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the president. his energy philosophy wrongly ruling by executive order. the president is not on the ballot this year. it's myself and senator mck mcconnell. >> there's not a dime's worth of difference between a clinton democrat and an obama democrat. there's no sacred right to not announce who we voted for. in 2012, 116 out of 120 kentucky counties agreed with my judgment that we might be in better shape now had mitt romney been elected. >> good morning. it's tuesday, october 14th. welcome to "morning joe." with us on set, we have msnbc contributor mike barnicle and mark halperin. >> she won't say she voted for barack obama. >> i don't get that. >> it makes her look really silly.

why wouldn't you say it? >> people have made -- that's ridiculous. you voted for obama. >> i did not vote for obama. >> oh come on. just say it, joe. >> i'll say it. i voted for john mccain and mitt romney and i have said who i voted for in the primary. she's being too cute. >> i don't understand if she has a team of advisers why they wouldn't say maybe just answer it. that will make it go away. just answer it. >> it makes her look silly. everybody knows she voted for barack obama. she looks silly. >> crazy. >> especially considering what healthcare has meant in kentucky. >> exactly. you could say it hasn't been all the way mr. mcconnell presents it. >> between mcconnell releasing

an ad, and the debate, she made coverage about this. >> we haven't done the story in this block and we're talking about it. let's get to our lead story. there's another signal of a new era under pope francis. a new document released by a group of catholic bishops calls for a far welcoming stance toward gay people and unmarried couples. according to the 12-page document, people who are gay and lesbian have gifts and qualities to offer the christian community adding they provide precious support in the life of partners and the document urges the chur church to be open to those couples that live together. a far different tone than the traditional preaching that they are living in sin. the preliminary document, which does not change church doctrine, noted disagreement among the bishops but it's so interesting because i think, mike barnicle,

one of the challenges of the catholic church has been to be inclusive and to bring in a new flock. >> mika, i don't know about you like me raised in the catholic church and still part of the catholic church, you could literally feel the earth move yesterday with that statement. for all of our lives we've been told that if you're divorced or gay, you're living in sin. all of a sudden pope francis, one individual, comes in and opens the window and fresh air of the 21st century comes sweeping in. small opening but a huge opening. >> a huge one. i'll tell you what, he did it using the basic tenants of the catholic church that are beautiful in order to say this. you shouldn't judge and certainly we're all sinners. that's why everyone is included. you don't have to single out certain members of society and call them sinners because we are all sinners, right?

>> and that's the key. we're all living in sin. if you are a member of the catholic church, if you're a baptist, if you're an evangelical, you are taught at that everyone lives in sin. falling short of the glory of god and even jesus says for the most part all sins are equal so don't have this hierarchy of, listen, i'm sinning in my own way but -- >> it changes everything. >> but your sin is worse than mine and therefore you're not allowed in my church. >> the pope is a brilliant politician. how to move this without offending everybody and keeping everyone moving in the same direction. it's brilliant. >> this is not the catholic church saying i'm okay, you're okay. this is not the catholic church saying and people need to listen and understand this, this is not the catholic church saying that people who are not married as a

man and a woman are not living in sin. that's not what they're saying. what they're saying is we all live in sin. >> we love you. >> who are we to judge you when we're living in sin as well? let's come together. >> it's going to be truly interesting to see how this goes over with some of the more conservative members of the college of cardinals including a couple of american cardinals. >> it will be. there is some dissension. get over it. >> maybe they don't live in sin. >> maybe they're perfect. >> they can cast the first stone. >> i love that. >> jesus of course said to the men who were ready -- the religious leaders ready to stone the woman at the we will for committing adultery. go ahead, you can do it. let he who is without sin cast the first stone. you just heard all of the rocks dropping. >> all right. candidates are looking for frame

the debate in key matchups everywhe everywhere. they tried to tie the democratic senator to president obama a lot. >> which key pieces of legislation have you helped lead that you're most proud of if you can take one and if you can make it one that you would like to take back. >> i haven't been in washington long. it's just as important to stop bad laws as it is to pass good laws. they have let almost 400 bills in the house of representatives pile up on the desks of the senate. they are always going to protect barack obama's legacy and enforce his policies. that's why a vote for mark pryor

is a vote for president obama. >> you heard president cotton admit he hasn't passed anything since he's been in the house even though he was there for one month and ran a poll on the senate race. did he know where the bathrooms were? now he think he's entitled to be in the senate. his approach is my way or the highway dead end politics that leads to fiscal cliffs and shutting down the government. let me say this. leadership in washington involves walking across the aisle. congressman, you don't have the reputation, the ability, or the desire to walk across the aisle to get things done in washington. >> meanwhile in kentucky, republican senator mitch mcconnell's challenger once again refused to say who she voted for in 2008 and 2012. >> this is a matter of principle. our constitution grants here in kentucky the constitutional right for privacy at the ballot box for a secret ballot. you have that right. senator mcconnell has that

right. every kentuckian has that right. as secretary of state, the chief election official, i'm tasked with overseeing and making sure that we're enforcing all of our election laws. >> it's a matter of principle. standing on principle rather than answering the question. >> i'm not going to compromise a constitutional right provided here in kentucky in order to curry favor on one or other side or for members of the media in kentucky. >> you won't answer that question tonight? >> again, you have that right. senator mcconnell has that right. every kentuckian has the right for privacy at the ballot box. >> that's so ridiculous. so ridiculous but she told everybody she voted for hillary clinton. >> it must make for great breakfast talk at a diner in louisville, kentucky. who did you vote for? i have a constitutional right not to tell you. >> aside from that, she did handle herself well in the

debate. >> she could have had a great performance. >> back to the arkansas debate, mark pryor got the best of that exchange. the fact that tom cotton couldn't describe one piece of legislation that he passed. >> how surprised are you that tom cotton is not ten points up in that race? >> fairly surprised. i think what's happening to him is what's happening to the state senator from north carolina. two republican states, two red states but a lot of people in north carolina think the republicans went too far in the state legislature because of it. there are a lot of moderate republicans and democrats that would usually vote republican in presidential races saying these guys are too far out there. i thought tom would be up by ten points by now. it's very close. it's very close because he's been part of a house that's been extraordinarily conservative even by arkansas standards. >> he's going to be now microtargeted to voters.

he voted against the farm fill. voted against violence to women act and voted for budget bills on social security. he's going to have to defend himself in arkansas. it's going to keep it close for at least a bit. >> i want to know what you think of this. "the washington post" has a piece out on mitt romney that says he's feeling the push from friends to jump back into presidential politics. >> we all know he is and we've heard friends that have pushed him. >> he's huddled with donors and reconnected with supporters in key states and been out on the trail stomping for gop candidates. he took a shot at the former rival for the white house. the former republican nominee cracked a joke at president obama's expense last night at an event. >> a family member said president obama went to the bank

to cash a check and he didn't have his i.d. and the teller said you have to prove who you are. how should i do that? the other day phil mikellson came in and didn't have his i.d. you he set up a cup on the ground and putted it in and we knew it was him and we cashed his check and she said is there anything you can do to prove who you are? he said i don't have a clue. [ applause ] she said, mr. president, do you want your money in small bills or large bills? >> was the punch line i don't have a clue? >> i don't have a clue.

such a complicated joke sort of. the woman says to the president what can you do, what can you do to prove you're yourself? he says i don't have a clue. she says that proves you're barack obama. i'm the mitt romney joke translator. it's not a bad joke. i like andre agassi. >> that was too much work. >> excuse me. >> bless you. >> by him saying he didn't have a clue that proved who he was. very good. he's looking like he's going to run. >> there's a huge vacuum. i think in the end if you have paul ryan in the race or jeb bush in the race or chris christie in the race, romney won't run. you may not have any of those guys. >> there's only one person that would stop him from running. jeb bush. >> if ryan ran, you don't think

he's going to run? >> ryan won't run if romney will run. >> i don't think romney will go first. he'll have to be a draft. >> i think that people in romneyville are only thinking about jeb bush and whether jeb runs or not but they're looking at the same polls that jeb's looking at and i will say as somebody that's always been a supporter of jeb's, very surprised by how bad one poll after another seems to be for jeb. your iowa poll had him trailing behind. i will tell you that. mitt romney, that guy right there, that guy is not worried about chris christie. that guy is not going to stay out of the race -- >> let's say christie gets in shortly after the election. do you think mitt would come in? >> he doesn't care. he doesn't think that chris christie is going to win and we ought to do what we do around here and say on the air what

nobody else says on the air but what everybody says off the air in republican circles, if you want to know what mitt romney is thinking, nobody thinks chris christie can win. nobody thinks he can get past everything that's happened before even if he's exonerated and nobody thinks he's got the temperament to run. nobody thinks he can handle iowa. nobody thinks he'll win in south carolina. et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. i only say that to say nobody around mitt romney is saying if chris christie gets in, we better not do it. we're all talking about who has the mantle for the establishment ring of the republican party. it's jeb or it's mitt and if jeb doesn't run, then i think mitt may be on his way. >> we were talking to one of the most powerful ceos in america in the past week and his sort of sense on jeb was that there was

no joy there. there's almost an edge or burden to it that won't work. >> he's been playing the hamlet routine too much. do you think he's going to run? >> today i do. >> that will be quite a burden. >> reporting based on people looking at how seriously he's taking a look at it and his shared belief as you described to governor romney folks that christie is not the right person. >> you use reporting. mika and i use -- >> we use antidotal evidence from people we talk to at parties. >> we use the ouija board. >> often good information. >> today i think he's going to run. >> do you recaally? >> yes, ma'a.

