hoping christie would hold up his preweight loss pants." i kind of wish that happened. >> now, the governor does look really good, but i think the preweight loss pants is going to be something for "people" magazine. think the preweight p going to be for people magazine. there's a little more to go. thank you, everybody. "morning joe" starts right now. ♪ one, two, three, four ♪ and the press conference went on and on -- ♪ it was longer than one of my own damn shows ♪ ♪ someday, governor, i don't know when, this will all end but ♪ till then you're killing the working man ♪ who is stuck in the governor

christie fort lee, new jersey traffic jam ♪ >> that was great. we have no barn animals today. >> make-up room is the code of silence, nicole. when we're getting our beauty treatments done that, is the code of silence. >> didn't you know that, nicole? >> i'm getting used to the vampire hour. >> you've never done it. >> no. but it's good. i'm telling the crew we need some more spirit fingers, spirit fingers. >> that is so going to change in two months. see, i've done overnights for about 20 years and i can't even

look at you a right now because i pain for you in how you're going to feel in six months. you'll feel a little bit like msnbc contributor mike barnicle does all the time. >> i feel good! >> you feel good, you look good. >> i'm ready to go. >> and former be communications director to the george bush, christine wallace. >> before chris christie is calling for school reform. christie opened to a standing ovation that went on and on. he then addressed the controversy head on. >> without a a doubt we will cooperate with all appropriate injuries to be sure this breach

of trust does not happen again. i also want to assure the people of new jersey today that what has occurred does not define us or our state. this administration and this legislature will not allow the work that needs to be done to improve the people's lives in new jersey to be delayed for any reason. >> but it remains to be seen how much christie can get done in the scandal's wake. democrats dismissed much of the government's address as talking points, accusing him of playing bait and switch with the public's pension. the blood's in the water, the knives are out, all those statements. it's tough anywhere in politics. in new jersey i'd say it's really tough and it's going to show the very thing i think chris christie has been known

for the opposite, which is being able to work for the other side. there are some who don't feel that way and will be out to get him now. you've soon them all over the airwaves. i've seen his former opponent for the governor, barbara buono on tv. i swear every time i turn on the tv she's there twisting it. >> it's fairly predictable. with regard to the story itself and the almost crushing overload on the christie story -- >> we have new information coming out which i'll share in a second. >> if there is new -- first of all, if it continues the way it's continuing, with nothing really new proving that chris christie did not tell the truth. if, on the other hand, something proves that he did not, then

he's done. >> christine, how do you think he did? >>y did great. i think the way the national media and his consistetituents at a story like that starts to bifurcate. the public is looking at how they react to the scandal and the media is examining the crisis itself. >> let me ask you -- >> there's now comparisons coming up to the timeline of just how forth right he was. >> we're going to get to that in just a second. nicole, i thought this was interesting, bill maher said this yesterday, he has been wall-to-wall coverage on most

networks. whether it's bad coverage or good coverage or assessing, he is even more of a household name than he was before. i'm not saying it's positive but it doesn't hurt to have his name out there. >> the other thing and this to me it the most interesting. he is having his moment to sort of exercise all of these demons in full view of the media. if he decides to run for president and if he survives the brutal republican primary pros eshs he will be able to say to everyone that this issue was exhausted, it was beaten to death. the national media will pay much more attention to this for much longer than the people of new jersey. >> so chris christie and i -- one of the things we've said is

you've either been around po politics or you haven't. one of the things that struck us is you didn't realize. it was all new to him. >> you go you can tell -- >> you can't get that excited about meeting bruce springsteen. >> or you guys. >> let me make my point because it is important, i want to get it all the way out. the thing is he was exuberant, he was excited. and, mike, it's not that we like cynics. you can tell that he'd only been in there, in politics, for three years. this actually is -- and if he's lying, as you said, he's crazy and he's finished. but if he's telling the truth -- >> it's over. >> not only is it over, this

gives his sea legs. i've been shocked by the vitriol the left has for the new jersey governor. if leaves me thinking if that's the only target they have is a jersey governor, it is constant. i go on twitter trying to talk about neal young songs and they're freaking out about chris christie. and i'm saying is that really all the democrats -- and i guarantee you, he's not going to be like a rookie who thinks this is pretty cool stuff. ifies going to run for president, better that it's happening now, if he's telling the truth. >> senator levin for michigan commenting on governor christie's voracity in this story. the story can officially be labored tedious. it's getting so overblown.

again, in fog occurs, nothing comes out, he's gone. >> if the evidence comes out, he's done. if he's telling the truth, he lives to fight another day. i didn't want to put it at the top of the show because i thought it was a tease. and mika said, no, at the in the timeline. >> i thought he looked like a fantastic political duck, calm, great, feet going under the water because of all the things going on behind the scene. because the wall street journal broke that in the afternoon, photos with the authority authority official who authorized the bridge closures during one of those closures, the two were together during the

sman owe is there in that press kens from -- almost two-hour press conference, he'd had no wild attack in a long time. about and, in the press conference the government was emphatic about his connectivity to david wildstein, saying i was a jo, i wasn't class president. i don't know where -- he wasn't my buddy. >> i want to talk a little built about how we're covering this because we are getting a tremendous amount of criticism. >> who are you criticizing about? >> are you talking about twitter? >> yeah.

>> what i'm noticing is people from the left, the far left, have just been crazy about this. i have to look in there and scan through all of their hateful comments to say, you know, who is -- somebody who is a celebrity. >> we've been critical from the beginning. the only thing i said is he's a friend and i'm giving hip the benefit of the doubt but, heck, i've given that to most democrats. >> i've thought about this and this bothered me -- >> what's bothered you, mika? >> sort of the criticism that we've received for being too in the tank or to -- >> on twitter? >> supportive of him.

hold on. >> no, but if that bothers -- >> bring a donkey tomorrow. >> moo, moo, moo. three interrupting cows. not nicole. it's amazing. >> knock, knock. go ahead. >> i think the fact that we have been openly friendly with him and i think the fact that we are friends with him off the air and i think the fact that our show has been owe arms toward him because we enjoy having him on because he's a frequent guest that we have to show extra scrutiny. i this i we're trying to do that without the vitriol, the frothing mouth and the slobber going down our mouths. >> can i say something about the slobber because this to me is what separates the media from the public. i think the public -- not on are they more deserving of the

truth, especially the people of new jersey, but i think they're more patient in terms of waiting for the facts coming out in terms of the media. i've sat here and we've been incredibly patient when he's signed bills that weren't as tough on gun control and the way he's governed the state. we've held his comments and his feet to the fire. but the fact that no one is foaming at the mouth to see him hauled off for something that there's absolutely no evidence at this point -- >> but it looks bad. the latest information thomas just shared doesn't look good. >> optics. we talk about optics. >> yes, we're friends with chris christie. get what, we're friends with a lot of people in the white house that we're really good friends with. do i criticize the white house every day?

>> yes! >> i said time and time again, i don't know. i guess we should just sort of take this side exit off of george w. bridge. >> 16w. >> and talk about this a little bit and just say i'm friends -- i've been around d.c. for like 20 years. you'd be hard pressed to find people in washington i'm not friends with. i never like put the line up when i went in congress. i love valerie. a lot of people that work at the white house and i've got great respect for president obama -- >> my brother works for him. >> yeah. at the same time i don't think for a second -- john kerry. weep sit next to john kerry for fine innings in the final game of the world series -- >> and you can be don't talk. >> no, i'm just saying. and we're hucking and we're high

fiving and it's this wonderful moment that we're saying and then he goes off and strikes a deal with iran that i say is going to be the end of the world. >> i'm just saying, this is how grownups operate. if john kerry thought me sitting next to him at the world series forfo for four hours or for one moment would stop me from commenting about a plan that i think is horrible, then john kerry doesn't know me. and you know, what john kerry hasn't complained. he's a pro. chris christie hasn't complained. people should reaction and not read the fitter context. >> he's a dynamic political figure. and one that has within talked about for potential of 2016. he is now at the front of the republican governor's

association, which was going to be a great found'sal launching pad and get people to know him. when you think about great leadership, sfu expect that to come with casting a great vision, calling people to ride up and be better than they known to be. now when you talk about the assumptions of a leadership vision by chris christie for his inner circle to operate this way, that's where people get their hackls up and wonder, okay, were we just willing to overlook what a dynamic or magnetic guy this guy was. now there's and -- >> let me say something about your leadership vount.

