their children will be saddled with debt. >> sho some house republicans believe or are rooting depending on perspective saying the bill will fail saying the white house needs to work with their party. >> mr. president, it's time to scrap this bill, let's start over in a bipartisan way, and i'm encouraged that there are members on my side of the aisle working with democrats, trying to find a way forward. there's a bipartisan way to solve the cost problems in health care and to ensure affordable access for more americans but it's only going to happen if we can work together. brand new politico public strategy poll shows public support is slipping for public option which is what the president wants. 42% say it will make the quality of health care worse. 33% say it will make it better. a quarter says it will have no effect at all. savannah guthrie, nbc white house correspondent with us. savannah we see both sides talking. that's incredible, eight out of

the nine last days since the president was overseas, this is where he has set his sights and he wants this done. >> reporter: he does and of course, when we were overseas he was battered by bad headlines not only on health care reform, but also the stimulus package and he certainly hasn't wasted any time since his return. he's been out nearly every single day, sometimes twice a day, driving home this message of health care reform and he'll do it again tomorrow night when he has the prime time news conference. this is a tough time in this battle. the big issues continue to be how to pay for it. the senate finance committee is reporting some progress today saying there's a deal on two policy issues but those aren't the financial issues which are really the tricky parts. the president invited over some of the house democrats today, including the blue dog democrats, the fiscally conservative democrats, trying to encourage them to accept the house plan. there's been some recitation about the surtax on the wealthiest of americans, some are very worried about the effect on small business so this

is very much a moving target, and that issue of the deadline, the president had really wanted this done. some version out of the house, some version out of the senate, before they go on their august recess a lot of republicans certainly but also democrats are questioning whether that's possible. they're still holding out hope, though, the majority leader saying on the house side it's possible, but not ruling out the possibility of having to stay a little bit longer into august if necessary. >> nbc white house correspondent savannah guthrie thanks. >> tamron the bigger picture. in order to get key players on board politically democratic giveaways to the health care industry hurting the chances of getting a bill that would lower health care costs and solve other problems? here are some of the political deals democrats have reached so far. biotech companies in exchange for their support will be protected from competition by generic brands for 12 years which will have the effect of keeping drug prices high, at least some of them. the pharmaceutical industry joined a possible deal by verbally agreeing to give back

$80 billion to expand health insurance, in exchange, congress will not legislate that that group actually do so. hospitals agreed to cut costs by $155 billion in exchange, they will be guaranteed federal payments even if some of the hospitals are inefficient. robert reiche, former labor secretary under bill clinton, professor at uc berkeley and author of the book "supercapitalism" and mr. raiche, is part of the problem here n an effort to get everybody on board rather than taking the bold action, essentially what democrats are trying to do is essentially trying to please everybody? >> it could be a great problem. most of the interest groups, the ama representing the doctors, the pharmaceutical groups, private insurers, they have in the past been vigorous opponents of any kind of universal health care. you may remember in 1993, 1994, they put on these ads about harry and louise. they mounted a huge lobbying

effort against bill clinton's plan, hillary clinton's plan, but now they are on board. the problem is that they have got so many goodies or at least that they have promised that they will actually make more money because of this health care plan, but that means that efforts to contain the costs and reduce the costs of long-term universal health care may be compromised. >> there was that poll that we just talked about in terms of the public option in which 42% now believe that a public option would make things worse. only 33% say it would make things better. does that suggest irrespective of the effort to get the various groups on board and what damage that may cause that the white house, the democrats have a huge pr problem right now, if more people think that a public option will make things worse than better, then they're not making the sale. are they? >> david, there are two public relations problems. one is a public option. public option means an option. everybody can still keep their private insurance if they want but if for some reason the opponents, republicans who would

not like to see anything accomplished they have created the impression in the public's mind or enough of the public to raise a big question mark that the public option is not an option, it is actually a government takeover. the second public relations problem is this business of cho w.h.o.'s going to pay and how much is it going to cost and last week, the congressional budget office inconveniently for the president came out with a statement and analysis showing the major bills coming out of the hill right now would cost over $1 trillion and they would not contain health care costs in the future, if anything, they would increase health care costs and that has made the blue dog conservative deficit cutting, deficit hawk wing of the democratic party very, very nervous. >> and robert, what do we make of the argument that's out there, let's get something on the table, and then worry about the cost later, we'll figure it out as we go, but at least get something done here. what do you make of that argument? >> tamron it's clear the white house wants to move as fast as

