gives up and he does not quit. [ cheers and applause ] cory. >> an emotional moment from last night's state of the union address, bringing the gallery to its feet, a standing ovation as the president honors one of america's wounded warriors, reminding all of us we are a country that never quits. but is the president at his wit's end with congressional obstruction? the pointed message to the hill and the president's plan to use the power of the pen to increase american pay. and americans, consider the trifecta response from republicans. messages from congresswoman cathy mcmorris rodgers, senator mike lee and senator rand paul. place your bets now, because this is "way too early." hey, everybody. we did it, it's hump day. i'm thomas roberts. wednesday, hummyp day, right?

january 29th. and this is "way too early," the only show which highlights the president's state of the union address while also teaching self-defense techniques by our own jim cantore. wait until you see this. but we begin with a more modest and sober president. president obama, nonetheless, calling for action this year in his fifth state of the union address, vowing to use executive action, if needed. >> but america does not stand still, and neither will i. so, wherever and whenever i can take steps without legislation to expand opportunity for more american families, that's what i'm going to do. >> so, now, this speech called for some new programs and plans, a $10.10 minimum wage for federal contractors, and a myra. that's a savings bond for people who don't have programs like a 401(k). but mostly, the president went on to try to set the tone to get past the bitter political divide of the last year. he extolled the promise of his signature health care plan and called on republicans to come up with some ideas or just play along.

>> i do not expect to convince my republican friends on the merits of this law. but i know that the american people are not interested in refighting old battles. so, again, if you have specific plans to cut costs, cover more people, increase choice, tell america what you'd do differently. let's see if the numbers add up. but let's not have another 40-something votes to repeal a law that's already helping millions of americans like amanda. the first 40 were plenty. we all owe it to the american people to say what we're for, not just what we're against. >> all right, so the president spent little time on immigration reform, just a paragraph, but noted it's starting to move forward with house republicans.

but one of the biggest lines of the night came with a reference to don draper and creating an america of equal wages for women. >> she deserves to have a baby without sacrificing her job. a mother deserves a day off to care for a sick child or a sick parent without running into hardship. and you know what? a father does, too. it is time to do away with workplace policies that belong in a "mad men" episode. this year, let's all come together, congress, the white house, businesses from wall street to main street, to give every woman the opportunity she deserves, because i believe when women succeed, america succeeds. >> joined now from washington, political reporter kasie hunt. what's been the reaction to the president's state of the union speech? >> reporter: good morning, thomas. well, this is very clearly a president that's making a series of small asks. i mean, this was a modest speech from top to bottom, basically,

and that's what you heard from members of congress after they listened to that speech last night. this is a president trying to keep his democratic party unified. he very sort of tip-toed around a number of the issues that could potentially cause problems for them in the midterm elections coming up. and part of the reason for that is that's the one major advantage democrats have over republicans at this point. the republican party is fractured still and a little bit off message. and while vulnerable docrats aren't scrambling to show up in their home states with the president, at the same time, the party isn't splintered like republicans are. >> and kasie, we know as the evening ended, we had three different republican responses to the speech. so, if people are placing the bets on the trifecta, who won the messaging war? >> well, it's hard for any member of congress to win a messaging war when you stand up to the president with all of the pomp and circumstance and ceremony of the state of the union. that said, congressman cathy mcmorris rodgers did her party a service last night, and that

speaking slot does not have a history of sending its deliverers on to bigger and better things, shall we say. many of the people who have delivered that address in the past have screwed up. we all remember senator marco rubio taking a swig of water. cathy mcmorris rodgers offered sort of a hopeful vision for her party. she told a touching, personal story and it seemed to come across pretty well. >> all right, so a home run for her. kasie hunt, thanks. >> thanks, thomas. >> reporter:. while things were back-slapping inside, michael grimm physically threatened a reporter after the state of the union when the new york 1 reporter tried to ask him about a campaign finance investigation. and then this happened. >> reporter: since we have you here, we haven't had a chance to talk about -- >> i am not speaking about anything that's off topic. this is only about the president's speech. >> reporter: what about -- >> thank you. >> reporter: all right, so, congressman michael grimm doesn't want to talk about some of the allegations concerning his campaign finances. we wanted to get him on camera

