think it goes back to what john said. you'll see subpoenas and you'll have senior aides of governor chris christie who are forced to either plea the fifth or provide e-mails and testify perhaps. we have no evidence to this. that chris christie, in some way, knew about this. that's where the real trouble comes. if, in fact, he gave this defiant press conference where he said in no uncertain terms that he knew nothing about it. he has nowhere to go if an e-mail comes out that connects him to it. >> i don't think people in their basement on the far left feed cheetos in their underwear as the flab flops over their underwear and their mother is getting the other kids ready for school that are still going to school.

do you think the mainstream media handled benghazi and irs and these other issues and asked the tough questions the same way they are about chris christie? >> i know we did. >> just asking in general. >> it was on the pront page of the paper every day. i think the president was asked time and time again -- he put himself out there, was asked about it. >> and he blamed other people. >> benghazi -- i think there's a hillary clinton angle to benghazi. >> president obama blame himself the way chris christie blamed himself? >> yes. >> did you ever hear him say it was my administration and i am sorry? >> yes. >> did you really? >> on obamacare, the rollout of the website. that is exactly what he did. i'm sorry. that's exactly what he did. >> the irs, benghazi, nsa. >> i think the irs was a slower roll. they had to figure out what was going on and what ultimately was going on wasn't as egregious and

motivated by hatred as some would contend. >> well, listen, i think we've given fodder enough. >> you keep bringing them up. >> you guys have something to write about this morning. please, put a t-shirt on at least. your younger brothers and sisters are upstairs, okay, and your mom wants you to know that you're 26 now and obamacare doesn't keep you on her health care insurance anymore. you're going to have to go get a real job. politico's mike allen. plus, google finds new way to gather personal information. how a multi-billion dollar investment in home heating technology could allow the company to track our habits at home. fantastic. >> love that. >> that's all we need. >> google, every morning i wake up and say how can they get more information? >> they can jump into our medicine cabinets, too. first, here is bill karins with

a check on the forecast. >> that's the original product. patent that, mika. we are watching rain all the way up into northern new england at the peak, right in the middle of winter. doesn't happen that often. usually freezing rain or snow, at least a little bit. look at the map. the green is the rain. the white is the snow. rain this morning from florida up into northern new england. the only snowy weather out there is coming through minneapolis, all the way down to green bay, milwaukee. already three inches on the ground in minneapolis. and you're just about done. i-94 is probably one of the worst drives out there through which is consequencen. in milwaukee, your weather will go downhill in a hurry this afternoon. we're expecting six inches by midnight tonight. the other huge story continues to be out west. no storms tlut, because there hasn't been any. we only have 16% of the moisture right now with the snow pack in the mountains and sierras. 16% of what we should. almost no rainfall month to date. this is the rainy season in california. it is so dry that we have high fire danger continuing today in

l.a. i show you these temperatures in los angeles, it's ridiculous. we're supposed to be in the mid 60s this time of year and you continue to be in the mid to low 80s. unbelievable. we really desperately need some wet weather in the west. this fire season this summer will be something to see otherwise. thankfully, no airport delays. it is a gloomy tuesday morning. you're watching "morning joe." (shouting above the chaos) if you're having trouble hearing me...

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let's take a look at the morning papers. "tampa bay times," one man is dead and his wife hurt after an argument over texting led to a shooting at a florida movie theater. retired police officer reportedly got into a fight with another couple sitting a few rows in front of him. the man was apparently texting his 3-year-old daughter while waiting for the movie to begin. the retired officer reportedly asked the man to stop texting several times. popcorn was thrown. ultimately, he pulled out a handgun and shot the texter. >> oh, my gosh! >> the alleged shooter is charged with second-degree homicide. >> that's awful. from the kansas city star, two pilots who landed their plane at the wrong airport will be suspended. leaving midway airport sunday evening headed to branson, missouri. sources say the pilots were in contact with the branson tower. were cleared to land. on approach, pilots lined up with the runway at the wrong

airport. instead going to a smaller air field by about half as long. they had to slam on the brake business avoid going over an embankment. "new york times," charter communications made an offer to buy time warner cable for more than $60 billion in cash and stocks. time warner says the deal is, quote, a nonstarter. marking the third time they have rejected a proposal from charter. if the companies reach a deal, it would be one of the media industries largest mergers. from "the detroit free press," to prevent the sale of art work in the detroit institute of art. the institute was considering selling some of its art to help detroit pay its $18 billion in debt. still, as much as $500 million may be needed to fully protect the collection. from "usa today," a new study says drinking 200 milligrams of caffeine a day

will improve your memory. one strong cup of coffee. but more necessarily isn't better. researchers say the source of the caffeine doesn't matter. >> all right. time now for politico. willie geist? >> mike allen from politico. good morning. >> good morning, willie. >> virginia senate race. increasingly now looking like he will run for senate in virginia. we're talking about ed gillespie. he ran the rnc for a while. is he a good candidate in that state? >> very strong candidate. but he is going to be the underdog against mark warner, democratic senator very popular. this didn't look like it was going to be a race at all. this was a senate race that was on no one's roadwadar. with ed gillespie saying he's going to run, suddenly it's one of the most fascinating senate races in the country. he will be able to raise a lot

