cambridge police department or sergeant crowley specifically. i could have calibrated those words differently. >> the comments come just hours after a group of massachusetts police officers gave a show of support to sergeant crowley. they asked the president to apologize and with an interview, crowley says he did not want to arrest gates, but felt he had to. >> i really didn't want to have to take such a drastic action because i knew it would bring unwanted attention on me. never the less, that's how far he pushed it and just wouldn't stop. >> and professor gates says some are trying to protect the police officer. >> people want to protect the police who are afraid of criminals are looking for

something that i could have done to justify sergeant crowley's actions. there's nothing that i could have done to justify sergeant crowley's actions. >> what comes next? the front page of "the boston herald" -- mike taibbi joins us and this story is moving fast. you now have the president, i believe this is only the second time since his election, that he's interrupted robert gibbs in a briefing to make clear where he stands. >> reporter: it's amazing how far this story has come from monday. the minute president obama used the words acted stupidly, referring to the cambridge police department after admitting at the beginning he didn't know the facts of the case, any veterone would know w

it would go from there. on the police side, they use words like twi rad, it escala escalated. no additional response today from the police following president obama's visit to the press room. of course, the president has admitted on his own part that instead of shedding light on the situation in his words, instead of illuminating the situation, contributed to the media frenzy. >> when the day started, it appeared that heels were dug in on this and even with that big press conference with all the massachusetts police officers coming out and wanting an apology, just minutes ago, you've got the president saying he talked to sergeant crowley ending in having beers at the white house, gates, crowley and the president.

>> reporter: there's been a lot of talk about that. what would it take in terms of negotiations. crowley in 1993 gave mouth to mouth resuscitation to reggie lewis. both guys have extraordinary reputations. one, a world famous figure, another who's details are coming out now. >> is it just about the 911 tapes coming out now? what happens now? >> reporter: i don't know if it's going to have a narrative of the entire incident. there's still a need to know. who said what, as the thing escalated. what's unquestionable is that this discussion about race and law enforcement has been reignited again. >> thank you very much. >> and now the bigger picture.

what president obama said this afternoon. how does that shape the debate over race and racial profiling now? is this the beginning or does it moderate things a bit? mark is a spokesperson for the black law enforcement allianc alliance -- nia, take us through what sort of happened at the white house today and when the decision was made that the president would need to address this to bring it down a notch. >> early on, all the reports from the white house said there wasn't going to be any more comment, but as the day were on, we had comments from the cambridge police essentially backing up the officer in this. the white house clearly realized things weren't being tamped down, so the decision was made that the president needed to weigh in on this.

he called the officer and came out and addressed the press. he didn't apologize, but said that he essentially misspoke and was wrong to kind of ramp things up with calling the officers out for acting stupidly. >> given the way this has gone down, the comment the other night, the comments this afternoon, that people should be mindful that african-americans are sensitive to these issues. what's your view on how the president has handled this? >> i think he's handled it brilliantly and has opened up the opportunity for us to have a significant discussion on the role race plays in law enforcement. as the president indicated, race has -- and whether some want to assume that it's perception, there needs to be several

meetings, not only at the white house, but throughout the nation to deal specifically with this. >> and to add into that, david, we requested of our team to get some numbers so the people could see. it was 2007 that the department of justice did a study on race and traffic stops. blacks are more likely, twice as likely as whites, to be arrested at a traffic stop. when you look at drivers subjected to force or threat of force, that number, 4.4% for african-americans, 1.2% for white. so clint, you have the president speaking about this issue and obviously, people are debating his choice of words, but you can't dispute the numbers and why some would be sensitive to the idea obviously of racial profiling. >> well, i think we're always

sensitive to the issue, but this is not an issue of profiling. it's an issue of communication. communication broke down initially, whether the professor or the police officer or both had some type of chip on their shoulder when the first reaction from the professor is suggesting it had something to do with race. a witness said there was a black male breaking into the house. when the officer gets to the house, he sees a black male in the house. that would be like me going to house and somebody said two people, 4' 5" tall broke in. if i see somebody short, i would say, would you come here, i need to talk to you. i think unfortunately, these two intelligent men, where they

should have been communicating, each one attempted to trump the other. i think the president's statements initially just added. hopefully, the president's going to be the one to help deescalate this situation and as he says, it's time to have a teachable moment. this is it. >> i'm certainly not saying what happened because i don't know and it sounds like beside perception is reality, but how can you say with certainty that it was not racial profiling? can we say one way or the other with certainty here? >> well, you've got a witness who lives in the neighborhood. she says she sees an african-american breaking into the house. the police officer knows that house has been broken into within the last couple of weeks. he goes to the house. he sees the front door has been broken open and sees an african-american standing inside the house.