about that, balut ut as you saw refused to talk about that. >> let me be clear to you, if you ever do that to me again [ bleep ]. [ inaudible ] >> reporter: why? why? it's a valid question. [ inaudible ] >> no. you are not man. you are not man. i'll break you like a boy. >> okay, so, congressman grimm didn't back down after that incident. in a statement, he said "i was extremely annoyed because i was doing new york 1 a favor by rushing to do their interview first in lieu of several other requests. the reporter knew that i was in a hurry and was only there to comment on the state of the union but insisted on taking a disrespectful and cheap shot at the end of the interview because i did not have the time to speak off topic. i verbally took the reporter to task and told him off because i expect a certain level of professionalism and respect, especially when i go out of my way to do that reporter a favor. i doubt that i am the first

member of congress to tell off a reporter and i'm sure i won't be the last." all right, now to the latest on that winter storm that has caused a really big shock in the deep south. the arctic blast that wreaked havoc from the carolinas all the way to texas. one of the hardest hit areas is atlanta, where traffic, look at that, was brought to a stan standstill, frozen in place as commuters are normally in their car for just a few minutes. this turned into several hours in atlanta. the roads are so bad that hundreds of kids are stranded at schools across the south, and it's not much better elsewhere. hundreds of accidents were blamed on the storm across the south, including one that killed two people in alabama. also in alabama, this dramatic photo showing one giant truck sliding as it tries to avoid another truck during the storm. the weather channel's jim cantore is in charleston, south carolina, with more for us this morning. jim, this is really bad for the south. they're just not used to this type of weather and they don't have the resources to combat it. >> reporter: right, but you know what? here's the deal, thomas, we're really good at forecasting the weather. but you know what, sometimes we

miss one miles per hour this case, we didn't do that. and atlanta, as big as that city is, has to buy in when we're talking about it on a national media level, when the national weather service has got advisories out, when local media's talking about it. also absolutely no excuse to have that kind of gridlock. they should have shut it down early on in the day. you can't play with the fine details of the forecast. yes, it came in a couple hours early, but still, the point is, is with a city that big, you've got to plan way ahead, because it is just human nature. when people see the snow coming down outside, i've got to get out of here. that's what everybody did, and that's what caused the absolute gridlock. it kept snowing, all the new road crews that they've got available to them they could not get out to them. here in charleston, they pretty much shut the city down. the problem for people trying to get in this morning, like the rav now bridge, a major way in from mt. pleasant, without that bridge, the 2-mile trek becomes a 40-mile trek into charleston. so, people are ready to stay down. the mayor was like, jim, we just

closed it down for a couple days. we knew it was coming. it worked out absolutely perfectly. it will take another 24 hours to get things back up and running. the good news is, thomas, warmer weather is ahead. >> all right, so i know a lot of people in atlanta got stuck in that traffic, and you talk about having the forewarning of it. sometimes people just have to go on reflexes. and as we speak about reflexes, jim, we've got to show this clip of you that has gone viral. take a look. >> reporter: i've come to charleston a few times before to cover tropical storms and hurricanes, but not an ice and snowstorm, which is what we're expecting. we have not gotten into the worst part of this storm yet yet, later to come here tonight. obviously here at the college of charleston, they're already having a good time. >> jim cantore of the weather channel, also a live shot ninja. how did you know to knee the guy? how did your reflexes go below the belt? >> reporter: honestly, it happens more than you think. i'm sick of it. i know my colleagues, whether they're reporters or meteorologists are sick of it as

well, and i mean, do i come up to somebody in their office and scream and yell on top of them when they're working? no, i don't do that, and i don't want people -- i mean, this is my office out here. so you know, get out of my space, don't get in my face, don't touch me, or you know. and i just kind of caught him coming out of the corner of my eye and i said you know what, i'm not going to just stand here like an -- they're going to feel, they're going to remember this one, so. >> anyway, you are a true professional and it didn't rantle your cage at all. thank you, jim cantore. we'll have more with bill karins in a few minutes. now business. after days of losses, wall street rebounded yesterday, up across the board on several better-than-expected earnings reports. you can see there green arrows. cnbc's geoff cutmore live in london with a preview of today. geoff, good morning. >> reporter: hey, good morning, thomas. the big story, of course, is the federal reserve meeting and whether we get another $10 billion in the tapering announcement. this would be another reductn of the bond-buying program at the federal reserve. it is ben bernanke's last

meeting, so we'll see how he bows out here, but that is the question mark over this meeting for markets today. moving you along, another disappointing quarter for yahoo! on the fourth-quarter numbers, both revenue and operating profit were down here. marissa mayer is in charge of this business and there are those who are wondering if time is running out for her to start delivering numbers. she's been there since 2012. they made a lot of acquisitions. it's time, it seems, for her to start showing how these are going to pay off. back to you. >> and geoff, quickly, gm back at the super bowl this year? >> reporter: yeah, this is a fascinating story. a couple of spots. they're going to promote the chevrolet brand, and it is the silverado pickup that we'll see first in these two spots. this is interesting. i mean, they had to in 2009 not advertise through the super bowl, obviously because of the bankruptcy proceedings. they came back in 2011. this will be the second time in the last five years we see this automaker trying to sell its