leadership is about what you do when things going wrong. none of us has information information to predict how this going to play out. i see a lot more hack ls in the media than i do in the public opinion. >> it's a very conservative newspaper. >> i didn't say -- >> but ted mann has been going after this with gusto from the wall street journal. >> as he should, that's the role of the media. but as i said at the beginning, this is where the public separates. >> right now chris christie has poll numbers -- he's 59%. whether it 59 or 60 -- in college i liked to round up for my grades. >> if you look at the numbers, most republicans republican and democratic governors across

marketwould like to have the biggest story -- nicole, i think you'll agree with me here. the biggest story that's come out of this is the silence from the right. >> literally. >> and the defense of chris christie. >> especially his republican governors. >> the republican governor eye sensed. and in fact i was reading this morning some conservative webside glee that's our take. that's one thing we do now. even if chris chris is exonerated tomorrow, we do know nicole, he has gone a really big problem. >> which is invaluable information, back to where we started, if he decides to run for president. i mean, if he runs and again prevails at a republican

primary, he will have this period to thank, for fortifying him, educating him, to go to toto, i mean, these will be the experiences that foreify him. >> and he's the first to say this is his failure. >> chris, though, has got to get right with the right. that's the one thing we've learned here. >> but the right needs to get right. >> is that the whole thing where the right hasn't come out to circle the wall oops around him because of the sandy situation? >> i think that's part of it. i have to say when i read people saying that chris christie is not conservative, it like i'm in an alternate universe. it's bizarre for people to say that. listen, is he a little less conservative than say i am and guys from northwest florida are? yeah, he is. but he is a main street

republican. i'll be honest with you, i don't really get that. i'm sure there will be conservative bloggers now who will write the 30 things he's done against the spirit of william f. buckley because he wins in blow staits. -- blue states. they' . >> i'm doing well, i'm doing well. >> didn't you just get a text to take the gummy now? >> yeah. >> do it. >> share with the class, share with the class. >> take the gummy. >> coming up on "morning joe," former defense secretary robert gates will be here on the set

with his new book. plus senator john thune joins the conversation. and also the last president of amc. what's next for the award winning network. and bill karins with a check of the forecast. >> washington, d.c., shot of the white house looks like this. it's there but visibility down to about a tenth of a mile. so we have dense fog everywhere in agree from southern new england right down to south carolina. that's almost all of i-95. so be careful out there this morning with that. the other story continues to be what's happening out west. we need the rain. we continue with near record highs. even in san francisco yesterday -- near san francisco,

a antioch i land. we could see a dry period continuing through what they call their wet season. we're still a little chimy from minneapolis to chicago but still pretty mild out there in the west. in the east today, when the fog burns off, we'll still be in the 40s, which isn't bad for the middle of winter. you're watching "morning joe." we'll be right back. ♪ a special love i have for you, my baby blue ♪ ♪ what can i do, what can i say ♪ ♪ welcome back [ male announcer ] it's made with the vine-ripened sweetness of fruit, so you can serve up deliciously sweet treats without all the sugar. so let no drink go unsweetened. no spatula un-licked. and no last bit un-sipped.

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let's take a look at our morning papers. two students in the hospital this morning after a shooting in a middle school in rozwell, new

mexico. the suspect not an 11-year-old boy and 13-year-old girl before a teacher convinced him to put his weapon down. the entire incident lasted just ten seconds. the victims were air lifted to hospital in lubbock, texas. one victim is in critical condition, the other stable. the school reopens tomorrow. >> and the "new york times," the potential leak into our privacy just got a little bit smaller. software utilizes a secret radio wave and can translate data from computers even if they're not logged into the internet and they call it an "active defense against cyber attacks." >> the demand for tesla surged in the fourth quarter with sales

up 20%. the company says they sold 600,000 cars, pushing the company past its goal of 20,000 in 2013. tesla currently sells one car, the models. >> and the billionaire creator of beanie babies was sentenced to two years probation and 500 hours of community service. he was facing for up to five years of prison for evasion of taxes on $25 million. >> remember beanie babies? >> i do. i still have some stacked up in my bedroom. >> that's awkward. >> and governor chris christie may have to deal with the

eyesore known once as xanadu. look at that. >> my house looks like that. not that big but. >> white and blue? you designed your house after xanadu. >> governor christie once promised it would be open by february 2nd or super bowl sunday. but that day is pushed back. what do you do with that thing? >> mike allen is here with the morning playbook. campaign finance reports released in the texas gubernatorial race and big news for the senator. wendy facing a battle there.

what's the news? >> this is going to be an amazing race. this is the governor's race to succeed rick perry and wendy davis raised just over $12 million. the state attorney general, greg be abbott, the republican running against her got around the 12 -- $12 million, too. republicans having fun with the fact she's drawn so much national democratic excitement. she's done events in new york, d.c. they're each going to have as much money as they could possibly want to fight this out. and it's a race that's exciting not just because so many people identified with wendy davis after her filibuster over the abortion but also, as you guys know, the obama crowd, national

democrats really have their eye on texas as a state that in 2020 could be a purple state. every demographic is pushing it that way. former obama aides are down there pushing wendy davis. that's part of what brought in that big money. >> in just a few hours, president obama will meet with democratic senators at the white house, i guess his first step in making sure they keep control of the senate. what's next? >> mika, for the first time in the last couple of weeks, you've heard more and more democrats and town that there's true worry about republicans taking the senate. a nightmare scenario where the republicans control the house and the senate starting in january 2015. talk about full lame duck status. the president is doing something unusual here. usually they loop in lawmakers

about what they're going to talk about in the state of the union. here we're more than ten days ahead of the state of the union. the president is talking about in detail about what's he's going to do. a lot of it has to do with going directly to the country, using, as the president said yesterday, the power of the pen, the power of the phone, organizing to get what he's doing, including manufacturing, which we're can go, college aaffordable. >> thank you very much. coming up, an eighth grader with an incredible game winning shot. a once in a lifetime shot, right? look at that. that never happens. >> we're going to show you what happened the next day, the very next day. sports is next. ♪ the kids are all right

♪ i know if i go things will be a lot better for her ♪ ♪

[ female announcer ] aaah, the amazing, delicious cinnamon and sugar taste of cinnamon toast crunch and cold milk. ♪ cinnamon toast crunch. crave those crazy squares. ♪ [ male announcer ] you're watching one of the biggest financial services companies in the country at work. hey. thanks for coming over. hey. [ male announcer ] how did it come to be? yours? ah. not anymore. it's a very short story. come on in. [ male announcer ] by meeting you more than halfway. it's how edward jones makes sense of investing. 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.

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we got some outstanding members of congress who are big fans of the heat. they're from both parties because we all know nothing brings people together like the miami heat. this group has now won twice but it's gone to the finals three

times, and sometimes it feels like they're still fighting for a little respect. i can relate to that. >> not all good for the heat fans. the president honoring the miami heat at the white house yesterday. we move on now. there is an update to the $765 million concussion settlement reached last year. a federal judge is asking on more information on whether the settlement is enough to cover 20,000 retired players. the nfl came to the agreement with retired players before the season, hoping to avoid individual lawsuits with players who suffered brain injuries. critics say the $765 million is a small price to pay considering the league's annual revenue of more than $9 billion.

proponents argue the settlement benefits those players who need immediate financial assistance. $900 billion is what the nfl is making. >> the national football league is a tool of the owners in that sport. this situation demands far more money to be put on the table for these players and their families who have been so damaged by the violence of this sport over 20 years. >> that was a great decision, wasn't it? >> yeah. >> and i want to show you this. a couple of big finishes in college basketball. indian's yogi farrell drills it to give the hoosiers the lead. wisconsin misses the three but they get the ball back for another shot. fair ball. indiana runs out the clock giving indiana their first loss of the season, 75-72.

arkansas, the razorbacks hosting number 13, kentucky. ronald harrison drains the three-pointer, ties things up. it was arkansas's turn in overtime. >> final seven seconds, got to drive it, brad, got to drive it. matt for maybe the win. it's good! arkansas in overtime! >> they're happy in arkansas. they stung kentucky. fey put back a dunk at the buzzer there. my inlaws are very upset. they're big wildcat fans. patrick was the u.k. homecoming king, 1994. >> got that going for me. >> my parents both went there. >> yeah, yeah, wildcats. >> at home in wisconsin, this is

where one clutch shot left a little too much time on the clock. >> time-out! >> amazing. that is a 13-year-old from minnesota. the full court shot at the buzzer for the win. all luck? well, maybe not. look what happens when the local news must asks him to do it again on camera the next day. >> no. >> i just got it again! >> one take. one take. he hits the same shot first try. >> okay. >> fantastic. >> he's got an arm. >> i'm not really good with odds but i'd say that's least 2-1 odds there. and the pressure to do that with the cameras on him and everybody wants to see him repeat it, he drills it.

>> wow, that's something. >> that's incredible! 13. up next, the must-read opinion pages. plus opponents of obamacare are in attack mode. and the "new york times" says leaving some democrats staggered. don't go away. we'll be right back with more "morning joe." ♪ i just can't help but feeling i'm living a life of illusion ♪ at farmers, we make you smarter about insurance. because what you don't know, can hurt you. what if you didn't know that posting your travel plans online may attract burglars? [woman] off to hawaii!

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isn't it time you discovered the lighter side of dog chow. purina dog chow light & healthy. jersey city mayor, steve phillip, a democrat, considered endorsing christie for reelection last year but declined to do so on december 18th. >> ooh, ooh, i had a scheduled meeting, rendezvous and it was

postponed, oh, the pain. listen, mayor, that may count as payback on downton abbey, but this is new jersey. payback is waking up duct taped to the holland tunnel during saturday night rush hour. >> welcome back. on the front page of the "new york times," anti-obamacare ad spending is starting to stagger democratic candidates. according to the times, the conservative group americans for prosperity has spent more than $20 on tv ads in several competitive elections since september. the most vulnerable democrats are being targeted the most. 35 democrats have run against kay haguen since june. >> i was shocked when my health care policy was broken. kay haguen told us if you liked

your insurance, you could keep them. >> tenow kay is backtracking. why didn't she do her job? tell mary landrieu our health care is at risk. we need real reform, not more politics. >> the ads have been running uncontested. democrats are struggling to keep pace with republican spending. >> in 2008, democrats vastly outspent john mccain, pounding him into the ground. the same thing in 2012, mitt romney couldn't keep up with the pace of democrats. so this is fascinating.

i guess there's just not as much of a fund-raising base in support of the affordable care act. but this is having a huge impact. and, you know, the democrats in these states are saying that it's kind of like what obama did to romney back in ohio really early on. they painted him as this out of touch rich guy, and these impressions stick. why aren't the democrats responding? >> here's what it's like to fly into a battle ground state and be outmatched on the air. you check into your hotel room with your candidate, you turn on the tv to get a flavor of the local news, waiting for the local news to come on, you local commercials talking about what an idiot your guy is -- >> you're talking 2009? >> 2009. >> i was watching a football game on northern virginia tv and i counted the ads -- >> it was like 12 to 1, flight. >> no.

