he never talks about issues and can't have more than a ten-second sound bite on any key issue. so i think he's kind of been exposed a little bit over the last seven days and he's a very touchy and insecure guy. that's how he reacts. some people can see through it. >> senator marco rubio gives a scathing review of republican rival donald trump using the front-runner's own tactics against him. the big question is whether it will work for rubio when it's backfired on everyone else. it's 5:30 on the east coast, 2:30 out west, this is "way too early." good morning. it's friday, september 25th, i'm jonathan capehart reporting from washington. we begin again this morning with pope francis, who's waking up in new york city for the first time after arriving yesterday from washington.

the pope touched down at new york's kennedy airport just after 5:00 p.m. and then headed for fifth avenue in the heart of manhattan. he emerged from his black fiat, got into the popemobile and greeted the thousands who had lined the streets on his way to st. patrick's cathedral for evening prayers. there he was met by new york governor andrew cuomo, senator chuck schumer and new york city mayor bill de blasio, who reportedly had some back and forth with the pontiff in italian. inside the cathedral, a crowd of about 2400 joined him for evening vespers service. on his way up the aisle, the pope paused to bless 17-year-old stephanie of white plains new york, sitting in her wheelchair. and during his remarks, he received huge applause when he said this to the religious women of the united states -- religion women and nuns of the united states. >> translator: what indeed, what would the church be without you?

and to tell you that i love you very much. >> and another jam-packed schedule for the pope today in new york. his day will include a visit to the u.n. general assembly, a trip to ground zero, a profession through central park, and an evening mass at madison square garden. earlier in the day, in washington, pope francis walked onto the balcony of the west front of the u.s. capitol, having just become the first pope in history to address a joint session of congress. it was a speech that left some lawmakers in tears, and one that took on some of the most controversial topics in american politics. here's nbc's tom brokaw with more. >> the pope of the holy see! >> reporter: pope francis went before congress, not as a republican or democrat, not as an independent, or a tea party member, but as a moral authority. the vicar of christ. in our season of discontent,

when division riles the political landscape, and desperate immigrants fleeing war and depravation fill the screen, people have powerful challenges to america's moral authority. >> we, the people of this continent are not fearful of foreigners, because most of us were once foreigners. we must resolve now to live as mobilely and justly as possibly as we educate new generations, not to turn our back on our neighbors. >> reporter: congress, this famously contentious body, listened respectfully as francis turned to global warming. >> the environmental challenge we are undergoing, and its human

roots concern and affect us all. >> reporter: the pope also addressed america's great wealth. the concentration of riches in a small percentage of a population. >> now is the time for courageous action and certainties in implementing a culture of care and integrated approach to combatting poverty. >> reporter: and just when congressional conservatives may have thought there was nothing for them, the family, and by extension, no endorsement of same-sex marriage. >> on the marital relations have been called in to question, the very basis of marriage and the family, i can only reiterate the importance and above all the richness, and the beauty of family life.

>> reporter: pope francis is the holy father to catholics. a charismatic figure to other faiths. and nonbelievers alike. and a humble man with a powerful voice. >> god bless america. >> that was nbc's tom brokaw reporting. and republicans reacting to the pope's speech on capitol hill. a majority praised what francis had to say, despite the different views -- their different views with the progressive pontiff. among them, dr. ben carson. >> i would say take away from it the fact that we as a nation still value faith. that's the bottom line. and when you see this amount of attention for a man of faith, that is something that should be encouraging to all of us. >> jeb bush weighing in, too, tweeting grateful for the inspiring words of the pontiff. people of goodwill must work to the to advance the common good. marco rubio visibly emotional during the pope's address, especially when francis spoke about immigrants. but this morning, some