>> walter isaacson introduces us to geeks behind the revolution and after missing a month, there may have been a kim jong-un citing and what he was wearing that may provide a clue as to where he's been. you're watching "morning joe." we'll be right back. when folks think about what they get from alaska, they think salmon and energy. but the energy bp produces up here creates something else as well: jobs all over america. engineering and innovation jobs. advanced safety systems & technology. shipping and manufacturing. across the united states, bp supports more than a quarter million jobs. when we set up operation in one part of the country, people in other parts go to work.

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time to look at the morning papers. we'll start with "the new york times." speculation is rampant over the disappearance of kim jong-un. after 40 days away, the leader emerged according to photos from a state run news agency not verified by nbc. according to state reports, he toured a new housing development but it's unclear when the event actually took place. state run news acknowledged recently he been ill and in

multiple photos he's seen using a cane. >> now he's back on the scene. >> when did he take those pictures? >> not verified when. >> more to come on that one. he's back on the scene. we get this one from finland. apple is to blame for the country's economic downturn according to the prime minister. apple is a major reason the largest export industries of paper, i.t. and mobile are struggling. iphone killed paper and killed nokia so they downgraded finland's debt rating. >> "the wall street journal" saudi arabia is making an aggressive push to defend its market share of oil across europe and asia frustrating world markets. opec was stunned when it slashed november prices igniting a price war. the company is also asking buyers in europe to commit to

maximum shipments in order to receive oil as it faces stiffer competition. >> you guys are going to love this one. the cincinnati inquirer, how often do you send the kids to school with cupcakes and birthday cakes? >> can't do that. >> birthdays -- send them with coke. coca-cola. >> all right. in kentucky, the burlington elementary school in efforts to combat childhood obesity say they don't want cake and ice cream and other products for children's birthday celebration. the sugary treats instead they want to hand out nonfood items like bookmarks or pencil

erasers. a pta member says many parents are coming along to the idea. >> you have to look at what they're served at lunch. >> let's go to "variety." "batman" headed for the big screen again but this time as a lego. let me tell you something, jack and i already saw the "batman" lego movie. it's amazing. >> what's that song you like? ♪ everything is usawesome ♪ >> reports say the studio is looking to release the film sometime in 2017. will arnett is expected to reprise his roll as voice of the caped crusader. they have a shorter lego "batman" movie. real quickly, did you see the front page of "the new york post."

this is the nurse that got ebola from treating mr. duncan down in dallas and now they fear her dog may have ebola so they went into her apartment yesterday with hazmat suits and retrieved the dog. >> there's a whole change in how they're handling it down from the top down. >> they euthanized the dog associated with a nurse. when we asked if they would change the way they looked at animals associated with 48 people they had under lockdown at that time, they were taking it into consideration. >> we'll have much more on this coming up. coming up, sweeping changes in vatican city. we'll take a closer look at the new document from pope francis that has everyone talking. nbc's anne thompson who covers the vatican will be with us on set and up next, we'll have today's must read opinion pages. we'll be back with more "morning joe." (receptionist) gunderman group.

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a single ember that escapes from a wildfire can travel more than a mile. that single ember can ignite and destroy your home or even your community you can't control where that ember will land only what happens when it does get fire adapted now at fireadapted.org 28 past the hour. joining us for must read opinion pages, ceo of politico and in washington eugene robinson.

it's interesting. "the new york times" has a piece called mcconnell and grimes debate united in vagueness. i can't agree more with that title. i'll read from david brooks who has a different take on the same angle. the 2014 campaign has been the most boring and uncreative campaign i can remember. democrats cry my republican opponent is an extremist loon. republicans cry my democratic opponent my opponent shook hands with obama. there's not a contract with america or policy suggestioning of any sort. most remind how bad the other party it. >> it's like a cartoon. republicans again saying he once shook hands with barack obama and democrats calling republicans extremist tools. we saw it in denver.

"the denver post" saying enough. we can't endorse because the campaign has been talking about contraception. i wonder if any board will wake up and say the same thing. >> campaigns are a reflection of what's happening in washington where there's no debates. congress is adjourning earlier than ever saying we don't have anything to do here. you then end up when you have that polarized political environment where both parties are unpopular than ever before and you end up can candidates who talk about the character flaws of the other and you don't have great debates about what's happening in the middle east or what's happening with healthcare and what's happening with energy policy and you see that playing out in the debates over the last week and you are going to see it play over the last three weeks. >> mark, you noticed something for must reads. >> "wall street journal" looking

at polling data on two big issues. peace and prosperity and points out that republicans at the beginning of the obama administration and democrats had an advantage of handling the economy and foreign policy and now republicans have an advantage. it gives them a big leg up if they can prove their candidates are solid. >> and do you feel that? where do you feel momentum going here? >> you know, every day is feels a little bit different. the environment is better for republicans obviously than it is for democrats right now. we have talked about this before and i would caution republicans watching this show, it's a sugar high. there's nothing that we're seeing in the polls that says there's a fundamental shift in how the public favors republicans. people don't like president obama and therefore republicans are doing better than they might otherwise do but nothing to suggest that people suddenly like republican policies that much more. i think they just dislike democratic policies that much more because they've had a democrat in the white house for six years. the economy is what it is.

and overseas is a mess. that's messing with the psyche of voters and making them confused by which side they should be on and republicans are accruing the advantage in short-term. you look at that map and they should do well. >> republicans approval rating is so low right now. >> both parties are so low. i think the momentum is on the side of low voter turnout for this off-year election. really low. people are so turned off by both parties. >> gene robinson, what do you think? >> i tend to agree with what jim said which is that voters are simply more displeased with democrats right now than they are with republicans arguably or democratic policies so you got to say the environment is better for the republican party but nobody is excited about nobody. and that's just the situation. and the debate is to the extent there is a debate at all, it's

stuck. it's not moving anywhere. there's nothing new. there's nobody saying anything new. it is a boring -- >> you know what i'm excited about? i'm excited about any time that gene robinson has a foul mouth. that's what excites me. does he have one today? it's like christmas eve. >> gene robinson writes no shock and no awe. the war against the islamic state can be seen as failing. intervention by the mightiest force has no shock or awe. they are inflicting some damage on islamic state troops and equipment but bombing has done nothing to alter the strategic balance of power. why then are we fighting this war? gene, aren't you not -- wasn't this supposed to go on for years? wasn't that the deal? >> yeah, it's supposed to go on for years but what are we doing? are we going to spot them

kobani? it's supposed to last a long time. i kind of don't understand what the deal is and what we think we are accomplishing right now on the ground from all reports. >> we're supposed to degrade and destroy them but they're moving into western baghdad. >> yeah. you know, one thing that makes isis different from other groups before is that they can walk and chew gum at the same time. they can make a maneuver over here and many miles away can be the thrust of their movement. they have actual military commanders who kind of know what they're doing and our campaign doesn't seem to have adjustments to that. maybe this is part of some grand long range plan but it certainly doesn't look good now, does it?

there is a reluctance about this campaign frankly and it suggests or asks the question why are we doing it? >> what matters is defeating isis. in terms of an election, this is an october surprise. democrat ratings on handling national security are down. imagine if baghdad falls or if isis makes major gains in the next three weeks. john kerry says there will be ups and downs. if there's a big down on this between now and election candidate, every republican candidate will jump on this. >> do you agree? >> i do agree. to gene's point in his column, this is why you saw so much pause and hesitation from the president in the hires plafirst getting into syria. you knew backlash that helps the current regime which then there's a backlash against all of the moderate groups that we need to enlist to fight islamic state in the first place. this is a mess. it's going to be a mess for a long time.

there's nos s scenario where it will be won in months and it will be years and the politics of that is that it's bad for the party in control. >> the president with joint chiefs is meeting with leaders of 20 other nations in the middle east. an extraordinary meeting and pump the brakes on how badly things are going. >> the confusion over whether or not we're allowed to use turkey's airspace and susan rice in front of that saying we do have their permission and then we don't have permission and secretary hagel saying we're making progress on getting their permission. >> jim, thank you. eugene, stay with us. coming up on "morning joe," she's been nominated for two oscars and is the star of a hit tv show but you won't want to miss how actress viola davis describes her upbringing having to jump into huge garbage bins for food. her amazing story is ahead. and fresh off a trip to sierra leone, what it's like to

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here with us now is david who recently visited sierra leone as his organization works to try to respond to the ebola crisis. great to have you on the set this morning. >> good to be here. >> what did you find over there? >> i found two societies actually sierra leone and liberia. we've got 250 staff in each of them. about 500 staff in total. i found society on the verge of the most terrible meltdown. you have a disease in a society lacking basic healthcare, basic running water and electricity.

