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eastern time. >> and tamron, i know we've been telling our audience for the last hour he's about to come out. we have officially received the official two-minute warning. we believe he's going to come out in the next two minutes. again, tamron, we've been talking about it all week long. the negotiations have reached this critical stage on health care reform. the bills are starting to come out of committees. they're being marked up. negotiations are continuing. they're being scored by this independent congressional budget office, the cbo. some of the scores are helping democrats, some are helping republicans, but in the midst of it all you have some moderate democrats telling the president slow down. you have the white house telling respects we will pass health care reform without a single republican vote if necessary. here comes the president in a series of speeches last night where he was firing. >> that's why this speech certainly will tell us, perhaps even lead us into what the president will say on his weekend radio youtube address about where this debate stands. there's been a number of polls

coming out. one cited saying 76% of american people want a public opthion. now there's one out showing people are genuinely concerned about where the money will come from. we're waiting on the president to see if he might, in fact, take on critics within his own party. he has certainly taken on critics in his last speech mentioned by david, the one in new jersey in particular. he's not as john mccain would say, naming names, but he's taking on the critics. >> let's go to mike viqueira. mike, any sort of preview as far as what we can expect from the president in a few minutes? >> reporter: no, david, curious though this has been delayed some 47 minutes now. one wonders what exactly is going on that would force him to be delayed, whether it was some new speech, new rhetorical flourish being formulated, programs some news. some news we learned earlier today, there are more senators now, including some very

influential democrats, who say let's put the brakes on this thing. let's perhaps not do this before august 7th when we're due to leave. this is a deadline that the president set in conjunction with democratic leaders. it works both ways. they set these deadlines because congress responds to deadlines, and yet this could turn out to be a trap of their own making. they have set this expectation. if they cannot meet the expectation to have this out of the house and senate, not a final version mind you, but out of the house and senate before they leave on that recess, peel will look at it and say the president's program is faltering. this is bad news. his popularity is sinking. republicans are making headway. they're chinking away at his armor here as his popularity is going to fall and there are going to be all kinds of por ten shus comments that are going to be made and out there during a month-long congressional recess. this is something obviously that both democrats on the hill and here at the white house in the west wing think is very

important to get out there to lead the news, to be the message, to have their message leading the story as we head into the final crucial two and three weeks in congress. >> mike, we're talking about an issue that will affect literally 1/7 of the overall u.s. economy. >> i think it's more than that. >> maybe it's 1/6. but as far as the politics are concerned, and you have been around capitol hill a long time, in terms of the politics s th, there a better chance of the president using the high approval ratings he has now and pushing this forward before august or is there a better chance if he waits, gives the members of congress the time they want risking, of course, the possibility that something else happens that makes it even more difficult for the president to get this done? >> reporter: david, i don't think there's any question if you look at what the president and the administration have accomplished and are trying to accomplish in the first year -- here comes the president. let me stop talking. >> let's listen. >> i realize that washington is often focused on the 24-hour

news cycle instead of the long view, and i know that there's a good deal of that going on right now when it comes to health care, so i wanted everybody just to step back for a moment and look at the unprecedented progress that we've already made on reform that will finally lower costs, guarantee coverage, and provide more choice. over the last several weeks we have forged a level of consensus around health insurance reform that we've never seen before in this country. in may we were able to bring together health care providers around an agreement to do their part to decrease the annual rate of health care growth by 1.5 percentage points annually, which will save us $2 trillion or more over the next decade and lower costs for all of us. a few weeks later we got the pharmaceutical industry to agree to $80 billion in spending

reductions over the next decade. reductions that will make prescription drugs more affordable for seniors. and that's partly why the aarp has endorsed our efforts. last week we reached an agreement with hospitals to bring down costs by another $155 billion. and just this past week both the american nurses association and the american medical association representing millions of nurses and doctors across the nation who know our health care system best announced their support for what we're trying to do. in these past weeks, we've also built consensus around specific reforms on which there hasn't been consensus before. let me list some of those. and i want to particularly applaud the efforts of the committees in the house and the senate who have worked long and hard to make this progress. we're now at a point where most