wares to americans through the super bowl opportunity. back to you. >> one of the best audiences. geoff cutmore, thank you, sir. appreciate it. want to move on to our twitter question for you today. have you seen this? it's the latest cover of "the new yorker." we saw this. it's vladimir putin figure skating. and if you look closely, you can also see a row of judges of himself scoring. so, we figured, caption contest! yeah. tweet us your best and most creative caption. exactly what else? using #waytooearly. we'll get your best captions on the air later in the show. still ahead here on "way too early," the man who started a nationwide debate on bullying and the nfl is breaking his silence. we'll hear from dolphins' lineman jonathan martin. then, one of the most recognizable guests at the state of the union, "duck dynasty's" will robertson. the responses he got from handful of congressman. we've got that and a check of weather when "way too early" comes right back. [ woman ] ring. ring. progresso.

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greatest players of all time and his quest for a second championship, you would think that media day would not focus on a defensive back. well, not true when you have richard sherman around. the seahawks cornerback caught the nation's attention with that heated postgame rant after the nfc title game. well, he was in the spotlight at media day in newark yesterday, and he skillfully handled all the different types of questions, including a bizarre one about strip clubs. >> a lot of you football guys going into the strip club and throw i throwing down on the strippers. i think that's a bad example for our young ladies. how can we stop that? because i think it's a bad example that we're setting for our young girls that they need to be strippers. how do we deal with that issue? >> well, i've never gone to the strip club and thrown monies on, so i couldn't tell you, but i guess, i guess trying to understand that there are other avenues, there's other ways you can make money that women can do anything they want in this world, you know. you can go out there and be a ceo of a company, you can go out there and, like i said before, the same can be said for kids in

inner city, that the ceiling is limitless and don't limit yourself to those possibilities and those circumstances. >> he gave that question some critical thought. that was his answer. if you wonder how much attention sherman was getting at media day, check out that picture on his twitter account. while we don't know who is going to win the super bowl, it is certainly fair to say sherman won media day. miami dolphin lineman jonathan martin is breaking his silence, finally on that scandal that brought attention to the inner workings of the nfl locker room this season, and he sat down with "football night in america's" tony dungy for an exclusive interview about the alleged bullying incident. it'smartin's first interview since leaving the dolphins and first time he's speaking publicly about that investigation. >> i worked hard to be friends with richie incognito and others. i think it's important to build these friendships with your teammates, and, you know, that was kind of my driving force. i turned the microscope back on myself. what am i doing wrong that i'm being treated like this? what makes me different? and i'm not different from any

other football player. >> really interesting. we'll have a lot more from that interview coming up on "morning joe." want to get a check on your weather, though, with nbc meteorologist bill karins. you saw that clip of jim cantore? pretty amazing, right? >> his legend grows, yeah. >> he's like a ninja. >> reporter: i've come to charleston a few times before to cover tropical storms and hurricanes, but not an ice and snowstorm, which is what we're expecting. we have not gotten into the worst part of this storm yet. that is to come a little bit later on tonight. so, obviously, here at the college of charleston, they're already having a good time. >> jim was having none of that, none of that. >> it almost looked so perfect, like it was staged. the kid just runs away harmlessly after being kneed. >> it was properly deflected. who knows how we would all respond, but he did a good job. >> and no one will do that again to jim cantore, tell you that. >> no, not to him. >> not to him. well, this morning, the southern storm is on its way out. we're still dealing with some snow out in eastern north carolina. a lot of this will be ending here shortly. and in case you're a little further up to the north, it's still snowing pretty --

>> ahhh! [ laughter ] >> the knee works! the knee works! i like that. >> you were good. >> it's kind of good. i like that. >> yeah that was good. are you all right, schultzy? okay? >> feeling good? i hope you had protection on, because my knee was about to fly, buddy. >> yeah, he always wears a cup on this show, yeah. anyway, you did a good job. >> be careful driving up in cape cod this morning, all the way out there, even in our new york city and jersey coast we had that snow. not quite as cold but still brutal from green bay to minneapolis. and the good news is, we're warming it up, tom. we're about ten degrees warmer in chicago. you know, i can just continue. i don't need to stop. >> that was really good. don't be mad. i orchestrated that. i'm the jeff gluly of -- >> mad? that's nothing compared to joe and mika. that's easy. >> good. i'm glad. and eric schultz was a good sport to do that. he's like burning up, like sweating. coming up at the top of the hour on "morning joe," we're going to break down --