the capacity for it to outstrip the treatment centers is grave indeed. what i also found was amazing health workers. if anyone thinks we have a tough job, the people flying to be on the front line of this fight are the best and bravest. >> the world health organization calling this epidemic a threat to world peace. this is the same organization -- >> the most severe acute medical emergency in modern times. >> and yet back in the spring they were slow to move on it even in the middle of the summer the world health organization still dragging their feet. why did you see what you saw there? why, when people knew this epidemic was coming, did the international community not move faster? >> there are two reasons. one, there is what turns out to have been a dip in the disease in june. that induced complacency and the previous epidemics of ebola have been contained within the

countries and the nation states there, sierra leone, liberia, wanted to say we can control this. >> what's different this time? >> it's a different strain of the disease. it lives for three or four days in dead bodies sorry to be gruesome about this but one of the biggest problems is if you can't dispose of your dead especially in a society where reverence for the dead is very real. at the moment the danger is people don't want to refer themselves to treatment centers because they won't see their loved ones again alive or dead and seeing them dead is almost as important as seeing them alive. >> symptoms are so frightening in terms of the actual deaths that happen. in dallas, the family couldn't even see the ebola victim in his final stages. >> it's important to say to people who are watching this program and eating their corn flakes that, look, this is a hard disease to catch. it's a hard disease to catch. >> we've heard that and yet you have kent brantly, the first

american. >> it's a hard disease to catch because it depends on body fluid. blood, vomit, et cetera, exchanged from a person presenting symptoms with the disease being taken by someone who hasn't got the disease and then them touching their hand into the blood and that going into their mouth or eye. it's a hard disease to catch. the absolutely critical thing is that you can't treat your way out of an epidemic. you'll never be able to man up the number of treatment centers given the scale of the epidemic for every one person that's got it, two more get it in west africa. the key is to mobilize the local community to inform about how to protect yourself and to make sure that when cases arise, they get reported. >> i have to go back to you saying this is a hard disease to get and we've heard that time and again but this is a different strain and you actually have three healthcare workers that i know of right now from reading the papers, kent

brantly from america, the spanish nurse and the nurse in dallas who followed all of the guidelines and still kent brantly still has no idea how he got this disease. >> key word was healthcare workers. if you are in daily contact with someone who is presenting with symptoms of the disease, if you're in that kind of proximity, the smallest amount you take in can be a threat to you. what i'm saying is it's not an airborne disease like the flu. >> so when you talk about seeing two societies on the verge of collapse in sierra leone at least 40% of farms have been abandoned. this is becoming a crisis across the board. >> the president of the country of sierra leone who i met last thursday says survival of our country is at stake. the world bank says it's a $30 billion hit on the society. that's why the mobilization that's happening internationally

however tardy and your point about late is right but that mobilization is important but it has to look from the point of information and infection through to burial. if we only look at one part of this chain of transmission, we won't get it. to get ahead of it, we have to move fast. the united states pledged 2,700 troops. that's good. 200 of them there at the moment. they will ramp up by the end of november. the period between now and the end of november is absolutely key in countries. if this disease runs away from us between now and the end of november, it's ten times more difficult to get ahold of it. >> thank you so much. thank you for what you do. still ahead, how millions of americans saddled with debt are now being preyed upon by debt collectors. this is still a story. it's even a bigger story now. and plus, he leapt -- >> let me do this. >> let he without sin cast the first stone. >> you didn't go to sunday school.

>> i inverted the words with my eyes. why the catholic church may now be saying no one is without sin. that's what they've always been saying. now they're actually living it. we'll take a deeper look at the ground breaking announcement and actress viola davis deeply personal childhood story in her own words. we'll be right back. so ally bank really has no hidden fees on savings accounts? that's right. it's just that i'm worried about you know "hidden things..." ok, why's that? no hidden fees, from the bank where no branches equals great rates. who would have thought masterthree cheese lasagna would go with chocolate cake and ceviche? the same guy who thought that small caps and bond funds would go with a merging markets. it's a masterpiece. thanks. clearly you are type e. you made it phil. welcome home. now what's our strategy with the fondue?

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a huge name is talking about struggles with poverty. viola davis stars on "how to get away with murder" twice nominated for academy awards was honored over the weekend where she discussed her personal story and how it mirrors the story of many children today. >> i was one of 17 million kids in this country who didn't know where the next meal was coming from. and i did everything to get food. i have stolen for food. i have jumped in huge garbage

bins with maggots for food, i befriended people in the neighborhood who i knew had mothers that cooked three meals a day for food and i sacrificed a childhood for food and grew up in immense pain and one out of every five children in this country are living in households that are food poor. and of all of the elementary school teachers out there, they say that three out of five of the kids in their class come to school hungry in the richest country in the world. >> poverty has been a top issue for pope francis and now the church is taking on a new issue. in a ground breaking move, the vatican appears to be considering a greater acceptance of gays and lesbians. the church is opposeded to same-sex marriage but bishop

says that gays and lesbians have gifts to offer the church. joining us now, father dave dwyer. also with us, anne thompson who covers the vatican for nbc news. >> anne, not everybody thrilled with this decision yesterday. talk about that. >> there are repercussions today in rome before i came on i was reading one of the blog from one of the correspondents over there covering this and there are bishops who want to throw the entire document out. you have to remember this is the halftime report of the meeting of bishops, which goes on for two weeks. and i think what's extraordinary about this report is that it really shows that the bishops are listening to the people in the pews. the church sent out a survey to prepare for the senate and things that came back is they want a more tolerant church that is more open to gays, more open to divorced and remarried

catholics and more welcoming church and i think you can see that in that document. >> it's really interesting. growing up as a child of the '80s of divorced parents, my mother was encouraged to get an annulment to get back into the church to be able to accept communion. she wouldn't do it because this would bastardize her children. >> that's a misconception. that's part of the problem. they've realized is that even the people in the pews don't understand the process. if you get an annulment, that doesn't mean your children are illegitimate. that's one thing the church is now struggling to explain. >> why then in the '80s did they tell you that? >> they told you to get an annulment. the reason you get an annulment is so you can get remarried and receive the sacraments. >> if there would be a child called a bastard, it would have

been me. >> it's interesting, you bring up a great point, father. i'm baptist but i went to a catholic high school. evangelicals seemed more conservative and orthodox than a lot of catholics i went to school with. you talk about divorce. you talk about some of these other issues and catholics were just, i thought, even as a right wing southern baptist, crazy about these things. and as the world has changed, it seemed like the church kept its feet in cement. >> what's going on during these two weeks in rome is listening. the pope said i want to listen. the bishops have been listening and also talking. this document that came out yesterday is as anne said a midterm report. it's someone taking notes on everything that's been discussed. one of the things that's in there is bishops have said, hey, can we recognize positive elements in a gay union. can we see that people who are divorced and remarried are more than merely just living in sin.

it's a question. >> i don't want to get too biblical here but jesus said all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of god and there's long been teaching for people who know the bible that we're all equal in god's eyes. we're all equal sinners. there's no hierarchy of sin. >> so therefore we are acknowledging -- they use this word the law of gradualedity. >> mike barnicle has a question. >> i would like to ask you about three popes. pope john xxiii, pope john paul and pope francis. it seems to many catholics that the burden of doctrine, you're living in sin unless you adhere to these rigid guidelines that catholics have lived under for years, the weight of that doctrine has been lifted in a way that the church is now getting some fresh air that hasn't been there since pope

john paul in the early '60s. would you agree with that assessment? >> what we're talking about and bishops are quick to underscore, this is not a change of doctrine. doctrine is revelation from god but it is how we can apply doctrine to people's real and every day lives. so doctrine is not changing but approach and pastoral response is attempting to change. >> do you think people will fall in line? as anne is reporting, the reaction is fierce. do you think that those within leadership in the church will fall in line behind hope francis' leadership? >> i think the important thing is what people in pews are seeing even today, even this week, is a breath of fresh air and some hope for somebody who is divorced and remarried watching this show might say i didn't realize that. the conversation you two had. wow, this might mean hope for me. >> and by the way, i'm sorry. you want people in your church who have been broken, who have

come back, who have rebuilt their lives. it's everybody. it's everybody. >> i think the great thing about this is the catholic church is now speaking openly and talking openly about issues that have been behind closed doors for years and then the mandate comes down and thou shall not do this. i think that's what's really exciting for catholics. >> great to have you on the set. coming up at the top of the hour, we'll tell you how one major university is responding to the allegations of sexual abuse coming out of a high school football team in new jersey and then more personal photos hacked from the web but this time the victims are not celebrities. we warned our kids about this. they don't listen. snapchat. we'll talk. we'll be right back. go! wow! go power oats!

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republicans and democrats reached a deal to "be cool with one another." >> a dog in sunglasses riding a skateboard is in town this week and guess who he wants to hang out with, you. >> great news for commuters traffic jams are no longer possible especially where you live. >> on the count of three let's both say what we're thinking. one, two -- you're the coolest person in the world. >> my goodness. welcome back to "morning joe." >> what's that? >> it's a sketch that fallon

does. >> all right. joining us now the president of the council on foreign relations, richard haas. >> sadly he has nothing to talk about. >> peace and prosperity. >> everything is fine. everything is just fine. all right. let's start with our top story right there actually. islamic state militants are claiming gains on two different fronts. the iraqi army says it was forced to abandon a key army base in anbar province after it was overrun by isis. iraqi officials are calling it a tactical retreat but it is the third iraqi army base in three weeks that the islamic state has seized. according to the united nations as many as 180,000 people have left anbar province amid the fighting. the battle for the syrian border city of kobani is ongoing with militants pushing forward after a string of suicide bombings. turkey is disputing claims from the u.s. it approved the use of air bases for strikes against isis. turkey says talks are

continuing. defense secretary chuck hagel says he's optimistic there will be progress. >> richard haas, there's no way to paint this positively. the president said that he was going to degrade and destroy isis. they just keep marching. it's a nightmare scenario for us because it makes us look even weaker in the middle east but more importantly, it's a huge propaganda victory for isis. they will recruit more. >> the word destroy never should have been used. that set a standard that set the united states up for defeat. degrade is possible. destroy is not. we're still paying an enormous price for what we haven't done over the last couple years in syria. we don't have a partner there on the ground. turkey all of this talk about turkey being an ally and member of the coalition is so much talk. they are not. they have a very different agenda than we do. the happy talk about iraq was premature. the government is still deeply flawed.

we're not getting enough arms to the kurds and tosunni tribes to get progress there. >> what can the president do? john mccain going on sunday shows being very critical. is there anything the president can do? >> in iraq, yes. i think there you can accelerate the flow of arms to the kurds. you can try to work something out with the local sunni tribes. it may mean distancing ourselves from the central government there which i don't think is a partner. you can increase the tempo of air strikes. in syria, not a lot we can do so long as turkey will not let resupply reach the kurds. >> aren't you saying what the president said a different way? this is going to take some time and right now everyone is piling on saying it's not working, it's not working, it's not working. towns fall during war. it gets ugly. and things were not expected to happen in two or three weeks. in fact, he said this is going to take years. >> it will take years if not longer.