everyone agrees that we need to invest in preventative and wellness programs that can save us money and help lead healthier lives. we have an agreement on the need to simplify the shorinsurance f and paperwork that patients have to fill out. we have an agreement on the need to reform our health insurance system so if you lose your job, change your job, or start a small business, you can still get affordable health insurance. we have an agreement on the need to prevent insurance companies from denying coverage to americans with pre-existing medical conditions. and we have agreement on the need for a health insurance exchange, a marketplace where people can compare prices and quality and choose the health care plan that best suits their needs. so this is what health insurance reform will mean for the average american. it will mean lower costs, more choices, and coverage you can count on.

it will save you and your family money. you won't have to worry about being priced out of the market. you won't have to worry about one illness leading to your family going into financial ruin. americans will have coverage that finally has stability and security, and americans who don't have health insurance will finally have affordable quality options. these are the areas where we agree right now. and this consensus has brought us closer to the goal of health insurance reform than ever before. now we've got to get over the finish line, and part of this process is figuring out how to pay for it. i have said that health insurance reform cannot add to our deficit over the next decade, and i mean it. let me repeat, health insurance reform cannot add to our deficit over the next decade, and i mean it. already congress has embraced our proposal to cut hundreds of

billions of dollars in unnecessary spending and unwarranted giveaways to insurance companies in medicare and medicaid, so we actually believe that about two-thirds of the costs of reforming health care could be achieved through these savings alone without any new revenue. of course, that still leaves one-third of the costs in order for us to cover all americans that we're still going to have to find a way to way fopay for, the committees in congress are working diligently with the white house to see if we can come up with an agreement on that remaining one-third. the bill i sign will also include my commitment and the commitment of congress to slow the growth of health care costs over the long run. this is a separate issue, and i just want to be clear. there's an issue of how do we pay for health care reform immediately in a way that's deficit neutral, but how do we

also bend the cost curve so that we're not seeing huge health care inflation over the long term that would not only make any health care reform package more expensive, 15, 20 years out, but would also make sure that people who have nothing to do with the government programs like medicare and medicaid, how do we make sure that their costs are under control as well? i realize there's going to be a lot of debate and disagreement on how best to achieve these long-term savings. our proposal would change incentives so that providers will give patients the best care, not just the most expensive care, which will mean big savings over time. this is what we mean when we say that we need delivery system reform. i have proposed to congress, and i am actually confident that they may adopt these proposals, that independent -- an

independent group of doctors and medical experts will oversee long-term cost savings measures. every year there's a new report that details how much waste and inefficiency there is in medicare, how best practices are not always used, and how many billions of dollars could be saved. unfortunately, this report ends up sitting on a shelf, and what we want to do is force congress to make sure that they are acting on these recommendations to bend the cost curve each and every year so that we're constantly adjusting and making changes that will reduce costs for families and for taxpayers. we need an independent group that is empowered to make these changes, and that's something that we've proposed. i'm confident that if we work with the foremost experts in the field, we can find a way to eliminate waste, slow the growth of health care costs, and

provide families more security in the long term. now, i realize that the last few miles of any race are the hardest to run, but i have to say now is not the time to slow down, and now is certainly not the time to lose heart. make no mistake, if we step back from this challenge at this moment, we are consigning our children to a future of skyrocketing premiums and crushing deficits. there's no argument about that. if we don't achieve health care reform, we cannot control the costs of medicare and medicaid and we cannot control our long-term debt and our long-term deficits. that's not in dispute. so we're going to have to get this done. if we don't get health care reform done now, then no one's health insurance is going to be secure because you're going to continue to see premiums going

up at astronomical rates, out-of-pocket costs going up at astronomical rates, and people who lose their jobs are having a pre-existing medical condition or changing their jobs finding themselves in a situation where they cannot get health care, and that's not a future i accept for the united states of america. and that's why those who are betting against this happening this year are badly mistaken. we are going to get this done. we will reform health care. it will happen this year. i am absolutely convinced of that. i believe that members of congress are prepared to work as hard as it is going to take to make this happen, and i am grateful for the work that they've already done. i'm confident that we're going to be putting in a lot more hours. there are going to be a lot more sleepless nights, but eventually this is going to happen. thank you very much. >> reporter: mr. president, why not push back the deadline?