that weekend i started counting. it was like 40-1. >> it has a devastating psychological impact. it seems like what they're describing is staggering is the sort of shock and awe affect of being so outgunned on the air. it is not the only factor. you could certainly try to correct the image, but what you said is the key, it creates a lasting first impression. >> other must read -- one must read from this segment is from the l.a. times by jonah goldberg. "christie is wildly seen as a threat to whoever the democratic nominee will be. unlike some recent gop nominees to struggled to be merely lifelike, christie has an authenticity and charisma most

national republicans lack. we thought he was going to be the next messiah, barbara walters recently said. the ardor has diminished but the skepticism remains. christie, like most republicans, never benefited from such skepticism and never will. >> ask hillary clinton about the effect that the press what, that president obama had. >> we'll most likely get to see it again in 2016. don't most people speculate whether christie will have the juice to get through iowa? >> that is the question that people ask. >> jonah goldberg writes chris

christie is getting hammered. i draw that there's a conservative who actually says something nice about chris christie. he's exactly right. most national republicans are not -- you know, are not as lifelike on stage and not as charismatic and not as big as it usually takes to occupy space on the national stage. >> that's right. again, republicans don't expect a break from the media. i don't think anyone in christie's camp is surprised by the media scrutiny, but i think if you're going to run for president, there's nothing better that can happen to you than to be scrutinized by this degree. >> early. >> now. >> and get used to it. >> especially as a republican. >> did you see real quickly the a.p. had a story out of mo montgome montgomery, alabama, about the apa and how it's doing there? >> no.

>> they have co opted the hash tag enrollteid. >> how's it going? >> it's still slow. the ap saying 20,600 signed up through late december. 58% of those who have signed up are women and that is slightly more than the national average, #enrollteid. >> coming up, it's been 20 years

since figure skater nancy kerrigan was attacked right before the '94 olympics. remember that? looking back at the scandal and the film's director joins us just ahead. keep it here on "morning joe." 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. ♪ stacy's mom has got it goin' on ♪ ♪ stacy's mom has got it goin' on ♪ ♪ stacy's mom has got it goin' on ♪

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you may have seen this

recurring segment on kimmel, where celebrities read the mean tweets. >> oh, yeah. >> now this is being taken to our nation's capital. >> you really suck. >> paul ryan has such pretty blue eyes. sometimes it's easy to forget he's satan incarnate. >> it is important to take your medicine regularly. what was that? >> representative sean duffy was a [ bleep ] bag on tv and he's a [ bleep ] bag now. >> i saw david witter in starbucks this morning, #loser. >> lmao, which i assume means legislators make america

outstanding. >> we've seen paul ryan and his eyes are beautiful. i'm confident enough in my masculinity to compliment his baby blues. mine on prettier, though. >> oh, very good. i knew it was coming to that. >> maybe we should put that to a vote. >> that's it? i want to see the baby. >> devil baby? devil baby rocks. >> what's a devil baby? >> it is a face only a mother can love. >> i want to see devil baby. >> wait, i had one of those. coming up at the top of the hour, we'll talk to former -- i won't say which one. we'll talk to former defense secretary robert gates, who is attracting plenty of attention. he joins the table when we return. ♪ 6,000 watts in a big acoustic

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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 ♪ ♪ this magic moment 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. it's the most fun to drive... because it's the most hi tech inside... i think this c-max can run circles around the prius... the biggest difference would definitely be the acceleration of the car...

if you can get someone to test-drive a c-max... they would end up buying this more times than not. 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's

important is that we got the policy right but that this is hard and it always has been. >> we're back on the air. welcome back to "morning joe." >> you know about his not surprising. you know he sounds stunningly suspicious to me. >> joining at the table, robert gates, the author of his memoir "duty." >> secretary gates has been saying all these wonderful things about dr. brzezinski, who he worked with years ago -- >> his mentor.

>> but he just told as you negative thing about him, which we're going to say on the air. >> so you're in egypt. >> we're in egypt, we meet with and war sadat and we're done and spig decides we're done, we'll going to the pyramid. we're out there at the pyramids, thinking that the great man wants to commune with the spirit of the past and so on. an abc camera crew had caught up with us. so i kind of positioned myself between the camera crew and dr. brzezinski to give him privacy. as we walked back to the car, he put his arm on my shoulder. he said "bob, i'm sure you're a very bright young man and have a very bright future, but don't ever get between me and a television camera ever again."

>> that is so funny. >> that is funny. >> how many years ago was that? >> 1979. >> '79 obviously. >> he's extraordinarily generous. >> instead of saying here's my aide or my assistant or something, he says "i'd like for to you meet my colleague." it's better than 30 years ago and i still remember that. it's a lesson in how you treat people. >> so why did you write the book? because we know of you through dr. brzezinski, mika we have remarkable respect for you. when the first news came out, it seems like you had written this negative tell-all book about president obama. that ended up not being the truth. but you got a lot off your chest. why do you think it was important to do that? >> first of all, there a lot of

contemporary issues addressed in the book, both at the end but also threaded throughout in terms of when do you use military force, what are the criteria, what are your goals, what are the consequences, what are your assumptions? for example, in both iraq and afghanistan we made the assumptions that both wars would be short. grievously wrong assumption. and i make the point in there that that's an assumption often made when you launch military forces. so that has relevance as you look at syria, as you look at potentially using force against iran, if the negotiations don't work. it was part of the considerations when we were deciding to intervene in libya. so what i've tried to do is write a book that shows and humanizes by bringing the

personalities of the people into it how presidents wrestle with these questions of peace and war, the passion that comes to the table. but it also is a book about two other things quickly. it also is a book about how in a polarized and paralyzed city, i actually was able to get things done. i talk about how difficult it was to get things done, but i got them done. my job was to salvage two wars and it involved making significant changes in the department of defense. it required a lot of conflict with the congress, especially when i wanted to cut major military programs and budgetary overhead. but the book outlines the techniques that i used in order to make those things work. the other thing i wanted to do, frankly, the book is dedicated to men and women of the armed forces. i wanted to write a book for

them and for their families and for the countries that sent them about how this all really works in washington. and how difficult these issues are as i once told the president "as usual, all your options are bad." and i want to give them a flavor of the circumstances in which they were sent to war. >> it seems your view of president obama as a leader, as a decision-maker, was for the most part positive. he bucked the advice of most of his political advisers, he made some very courageous decisions. it seems reading through this, and tell me whether i'm wrong or not, that perhaps your biggest problem with the president and some of his advisers were their

ignorance -- was their ignorance of the military culture. they just didn't understand. and this is joe biden, president obama talking about ordering the military to do certain things. is that your biggest day-to-day problem with the obama administration? >> just to reinforce your first point, i -- take afghanistan. i agreed with all the decisions president obama made on afghanistan, the whole time i worked for him, two and a half years. and those were his biggest decisions, including the decision to end our combat involvement in december of 2014. i agreed with and supported his decisions on virtually every other part of foreign policy until the spring of 2011 where we disagreed on how to handle the uprising in egypt, whether to intervene in libya and so on. but the two things that troubled

me against that backdrop were his suspicion of the senior military leadership and his unwillingness to regularly go out in front of audiences and talk about why the war in afghanistan was necessary and to send the message routinely to the men and women he had sent into battle, why the cause was noble, why it was just, why it was worth of sacrifice that he was asking them to make. he made the tough decisions to deploy them and i admire those decisions, but i would have liked to hear him tell them why what they were doing was important. >> by the way, that's fascinating me because of course democratic activists have long been critical on the fact even on domestic issues the president might make the decisions they want to make but he doesn't go out and sell it to the american

people or explain it -- >> in this case because the troops deserve the special consideration. and nicole's first take on your book is that it's about your love for the men and women that serve. you write "where this lack of passion mattered most for me was afghanistan, when soldiers put their lives on the line, they need to know that the commander in chief who sent them in harm's way believes in the mission, he rarely spoke about the war in afghanistan. i think i myself, our commanders, and our troops had expected more commitment to the cause and more passion for it from him. do you think it takes him to truly understand the military for him to tap into that passion, though? >> i don't necessarily think so. i think president bush had that

passion, the second president bush in terms of the -- i mean, there was just no doubt about his strong conviction with respect to iraq. whether you thought he was right or wrong, there was no question about the fact that he believed deeply in what he was doing. and i give obama credit for making all these tough decisions but as i would go out and visit the troops and so on, it just seemed to me that they wanted to hear more. >> nicole. >> i think somewhere where -- first i have to say i worked for president bush and your arrival was greeted with such glee and enthusiasm. you write less about your bush year than your obama years because they're less recent. among the many people who were happy about your arrival there was the president's staff. i think the fact that you stayed on and served a democratic president, you're the first

secretary of defense to ever do, that right? >> yes. >> terms of why write a book, i mean, you have the experience, one of one human being to ever do this. i want to ask about the same quote. the last line of the book brought me to tears. you write about asking to be laid to rest in section 60 and you say that the greatest honor possible would be to rest among your heros for all eternity. this is obviously about the troops. i want to ask you how it manifested that lack of passion. what did you hear from the troops and their families. i know when you go to bases, lots of time it's their wives you get to spend time with, their houses are deployed. they're always there when you visit a base. how did this lack of passion manifest in troop morale? >> they really wouldn't talk to me directly about it. i think it was probably too sensitive a subject, but you could get it in some side long comments that you'd overhear and

so on, "it would be nice to hear from the president on this." a lot of them wanted to see him in the theater more often. and there i actually would push back against the troops and say, you know, secretary of states of defense are expendable, presidents aren't. having the president come to a forward operating base i think is too risky. i think the president's visit to kabul are the extent of what he should have done. but you just have the sense that -- i mean, these young men and women out there really know the score. they're smart. they know what's going on. >> and they read everything. >> well, they haven't got anything else to do. when they're not in combat, figuring out how to fill their time. we put so much broadband into the theater that they can skype their families and do all kinds of things, which i never understood frankly.