of money from his many years working in d.c. rnc chairman, started on the hill. started as a garage attendant on capitol hill, worked his way up. a great d.c. story. we'll see playing out the tea party dynamic that is such a problem for the party. there's a couple of candidates who will be running to the right of ed gillespie. the people following him over the years aren't going to be able to believe that. ed gillespie is a sign of the establishment for the tea partiers. on ed gillespie's website, he had taken down a video and link to an article where he was calling for comprehensive immigration reform which, of course, was a big issue for his former boss, george w. bush, when he was the counselor in the white house. all of a sudden crystallized in this race. >> people weren't expecting much from that race with senator warner and all of a sudden here

comes ed gillespie. paint him as a tool of president obama. i guess the question is, does that work in virginia, which has a little bluer than in the past? >> absolutely. that's the republican playbook nationwide. as you point out, virginia much more democratic. went for president obama both times. and as of saturday when governor. >> mcauliffe. >> terry mcauliffe was inaugurated, all five statewide officials, democrats. part of his plan to change washington, move the u.s. capital to nebraska. i like it. ♪ turn around ♪ every now and then i get a little bit tired ♪ ♪ of craving something that i can't have ♪ ♪ turn around, barbara

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that's it. the way to cure the incredible ineffectiveness and dysfunction of both parties in washington. we move the capital to nebraska and leave the lobbyist, influence peddlers behind so they can experience family values and living within a budget.

we have to choose the strongest, most conservative nebraska voice to send to washington. i'm ben sasse. >> ben sasse, running for nebraska senate seat being vacated. calling him the next rising conservative star and ben joins us now. nebraska. good place, mike. we got no problem with putting the capital in nebraska, right? >> not at all. bob carey's homestead. >> not the reason we picked it, but fair enough. >> says nice things about you. i guess you guys have been going around, debating it. >> for about four years, traveling the country, debating obamacare, which it won't work. governor dean is confused about

that. >> how is he confused about that? >> he thinks you can play 18% of the economy. you can't do it. it's going to create tens of millions more uninsured people by blowing up the employer-sponsored market next year. >> you say the most likely outcome to this is a single payer health care system. why is that? >> i don't think this law will be implementable. either they step up and explain what this space looks like. we moved from your locked and large group employer pension or you had to abandon it. conservatives need to argue for that here. if not, i think we drift toward single payer once this fails. >> why do you think it's inevitable that the president's health care plan fails? >> congressional budget office, $2.6 trillion piece of legislation. only $1 trillion worth of tax increases. where does the other $1.6

trillion come from? by trying to compel people to buy things that they don't need and ultimately they're not getting the sign-ups they want. >> if conservatism is not manufactured the way some of the tea party is. he is a very solid, constructive conservative. i find the tea party to be iminflammatory and often find ted cruz makes claims that are not so. ben and my disagreements are based on facts. what do you think is howard dean's strongest argument? what might he have a point on and supporters of the president's health care plan that he could compromise on? >> i don't think there's a lot of room for what needs to happen next. i think we could agree there's a crisis in the country with the growing number of uninsured. we have a large group employer market that's falling apart because there's dynamism in the economy and the group system had

been declining. >> obviously, you're not on the campaign trail saying that 30, 40, 50 million people need to be uninsured, right? >> right. people need to be able to buy the catastrophic health insurance policies they want, not have president obama come in and tell them they can keep the plan they have and then take it away from them i have 60-year-old women coming up to me literally every week on the campaign trail talking about menopause. as a 41-year-old male nonpolitician running for office for the first time. you don't expect people to start talking to you about menopause. i have a health care plan i liked t worked great and the president said i need a maternity rider. i can't afford that extra $5,000 a year. >> people talk to mike barnicle all the time. it's not that surprising. we're not sure why they do, but they do. what would you say about a 28-year-old underprivileged

single mom, does she continue to get health caretaking her children to the emergency room at 11:00 at night? >> new data that came out two weeks ago shows that one of his main arguments for obamacare if you passed it, it would drive down emergency room utilization. data in states that have tried similar things have gone in the different direction. >> there is a misunderstanding, i think, among a lot of people on our side, among conservatives, that there's no such thing as a free lunch. so we are not going to provide health care insurance to these people and what they don't understand that these people continue to go in emergency rooms at 11:00 at night and pay, you know, $48 for tylenol and it's no way to run a health care system. what do we do to make that part the of it more efficient, so the truly disadvantaged aren't camped out in emergency rooms late at night in horrible conditions that end up costing us all probably more than providing them health care.

