help treat osteoporosis with once-a-month actonel. actonel is clinically proven to help increase bone strength to help prevent fractures. so you can get back some of what you lost. do not take actonel if you have low blood calcium, severe kidney disease, or cannot sit or stand for 30 minutes. follow all dosing instructions. stop taking actonel and tell your doctor if you experience difficult or painful swallowing, chest pain or severe or continuing heartburn. these may be signs of serious upper digestive problems. promptly tell your doctor if you develop severe bone, joint or muscle pain, or if you develop dental problems, as serious jawbone problems have been reported rarely. to get a free trial offer of once-a-month actonel visit actonel.com. and ask your doctor how once-a-month-actonel can help you reverse bone loss. 90s slacker hip-hop. ♪ that can strain your relationships and hurt yourody 'cause we'pride ♪ng a ride ♪ ♪ it's the credit roller coaster ♪ ♪ and as you can see it kinda bites! ♪ ♪ so sing the lyrics with me: ♪ when your debt goes up your score goes down ♪ ♪ when you pay a little off it goes the other way 'round ♪

♪ it's just the same for everybody, every boy and girl ♪ ♪ the credit roller coaster makes you wanna hurl ♪ ♪ so throw your hands in the air, and wave 'em around ♪ ♪ like a wanna-be frat boy trying to get down ♪ ♪ then bring 'em right back to where your laptop's at... ♪ ♪ log on to free credit report dot com - stat! ♪ vo: free credit score and report with enrollment in triple advantage. we know why we're here. to design the future of flight, inside and out. to build tomorrow's technology in amazing ways. and reshape the science of aerospace... forever. around the globe, the people of boeing... are working together -- for the dreams of generations to come. that's why we're here.

this hour on msnbc, day three of the sotomayor hearings.

republicans try leading the witness. >> isn't it true that you were ib correct incorrect you were earlier statement? >> but once again she avoids potential pitfall. >> that argument was not the one that was raised before us, but that was raised clearly before the supreme court. also, the hallowed grounds of arlington national cemetery. new details reveal many head stones and burial records don't match. mementos thrown in the garbage. is this the way to honor our fallen heros? an investigation is under way. and "us weekly" obtains the horrifying video of when michael jackson's hair caught on fire. and the other things we thought you should know. the ac break in the sotomayor hearing room, and a final flight for the first female pilot of marine one. all that and more on this hour of msnbc.

good afternoon, david. hello, everyone. i'm tamron hall live in new york. >> i'm david shuster live in washington. we're going to begin the hour with some breaking news. murder on a cruise ship. >> we learned about this one at the top of the last hour. fbi agents are on board right now investigating the murder. carnival cruise lines says a man has been arrested on suspicion of murdering his wife on a cruise to mexico. a company statement says a man allegedly killed his wife in their cabin on tuesday. nbc's george lewis joins us from los angeles with more details. george, do we know any more about this investigation? >> reporter: well, a lot of fbi agents are aboard that ship. they through about 20 of them or rather ferried about 20 of them out to the ship on wednesday after the reports of this murder and they've been interviewing the passengers on board the ship. the ship docked in san diego at 6:30 this morning. passengers got off, and some of

them talked about what they saw and heard. >> over the last day in the cafeteria you could hear gray star, gray star. it was like a warning so everybody knew something had happened, and then they found out later that it meant that -- either someone got hurt or someone was murdered and then our -- later we got confirmed by our maitre d' that someone was stabbed in their shower and it was a murder by a husband. the two kids were in the room. >> what i personally saw, we went down near where the room that it was called to, and there was a 24-hour security guard stationed there with a sign on the door that this is a secure area. >> reporter: the woman in that first sound bite mentioned that there were two kids in the room. carnival and the fbi later denied any children were involved, that it was just the husband and the wife. the victim, a 55-year-old woman. the fbi is holding a news conference at this hour. we're expecting to hear more

details on this story later today. carnival in its advertisement for cruises aboard the "elation" which goes from san diego to baja california says put a little excitement in in your vacation. that was more excitement than the passengers had counted on. >> where is the husband? do we know if he's been taken off the ship and is in custody there? what's his status? >> reporter: he was immediately taken to the ship's brig. he was still reported aboard ship at last report. we haven't had an update on that. conceivably, the fbi will take him to shore today if he's determined to be the suspect in this case. >> all right, thank you very much, george. we certainly appreciate it. thank you. tamron, in the big picture today, right now witnesses from new york city mayor michael bloomberg to frank ricci, the fireman at the center of the new haven discrimination case, they have been testifying this afternoon at the confirmation hearings for judge sonia sotomayor. senators concluded their questioning of president obama's nominee earlier today, and