this is a generational thing. if i were assigned to a combat zone, i'd maybe want to go and get written letters and not hear from my family very often because to get on a skype or on an e-mail and have your wife say the kids all have the flu, the toilet's plugged up and so on and you're sitting in afghanistan and there's nothing you can do about it except fret, i think would just add to your stress. like i said, i think the troops knew the score and the troops i think believed in the mission and the troops believed and believe that they were being successful in their mission. so they i think were able to a certain extent to set aside the politics here at home. although i make the point in the book when you have somebody like the senate majority leader come out in the middle of the surge and say "this war is lost," i

thought that was one of the most disgraceful things i've heard a politician say. that sends a riveting message to kids who are putting their lives on the line every day that they're doing it for nothing, and that was absolutely not the case. >> mr. secretary, first of all, thank you for a lifetime of service to our government and a lifetime of commitment to people who are in uniform in the united states of america around the world. we appreciate it. your remarks about the president of the united states having some sense of suspicion towards high-ranking members of the military in the pentagon, when you arrived, when you chose to stay on as secretary of defense, you we we were then then years into the war in afghanistan. wouldn't an element of suspicion be well earned by any politician toward the war in afghanistan? and secondly, with regard to afghanistan today, i would ask

you to what end president karzai seems to be an impediment to any peace process, americans are still dying in afghanistan. to what end? >> well, first of all, i think that it is the responsibility of the president to push back on the military. and virtually every president who has engaged in conflict has pushed back on the military. president bush basically rejected the advice of his field commander in iraq, the secretary of defense, the combatant commander of that region and a host of others when he decided to launch the surge. the uniformed leadership did not want to do that. he did it over their objections. so i had no problem at all with the president pushing back and disgreg with t disagreeing with the military. he treated the senior military guys respectfully, he gave them

all the time they wanted to debate issues with him and to discuss things, but he had no hesitation in asking them very tough questions. and i'm totally supportive. i did that. in fact, i fired more than a few senior military guys. that's what we call civilian control of the military. and i would acknowledge, as i do in the book, that the military leadership did its part to help foster that suspicion. and the best example is in september of 2009 when we were really getting into the debate over the afghan surge and mid-month the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, mike mullen, is up for reconfirmation and says in his hearings in an open hearing, he advocates very strongly for a significant troop increase in afghanistan, thereby putting pressure on the commander in chief. a week later general mcchrystal's assessment in which he said if we don't have a significant troop increase, the

mission will fail is leaked, probably from the military. and then a week after that mccrystal is giving a speech in london and answering a question, essentially rules out the option that the vice president has been pushing. so and then in the middle of all this, david petraeus gives an interview in which he says we have to have a big troop increase and the columnist he gives the interview to is a former speech writer for george w. bush. so the white house sees these four things and they're seeing a concerted effort, an orchestrated campaign to jam the president or box him in, as they said. i kept trying to tell the president it wasn't a campaign, it wasn't an orchestrated effort. it was a series of discrete events that had that collective effect. so i tried to get the military to back down in terms of making so many public comments, but i

could -- as i write in the book, i could see how easily the without white house could see an orchestrated effort, though i was convinced and i tried to convince the president there wasn't. in terms of afghanistan, i had a very narrow goal in afghanistan. i thought our original goals were a fantasy they were so ambitious. >> you say "our original goals." do you mean president obama's? >> the original goals set by the united states, a more competent and less corrupt central government, get being pakistan to change its hedging strategy. >> can you answer a question. when was there a transformation from an anti-terror campaign in afghanistan to an anti-insurgency campaign, where it seems we went from hunting down terrorists and bringing terrorists to justice and breaking up al qaeda terror cells to trying to rebuild

afghanistan. >> i think that you've got to differentiate between the civilian side and the military side. on the civilian side, the nation building began pretty quickly after the original invasion. on the military side we went from more targeted counterterrorism, which clearly was not working, into a broader countersrj sif campaign i think in 2009 under president obama. because we didn't have the troops to do it before. >> right. and you were critical of george w. bush for not funding it. >> the goal that we finally got it down to and that i this realistic, it at that and at the same time we build up the afghan storzs so they can sustain a

secure environment in the country. everything i hear from military leaders and others on the ground is that the afghan troops on the ground are doing a good job. i think if we could get the strategic agreement across the line so we have a residual force, i think we have a pretty good chance of of achieving the objective, and keeping i think the other stuff is all the work of decades. >> mr. secretary, thank you so much for being with us. we have to do this as a public service to mika's dad, so you don't have to go back into the index. >> right. i got that all. >> secretary gates said i worked for probably three of the most significant and toughest national security advisers in our industry, henry kissinger,

dr. brzezinski and show craft. >> who was the toughest to work for? >> the toughest to work for was henry. >> you just made my mother very happy. >> thank you for coming. are you feeling okay? >> yes. there's no pain. i wanted to tell people, my wife and i were sitting at the kitchen table and i offhandedly mentioned i was saying maybe i would go into politics again and the next thing i knew i woke up in the e.r. >> you served the country for so long, how nice is it to again be a private citizen? >> it's terrific and it's even better to live an entire continent away from washington. >> what if you're asked back?

>> i think after this book, there is zero chance of that. >> so that's why he wrote the book. >> thank you so much for everything and for your service. former secretary of defense robert gates. up next, senator john thune will join us. you're watching "morning joe." we'll be right back. [ male announcer ] what if a small company became big business overnight? ♪ like, really big... then expanded? ♪ or their new product tanked? ♪

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progressive.tool on thinkorswim. welcome back to "morning joe." what a beautiful shot of the capital. >> is that washington or new york? >> that's washington. >> sing a song about that, "beautiful day." >> that looks horrible. with us from capitol hill, republican senator from south dakota and member of the finance

committee, senator john thune. senator, good to you have on board this morning. >> good morning, mika. good morning, joe. >> good morning. we have a lot of different things we want to talk about. we just had secretary gates on. obviously talking about afghanistan. is it time to bring the troops home? >> well, i think you heard him give a pretty good explanation of what he thinks ought to happen there. and he's someone who i have great respect for. i served on the armed services committee when he was in office, and when he came in front of the committee, he always gave it to us straight. i think that his assessment is a very realistic assessment. and i know this is something you've been a big advocate for for a long time, joe, but we have got to start -- the transition is in place. hopefully it happens sooner than later. >> let's talk about governor chris christie.

a lot of republicans coming up, defending the new jersey governors. he a presumptive national figure in 2016. you want to come out and defend chris christie for us? >> i think he did a really good job in his news conference last week and took it head on in his state of the state speech yesterday. if you're him, if there's nothing to hide, you want to push the facts out there as quickly as he can. if he decides to run for national office, people are going to have a long opportunity to take a good look at him and they're going to be able to make a judgment whether they like his style and he'll have an opportunity to talk about his record. i think he's doing right things right now. in terms of how that's being received by the people of new jersey and across this country, they appreciate the forthrightness and transparency. >> when i worked with you in congress, i would say we were both a bit more conservative than chris christie.

do you consider chris to be a conservative? >> sure. if you look at his economic policies, his views on a lot of what people would call cultural issues, social issues. he's a right of center conservative joe. may not be exactly where i am or where you were, i think he's representative of conservatives broadly across this country. there are some you're never going to be able to satisfy. that's fine. it's a big country, a lot of diverse opinions across the political spectrum. if you look at his record and his views, he certainly fits that view. >> when you say where i were, i was in congress. so where you are -- >> where we are, joe. >> where we are, bingo. >> senator, look at the answers you just gave about chris christie, plus the last one about whether or not he's conservative, why is it so hard,

joe, for some people just to answer the questions and to be fair about the diversity within the republican party? >> i don't know. it's not even that much diversity. he's a conservative guy. so let me ask you -- >> dimensions. >> let me ask you, john, about what happened with unemployment benefits. why did that compromise die last night? >> joe, i think the problem we have here right now is the leader in the senate, harry reed, doesn't want to take tough votes on amendments. so he consistently blocks republicans from offering amendments. they'll argue republicans are be obstructionists. if you look at the record, since july there have only been four republican amendments voted for in the united states senate. four. i think that says it all. we had six senators who voted

with democrats to get this bill on the floor who had been working tirelessly to try and come up with some middle ground that would allow us to pay for this and make some employment in the unimprovement program. i think a lot of it comes down to the leadership and the way that the senate is run. right now there isn't an open debate, an oep amendment process, which is something that we take great issue with. we think the democrats hoepfully will weigh in with their leader to get us to where we have a senate that functions and works and get these issues in front of the american people and have their voices heard. >> you talking about a full senate that works. i know one of the things you'll be taking up today is this measure for the spending bill to avert a potential government shutdown coming up in the year. are we really down the line trading for another shutdown?