>> president obama in the diplomatic room at the white house with some assertive and confident comments. the president said those who are betting against health care reform getting done this year are badly mistaken. pretty dramatic stuff from the president. >> the whole time i was wondering if he was talking to the moderate democrats who sent a letter to the president saying let's slow this down for talking to the republicans who we have heard two members of his own team saying they will get this done without republicans. we'll talk -- >> and tamron, i was going to say one thing new that was a little different, that's the threat, i think this is the first time we've ever heard the president say we have to get this done now or no one's health insurance is secure. the president ratcheting up the stakes. we'll be right back. you're watching msnbc. i was in the grocery store when i had a heart attack. my daughter was with me. i took a bayer aspirin out of my purse and chewed it. my doctor said the bayer aspirin saved my life.

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welcome back, everyone. i'm tamron hall. >> i'm david shuster. now the big picture. it's bad enough when a champion of family values is caught engaged in an extramarital affair. it's worse when he tries to use the appalachian trail as a cover story. today the calls are growing again for mark sanford's resignation and now it's about taxpayer money. records show the governor likes to travel first class and had taxpayers foot the bill. according to the records he spent more than $468,000 taxpayer dollars on state-funded travel, including $44,000 on

business and first-class air tishths. his travel companions flew coach. in a 2002 radio ad, sanford called out then governor jim hodges for, quote, lavish spending on airfare and hotel rooms. quote, if i become your governor, i'll if ix that problem in columbia. this year he rejected federal stimulus money actively campaigning against government spending. >> government can't be efficient if it doesn't prioritize the way the businesses and families do. you don't spend money that you don't have, and neither should your government. i have been trying to fight this for a while, but we need your help. >> the government shouldn't spend your money but sanford did, of course, on first-class tickets. in the meantime, south carolina's unemployment rate hit 12.1% in june, the fourth highest in the nation. sanford is apparently wealth and famously stingy when it came to his own money.

when asked by the associated press whether he flew coach on his most recent trip he responded, yeah, you remember, i am paying. in his 2008-2009 budget sanford asked state agencies to consider, quote, is this state governmental service or activity of good value? is it both cost efficient and cost-effective? more importantly, is this activity even desirable or needed by the public? south carolina lawmakers, including republicans, reacting to all of this are asking for a probe of sanford's travel. the consequences for the governor's political future may be uncertainly, but there's already been a direct impact on his spokesman who today resigned. >> and, david, the bigger picture, being less than thrifty with the taxpayers' dime is not the only area where his rhetoric does not seem to match reality. sanford is one of three politicians caught up in a very public adultery scandal in the past few weeks who have

connections to this washington, d.c., house. it's called the c street complex. owned by a secretive christian conservative group known as the family. mark sanford talked about being counseled in this home you see. another roommate is senator tom coburn who refused to talk about his involvement in the end of ensign's involvement claiming doctor/patient privilege, all he's an obgyn. a third resident was revealed as one swwho cheated. chip pickering who left office back in january. his wife is now suing his mistress claiming, quote, alienation of affection. the mistress and pickering reconnected and continued having that affair and while pickering was a u.s. congressman prior to and while still living at c

street complex in washington, d.c. pickering declared 2008 the national year of the bible along with other house members. we learn of yet another affair conducted from inside the very secretive conservative complex. what is going on at c street? that's the big question out there. not sure if anybody has the exact answer. we will bring in manuel, a style reporter for "the washington post." thank you for joining us. >> pleasure to be with you. >> we've seen secret societies before. certainly those that are -- david chuckled when i said that, because we have seen secret societies, many based on religion and a higher moral ground. i'm put you on. what's going on in that house? >> wow, it's getting wilder and wilder by the day, isn't it? we know that congressmen live in this house. we know that, but there's so much that we don't know about what goes on in that house. one wonders if we even would