possible. bill clinton's bigger roar you may remember from '93 and '94 was to do the north american free trade act and also to worry about several other things before he got to health care. health care didn't come until the fall. what happens to the president by the fall, the popularity starts dimming, as lyndon johnson once said i'm making enemies every day here. we've got to move forward with medicare right away because people like me now but they may not like me in the future and doubts are raised in the public's mind about any big undertaking so what the president wants to do is get these bills out of the house and the senate, and before the recess, so that the only thing that remains is the conference committee between the house and the senate, and there it's easier for the white house to influence the outcome, because the white house and the president can say, well let's change this and this and this and the conference committee reports then go back to the house and senate, sometimes different from the way the house and senate originally voted but

unless the president goats that stage before the august recess, at least having the house and senate come out with their own bills, it's going to be very, very hard for him to get this thing moved in the fall. >> robert reich, former labor secretary under bill clinton, mr. reich, thank you for coming on. we appreciate it. >> thanks, david. thanks, tamron. coming up next hour we'll talk with health and human services kathleen sebelius and the two pr problems you heard robert reich talk about, this is a dramatic step when some mod ral democrats are telling the white house to slow down so a lot of fast-moving developments and fairly dramatic as well and in any case we'll hear from the president himself tomorrow night, with live coverage of his prime time news conference at 8:00 p.m. eastern time and tamron, no doubt, if he's got this pr problem which i think a lot of people agree that he does, the news conference becomes even bigger. he has to use the news conference here's why public option works and how we'll pay for this. >> that's my computer going off. there are people wondering how

serious the blue dogs are with their opposition. in the end these numbers are out and the polling is interesting, but this president remains very popular, and even though they may be in parts of the country that could be purple or go a certain way to the midterm election the president's popularity may be in the end what wins them over. >> and the white house has a lot of goodies they can always give away to the democrats. we'll see. sonia sotomayor won support from other key republican lawmaker for her nomination to the supreme court. maine senator susan collins is the fourth republican to announce support for the judge. the judiciary committee will vote on sotomayor next tuesday. the vote was originally scheduled for today but democratic chairman patrick leahy granted a delay request made by republicans. we will have live coverage of next week's vote in the judiciary committee and the vote on the floor of the u.s. senate. a high stakes vote in the senate today, in fact the senate voting to kill nearly $2 billion in funding to build seven new f-22 fighter jets. president obama threatened his

first veto of the administration if the jet spending landed on his desk. lawmakers from states where the jets are built wanted to keep the money in the defense spending bill. pentagon officials said the jets were too expensive. $140 million apiece and they had enough f-22s already. now latest on the young soldier being held by the taliban, private bowe bergdahl's hometown of hayley, idaho, has transformed, yellow ribbons of support as the community rallies for their hometown soldier in support of his family, still waiting for positive news to come out of the story. president obama said he was heartbroken when he first saw that new video everywhere, being showed everywhere. private bergdahl in captivity. in fact on the "today" show the president said he's optimistic about the soldier's safe return. >> we are hopeful that it will have a good ending, and we are

doing everything we can. i can't talk in detail about -- >> have you spoke on it his family? >> i have not spoken to his family at this point simply because we want to make sure that before we do, we have something to tell them, and i think that we're, at this point, evaluating what our options are. >> nbc's leanne gregg joins us live from hayley, idaho. talk to us more about the community and the mood. i know the parents, the family really wanted their privacy as they wait to hear any word. >> reporter: they say that the mood here is cautiously optimistic. the sheriff told me that they don't do doom and gloom here. he said they're wanting to hope for the best and waiting for word, and they also want to share their thoughts with the entire community, that's the way they are here in this small, close-knit town. the mayor told me a couple of minutes ago they are planning some type of public vigil. they started a meeting a few minutes ago trying to determine

when and what kind of a vigil that might be. maybe later today, when a scheduled news conference is held we'll get some details on how that might shape up. across the town we're seeing the streets lined with yellow ribbons and storefronts with signs that say "bring bowe home." this is part of the collective solidarity, the solidarity of this community, and the support that they give not only their soldiers but everyone. i'm told that's just how it is in this small town of hailey. tom ran? >> thank you for the update from hailey, and david, in addition to obviously the search for this soldier and hopefully his safe return this has been the deadliest month in afghanistan for soldiers since the war started. >> the day in and day out of having to wait to see the situation resolve itself is heart-wrenching. still ahead, is the obama administration dragging its feet on the pledge to come one a plan to close guantanamo bay? some new questions out there

