with me and willie geist so a good panel this morning. joe is off. aha. >> what? >> summer friday. >> yes. carlos, did we jump the gun just a tad bit on this story out of cambridge? did everyone need to just wait a little bit so we could see all sides of it and then talk about it? >> i think the president didn't have a choice, if that's what you're talking about two nights ago. he was asked a fairly direct question. how do you mean? >> i feel like -- i feel like there was more to the story and now we have it and there's still more coming out but there was this immediate rush to judgment. do you think that was fair for those who did it? >> oh, boy, that's tough. i don't know i felt like everyone had an immediate rush to jimt. i still stand by what we all said that morning, if you're in your own house, if you've shown id, and there's a question about how quickly, you're going to get

upset. there are other pieces to the story -- the woman, the neighbor who supposedly questioned why she thought her neighbor was breaking into his own house. mike and i were talking about this on the air. i think there are real questions about class. i thought she brought that up and that made a ton of sense. we don't know exactly what was said. maybe that was part of the story, too. i think we had to jump into this. we'll hear more. >> what mika is saying, though, if we look at it from the police officer's point of view, he gets a phone call from someone mo says it looks to me like a neighbor's house is being broken into right now. he responds to the call. that's his job. he sees somebody inside the house. he asks him for identification to confirm that he, in fact, lives there. we don't know how that exchange went. we don't know the way the officer carried himself. it's hard to tell even in a police report. wasn't he just carrying out his job? >> when you end up handcuffing a

06-something-year-old -- >> that's what i'm saying. we don't know how the exchange went. >> i don't doubt there's more information we can get. i will tell you as i look at that from afar, it does look suspicious to me. it looks really suspicious. it doesn't look suspicious to you? >> it does. but i think he had a right to ask for id which is what set off professor gates, who said this is my home, i'm not going to. >> we're going to pick it up after news. the question i raise and all i had all along were questions about this because we never heard from the cops when we were covering this story with great hyperventilation. and i think just as bad as racism can be is calling someone a racist when they're not. so that's the question we have to work on when we cover stories like this because i don't foe. i don't know what happened still, but i know more than i did on monday morning or the day

after. >> the one thing i would throw out there, i will give a number of people credit because i'm not sure i heard people throw around the racist tag as much as i heard president obama -- as much as i heard president obama say someone acted stupidly, which is different. >> i bet he regrets using the word stupid. >> which is different. what do you think, harold? >> if i'm in my own home and the police show up because my neighbor thinks i'm breaking into my own home, i'm probably mad i had to break into my own home, ramming my shoulder into the door, and have the cops show up and say they want to see your id. he shows the id. there are some facts we don't know. some facts we do know. he was in his own home. he's 60-something years old and using a cane. i've had a situation where i thought there might have been other influences than what the officer may have thought. this officer, i'm not judging him at all and he probably followed protocol. >> we have the complete incident report as filed and we can sort

of play it out briefly after the news and maybe you'll get a little different perspective from the point of view of the police officer. >> that's the only thing i was looking for. >> i don't call the officer racist. i can understand why skip gates, whom i nknow personally, would e upset and agitated by the cop, no matter if the cop would have been black he would have been agitated. >> we also have other news to get to. let's do our top stories and we'll look closer at this and some of the other stories making news including the stock market. president obama brushing off the position to delay health care until after the debate. democrats issued gop concerns next month's deadline is simply too soon. despite the delay republican leaders continue to blast the proposal. >> this whole health care proposal by president obama is really quite a joke on a number of levels. i think he is scamming the american people and just on the payment issue alone, even if you

believe he's only going to tax people over $1 million, which i don't think is true, what's going to happen is he's proposing that's only going to cover a third of the package. the rest is going to be paid for, quote/unquote, by saving waste, fraud and abuse. and if you believe that, then i've got some january tee times for you in northern minnesota. >> the president is defending his criticism of the cambridge police department which he said acted stupidly in the arrest of harvard professor henry louis gates jr. >> i am surpriseded by the controversy because i think it was pretty straightforward commentary that you probably don't need to handcuff a guy, a middle aged man, who uses a cane, who is in his own home. i respect what police officers do. from what i can tell, the sergeant involved is an

upstanding police officer. my suspicious is probably that it would have been better if cooler heads had prevailed. >> wow. okay. front page of the "boston globe" cambridge chief defends arrest but promise as review. also another headline, residents deplore remarks by obama. this is a big controversy. the arresting officer, sergeant james crowley, is responding to the president's comments as well. >> you probably have heard what the president had to say last night and i just wonder what your thoughts are regarding his comments. oot i didn't vote for him. i support the president of the united states 110%. i think he's way off base wading into a local issue before knowing the facts. >> ron allen joins us live from cambridge, massachusetts, with the very latest on this this morning. ron? >> reporter: good morning, mika. a lot of things. this is obviously a very

emotional story up here and the police department in cambridge has been rallying around sergeant crowley. he did a very lengthy interview with our affiliate here in boston and he basically said that, first of all, he and professor gates have very different versions of what happened which is not surprising. but crowley insists that gates was in control of the situation by his behavior, that he kept escalating, yelling and screaming, this is only happening to me because i'm a black man, so on and so forth. crowley essentially says that he warned gates several times and arrested him because he would not -- the situation seemed to be getting out of control, verbally, out of control in my words, but i think he said crowley was screaming and alarming people in the neighborhood. gates' position, however, is that he gave crowley his id almost immediately, a harvard university id and a massachusetts driver's license and the question that he asked

and a lot of his supporters ask is at some point the officer understands that this is his home and that he is not breaking into this house and at that point why does the officer not de-escalate the situation. that's the question the police officer did not answer in the lengthy interview that i heard. but you're right, the police are defending him, saying he is not going to apologize. he doesn't want to set that precedent by police. he says he was offended by president obama's remarks about the cambridge police acting stupidly and he wants to get on with it. the police department also made a couple of other observations. they pointed out there had, in fact, been a break-in at professor gates' home while he was on vacation which suggests another reason sergeant crowley may have been more cautious. we don't know if he knew that when he arrived at the scene, however. we're also told sergeant crowley for the last two years has been teaching cadets and police officers a course on understanding racial profiling, again, suggesting that he

understands these situations generally. professor gates is one of the foremost experts in the country and race relations. a complicated, very emotional situation. both giving very different versions of what happened and the police department rallying behind their guy. >> all right. nbc's ron allen reporting. thank you. we'll get back to this. in other news this morning the dow will open above 9,000 for the first time since early january thanks to better than expected sales of existing homes. it's up more than 11% in the past nine days. north korea is getting personal in its attacks against secretary of state hillary clinton. a regime spokesman says lyclint is, quote, by no means intelligent adding sometimes she looks like a primary schoolgirl and sometimes a pensioner going shopping. it comes after clinton likened the north to unruly teenagers

demanding attention. okay. new polling is casting serious doubt on governor sarah palin just as she prepares for the national stage. according to "the washington post" and abc news, only 40% view the governor in a favorable light. 53% do not when it comes to her leadership skills, 57% say she does not understand complex issues. that's down nine points from september. and white sox pitcher mark buehrle is celebrating one of baseball's rarest feats. the 30-year-old entered the record books by hurling only the 18th perfect game in major league history. did he do that? i'm watching while i'm trying to read. >> that catch made in the ninth inning. >> he got congratulations by thousands of fans including one at the white house. >> and i have to say i guess today everybody is a white sox fan. somebody just asked me what's more exciting that or the dow going over 9,000. i said i promise you -- i

promise you a perfect game. now that's big. >> all right. that's awesome. i've got to see it again. >> you don't want to be the guy to blow that. >> you don't. >> that's the news. we have this amazing story out of new jersey we're going to get to. the feds bringing in 44 people, mayors, rabbis, even a human trafficker, a human kidney trafficker. >> oh, my. >> this is the most amazing story ever. we'll get to that in just a few minutes. >> the state is one big felony. >> and look at the front page of "the new york times." >> look at these guys, the rabbis, the mayors. i don't think that helps your political career. all right. let's get a quick check on the weather with bill karins. bill? good morning, mika. a rare storm moving up through new england. the boston area, you wake up this morning to what feels like a nor'easter in the middle of

july. you can see the radar here. this affected new york city last night up through connecticut as it went through the overnight and now the clouds are parting. this shot behind me gorgeous from jersey city over the hudson. the sun coming up over new york. empire state building on your left side. eventually that sun will come out in providence and even in boston probably by late afternoon but a look at the current radar, tropical storm strength at logan airport. out there on the cape there's a little bit of rain and also the big waves are crashing onshore so that storm will exit during the day. the weather will improve in new england by the afternoon. philadelphia today 85. d.c. 88. and look at your reward. the warmest weekend we've had this summer. 90 in philly. 88 in new york. hartford 85 so it is a beach weekend from the mid-atlantic right up into southern new england. the rest of the country today minneapolis a some morning storms. the rest of the nation is actually looking pretty good and, mika, did you see who was

representing last night and looking good on "nightly news"? >> who? >> mike barnicle. >> oh, i did see him. >> good looking guy. >> i have some choice words for him about his opinions on this story. >> mike, you had no business being on broadcast television. >> mike. >> and you mean that in the nicest way possible. >> no offense. >> we have a big show this morning, lots to talk about. we're going to get to this gates story in a few minutes. nbc chief correspondent andrea mitchell. also, we have the moderator of "meet the press," david gregory. and we'll talk more about the fallout with john timoney, the former police commissioner of philadelphia. a great guy. >> number two in new york city. >> number two in new york city he was, yes. and later pulitzer prize winner and "washington post" columnist eugene robinson plus a look at the stories politico is working on. (mom) i'm not going to be able to see her every day.