republican jeff sessions of alabama suggested there will be little gop opposition to her joining the supreme court. >> i will not support and i don't think any member of this side will support a filibuster or any attempt to block a vote on your nomination. >> of course, blocking a vote and actually voting against her are two different things, but msnbc's chief washington correspondent norah o'donnell joins us live from capitol hill. session sincerely saying the sessions is saying there will be a vote. >> reporter: we found out today republicans are not going to stand in the way of president obama's choice to be the first hispanic nominated to the supreme court. they're going to allow a vote here in the committee next tuesday. she could get several republican votes, and then it will go to the full senate floor before the august recess. that's significant. senator sessions saying they are not going to filibuster. i think one of the interesting things is that judge sotomayor drew some praise from

republicans today. republican senator lindsey graham describing her judicial record as generally in the mainstream. he then said that you've said a lot of things that really bugged the hell out of me, according to senator graham, but he said that she did pretty well in her hearings, and one visor to senator graham said he is leaning towards voting for her. also, republican senator john cornyn of texas, also agreeing that her judicial record is pretty much in the mainstream. still, senator cornyn thinks there are these two sotomayors, the one with the mainstream judicial record, the other that gives speeches like the wise latina. then i spoke with senator chuck grassley. he said he's undecided. and republican jorrin hatch, wh could be a maybe. he's undecided. the nra has come out against

judge sotomayor so that's spooked a number of republicans who had been thinking about voting for judge sotomayor. important to remember that every single justice currently on the supreme court has gotten more than 78 votes except for thomas and alito. so usually the senate gives the president wide latitude in who they want to go to the supreme court. we'll see if she gets 78. it depends on how these republicans feel, whether they're concerned about their own political base. >> and norah, as you know, such an interesting squeeze on senator john cornyn who faces re-election next year. now he has to cohoose between te nra being angry at him and possibly the latinos in texas. >> great point. >> in the bigger picture, what have we learned about the kind of supreme court justice that judge sotomayor might be? today she offered hints about her views on activism, precedent, and empathy, and none other than senator lindsey graham, the republican from

south carolina, agreed. here is the moment. >> here is what i will say about you. i don't know how you're going to come out on that case because i think fundamentally, judge, you're able after all these years of being a judge to embrace a right that you may not want for yourself to allow others to do things that are not comfortable to you but for the group they're necessary. that is my hope for you. that's what makes you to me more acceptable as a judge and not an activist because an activist would be a judge who would be champing at the bit to use this wonderful opportunity to change america through the supreme court by taking their view of life and imposing it on the rest of us. >> we have a constitutional law

expert joining us. he testified at confirmation hearing for two supreme court justices. we're hearing a lot of back and forth. but it seems like this confirmation will sail through. do you believe we learned more about judge sotomayor or what kind of justice she will be? >> not a whole lot. remember, she's sitting on the circuit court level for many years and the district court. mostly confined by supreme court precedents, and she was certainly working within the terrain of those precedents to reach results that were within the mainstream, but there are other justices who sat at circuit judges like she did, john paul stevens, who is now on the high court, and harry blackmun, whose voting records on the high court can be quite different. it may be a little bold to extrapolate from a rather mainstream and not any kind of activist decisionmaking as a circuit judge to indicate that's how she would vote on the supreme court. >> from the questioning we saw from the senators, many are saying we saw missed

opportunities from republicans and democrats who could have probed more and focused more on what kind of justice she might be. >> you remember the justice -- maybe perhaps properly so, rather reticent. they don't want to forecast how they would actually vote. president lincoln once said if we asked a man he would do and he answered, we should despise him for it. that's kind of the dilemma you have with the nominee. they don't want to be so specific before they've heard argument that they will decide this way or that way. i think my own view knowing her philosophy and basically judicial thinking, she will certainly be in the mold of ruth bader ginsburg, the other woman justice, or david souter. she will be on the liberal wing, but not an extreme liberal wing i don't think. and to that extent it will be the mainstream because the court is 5-4. >> thank you for your insight. another big day. david, as you mentioned, quite a witness list. we started our show listening to