opposition from ted cruz, who says he took issue with the pope's call to abolish the death penalty. now, to a tragic story in one of the holiest places on earth. more than 700 muslim pilgrims were killed and at least 850 others were injured in a stampede near saudi arabia's holy city of mecca thursday. the victims were trampled to death early yesterday morning at a busy intersection in minna. three miles from mecca as they made their way to perform one of the holiest rites in islam. the disaster was the second surrounding hajj this month, after a crane collapsed two weeks ago, killing more than 100. saudi authorities have ordered a probe into the cause of the stampede. let's turn now to politics, and we've seen bernie sanders atop polls before in new hampshire. but the latest from wmur and cnn shows him leading 16 points over hillary clinton. and since july he's up 10 and she's down 12 points. and look at the transformation and opinion on who will most

likely win the state. dead even. clinton has fallen 26%. and while voters still believe clinton has the best shot at winning the general election, her net favorability is in third place, far behind both sanders, and vice president joe biden. jeb bush made a comment yesterday evening similar to one mitt romney was criticized for in 2012. while taking questions from a mostly white audience in south carolina, a white man asked bush to look around the room and said, quote, how many black faces do you see? how are you going to include them and get them to vote for you? after stressing the importance of running an inclusive and diverse campaign, bush said this -- >> republicans get 4% to 7%, maybe of the african-american vote for president. those are kind of the numbers that i hear about. if you doubled that, you're still at a low number, right? but if you double that, you win elections in places like ohio, and virginia, and we should make that case. because our message is one of

hope and aspiration. it isn't one of division and get in line and we'll take care of you with free stuff. our message is one that is uplifting, that says you can achieve earned success. we're on your side. >> after being booed by the naacp in 2012, mitt romney told the montana fund-raising dinner, quote, i want people to know what i stand for, and if i don't stand for what they want, go vote for someone else, that's just fine. but i hope people understand this, your friends who like obamacare, you remind them of this, if they want more stuff from government, tell them to go vote for the other guy. more free stuff. donald trump has been directing more attacks toward marco rubio over the last few days. and yesterday, after months of ducking direct confrontation with trump, rubio hit back. >> i mean, marco rubio as an example. he's at no money, zero. now i think that's okay. it's fine. maybe it's good politically so say you owe money because you

overborrowed on your credit cards. i get these lightweights like rubio. he gets up and he says well donald trump didn't talk about foreign policy. i don't want to tell too much. marco rubio, who has the worst voting record in the united states senate, and young guy, although, he sweats more than any young person i've ever seen in my life. i've never seen a person sweat, i've never seen a guy down water like he downs water. they bring it in in buckets for this guy. >> first of all, he takes shots at everybody that gets anywhere close to him or does, you know, in terms of a poll or any time he hits a rough spot. he had a really bad debate performance last week. he's not well informed on the issues. he never talks about issues and can't have more than a ten second sound bite on any key issue and so i think he's kind of been exposed a little bit over the last seven days and he's a very touchy and insecure guy so that's how he reacts. and people can see through it. >> when the debate turned to policy he stood silent for 23 minutes and that's why he had

such a bad debate. that's why he's now reacting the way he is and continue to offend anyone who criticizes him. he's very thin-skinned, very sensitive to criticism. but he can't have a conversation about policy because he doesn't know anything about policy. his foreign policy apparently is a secret he can't tell us because he doesn't want to reveal it to the enemy. >> and trump's not backing down. he tweeted late last night, quote, just watched marco rubio on television. just another all talk, no action politician. truly doesn't have a clue. the white house says that president obama has accepted russian president vladimir putin's request to meet on the sidelines of the u.n. general assembly on monday. it's been a year since the pair last sat down for face-to-face talks. news of russia's expanding military presence in syria has been dominating headlines lately. but the white house says priority number one for this meeting is russia's aggression in ukraine. >> we're certainly aware, as we've discussed here, of the

concerns with russia's behavior inside of syria. you know the president has spoken publicly about -- about how russia doubling down on their support for assad would be a losing bet. so we're certainly mindful that that's on the agenda. but it's not what the president believes is the most pressing issue between our two countries. >> putin claims that his military involvement in syria is only intended to help defeat isis. the ap reports that the russian president could announce more military moves in his speech at the u.n. on monday. no word yet if the bilateral with president obama comes before or after that speech. let's turn to business now where u.s. stocks closed lower in a choppy session of trading. cnbc's louisa wouldjensen joins us live from london. bad news from caterpillar certainly didn't help, did it? >> no, it didn't. and these bellwethers. we watch them so very closely to see what the state of these big economies is in the overall