today after the obama administration misses a key deadline. plus several big developments in connection to michael jackson's death investigation. there's now talk of involuntary manslaughter charges, and now 19, 19 doctors are part of this jackson saga. and later in the hour, officials drop charges against one of the most prominent african-american scholars in the country, calling the arrest of him regrettable. we'll tell you about it. you're watching msnbc. i switched to a complete multivitamin with more. only one a day men's 50+ advantage... has gingko for memory and concentration. plus support for heart health. that's a great call. one a day men's.

welcome back, everyone. msnbc, we have several new developments into the investigation into michael jackson's death. >> nbc news learned at least 19 doctors are now being questioned

and officials say the case will not be wrapped up any time soon. on cnn's "larry king live" his father talked about dr. conrad murray saying the doctor may be to blame for the king of pop's death. >> well, i'm thinking that there's foul play. yeah, that's what i'm thinking. >> are you implying then the doctor committed foul play? >> something went wrong, something went wrong, larry. because when they tried to bring michael back, he was dead. something went wrong. >> three weeks after jackson's death, what is still unclear is where the star will be buried, in an interview with a french television network, jackson's brother, jermaine, says neverland should be the singer's final resting place. >> i was against my brother being put in forest lawn as the place. i'm not sure if he's in mr. gordy's crypt or whatever it is, but i was totally against that. i fought to get him at

neverland. it's his work. it's his imagination. >> nbc's jeff rossen joins us live from burbank. jeff, how come the family members don't know where michael jackson was burburied? >> there's days agreement, a few days short of a month since michael jackson died and some of the very basic questions here, namely where will he be buried, they can't even answer because there's days agreement within the family. joe jackson didn't know where he was buried on "larry king live" on cnn. jermaine jackson wants him buried at neverland. other members of the family don't want him buried there. there is that sort of disarray going on now and that's part of the problem here. of course, at the same time, the criminal investigation going on. you mentioned that a source now tells us that at least 19 doctors are now under investigation here, two of them, dr. arnie klein, who was michael jackson's dermatologist, his medical records have been

subpoenaed and dr. conrad murray. he's had two interviews with the police, one of them a three-hour interview just two hours after the death, his car has been impounded and he handed over some of his documents and medical records. we're told the charges could take a long time mainly because they have to go back and look at each pill bottom figure out, okay, who made the pill bottle, what factory did it come from, what pharmacy did it go to, what doctor prescribed it and they have to prove in court did michael jackson need that medication or not, did the doctors know that other doctors were prescribing him meditation at the same time? it's complex according to prosecutor's we've spoken to but the first criminal charges, if there are any, would happen after the full toxicology reports comes out, could be probably next week. >> jeff, we know they also may be looking as far as nevada at some of the doctors there. there's also more talk august 29th there could be a concert with michael jackson's brothers. what's going on there? >> exactly. they're calling it the jackson

four. they said there will never be another jackson five but they want to pay tribute to michael jackson and of course, you know, there is a financial aspect of this as well. they want to make some of the money back that has been lost on this and aeg lost a considerable amount of money, this was going to make tens of millions of dollars for them. and so the jack will be apparently at the 02 arena in london and jermaine jackson spoke about that on french television. take a listen. >> there's been talk we're going to do something at the 02 on the 29th with my brothers and also janet, but just know this, there will never be another jackson five. there's only one jackson five and that was michael, marlon, jermaine, tito and jackie, so we won't be called the jackson five. we'll be just the jacksons. >> and so it will be a tribute concert happening either on that one date or on a series of dates that is still to be announced. you have a lot of things going on here, the investigation, and