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i don't know if you remember we had that presidential election and john mccain was running and he needed someone for the ticket so he got hold of -- he got hold of the governor of alaska. they ran. they didn't win but they ran.

and now the governor of alaska decided that she's quitting, so she leaves office sunday. on sunday she's leaving office and she will officially hand over her sash and crown to her successor. >> oh, boy. >> here with us now chief political correspondent from politico, mike allen. he has a look at the "political playbook." good morning to you, mike. >> we're just enjoying your music here, doing a little karaoke here in the politico room. >> keep doing it, mike. so our dear mayor and his good friend of mika brzezinski, mike bloomberg, now running for his 18th term in office, and i understand he's begun the campaign. >> his 18th term with no one running against him is a pretty ideal situation. here is a first look at the first commercial from mayor mike. he will be running as an independent voice to keep new york city working. and the ad is interesting. it features a testimonial from jeff canada you know, the harlem

educator recently at the white house, recently praised by the first lady as one of my heroes. >> are we going to hear the end? is. >> no. >> mike? so bloomberg does have a potential opponent. >> he does. he's been running aggressively. i asked mayor giuliani if he thought it was a good idea for the mayor to seek a third term and he said it probably was not good for the mayor. he doesn't know why he wants the hassle but it is good for the city and the city needs him. giuliani thinks it was right to allow the change. >> you know who is running against him? >> i think i know where you're going. >> i heard joe is running against him. >> it's the naked cowboy. the naked cowboy. the guy in his underwear. he wants to run against the mayor and he says that what he does is about transparency. >> it is. cowboy boots and --

>> i can't believe mike didn't know that. >> it was on the inside of "the new york post." >> well done, mike. let's talk national politics. the president of the united states when he was just candidate barack obama, he said we're going to put an end to special interests. no more lobbying in my white house. how are the lobbists doing? >> they are doing just fine. they're not having to run around in their underwear. they can get nice suits. as an unintended, lobbyists called grassroots lobbying which is where normal people give their views. some told us every ceo wants their own mini obama campaign, so they're going to the firms and say, why can't you do for me like the obama campaign did, all this cool stuff, facebook, whatever it is. and the lobbying firms, we would be thrilled to do that for you.

it's been good for business in d.c. it's harder for lobbyists to get into the administration and that's led to a lot of backups and frustrations but business is fine while they wait. >> despite best intentions we're never going to get rid of lobbyists are we, mike allen? >> no. in fact, they are sprouting. they're booming. >> finally now, congress, i understand, blogging some pentagon money for iraq and afghanistan. tell us about it. >> they are. and the pentagon calls it information operation. back home we call it propaganda. a billion dollars for iraq and afghanistan and house appropriators are standing in the way of this including one chairman murtha, the one who got rolled on that fighter issue, the f-22. could there be any payback here? i don't think so. couldn't be. >> time for a little payback.

mike allen, we'll be looking at the "playbook" at politico.com. we'll see you next week. >> happy weekend. >> what are you looking at in that paper right now. >> what is the deal with b berluscony? a prostitute on tape. >> "boston globe," sergeant gets back up. cambridge chief defends the arrest but promises a review. "new york times" this is a hell of a story. 44 people charged by the united states in a new jersey corruption sweep. >> look at the front page of "the daily news" and we'll get back to that. is nothing sacred? the rabbis, the mayors.

>> swept them all up. selling kidneys on the black market. wow, crazy. "washington post," a $4 billion push for better schools. obama hopes funding will be a powerful incentive in the race to the top. that's an important story. "the wall street journal," stocks recapture the 9,000 mark on profits surprise. talking about that all morning including with dylan ratigan. up next a first look at business live from london plus mika's cooking them up right now. the must-read opinion pages. she will break down the silvio berlusconi sex talk with a hooker.

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thank you, barnicle. welcome back to "morning joe." it's just before 6:30 on the east coast. time for a look at a today's top stories. president obama is still pushing for congressional action on health care even though leaders are delaying any vote until after august. today the president will meet with majority leader harry reid along with max baucus who is building bipartisan support.

three mayors, two state lawmakers and several rabbis are among the 44 arrested in a massive corruption investigation in new jersey. federal prosecutors said the probe initially focused on a money laundering network but quickly ballooned into one of the biggest scandals in the state's history. "the new york times" reports a member of governor corzine's staff resigned after his home was raided by federal agents. that would be not a good day in new jersey. >> people think this is like the sopranos. it's new jersey. >> is it? >> i'm from new jersey. >> we have cities without mayors now or cities with mayors sitting in jail. >> they weren't running the cities anyway. trust me. >> they were too busy doing other things. >> look at these people, they had cars lined up outside fbi headquarters four deep with suspects in them waiting to haul them in. >> i can get you a kidney for half price. >> well, that's good to know. thank you, barnicle.

and the new york church filled to capacity on thursday as mourners said good-bye to legendary newsman walter cronkite who died last week at the age of 92. cronkite was remembered as an exceptional journalist, sailor, friend, and father. that's a quick look at the news. now let's turn to willie for what's next in business. >> well, the big story, mika, on wall street, of course, the dow is back over 9,000. strong profits for the bulls. "the new york times" says bears see hazards ahead in cost cuts. let's turn to geoff cutmore live in london for us. good morning, geoff. >> reporter: good morning to you. well, the bears, they always see something to growl about, don't they? for the time being the market is the story and the gains up over 9,000. it's the fastest rebound since 1975 with 38% higher than where we were in the march low back to november 5th.

the big question is, is corporate profitability going to sustain further upside for these markets? microsoft saw revenue fall sharply. some disappointment over vista? maybe. that's an important number to remember and amazon saw profits fall 10%. it's a bit of a mixed picture still as we tried to work our way through this corporate earnings season. if you think you've got problems with 9.6% unemployment in the united states, spare a thought for the spanish. second quarter unemployment number out of spain this morning, 18%. that has got to hurt. back to you guys. >> wow, 18%. that puts it in perspective for you although we're getting close to that in some of our states here. up next, andrea mitchell will join the conversation. also mika's must-read opinion pages. >> oh, they're good today. something new is happening at ethan allen

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i think this is a classy example at a time when we're struggling about health care, energy, we've got two wars going on that issues like this get elevated in ways that probably don't make much sense. i think that it doesn't make sense with all the problems we have out there to arrest a guy in his own home if he's not causing a serious disturbance. >> all right. the controversy continues. with us now nbc news chief foreign affairs correspondent andrea mitchell, host of msnbc's "andrea mitchell reports" on msnbc. i want to get to this north korea story pertaining to secretary of state hillary clinton, but let's first talk about what we just heard the president touching on again. i wonder if he wishes he had

said that during his news conference and what are you hearing from your sources? did he step on his own lead by stepping into this controversy? >> i think he did and i think some people even in the white house would say that they wish he had not used the word stupidly. that said, he comes with his own history. he lived in cambridge. he went to harvard. he knows skip gates. he's an african-american man. and i think people approached this story based on their own life experiences and that he either has had experiences or understands and empathizes with people -- people of color, plaque, black, latino -- and he can understand this in a way you and i can't. >> fair enough. let me read from "the wall street journal" and ask the table to join the conversation with andrea because she touches on the president speaking from his own experience of which i respect and i cannot understand

and i would never claim to. having said that, certainly a proffer comes to the table with his own experience of dealing with situations like responding to burglaries and other situations. here's "the wall street journal" editorial. if this is a teaching moment, one lesson is that it's usually better to cooperate during encounters with law enforcement so that matters don't escalate needlessly and if a cop asks you to step out on a porch or away from your car, it's probably because he's concerned for his own safety. carlos? >> that just sounds hopelessly one-sided. that sounds like someone who doesn't have a breath of experience. that's not always the experience for a large number of us in interacting with police officers and, again, i think what president obama said was right and correct and appropriate. ereally? >> given what we know today -- >> stupidly? >> come on. you have a 60-something-year-old

guy with a cane in his home. i don't think as a final result even if he berated the guy, even if he was loud and tumultuous as the report says, i don't think in the end your 42-year-old cop on the force for a while in the end shouldn't result in the guy in handcuffs walking out. >> i'm going to tell you something. there's no way i can walk in your shoes. there is no way i can carry the weight of history and it's all on your side, on harold's side, about getting pulled over driving while black. no way i can do that. all i can tell you is this cop was responding to a report of a crime in progress. he walks up on the porch, two gentlemen are inside the house. he doesn't know how many more people are inside the house. there's no way he's going in there given the training a responsible police officer would have. there's no way he's going into that house so he asks now the defendant here, professor gates, whom he does not know, to come out of the house and talk to him. the professor, according to

every report doesn't come out of the house. won't come out of the house. and then it starts. >> i hear you. but here is the point. he thought there was a robbery going on. once the officer determined there was not a robbery in place, the police report indicates the police officer, who i respect his side of the story, was in mr. gates' home, take race out of this altogether. if an officer is in your home because he believes a robbery is taking place, once he determines the suspect is the owner of the home, shouldn't at that point the officer step away? that's what president obama responds to. >> that's down the road. here is the police report. this is written at 3:30 that afternoon -- the issue is the president said he acted stupidly. he's being criticized by this officer, rightly so. it wasn't race. the president said stupidly. if indeed an officer walked into the brzezinski household and

found you, after you determined you were not breaking into your own home and then arrested you, i would call that stupid. >> really? okay. >> if he determined it was not a break-in and it was not your home. what else can you call it? >> what if i proceeded to yell at that cop and act in a tumultuous way? >> tweak it a little bit. let me tweak it a little bit. again, i think the president said very clearly that you're happy that a police officer who gets a call and says someone is breaking into your home responds. that's good news. that's not bad news. that's good news. and so as the officer went in, mike, it's a different story. there's no doubt in my mind that should not have ended in an arrest. when it ends in an arrest it is stupid. it may not be racist but it's certainly stupid. >> i'm going to tell you why he was arrested. i wasn't there. i've covered these things for 30 years and i'm going to tell you why he was arrested. i would be willing to bet my house on this which is the front

door is not open today so i don't have to worry that. he tries to leave the house after telling the professor -- professor, calm down, will you? lower your voice. stop yelling at me. don't call me a racist. stop yelling at me. he's leaving. the professor follows him, continues you're a racist, you're a white racist. hey, professor, would you cut it out? would you just stop it. the second time he's out. now he's on the porch. the professor is on the porch. you know, you wouldn't do this if it were a white man. professor, stop it. out come the handcuffs. would you please stop it. he doesn't stop it. i'm a member of the harvard faculty. you're a member of the harvard faculty. do you know who i am? i know who you are. you're under arrest. >> mike, two questions, knowing all that you know including knowing boston well, if this same guy were white, but hold on, if there was a difference in class, if this guy were white, would he have been arrested in your mind?