i think it's reasonable for him to say sir, come here, i need to talk to you. if you haven't been in that situation, not knowing who that guy is, he can pull a knife, a gun. >> we're missing the point. first and foremost, i don't think reasonable people are alleging the police officer acted improperly for responding to the report of a crime. what the concern is is whether after being assured there was no crime being committed that professor gates was in his own home, whether or not this police officer had a obligation to deescalate contact. i think we're missing apples and oranges. he has an obligation to respond. it's what happened afterwards, once he was assured no crime had been committed, whether he acted properly and respectfully to

professor gates and whether or not race plays in part in that. >> and i think they both had a responsibility to deescalate and both men failed at that point. >> and as far as is white house going from here, this is taking away from the discussion he wants to happen on health care. how nervous was the white house today that this was spinning out of control and do they feel they've staunched the bleeding on this? at least politically. >> they were surprised that the fire storm that this ignited. and they very much want to get the focus back on health care and pushing this through. they're not going to make this august deadline, but pushing to get this done by the end of the year. that being said, one does wonder if this kind of summit, whether or not there will be some sort of national conversation about race. it will be interesting to see

the role going forward that the president has on that. >> thank you all very much and tamron, you know, two issues here. first of all, i hate to think that it's suddenly illegal to be mad at a police officer. that seems to be part of the message here. but the way the president's handled it is intriguing. the speed with which the president has been able to recognize that is interesting. >> obviously, being a president, there are high expectations on him. in his book, the president talked about his own personal experiences with racial profiling and i'll read quickly, security guards tailing me as i shop, white couples who toss me their keys, police pulling me over for no reason. i'm not explaining anything away, but this is a personal experience the president wrote about and he talked about cooler

heads prevailing here. >> i think people -- it's very difficult for a lot of white people to understand and appreciate just how sensitive the experience is and i think it's a very different, more raw feeling for african-americans. that's important as we try to look at this together. >> and we want to hear your thoughts. we've been getting them already. people are saying let's not go back and forth. a lot of other news on this busy day. still ahead, what flipping poll numbers mean for governor sarah palin's future. how does she rebuild her image? plus, the mayor of san

francisco gained national aattention on gay marriage. and some say he's a hero, but police, well, they call him a criminal. the man so fed up apparently with one tecompany, he threaten to kill their families and them. he's got people on his side. we'll show you the details of it.

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welcome back to msnbc. >> the head of the blue dog democrats say health care negotiations with house leaders have collapsed.

negotiations still continue in the senate though and majority leader harry reid and max baucus, chairman of the finance committee, were at the white house today talking to president obama about democratic differences in the legislation. the senate is not expected to vote on a health care bill until now after the august recess, but house republicans are asking for even more time. they say the president is trying to rush the legislation through congress. >> it took the president six months to decide how long and which puppy he was going to have and to expect congress to do something on major health care reform in six days is totally irresponsible. >> gavin newsom is the governor of san francisco and today, announced a national effort of mayors to support president obama's call for a national option. i've got to tell you, a lot of ob servers out there are

wondering how committed president obama is to a public option. we're not hearing a lot from the president. does that concern you? >> i don't think you have reform without a public option. you don't have competitions without a public option. i happen to be a mayor of a city with a public option. last week, we hit a milestone. 75% of people in san francisco who were previously uninsured, are now enrolled. i know this works. in fact, kaiser, the largest hmo in california, just joined our health care plan. this can be done in the rest of the country. i think this is critical and it's time for mayors to get involved in this debate because we're the ones left holding the bag in terms of cost delay. >> you hear the argument that people say the government can't run anything, that people will be standing in long lines rashenirashe