one of the firefighters in the new haven case. you have to love senator lindsey graham saying there are some things that bug me, but i think you're going through. >> he's always colorful. the fascinating politics to watch now is just for the republicans caught in the middle, they're looking up at real action and they're trying to figure out what's the right political play and watching the squeeze on them is going to be intriguing and seeing how they do it, that will be fab nated. >> and to see how they spin the vote in 2010. all connected. now the latest on the cia's secret plan to use hit squads to kill members of al qaeda. >> "the washington post" reports the program was nearing a new, more active phase just before cia director leon panetta nixed it last month. the obama administration's top intelligence official claims it was not illegal to hide the program from congress even though the national security act of 1947 states, quote,

explicitly, the president shall ensure the congressional committees are kept fully and currently informed, including any significant anticipated intelligence activity. with us live, former cia special agent jack rice. jack, what's the motivation of dennis blair to try to essentially say, oh, the cia did not need to tell congress? >> well, obviously now we're talking about a lot of politics here. we were talking about it with the sotomayor hearings. it's the same thing at the white house, too, because they have huge challenges right now and obviously their concern just like they did with the abu ghraib photos, is if they isolate themselves and turn this into a massive fight left and right, republicans and democrats, it makes everything else they do that much more difficult. so they're trying, i think, to decide what their battles are going to be. do we move forward or do we look back? >> jack, why do you think the obama administration is being so deferential to the intelligence community? you mentioned the photos at abu ghraib. you could talk about military commissions. on issue after issue it seems the president has decided maybe

i'm not so comfortable with national security issues so i will just defer to the so-called experts. >> i'll be honest, i'm a little concerned about this. i was in the room when robert gibbs was talking about the abu ghraib situation over at the white house, and what i thought about was that the president actually does have a role here. i understand that he doesn't want to isolate himself. i get that. but one of the problems that the democrats frequently have is their seen as somehow weak on national security. i fear that what they're doing is they're essentially saying, don't be upset at us, we won't look too deeply into this. you mentioned the idea of the 1947 national security act and this wasn't a violation. the problem is what this seems to really be about now, and i'm thinking about this as a former prosecutor, is the real question is about how far along was this operation? if there was any planning stages, if there was anything that was being spent, but we do understand there was at least one republican congressman that stated that more than $1 million was dropped on this program. so if they spent it on anything,

anything whatsoever that was actionable, it seems to me that there may really well have been some sort of an operation. so i think there is something to look at here. >> former cia special agent jack rice. jack, thanks as always. and tamron, as jock knack knows sometimes the facts you learn about an incident aren't politically convenient, but that doesn't negate the fact that things happened. >> he's saying that's how you discover the facts. that's how you get the information is to investigate. well, after the break, police recover a safe taken from the florida home where that couple was murdered last week. >> but robbery may not be the only motive in the case, at least if you think that they were murdered very quickly and the team was spending a month. what was driving the team to do what they did. we'll get the latest on the investigation live from the sheriff. and one of america's proudest moments, nasa releases new video of the historic first moon walk from 40 years ago. new digital -- digitized video.

we'll bring it to you. show you more of it. we'll be right back. has the fastest hands boxing has ever seen. so i've come to this ring to see who's faster... on the internet. i'll be using the 3g at&t laptopconnect card. he won't. so i can browse the web faster, email business plans faster. all on the go. i'm bill kurtis and i'm faster than floyd mayweather. (announcer) switch to the nation's fastest 3g network and get the at&t laptopconnect card for free. (announcer) switch to the nation's fastest 3g network could save 'em hundreds on car just telinsurance.e geico it's actually doing it. gecko vo: businessmen say "hard work equals success." well, you're looking at, arguably, the world's most successful businessgecko.

gecko vo: first rule of "hard work equals success." gecko vo: that's why geico is consistently rated excellent or better in terms of financial strength. gecko vo: second rule: "don't steal a coworker's egg salad, 'specially if it's marked "the gecko." come on people. but i did. you need to talk to your doctor about aspirin. you need to be your own advocate. be sure to talk to your doctor before you begin an aspirin regimen. you take care of your kids, now it's time to take care of yourself.