landscape caterpillar cut the revenue forecast for 2015. they're cutting up to 10,000 jobs through 2018. shares hitting a five-year low yesterday down as much as 8% at one point. it is this china-led slowdown that really hitting a large of the metal and mining companies. a lot of the underlying iron ore prices for example, trading a lot lower. six-year lows for some of the raw material prices like crude, copper, iron ore is mentioned, coal. we're looking at oversupply again as weaker chinese demand. speaking of china, they're to announce a cap and trade program today to limit emissions. this is a big deal because they are the world's largest polluter. and they're going to be reducing emissions in big industries. so like steel, cement and power. that's where they're looking to cut back. they're going to be starting their program in 2017 and they're going to be putting a price on it as well. it's a big deal taking place in china. this announcement will be watched very closely today. the fed just a week after they decided to leave rates near zero, we heard janet yellen speaking again the chair of the

federal reserve yesterday, on the state of the u.s. economy. now she spoke for almost an hour and she had to wrap up quite quickly. she told officials afterward she felt light-headed. she is okay. she did receive medical attention. apparently she covered quite swiftly sitting down, getting something to drink. in terms of her actual message if anybody speaks for an hour we all feel a bit light-headed. her message was very solid. they are looking for a rate hike sometime later this year. that it would be appropriate but it still depends on the economy. so we're still looking at all that data to see where we are and whether or not we're going to be improving here through the next couple of months or whether or not we're going to be calling back a bit. so janet yellen still leaving the door open for a rate hike to come by the end of this year, jonathan. >> louisa bojesen, got it live this time. >> live from london. thank you. and now we turn to tragic news out of seattle, washington. late thursday morning a ride the

ducks tour group collided with a charter bus carrying 45 students and employees from north seattle college's international program. the accident occurring on seattle's aurora bridge left four students dead, and injured numerous others. some remain in critical condition. the exact cause of the accident is unknown. a team from the national transportation safety board arrives in seattle today to begin an investigation. still ahead, i'll try my best with highlights from thursday night football. yesterday we told you about the punishment for the two high school football players who targeted and tackled a referee. now, there's new information on the coach accused of ordering the attack. that story and a check on weather when "way too early" comes right back.

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well, when they're real, that happens. >> conspiracy theory. toby maguire is just a hamster in a robot. not me, though, because it's spelled differently. >> not to sound mean, but naomi watts has such a blah face. i look at it, and it's just nothing. like a blank space where features should be. >> hey, george clooney, your haircut sucks. oh, and so does your sense of humor. miami on you all night [ bleep ] boy. >> time now for sports and thursday night football. the giants in desperate need of a victory hosting the redskins in their first two games, new york let double digit leads slip away late. but last night a familiar duo didn't let that happen.

>> eight yards off. going and he snaps it! for the touchdown! >> eli manning finds beckham jr. for a 30 yard touchdown pass. the giants find the end zone again in the closing minutes. and on a 41-yarder to reuben randolph they win it 32-21. to college football, and a scary moment at the university of memphis as the tigers hosted cincinnati. bear cat quarterback gunner keel takes a high hit after turning upfield and going down for a slide. after the shot, keel laid motionless on the field before being carted off on a stretcher. he was then taken to the locker room where it was reported he was conscious, and able to move all four limbs. keel was later sent to the hospital and released soon thereafter. the defender who made the hit was initially flagged for targeting but a video review showed it was actually shoulder to shoulder contact. now to major league