of course, where are you going to bury michael jackson? right now he's being held, we understand, at forest lawn cemetery here in california. >> jeff, thank you very much. the jacksons or the jackson four? what? how does that work? >> i don't know. but the fact that his father doesn't know where his body is, jermaine jackson says i'm not sure if he's in mr. gordy's crypt or whatever. who knows then in that family and why aren't they part of the conversation? jermaine jackson was the spokesperson through the trial, and then was, you know, the leader of the family and he doesn't know where michael jackson's body is. >> here's another strange one. janet jackson said she will not participate in this tribute concert, meghan just told me in my ear. >> she wasn't part of the jackson five. >> kind of -- all right. >> it's uncomfortable and strange and sad as well. coming up, also strange, this is a good story, driven to distraction. a lot of people, if you really put them on a lie detector test

would have to confess to maybe talking on the phone or being distracted, looking down. anything that could certainly result in an accident. well, there are reports by the federal government perhaps under pressure by cell phone companies to withhold information about how dangerous the use of mobile phones are when you're driving. plus, baboons going wild! some amazing video from a british safari park. what you do not want to happen on your summer vacation. we'll tell you how this happened and how it ended. >> why didn't they just keep driving? were they out of gas? i'd have floored it. time for "your business small business" advice. here are ways to pact your brands and products for free. cross-promote with other

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and here's what you need to know right now about the arrest of a prominent african-american professor at harvard university. >> police have now dropped all charges against henry louis

gates jr. gates was arrested at his own home near harvard after a report of a break-in. here's the story, charged with disorderly conduct but his supporters as well as he says he was a victim of racial profiling. police responded to his home after a woman reported seeing two black men trying to force open the front door. gates' attorney said the professor had found his front doorjambed after returning home from a trip overseas and was trying to force that door open. police say they arrested gates after he yelled at an officer and refused to calm down. today the city of cambridge released a statement that reads in part "the incident of july 16th, 2009, was regrettable and unfortunate. this incident should not be viewed as one that demeans the character and reputation of professor gates, or the character of the cambridge police department. all parties agree that this a just resolution to an unfortunate set of circumstan circumstances." >> i've got some issues with the cambridge police department, if they would have calmly asked

what was going on maybe they would have understood this is a guy who couldn't get into his own house. >> through are at your door, trying to get in and i understand the officer demanded i.d. and the perception that the person who initially called, there was one african-american guy, she said two black guys, all of the issues there prove that the election of the first african-american president does not instantly change the race conversation. >> that's indeed, things are moving slowly. >> yes. >> arntpparently in that commun or at least that officer. still ahead the message machine, how rnc chairman michael steele definitely got the memo with ten comes to talking points that the rnc wants to spread on health care. plus mark sanford is talk again. find out what he's saying about his extramarital affairs and his wife. you're watching msnbc. [ female announcer ] beauty editors are seeing results...

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i'm rebecca jarvis with your "cnbc market wrap." it's been a choppy day of trade on wall street. the dow had been in negative territory. it is back in positive territory, up 41 pints. the s&p 500 just barely in the green as is the nasdaq composite, up almost a full point right now. oil prices hitting a two-week high today above $65 a barrel. the gain comes as a number of companies, including merck and caterpillar reported stronger than expected earnings. despite reports that major bond holders would rescue cit group with a $3 billion the struggling commercial lender now says bankruptcy is still a possibility. cit group says it actually needs to pay off $7 billion in debt over the next year and it may need more bond holders to provide relief. continental airlines says it will cut 1,700 jobs and raise

fees for checking baggage, after the airline posted a $213 million loss in the second quarter, triggered by a slump in business travel. that's it from cnbc, we're first in business worldwide. now back to msnbc. welcome back, perch. i'm tamron hall. >> and i'm david shuster. a new report says a federal agency withheld information from the public about the dangers of using cell phones while driving and the agency did that out of fear of angering congress and some of the telephone companies supporting lawmakers. the "new york times" reports in 2002 the national highway traffic safety administration gathered hundreds of pages of research and warnings proving how dangerous it is to use a phone behind the wheel. the agency's former head says he was urged to withhold the research to avoid antagonizing lawmakers who had warned the agency against lobbying. cell phone usage by drivers jumped 50% from 4% in 2000 to 6%

in 2002. driver distraction contributes to about 25% of all police reported traffic crashes. and the researchers stipulated cell phone use caused about 955 traffic deaths in 2002. draft recommendations from the agency included that drivers not use these devices when driving, except in an emergency. now the bigger picture on this, we've known that talking on a cell phone is distracting so how does this withheld research fit in to what we already know about the dangers of driving with your cell phone or what common sense probably sells bus it? joining us live from washington, d.c., the director for the center of auto safety, clarence, thanks for joining us >> thank you. >> beyond this report and whether or not it was withheld, this kind of information, clarence, has been out there. i've seen a number of surveys that talk about the most dangerous things you can do behind the wheel. what makes this research any different that's in question here? >> one of the key findings in this research is, there's no difference between a handheld