>> yes. i'm going to tell you something -- >> i don't think so. >> that's exactly the point. he would not have been arrested. >> i'm not quite sure. >> given the weight of history you carry -- >> i'm going to get angry. >> i understand all that. i covered that stuff, too. do you follow the cop out of the house and keep yelling at him? >> do i, carlos? >> yes. >> i don't. i tell you why i don't. >> why? >> i know that cop has a gun and i know people with guns, white, black, latino, asian, whatever, can behave in ways -- >> really good answer. andrea go ahead. >> i think there's also an issue mike barnicle raised i think yesterday. there's a town gown issue here. there are historic rivalries, antagonisms, irritations between the cambridge police force, the harvard faculty. it's not all race. the bottom line is i think, mika and guys, you've got to ask yourself, if he were a white man

would he have ended up in handcuffs? and i think the answer by those who defend the professor and i'm not so sure that the officer was calling him professor. i didn't see that in the report here. we don't know what they were calling each other completely. i'm only seeing one side in this police report. but did he belong in handcuffs even coming out and yelling on his front porch? because clearly the police department felt not because they dropped the charges. >> right. okay. >> arrested wrongly, this has nothing to do with that. this officer indicates in this report he thought a break-in was under way. once he determined there was no break-in and if this gentleman lived in his home, police should be trained to deal with what someone may be yelling. i don't see the grounds to arrest a man if he was in his own home. there was no break-in in progress. >> it was a disorderly. >> in his own home, mike? >> he went outside the house.

>> he asked him to come out. >> professor gates followed him out. >> he is a well-renowned professor from harvard. we also know that at his home apparently there was a previous break-in attempt at this residence, that the cops knew about. that's important to keep in mind. we also should keep in mind that this cop taught a class, i believe, on racial profiling. >> i would defend this officer if he went -- if someone was in my home, my children may be there. i don't have kids yet but my family members may be there, but when he learned there was not a break-in, you put your gun in, you say, look, we were here to try to protect. i'm sorry you're upset, sir. we're going to leave. >> how do we know that didn't happen? >> how do we know that did happen? he was leaving. so why did he arrest him? >> i think we make a real mistake in not acknowledging that the cops step over the line when there's a

60-something-year-old man with a cane even if he's behaving in a disorderly way with cuffs. we muddy the waters further. it makes it hard aer to have this conversation. i think at some level everyone has to start -- every person of goodwill has to start with that. a 60-year-old guy should not walk out in krufs. the owner of a home. both things can be true. they're not mutually exclusive. we can agree the cops shouldn't do that. do you want your dad, even if he gets -- he comes back from china -- >> there is something to what mike is saying, two guys, a cop pulls you over for something you don't think you were doing, 15 miles over, testosterone takes over, you start barking at the cops. that's not a defense. >> in your own home. >> i'm saying -- i understand why he started barking and i understand why the cops started barking back. >> what did gates do wrong other than be in his own home? once the cops discovered the

break-in, he has to step back in his own home. >> stay right there. andrea, stay with us. we have to talk about north korea as well. coming up, the moderator of "meet the press" david gregory. when we come back more on that rare perfect game. freddie ball game is next with sports. ♪

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the last week of the all-star game in st. louis, white sox pitcher mark buehrle got a chance to meet president obama in the locker room before the game. president obama is a white sox fan. after the performance he put on yesterday he talked to the president again. here's why. good morning. the white sox mark buehrle is not a flashy pitcher. he won't blow you away with 95-mile-per-hour fast balls or devastating changeups. but yesterday against the rays buehrle was perfect. 27 up, 27 down for the lefty. he struck out six and had lady luck on his side. pat shot down the line, foul. by just a couple inches. still perfect. ninth inning, three outs away from history. gabe kapler. a drive deep to left center. wise on his horse. he leaps up and robbed kapler of a sure home run. an amazing juggling grab by wise inserted in the ninth as defensive replacement. two batters later, buehrle got jason bartlett to ground to short. perfect game.

just the 18th in baseball history. white sox won it, 5-0. >> any time your name gets up there with some of the greats in the game, obviously it means a lot. i think it's another thing when you retire, sit back and you see how many perfect games have been thrown in the history and your name is in there. i think that's when you sit back and kind of be surprised. stage 18 of the tour de france is in the books. lance armstrong moved up one spot to third overall, still trailing winner contador by 5:25. soccer team usa beat honduras, 2-0, to advance to the gold cup final. they have mexico sunday in new york. finally, we take one more look at the amazing catch that preserved perfection for mark buehrle. >> there he is trying to throw his second no-hitter. and a high fly ball back into deep left center field. that's got some carry. and that ball is -- caught! wise,who just came into the game, defensively makes a great catch in center field.

how about that! >> and to think a couple days ago white sox fans ripping guillen for keeping wise. that turned out to be a wise decision to stay the least. i'm fred roggin. >> i think he should buy him a row lengs at least. up next, week in review. the passing of some famous dogs. at 155 miles per hour, andy roddick

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oh, is it time? >> oh, my gosh. >> is it time, willie? >> apparently it's time for news you can't use. >> bring it on. we're going to do the week in review right now. we'll start with an asian parliamentary brawl. at number three, the return of the parliamentary brawl. it has become a grand tradition in parliaments across asia. overreaction to a mild legislative disagreement. we don't really care why they were fighting in the south korean parliament this week. we're just glad they were. as is typical in your garden variety parliamentary brawl,

there was plenty of slapping, hair pulling and awkward man wrestling. that's pretty good. did you see the smackdown on c-span this week? >> mr. jonsson, mr. could haveman, mr. kennedy. >> at number two, the passing of an american icon. a talking chihauhau who tells tacos. it all made sense. but this week we were forced to make sense of a world without didget, the dog who starred in those commercials. gidget died quietly at her home. she was 15 years old. her trainer remembered her this week as a consummate professional. ♪ and it seems to me you lived your life like a candle in the wind ♪ >> gidget, whose credit include "legally blonde 2" will be remembered above all as a

pioneer who broke down barriers for other female dogs in hollywood, a town whose best commercial roles previously went to the spud mckenzie's of the world. and the number one story of the week, the rebirth of an imaginary controversy. >> the president obviously all he has to do is produce the original birth certificate in hawaii and be done with it. >> the birthers movement explode this had week with new accusations that president obama is not a u.s. citizen. >> why are people ignoring this? i want my country back! >> look, we can all agree that hawaii isn't really a state, but it is recognized as a state by the federal government and barack obama was born there. he's even got the birth certificate to prove it. >> let me show you his birth certificate. that's the way to deal with this. nail this birth certificate to the whacko wing of your party

showing his birth certificate. >> i'm looking in a camera right now. >> it was like christmas in july for conspiracy theorists this week as america also celebrated 40 years since the moon landing took place in a tv studio in burbank. and action. >> that's one small step for man -- >> cut. the next holiday on the conspiracy calendar august 16th, the anniversary of the day elvis did not really die. >> thank you very much. >> there you have it. >> very well done. >> big time of the year for conspiracy theorists. >> do you want your country back? >> you're just angry and you want your country back. >> i was home sick and i was saying i can't believe we're having a national conversation about the birth certificate. can we end that now? right here and now? >> please. we shall. good job, willie. look forward to more of that coming up in the next hour. it's the top of the hour. welcome to "morning joe." i'm mika brzezinski. joe is off. we have willie, of course.

boy, what a heated conversation we've been having about one of our top stories today, the gates arrest in cambridge. i just got an e-mail from a friend of mine who says after today i'm your only black friend, laugh out loud. so i take it my take -- >> what about carlos? >> here's the deal. i would like to clarify whatever i've been saying that makes you think that because the only thing that's really bothered me about this story -- oh, we have andrea mitchell with us in washington as well, so we'll hear from andrea again. is that we all -- we all, and collectively we, maybe even up to the president of the united states, jumped on this before all the information was out. we jumped on this and used the racism word before all the information was out. and all i've been saying for a few days now, i just want to hear the other side of the story and that doesn't make me a racist. it makes me a journalist. i'm just interested in hearing the other side of the story. we have that today. we'll read from the police report and i think it opens up a

whole new conversation. >> i don't think you're being ratist at all. >> here is what i think people would say, friends, folks who don't know you, they would say what president obama said and what most people are saying is they're not saying the racist critique, that it was stupid and they were saying even if mike and i and we all talked about earlier -- >> we can't go too deep right now but i hear what you're saying. >> fair enough. >> race is in this and that's why it got heated from the get-go. barnicle, we'll hear from you as well. i'd like you to amend your previous comments from earlier this week. >> from earlier this week when i said we should wait because we don't know what happened. we don't know what happened. >> everybody said it. everyone jumped in on the race conversation right away. >> everyone in that white house wishes the president of the united states had not said cambridge police acted stupidly. that word is incendiary. >> and i bet you the president

does not regret it. >> i have to tell you, took away his own lead on health care so i would say that perhaps strategically it wasn't help it will but we'll see. again, we'll talk about it and we'll bring andrea into the conversation as well. president obama is brushing off the senate's decision to delay health care legislation until after its august break. on thursday democrats echoed gop concerns that next month's deadline is simply too soon. despite the delay republican leaders continue to blast the proposal. >> this whole health care proposal is a joke on a number of issues. he's scamming the american people and just on this payment issue alone, even if you believe he's only going to tax people over a million dollars, which i don't think is true, that's only going to cover about a third of the total cost of the package. the rest of it is going to be paid for, quote/unquote, saving waste, frud and abuse. if you believe that then i have some january tee times for you in northern minnesota.