there's a difference between things getting worse before they get better and things getting worse before they get even worse. what we're not yet seeing in iraq and even less so we're seeing in syria is momentum. >> syria is a long-term proposition. iraq is a short-term crisis. i want to ask you about two propositions. one, the new iraqi government is not much better in terms of the old one in bringing the central government together and the other one is the u.s. is finding that iraqi militias are much weaker and much less well trained and much less able to be turned around than they had thought. >> both true. again, the positive talk about how much different the post-maliki government was is premature. sunnis don't have faith in it. iran is a central player. sunni tribes don't have confidence in the united states. the one potential fighting for us is kurds. if the united states were to work with them more openly,

there would be progress. >> only helps in the north. >> and potentially in the west. >> how long before iraq is fractured into two or three separate countries? >> we're on the way there. >> if we fund the kurds and really give them arms and really give them support, can they take care of the north? >> yes. >> isn't it time to tell turkey you're not acting like an ally. we're not concerned about your problem with the kurds anymore. we're going to work with people who are going to work with us. >> problem is how you get arms there. you're right. they are you are only potential near term ground partner and in syria most capable in iraq. >> candidates are looking to frame the debate in key matchups everywhere from arkansas to kentucky. republican congressman tom cotton tried to tie incumbent democratic senator mark pryor to president obama a lot. >> which key pieces of

legislation have you helped lead that you're most proud of if you can name one and if you can also name one that you perhaps would like to take back. >> well, i haven't been in washington very long. less than a year. i've been there long enough to know as calvin coolidge said it's as important to stop bad laws as it is to pass good laws. the senate is in the hands of liberal democrats like mark pryor who are always going protect barack obama's legacy and enforce his policies. >> you know what? ladies and gentlemen, you just heard congressman cotton basically admit he hasn't passed anything since he's been in the house even though he was there for one month and he ran a poll on the senate race. did he know where the bathrooms were but now he thinks he's entitled to be in the senate. his approach is this my way or

highway and dead end politics that leads to things like fiscal cliffs and shutting down the government. let me say this. leadership in washington involves walking across the aisle. congressman, you don't have the reputation, the ability, or the desire to walk across the aisle to get things done in washington. >> score one for pryor there. tom cotton has to name one piece of legislation that he passed. he couldn't do it. >> cotton's legislative record is not his friend in this race. his military record is. i think his demeanor is and the tilt of the state but most of the stuff he's done in congress is to vote for bills that are not popular with a lot of arkansans and pryor and democratic campaign operation can be good at picking at those votes. that's their chance to hold the seat if they can make tom cotton seem like he's too extreme for arkansas. >> we were talking about mitt romney a lot over the past few days and hearing word that he's talking to fundraisers and people are really pushing him to get into the race for 2016. his wife, ann, is ruling out any

chance of a third bid for president in 2016 for mitt romney. she was asked about the possibility while launching a new center to study neurological diseases. she says done. completely. not only mitt and i are done but the kids are done, done, done, done. >> mike, so what she's saying is maybe. if they come to us. if they come to mitt romney. >> i think it was a rough ride. it's hard on families and hard on couples. >> it's brutal. >> that was a pretty big no. >> my mom did something like that once. i will never forget it. >> done. >> done. all right. a new poll shows new jersey governor chris christie's approval in his home state is

cratering. favorable at 42%, lowest ever for the governor in the history of the poll and first time he's been upside down since 2011. >> we were talking about this before, mark, that there just isn't -- there isn't the fear of chris christie among other republicans that there was a year ago. >> it's an interesting thing. he's more headed toward running than the other leading establishment candidates. he's done more with his republican governor association than jeb bush has done, paul ryan has done, and yet he's sort of isolated himself there. a lot of republicans, other republicans, donors and politicians, who don't want him to be the nominee now and these numbers only reinforce their concerns. >> does that have something to do with the bridge scandal which most republicans i talked to don't think is a scandal. they think it's a "new york times" story. >> it's more that he wouldn't stand up over the long haul

against hillary clinton. he's been underestimated before and i think to some extent he's filling the vacuum bigger and better than other establishment people. he's a strong candidate. he's underrated right now as a candidate but again a lot of these other republican elites are wary of him getting him early and tying up donors and being too big to stop. >> and a new poll shows that equal pay is the top issue facing women in the workplace. nearly 40% of all americans, women and men alike, say it's the most pressing issue in the office. americans say equal opportunity for promotion is key but those issues outweigh issues of healthcare, maternity leave, education and sexual harassment. >> only if you have good karma. >> you need good karma for that to happen. don't say a word. just keep your head down. the fallout continues for a high school football program whose players are accused of sexually hazing younger athletes in the locker room. a penn state recruiting website

says the university has pulled a scholarship offer for one of the players on the sayreville team where the alleged abuse occurred. because seven players charged in the scandal are juveniles, their names have not been released so it's not sure if the recruit was involved. there was police activity of the home of the student whose scholarship has been withdrawn. that's a big change in culture. >> it just keeps going. there's obviously a serious cultural problem here. isn't it unbelievable. we're hearing this from all levels. we're hearing it from the nfl, certainly hearing a lot of it at fsu where "the new york times" saying that one athlete after another was given preferential treatment by the police despite very bad behavior and even on a high school level. this is a crisis for football. >> or an exercise in leadership finally. >> the florida state story while

compelling and obviously interesting didn't surprise me as much as the sayreville, new jersey, high school story has. i've only read one story with the coach's name in the body of the story. where were the coaches here? where were the parents in sayreville saying they shouldn't have canceled the whole season? you have to cancel the whole season. this behavior is so repulsive. how could it have gone on without more adults not knowing or stepping in? >> gene robinson, again, seven high schoolers accused of sexual harassment going on in the locker room. the coaches had to know. >> they had to know. coaches had to know. some of the parents had to know. it's disgraceful. football is, i think, in a crisis. there's not only this of course but there's a whole question of safety and concussions and that

in the end could be what either reforms football or frankly stops it in its tracks. this is a scandal that is shocking to me. >> all right. speaking of teenagers and a look at our culture, there is a new leak of images online and it's not celebrities we're talking about. reports say up to 200,000 teenagers had their pictures posted on the web after using a program that piggybacked off a hugely popular app snapchat. bottom line, nothing that you put online is private. hackers breached a third party site called snapsaved which allowed users to store images on their desk stop instead of seeing them disappeared as snapchat intended. the same hackers accused of leaking hundreds of nude pictures of a list actresses may be responsible for this cyberattack as well.

snapchat, not private. you don't know what i'm talking about, do you? >> i know what you're talking about. >> what? what? >> that makes me uncomfortable. >> eww. very familiar with it. >> mike likes to share. he's a big sharer. sometimes an over sharer. he does over share. and sometimes he takes pictures from the park. >> you do not. >> the lighting is very good there. >> still ahead on "morning joe," walter isaacson introduces us to hackers, geniuses and geeks to created the digital revel luolu and invaded snapchat maybe and the two steves behind apple and one comedian had choice words for burger king. did the fast food company steal his stick? we'll explain ahead.

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it's time to look at the morning paper. st. louis post dispatch. for the fourth day in a row, hundreds of protesters marched across ferguson and st. louis, missouri, to mark two months since an unarmed black teen was shot and killed by a police officer. it concluded a weekend of protests that saw thousands demand charges in the shooting of 18-year-old michael brown and changes in how law enforcement operates. more than 50 people were arrested yesterday including jewish, christian and muslim leaders. activist and author cornell west was knocked down and among those arrested. west was later released. >> british parliament is overwhelmingly voting in favor of recognizing palestine as a state. it believes the government should recognize palestine in order to back the country during peace negotiations with israel.

let's take a look at the san francisco chronicle. government scientists say the san francisco bay area could experience a major earthquake in the near future. a report suggests four parts of the fault are under increasing stress near densely populated areas of the city. the next major quake on any four faults could produce a quake comparable to 25 years ago that killed 63 people. >> let's look at "los angles times" where rubber hits the road for a comedian. he launched this all out war on burger king accusing them of stealing his act. we look at billy on street and then followed by burger king's new ad. decide for yourself. >> did you know i do a voice on bob's burger? >> that's my favorite show ever. >> who are you? >> i was that librarian. the librarian who hates books.

>> twitter is a force. >> twitter is a force. >> you're going to binge watch this. oh! >> what do you think these are? >> chicken nuggets. >> how much would ten of these cost? 1.49 for ten. >> ten chicken nuggets for $1.49. only at burger king. >> you look shocked. >> i really don't care who is doing what from anybody. whatever. >> billy hit the home of the whopper with nasty tweets and one we can read to you says thanks for stealing my act for a new commercial except it's not as funny and everyone knows you stole it. get your own ideas. >> remember how hard "man on the street" interviews were. i remember going out and i was a one-man band. >> i loved that. they are so risky. >> you have the camera dresseded in a suit and sweating.

trying to ask people and they don't want to talk to you. >> where were you doing these? >> nebraska in the dead of summer. >> he has great tape of when he was in local. he was forced to do the most awful standups on the face of the earth. we should do a montage. we should do a montage. >> now i made it and i'm never going back. you can't make me. >> i'll show you the best mos on how to do it. i'm an mos expert. coming up, the real story behind innovator of the digital revolution and we'll take you inside the lucrative world of chasing personal debt. we'll be right back. ♪

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>> every time walter isaacson is around you learn something new. i carry around his books around the house in my robe just to feel smart. >> so innovative. >> hello, children. you have to do what i say because i read walter's books.