>> i don't think so. i think the house is going to act today on the funding bill. it will come to the senate. i suspected it will be considered and probably disposed of in a short amount of time. eight privileged motion coming from the house, meaning it limits the proceed yerld votes that can occur in the senate. and the budget issue will be dealt with for at least theers in yeerk. that will give us an opportunity to focus on things we need to be focused on. i hope that doesn't end the debate about budget issues. this deals with the discretionary spending but we have a lot of work to do in the entitlement programs, which is where the real spending is in federal spending and that didn't get addressed. >> senator, i have club about heritage and club for growth and i wonder if speaker boehner made it easier when he accused them

of essentially bullying the process. i wonder if this fight is easier for republicans because we now put some of our cards on the table. >> nicole, as you well know, there are lots of groups out there who have different ideas about what is the best way to get some of these problems solved for the country. obviously on every issue is that -- we have to govern. we have the majority in the house of representatives, we've got to figure out a way to move legislation. he able to do that and put together that coalition on the budget. and the groups that care about these issues and rn very passionate about these issues, they're going to be allies and parts of the coalition on other issues. sometimes there are going to be differences of opinion. i think that's a natural part of the process and i'm fine with that. but i think at times you have to be able to stand up and just say, look, we have got to be able to move forward here and we've got to govern this country

and that's what the speaker essentially did when he put together the votes to pass the budget. >> senator, before we let you go, quickly, the senate clock, is there a chance for the unemployment extension benefits to come back by this weekend or early next week and be voted on? >> i think there is a chance. you know, our folks are still working with democrats on that. i hope that they can reach some sort of a solution. but really, it's got to entail at least allowing some votes on a amendments. this han it that we're in right, not allowing republicans to vote and not allowing the senate to function, it just doesn't work. hope flip at some point there's a breakthrough where we can have some votes and deal with this issue, not just with an extension, which i think treats the symptom but also deal with some of the causes for high unemployment and what we really need to be doing, which is

creating jobs and getting the economy going again. >> john, you were a great, great conservative. >> oh, you, too, thanks, joe. >> on tomorrow's show, we'll talk to the if he wesenator. "morning joe" will be right back. sh back card from capital one. it's not the "juggle a bunch of rotating categories" card. it's not the "sign up for rewards each quarter" card. it's the no-games, no-messing-'round, no-earning-limit-having, do-i-look-like-i'm-joking, turbo-boosting, heavyweight-champion- of-the-world cash back card. this is the quicksilver cash back card from capital one. unlimited 1.5% cash back on every purchase, everywhere, every single day.

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coming up next, "mad men" is

coming back for its seventh and final season. >> yes, we're going to talk to amc's president about that hit show. plus the "breaking bad" spinoff that's now in the works. i'm so excited about that. we'll be right back. your eyes really are unique. in fact, they depend on a unique set of nutrients. [ male announcer ] that's why there's ocuvite to help protect your eye health. as you age, your eyes can lose vital nutrients. ocuvite helps replenish key eye nutrients. ocuvite is a vitamin made just for your eyes

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say you want this. nothing happens until i hear you say it. >> i want this.

>> then do it yourself. >> whoo, amc's "breaking bad" went out with a bang, winning the golden globe in its final season. with us, the president and ceo of amc, josh sapan. he's author of "the big picture, america in panorama." i want to say this encapsulates our show. i love it. two really cool books. >> this is like the yale crew team, 1912. >> so cool! >> there's a great shot of henry wagner getting off -- we'll get to this in a minute. we have to talk about "breaking bad." >> the greatest ever. >> when you first hear about it,

chemistry teacher, he becomes a huge meth dealer. >> we never saw it coming. we thought it was curious and worth pursuing but we didn't quite see "it" coming. >> did you know after that crazy pilot this was going to be something special? >> we were all blown away by the pilot. it was actually really breathtaking. and it had in it -- >> it was actually one of the best pilots because it encapsulated the contrast of the entire series first show. >> it did. it was like an independent film. it was sort of complete. and all we could think is where do you go from here, it's so beautiful. >> we've loved "mad men" from the very beginning. you had some kind people send over the first season look two weeks in and we've just been addicted ever since. i mean, i know this season's going to be great but like "breaking bad," my son and i go back and forth and joey goes "breaking bad" just makes "mad men" seem so like 2009.

so, i mean -- >> only a 26-year-old can say that. >> incredible writing but they've got a challenge. they got to step it up because of the competition on the network, right? >> yeah, that's a good problem to have. >> it's an extraordinary show but you know what i'm saying, right? >> matt winer is one of the best writers on the show. >> i just can't believe "breaking bad" is over. >> it's a little sad. we're working on a spinoff show called "better call saul and vince." >> what a great show that's going to be. >> will you bring back some of the "breaking bad" cast? >> it's all in the hands of the creators. >> i'm still seething from the golden globes. i was happy to see one of the brilliant "man men" actors win for something else. how does it get passed over?

it's still one of the best things on television. >> it was wonderful that elizabeth moss won for top "top the lake." and awards are fickle business. so it's nice to win and we move on. >> both shows that joe mentioned, "breaking bad," "mad men," so much of the success of the show depends on casting. brian cranston just incredible in that role. but now the competition for content and casting with elements like netflix out there and amazon, how does that affect how you're doing business? >> there has been a great run of tv shows often referred to as the golden age of television. i think it's just getting better and it's getting to be more fun and people's taste are refined and of course the technology allows people to pay more attention because they're watching on demand, on netflix and on cable on demand and so they're sitting down at night

and paying greater attention and watching with who they want to. i think the whole thing is lifting, just getting better and better. >> josh, let me ask you this question. one of the fascinating decisions in tv history is when jeff bukias was running hbo and he had a decision to make, am i going to keep running old movies or do i have to break out and do something big and he did something huge with "band of brothers," changed the landscape. you guys had to make the same decision. i remember when "mad men" came out, a a lot of people mocked it saying it's like a bright, shiny car in the showcase window but it's just to grab headlines. that's not the case at all. when did you make the decision and what was it for you guys to do that? >> you know, it was a pretty sort of business-driven decision actually. we did think that -- and it had editorial in its genetics, but it was fundamentally business.

we really thought that eight or nine years ago that movie channels would cease to be as meaningful as they were because movies would be ever more available bordering on ubiquitious and in order to make sense woo sense, we needed to have stuff that was ours. we did look at hbo and "the sopranos" at the time as an object of envy. >> what does arian does arianna huffington, rob miller have in common. >> they all think i talk too much on the show. >> yes. and they all watch the show and

have written text in your book. >> you may have seen these photos hanging around and i always wanted to put them in a book and i finally found a publisher who was willing to engage in that and i found people whose expertise was meaningful to the subject of the photographs and lo and behold they said yes. >> what caused you to begin collecting panoramic photos? >> it's just one of those things, whatever you like, joe, you just get into it and you can't stop. i had them all over my walls and my wife said they're maudlin, bleak, get them down. >> sort of like "breaking bad."

>> do you have a favorite picture? >> i have a lot of favorite pictures. the naacp one because perhaps john lewis wrote and wrote so beautifully i favor a bit. norman lear wrote a beautiful caption in the book. good friend bill persky, a comedy friend and legend wrote a great caption about atlantic city. i'm not sure i have a favorite. >> the book is "the big picture, america in panorama." you can pick one. josh sapan, thank you so much. >> thank you so much for having me. >> coming up, exactly 20 years after figure skating was turned upside down with the controversy surrounding tanya harding, director nannet bernstein joins us to talk about her new documentary. you're watching "morning joe." ♪ and we own the paper cottage.

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♪ [ screams ] >> never heard a scream like that. just an awful, horrified type of scream. >> what happened? what happened? she said, somebody hit me. >> you ready? >> details are sketchy. >> she was struck several times -- >> hit her several times. once, twice, i'm not really

sure. >> there's been a violent attack on an american athlete. >> nancy kerrigan was attacked as she left the ice. >> it was such a bizarre story, you kind of went, "what?" >> trying to get a description. >> no, there must be some mistake. that just doesn't happen. >> they're doing a thorough investigation to try to find the man who did it. >> whoa. espn's "30 for 30" series is out with a new documentary, "the price of gold," about the infamous attack on figure skater nancy kerrigan and the impact it had on her rival tonya harding, and here with us is nanette burstein. good to have you on the show. >> thank you. >> it really brings you back. it is riveting. >> i can't believe that happened still today. >> i know, it is one of the most notorious sports stories in american history. >> what do uncover in this doc? >> first of all, tonya speaks very openly throughout the film, and in a way she never has

before. and the details of the story, you know, this was a tabloid story that every day, you know, was in the headlines and so black-and-white, the way it was presented. it really shows the full complexity of everything that happened. >> what's the gray? >> well, the gray is, first of all, you know, tonya came from a really difficult childhood and was an incredible athlete. and nancy, you know, was depicted as a super wealthy girl, and yet she was from a blue-collar family. so the media depicted it as, you know, the ice princess versus the evil witch, and it was far more complex than that. >> there was such sabotage that went into this, the machinations behind the scenes. but it was interesting for that time period, 1994, and here we are 20 years later, which is hard to believe. >> yes. >> that's when the media really picked up on the narratives, and people had an appetite for it. we all couldn't get enough of what really went on. >> yeah. i mean, that was where the

pendulum shifted in 1994 of our media, of mainstream media covering tabloid stories 24/7. o.j. simpson with the bronco chase, and the menendez brothers, and you have "the new york times" along with the "national enquirer" along with tobe, a tom brokaw, all covering the same story. >> one of the more interesting aspects is it's told in a narrative, like a detective story, not right up-front bang on it. >> right. >> the element that was interesting, is then, is now, continues to be is this sort of upstairs/downstairs saga that the media perpetuated. as you indicated, harding was downstairs, the servant girl working downstairs, and nancy kerrigan, although not true, the upstairs girl. and i'm interested in nancy

kerrigan -- >> tonya is very, very busy about the media coverage, the way she was depicted. and most people today think she was actually the one who hit nancy with the baton. >> right. actually -- >> they think of her as being the perpetrator, whereas she was never convicted of even being involved. she just pled to hindering the prosecution. >> wow. by the way, nancy kerrigan is now working for nbc, and she is going to sochi. >> this is a terrific piece of work, this "30 for 30." >> fascinating. thank you so much for being on. >> thank you. >> "the price of gold" airs tomorrow on espn at 9:00 p.m. eastern. "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.