>> meanwhile the president is defending his criticism of the cambridge police department which he said acted stupidly in the arrest of harvard professor henry louis gates jr. >> i have to say i am surprised by the controversy. i think my statement was pretty straightforward commentary that you probably don't need to handcuff a guy, a middle aged man who use as cane who is in his own home. and as i said, i respect what the police officers do. what i've been told the sergeant who was involved is an upstanding police officer but my suspicion is probably it would have been better if cooler heads prevailed. >> the arrest iing officer, sergeant james crowley, says he has nothing to apologize for and is responding to the president's comments. >> you probably have heard what the president had to say last night and i just wonder what your thoughts are concerning his comments.

>> i didn't vote for him. i support the president of the united states 110%. i think he's way off base wading into a local issue without knowing all the facts. the dow jones -- we'll get there. we'll get there. the dow jones will open above the 9,000 mark for the first time since early january. the market jumped 188 points on thursday thanks to better than expected sales of existing homes. it's up more than 11% in the last nine days. north korea is getting personal in its attacks ridiculing secretary of state hillary clinton. a regime spokesman describes clinton as, quote, a funny lady and by no means intelligent. the regime also likens her to both a schoolgirl and a pensioner going shopping. it comes after clinton compared the north to unruly teenagers demanding attention. wow. new polling is casting serious doubt on governor sarah palin just as she prepares perhaps for the national stage.

according to "the washington post" and abc news, only 40% view the governor in a favorable light. 53% do not when it comes to her leadership skills 57% say she does not understand complex issues. that's down nine points from september. and actress angelina jolie is hoping to bring attention to the millions of iraqis displaced by sectarian violence. on thus the goodwill ambassador visited a makeshift settlement on the outskirts of baghdad. good for her. that's a quick look at the news. we're going to go to willie and then i want andrea to chime in on the president. let's set up the story first. >> i want to get andrea in. we're getting new sound in to us from sergeant crowley. comes from our affiliate whdh. they just cleared it to us out of boston. let's listen to what they got out of sergeant james crowley. >> i asked him if he could step outside and speak with me and he said, no, i will not. and, again, words of the effect to what's this all about? i said i'm sergeant crowley from the police department investigating a break-in in

progress. he responded, why, because i'm a black man in america in a very agitated tone. again, i thought that was a little strange. i then asked him if there was anybody else in the residence. and my reason for asking that is twofold. first of all there was a report there were two individuals. i see one, and it could be him, so where is the second person? or there's two people in the residence that he doesn't know are there. either way, i wasn't expecting his response, which was that's none of your business. to me that's a strange response for somebody that has nothing to hide, is trying to cooperate with the police. >> all right. that's brand-new sound just getting in. change anybody's mind on anything? >> i still don't think the final result should be that a 60-something-year-old man with a cane ends up in handcuffs. that in my mind doesn't mean crowley is a bad guy. doesn't necessarily mean he's a racist but i do agree with the president that they acted stupidly. >> we want to get andrea in

here. also i said before we go to andrea, one of the fundamental things we're skipping is he has no idea who henry louis gates is, who he's dealing with. >> it shouldn't be relevant anyway. >> all he knows is the house had an attempted break-in earlier and someone has called about a burglary. >> but once he determines, i think the officer -- if i were him i would have gone to the door with a gun pulled. once i determined there was no break-in and that this fellow owns his home -- >> but he hadn't yet. >> everything he is saying is right. >> it's gotten out of control. no, harold, listen to me -- this whole thing started with great hyperventilation over the issue of race, and we have a proffer who was, i'm sorry, but when this started to unfold, was being labelled as a racist taking part in extreme racial profiling, plaque man in a rich neighborhood and how could he have done that?

andrea mitchell, the president weigh the in on this. i want to get a sense of big picture here. should he have done that? what are you hearing from behind the scenes? do they regret it? given the conversation we're still having here today. >> i don't know whether the president himself regrets it, but, mika a, certainly the people working on health care, and that's rahm emanuel and everyone else in the white house, have to know that they are not getting their message across and that what has happened in the intervening 24 hours is that the president has had to back down on the deadline, although of course that deadline, that august deadline has already been lost. >> all right. so now we'll back up a little bit. i've got the police report which actually we don't even need to read this since we just heard officer crowley describing what happened. >> you know, i would just say at the end of the day with regard to this, that this, in effect, is a little reality therapy for america. we can walk around all we want

saying aren't we great? we elect add black man as president of the united states, our racial problems are behind us. they're not behind us. they exist. they're real. they are every day. too many white people don't know how to carry on a conversation, a dialogue with a black man or a black woman. too many white people have no idea of the weight that you've carried in terms of getting stopped illegally and things like that and there's too little bending, i think, on the part of some black people towards the difficulty of being a white police officer or a police officer 0 period. >> yeah. i think, look, the guy did the right thing. my only question is once you determined there was no bre break-in, i don't care if he's black or white, gates or jonsson or finkelstein, you don't arrest the guy. >> one other thing -- >> or geist. >> i actually want to compliment the president as opposed to raising a critique of the president for weighing in, i'm glad he did. i want to say the president's

history weighed in and it's important whether it was the gospel singer, whether or not she should come to the white house. there's not enough understanding. presidents are supposed to be moral leaders and teachers. >> if you're a cambridge cop, you're not feeling the same way you do right now. >> black or white. >> yeah. >> i disagree with that. that's too easy. there are a lot of cops who can say the guy did behave stupidly. if i was a 42-year-old cop, on the force would i have been unhappy with what skip gates did? yeah, if i was berating me. at the end of the day, would i have wanted the situation to end with a 60-something-year-old man with a cane in handcuffs? no. that doesn't make the guy a racist, necessarily, it doesn't make him a bad cop but it is possible to say he did not behave well. >> you said it does not make him a racist necessarily. so the question is do you regret

that not anything you said because i didn't see your coverage but when this story began to unfold, everybody was saying this would have never happened to a white man and they were insinuating that race was the primary reason this happened. >> i don't think this is mutually exclusive. >> a cop being painted as a racist. >> this is an extremely important point. i think it's possible to say the situation was animated by race, that as mike and i both agree, maybe all of us agree, that if the guy had been white, he wouldn't have ended up in handcuffs. it's possible to say that but also say he's not a racist. >> is it possible to say race didn't play a role in what happened? >> it's possible. >> i don't think it did. i think what the president said it was a stupid thing that happened. at the end of the day we have a history of race playing a role. we have elderly people being arrested by cops and we're watching these stories in

bewilderment wondering how that could have happened. in this situation, look, all i know is what i read here. >> you don't think race is a part of this at all? >> it's possible. >> it's stupid. i think both. why make it mutually exclusive? >> we're going in circles. we're going to have to stop for a second. >> if gates was white, i'd be as upset as i am now. >> we don't have the time to do it here and now. i can get you a case of a white cambridge professor from the law school getting lugged by the cambridge police for getting locked out of his own home. >> i have a "washington post" article about a white guy whose alarm went off and the police went through his entire house. i've got it. but that doesn't -- i think we have to look at the big picture here. i love this conversation. i love both sides of the story as opposed to one which we have now which is great. and i wonder if the president had -- >> the president is thinking about three things this morning, health care, the dow at 9,000 and buehrle throwing a no-hitter in chicago. >> then politically he probably wishes he hadn't. it takes the lead. >> andrea, i don't know if you

want to weigh in. >> he's not -- yeah, he's not backing down. i think it's really interesting and important to know that barack obama, who does not speak often on social issues, who has not spoken often on race, they had the whole question in the campaign how long it took him to devote himself to the race issue and only after reverend wright became such an important factor that he had to give the speech in philadelphia and did that one so brilliantly politically and socially. but this is an important moment for this president. he has spoken out on something. yes, it has taken him off message but he's not backing down and that's a fascinating insight into barack obama and the man he is. >> it is. andrea mitchell, thank you very much. up next, more sound from the cambridge police officer coming

in to msnbc, his version of why he arrested professor gates. also, we'll talk with the moderator of "meet the press" david gregory. plus, headlines out of the white house with chuck todd. and after the break, miami police chief john timoney for his take on the arrest. in six different ways? introducing listerine® total care. everything you need to strengthen teeth, help prevent cavities, and kill germs. introducing 6 in 1 listene® total care. the most complete mouthwash. and to complete your oral care routine add superior plaque removal in places that are hard to reach with reach® toothbrush and floss. get the complete routine, reach® and listerine tot care.