>> walter isaacson author of "innovators." you write in part this. creativity is a collaborative process. innovation comes from teens more often than from light bulb moments of lone geniuses true of every era of innovation. the scientific revolution, the enlightenment and industrial revolution had networks for sharing ideas. also at the table, sarah is with us. great to have you here. come on. you are making stuff up now. lord byron's daughter was on the forefront of computer programming? >> look at the top left-hand corner. >> is that her? >> that's lord byron's daughter. >> computer programming. >> one of the many women in this book actually. >> lord byron's daughter, you

know, lord byron's wife was not too fond of lord byron by the time she was growing up. she shouldn't be a romantic poet like her dad. she becomes a good mathematician you she connects poetry and science and looks at things like punch cards making beautiful patterns in england in 1830s and says, okay, we can take these punch cards on the calculator and make that machine do other things besides numbers. it could do art. it could do music. it could do words. she comes up with the notion of a general purpose computer. >> she's on the forefront of that. that's cool. now moving to some people that are closer to home here. what's so fascinating about innovat innovat innovators, they weren't the smartest guys like einstein wasn't the most brilliant.

>> ben franklin wasn't the most brilliant but he taught people how to collaborate and brought them together. there are some people in the digital age who are unbelievable visionaries. vision without execution is just hallucination. you need to have the glue around you. you look at this table. you look at this show. you can have people with vision but you have to have people execute. >> steve jobs, i didn't hear a lot of people saying that steve jobs knew how to bring people together. >> what it reminds me of is the social network and why it was so popular. the idea that many people had the idea and there was this fight and debate over who had creativity behind it and that's the tension and that's the drama. sometimes the people with the ideas aren't the ones that end up with the credit. >> that's why it's a wonderful drama. when i wrote about steve jobs, i write about him like a typical biographer. a guy in the garage that has a light bulb moment and apple is

born. as i researched that book and got to know it, even though as you point out steve jobs was a strong cup of tea. he could be tough on people. he ended up creating a team that was the most collaborative, most loyal team in silicon valley and that's how apple just becomes more than wozniak's circuit board. >> is it refinement that individuals come up? >> usually there's a visionary. but it's when the team is brought together, when you are doing microchip for example. when you are doing the internet. these are ones that are collaborative. nobody said with all due respect to al gore let's do the internet and here's what it is and then a team puts it together. for a couple of years they are just sort of winging it. dozens of people figuring it out and sharing notes and soon this

emerges as opposed to being from the top down. that's the way a lot of collaboration happens and i think we kind of miss that. i wanted to show this is a way you really are creative is you bounce ideas around people. >> why is it it's not the wozniak that explodes on the scene but the steve jobs? why isn't it the paul allen? it's the gates, bill gates who people around him were all sort of looking down on his ability to program. >> yeah. especially steve jobs is not an engineer. he's not a programmer. wos kn wozniak is showing it around the home computer club trying to say, everybody, get this for free. i'll give it to you. jobs is saying let's go to my parents' garage. we can make these things. he goes out and finds a case for it so it looks really beautiful and he finds how do you integrate it with a keyboard.

we want a beautiful interface to make it easy. he knows what the consumer wants. he's the driven guy saying we'll market this and those are people who are key to the team. >> who is in the sequel? are they people that we know? >> about half of the people you would really know. obviously people like larry page are huge because that's a culmination of this collaborative culture. the people you don't know. i got blown away because i thought i knew most of these people. i've been involved in electronics and internet for 30 years but some guy from missouri who when he's doing an air defense system talked about how you need to have really interactive screens that are easy to read and you need to network them together and comes up with the network but he liked giving away credit more than taking it. especially as you pointed out a

moment ago, there's women involve. six women who program are all math ph.d.s and they don't get celebrity status. they are written out of history. they're not even invited to the party. they finally have a big dinner at the university of pennsylvania in the great hall with candles and government officials and the women that programmed the machine, it's valentine's day, a cold february 14th. they take the bus back to the homes in philadelphia and are not invited to dinner. nowadays those women programmers are getting their due as is grace hopper who programmed the harvard machine and they are legacy. >> who is the biggest geek? >> besides us? >> exactly. >> the biggest geek -- in terms of a fun geek. there's a guy name justin hall. 1994.

the beginning of the web. 700 websites. this guy is sitting there in his dorm room taking pictures that snapchat would probably put and he's also talking about his girls rejecting him and sexual desires and everything. he runs a log. he calls it his log on his web. and as it goes on and on, people are mesmerized. links from the underground and lists of cool stuff i'll use the word we use on tv and it becomes this log and he calls it his web log and soon it's called a blog and he sort of is founding person of blogging taking internet back from researchers and heavy duty people using it and says anybody can use this. we can just blog on it. these are sort of the geeky things that bring us to today. >> walter, stay with us if you can. sarah, thank you so much. coming up, as u.s. troops

prepare to withdraw from afghanistan, an award winning journalist returns to the country he reported in just weeks after the 9/11 attacks and what he found there may surprise you. plus, with 14% of all americans being hounded over at least one loan, we take a look at the people responsible for collecting that debt and in some cases cashing in. "morning joe" will be right back.

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a wake-up call. but it's not happening out there. it's happening in here. [ sirens wailing ] inside of you. even if you're treating your crohn's disease or ulcerative colitis, an occasional flare may be a sign of damaging inflammation. learn more about the role damaging inflammation may be playing in your symptoms with the expert advice tool at crohnsandcolitis.com. and then speak with your gastroenterologist. >> an annual percentage rate doesn't apply if you pay them off immediately. many customers don't.

one study showed that three-quarters were generated by borrowers that need to reborrow before their next pay period. they are the lay's potato chips of finance. you can't have just one and they're terrible for you. >> that was john oliver taking on payday loans and issue of american held debt. joining us is jake halperin with his new book "bad paper." good to have you on the show. >> you do go to the underworld, underbelly of this business and it's worse than we think and scummier than most americans believe. >> when most consumers get a call saying i'm calling on your bank of america debt and you assume that it's bank of america but they sold off that debt for pennies on the dollar years ago and it's been bought and sold and bought and sold and it's possible you're getting a call from some chop shop on the east side of buffalo from someone who has multiple copies of that debt and then it gets stolen and

there's all kinds of things that can happen in this underworld of debt that i explore. >> do all banks do this? >> most of the big banks do it and not just banks but payday loans, book club membership, gym fees, auto loans, every year billions of dollars of this debt is sold off cheap and it's just spreadsheets. it's just a microsoft excel sped sheet with your name, balance, that's it. this information is sometimes double sold, triple sold, and consumers have no idea this is going on behind the scenes. >> just skimming your book, you have a movie here, my friend. tell us the story. >> so actually the funny thing this started with my mother. she got a call from someone collecting on a debt she didn't owe. i wrote this investigative piece for "the new yorker" and after the piece comes out we get a call from brad pitt's company

saying i want to turn this into a show. we end up meeting all of these people who wanted nothing to do with my investigative piece but hear brad poitt and they are coming out of the woodwork. they tell me this crazy tale. they by 1$1.5 billion worth of debt and they have to retrieve this at gunpoint. this is crazy. look, this is a really unregulated sector of the economy. therefore, it makes sense that a guy like me who is this button up banker is partnered up with a rough guy who can be my muscle who can do for me what regulators have not done. this is what happens in the absence of regulation. >> so what should we do about it? >> what we should do about it is basic common sense regulation. for now no one knows who owns any piece of debt. could you imagine if there was no dmv or no vin number and you want to sell me your car and i say do you own it, i own it, trust me. you sell me the car but you sell

it to him and everyone else as well. the first thing that needs to happen is a debt registry where there's a vin number for each debt where consumer gets a call, they can call up or go to a website say i'm getting this collection call from abc company. do they really own this debt. the other thing that has to happen is the banks have to pass on the information. it's not good enough to pass along the spreadsheet. you have to have all of the documents, the statements, the contracts. >> so many americans are being hounded where people won't answer their phones because they know these calls come around the clock. >> that's right. i think that the way to think of this is this isn't just a consumer rights issue. this is for creditors as well. if i don't have any faith that the loans that i'm getting called on, i'm not going to pay it back and the system of credit is going to freeze up. it's in our interest to have a system that works well. >> what can be done to basically put payday lenders out of

business? if you look at inner cities or military bases, they are predatory aspects of american culture. payday lenders. >> a new study out says less than half of americans could pay a $400 emergency bill without borrowing or selling something. of course they go to payday lenders. the answer is the justice department has a program called choke point that goes after payment processors so when you pay your payday loan, it's the processor that takes your credit card because it's difficult to police every last payday lender shop. if you go after processors, you can make progress. >> it seemed to me one of the problems is that big banks, they don't really care that much about getting these people into the real banking system. you have a whole lot of people -- >> they don't want them. >> if the big banks like citibank or chase would say we want to help the people who need a $400 loan and help people open

bank accounts so how do you get it so that the banks actually serve people so they don't have to go to payday lenders? >> i think the banks have to start realizing they have some obligation to protect their customers and former customers. i looked at it through the lens of these debts are folks they lent out to original willly thed for pennies on the dollars and dumped into the industry where no one had concern about what happened to them. you can't pay my bill, i'll sell it to a guy in ohio and clean high hands. i sold this off. there's a lack of responsibility in general that these big banking institutions feel toward their customers and this can't just be about profit. >> this is amazing. book is "bad paper" coming to a theater near you i believe. jake halperin, thank you so much. still ahead, debate night in kentucky and the candidates take jabs at each other and then go after president obama and plus it's probably one of the parents