developing now, authorities say they have recovered guns, including the one that may have been used to kill a florida couple known for adopting 13 children with special needs. >> authorities also say they recovered a safe stolen from the house. right now eight people have been arrest sod far in connection with the murders of byrd and melanie billings. authorities say more arrests are possible. the billings were killed last week during a well-planned break-in at their home. surveillance video show these masked men dressed like ninjas

slipping into the front and back doors of that family's home while children were inside asleep. joining us is escambia county sheriff, david morgan, who is leading the investigation. thank you for joining us. >> thank you. i'm honored to be here. >> thank you very much. okay. so are you looking for more suspects right now? >> we are. we have a list of what we call again interested persons at this time, and we want to get these individuals together and speak to them at some time within the coming days, and again the list started out with one. now we're up to two, and now we have three. >> can you tell us if any of the people you have in custody are talking? are they cooperating with this investigation, giving you some details on why, first of all, it would take that many people if this was a robbery to go in the way they did and target this family? >> i won't again give you any specific names of anyone that we currently have in custody that's cooperating with us, but i will tell you this, that it's numerous people. >> so they are -- you won't tell us specifics but at least some

of the people in custody you say are cooperating and telling you what they know about this. >> that is correct. >> sheriff morgan, you know, when people look at the facts of this case, it looks to a lot of people like it was some sort of mob hit, that the couple was destined to be murdered by this team which doesn't really satisfy a lot of people when you talk about robbery being the motive. are you at least open or are you investigating the possibility that maybe there was some strange business dealings involving the cuppiouple that y don't know about or maybe some connection with somebody else who had a reason or motive to kill this couple? >> well, you're never sure of where an investigation will lead to eventually, but i want to emphasize to everyone that right now the job that the escambia county sheriff's office is involved in is bringing to justice those individuals that took the lives of byrd and melanie billings. we're very focused on that. any peripheral issues that may fall out from this investigation we most assuredly are passing on

to the appropriate agencies, and should we find out any information that would indicate that, we would most assuredly investigate it. >> is that why the dea and fbi are then involved, because there's something for them to look at? >> no, sir, that's incorrect. again, that stretch, if you will, at this time has been made by several people. we have the bureau doing video enhancement for us. we have the atf checking all of our ballistics and weapons, and we had information about the suspects. now, again, the suspects currently in custody, that we felt compelled to passi ed tled several of the federal agencies, and that's what we did. >> sheriff, you told us that you got this safe that the suspects stole from or whomever stole from this home here. what's in the safe? were they able to break into that safe and is that how you came to the conclusion that this may be about robbery and money? >> we are not at liberty by direction and consultation i should say with the state attorney's office to release the

contents of the safe at this time. and also our crime scene folks are currently working that. >> all right, sheriff, i know this is an ongoing investigation. your job obviously is to protect the integrity of that. our job is to try to get as much information as possible, and we certainly appreciate it. thank you. >> thank you. >> tamron, it is such an interesting, interesting case, getting more interesting by the day. all of us wish the sheriff luck. we do hope, of course, they can figure out exactly what happened because what a mystery. in any case, 40 years after the fact, we're getting a new look at one of the most exciting events in world history. nasa has just released new compute e computer-enhanced video of the first moon landing. the actual moon landing took place on july 20th, 1969. the original pictures were dark and grainy. today, however, marks the exact 40th anniversary of the launch of apollo 11. 40 years after going to the

moon, the apollo 11 crew still faces some questions about missemi missteer news lights and allegations they saw a ufo. buzz aldrin will give us his take on what he saw, that's tomorrow right here on msnbc. >> i love it. that's going to be good. good stuff. up next, bruno, bruno. your favorite movie is making millions at the box office except in the ukraine. >> i'm moving to the ukraine. all right. you won't ever see it in the ukraine. they're not going to show, subject people to "bruno." we're going to explain why. if it didn't just give it away, my thoughts and opinions on this. plus, a tennis player is suspended after failing a drug test. but after hearing his defense he was cleared. but the exercise will make you say -- no way! my doctor told me something i never knew.

as we get older, our bodies become... less able to absorb calcium. he recommended citracal. it's a different kind of calcium. calcium citrate. with vitamin d... for unsurpassed absorption, to nourish your bones.