cell phone and a hands free. and the impression has been that if you use a hands free cell phone where your hands aren't taken off the wheel that you're safe, and in fact, the research found that there was no difference. your mind is off the road, that causes the distrax and the crash. >> you've been quoted saying we're looking at a problem that could be as bad as drunk driving. >> that's exactly right. the statistics show, the research shows that you're four times more likely to have a crash while talking on a cell phone, which is the same increase as if you're drinking and driving. >> clarence, how much influence do the mobile phone companies have over lawmakers? is it invalue toyed believe the lawmakers did not want report out because they were trying to protect campaign contributions coming from the telephone companies in. >> no one knows for sure, but the report pointed out the $78

billion in revenue in 2002, to the cell phone industry, and anyone in washington knows whether where there's money, the money tries to protect that interest. >> clarence, interesting topic, xlarns ditlow, thank you for talking to us about it. >> thank you. >> we need reports and studies for example seat belt laws we have to give data to show you need to buckle up but this is -- >> what's so interesting the idea that you can be driving with a hands free device and distracts you because you're think being what the person is saying. that's now. >> new and different. states like california require to you use hands free as if that is safer. how badly do some republicans want to kill president obama's plan for health care reform? >> tamron, they're issuing memos to each other suggesting language the party should use to turn voters against the

administration. consider the speech given by rnc chairman michael steele monday. as "the washington post" posted out steele lifted entire sections of a memo written by alex castellanos. the memo reads "slow down, mr. president. we can't afford to get health care wrong." listen to what chairman steele said on monday. >> slow down, mr. president. we can't afford to get health care wrong. >> another part, castellanos writes "the old top-down washington-centered system the democrats propose will empower washington to restrict the cures and treatments your doctor can prescribe for you." once again, michael steele. >> the old top-down washington-centered system the democrats propose is designed to grow washington's power to restrict the cures and treatments your doctor can prescribe for you. >> and finally, the memo goes on to say, "president obama's experimenting with america too much, too soon and too fast." once again, watch michael

steele. >> the barack obama experiment with america is a risk our country can't afford. it's too much, too fast, too soon. >> later when steele was asked to offer the republican plan for lowering health care costs, he responded "i don't do policy." but he does a great job of memorizing the talking points. >> when he said "i don't do policy" it was very jarring. great story. south carolina governor mark sanford speaking of things that are interesting, he is still talking. we don't expect him to be quiet he's still the governor. two days after writing an op. ed saying that god will help him through his cheating scandal he says it is time to put aside the discussion about his extramarital affair and get back to work. >> i made a mistake in life. i've apologized for that mistake. i said all i'm going to say on that one and i'm moving forward. i think the people of south carolina are ready to do the same >> does that mean he's not going to answer any more questions on it? >> just the questions he doesn't like.

>> sanford told reporters he was working to repair his relationship with his wife. he said that before. the couple n fact, took a trip together last week and sanford says they will travel again later this week with their four sons. no word on what he has to say about the thousands of dollars spent on trips to argentina, when the state forbade employees flying first class. the governor chose to fly first class, tickets in the thousands of dollars. >> while traveling first class to his next vacation? still ahead, "making your case." >> why did the' bo ma administration miss a key deadline in the effort to close down guantanamo bay? you're watching msnbc. ♪ (announcer) transform your water. women who drink crystal light drink 20% more water. crystal light. make a delicious change.