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turning now to the ebola outbreak overseas and here at home. the head of the world health

organization now says it's the worst health emergency of the modern era and nina pham is in serious condition. she contracted the virus while treating thomas eric duncan. she was certified as a critical care nurse on august 1st less than two months before she started caring for thomas eric duncan. pham is one of 70 employees who cared for duncan. she now has received a blood donation from dr. kent brantly. it's the third time brantly helped an american fighting the deadly virus. walter, it is interesting the dual messages we're getting. don't panic. don't panic but this is really bad. >> i trust tom frieden. great civil servants. we read and we learn, don't worry about this. it can't be transmitted this way and this unnerves you because

you thought they had protocols right and obviously somebody can make a mistake. if a nurse who knows all of the protocols makes a mistake, it takes you back a bit. >> not only that, mistake -- >> it must be easy to get. not only that, but it's right before an election. you have people running for office injecting ebola and the government's response to ebola into political campaigns, which is not helpful. we have the cdc director tom frieden. take a look. >> we have to rethink the way we address ebola infection control. even a single infection is unacceptable. people on the front lines are fighting ebola. the enemy here is a virus. ebola. it's not a person. it's not a country. it's not a place. it's not a hospital. it's a virus. it's a virus that is tough to

fight. together i'm confident that we will stop it. >> all right. other news now. a utah school bus driver is accused of driving under the influence and swerving in and out of lanes while taking dozens of students on a field trip. she was arrested yesterday after a chaperon on the bus called police. miguel almiguerre has the story. >> i am shaking at this point. >> reporter: terrified moments on monday. a police dash cam catching a school bus driver swerving erratically while transporting more than 70 teachers, students and parents on a class trip. >> i don't get scared very easy, but my heart is pounding. she can't stay in the lane. she's crossing the double b line and the adults are getting scareded. >> one chaperon called 911 as the bus sped down the interstate at nearly 80 miles per hour, during a field trip to bingham

young university. >> she almost hit this man next to us. it is freaking scary and we've got 76 people on this bus, and she is nuts. >> troopers pulled over the bus on an interstate offramp 40 miles south of where the trip started and arrested the driver, 39-year-old lisha martinez. police say martinez failed field sobriety tests and had prescription medication that warned of drowsiness in her purse. >> the only thing she said at the time is she was very tired and she had been up quite late. >> police say martinez who worked for six years without any previous known incident is on paid administrative leave during the investigation. no one was hurt on the bus. no other vehicles were hit. parents were relieved, but their nerves were rattled. >> it's always scary when your kids are out of your control, and you put them in someone else's hands. >> precious cargo, no doubt about it.

i'm glad i'm not out here talking about kids who were injured. >> this morning all are safe, but only after this wild ride. coming up on "morning joe." did she or didn't she? did she or didn't she? everyone wants to know if she voted for president obama. she did. we'll find out if she finally answered the question at last night' debade. so she was asked. you would think she would be ready to answer that. she was. we will tell you what she said. and is the third time a charm for mitt romney. it could be a sign he may be thinking of another run. >> i didn't get the joke. >> i'm here to translate. >> you're going to have to translate. >> i speak romney. >> it's too con -- it's still ten minutes later. plus, ground breaking move by the vatican. what church said that sent shock

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welcome back to morning joe. meteorologist bill karins with a weather update. atlanta was hit hard over the last two hours. starting this morning, the tornado sirens were going off in the northwest side of the town. that woke everybody up. and then the storms rolled through. in georgia, the university of georgia there sent out an alert for everybody to stay put as a line of storms went through. there's school delays through the state of georgia because of this line of storms as you would expect. you notice that line goes from tallahassee north to central georgia. i have my eyes on the carolinas throughout the afternoon. the storms are going to weaken now. and this is on the heels of 13

tornadoes. very large tornado outbreak. that's the first fatality from a tornado in the country in the last five years. here's who is at risk this afternoon. we expand from atlanta to athens, into columbia, the charlotte area, to kal lee. all of the triangle. and down towards the coast later tonight. a few tornadoes will be possible along with a lot of travel delays in the air and on the ground. we'll give you more updates throughout the morning. the next hour of "morning joe" starts right now. ♪ >> i have my disagreements with the president. his energy, philosophy, wrongly ruling by executive order. the president is not on the ballot myself this year. it's myself and senator mcconnell.

>> there's not a dime's worth of difference between a clinton democrat and an obama democrat. and there's also no sacred right to not announce how we vote. i voted for mitt romney. proudly. i voted for john mccain. and by the way, in 2012, 116 out of 120 kentucky accounts agreed with my judgment, that we might be in better shape now had mitt romney been elected. >> good morning. it's tuesday. october 14th. welcome to morning joe. with us onset, we have msnbc contributor mike barnacle and mike halprin. >> she won't say she voted for barack obama. >> just say it. >> it looks silly. come on. >> people have made, you know -- that's ridiculous. you voted for obama. >> i did not vote for obama. >> oh come on. just say it, joe. >> okay. i voted for john mccain and mitt

romney and i mean, it's sacred. voted for paul. she's just being too cute. >> and also i don't understand if she has a team of advisers, why don't you answer it? it will make it go away. it makes it look silly. everybody snows she did. she just looks sill lif. >> crazy. bluegrass crazy. >> especially with what health care has meant in kentucky. >> you could say it hasn't been all the way mr. mcconnell releases it. >> between mcconnell releasing the ad and her not answering it, she made the whole debate about this. >> yeah, let's get to our lead story. there's another signal of a new era under pope francis.

a new document released by a group of catholic bishops calls for a far welcome iing -- addin they provide precious support in the life of the partners. the report also urges the church to be more open to couples who live together outside marriage. it calls on pastors to recognize the positive aspects of civil unions and cohabitation. a far different tone than the traditional preaching they are living in sin. the preliminary doctrine noted disagreement among the bishops. it's so interesting. i think, mike, one of the challenges of the catholic church has been to be inclusive and bring in a new flock. >> like me, raised in the catholic church -- >> i was, and i love it.

you could literally feel the earth move yesterday with that statement. >> yeah. all of our lives, we've been told divorce or gay. you're living in sin. and all the sudden pope francis, one individual comes in and opens the window and fresh air of the 21st century comes sweeping in. and he did it using the tenants of the catholic church that are beautiful in order to say this. you shouldn't judge. that's why everyone subpoena is. you don't have to call them sinners. we are all sinners, right? and that's the key. if you're catholic, baptist, evangelical. whatever you are. you are taught that everybody lives in sin. all of sin had fallen short of

the glory of god. and jesus says, for the most part, all sins are equal. don't have a hierarchy of hey, listen, i'm sinning in my own way but, you know, but your sin is worse than mine. therefore you're not allowed in my church. >> pope is a brilliant politician. he is moving it without offending everybody and keeping everybody moving in the right direction. it's lically speaking. i'm okay, you're okay. this is not the catholic church saying people need to understand this. this is not the catholic church saying people who are not married as ma'am and woman are not living in sin. that's not what they're saying. what they're saying is we all live in sin. >> we love you. >> who are we to judge you when we're living in sin as well? let's come together, and you

know, it's going to be positive. >> it's going to be truly interesting to see how this goels over with the more conservative members of the cardinal cardinals. >> yes, apparently there is dissension. >> maybe they don't live in sin. >> if they are perfect they can cast the first stone. >> i love that. jesus said to the men, the religious leaders who were ready for committing adultery. go ahead. but let ye who is without sin cast the first stone. and you just heard it. >> i guess it should go well then. candidates are looking to frame the debate in key matchups from arkansas to kentucky. republican congressman tom cotton tried to tie incumbent democratic senator mark pryor to president obama a lot.

>> which key pieces of legislation have you helped lead that you're most proud of f you can name one, and if you can also name one you would perhaps like to take back. >> well, i haven't been in washington very long. less than a year. i've been there long enough to know, as calvin coolidge said that it's just as important to stop bad laws as to fasz good laws. they have let almost 400 bills from the house of representatives pile up on the desk of the senate. the senate is in the hands of liberal democrats like mark pryor, who are always going to protect barack obama's legacy and enforce his policies. a vote for mark pryor is a vote for barack obama. >> you know what, ladies and gentlemen, you just heard congressman cotton basically admit he hasn't passed anything since he was in the house. even though he was there for one month and ran a poll on the senate race. now he thinks he's entitled to be in the senate.

and his approach is this. my way or the highway. this dead end politics that leads to fiscal cliffs and shutting down the government. in congress you don't zr the reputation, the ability or the the desire to walk across the aisle to get things done in washington. >> meanwhile in kentucky, republican senator mitch mcconnell's challenger alison lundergran grimes once again refused to say who she voted for in 2008 and again in 2012. >> this is a matter of principle. our constitution grants here in kentucky the constitutional right for privacy at the ballot box. you have that right. senator mcconnell has that right. every kentuckian has that right. and as secretary of state, the chief election official on task with overseeing and making sure we're enforcing all of our election laws. >> i'm not going to compromise a

constitutional right provided here in kentucky in order to curry favor on one or another side. or for members of the media. >> you won't answer again tonight. >> you have that right. every kentuckian has the right for privacy at the ballot box. >> that's so courageous. >> so ridiculous. >> and she told everybody she voted for hillary clinton. so why did she violate her constitutional right then? >> who did you vote for? it's a constitutional right not to tell you. ily sa, though, besides that, she did handle herself pretty well. >> that makes it more frustrating. she could have had a great performance. >> and going back to the arkansas debate. mark pryor certainly got the best of that exchange. zblfl tom cotton couldn't describe one piece of legislation that he passed.