have been talking about the c street house if mark sanford, who is a talkative guy, hadn't just dropped in. >> we would not have been talking about the house, but when you start putting these pieces of the puzzle together, it's not just to target anyone. people get together and get in all kinds of organizations if that's where you find your strength, but the irony this is where people found religious counsel only to have these affairs trickle out the door. >> yeah. i talked to people who live in the neighborhood and frequent that part of town, and they refer to it as the prayer house, and i've even talked to people lately who have started taking their friends when they visit washington, d.c., they drop them by on c street to take that look at this house. it's become kind of an artifact of our town. >> you know, i mean, again but it seems to strange. in the one room they're having bible study. in the next room chip pickering

is having an affair and maybe invoking god in a different sort of context. i mean, it's so strange and doesn't it delegitimize the people who really do value the bible and follow its teachings? >> well, some people are going to be making claims that the congressmen who are there are hypocritical. others are going to say, well, these fallen men all gathered together at the c street house in order to get their lives back on track. but if this pickering allegation is true, it sort of changes the dynamic, doesn't it? because before we had congressmen who were talking about their problems in the house and talking about religion. now we have an allegation that the actual deed was taking place upstairs, and that changes it, doesn't it? >> it would certainly change the conversation, but in the overall course of this conversation, got to ask you, manuel, have we heard from the religious

leadership inside the family? i mean, are they now trying to defend themselves. it's one thing having people standing in front of the home taking snapshots. it is not a house that -- it is not a house of ill repute. it's not that. it's a house of prayer, but now they're associated with activities that are sinful. >> well, it would not be in keeping with the pattern of the fellowship, this organization that has a spiritual retreat in arlington and is affiliated with this house to say anything about anything for that matter. i talked with a member of their foundation who said that he had a vague understanding of the fact that there was a house there and that was it, but, no, you haven't seen some surge of commentary from that group, and given their pattern, i don't think that you will. >> all right, manuel. it's fascinating and i'm sure people will continue to cover it

like yourself. thank you. >> pleasure to be with you. >> next time somebody says, honey, i'm going to bible study, sure. >> some people actually go and do study the bible and try to live by it. i don't know if this is a great example of -- whatever. >> if a congressman says he's going to study the bible, watch out. >> we're going to a break, and we'll be right back. time for your business small business advice. here are ways to market your brand and products for free. cross promote with complimentary businesses. comment on blogs relevant to your business. and make sure you link your own website, and volunteer to speak at local events where you think your expertise would be valued. for more watch "your business" sunday morning at 7:30 on msnbc. medical bills will wipe out their savings. if we don't act, she'll be denied coverage

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i'm julia boorstin with your cnbc market wrap.

stocks posting a minutesed bag on wall street today. the dow up 33 points. the s&p down .36. those housing numbers showed new home construction in june. the highest level in seven months. the commerce department says new home construction jumped 3.6% outpacing analysts' expectations. new unemployment numbers show michigan as the hardest hit state in june. the labor department said unemployment topped 10% across 16 states but michigan surpassed 15%. it's the first time any state has hit that 15% mark since 1984. other states topping 10% include oregon, rhode island and nevada. the last few miles of any race are the hardest to run.