the traders at td ameritrade are a demanding bunch. that's why td ameritrade's proprietary order routing technology consistently seeks the best available price. command center 2.0 lets you customize your trading space, and it's free. with superior tools like these, traders get what they want. td ameritrade. independence is the spirit that drives america's most successful investors. announcer: trade commission free for 30 days, plus, get $100 cash when you open an account. there are a lot of things that could be considered news in

this world. >> but there are only a few stories that make us say -- >> no way! >> no way! >> we told you last week about the busty blond mannequin put out by a restaurant owner in ft. myers hoping to drum up business. while he says becky has been doing her job, now there's word she might be breaking the law. ft. myers manager of code enforcement says the mannequin violates an ordinance regulating signs. so becky is also standing in the city right-of-way and could block the view of drivers. the restaurant owner says he'll move becky. >> busty signs not allowed? all right, whatever. tamron, "bruno" has offended an entire nation.

his latest mockumentary has been banned as being immoral. he's portrayed as a gay flamboyant fashi flamboyant -- >> i get in the corner and shake after having seen that movie. i can't get over it. finally, i love this story. 23-year-old french tennis player richard gascone -- >> nice pronounce nation. >> has been cleared to return to play. he was suspended in may. the international tennis federation anti-doping tribunal has ruled he ingested the cocaine accidentally when he kissed a woman that he met at a nightclub in miami. the cocaine got on his lips. it was the kiss. >> yeah, you know, i always

said, tamron, when i was playing tennis growing up, those women you meet in the bars in miami, you never know when you might kiss them and then you'll be testing positive for drugs. are you kidding me? >> it's the true. speaking of no way, david hasn't seen this so i'll show him at the same time i show our audience. look at the screen. look at this, david. our colleagues, michael young, took some beautiful photographs of myself and david. okay. in the studio the other day. look, we've got official portraits. >> wow. and, you know, michael is not even the official photographers, which goes to show he's got some talent. >> which means we don't have to pay him because he's not official. >> you're welcome. >> what's your website? he won't give it to us. he's so big time. >> i think they'll be on our twitter pages so everyone can admire us mugging for the camera. >> thank you. up next, a disturbing report coming out of arlington national cemetery.

>> this is creating a lot of buzz. we're going to get i'm sure a lot of people on twitter talking about t a new report details how bodies in the so-called nation's most sacred shrine, and it is one of the most sacred places in this country, have been misplaced. plus, john mccain's daughter opens up about joe the plumber, a stippaple on the campaign tra for the republicans, and you will not believe what she has to say about him. and shocking new video released of michael jackson when he was involved in a shocking accident while filming a commercial. he suffered severe burns. did this lead to an addiction to painkillers? ay. get a 2009 pontiac vibe for $13,708 after all offers. or get 0% apr for 60 months on most 2009 pontiac models! all are backed with the best coverage in america, including a 5 year/100,000 mile powertrain warranty. get some excitement while you still can, during the pontiac summer closeout.

visit pontiacdealer.com i just want fewer pills and relief that lasts all day. take 2 extra strength tylenol every 4 to 6 hours?!? taking 8 pills a day... and if i take it for 10 days -- that's 80 pills. just 2 aleve can last all day. perfect. choose aleve and you can be taking four times... fewer pills than extra strength tylenol.

i'm julia boorstin. stocks ended on a positive note on wall street today. the deep south aow added 96 poi. the nasdaq gained 22 points. oil prices are up closing just above $62 a barrel.

the gain was also bolstered by a report showing strong economic growth in china. shares of c.i.t. group took a big tumble down more than 70% after the struggling commercial lender failed to secure a government bailout. this raised speculations c.i.t. would file for bankruptcy protection. crocs could be on their last legs. the shoe company rode the economic boom for years but is now falling victim to the recession as consumers cut back. now stuck with a surplus it has until september to pay off millions of dollars this debt. that's it from cnbc, first in business worldwide. now back to msnbc. welcome back, everyone. i'm tamron hall live in new york. >> i'm david shuster live in washington. the big picture, arlington is known as the nation's most sacred shrine. it's the final resting place for more than 320,000 veterans of our nation's wars. it's also the home for presidents and supreme court justices. the final resting place.