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he was the one being provocative. this wasn't a back and forth exchange, a banter or arguing. this was one-sided. i think there is a picture in one of the local newspapers where you can -- he's already in handcuffs but i'm in the background asking him to calm down and relax and that was going on throughout the entire exchange. although i didn't know at the time who professor gates was. knowing he was an affiliate of harvard, i didn't want to take such a drastic action because i

knew it would bring a certain amount of attention, unwanted attention, on me. nonetheless, that's how far professor gates pushed it and provoked and wouldn't stop. >> we continue this conversation now with miami police chief john timoney. we heard officer crowley talking about what happened. i'm sure you've looked at the police report. from all the information coming in and you're looking at this from the outside coming in, but do you think the officer behaved appropriately? >> well, first and foremost, this thing has really spun out of control. i have a rule if you ask the mayor of miami when we had these high-profile incidents, what's the first rule? the first information you get is always wrong and so there's a need to take a time-out, right, and then get the facts and then

react. listen, let's calm down, look at the 911 tapes, the call, interview the officer, interview professor gates and then some dispassionate player, the mayor, the chief, gives the findings and put together a small group to find out the findings. you can see this thing breaking down along a whole lot of lines, racial lines. >> good point. >> when you see it breaking down -- i love that. when this first broke, we were hearing one side of it. and race came into it very quickly. the information now, is it possible that race is not a part of the story at all? is this a possibility? >> oh, listen, obviously, it's a very good possibility but we find the police all the time, we find ourselves in very precarious situations you know is not going to come to any good.

i tell my cops all the time you can sense where a situation is getting out of control. just walk away and be done with it. sometimes it's difficult. it's not that easy and so this is a typical situation. i guarantee you that police officer doesn't want to be where he is now. unfortunately this is where it is. >> keeping what you've just said in mind, what do you make of the president's comments and the use of the word stupidly pertaining to what happened to this professor and him being arrested? >> i'm not going to wade into that. are you crazy? >> come on, chief. >> i'm not that dumb. >> my gosh. you've just actually answered the question because, i mean, look, you've got cops out here who are trying to do their best and you've got issues pertaining to race that are still very heated in the country and they're running up against each other with the president

stepping into it and i guess from the conversation we're having here, there is some reason for me to believe that i really like that he has, that he's touching on what is still a very kind of difficult national emotional pertaining to racism. having touched on that he indicted cops on a way using the word stupidly. >> i think that's what is so important. he didn't indict cops. he said in this specific incidence. i think you have to be careful of broad brushes. in this particular case he's not saying every cop. >> still he branded the entire department. it wasn't he waded in. he was asked a question. obviously he's the president. he can't remain mum on the situation. i don't think he voluntarily weighed in. the police officer, this is not a case of racial profiling where

the professor self-initiates a stop, whether the vehicle stop or pedestrian stop, this is a situation where he's responding to a 911 call from a neighbor who says two guys are burglarizing a home. >> a home that had been -- >> a little different. >> let me ask you a question. you were number two in the new york police department. you ran philadelphia for years. now you're in miami. is there anything more difficult other than the obvious, other than a death, anything to deal with than a racially charged situation which this has become and how do you deal with it once it's exploded like this? >> good question. >> well, it's very difficult. i've had a few in my career. you might remember we had an incident in philadelphia that was -- the brutality issue highly racially charged and what you really have to do is get out in front of these things. don't sit back as the chief.

get out in front, call for calm, call for time-out, and guarantee there will be an investigation, no facts will be left uncovered and beg for cooler heads to prevail. when there's a major vacuum and no one is stepping up front, people ought to come in. we're of the same opinion. >> you want to ask the chief a question? i have one if you don't. >> chief, a question to you here, whenever these sort of situations happen, i feel almost reflexively at times the police organizations close ranks. is there any sense in your mind that that's a mistake, one of the contributors to becoming explosive is that there's a sense that there's a reflective reaction on the part of police in closing ranks and not saying, as you said, sometimes maybe not this one but there may be instances in which our officers have done the wrong thing. >> absolutely. i'm not talking about this one but there is a tendency on 0 the part of all groups to kind of

defend their own and so you have the police ub yons come out right away. sometimes it's helpful. most times it's not. but that's the importance of the chief or the mayor getting out right away. you can spot a bad situation and you say, whoops, let me get out here right away and control this. >> i think we'll leave it there. >> my family lives in miami. thank you for being a good chief. >> i had breakfast with your father a few weeks ago. >> i love it. >> small world. >> thank you, sir. >> what are you doing in boston? >> don't tell her. >> what are you doing in boston? >> i'll be over at harvard later on doing a session of police and the media with mike. >> barnicle? >> yeah, we are, and then we're going to the ball game. >> great. that's terrific. >> chief, thanks very much. have a great time. keep barnicle in line, will you? >> it's a difficult task.

>> yes, i know. coming up, the latest headlines out of the white house with chuck todd. (man) i'm rethinking everything...

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on quality and thoughtfulness rather than to jam something through. >> welcome back to "morning joe." here with us now, nbc news chief white house correspondent, nbc news political director chuck todd. chuck, good morning. let's get to some of the other headlines this morning including health care on hold. this is potentially, i guess, bad news for the white house. >> reporter: well, thank goodness for the gates controversy it covers up the really bad day they had on health care. it was sort of an uncomfortable joke behind the scenes at the white house, but the fact is the lead story all last night and this morning and all we would be talking about is, guess what, the president set a deadline and congress is missing it. and we're not talking about it. we'll let other people decide whether it's a good thing or a bad thing politically that we're not talking about it and we're focused on the gates story.

either way, neither story is a good headline. on health care it is, you know, this is the frustration that they have had with one person in the united states senate and that is max baucus. he is writing this bill. he has been waiting and waiting. he had a 200-page white paper that he wrote about health care, about seven months ago that was, you know, should have been a hint to the white house that he was going to be methodical about this and he certainly has been methodical. the question now is are they going to get a bill out of the house? yesterday afternoon after reid made those comments, harry reid phoned the white house, told rahm emanuel that, look, he's going to say this. it's not happening. maybe they'll get it all out of committee. rahm goes down to the house yesterday and starts -- we don't know if he was cracking heads but was making a major case, you guys should still get your bill through the house before the

recess. we'll see. >> chuck, let me ask you, is it your sense within the white house this could come down sometime in the fall, september or october, to a contest between ideology and frag ma tichl over baucus' strong feeling to things like taxing health benefits? are they going to stick rigidly to ideology in the white house rather than to pragmatism and get something done? >> reporter: no, no, no, no. this white house is determined to sign something before the end of the year. they will sign something before the end of the year. the political price for doing nothing is much higher than the political price for compromising in their point of view. now there will be others that will disagree with this and, in fact, already we are seeing a big fight that could take place over this idea of a public insurance plan run by the government. there are some inside the democratic party and activist who is believe this should be the line in the sand that the president should not sign a bill that doesn't have this. there are others particularly some conservative democrats

including ken conrad from north dakota and also some republicans who are onboard right now like chuck grassley, owe lim olympia frankly explaining it is very difficult but it's not -- it wouldn't be seen as a totally public plan. it would be some sort of public/private, kind of the way utilities, credit unions are run, trying to create a public system in that form. well, there are some, there was a report in "the washington post," some who don't even want the co-op plan in who want more time to build support for that. so you could have a huge political fight, ideological fight on that one issue. on how to pay for this thing, look, plenty of pragmatism going around on this. but the one line in the sand could be this issue of a public insurance option. >> chuck, let's talk on the president's comments. he's made two on the gates

controversy out of boston. "the washington post" has it on their front page and citing it was highly unusual for a president to step into a case like this on a personal level. what are you hearing behind the scenes of the white house in terms of whether they regret that he did it or regret the way he did it, the word he used or not at all? >> reporter: look, publicly you're not going to hear them say they regret anything. privately you get the sense and even talking with some obviously they wish they could take away the stupidity comment. you get rid of that and there are some wondering where would this so-called controversy be today without that single word, number one. two, they don't take back -- look, they told -- they prepared the president beforehand for the possibility that this question about gates was going to get asked. so clearly the president thought

this was a good time to bring up and felt comfortable talking about using this incident as a way to talk about the broader issue of racial profiling and the fact is until any -- until any of us that aren't african-american or latino have been racially profiled, we don't know -- we don't understand the issue as personally and as passionately as somebody who has been racially profiled so i think he did it feel the need -- thought it wasn't a bad idea to bring up the broader issue. i think that word stupidity is a doover they'd leak to have. >> chuck todd, thank you very much. >> reporter: you've got it, guys. >> interesting. we'll talk more about this. carlos is ready to go. you know what, i think it's interesting and i think there are interesting societal issues and controversies we can go over. we have to talk about health care and this situation. david gregory, moderator of "meet the press" is coming up. he'll give us a preview of his

exclusive interview with hillary clinton this sunday morning. - hi. - crowd: hi!