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go. ♪ good morning. it's 8:00 on the east coast. 5:00 a.m. on the west coast, as you take a live look at new york city. back with us on set, we have nicole wallace, mike barnicle, and tom roberts. chris christie still tops the newscast. he's calling for a longer school day, pension reform, and an answer to crime. but that wish list during his staut of the state address was overshadowed by the persisting george washington bridge scandal. christie entered the capitol to a standing ovation that carried on and on even after he took to the podium.

there he quickly addressed the controversy head on. >> without a doubt, we will cooperate with all appropriate inquiries to ensure that this breach of trust does not happen again. but i also want to assure the people of new jersey today that what has occurred does not define us or our state. this administration and this legislature will not allow the work that needs to be done to improve the people's lives in new jersey to be delayed for any reason. >> but it remains to be seen how much christie can get done in the scandal's wake. democrats dismissed much of the governor's address as talking points, accusing him of playing bait and switch with public pensions. they also released a web video calling the scandal an embarrassment. and they actually released that right before the state of the state, so the blood's in the water, the knives are out, all those statements.

i mean, certainly, it's tough anywhere in politics. in new jersey, i'd say it's really tough. and it's going to show the very thing that i think chris christie has been known for the opposite, which is being able to work with the other side. there are some people who don't feel that way, and will be certainly out to get him now. and you've seen them all over the airwaves. i mean, i've seen his former opponent for the governor, barba barbara buono, on tv, and making sure she's twisting. >> it's fairly predictable, some of it. with regard to the story itself and the almost-crushing overload on the christie story -- >> we have new information coming out which i'll share in just a second. >> the larger point is, if there is new information that proves -- well, first of all, if it continues the way it's continuing with nothing really new, earth shattering, proving that chris christie did not tell the truth, this story is pretty

much done. if, on the other hand, something is revealed that proves that he's not, he's done. >> there's a slow drip on that, and i'll get to that in just a second. i want to address the state of the state, just go around the table, especially nicole, given your expertise, how do you think he did? >> i think he did great. and i think this is one of the cases the way the media -- especially the national media looks at the media, and the way constituents look at the story like this, and the admirers, and people watch around the country, bifurcate. the media is examining the crisis in and of itself. >> right. >> and i think that the public is so far satisfied with how forthright he's been and how heartfelt his statements have been. >> -- forthright, though. there's now comparisons coming up to the time line of just how forthright he was -- >> we'll get to that in just a second. nicole, i want to ask about -- i

thought this was interesting, bill maher said this on "chris matthews" yesterday, he has been wall-to-wall coverage on most networks. and, you know, whether it's bad coverage or good coverage or assessing his -- i mean, he is even more of a household name than he was before in terms of potential republican contender. i'm not saying it's a positive benefit, but it doesn't hurt to have his name out there, and it is covered so vastly that it shows how serious a contender he is to an extent. >> the other thing, and i'm so glad you raised this, because this to me is the most interesting. he is having his moment to sort of exorcise all of these demons in full view of the media, if he decides to run for president, and if he survives the brutal republican primary process. he will be able to say to everyone that this issue was exhausted. this issue was beaten to death. that the national media will pay

much more attention to this for much longer than the people of new jersey. >> so chris christie, and i, obviously we've known him a long time, you've either been around politics for a long time, or you haven't. one of the things that struck us, and we never said this to him, what struck us early on was he was kind of a rookie. like, you didn't realize it because -- >> in a good way. >> in a good way. it was all new to him. and so, when we'd sit and talk to him, we'd go, you can tell -- >> you cannot get that excited about meeting bruce springsteen. >> stop it. >> or you -- >> let me make my point really quick. i want to get it all the way out. the thing is he was -- you know, he was exuberant, he was excited, and, mike, it's not that we like cynics, but you could tell, people talking about running for president, he had only been in there for three years. he'd only been in politics for three years. this actually is -- and if he's

lying, as you said, he's crazy and he's finished. if he's telling the truth -- >> it's over. the story's over. >> and not only is it over, this -- this gives him sea legs. >> depth. >> moving forward. i'm not spinning. i have to say i've been shocked by the vitriol the left has for the new jersey governor. and it only leaves me thinking, if that's the only target they have, a jersey governor, it just -- it is constant. and i go -- i go on twitter and i'm trying to talk about neil young songs, and they're freaking out about, like, chris christie, and i'm going, is that all the democrats -- but this is, it's sort of a baptism by fire. and i guarantee you the next time we talk to chris christie over dinner, he won't be like a rookie who thinks, hey, this is pretty cool stuff. if he's going to run for president, better that it's happening now than when he's in office. if he's telling the truth. >> to nicole's point, carl levin from michigan, you know,

commenting on christie's voracity in this story, it can be labelled tedious. it's getting tedious. again, if nothing occurs, nothing comes out, the story dies. >> here's the bottom line, if something does come out, if chris christie is lying, if the evidence -- >> he's gone. he's gone. >> -- he's done. if he's telling the truth -- >> so there's a little problem with that. >> -- he lives to fight another day. >> thomas. >> now, we're reading the tea leaves and i guess people can keep -- i didn't want to put it at the top of the show, because i thought it was tedious. >> no. >> but mika said some things broke yesterday -- >> we have to cover it. >> the time line. and if you look to the chris christie as a political figure, i think he looks like a fantastic political duck who came out to give that state of the state, and calm, great, feet going under the water as fast and furious as possible, because of all of the things going on behind the scenes, because the "wall street journal" broke that story in the afternoon, photos

of chris christie with david wildstein, one of the two individuals that authorized the closure of the lanes on the bridge. he is there in the red tie. christie has said in that press conference that epic one-hour, almost two-hour press conference, he had no contact with him in a long time. now, another official involved is bill baroni, reportedly on hand, as well. both have since stepped down. you'll remember that in the press conference, the governor was emphatic about his connectivity to david wilestein, even going back to high school, saying i was a jock, i was a class president, i don't know where wildstein was. he wasn't my buddy. >> right. >> and i'm, like, you know-- pick up the inferences there. >> i want to show people that. and i want to tell people how we're covering this as we raise the questions, because we are getting a tremendous a of criticism. >> who is? >> it's some of the -- >> oh, wait, are you talking --

are you talking about twitter? >> i'm not being dismissive. i learn a lot of stuff on twitter, i really do. >> me, too. >> what i noticed the last three, four days is people from the left have been -- like, when i say the left, the far left, have just been crazy about this. and i actually look in there, and i have to scan through all of their -- their hateful comments to see, like, who's -- you know, somebody who selected a crosby, stills & nash -- >> you don't have to make exc e excuses for being personally friends, but professionally, as we look at this, you know, at a distance, you know, everybody wants to wait to see what the investigation proves. >> sure. exactly. and by the way, we've been critical from the beginning, just the only thing i've said is he's a friend. you know. i've given him the benefit of the doubt. heck, i give that to most democrats, too. >> actually, i've thought about this, because this has bothered me, especially over the weekend

when the story was a lot fresher. >> what's bothering you, mika? >> sort of the criticism we've received for being, you know, too in the tank, or too -- >> on twiter? >> -- supportive of him. >> no, i'm saying, if that bothers you, you need to just -- >> she's trying to make a point -- >> i'm serious. >> -- a donkey like tomorrow -- >> moo, moo, moo. three interrupting cows. not nicole. >> not-not. moo. go ahead. >> i think -- i think the fact that we have been openly friendly with him, and i think the fact that we are friends with him -- >> right. >> -- off the air, and i think the fact that our show has been so open arms toward him, because we enjoy having him on, and he's a frequent guest, that we actually need to show extra scrutiny. and i think we're trying to do that without the vitriol, the frothing mouth and the slobber going down our faces, which i think has been seen on the left. >> -- when the slobber, because

this is what, to me, i think separates the media from the public. i think the public is -- not only are they more deserving of the truth, especially the people of new jersey, but i think they're more patient in terms of waiting for the facts to come out, than most of the media. and i have sat here, and we've been incredibly critical of governor christie when he made his votes on -- or when he signed bills that weren't as strict on gun control than we might have hoped he would be in the wake of newtown. i've sat here when we've been plenty critical of governor christie and the way he's governed that state. we've held his comments, his feet to the fire. but the fact that no one is foaming at the mouth, to see m him -- >> exactly. >> -- hauled off for something that there's absolutely no evidence at that point -- >> at this point -- >> and it looks bad, and i'll say it again, the latest information that thomas shared with us does not look good. >> yeah, fine. just look at photos, read photos. >> optics. >> the investigators will look at it, and that's fine.