but i have to say now is not the time to slow down, and now is certainly not the time to lose heart. >> that was president obama just a few moments ago issuing another warning to critics from both parties saying he is moving too fast on health care reform. >> mike, you heard the president as well, and you believe maybe they're not getting that august recess. >> reporter: i think if i'm a united states senator on house member for that matter and i have some plans to leave on august 7th in the case of the senate, i might want to think about delaying those plans somewhat. i think the president came out here in a very dramatic and forceful fashion. he had to. that cbo report that the costs would actually rise in the out years going forward strikes at the very heart of the rationale for this program to begin w the president came forward. he accentuated the positive, talked about the many stakeholders, the nurses, the homent hospitals, the pharmaceutical

companies to make concessions to help this move forward. the president coming out here today in the wake of this news yesterday saying don't pay attention to the news cycle. still, tamron, what's going to matter in the end if all these things that he's talking about, these measures to streamline health care, to emphasize preventative wellness, to take care of the west in medicare and medicaid. if it cannot be shown to reduce that so-called cost curve, in the end he's still going to have a hard sell, but i think the president very forceful and almost stating clearly, at least that's the way i heard it, congress you're not going anywhere until this passes the house and senate. >> you're probably spot on, mike. thank you. the big picture at this hour, the nation's major banks are raking in the big bucks. we learned today that bank of america had a better than expected second quarter earning $2.4 billion in profit, and an even bigger surprise from citigroup. analysts were expecting significant losses. citigroup is reporting a $4.3

billion profit itself in the second quarter. unfortunately there's a big but her. bank of america is still losing money from failed loans. neither bank of america nor citigroup has paid back the $100 billion they received in taxpayer bailout funds. plus, those billions in profits come from one-time gains. for bank of america it was the sale of a big chinese bank. for citigroup it was a new joint venture with morgan stanley. >> in the bigger picture right now, what does this sudden spike in bank profits mean for you? as citibank and bank of america earnings followed strong earns from goldman sachs and jpmorgan chase earlier this year, but the profits aren't all they're cracked up to be. paul krugman writes goldman is very good at what it does. unfortunately, what it does is bad for america. but rescuing the financial system without reforming it washington has made another crisis more likely. joining us live is matt taibbi.

matt writes about how goldman sachs has manipulated the u.s. economy since the great depression. good to see you, matt. how is that possible? >> well, in the case of these profits that they made they're announcing this week, that's almost purely the result of a massive state subsidy. everybody knows that goldman has already paid back the $10 billion in t.a.r.p. money, but over and above that goldman was massively subsidized by the government in the last year. it received about $13 billion through the aig bailout and it also had access to about $28 billion in federally backed loans. so basically the banks had access to mountains of cheap money, virtually free money, and they used that to go out and lend it out at market rates. all of us have reduced income from interest and the banks are making an enormous amount of money. >> i talk about the great american bubble and that we all got caught up in the bubble and knowing there was a housing bubble coming, but these people

predicted they knew it and this has happened over and over again in our history. >> goldman was actually unique among all the banks on wall street during the housing crisis because while they were trading in these toxic mord gatgages, goldman was the only bank on wall street that was betting against this stuff even as it was selling it, so it knew the stuff it was trading, that it was dumping on these other investors was going to explode. >> doesn't all this suggest that the banks have now learned anything, that by the government not regulating the banks, nothing has really changed. >> that's absolutely the case. the most shocking thing about goldman is that it's significantly added to the amount of risk in its portfolio. what was supposed to happen last year after the bailout, that was supposed to usher in a new era of us a tart. almost guaranteed we will have another problem again. every time we get into a crisis,

the government's response isn't punishment, it's billions of dollars of tack payer money, like long-term capital, the mexican currency bill. it's the same thing all over again. >> i don't want to get so simple as good guys and bad guys here, but in the end goldman sachs if they can get away with something like this, likely they would, so isn't it congress, the people we put in office, their responsibility to make sure goldman sachs is stopped? >> obviously, you're not going to blame a shark for eating some kid at the beach. that's what a shosark does. >> we have to do a better job at how reining these banks in. the fact of the matter is they're taking incredible advantage of the system and they're doing it in part because they have people placed highly in the government and they're the single largest campaign k t contributor for this democratic administration. they're going to keep getting away with this until we do something about it. >> if you look at all the goldman alums sprinkled