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all right. live pictures of las vegas. okay. that's where he was. not where david gregory, our next guest, is going anytime soon. but let's -- before we get -- david, good morning. the moderator of "meet the

press." thanks for joining us this morning. you've got hillary clinton this sunday, great guest and great timing because of this little back and forth between the secretary of state, willie, and north korea. can you set it up for us because she started it, some would argue. >> the secretary of state, who was once the mother of a urge at that, chelsea now a grown woman, said north korea reminds me of the unruly child, they just kind of act out at certain moments. so north korea fires bang at our secretary of state. mind you this is a country led by a small man who wears pant suits. we cannot but regard mrs. clinton as a funny lady as she is unaware of the etiquette in the international community. sometimes she looks like a primary schoolgirl and sometimes a pensioner going shopping. >> david gregory -- >> ouch. >> -- this doesn't sound like they're getting along too well. >> and you don't have much evidence ever that the u.s. and

north korea are. this takes it to a new level at a time the administration is deliberately ratcheting up the heat on north korea. they recently passed u.n. resolutions that allows international forces to interdict vessels coming out of north korea if they might be trying to transfer nuclear materials to other countries so there's a tightening of the screws going on here and the north says we're not going to be part of the six-party talks. the larger question in all of this is are there any real levers here? any real leverage the u.s. has with north korea when it's trying to deter it from not only sharing a nuclear weapons technology? so i think for our chief diplomat to be engaged in that raises some real questions about where all that's going. also, don't forget there are these two u.s. journalists held captive right now by the north koreans. what does that trading of

insults mean for them as well? >> really good point. >> i think it's probably pretty easy for most americans including a lot of americans in the news business, to forget the fact that we remain a nation at war. a couple of different fronts, iraq and afghanistan. we have special envoys, dick holbrooke, dealing with afghanistan. george mitchell dealing with the middle east, not necessarily iraq. but do you think you can get a glimmer from the secretary of state this sunday about the weight she is carrying now the president and his administration is seemingly preoccupied with health care and these two wars still exist? where are we going here? >> the six-month mark for hillary clinton in the role of secretary of state, she's logged 100,000 miles around the world and i think you're right. a lot of that without notice because of the president's playing a leading role on foreign policy and a leading role on everything else as well and now preoccupied with health care reform. i think you're right, mike, you have particularly afghanistan

which is a place where we're sending more troops, 17,000 additional troops, where we have the highest death toll to date, where this is really taking a turn. there's calls from senator john mccain and others we need additional troops. there's a big debate going on whether great britain's troops should remain. there are a lot of questions about what it is we're doing there, what we're actually fighting for. so she's managing that as well as these other hot spots including iran and in concert with these special envoys it raises the question what's the role she's trying to create, the path she's trying to create and how is it working between a powerful vice president on foreign policy and a very public, very vocal president on all matters. >> carlos watson? >> david, what kind of conversation do you expect to have with her on china? north korea, iran, afghanistan, iraq are going to be front and center but as we talk about so much trying to ultimately

intersect including the north korea issue and, oh, by the way, health care because they're probably going to help finance whatever we ultimately do. >> she's going to meet the secretary of state next week with tim geithner, the treasury secretary, obviously talk about the economy but, you know, it's so interesting on some of the most difficult problems that the united states faces overseas. north korea and iran. we're so heavily dependent on others, on china, on russia, and nowhere is that more the case than in north korea. the chinese basically keep the lights on in north korea and most americans may not know that. the question is what's it going to take for the chinese to really solve this problem? they're the ones who really seem to have to be perfesuaded on th. there's a feeling covering these matters during the bush administration and those officials said, look, the chinese don't want a refugee problem from north korea. there's a security concern. do the chinese want a unified korea on their doorstep that has

a close allegiance with the united states? these are the very difficult questions the secretary of state is going to have to get into in the months ahead. >> it will be interesting to see that exclusive interview on sunday. david, talk to us about, if you could, the -- if you could characterize what kind of a political setback this headline is, health reform deadline in doubt. if this doesn't make it, what does it mean for this presidency and politically the consequences here? >> i think it's huge. i think the president has defined this as his signature legislative achievement. the danger of delay is you've got this big pinata waiting to be whacked. that's where the president is, and he recognizes the more time this is sort of hung out there that the opponents of this thing, opponents of any sort of real reform, are growing in strength. they're finding additional arguments. from the white house point of view it's this coalition they've

got. interested parties that aligned against the white house in '93 that have largely stuck with the president and the white house on this now because there was a sense of inevitability about the reform. if that sense is lost, that's what becomes so dangerous. the white house maintains that the deadline was helpful. even if they take the hit for it passing because they got a lot of committee work done and i think it's priemature to count anything out at this stage because the white house is pushing so hard but, again, they're going to make them sweat it out even longer. >> david, not to sound sexist but can you give us an idea what you might be wearing sunday or is it too early? >> mike, i have two responses to that. one is i'm offended. two, i haven't decided yet. >> all right. david gregory, thanks. >> i'm offended, thank you. >> i have to sit next to this man this morning. that's all i'm going to say.

but we'll be watching you this sunday on "meet the press." you are introduced to secretary of state hillary clinton. david, thank you very much. and harold ford jr., thank you as well. coming up, the dow is back at 9,000. how long can it stay there? we're going to talk about that with dylan ratigan. hope he hasn't had his coffee. and up next editor of "the new york times" book review and week in review, an amazing piece on the gates story. sam tannen haas right here on the set. you're watching "morning joe." undefeated professional boxer floyd "money" mayweather

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it's very, very important, as far as i am concerned, for these two people to come together, and throw out every bit of eagle or whatever they have, and say this is what happened. you don't have to apologize to each other, or shake hands. you sit together and you say to the public, this is what happened. so people can go on about their lives without worrying about what color one happens to be and whether that color was right or wrong. >> we're getting both sides of the story, about the controversy

of the arrested professor gates in came beige. we will read about that in the weekend review of the "new york times." and with us now, sam tanenhaus. we will start there. you, one of your major stories in the weekend review or pieces is by helene cooper. does she bring a new perspective. >> several weeks ago, a around the time the sotomayor hearings were approaching, i wanted somebody to write the story about a minority class. you went back to the wisemen

so-called in the cold wear era, and then a group that came in with bill clinton's generation. we were looking at president obama and sonia sotomayor as people that came through and gained power in the age of the affirmative action. whether or not they were benefici beneficiaryairies of it. so we went to helene cooper, who is really a foreign policy expect, and she is from liberia. she wrote a brilliant memoir about it. this was not going to be a race story. in the middle of reporting the story, the gates story happens. that raised the paradox for

people of color who are on the 100 the most predominant people. and that's the paradox of leadership if you come out of that particular background. she is reporting it from all sides. she talked to skip gates, who i have known for years, and is also looking in the idea of who really runs america today, and can you run america on the one hand and feel yourself to be a second class citizen on the other. it's a new situation in our culture. >> talk about bringing texture to a story. that should be good. >> one of the things that i think should be in the piece, what has been progress in terms

of the ratioce, sotomayor, or obama, there still remains an isolation when it comes to blacks and whites. this is an isolation about the way we converse about it, we are reluctant to talk about it for fear of being called racists. >> to what extend do we remain strangers? we don't know. >> i have been getting e-mails because i wanted to know more about the cops side of it, and i felt like we had one side. e-mails, the most hate-filled e-mails calling me a racists because -- we have an issue. and this story touches on it, i think. and bill cosby's point was can this be a constructive

moment. barack obama for a bunch of reasons may have an opportunity to do more with it. >> it will be an instructive moment until the next moment. the book review by bill straefer, so you have a good book. >> sam tanenhaus, thank you once again. good to see you. coming up next, the host of msnbc's "morning meeting" with dylan ratigan joining us. >> really? >> i am sorry. we have to. we are trying to help out the network. "morning joe," brewed by starbucks.

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here is los angeles it's the top of the hour. people might be just waking up or still sleeping. in vegas, they are up. oh, they are up. willie, are you celebrating that sight? >> yeah, i am. >> and st. louis. very pretty, sun coming up over the arch. washington, d.c. i think it's the white house. that's a nice shot. the lincoln memorial. hazy there in washington. and summers are always hot in

washington. here in new york city, it looks like we will have a sunny day. guess why, every one? joe is off today. i am mika brzezinski. welcome to morning swr"morning." what is it with him and the rain? it's sunny when he is off. >> i bet where he is there is no rain. >> yeah, really? >> we have the story out of cambridge, which we are getting a lot more about the story. we have the police report, and we have a lot of different opinions, including a new one from the president and he stands by his comments.

and i am conflicted about that. and name calling out of north korea. you would not believe what they called hillary clinton. and would they do that to a woman? just kidding. >> the chicken soaked in rain. >> who did they say about that? >> former president, george w. bush. >> and i know, this is local new york, but is nothing sacred. we have legislators and mayors and rabbis under arrest in a new takedown in new jersey. and there is kidneys flying. let's get a look at today's top story. president bomb is bushing off the decision to delay health care until after the august break. >> we may not be able to get the bill out of the senate by the

end of oaugust or the beginning of august. that's okay. i just want people to keep on working. just keep working. i want the bill to get out of the committees and then i want that bill to go to the floor and then be reconciled between the house and senate and then i want to sign a bill. i want it done by the end of this year. i want it done by the fall. meanwhile, the president is defending his criticism of the cambridge police department when he said acted stupidly in the arrest of gates. >> i am surprised by the controversy, because i think it was a pretty straightforward commentary that you don't need to cuff a guy, a middle aged guy that uses a cane who is in his own home.

and i respect what police officers do, from what i can tell the sergeant that was involved is an outstanding police officer, but my suspicion is it would have been better for them to have prefailed. >> the amount of negative things they are saying about me warranted a responsibility for people to see that i am not a monster or bigot or racists for them to portray me as.