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enn today's "making their case "an obama administration panel has missed a deadline for

issuing a report on what should be done with some of the prisoners at guantanamo bay, once the prison is closed. >> those plans are a crucial step in the process of closing guantanamo and the panel says their report won't be ready for another six months so they missed the delay and now another six months added on to that and on his third day in office the president ordered gitmo to be closed by the end of the year. two task forces are set up to plan the closing, have already asked for extensions. officials say they've made substantial progress on the closing of the facility which holds 229 suspected terrorists and they're still in custody but is it still possible to close gitmo by the end of the year? here to make their case adam serwer from "the american prospect" and mark prebscott from the editorial page of "the examiner." thank you for joining us >> thank you very much. >> mark, let me start off with you on this one. the deadline missed and you have them asking for several more months to get it done. how crucial is this to the

process? >> i think it's very crucial because what happened here is i think very clearly the administration has run head-on into the reality that there are a number folks being held at guantanamo bay that nobody else in the world wants to take, and no responsible u.s. political leader would ever bring to the united states. >> but mark, is that a big revelation in that we knew this going? >> no, absolutely not but apparently it is to the owe pa ma administration because the president made that very clear and simple promise on the third day in office that he would close it. and now we're having to walk back from that. >> adam, is that how you read in to this, the administration didn't see the writing on the wall? >> no. i think the original executive order contemplated the possibility of an extension so they were very aware that they were running into a complicated situation. wrapped here is the bushed al w administration pretty much left a huge because because of the

lawless manner in which they dealt with previous detainees and the obama administration is cleaning it up, taking longer than was expected. >> here is the president making the case closing gitmo during a speech at the national archives in may and a question own the other site side. >> it is a rallying cry for our enemies. by any measure, the cost of keeping it open far exceed the complications involved in closing it. >> adam, if that's the case, what's taking so long? surely, i mean there are supermax prisons all over the united states that can handle these prisoners. surely they can come up with some method trying to figure out what happens to them. >> i think the issue isn't so much where to put them. that's part of the issue but i think part of the issue is that a lot of these people are being detained on the basis of foreign intelligence which won't be admissible in court and some are being detained on the basis of coerced evidence, meaning they were tortured and makes it

difficult to mount a case against them and bring them to trial in a manner that allows us to then -- >> in other words you're advocating holding them in perpetuity against the constitution? >> no, i think you have to -- i think the administration should be charging people but the reason it's taking so long is they have to figure out a way to do that without using evidence that was obtained through torture and by building cases with evidence that is admissible in court. >> mark, is that very difficult? >> well, i think the key thing here to remember is the fact that very steadily, the obama administration on key legal points about this issue is discovering that the bush administration was very right on in terms of what they were doing, and obama's coming back to that. >> incorrect. >> i'm sure you think that it is, adam, but the reality is that just a month and a half ago president obama himself said there's a bunch of these folks that we're going to have to keep indefinitely and that is the cornerstone of the issue, what do you do with those people who are determined -- dpsh.

>> what -- >> let me finish. what do you do with people who are determined to kill you and i and every other american that they can get a hold of? >> where you can, you put them on trial and put them in jail where they belong. but as far as obama, the obama administration latching on to legal principles from the bush administration, what we're talking about here is the obama administration following principles established in 2008, after the courts got done savaging the bush administration's legal policies. i mean, to say that the obama administration is doing exactly what the bush administration is doing, was doing simply isn't accurate. >> adam, mark, we'll give you more time to make your case as this continues and we've seen the latest extension. thanks, guys. >> thank you. >> thank you. president obama is hitting the road thursday to make a push for his health care plan. we talked about him ramping things up here. >> he did the same thing in february when urging congress to pass his economic stimulus plan. the president put a focus on elkhart county, indiana, the rv capital of the world and' been

hit hard by the economy. right now the unemployment rate there is a staggering ining 16.. ed neufeld became the face of elkhart when he was introduced at the town hall meeting in february. >> it is my privilege and honor to introduce to you the president of the united states, president barack obama. >> that same gentleman ed neufeld joins us live from elkhart, indiana, looks like in front of a fair. ed, how are things going? >> things are going well for me and i think elkhart county hit bottom and i think we're on our way back up now. >> what says, what makes you say you'reyour way up? what's going on? >> well the unemployment rate was like 17.8% and now it's like 16.9%. we've got electric motor

corporation coming here in september for a big boost off for that, and they're saying that that's going to create 12 to maybe 1,600 jobs in the next two to three years. we've got navistar, which bought out my old plant, monaco. they just hired 175 people, and i think they're going to be hiring more, and then this morning i read in the paper where demedic, which makes refrigerators, they're going to bring their little company here. >> ed, let me -- >> that's going to create i think over 200 jobs. >> let me ask you, you were able to find part-time work and that is a wonderful thing to have some income coming in, but not where you used to be. how is your spirit in the ability to look ahead? >> well, i'm a little older and the way i'm looking ahead, if i can just hang on to my part-time job and collect unemployment, o