throughout the government, they're being asked to regulate their former colleagues. >> i remember barack obama standing up and saying i will never have a registered lobbyist in my white house. what was one the first things he did, he hired a registered lobbyist from goldman sachs to be the chief of staff for the u.s. treasury. he's there right now. another guy who regulates the commodities market, he's a former goldman banker. bob rubin, the former head of goldman was the head of obama's economic transition team. so, again, the goldman people are once again in government as they have been for the last two decades and their influence is pervasive. >> matt, thank you very much. contributing editor for "rolling stone." good to see you. you'll be on rachel tonight. >> later tonight. >> we'll be tivo'ing. >> the theme here is not that complicated. something has to be fixed and the people who are being asked to fix it are being asked to change their friends and they're not. >> that's why when the housing crisis happened, you heard people say out loud this is

criminal when those huge bonuses, it's criminal. it's criminal but now what? the song is the same but it seems like we're falling for the tune. >> absolutely. >> up next, a top aide to south carolina governor mark sanford quits. >> should governor sanford take the cue of his spokesman? our political strategists face off next. 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.

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today the issue is embattled south carolina governor mark sanford. >> already reeling from an admitted affair with a woman in argentina, sanford is now facing newly released travel records showing he spent tens of thousands of taxpayer dollars on first-class travel. this after he campaigned for governor as a fiscal conservative and most recently this year rejected federal stimulus money for his state, which by the way now suffers from over 12% unemployment. watch. >> government can't be efficient if it doesn't prioritize the way the businesses and families do. you don't spend money that you don't have, and neither should your government. i have been trying to fight this for a while, but we need your help. >> you don't spend money you don't have, and neither should your government. well, a top aide to governor mark sanford quit his job today. should governor sanford take a cue? chris kofinis is a democratic strategist and brad blakeman is

a republican strategist. brad, he stayed in office when he admitted an affair. now we find out he spent taxpayer money on first-class travel. should he resign now? >> he should have resigned weeks ago. this guy is not going anywhere unless and until there's an investigation either by the u.s. attorney or the attorney general of his state to get this guy to leave. absent that, this guy is going to be there unless, of course, the legislature in his state wants to act upon the things that they are accusing him of, but, yes, he should go. >> chris, how bad is this not only for sanford but the republicans the long they're sanford is still there? >> well, it's pretty bad because it keeps a really negative story line going in the news. it's the hypocrisy that hurts obviously governor sanford but then spills over and hurts the republican party. in terms of south carolina, you're talking about a democratic candidates running for governor that now are going to have a real shot of picking up a state where up until let's say a few months ago people

would have thought would have been reliably red. governor sanford in his antics and behavior and the way he's going about this whole process is making it possible for democrats to make real significant inroads come that next gubernatorial election. >> you make the point, chris, that perhaps reminds me of the large are issue, and that's credibility. if people don't believe mark sanford about his personal affairs, how will they believe him or other governors for that matter when it comes time to saying we don't want the federal stimulus money, that's bad for our state? >> well, you know, the part that i think is most insulting to voters here is, you know, the notion that you are basically billing taxpayers for first-class travel and then refusing to take stimulus money that would have helped your workers and your unemployed individuals. you're talking about one of the highest unemployment rates in the country. it's insulting, and it's just unbelievable that he doesn't see that. and the notion that he doesn't have a problem with staying in power given all his moral and government failures is again

stunning. brad is right, he should resign. he should have resigned a while ago, but i don't think he's going to. i think you're going to have to drag him out of there. it's not going to happen very easily. >> and we shouldn't forget he also said that at the time president clinton should step down because of the distraction his affair was causing. brad, let me bring you in. we were just talking about this c street and we had a reporter from "the washington post" saying that because this home has now made headlines because ensign was there and now chip pickering's wife alleges that he had an affair within the walls of this home which was a home where people went for prayer and counseling. you have three republicans tied up in scandal, all have this home in common. what do you know about this house? what is going on there with the family, as it is called? >> i have no idea what's going on, but, look, the republicans have had people within our party who have done thingsshamed of, have the same, and chris knows on his side of the aisle who