well, you know, fairly surprised. what's happening to him is happening to the state senator from north carolina. you have two republican states. two red states. a lot of them think they went too far in the state legislature because of them. a lot of moderates and democrats would vote and say, wait a second, these guys are too far out there. i personally thought tom would be up by ten points by now. >> and he's going to be micro targeted. he voted against the farm bill, the women's act. he voted for budget bills on social security. he's going to have to defend himself to constituents in arkansas. he's going to keep it close for

at least a bit. >> "washington post" has a piece of mitt romney that says he's feeling the votes from friends. >> yes, we all know this. and he reconnected with supporters in key states. he's been on the trail stumping for gop candidates. romney took a shot at his former rival for the white house while campaigning for joni ernst in iowa. he cracked a joke at the president's expense at an event last night in des moines. >> running for office, people tell you you shouldn't tell jokes. but i'm not running for office so i can tell one. i got this off the internet from a family member. he said obama went to cash a check and didn't have his i.d. and the teller said you have to prove who you are. she said, the other day phil

came in, putted a golf ball and we knew it was phil mickelson and we cashed his check. he took a tennis ball an racquet. we knew it was him. so we cashed his check. and she said is there anything you can do to prove who you are. and he said, i don't have a clue. mr. president, you want your money in small bills or large bills? >> what? >> was the punch line i don't have a clue? >> the punch line is i don't have a clue. meaning -- it's such a complicated joke, sort of. the woman says what can you do? like andre agassi played tennis. what was the last thing he said? >> he says, i don't have a clue.

and she says, oh, that proves you're barack obama. i'm the mitt romney joke translator. it's not a bad joke. i like the acronym like andre agassi. >> that was too much work to be funny. charlie kaplan told some jokes. >> he's looking like he's going to run. >> there's a huge vacuum right now. i think in the end if you have paul ryan or jeb bush or chris christie, he won't run. >> there's only one person stopping him from running, jeb bush. i don't think he's going to run. i don't think romg knee will go first. >> i think we'll have a conversation about it. i really do.

i know they're only thinking about jeb bush and whether he runs or not. they're looking at the same polls that jeb is looking at. and very, very surprised by how bad one poll after another seems to be for jeb. your iowa poll had him trailing by. i will tell you this, mitt romney, that guy right there, that guy is not worried about chris christie. >> lest say christie gets in after the election, do you think mitt would come in. >> he doesn't care. we ought to just say what we do. say on the air what no one else is saying but everybody says off the air. if you want to know what mitt romney said, nobody thinks chris

christie can win. even if he's exonerated, nobody thinks he has the temperament to run. nobody thinks he can handle iowa. nobody thinks he will win in south carolina. i only say that to say, nobody around mitt romney is saying oh boy, if chris christie gets in we better not do it. and we're always talking about the mantle for the establishment wing of the republican party. and if jeb doesn't run, then myth may be on his way. >> and we were talking to a powerful ceo in america in the past week. and his sense on jeb was that there was no joy there. there's almost an edge or burden to it. #. >> hamlet routine. >> a little bit much. do you think he's going to run? >> i do now. today i do. >> it mr. be quited a burden

apparently. >> why? >> reporting. looking at how seriously he's looking at it. it shows that christie is not the right person. >> from people we talk to parties. gl we use the quiji board. >> he's been credited with saving countless businesses, including crumbs bake shop. now investor marcus lemonis is showing us how it's done. he joins us ahead. plus, they survived hair gate and ben gate and now an entire country is blaming apple for its economic woes. we'll tell you which one. first, we blame him for everythin everything. >> the list is big. >> bill karins' fault. there he is with the forecast.

>> good morning, my two little pretties. you're watching, as far as the storms go, georgia into south carolina is where we're seeing the worst of the weather this morning. the storms have weaken ee eed thankfully. there's still 50 to 100,000 people without power in tennessee and louisiana, which was hit hard. sections of alabama. we didn't have too much damage there. 13 tornadoes, one fatality and a couple of injuries. so again, if we're going to see any today, south carolina and north carolina later in this afternoon. the hurricane fired up. these brought strong winds to the british virgin islands. just brush ld puerto rico last night. this is likely to become a category four hurricane. that's a serious storm. 140 miles per hour winds. and just off the coastlines of the bahamas. so we're okay in the bahamas. florida in the southeast, you get large waves two to three

days from now. and then this is heading up towards bermuda. we could be watching a direct landfall some time as we go throughout friday night and saturday morning. as far as the forecast across the country, if you're doing travel, the airports will be the biggest problems. also rain on the west coast. l.a. and san francisco, a slight chance of rain. but it's going to do very little to take any dent from the drought at all. just some showers are in the forecast. that's it for the rest of the weekend. what a nice shot that is there. the storm went be there safely. type 2 diabetes affects millions of us. and for many, it's a struggle to keep your a1c down. so imagine, what if there was a new class of medicine that

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and provide a well-rounded education. and torlakson's plan calls for more parental involvement. spending decisions about our education dollars should be made by parents and teachers, not by politicians. tell tom torlakson to keep fighting for a plan that invests in our public schools. californians are discovering the real risks behind prop 46. it was written and paid for by the trial lawyers to make them millions... while, for the rest of us, health care costs go up. no wonder every major newspaper in the state opposes prop 46. they say 46 "overreached in a decidedly cynical way." it's a ploy "for trial lawyers to enrich themselves." and prop 46 has "too many potential drawbacks to be worth the risk." time to vote no on prop 46.

time to look at the morning papers. we'll start with "the new york times." speculation is rampant over the disappearance of north korean leader kim jong-un and whether his health or power struggle. and nearly 40 days later he reappeared. according to state reports he toured a new housing development. but it's unclear when it took place. recently he was ill. in multiple photos he is seen using a cane. and when did he take the pictures? >> more to come fa that one. so we get this one from finland

and fortune. finland's top leader says apple is to blame for the country's economic downturn. according to the prime minister, apple is a major reason that the country's largest exports industries of paper, i.t. and mobile are struggling. he says the ipad killed paper. so last week, standard and poors downgraded the debt raid iting. saudi arabia is making a push to defend the market share across oil and asia, frustrating world markets. a state run company stunned opec when it slashed the november prices, igniting a price war. the company is asking buy rs in europe to commit to receive oil as it faces stiffer competition. >> all right. you guys are going to love this one. the cincinnati inquirer.

how often do you send them to school with cupcakes or birthday cakes? >> no. >> six pack of guinness. is that the other day? >> coca-cola. >> guinness beer. and so listen to this. in kentucky, burlington elementary school. in the efforts to combat childhood obesity. >> yeah. >> say they don't want cake and ice cream and other products for children birthday celebrations. the sugary tweet -- treats! instead, they want to hand out -- who knew i had a stutter? they can hand out nonfood items such as bookmarks or pencil erasers. many parents are coming around to this idea. i think this is when the kids start huffing the glue and sniffing highlighters.

>> you have to look at what they're served at lunch. >> batman is headed to the big screen again, but this time as a lego. let me tell you something, jack and i already saw the batman movie. >> how did it go? >> the batman lego movie. >> how did it go? >> it's amazing. >> what's that song you like? >> everything is awesome! warner brothers announced lego batman would get its own spinoff following the character of the success in the lego movie. will arnett is expected to reprise his role. >> very nice. >> and now they have a shorter lego batman movie. >> you she this front page of new york post. this is the nurse who got ebola from treating mr. duncan down in dallas. and now they fear her dog may have ebola. so they went into her apartment

yesterday with hazmat suits and retrieved the dog. >> there's a change in how they're handling it now, too. from the top down. >> we'll see. coming up, he's not on the ballot, but barack obama was taking shots from both parties as several states held u.s. senate debates. our political round table with steve schmitt, casey hunt and howard fineman is next. how many people can say they've gone swimming with an afghan war lord? someone who has is at our desk. just take a closer look. it works how you want to work. with a fidelity investment professional... or managing your investments on your own. helping you find new ways to plan for retirement. and save on taxes where you can. so you can invest in the life that you want today. tap into the full power of your fidelity greenline.

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senator pryor likes to talk about leadership in washington. i learned leadership in the streets of baghdad and the mountains of afghanistan. let me tell you, you can learn more there than the halls of congress. leadership requires toughness and courage. senator pryor is not tough up in to stand up to barack obama and put arkansas first. zbr arkansas first. joining us now for the political round table, correspondent casey hunt. i'm scared of you. >> no reason to be scared. >> former mccain senior campaign strategist and steve scmitt. did you see what she did do that

poor candidate? and in washington, editor director and msnbc political analyst. good to have you all. casey, give us an idea of arkansas. >> you saw in the debate last night. mark pryor is casting himself as somebody who is from the state, who has been around the block with people, who understands their concerns. and he's trying to cast cotton as somebody who thinks he's better than the average arkan s arkansan. he extended that to his military service. but cotton's challenge is not coming across, at this point, you know, like the kid who doesn't quite know how he's going to proceed, which is the risk for him in the debate last night. >> you know, the -- i think -- fear of affiliating with the president has gotten so out of control. especially in kentucky. did you all see this? the debate last night? i don't know if we have the sound bite. howard, i'll let you chime in

first. shouldn't alison lundergan grimes just said she voted for him. >> i wouldn't go far to say it was disqualifying. chuck is now basically in charge of the kentucky race because he's in the advertising down there because of that. it's not right science. she could say, i was for hillary clinton. hillary clinton was north on the ballot. i'm for values that talk about equal pay for women, raising minimum wage, health care and so forth. i had to make a choice and i chose those values. and then that. there are all kinds of ways you

could easily and that question and hit it out of the park. advisers from the clinton camp. this is a subsidiary of the empire and obama advisers. why wouldn't they tell her to get off that. it's crazy. >> you're right, howard. it's so embarrassing. steve smith isn't that tough. i ran against a guy in '94 who would not admit that he voted for bill clinton. and i just kept going after him. i said, you said you oppose the crime bill. you said you oppose the health care plan. i knew what he was doing. but, i mean, at least you'll admit you voted for him, right? >> well, come on! there's so many easy ways to do this. >> i think one of the cardinal rules is you don't want to project to voters that you think they're stupid. that's what she's doing here. >> we all know she did.

and she said hillary clinton. what happens to the privacy inside the voting booth? and you look for example, for the situation with advices. not taking a vote, authorizing the force. they're going to lose the election. >> the main reason she needed to answer this, the way i would do it, the way i thought she should do it. to answer is it, so people like us would stop talking about it. it obscures the fact as mark halprin said she did a good job during the the debate. she held her own. she didn't attack as much as she should have. she held her own very well. it's a political malpractice.