rationing and all those horror stories. >> it's a way of derailing this whole process and it's a cliche. you can write this book, predict every chapter and the conclusion, the reality is those who don't want to do it are going to say that and wave the canadian flag and talk about socialized medicine around the world. san francisco has 36 participants, half public, half private. you still have choice. with private doctors, not just public doctors, but the good news is we're delivering health care at a lower cost than traditional health insurance. you've got to create competition and provide something that health insurance companies may not be able to provide. >> how's your campaign for governor going and how does health care fit in in terms of the debate there in california? >> the president's right to say

neglect will bankrupt this country. no different in california. we're paying more and more every day for health care in this state. we have more uninsured than any other state in america or more uninsured americans than any other state. we have seen a substantial increase in the number of uninsured. we must, we're desperate for reform and to the extent you're a candidate for governor, someone that cares about the state, you have to be out front on the issue of debate. >> mayor, thank you so much for joining us. if we can offer advice, don't do any youtube with any big knives. it's kind of scary. >> i'm with you. thank you for the advice. >> no problem. thank you.

that big news reco s regarding dogs, what do you make of that development in the story? >> i think it may have been predictable. once the air goes out of the balloon and people are talking about pushing the deadline back, they can essentially dig their heels in and wait a while so it shouldn't be such a surprise. >> we'll talk much more about what this means for the white house. coming up, well, here is one way to make an entrance in your wedding. >> that's right. the wedding dance video that is now a youtube sensation. this is real. we'll tell you about it ahead. ♪ ♪

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comeback in these final minutes of trade. right now, the dow jones industrials up, just barely hanging in there, 2.6 points. the s&p 500 up about a half a point. the nasdaq composite, it's down about 14 points. oil prices rose nearly a dollar today, hovering just above 68 bucks a barrel. the minimum wage hike takes effect today of 70 cents, but some analysts say the increase may prolong the recession by forcing small businesses to layoff the same workers benefits from the wage hike. palm now says it's smart phone can once again connect to apple software. last week, apple sent an update, saying the pri was pretending to

be an ipod. back to msnbc. we've got breaking news that we are following involving the ousted honduras president. he's on a cell phone giving an interview, attempting to re-enter the country. this would be a second attempt by the ousted president to return. he was ousted june 28th, after a long list of alleged crimes and he spoke to the media today and said he's on his way to the border in hopes of opening a conversation with military and police forces on the border. he's encouraging his supporters to joing alongside of him as he's less than 100 meters from the border. you see a ton of people with microphones and camera phones

surrounding him, so we're watching this to see what action the military takes as he attempts to re-enter the country. in the big picture, it's time for a latest installment of the palin chronicles. governor sarah palin will hold a staff appreciation picnic today as she gets ready for her last day in office. a new poll shows the majority of americans now hold an unfavorable view of her. 53% say they view her negatively, but perhaps more troubling, if she is considering a run for president, only 37% say she understands complex issues. 57% say she does not understand complex issues. palin sited the cost of fighting

ethnics investigations as one reason for leaving office a. what does the future hold for sarah palin? how would she stack up against ore likely gop presidential hopefuls in 2012? is same poll asked republicans who they would vote for. palin finished third behind mike huckabee and mitt romney. were responders given the option of coming up with the names or given the list? >> it was a close-ended list. including seven possible gop contenders, sarah palin being one. she came in third among republicans and white evangelicals. among that group, huckabee

bettered the competition by more than 2-1. >> i just want to ask you, in the history of your sort of polling, have you ever seen anybody going into a contest who had negatives above 50% who was able to be successful? >> hillary clinton's numbers on very widely through the '90s. she is not president of the united states nor is democratic nominee from last year, but her numbers did reach deep levels although she recovered by the time she was an actual presidential contender. there's still a long way to go. certainly isn't a good place to start a national campaign. it may be enough as others have pointed out today, to feel some of the other career opportunities that she has. she has a lucrative book deal, as a public speaker and force for other candidates in raising money and in other turnout.