exactly those people are without naming names here tit for tat. unfortunately, humans are frail. on the other hand, when you represent people and you're elected to office, you should be held it a higher standard. >> i guess taking the conversation beyond the frailty of humanity, i don't want people to think we're trying to take the high road, this is about money, too. in ensign's case the parents giving $96,000 to the mistress. the mistress' minor son, like 18 or 19, he's getting major cash out of this. needless to say mark sanford flying $8,000, first place -- >> here is the bottom line. republicans have to step up and not say these guys are bums, but they're our bums. no, it's unacceptable. we need to clean our own house and not be plagued by these people who think that they're entitled to act differently than everybody else. i'm a republican who believes you got to walk the walk and talk the talk.

ensign's parents giving these people money is unacceptable. and i hope that there's another person who should consider resigning and not putting republicans through all these machinations of story after story and leak after leak and drip after drip of information that is not helpful not only to his own state, but the republican party nationally. >> here is the thing though and chris, i will give you the last word, i'm not sure there's necessarily equality because the republicans have been the party that stands for family values and say they are superior -- >> no, we don't. we don't say we're superior. >> that is 100% correct. this is the key -- this is not talking about the personal failures or indiscretions or them being human. people i think can accept that that people make mistakes in their personal lives. this is the hypocrisy of standing up there and preaching to the american people about what morality is and about what values is and the institution of marriage when you basically are

leading the opposite type of life. that's the part that's the most upsetting and i think the most damaging to the republican party. it is that hypocrisy that i think the american people are sick and tired of. it's not democrats or republicans -- >> there's hypocrisy on both sides. >> come on. >> this is both sides, please. don'ti be holier than thou. >> you preach to the american people about morality and american values when you do anything but. >> we should preach morality. we should preach morality. >> the problem is when there's immorality, i think it rebounds against republicans a little more harshly than democrats. chris and brad, thank you both very much. >> i don't think you should preach morality. you should follow your own program. bree preaching gets you in trouble. this just in -- >> and the white house, president barack obama is going to hold a prime time news conference on july 22nd, next wednesday.

wednesday night prime time news conference. it comes as the president is trying to drive home his health care overhaul and get it through congress. again, a lot of questions about how to pay for it. the president is using the bully pulpit as we saw this afternoon. he'll use it next week. prime time news conference next wednesday. and it's also pretty unusual, the white house made this announcement -- >> on the twitter page. >> that's what we're looking at. the white house twitter page. getting the word outside in all shapes, forms, and sizes. >> people can twitter us. we'll be right back. (announcer) introducing new tide stain release. a revolutionary in-wash booster that... works with your detergent to help remove tough stains... the first time. coming to stores late july. get your dollar fifty coupon at tidestainrelease.com today! as we get older, our bodies become... less able to absorb calcium. he recommended citracal. it's a different kind of calcium.

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there is a lot going on today, and here are a few things we thought you should know. >> it may be july but an intense search on for this year's christmas tree is on. ted is in charge of it. he's the capitol superintendent of the grounds. this week he's been out in the heat of arizona to select the tree for 2009. he's expected to make his decision as early as sunday. >> you don't think of picking christmas trees in july, but so it goes. >> a palm tree. you also don't think of bo's writing op-eds. bo writes the press like to play a game. he concluded saying this is has been a rewarding but difficult final for our nation yet i remain confident of our

prospects so long as i spend every day with at least three feet on the ground. four is a little optimistic if you know what i mean. i wonder if he calls the president bark obama? bo had a little help writing that from an editor. >> so serious of bo. >> kind of change in "the new york times," too. >> but i'm more wanting bo to be optimistic. if you can't get a dog to be happy, you can't get anybody to be happy. finally alabama republican senator jeff sessions surprised, just let's face it, he stunned everyone at the sotomayor hearing yesterday with this remark. while greeting wade henderson on sism rights. >> mr. henderson, it's good to work with you. senator leahy and i are talking during these hearings, we're going to do that crack cocaine thing you and i have talked about before. >> wow. >> after an awkward pause like we were just trying to let you know what people in the room did, henderson apparently laug