but as service members fight and die in iraq and afghanistan, internal problems at the cemetery have ended up taking their toll on the grounds themselves. a new piece in salon.com exposes how bodies in the cemetery may have been misplaced and how flowers, cards, and letters left at grave sites for soldiers who died in iraq and afghanistan ended up in the trash. joining us now is mark benjamin, national correspondent for salon.com. the first part of his series was posted on salon today. thank you so much for joining us. >> thank you for having me. >> you read this piece, you get angry. you want to cry. it's a floodgated of emotion tt is came over me when i was reading this. how long has this investigation been going on and who is to blame? >> the investigation has been going on since before memorial day. i have been walking the cemetery about twice a week in part to do my research. i think the government records that i have obtained show that the de facto boss of the cemetery, the deputy

superintendent, a guy named they are money higginbotham is involved in a lot of the wrongdoing there, including an internal government investigation that i obtained that shows he's involved in investigations showing wire fraud, impersonating employees online, and hacking into government computers apparently illegally. >> how can one person be responsible for so much? i mean, in your detailing here, you have one interview and a person says to the naked eye it's a place of sacred beauty and a tribute to our nation's heroes. if you scratch below the surface you will find it's just window dressing. that was someone who was fired from arlington. a lot of retribution going on. the person who is in charge has incredible control over this stuff. what you brought up earlier is one of the most disturbing parts which is that internal documents show that the burial records, the pieces of paper arlington shows who is buried shawhere ar

not matching up. the cemetery says that's not the case. but it's not provided any proof. >> are there some people in the ground who are not matching up with the name on that tombstone? >> that's the $64,000 question. we don't know the answer for sure. we know the burial records do not match the headstones. when you go out on the graveyard, it doesn't match. does the confusion end at the grave's edge or does it go farther? >> why is it paperwork. the rest of the government has gone to computers for all it's record keeping. how come arlington national cemetery hasn't? >> that's another scandal at arlington. they have been trying to computerize burial there since 2000. they spent countless dollars on a contract to put the system in place. there's nothing in place. they are running a cemetery with 320,000 people buried burying 30

people a day and keeping track of it on index cards. some of the index cards are getting lost. >> higginbotham the man you said oversaw it, the conclusion of the army investigation was that he made false and misleading statements to agents from his office. where is he now and are these problems being corrected? >> as of right now i'm unaware of the problems being correct e except for some changes in computer security. army investigators went to this deputy superintendent and he said no. they did a computer analysis that showed, yes, he had been involve had had in breaking into government computers. let's face, it this is an army facility. if you're hacking into government computers, that's a pretty serious thing at an army facility. >> but i mean, again our audience i'm sure trying to wrap their minds around it, hacking in computers, disrespecting our heroes, this one person had the ability according to this

investigation to do so much damage and far ranging, mark. >> certainly he's not alone. he does have a boss who is the superintendent who seems to have done nothing about it. you brought up one of the other disturbing aspects. section 60 of the cemetery is a very special place, that's where iraq and afghanistan victims are buried. >> mark, thank you very much. we appreciate you joining us certainly. and, david, again people can see the salon.com, the first part of this investigation. and it is some of the most compelling details. it's jaw dropping. >> absolutely stunning and terrific reporting by mark benjamin. the story just makes you so sick, so sick. a national treasure and to have this kind of stuff going on, it's sickening. in any case, now to the stunning video that's just emerged of the accident that

michael jackson admitted sparked his addiction to painkillers. the footage was obtained exclusively by "us weekly." it shows jackson's hair catching on fire during the filming of a pepsi commercial in 1984. the pyrotechnics exploded too early igniting his hair but he continued performing for ten seconds before realizing he was on fire. he suffered second and third-degree burns on his face and scalp, and you see jackson tfl reach up and touch his head in pain. jackson and pepsi settled out of court for $1.5 million which jackson donated to the hospital where he was treated. when we come back, governor mark sanford made headlines when he went missing for a few days, but it turns out it wasn't the first time he took off without telling his staff. >> and john mccain's daughter lets us know how she really feels about this guy. you remember him. joe the plumber. the man who was pretty much a staple of her father's campaign toward the end.

and you won't believe what she has decided to call joe the plumber. we'll be right back on msnbc, the place for politics. for arthritis pain... in your hands... knees... and back. for little bodies with fevers.. and big bodies on high blood pressure medicine. tylenol works with your body... in a way other pain relievers don't... so you feel better... knowing doctors recommend tylenol... more than any other brand of pain reliever.

introducing the all new chevy equinox. with an epa estimated 32 miles per gallon. and up to 600 miles between fill ups. it's the most fuel efficient crossover on the highway. better than honda cr-v, toyota rav4 and even the ford escape hybrid. the all new chevy equinox. and it lets you do some pretty incredible things. you can copy a phone number... and paste it in a text. you can copy an article... and paste it in an e-mail. or you can copy a map... and well, you get the idea. copy and paste, on the iphone 3gs.

the most powerful iphone yet. ♪ finally lovers know no shame ♪ ♪ watching in slow motion ♪ as you turn to me and say ♪ take my breath away (announcer) ge locomotives. customers love them almost as much as we love making them.