>> his scream was a little girlish. if we replay it at end, it wasn't the best. >> we'll break down what was state and wasn't at the state of the union, what the president says about the white house's priorities of the coming year. when we come back, we'll huddle around the water cooler to check in on who was perhaps the biggest star on capitol hill last year and how one of the "duck dynasty" guys left his mark on washington. wait until you see. ♪ [ female announcer ] starting with the cocoa bean, and five simple whole grains,

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at the top of the show, we talked about the president and the state of the union address, where he vowed to take executive action, if necessary. if you want to sound smart today, tell your friends that president obama has issued 167 executive orders to date. the president with the most executive orders is franklin delano roosevelt, issuing 3,728 during his three terms in office. all right, we want to check in with lewis, who is huddled around the water cooler. i don't know if we'll have anybody bum rush you, but i will try to protect you. >> please don't. just make sure bill karins is okay. i know he's a lover, not a fighter. >> he's fine. it's a state of the union theme for you today. we begin with "duck dynasty's" willie robertson. the newly elected louisiana representative vance mcallister invited the reality star to be his guest for the speech. fellow republicans couldn't resist the urge to pose for photos. former vp candidate paul ryan snapped a shot with robertson. so did senator lindsey graham from south carolina. and the pics just kept on

coming. it looks like robertson may have actually been the biggest star last night. now let's head over to jimmy kimmel, who knows how people in l.a. love to be on tv. you could say the same thing for new york. before the state of the union, he asked people if what they thought of the speech, even though there is no way any of them could have seen it yet. >> what do you think of president obama's state of the union address last night? >> you know, it had different effects on different people, and you know, i just feel those effects affect everybody, you know? like, you've just got to stay positive, you've got to not focus on the negative. >> he was addressing what everybody was talking about, or -- >> reporter: which is what? >> um, i don't know. i haven't seen it. >> reporter: did you think that there was too much product placement in the state union? >> yeah, that kind of surprises me. kind of cheapens politics a little bit. >> reporter: do you think that joe biden embarrassed himself last night? >> very much so. >> reporter: so, what do you think about obama faking the heart attack at the end? >> i think that was more for

shock value, not, you know, sympathy or what have you. >> it's the affect of the effect and it's classic that joe biden would always -- >> faking a heart attack, you know? >> that's right. >> what's that, charlotte, here i come! remember that? don't you remember that? yeah, yeah. go ahead, lewis. sorry. let's head to "the daily show" where jon stewart has a suggestion as to how we can all save time for the next state of the union. >> i'm not sure why the president did the whole state of the union address, because he had already released this vine about it yesterday. >> tomorrow night, it's time to restore opportunity for all. tomorrow night, it's time restore opportunity for all. >> so, why even go on with the speech? that's all you need. the rest of the speech is just jibbity-jabbety. the state of the union is blah, may god continue to bless bluh. and the republicans can always give their awkward response

speech via vine. >> good evening. [ laughter ] >> good evening. [ laughter ] >> it's such a more efficient way of introducinining us to al these people who will never be president. of course -- >> do it by slapping. >> snapchat's the best way to go with those responses. lewis -- >> i couldn't agree more. >> thank you, sir. still ahead on "way too early," your best and most creative captions for that picture, vladimir putin on "the new yorker." "morning joe" moments away. [ female announcer ] skin looking tired? research shows that as you age, skin cells lose energy, making skin look tired. wake it up with olay regenerist. formulated with a skin energizing complex, it penetrates 10 layers of the skin's surface, revving up surface cell regeneration and bringing out younger looking skin. ♪ because energized skin

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crafted with care and designed to delight. fancy feast. love served daily. ♪ and in case you're a little further up to the north, it's still snowing pretty -- >> ahhh! [ laughter ] >> the knee works! the knee works! i like that. it's kind of -- >> you were good. >> just had a little fun with bill karins. he's totally fine, and that was my idea, which i think went off well, natalie. >> it did, but i think he needs self-defense classes. >> we will get him some after the show. earlier, we asked you about

a creative caption for this "new yorker" cover. >> nathan says "after i win the gold, i'll wrestle a bear, a straight bear." >> must be straight. okay. >> then danny says, putin does a triple axel. >> can we show this? we look for any excuse to show vladimir putin shirtless. anyway, that was "way too early." "morning joe" starts right now. >> let's see where else we can make progress together. let's make this a year of action. that's what most americans want, for all of news this chamber to focus on their lives, their