in terms of starting a national campaign, it's a pretty low figure. >> john, as far as governor palin's numbers and how they've changed over the past year, she was up at around 60% when john mccain introduced her. >> that's right. a week after, she had 50% favorable. she's now at 40. she game a pretty devicive figure. one of the most ominous things for her is the dropoff we've seen from that high point after the convention to know among republicans. they're still broadly favorable toward her, but those intensely behind her has dropped off. >> thanks. be sure to stay with msnbc throughout the weekend because norah o'donnell the headed to alaska to cover the governor's

final days in office. i think what's so intriguing is that when governor palin has a platform, you have something you can leverage to work on the numbers. when not in office, it's difficult to even get the attention to try to turn the numbers around. >> getting attention isn't her problem. racial profiling and dualing perspectives on what happened the day police arrested professor gates. both gates and sergeant crowley have two different stories. >> first off, what went down when crowley first encountered gates. take a listen to both sides. >> i'm in my kitchen, a look up and there's policemen on the porch. he says, step outside. all of a sudden, i know i'm in danger. i said, may i help you.

he said we're investigating a 911 breaking and entering charge. i said, don't worry, i'm professor gates, i live here. >> i said, please step out, he said, i will not. i said i'm investigating a break in progress. he responded why, i'm a black man, in a very ago revated tone. >> then after gates turned over identification, gates said that he demanded the sergeant's name and badge number and that's where the stories differ again. >> he turned his back, walked out of the house. i followed him and said, are you not answering me because i'm a black man. >> he was following me because he was still yelling about racism and black men in america and he wasn't somebody to be

messing with and you picked the wrong guy to mess with. >> turns out that crowley has been teaching a racial profiling class since 2004. >> he is the instructor of a 12-hour course at the lowell police academy. so what is being taught in the classes? joining us to talk about it is the director of the institute of public safety at central ohio's technical college and former police chief. thank you so much for joining us. >> it's nice to be back on nbc again. >> we hear about officers from all across the countries who get this training and also trained in how to avoid racial profiling. what's a class like? >> what they're trying to do and i've done this myself, is we're trying to get folks who have had

their view of the world to see what other people's views of the world are. perception is reality as we all know and we're trying to get a sense of other people's perceptions. by engaging in dialogue in the class. a lot of times in these classes, this is the first time that some of these folks, particularly young folks who may not have been in the military, are put in the room with folks maybe not the same age, gender or race as them. they start to see different viewpoints. the instructors job is to mag any fie that even more. whether it be gay, black, purple, whatever. >> a lot of people have thrown around words like racist. is something like a case where an officer, where an officer

might be accused or even proven to have racial profiling, do you have to be a racist to racially profile? i say that because many people are raised to hear prejudices. you might clutch your handbag when you see a black teenager and not be a racist, but have a stereo type in your mind. >> as professionals and law enforcement, understanding other people's perceptions and bend over backwards trying to defeat that while not sacrificing officer's safety. i have no reason to believe that sergeant crowley is a racist. i read his actual police report and where i differ a little bit is once he established he was a lawful occupant there, professor gates, it's over. i've had people yell at me at

calls and i just left. but the problem is getting officer to understand that to see where professor gates may have come up with this. >> richard, you hit something i was just going to ask you about. i think we all have the right to be angry at a police officer. >> absolutely. >> here's the thing. we've talked about conflicts between officer crowley and mr. gates and obviously, there are going to be differences on how they perceive things, but there are differences in the police reports. for example, at one point. the officer tells gates, i'm investigating a break-in. he says, why, because i'm a black man in america. officer figueroa heard it as this is what happens to black men in america. what do you make of that?

>> actually, because it is not exactly the same, it has more credibility. if it was exactly the same phrase, i would start to wonder and you see this in courtroom situations, too, was there some coercion and talking, cooperation and talking together among the officers. no. it's two officers that put that together. that is not to stay that their perceptions are not the same as professor gates. it's different and that's okay. part of our job as officers is to be trained to rise above the fray, clear headed prevail and to understand where the other person's coming from. that's a big part of what we try to do in the training, is try to get that thought across so that we empathize with the people in the community that we're a part of. >> you've been an incredible

guest. thank you for sharing the information you've been able to teach to other officer. thank you so much. still ahead, the political dimensio dimensions, i love that line he just said. >> rush limbaugh and others on the right are talking about the controversy about the president in some very racially charged terms. a lot of people might even find them offensive. is he hurting the party or helping them? i never thought it could happen to me...