>> let's kick this around a little bit. and carlos, have you been vocal on this and you and i are trying to come to an understanding as to what really happened, but the guy is being portrayed as a racists. he is being portrayed by professor gates. is that true? >> i push back on that. i think there is a distinction between calling somebody a racists, and race animated what he did. if i were a white guy and the only thing we change is my skin color was white, i would not have walked out in handcuffs.

>> that makes it racists. >> and once we know all that was said and done, we may say race did not fully an mate this, if all is said and done, i think it's a stupid thing with a 68-year-old -- >> 58. >> 68? >> carlos, do you understand his point of view in the concern that he is being painted as a racist and bigot. is that fair? >> i think that's the real problem. i think if he is being portrayed as a racist and a bigot, that's -- >> but is that a problem? >> well, no if. he has been portrayed as that. >> guys, come on. there is a difference -- you

guys are just melting them together, you are saying the guy that did the varsity training, and the guy that has a wide range of friends, and say, you know what, you are a good guy, but in this instance you acted in a way you would have acted if the guy was right. >> that's not what people are saying about him, including the professor. he has been -- when this story broke, it was -- there were people hyperventilating on all networks, saying this is was racial profiling at it's worse, and come on, what has happened to this guy's career. do you think it's fair given the details that we know now, do you think it's fair that there has been a rush to judgment in the public realm? >> i don't think that it's a rush to judgment. i am really clear, again, on two things. i am clear in my belief, and i

think mike is, too, the guy reporting in boston on this story, if professor gates would have been white, he would not have walked out in handcuffs. and i think there is an ability to analyze and -- because we never have all the facts, right? >> here is why i will disagree with that. it has nothing to do with race, and everything to do with two men butting heads. i will tell you now having witnesses situations of my own with men that i am close to, watching two men kind of get their back up, it leads to things kind of escalating in a way that would not happen if there were a woman involved. >> you are shaking your head. go ahead. >> i think we have a problem where black men have more

problems with the law in general, and have a harder time getting everything from taxees, and get pulled over more and more tickets, and you have ans in incident like this, and we have an officer trained in racial profiling, and these are two men used to getting respect, and it brings up in this country law enforcement statistically is far more aggressive in the arrests and incarcerations, and this is an opportunity -- forget whether this was racism or not, this is an opportunity, the same as the financial crisis, to be honest about the fact that at this point in america we treat black men in law enforcement in a way that is very different than we treat other men in this 81 trecountry.

>> i don't know if that's fair. >> it's fair, and it's bringing up the issue. >> race plays no role in this. >> what do you think? >> i think there is a chance that race played no role in it and there are questions on both sides. that doesn't make me a racist, it makes me a journalists just asking questions. you are having this question on the back of a white cop that will be painted for the rest of his life as a racist. >> i disagree with you. i will exonerate this cop in any way the facts bear out. this is a situation in america, the relationship between law enforcement and black people in this country, and there is an inherent overreaction, right? when somebody feels that they have been mistreated for a very long time, in the perception of a slight encouragement, and you

are saying maybe race was not an issue, but the treatment between black men and police enforcement in this country is what is it, and why not talk about that? >> i think that's fair, carlos. i don't know what it's like. i don't know -- i don't know what it feels like. i don't like using this guy when nobody knows. >> do you remember the case of the houston texasen football player, who was trying to rush in to see his mother before she died, and if i described that case to you or most people. there is no way they would believe that actually happened. if i described it, no, there are more to it. we are fortunate that some of it was taped, otherwise people would have said that's too ridiculous to belief that this guy would cop from holding his

mother out even from seeing his mother-in-law. doctors came out and nurses came out. if that's happening to a football player there in that sort of situation, and i think it's not realistic to not acknowledge that as dylan shares, the data is clear that race was a fact in that interaction between race and the situation. >> if you want to make the conclusion that the policing here was not good, and racial -- >> we should talk about this, because it's an important topic. and white people don't talk about race as much as we ought to. one thing you cannot do is you cannot read to what was in the cop's heart. we don't know whether race was a

factor or not. >> you would not believe what is coming in on my blackberry from people hacking into my in box, people that want to say that i am a racists. i need to talk about the stock market. chris, what are you getting, because you are being flooded with e-mails, the show is. give me a sense of what people are saying? do i want to know? >> everybody on the set with the exception of willie is called a racist. >> except carlos? >> no, not except carlos. everybody but willie. mike barnicle. >> instead of going after the cop or after gates or after the president or carrying on about

it, the most productive conversation that can come of this in my opinion, the emotional charge, the intensity of that emotion is a reflection of the fact that the way black men, specifically, are treated or believe themselvesed to be treated and the statistics bare it out, and that's different than the way other people are treated. >> i don't believe that. i have already done enough. but we do need to talk more. when this calms down, we will. i want to ask about the stock market. 9000. can we hang on to it? >> if we can create jobs, the stock market will go up. we have alerted theapock lips.

and in order to avert that last fall, the u.s. government took all the debts from those banks, or the ones they were rendering insolvent and gave them to the u.s. taxpayer. that's why we have $13.9 trillion, which is $50,000 per person in america held against the taxpayer right now. that's the bad news, right? that's the cost of the parachute. the good news is, the dow is good news that the debt is being stuck with the taxpayer has served its intended purpose, which was to stabilize the economy to avoid complete

layoffs, and payroll issues, and -- >> what corporate dysfunction -- we have to pay off the debt and we have to find out who created the system in the congress and banking universe, where there are security risks, $14 trillitrillio trillion. >> what does that mean to a machinists who is unemployed in ohio? >> well, it could mean day trading. >> the only way to day trade is if you can determine how jobs are going to be created in america. >> what is day trading? >> i go in today, buy, sell, whatever. >> you go and and buy and sell stocks individually.

>> the debts created in new york, and why did they create them? because the more credit i extend the more money i can pay myself. all of a sudden, the game of hot potato -- i buy something for $25, and then sell it for $31, $32, $33, and the hot potato went up to hundreds in volume. and then we say, hang on, that is worth 25 bucks. they took it away from the banks and gave that to the taxpayer, but left the bonuses with the people that created the debts. and this is why the biggest cover up in all of history. because the creation of the debt

was done at the expense of the national security of america. we cannot defend ourselves to china or other places. if china invaded taiwan today, what would america say to them? enjoy yourselves, gentlemen. good news is, the bail out worked. >> dylan, is nothing sacred? wow, this story in new jersey, we have a rabbi and mayors and state legislators under arrest. and kidneys for sale. my, lord. is nothing sacred? >> i am going to pick up more

kidneys going into the weekend. >> we should not make these jokes, and we should not, but we are. >> that was a money party. >> the problem is the taxpayer owns the results -- >> look at him. >> you are just our crazy quota of the show. coming up, pulitzer prize winning columnists, eugene robinson. and we will speak with dr. tom price, as well as congressman dave camp. we'll be back with more "morning joe."

>> i was surprised and disappointed that the president did not have all the facts then weighed in on the events of that night and made a comment that, you know, really offended not just officers in the cambridge police department but officers around the country. with that being said, i have a tremendous amount of respect and support the president of the united states and everything that he is trying to do in this day and age. i think it's disappointing. [ engine revving ] [ engine powers down ] gentlemen, you booked your hotels on orbitz. well, the price went down, so you're all getting a check thanks. for the difference. except for you -- you didn't book with orbitz, so you're not getting a check. well, i think we've all learned a valuable lesson today. good day, gentlemen. thanks a lot. thank you. introducing hotel price assurance, where if another orbitz customer books the same hotel for less, we send you a check for the difference, automatically.

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what is the cost of not reforming our health care? the cost of doing nothing means

rising copays and out of pocket expenses. families faced with paying the mortgage or health care. but some leading republicans vowed to kill reform. tell republicans the cost of doing nothinging on health care is just too high. >> here with us now, and welcome back to "morning joe," republican senate from georgia, and chairman of the republican study committee, tom price. and republican representative from michigan and ranking member of the weighs and means committee, dave camp. congressman price, i will start with you. the doctor, and also as an american, is there any reason why we should wait on health care reform? a lot of people say if we wait we will have what we have had for decades, which is no action.

>> the status quo is unacceptable. but the question is are we going to do the right thing or wrong thing. and the ad that was just up was the cost of doing nothing. but right now what is on the table is to have a government takeover, so there is an individual between you and your doctor. that's not what the american people want. there are positive solutions that we ought to be able to embrace in a bipartisan way in washington so the american people get the highest quality of health care and the greatest access at a reasonable cost. >> willie geist here, and your colleague just talked about making changes. what are some of those. if obama's plan is not the way to go, we all agree we need to do something, and briefly, what would you do? >> well, first, republicans cannot block anything. they have a 50-vote margin in the house, and what we ought to

do is take the cost out of health care. we have three ways to do that. we think there should be some law to reform. we know the duplication and extra tests that get ordered because doctors are practicing defensive medicine. and we should have small businesses pull together to get a lower cost policy, and bring cost down that way. thirdly, we think that there should be some anti-fraud provisions in health care. somebody should not be able to set up a fraud operation in florida, and then move to texas and do the same thing all over again. we need to strengthen the inspector general in that regard. these are common sense ideas that the american people think ought to be included in health care reform. >> the president of the united states said to me through the television, if i like my health care plan i keep my health care

plan. if i like my doctor, i keep my doctor. i think i just heard you say that this plan means government intervention and government bureau krats dictating to me what i can do. >> my sense is the president has not read the bill before the committees and on the floor of the house has a stipulation that within five years every single health plan, every single health insurance policy in this nation must look exactly the same. what that means to me and folks across the land who may have health insurance policies that don't look just like that, you won't be able to keep it. in fact, one group did a study that demonstrated more than 100 million americans will be moved -- >> what is that group?