job and collect unemployment a little more, i think i'm going to make it okay. i'm worried more about my children and some of my younger co-workers that have like house payments and car payments. i'm wondering how they're going to make it. >> well, ed, good luck to you. and thanks, again. ed newfelt in elkhart, indiana, at the elkhart county fair. rosie has got those burritos behind him. we hope everybody's business benefits. for more on elkhart's struggles in this economy, lockon to elkhartproject.msnbc.com. >> david, you didn't give me a chance to ask ed to hold onto a burrito. ed, we want you to hold a couple burritos for us. >> okay. i'll do that. >> thank you very much. that's the important part. >> hoosiers are the best. just remember that. >> right after texans. >> up next, "crossing the line"

as my partner just did. >> this is a very interesting story. a 22-year-old man is denied a liver transplant. he's been drinking since the age of 11, binge drinking by his teen years. why did a hospital say no? did they cross the line? this is coming up on msnbc. come on in. you're invited to the chevy open house. where getting a new vehicle is easy. because the price on the tag is the price you pay on remaining '08 and '09 models. you'll find low, straightforward pricing. it's simple. now get an '09 silverado xfe with an epa estimated 21 mpg highway for under 28 thousand after all offers. go to chevy.com/openhouse for more details.

welcome back. in today's crossing the line, a 22-year-old alcoholic has set up a big debate across the pond even though he is no longer alive. this is the story and picture of 22-year-old gary reinbach. reinbach was denied a liver transplant after he could not prove out he could live out in the community for six months in order to qualify for a donor organ. according to his doctors, he was

simply too sick to leave the hospital. so how would it be possible for him to prove that, in fact, he could go without alcohol? on his behalf doctors made a public plea to have the rules waived. the times has a quote from his mother in an interview. she said the rules are really unfair. i'm not saying you should give a transplant to someone who is in and out of the hospital all the time and keeps damaging themselves, but just for people like gary who made a mistake and never got a second chance. reinbach's family says by 13 he was binge drinking. they say he had no idea he was damaging his body. well, ten weeks ago he was admitted to the hospital for the first time. his condition worsened quickly. doctors said reinbach's best chance of surviving was a transplant. 48 hours after his story made the newspaper, he died. his brother said they never gave him a chance to show he could

change. 8,000 brits are waiting for an organ transplant. 259 people require livers. 400 people, by the way, passed away waiting on the list last year alone. so was the treatment of this man crossing the line or did he pay t the ultimate price he made for choices he made even though he was 11? you tell me. you can go to my twitter page, david's twitter page and let us know. it is almost 4:00 on the he's coast. we're just getting started. up next, president obama and the bully pulpit. with poll numbers flipping, republicans getting more aggressive, and conservative democrats starting to get cold feel, we'll look at how the president is trying to get his message out on health care reform. u.s. citizens paid to strap narcotics to their bodies. we'll tell you about it. the famous naked cowboy of times square is pulls his hat in the ring for the mayor's race.

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this hour on msnbc, facing health care trouble with his own party, president obama acknowledges the leading plans need more work. >> right now they're not where they need to be. >> meanwhile, republicans without a plan of their own egg on conservative democrats. >> it's time to scrap this bill. plus, history on the auction block. we will always remember the watergate break-in in the resignation of president nixon. >> i'm not a crook. >> but what happened today when the watergate went on the auction block. later, a huge debate has erupted in congress over concealed weapons. a republican proposal would allow gun owners with a permit from one state to carry and conceal their weapons in every state. police and gun control advocates

call the bill frightening. and a trip to the safari park in england should not be frightening, but check out the people stuck in this car. what were those baboons looking for? it will have you saying "no way"! all that and more on this hour of msnbc. good afternoon. i'm tamron hall. >> i'm david shuster. president obama said that health care reform at the end of the negotiation process would get more difficult, and mr. obama was right. in our big picture at this hour the president tried again today in the midst of fast-moving developments and growing opposition on capitol hill to get his message out that reform needs to happen. the president says change is coming, and soon because that's what the american people want. >> the american people are absolutely clear that this won't be easy but that the road that we have traveled doesn't just stretch back through the six months of my administration. it stretches back year after