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trying to destroy a white policeman when obama is faced with a political setback, even one of his own makings, he plays the race card. does the name knife long ring a bell? the prosecutor in a duke rape case. this is the same kind of situation, pre-judging without the facts, based on stereo types, race, bias. >> on a day when president obama is trying to elevate the debate, what do we make of rush limbaugh? matt, rush limbaugh belongs to conservatives. has he crossed the line? >> he has not. >> when he says barack obama is an angry black man, does that cross the line? >> you said that president obama was trying to elevate the debate. he's the one that made this a

political issue by saying the police acted stupidly. >> but isn't rush limbaugh now making this a race issue? to say that's what president obama is? how's it possibly anything else? >> if anybody ought to be talking about this and arguing, it's rush limbaugh. that's what he does. the president of the united states had

i-is now we have an african-american president who can look on the situation and bring his own personal experience to it and that's what he did, and i do think you're right. he is trying to elevate the conversation. you know, he's trying to be sympathetic to both sides and see what both sides are saying, and rush limbaugh is trying to drag us back into the past with ugly racist rhetoric and trying to make this a story that it shouldn't be. we should be able now to walk out and try and understand what both people were feeling in that situation and try to find a way so that doesn't happen again and rush is doing everything he can to push people into angry corners. >> matt, what do you think of that? i mean, you wouldn't say that rush crossed the line by referring to the president as an angry black man. you won't go out on that line. we assume maybe rush limbaugh doesn't ever have a line to cross, everything is right in your world. but how do we elevate this past some of the mean-spiritedness that's seemed to come from some on your side of the

conversation? >> again, i think it's humorous. >> i don't think anything is funny about it. why is it funny? >> i think it's funny that you think my side of the aisle who has been the side who has injected race into this. >> that's not what i said at all. >> look, president obama went on national television and accused the police of acting stupidly. that is right along the lines of nancy pelosi accusing the cia of lying -- >> but would you recognize there's a difference -- >> where is racism in that? >> there's a difference between president obama -- when a case has been closed, when a prosecutor has said this is not worth bringing a charge, when president obama then says rightly, wrongly, okay it was stupid of the police officer, you can debate that, but that's very different from rush limbaugh saying that president obama is an angry black man with a chip on his shoulder as rush limbaugh said today. >> well, the only distinction -- >> how -- >> are you going to let me -- >> how is race in this?

>> a david shuster asking me questions or is tamron hall. i can't decide. >> that isn't tamron hall. that's jane. >> i'm sorry. i'm used to -- >> you go. >> the point is rush limbaugh is a commentator. if a blogger opines about an issue or a radio host opines about an issue, that's fine, but when the president of the united states answers a question and essentially says that the police acted stupidly, i just think that that is a mistake, and, look, here is the other point no one has really brought up here, which is this guy, officer crowley, he is a blue collar sort of guy. he's a police officer. he doesn't know when he pulls over a car, he doesn't know who has a gun. when he knocks on a door, it's a tough, tough job, and the president of the united states is second guessing that decision so prematuriely and to not stan up for the men and women who run into buildings and protect them -- >> i think the difference is

president obama is willing to acknowledge maybe his language is inappropriate whereas rush limbaugh will never do that. jane, you get the last word. >> we have been up on the hill all week asking republicans if they will defend rush limbaugh's language on things like that, and they run. rush limbaugh is embarrassing the country. he's embarrassing the party, and he's going to be an anchor around the neck of republicans until they stand up and say enough. we don't want to stand for what rush stands for. >> jane and matt, thank you as always. we appreciate the feisty conversation. and up next, david, "crossing the line," and some people have lines in this world. a man is in jail for making death threats against telemarketers. come on. how could a call bother you that much? if we don't act, she'll be denied coverage because of a pre-existing condition. and he won't get the chemotherapy he needs.

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that the arrest was race-based. the national discussion erupts around the first black president. the white house faces some delicate choices. wem ta we will take a closer look. >> what i'd like to do is make sure everybody steps back for a moment, recognizes that these are two decent people. missing the deadline. democrats push back the time table for passing their health care reform plan as republicans get defensive over charges that the gop is the party of no plan. >> 17 boxes of amendments sitting in the commerce committee waiting to be offered if they'll ever have a hearing. later, the tensions continue in michael jackson's family. a london tribute concert has now been canceled. the squabbles keep coming over jackson's final resting place, and manslaughter charges may only be days away. now, that's the way to make an entrance at a wedding. all that and more, this hour on msnbc.