baseball, a royals win combined with a twins loss out in minnesota means kansas city clinches a playoff berth. the victory not only pushes the club into the postseason, it also gives the royals their first division title since 1985, and since kansas city was in the a.l. west back then, it marks the first a.l. central crown in francis history. now to texas, a texas high school football coach accused of directing two players to hit a referee as retaliation for alleged racially charged comments made by the official has resigned. a video was released showing the two john jay high school football players apparently blindsiding the referee during the game. espn reported that assistant coach mack breed admitted to the school's principal that he ordered players to strike the official. a statement released by his attorney said breed took blame in order to protect the two players from being expelled. he's currently barred from coaching at another school in

texas, at least until he appears before the state executive committee. the referee involved has denied making any racial remarks, and the two players have been moved to an alternate school for 75 days. so, bill, let's get a check on the weather from nbc meteorologist bill karins. >> we're looking pretty good. overnight we had a very interesting event outside of charleston, south carolina. a small tornado went through jones island and it did do some damage to some trees down, some damage to the roofs, and also some of the siding. no injuries, thankfully. that was that line of storms right around 1:00 a.m. imagine a tornado hitting your house in the middle of the night at 1:00 a.m. pretty chaotic scene there. this heavy rain is shifting northward. north carolina the wettest state by far over the next couple of days. virginia, norfolk to richmond, some rain will move your way eventually. forecast rain fall totals, 3 to 6 inches if possible here. raleigh to the greenville, washington area out towards cape hatteras down to wilmington atlantic beach included. lighter amounts in south

carolina and also roanoke. and even d.c. could get a little bit, too. today's forecast we are very warm in the middle of the country. in the west we're up to 95 today in montana this september's been off the charts, jonathan. the only problems we're going to see saturday and sunday continue to be right around virginia, for the pope jonathan today in new york city no problems, philadelphia looks pretty good on saturday and sunday, also. >> that's great, bill. you're going to want to see the story we're going to do when we come out of break. still ahead, kanye west. kanye west in 2020. are you still not convinced? wait until you hear what the rapper admits he must change about himself in order to get your vote. "way too early" is back in a moment. ♪ bleeding gums? you may think it's a result of brushing too hard. it's not. it's a sign of early gum disease... listerine(r) can help reverse... early gum disease in just two weeks. listerine(r). power to your mouth™!

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pope's been very busy this morning. he made an appearance alongside congressional leaders in washington, d.c. a lot of people noticed john boehner was once again crying. and to no one's surprise joe biden expressed his emotions a little differently. watch. finger gun. joe, i love you buddy, but they are not clapping for you. that's the pope! he's standing next to the pope. thanks a lot.

it's like standing behind the wrong -- thank you so much. oh, my god. >> okay, it's my favorite story all day already. apparently it's not if kanye runs for president, but when. in an interview with "vanity fair" the 38-year-old rapper turned fashion designer maintained he is definitely thinking of running in 2020. but says, quote, when i run for president, i prefer not to run against someone, i would be like, i want to work with -- want to work with you. as soon as i heard ben carson speak, i tried for three weeks to get on the phone with him. i was like, this is the most brilliant guy. but for now, west says, quote, i sit in clubs and i'm like, wow, i've got five years before i go and run for office and i've got a lot of research to do. i've got a lot of growing up to do. really. that does it for me and "way too early." coming up on "morning joe," pope francis begins his first full day in new york city set to speak to world leaders gathered

for the u.n. general assembly later this morning. plus, senator bernie sanders has seen a serious surge. now he has a double digit lead over hillary clinton in a key swing state. we'll break down the numbers. and senator marco rubio versus donald trump. will the senator from florida be able to do what no other candidate has been able to do, talk trash and survive in the polls? that and much more coming up next on "morning joe." just might be the one. to clean the oceans, to start a movement, or lead a country. it may not be obvious yet, but one of these kids is going to change the world.

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mr. speaker, the pope of the holy sea. [ applause ] >> good morning and welcome to morning joe. what a historic moment yesterday as pope francis walked down that center i'll that we as americans are use to seeing our president walked down before delivering the state of the union but this pope delivered something much more historic yesterday and the response different