yes, we're friends with chris christie. guess what? we're friends with -- there are a lot of people in the white house that we're really good friends with. >> exactly. >> you know, do i criticize the white house every day? >> yes. >> i've said time and time again i -- i don't know. i guess we should just sort of take this side exit off the george washington bridge and talk about this a little bit and say -- >> i think we should. >> -- you know, heck, i'm friends -- i've been around d.c. for, like, 20 years. you'd be hard-pressed to find people in washington i'm not friends with. i never, like, put the line up, when i went in congress. you know, i love valerie. and a lot of people that work at the white house, i've got great respect for president obama -- >> my brother works for him. >> yeah. but at the same time i don't think for a second about, hey, i -- john kerry. when you sent next to john kerry

for nine innings in the final game of the world series -- >> you don't talk. we've got to talk to him. >> no, i'm saying, we're hugging each other. but this is a point, though. this is a point people need to know how things operate, and we're hugging and high-fiving, and it's this wonderful moment that we're sharing, and then he goes off and strikes a deal with iran that i say is going to be the end of, like, the world. and everybody else. i'm just saying -- this isn't justification, this is how grown-ups operate. >> yes. >> and if john kerry thought for one second me sitting next to him at the world series for four hours and celebrating that moment would stop me from being critical of a plan that i think is horrible for the state of israel and horrible for a long-term national security, then john kerry doesn't know me. you know what? john never complained, because he's a pro. >> professional. he's a professional. >> chris hasn't complained. he's a pro. >> he knows. >> joe, i think here's where we -- >> -- read the twitter comments. >> as we look at this as

christie gains dynamic, he's a dynamic political figure, and one that has been talked about for potential 2016, and is now at the front of the republican governors association, which was going to be a great foundational launching pad to get him in all the states around the country and get people to know him. and when you think about great leadership, you expect great leadership to come with casting a great vision, calling people to rise up to be better than they know how to be. >> right. >> and so, when now people drill down on the leadership vision that's being cast by chris christie, or the assumptions of a leadership vision that was cast by chris christie, for his inner circle to operate this way, that's where people get their hackles up and wonder, okay, were we just willing to overlook what a dynamic and magnetic guy this was, and not really dig a little deeper? now, there's safety in numbers for new jersey democrats to come out and say, you know what, in hindsight this and hindsight that. john doe has the upperhand now, because chris christie is on the

ropes. >> let me say something about the leadership point, because in the public's view, leadership is not about rising to the highest office in the state and nothing ever going wrong. leadership is about what you do when things go wrong, and we do not -- none of us has enough information, sitting around here, to predict how this will play out. and when you talk about hackles, i see a lot more hackles in the media than i see, so far, in public opinion in new jersey. >> only the "wall street journal," nicole, and the "wall street journal" is a very conservative newspaper. and ted mann has -- but ted mann has been going after this with gus t gusto, and he's with the "wall street journal." >> as he should. >> right now, chris christie has poll numbers in the state of new jersey that the republican governor -- >> 59%. >> come on. >> you want to be accurate. >> i said -- >> okay. hold on a second. if you look at these numbers,

whether it's 59 or 60 -- >> in college i like to round up, in my grades. >> but if you look at the numbers, most republican governors and democratic governors across america would kill to still have the numbers that chris christie has. >> coming up on "morning joe," wendy davis brings in some serious cash in her bid for governor of texas. how she stacks up against her republican opponent. mike allen has that in the "political playbook." first, bill karins with a chance on the forecast. >> mika, all about the fog. we've had freezing fog in connecticut. temperatures 28 degrees in hartford, and new york city and d.c., we're above freezing. this is union station in d.c. you can see visibility is still very poor, and a slow morning commute. and there are airport delays that are starting to build. as i mentioned, the temperatures in connecticut, watch out for the black ice there. visibility, as far as we go, we dropped the fog advisory around richmond. still fog left around raleigh to wilmington. visibilities are definitely the worse from d.c., baltimore, into

philadelphia. right now, a tenth of a mile or less. right now, only 15-minute delays in philadelphia. but in newark, we heard of a ground stop for at least another 15 minutes. the forecast also calls for very warm conditions in much of the west where we continue to have this horrible drought. and over the next two weeks, we have a lot of fast-moving storms through the eastern half of the country and extremely warm and dry everywhere in the west. i was mentioning the fog around new york city. it's a pretty cool shot. the fog is primarily just over the hudson river to your right and the east river to the left. but not so much right over midtown. another interesting morning. sun will be out soon in new york city. you're watching "morning joe." [ male announcer ] this is jim. a man who doesn't stand still. but jim has afib, atrial fibrillation, an irregular heartbeat not caused by a heart valve problem. that puts jim at a greater risk of stroke.

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♪ let's look at the "morning papers," the roswell daily record, a shooting at a middle school in roll well. -- roswell. a 12-year-old opened up fire in the gym with a sawed-off shotgun. he shot a 13-year-old boy and 11-year-old girl before a teacher convinced him to put the weapon done. the entire incident lasted just ten seconds. the victims were airlifted to a hospital in texas, lubbock, texas. at this hour, one victim in critical condition. the other stable. the school reopens tomorrow. and "the new york times," potential reach of the national security agency into our lives just got a little bit larger. "the new york times" is reporting that it used

surveillance technology to infiltrate roughly 100,000 computers worldwide. the software utilizes a secret channel of radio waves, and it can transmit data even if commuters are not logged into the internet. the nsa calls the digital pathway an active defense against foreign cyber attacks. "the san francisco chronicle" the demand for tesla, electric cars, soared in the fourth quarter with sales up 20%. the automaker says it sold 6,900 cars in quarter 4, helping push the company past its goal of 20,000 in 2013. tesla currently sells only one car, the model s, which retails for at least $70,000. tesla shares were up 16% yesterday. and the chicago tribune, the billionaire creator of beanie babies is going to avoid prison time for tax evasion. a judge sent ensed him to two

years probation. he was facing five years in prison for evading $20 million in an offshore bank account. >> remember beanie babies? >> i still have several of them around my bed, i have them stacked up. >> okay. >> i don't feel so alone. >> that's awkward. from the front page of "usa today," governor chris christie may have to deal with another scandal. come super bowl sunday, the eyesore in the meadowlands known once as xanadu. the empty mall sits in the shadow of metlife stadium. it's now on its third developer and fourth governor. it's a really tough -- look at that. >> oh. mm. my house looks like that. >> yeah. >> not that big, but the blue, white -- whatever that then is -- >> you designed your home after xanadu? >> i did. a little ranch. you know. 100 square feet of that. >> it called for a water park, a ski slope. did you get that? and a giant ferris wheel. governor christie once promised

it would be opened by february 2nd or super bowl sunday, but that date has been pushed back -- >> with us now, chief white house cent for politico mike allen, here with the "morning playbook." campaign finance reports released in the texas gubernatorial race and big news for democratic senator wendy davis, a rising star in texas, facing an uphill battle there. what's the news? >> money rolling in. >> well, this stand with wendy campaign across the country bringing in texas-sized money. this is going to be an amazing race. so this is the governor's race to succeed rick perry, and wendy davis raised just over $12 million. the state attorney general, greg abbott, the republican, who's running against her, he got around $12 million, too. $11.5 million. so people around the country pouring money into this race. republicans having a little fun with the fact that she's drawn so much national democratic excitement.

done events in new york, d.c., pointing out that greg abbott got from every one of texas' counties, but they're going to have as much money as they possibly want to fight this out, and it's a race that's exciting, not just because so many people identified with wendy davis after her filibuster over the abortion, but, also, as you guys know, the obama crowd, national democrats, really have their eye on texas. as a state that not in 2016, but they hope in 2020 could be a purple state. every indication, every demographic trend is pushing it that way, so some former obama aides are running political operation down there to get ready for turning it purple, and they're helping wendy davis, that's part of what's brought in the big money. >> interesting. also, mike, in just a few hours, president obama will be meeting with democratic senators at the white house. i guess the first step in his push to make sure they keep control of the senate. what's next?

>> yeah, well, mika, for the first time in the last couple of weeks, you've heard more and more democrats around town say that there's true worry about republicans taking the senate, about the president -- the nightmare scenario where republicans control both the house and the senate, starting in january 2015. talk about full lame duck status. so the president's doing something unusual here. usually they loop in lawmakers about what they're going to talk about in the state of the union a few days, sometimes even a few hours before the president goes before congress. here we're more than ten days ahead of the state of the union. the president's talking about in detail about what he's going to do. a lot of it has to do with going directly to the country, using, as the president said yesterday, the power of the pen, the power of the phone, organizing, to get what he's doing including manufacturing, which we're going to hear him talk about today in north carolina, and college

affordability. >> all right. politico's mike allen. thank you so much. up next, our interview with former defense secretary robert gates. how he's responding to criticism about his new book. "morning joe" will be right back. go-gurt? yep...doh. [ boy ] slurpably fun and a good source of calcium. dads who get it, get go-gurt.

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this morning, we sat down with former defense secretary robert gates whose new book offers a sometimes critical assessment of president obama, vice president biden, and lawmakers on capitol hill. here is more of that conversation. >> when the first news came out, it seemed like you had written this negative tell-all book about president obama, and that ended up not being the truth. you got a lot off your chest. why was it important to do that? >> there are a lot of contemporary issues addressed in the book, both at the end and threaded throughout, in terms of when do you use military force. what are the criteria? what are your goals? what are the consequences? what are your assumptions? we, for example, in both iraq and afghanistan, we made the assumption that both wars would be short.

grievously wrong assumption. and i make the point in there that that's an assumption often made when you launch military forces. so that has relevance as you look at syria, as you look at potentially using force against iran if the negotiations don't work. it was part of the considerations when we were deciding to intervene in libya. and so, what i've tried to do is write a book that shows and humanizes by bringing the personalities of the people into it, how presidents wrestle with these questions of peace and war, the passion that comes to the table. but it also is a book about two other things, quickly. it also is a book about how in a polarized and paralyzed city i actually was able to get things done. i talk about how difficult it was to get things done, but i

got them done. my job was to salvage two wars, and it involved making significant changes in the department of defense. it had required a lot of conflict with the congress, especially when i wanted to cut major military programs and budgetary overhead. but the book outlines the techniques that i used in order to make those things work. and the other thing i wanted to do -- frankly, the book is dedicated to the men and women of the armed forces. i wanted to write a book for them and for their families and for the country that sent them, about how this all really works in washington. and how difficult these issues are. as i once told the president, as usual, all your options are bad. and i want -- i want to give them a flavor of the circumstances in which they were sent to war.