>> and we already talked about arkansas. but let's go back there for a second. he had one bill that he passed. he will go back and talk about barack obama. i'm sorry, that sends a bad signal as well. >> it's not great, he could have come up with a lot of better answers than that. given everything happening right now. it's enormously difficult to see a scenario, as we come through to the end stage of this campaign, where pryor comes out on to be. >> no question. >> and i think isis, too, is really going to come down on cotton's side as we go into the final weeks i think it benefits co

cotton. >> several weeks ago we went out golfing. an american was beheaded. we heard from campaigns across the country that they saw the numbers over the last three or four days plummet. but now there's going to be the next batch of polls. the war against isis is going badly. nobody is being destroyed. and i wonder if we're going to see another wave a week from now with republicans doing better. >> and i think you're seeing it's putting races we thought were safely in democratic hands possibly will in play. in new hampshire and north carolina. in north carolina kay hagan is taking new heat for missing a briefing to go to a fund-raiser in a new ad. scott brown has -- while he's still run pg behind, the gap is much smaller. >> maybe it's because i missed 98% of all my committee

meetings. >> no! i had people always use these issues against me. joe scarborough. voted in one election out of the last 872. and you know, people went like this -- i got 62% of the vote. and i would say, if you want to listen to conference reports for idiots whining, i could be doing that, or i could be working for you. i think the kay hagan campaign has nothing to worry about from these ads about her missing this vote or that vote. especially since republicans across america from north carolina to iowa, missed all of their votes. >> especially since the main approach is shutting down goth. then there would be no committee meetings. i don't care that's an issue. if you're running against washington, and all the bad mechanics so forth of washington, which most are doing

you don't run an ad about missing committee meetings. and you were chosen for your charm and intellect. >> and all the food. yes, i like that, too. >> and again, talking about the various races. would you be surprised? >> i would be very surprised if the republicans don't take a senate. if they don't take the senate, given the terrain that we have, given what's happening in the world. given the president's approval numbers. if we can't take the senate this election cycle and you look at the demographic issues we face in 2016, it's such a huge issue for the the republican party, you almost don't know where to

start. >> i agree with that. the battlefield is lined up in their favor. if the republican party can't win this election cycle with all the built-in advantages they have, just lower the flag. 2016 is not only going to be ugly. we fight on democratic territory. we fight in democratic territory in 2016. i believe these close races are going to break. >> that's what we said about romney in 2012. >> i just -- i believe they will break into republican side. because i think that when you look at the failure of the military strategy and the politics that sur rounds it in iraq and syria, a president so clearly out of his depth in handling the challenges of the world, he's nationalizing this race.

when you have challenger races, there's tension to stay close. >> it may happen. i got to tell you this year reminds me of 1998. and i think we're still in the cycle. new democrat wins in '92. is in '98 it's supposed to be another wave, and it's gentle. >> casey and steve, howard fineman, thank you very much. all of you. still ahead -- glad you were nice today, casey. still ahead, it's been more than 13 years since the u.s. went to war in afghanistan. one journalist slept next to a 500-pound bomb as part of his trip to find out what, if anything, has changed in the country. kevin joins us next to explain what that was like. and we sit down with the host of "the profit."

how marcus lemonis is blind the sweetest comeback story of the year. # #

. 42 minutes past the hour. award winning journalist kevin sites who made his first trip to afghanistan just months. and he returned years later in what helped inspire his books "swimming with warlords." >> it's been a long strange trip over the past 12 years. you went back to see how afghanistan was different than it was in october of 2001. what did you find? >> well, this is america's costliest longest war. $600 billion. 2100 american lives lost at this point. we don't know how many afghan lives have been lost. it really begs the question, was

it worth it? i talked to dozens and dozens of people there. many people feel their lives improved. when you talk to the female dentist who had to stop her studies during the taliban's reign, and who was able to go in and complete her studies and now practices. of course, it's a better time. if you talk to security contractors, the people making millions and millions of dollars, they certainly feel it's better. for people who the warlord who is the title of the book that i was with, he was getting paid by the u.s. nationally. he was getting trained by special forces. and he has roadblocks. explain the title. swimming with warlords. >> afghanistan is a paradox. we look at this. it is our longest war.

we still understand so little about it. and i thought the best way to do this is really to understand the people. so i immersed myself. >> literally. we met with him. and he's very popular in the region. despite he takes food and supplies through his payment. and he had security for these guys. and he's a taliban killer elite. he just had a battle with them when i showed up. he killed 23 of them using 40 millimeter grenade launcher. this is an indirect fire weapon that you shoot like a gun directly at these guys. >> the taliban is so unpopular in afghanistan? we hear about the taliban here, and until you really dig into it, you find out that only a small portion of the afghanistan people actually have good feelings about the taliban. >> well, they were incredibly

unpop lawyer. but the problem is the corruption is so endemic. we provided aid through a fire hose. they can't administer it. they have increased popularity. one of the main reasons is the fact that the national government has not been able to provide justice. when you look at the justice system, you have to pay. getting in and getting out of it. you have to pay. the taliban came in. they settle differences between brothers. >> you may lose a swing voter with chopping off hands. >> we crosseded paths at cnn and

intersected. >> explain what we understand this country to be now. >> i don't think we understand it very well at all. that was the reason i wanted to introduce these characters. looking at the small stories we begin to understand the larger stories. we begin to look at people from all different walks of life there. and it's not so say things haven't improved. if you spend $600 billion in the country, you better see some improvement. and you see better infrastructure, but you don't see the national government projected past those borders. you don't see it in rural areas. and one of the mistakes that we made is we created a u.s. army where we tried to impose our structure to some extent. but the army cannot move from place to place. >> define success in afghanistan. a level of afghanistan and competence in the government.

what is success for us? >> i think the success is that you still have people believing that their lives are better off since the u.s. intervention. there are people believing that there have been gains. in fact, the foundation did a poll. it's not a large number. 57% of afghans feel their lives are better. that's a small number it has to be built on. >> thank you so much. >> it's great. >> thank you, kevin! >> up next, he invests in sick businesses to turn them around. the host of cnbc's hit reality show "the profit", marcus lemonis is here to explain how and why he does it. ♪ want to change the world?

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and yet another energy saving opportunity from pg&e. find new ways to save energy and money with pg&e's business energy check-up. don't try to justify it. it isn't correct. zbllt can you imagine what you do if your product was right? what is the problem? how did it happen? >> obviously it's a family citizen. the problem is her work wasn't up to par. and -- >> i had a very bad year. >> naomi's work wasn't up to par. we were depending on the product and we it ate. >> and who signed off on them to be designed? >> nobody checked. >> the fact they lost $250,000 is alarming.

what's more alarming is the reason they lost it. you have one person designing it and nobody is checking and balancing that process. >> i love this! that was a clip from cnbc's "the profit." and now chairman and ceo marcus lemonis is investing his own cash to save struggling businesses. >> there's a problem. you get people pointing at each other. >> by the way, mika does that to me every day. she had a bad terror or three year years. >> i love this show. i love the concept of this show. today something very real that a lot of people know about. a store you're reopening, crumbs. >> a small business has taken a real big hit. the episode tonight is a women's fashion line. new york, aspen, totally broken. crumbs became totally broken.

but it's not hard to fix. they really understood they're a bake shop and not a cupcake shop. they were only serving products you could have four hours a day. it looked like corporate america. president, ceo, coo, it's nonsense. we brought it back down to a small business and kept it simple. >> i'm looking at a list of nine small businesses featured in upcoming shows. eight f f of the nine are from smaller towns. and small business in a smaller urban 1r50ir789. last two years we had 40,000 applications to be on the show. we choose selectively. i end up picking the final companies. something about small towns, think for me resonates. those are the people where the

small business is needed the most. we've been in the new york cities, l.a.s, miamis. this time i wanted to go to small towns like in south carolina. >> i want to see more. what's the deal with those people? >> kicking hiss mom around. >> that's his mom. they're going back and forth saying it's her fault. >> and it gets hotter than that. >> was it? >> the episodes have a little bit of drama. but what they have in this particular episode is a lot of heart. and in the end, you'll realize the mother and the son can really learn to coexist and love each other. but it was bad. >> that doesn't look like he can bring that together. >> after nine days it finally turned after seven days. >> so you go in, and you're like a super nanny of businesses. >> except i do it with my checkbook. >> there are tons of small businesses out there having trouble, that are struggling right now. are you going to be like a marriage counselor here. like seen a million marriages. you can short circuit. for a small business having trouble, what's the first thing

to look at? >> the people. the people. it always starts with the people. small business, medium business. >> google says that, you're saying that with small business. get the good people. everything else follows. >> and i think a lot of the companies make the mistake. they are really pen any wise and pound foolish. thigh try to shortcut and hire inexpensive staff. >> an all new episode premiers tonight on cnbc. thank you so much, marcus. the daily rundown is next after a quick break. i make a lot of purchases for my business. and i get a lot in return with ink plus from chase. like 70,000 bonus points when i spent $5,000 in the first 3 months after i opened my account. and i earn 5 times the rewards on internet,

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