>> it's a study group. a nonpartisan private study group that looks at public policies and issues. >> who funds them? >> they are a foundation. what they have shown is over 100 million americans will be forced to the government-run program. that ought to give pause to everybody. and we believe we ought to sit down in a bipartisan way and come up with solutions available to us. >> congressman camp, carlos watson here. i appreciate you pointing out those points. do you think republicans being responsible legislators should work through the recess on the pressing questions, as more and more americans are laid offer in your home state and losing insurance? >> we think health care reform is important. it needs to be done. the sooner the better. but i think the american people are saying to do it right.

i am certainly willing to stay and work on this as long as it takes. i don't think it would hurt to hear from the constituents. so i am not sure being home for a time is all that bad, but i am willing to do what it takes. thank you. coming up, washington post's eugene robinson. guys, stop sending notes. these are special men sitting with me, and usually they don't send notes. we will go to the new york stock exchange when we come back. in six different ways?

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i have to say, i guess, today everybody is a white sox fan. somebody just asked me, what is more exciting, that or the dow going over 9,000? i promise you a perfect game. that's great.

>> mark buehrle. a big white sox fan. >> he got help from a teammate in the ninth inning. >> yeah, and we will talk about that in a minute. that was the second to the last out. >> he bobbled the ball and held on to it. >> let's get a check on the 9000 number for the dow. are they excited about that today? >> i am wondering if he is going to get him a gift. that's unbelievable. yeah, and even though we are above 9000. there is definitely a bullish sentiment. and we had earnings results from a microsoft and american express and capital one. and here is a statistic.

one out of every 10 dollars being lent is being held out. and where were you in 1992 -- where >> you were not drunk yet, were you? >> no, i was in high school, i was drunk. >> well, right now, amazon and microsoft, it has dragged down a little bit. there is bullish sentiment. the dow is down about 30 points in premarket trading. and it will be a real sign of strength in the market if it holds up today. >> unemployment is still huge, and major problems in the economy. we are making too much of the 9,000 number? >> well, on the way down they pulled the half back out to show

the irony of it. there is no doubt. some people say the stock market discounts in the future, six to nine months ahead. when the jobs really start to hurt the economy we go back down before we come up. but listen, people are happy right now with what is going on. but will, i agree, still concern. we are still losing jobs. when people gain jobs in the economy, then i will feel better. >> it will be a while for that. have a great weekend. >> i grew up reading barnicle, by the way, in boston, massachusetts. >> you still did okay, that's good to know. >> that was the least popular one in my household. coming up, pulitzer prize

winner, eugene robinson. he will weigh in on the gates situation. can't wait to hear his position.

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the amount of negative things that are not true that he was saying about me, and it warranted a response to allow people to see that i am not the monster or racist or bigot that he portrayed me to be. this is me. >> with the pulitzer prize winner columnist for "the posts," eugene robinson. eugene, that was the officer in question on this big story perfe pertaining to professor gates. does it change anything in the

coverage of this story and the portraying of the officer of the racists, that happened from the get go whether it was meant to or not, it happened. does it change anything? >> no, not for me. if you take the police report as gospel and his account of the incident as gospel, what you have is a police officer that stupidly let a situation get out of control. gates was never a threat to him or anybody. he was in his own house. when gates walked out on to the porch, the sergeant just was annoyed at this guy that kept giving him lip and decided to cuff him and walk away. and i have no doubt, if it had been another brilliant, famous, and sometimes arrogant harvard professor, that happened to be white, like larry summers, i

have absolutely no doubt that the incident would not have ended with larry summers being led away in handcuffs. it would not have happened. mika, you know how i love you, but you keep doing something this morning that is wrong, that ends the conversations that continues it. i believe that the sergeant's actions were in part animated or motivated by racial bias. that does not believe that i think he is a racists. i do not know who is a racists. i don't know what is inside their heads. or their hearts. but that ends the discussion, when you say you called me a racist, and i am not a racist, and that -- that means that we don't have to talk about the actions -- >> eugene, eugene, let me

respond to that. >> i am capable of acting in ways that are inappropriate that are animated by racial bias, and i should be called on that. >> i like the conversation, and it's just as important to hear the other part of the story and raise the question as to whether or not potentially there was no race involved here, no issue of race. listen, i cannot even begin to know what it's like to be an african-american growing up in america. okay. i cannot begin to bring that mindset and world view to the stable. what i can do, want to know as a journalists, the other side of the story. when this story came out it was all one side and all about race and all about a racists cop. i don't think that's fair either. i think we need to look at both sides. >> let me add to what eugene is saying. >> eugene, please responsibility first. >> carlos, and let me second everything that you said

earlier, but mika, it just seems to me if you look at what we know of the incident, again, if you take the police report as gospel, as gospel -- >> i am not. >> not every story has two equal sides. it seems to me a guy who is 58 years old, who -- claims to be five sevwell, he is really abou 5'5", and he is -- this cannot be right. i cannot imagine the situation in which -- or a set of circumstances, if you take the police report as gospel, i

cannot see how you say this was the right thing to do. >> that's different than race. let me read you something, because i am not taking gates's story as gospel, or the sergeant's report as gospel. the sergeant says i am the sergeant and i am investigating a report of break in at this resident. and immediately, he opened the door and said why, because i am a black man in america? and if that is true, and we question everything, who made it about race first? >> i believe something happened before that, though. >> a call came to the police department. >> well, right, but didn't he before that ask or order gates to come out of the house? so this man just arrived at home

and his door is blocked and he is not in the best of moods, and he is in his own house trying to get the door fixed. and there is a cop on his porch ordering him to come out, and clearly, indicating by what he says, he has some suspicion that he is a burglar in the house. again, it's absolutely right for him to be there. i am not saying that he has done anything wrong so far. but, you know, from the point of view of skip gates, this is -- this is an insult in a large sense. >> but you are not answering my question. you are not answering my question. i am just raising the question as to who potentially made this about race first?

>> i think skip gates and a lot of other people would argue the cop did. they would argue that -- eugene, just because they argue doesn't mean it rights. but i am answering the question. they would argue that eugene robinson put it to bed saying if lar larry summers -- >> but we don't know that. >> it's about race now, we know that. but long before it came about race, you have a police officer starnding in the porch of a home, and he is not going into the house, and he asked if the man could come out, and the man says why, because i am allegedly -- come on, who raises the issue of race first? >> we don't know for sure,

because -- >> that's one of the answers. that's the ons that we are focused on. >> eugene robinson, last word. >> one quick thing. what matters is, why did he get arrested? if the only thing that happened is they had an argument, and gates ended up saying, gee, i think this was a racist thing and the cop said no, i don't know where i come down on that. but why did he arrest the man in his own house just for walking out and giving him lip, would he have done that to a white professor? >> i have tremendous respect for you, gene, and carlos, and none for you, actually, dylan. this has been tough. i know that i am putting myself out there and trying to understand this. i really am. i am getting so much hate mail,

more than ever. >> don't worry about it. >> i am trying my best here. >> don't stop having the conversation, because it doesn't happen often. >> we'll be right back. welcome to the now network. currently, thousands of people

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the parliamentary brawl. it has become a grand tradition in marlaments across asia. wild overreaction to a mild legislative disagreement. we don't care why they were fighting in the south korean parliament this week, we are just glad that we were. as is typical in your garden variety parliamentary brawl, there was plenty of slapping, and hair pulling, and awkward man wrestling. that's good. but did you see the spak down on c-span this week. number two, the passing of an american i ccon. a talking chihuahua. it all makes sense.

but we were forced to go without the dog that starred in the taco bell. she was 15 years old, and died quietly at her home on wednesday. her trainer remembered her this week as a consumate professional. she will be remembered as a pioneer. and the number one story of the week. the rebirth of an imaginy controversy. there are new accusations that president obama is not a u.s.

citizen. >> why are you people ignoring his birth certificate. i want my country back. >> we can agree hawaii is recognized as a state by the federal government and obama was born there, and even has the birth certificate to prove it. that's the way to deal with this. mail this certificate to the wing of your party, and -- >> i am looking at a camera. >> and america also celebrated 40 years since the moon landing took place at a tv studio in burba burbank. >> that's one small step for man -- >> cut. and then august 16th, the anniversary of the day elvis did not really die. he is still alive, and we'll be right back.

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what we learned today? i think safe to say, i think we are all still learning. who is coming up on your show. >> samuel l. jackson. >> i love him. >> willie? >> if you finds yourself at 5:30, tune in with "way too early." dylan, take it away. have a great weekend, mika. what a show we have for you

today. warren buffett in just a second. one of the greatest pickers. imagine a man that could make $60 billion. and also here, the race debate. the exposion we have seen over the prominent black scholar, by a cop who is an expect in racial profiling. we tapped a nerve on the relationship between black men and that police. and we are joined by the reverend jesse jackson. and then keeping the collateral, and at this point a secret. why is the fed fighting ron paul in congress to keep the secret of what the banks brought in last fall away from the taxpayer, while the taxpayer is

responsible for what is in those banks. it's friday, and time for the "morning meeting"'s review of movies. what did former government, eliot spitzer and jonathan want to see this weekend? we will ask him, and eliot spitzer for the next two hours. 9:00 a.m., and it's time to get to work. welcome come. a great and exciting day for us here. again, warren buffett joins us, which is interesting purely because this is a man that made $60 billion picking winners in the economy. that's what we need. and jesse jackson talking race relations, and congresswoman, loretta sanchez, and she is said to be under