>> sure. before obamacare, the health care sector was a mess, no doubt about that. but it wasn't a mess because we had too little government. it was a mess because we already had too much government. we don't have casualty and property insurance. >> what do we need to do here? >> create affordability, fix the tax code so people in the individual market, farmers and ranchers in my state can buy policies that aren't loaded up with a whole bunch of benefits that they don't need or would choose to buy. lot more confidence in government when you're doing it closer to the people and legislators work more constructively at the state level. >> what do we do about the insurance companies? no matter what kind of health insurance plan you have, you could have a gold-guild edge health plan and at some point insurance companies will come at you and nickle and dime you. >> it's a good question. do you have the same fear in property and casualty? if not, why not? do you think your cell phone is

going to ring and allstate or state farm are canceling your policy if your house is on fire when you come home? >> no, because the fire department, government, comes out and puts out the fire. >> but that's not the insurance point. the insurance point is protecting against catastrophic loss. >> before you have to deal with the insurance companies, the government helps to put out the fire. >> we have rescue squads as well. >> still, no matter what kind of a health plan you have, no matter how much you pay into it, no matter what you think the coverage is, somehow, some way, the insurance companies are on the phone with you while you're in the hospital, nickel and diming you. the what do we do about the insurance companies? >> let's back up a second. you're right. if the democrat's solution is more government insurance and republicans want to advocate for selling the american people more big corporate insurance, republican also lose that debate. there's not enough innovation in either the health care delivery system or in the health insurance space. the reason there's not a lot of innovation is because of the way

the government writes these rules. obamacare is a 2300 page law that speaker pelosi admitted they had to pass so they could read and find out what's in it. i read it. it's horrible. there are 22,000 pages of implementing regs. your private insurance experience seems really bureaucratic and similar to what the obama administration is trying to build. neither of these are the right way to run a health insurance sector. we need something smaller and more portable. >> something that goes away as this topic, as a final question here, because we don't have that much more time with you. you're out on a campaign trail. not that long ago it was a purple state, trending more red now. does anybody talk to you about anything besides obamacare or will that really be the sole single issue? >> i would say yes and no. it's the only issue pu they mean more than just this broken piece of legislation. nebras nebraskans talk about obamacare,

they don't mean just the 2300 pages of law, they believe in nebraska. we believe in nebraska. that you did build that. private sector innovation, civil society, neighborhoods, churches, schools are the heart of america and see this obamacare as a flawed world view that says they want to move toward more independent -- >> it becomes what you say nebraskans think is a bigger problem. >> absolutely. >> they're not talking about iran that much? >> not at all. >> chris christie? >> not at all. nsa, a little bit. but again it's because -- >> talking about jersey bridges in nebraska. i found that there would be times like nafta, for instance, back in '94. nobody really knew what nafta

meant but it symbolized something much, much bigger. i was shocked when i went around especially rural areas that they were talking about nafta along with other issues but it was all about change world and overreaching government. i understand you're valedictor. a. n. >> i went to harvard not because it was academic superior, but athletically inferior and they let me play. >> oh, they let you play? >> nebraska wouldn't let me play football there. i wrestled. >> you wrestled at harvard. good. ben is on the cover of national review. you can check that out on nro. good luck out there. >> thanks. still ahead, what's driving today's market? business before the bell next. keep it right here on "morning joe."

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joe." it's absolutely beautiful. it's a chamber of commerce day in new york city, if you can get your kids out of school in the tri-state area, come on in. it's like 38, rain. i'm thinking sleet, sludge. come to a matinee. central park. >> fantastic. right now let's go, though, to cnbc's michelle caruso-cabrera. >> up from a year ago. they took a hit in profitability. still profitable just not as profitable as last year. >> where did the hit come from? >> from all the fines for

various -- they've been pursued relentlessly from all the regulators, every quadrant of the planet in the universe. >> they keep coming and keep coming. >> they keep coming. >> when areer when are they going to stop? >> they would all like to know as well. jamie dimon said they're making progress. it's trading positively this morning. not super high but in the green. which would suggest they like the tonality on the conference call so far today. >> michelle, thank you. i've been getting these alerts, jp morgan agrees to fines. >> it's $20 billion so far this year. >> unbelievable. >> quarter's worth of revenue gone, taken away from the shareholders. yeah. >> thank you so much, michelle. best in late night coming up next. when i first started shopping for a hybrid... i didn't even look at anything else. i just assumed you went and bought a prius. so this time around we were able to do some research and we ended up getting a ford... which we love. it's been a wonderful switch. it has everything that you could want in a car.

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what did you learn? >> i want to answer this question precisely. >> yeah. >> when you come into the office at 4:30, 4:45 in the morning and find an al paca and a donkey, that's about as weird as it gets. >> that's a good day. mika barefootd with a donkey, with glitter all over it. >> it's like limelight in the '80s. >> what did you learn, mike? >> they were great guests. the alpaca and donkey. they were funny and great to have them here. >> at a distance, glitter, confetti looks like animal excrement. >> that's just a weird thing to say on tv. now stick around. here's chuck todd. there he is. state of the state for the governor. the last week of chris christie's first term puts him in the statehouse