♪ my love (announcer) innovation today for america's tomorrow. well, it's time today for our face-off, and the political football in the middle of the ring is the u.s. economy and president obama's plan to fix it. >> tamron, that's right. karl rove, former senior advise tore president bush claims the president is not keeping his promises when it comes to creating jobs and stimulating growth.

in an op-ed in today's "wall street journal," mr. rove skewers obama for changing his story and says republicans can do far better. quote, house republicans offered an alternative recovery package of immediate tax cuts and safety net measure that is cost half as much as mr. obama's stimulus program. republicans have also calculated their plans would have created 50% more jobs than the stimulus. here to face off are democratic strategist peter and republican strategist alex. alex, given that the republicans, the house republicans in particular, are at about 23% approval rating, wouldn't it be smarter for karl rove to say here is what the plan is than to try to make some claims about what the republicans say their plan might do? >> no. i think actually the republican plan would have cut taxes immediately. it would have put money into the economy immediately. whereas president obama and the democrats' plan is a long two, three-year plan that is slowly spending money. >> one second though, alex. it only puts money into the

economy if they take their tax cut and spend it. if they put it in the bank, under their mattress, it does nothing for the u.s. economy. >> if they invest the money or spend the money, that would be good for the economy. the problem is right now with the stimulus that the democrats passed, nothing is happening. they're not spending very much of the money. instead of all these long-term projects, which is why unemployment continues to grow. if the white house would acknowledge the obvious, that the stimulus plan they passed is not working, they who k.o. have -- we could have an honest debate about fixing the economy. >> it's not working as fast as the obama team suggested it should. >> that's exactly right. getting face cal advice from karl rove is like getting lectured on sobriety from amy winehouse. there's no credibility. he presided in an administration that would paint rosy picture after rosy picture. six months into the economy was

in stamblehambles. to have karl rove give the obama plan a report card is just laughable. >> but it's the obama white house that's painting all the rosy scenarios. >> they never drew a line in the sand and said unemployment will not go above 8%. you know that. >> yes, they did. that's why they passed the stimulus package, which hasn't helped. unemployment continues to go up and as obama said, he owns the economy. attacking karl rove and attacking -- >> the stock market has also gob go -- gone up. they're trying to latch onto something and say it should happen overnight when it's not going to happen overnight. for the last eight years we had a republican congress who did nothing in that regard and left us with what they left us. you have to be honest about this discussion.

>> obama owns this economy, and he owns this deficit because this deficit is larger than anything we've ever seen before because of the spending that the democrats are shoving through congress right now despite republicans unified opposition. >> he owns about six months' worth of it. the fact of the matter is we have to look at where we are and where we're going and we have to look at whether or not this is going to work. i agree with you that, you know, we have to see whether the stimulus package works, but to say as karl rove suggests, that removing the goalposts is being intellectually dishonest -- >> the president said the stimulus would begin to create jobs immediately. that has not happened. in fact, we've continued to -- >> i dispute that. >> speaking of something immediate, let's move to topic two. tamron, i'm going to give you the honor of doing this one. >> thanks, david. >> of course. >> alex and peter, we'll switch to topic number two. >> because i'm not allowed to say this word. i can't said it either. here is the deal, alex. meghan mccain is going after joe the plumber. obviously he's famous because of her father. so in an interview, and i guess

she wasn't even asked about it, but she offered up her thoughts on joe the plumber. the quote was joe the plumber, and you can quote me on this, is a dumb -- you see the word up there. he should stick to plumbing. alex, her father made him a voice in the election and that's why he still has -- >> no -- >> what do you think of that? he didn't? >> john mccain did not make joe the plusm plumber a voice? barack obama. >> who took him on stage at rallies? was that barack obama? >> john mccain invited joe the plumber onto the stage because barack obama had told joe the plumber that he wanted to spread the wealth, something that the obama campaign then disputed -- >> alealex, that is rich. the fact of the matter is this, meghan mccain's comments, her