>> it seems your view of president obama, as a leader, as a decisionmaker, was, for the most part, positive. he bucked the advice of most of his political advisors. he made some very courageous decisions. it seems reading through this -- and tell me whether i'm wrong or not -- that, yes, perhaps your biggest problem with the president and some of his advisors were their ignorance -- was their ignorance of the military culture. they didn't just understand -- this is joe biden, president obama talking about ordering the military to do certain things. was that the biggest -- your biggest day-to-day problem with the obama administration? >> well, first, just to reinforce your first point, i -- take afghanistan. i agreed with all of the decisions president obama made on afghanistan. the whole time i worked for him.

two and a half years, and those were his biggest decisions, including the decision to end our combat involvement in december 2014. i agreed with and supported his decisions on virtually every other part of foreign policy, until the spring of 2011 where we disagreed on how to handle the uprising in egypt, whether to intervene in libya, and so on. but the two things that troubled me against that backdrop were his suspicion of the senior military leadership and his unwillingness to regularly go out in front of audiences and talk about why the war in afghanistan was necessary and to send the message routinely to the men and women he had sent into battle why the cause was

noble, why it was just, why it was worth the sacrifice that he was asking them to make. he made the tough decisions to deploy them. and i admire those decisions. but i would have liked for -- to hear him tell them why what they were doing was important. >> by the way, it's fascinating, mika, because, of course, democratic activists have long been critical of the fact -- even on domestic issues that are important to them -- this president might make the decisions they want to make, but he doesn't go out and sell it to the american people, or explain it to the american people. >> in this case, the frustration is because the troops deserve that special consideration, which nicole's first takeaway from reading this book is it's really about your love of the men and women who serve. but on president obama, you write this. where this lack of passion mattered most for me was afghanist afghanistan. when soldiers put their lives on the line, they need to know the commander in chief, who sent them in harm's way, believes in their mission.

he rarely spoke about the war in afghanistan except when he was making an announcement about troop increases or troop drawdowns, or announcing a change in strategy. given his campaign rhetoric about afghanistan, i think i myself, our commanders, our troops had expected more commitment to the cause and more passion for it from him. do you think it takes experience inside the military to truly understand and tap into that passion, though? >> well, i don't -- i don't necessarily think so. i think president bush had that -- had that passion, second president bush. in terms of -- there was no doubt about his strong conviction with respect to iraq, whether you thought he was right or wrong, there was no question about the fact that he believed deeply in what he was doing. and i give obama credit for making all of the tough decisions. but as i would go out and visit the troops and so on, it just

seemed to me that they wanted to hear more. >> nicole? >> i think somewhere -- first, i have to say i worked for president bush and your arrival was greeted with glee and enthusiasm, and you write less about the bush years than the obama years, because they're most recent. but among the many people happy about your arrival was the president's staff. and so, i think the fact that you stayed on and served a democratic president, you're the first secretary of defense to ever do that, right? >> yes. >> in terms of why write a book, i mean, you have the experience, one of one human being to ever do this. i want to ask about the same quote, and the last line of the book brought me to tears. you write about asking to be laid to rest in section 60, and you say that the greatest honor possible would be to rest among your heroes for all eternity. this is obviously about the troops.

and i want to ask you how it manife manifested, this lack of passion, what did you hear from the troops and their families? when you go to bases, lots of times it's the wives you get to spend time with, their husbands are deployed. they're always there when you visit a base. how did this lack of passion manifest in troop morale, or in the things that the troops felt about the deployments? they were still -- they were still serving. >> they really wouldn't talk to me directly about it. i think it was probably too sensitive a subject, but you could get it in some side-long comments that you'd overhear, and so, it would be nice to hear from the president on this, and so on. a lot of them wanted to see him in the theater more often. >> yeah. >> and there, i actually would push back against the troops. i say, you know, secretaries of defense are expendable. presidents aren't. and having the president come to a forward operating base is, in my opinion, too risky. so i think the president's

visits to kabul were the extent of what he should have done. but you just had the sense that -- i mean, the young men and women out there really know the score. >> part of our conversation this morning with former defense secretary bob gates. coming up, built ford tough is taking on a new meaning as the automaker places a big bet on new line of trucks switching from steel, and how is that said on way too early, aluminum. it would mark a legendary change for the industry. [ male announcer ] this is the story

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all right. a live look at the plaza. a nice day in new york, at least. joe, you know i love my ford truck. >> well, mika, you know, i know you don't actually have a ford truck. >> i do, a '94, rollup windows. >> you have a bentley. >> two gas tanks. it even has a gun rack. >> where do we keep this car? >> in pennsylvania at this point. i do want to bring it back. i used to bring it into the city when i worked at cbs, it had ny plates. no, ask betty chin, producer there, and she did to maine -- >> mika lets her borrow the bentley. >> betty drove it, and really small and -- the steering wheel -- >> all right, this is becoming laborious. >> i'm skeptical. of this.

>> -- its new f-150 with one big change. nbc's john yang. >> reporter: it was the much anticipated highlight of the auto show. >> ladies and gentlemen, this is the new ford f-150. >> reporter: the 2015 ford f-150 pickup. 700 pounds lighter, up to 20% more fuel efficient, and ford engineers pledge just as durable as its predecessors, and here's the surprise. it's not made of steel, but of aluminum. >> the aluminum, pound-for-pound, is tougher than steel. >> reporter: it's also a big gamble by a company used to taking risks. ford was the only carmaker not to take a government bailout, and this isn't just any pickup. it's america's pickup. more than 33 million sold, more than 11 million still on the road. >> ford is going for fuel efficiency and durability. if it can put that combination

together, this could be a big change for ford. >> reporter: it will be made of the aluminum grade like used in the humvee, but it will be used in families. howard's 2006 f-150 hit 100,000 miles. not ford tough? >> doesn't sound very ford tough. >> reporter: it could make a convert out of trapper jason, a chevy guy. >> you save gas, save weight, and get more power out of your truck for not pushing 800 pounds down the street, somebody's doing something right, you know? >> reporter: waiting to see if there'll be an aluminum ford in their future. >> yeah, so you're not a big fan. anybody a big fan of the aluminum -- >> the new ones, i'll have to talk to my friends at ford.

got to get the '94 going again. >> will you stop it? we have a road trip idea, right? >> road trip. >> what are you going -- >> i want to go with mika to get this truck. >> pick up the truck. >> yeah. go to hershey park and ride the super-duper looper. >> no, don't go there. i did the teacup, and i almost died. >> the rick ety wooden -- >> seriously, at this point, at this point, i would rather, like, have you walk around barefoot with an alpaca in our studio. so off the record. >> it's a donkey, his name is aspen. so cute. >> brian joins us. brian, what's the reaction so far to the new f-150 truck? >> i'm surprised you chose alpaca rather than llama. that says a lot. it's alpaca or llama.

left or right. >> you're a llama guy? >> i'm a llama guy, have to adm admit it. i think ford is the best-looking car lineup front to back. and the 23 mpg, guys, i think will make a difference. 33 million sold. not only the most important car for ford, but also the highest by some measures, the highest profitability vehicle for ford. it's nice to see the little fiestas out there, but the reality the companies will make the money on the big cars, big electrics like that. this could be a game changer. >> my brother ian texted me, he wants one. >> he wants one, as well? >> yeah. >> what was the name of the llama you drove into town on, brian? >> what's that? >> nothing. >> brian sullivan, thank you. all baby carriages are not created equal. did you know this? you best beware if you see this one on the streets. thomas is going to explain.

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[ bleep ] [ crying ] >> oh! [ screams ] [ baby crying ] [ laughter ] >> -- it starts throwing vomit. they have vomit at people. it's the best. and for a movie called "devil's

doom," motto, but the projectile vomiting at people. >> where's the vomit? >> there's vomit. >> oh, my god. >> a face only a mother could love. >> 50 million views online. already. >> my favorite is when -- i'm meteorologist bill karins. we have travel dilts out there. no big storms, but foggy conditions on the eastern seaboard. we also have cold and windy conditions in the northern plains. a lot of blowing snow. of course, the big story out west continues to be the warmer and drier weather and record temperatures. have a great day.

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[ laughter ] >> oh, my god. [ laughter ] mika said that looks like me. >> will you please get that baby carriage here? we've got to get it here. keep talking baby. what are you doing, that's where they're meant to flip the -- >> the devil babies have only a face a mother could love. >> yeah. [ laughter ] and mika says it looks like me. >> that's what i learned.

mika says the devil baby looks like you. >> my wife is still angry at me for signing the consent form for colin's baby pictures. stick around. here's chuck. carolina on his mind. president obama takes his pen and phone for a quick trip south. we'll talk to top white house advisor gene spurling about the president's economic agenda, and then we're going to talk to north carolina's republican governor on if he's welcoming the president to the state. plus, trenton makes and the world takes with an unusual national audience, chris christie doesn't shy away from the scandal surrounding him during the state of the state address. did he talk about other issues? i think he did. don't know if the reporters noticed. >> in