eloquence speak for itself. i can't answer mcen mccai her e. the problem is he stuck to the bottom of their show like a post-it note and then he became a noted foreign correspondent in israel reporting on circumstances over there. >> alex, one -- >> i think the irony is that barack obama is raising taxes just like he told joe the plumber he would when he said he would spread the waement. i think -- >> i think joe the plumber's business is getting a tax cut. people at that level is getting a tax cut. that's the whole point. >> but he hasn't. >> right, because -- >> come on. >> that's not going to create jobs. this is not going to create jobs. >> good grief. >> as we're seeing the unemployment rate continuing to rise under barack obama's watch. >> i think meghan mccain was incredibly eloquent. i just want to --

>> alex, peter, thank you so much. tamron, are we going to get meghan mccain on our show one of these days? we're going to get her and it will be great. >> i was at an event and i was going to try to book her and i didn't get a chance to get over to the table. the next chance i see her, i'm going to run over and beg her. nobody is better than alex. he needs to be a defense attorney. >> he's in a rough spot. >> obama who tricked john mccain to make joe the plumber a voice. >> anybody who has to defend joe the plumber is in a rough spot. >> i'm sorry, i got so caught up in laughter on that argument. when we come back, are you smarter than malia obama. a reality show is asking that. it's something we thought you should know. then on "hardball" -- >> then on "hardball" -- is this my read or why urs? >> yours. >> the firefighter at the heart of the controversial case that judge sonia sotomayor ruled on takes the stand during the confirmation hearing. will his testimony sway any senators. "hardball" with chris matthews starts in about eight minutes. !

tell your friends, tell your dad, tell your mom! never mind, they've been singing our songs since we first showed up with our pirate hats on! if you're not into fake sword fights pointy slippers and green wool tights take a tip from a knight who knows free credit report dot com, let's go! vo: offer applies with enrollment in triple advantage. capturing the beauty of nature. that's my vision. everyday transitions lenses are there to help care for my sight. announcer: transitions lenses adjust to changing light to reduce glare and help protect your eyes from uv damage, so you can see better today and tomorrow. live your vision. transitions. healthy sight in every light.

vsp vision care shares transitions' commitment to healthy sight and guarantees member satisfaction with transitions lenses. to learn more, see a vsp doctor today. i just want fewer pills and relief that lasts all day. take 2 extra strength tylenol every 4 to 6 hours?!? taking 8 pills a day... and if i take it for 10 days -- that's 80 pills. just 2 aleve can last all day. perfect. choose aleve and you can be taking four times... fewer pills than extra strength tylenol. just 2 aleve have the strength to relieve arthritis pain all day.

welcome back. yesterday we told you about revealing e-mails from the office of south carolina governor mark sanford who disappeared late june to visit his mistress in argentina. it turns out this is not the first time the governor's staff did not know where he was. new documents just released show the state's commerce secretary tried to track sanford down back in june of 2008, and that turned out to be the exact same day the governor admitted his relationship with the argentinean lover, quote, turns physical. there is a lot going on today. here are three things we thought you should know. >> tamron, he has -- the heat

has been on supreme court nominee sonia sotomayor. jon kyl started by apologizing for the temperature. staff complained to an nbc producer that it's really hot in the room. >> it's smoking in here and it's not just the questions. president obama headed to new jersey and new york this afternoon. when he left the white house and boarded marine one for the ride, he saluted the female marine at the bottom of the stairs. the crew that flew him to andrews was an all female crew in honor of the first female pilot. today is her last day as pilot of the presidential chopper. he was designated the command irier of marine one in may of last year. >> good for her. finally the "new york post"

reports malia obama was officially invited to appear on the tv show, "are you smarter than a fifth grader." she was asked if he would like to be one of the kids who sat in the desks during the quiz show. her parents said no. she declined the invitation as it interfered with her school schedule. those are just a few things we thought all our viewers should know. >> pretty interesting they would try to invite her on that show so they could get big ratings. >> i'm templed to talk again about the lack of physical contact with his commerce secretary at a time when he was having physical contact with -- never mind. >> that last line, that's when he said the relationship turned physical. it's just like the room -- i don't know what to say after that. the american medical association said it will stand behind the health care reform bill that was put forward by