is this the face of a terrorist? a drywall contractor from north carolina accused of being a ringleader in a plot of international terror attacks. how real was the threat and could there be more like him? plus, new raids target the last doctor to see michael jackson alive. what we now know about the powerful drug given to the singer just moments before his death.

also, why are police in some of america's biggest cities being left out of a stimulus plan to help cops keep their jobs? and can a white house happy hour really solve a debate over race? and suiting up for some plus-sized competition. this is "the big picture" on msnbc. good afternoon, everyone. i'm tamron hall. >> and i'm donny deutsch in for david shuster. the big picture at this hour, terror next door. seven people are under arrest in raleigh, north carolina, accused of plotting terror attacks over seas and authorities say an eighth suspect is still being sought. drywall contractor daniel boyd was arrested and two of his sons. prosecutors say boyd and the others took part in military-style training at home and that boyd trained in terror camps in pakistan and afghanistan two decades ago. a federal indictment does not

detail any specific terrorist plans or targets overseas. however, it claims some of the defendants traveled to israel in '07 with the intent of waging a violent jihad. the eighth suspect went to pakistan to engage in violent jihad. one of boyd's neighbors reacted. >> if that's true, it's kind of shocking because this is a quiet neighborhood. kind of shocking that -- to me it's shocking that anybody would want to be a terrorist. >> if convicted, all the suspects could face life in prison. combatting the threat of terrorists among us. the suspect in north carolina are just the latest of alleged faces of home grown terror. just yesterday a virginia man was resentenced to life in prison after plotting with al qaeda to kill george w. bush. last week we learned a new york man who pleaded guilty to launching a rocket attack on a

u.s. military base in afghanistan said he provided information to al qaeda leaders about new york city's transit system for a bomb attack. in florida, michigan, new jersey, washington state, and south carolina. from articling, virginia, joining us is roger cressey. boyd looks like your next door neighbor. how prevalent are the terrorists among us and what do we know about the charges against this specific group. >> they're not that prevalent. this is a fascinating case. an individual who went to afghanistan and pakistan during the soviet invasion. claimed to have fought in the jihad. then came back and through a process of radicalizing others created a cell. that's very unique. what we do have though on a nationwide basis are individuals, small pockets. probably the must troubling one

is arkansas a couple months ago where a man attacked an army recruiting post and killed a soldier. we have had domestic acts of terrorism, islamic-based terrorism recently. it means we have to be vigilant, but we shouldn't overreact. >> also being cautious. you hear people say what does a terrorist look like. do we need to move past the stereotypes that it is somebody of middle eastern or arab desce descent, especially talking about domestic terrorism, a la timothy mcveigh. >> when people talk about what they look, we're talking about racial profiling. with mr. boyd, he looks all american. there's an important caveat for everybody. it's not a question of race. it's a question of action. and in this particular instance we're seeing someone who is radicalized overseas, came back here, and decided based on the indictment, to undertake a

series of steps aimed at conducting attacks. we need to get away from what was 9/11, of course, being attacked by an al qaeda-based organization made up exclusively of middle eastern males. what the next threat may look like may look completely different and domestically we're seeing something that is completely different. >> what more do we know about this boyd, in terms of how he lived his life. the scary thing is he is everybody's next door neighbor. what else do we know about him? >> very little right now based on the indictment. we know he traveled to afghanistan, pakistan. he claimed to have fought in the jihad. he was in pakistan and was convicted of robbery wands a going to lose a hand and foot based on islamic law but that conviction was overturned. then in the 1990s his place of residency was definitely up in the air. it's when he came back when his sons were here and he began the process of creating this cell that things started to gel. i think what's important though is federal authorities were up on him for a long time. this was not someone who is

flying under the radar screen. once he began to assemble an arsenal of weaponry and explosives, then they realized he was about to become operational and they had to act. if everything in the indictment is accurate, and it's not been blown out of proportion, then there's a high probability he and his co-conspirators will be convicted. >> roger cressey, thanks so much. breaking news in the michael jackson death investigation involving the singer's personal doctor. >> authorities issued two search warrants today looking for documents as part of a manslaughter investigation into jackson's death, and police as well as dea agents searched both dr. murray's las vegas home and his medical office for hours. that marks the second time in a week officials have targeted murray's property. also nbc news has learned dr. murray gave jackson propofol the day the singer died. courtney hazlett joins us now. this investigation seems to be coming together, and as from the very beginning in the middle is dr. conrad murray. >> absolutely. it's becoming more difficult to try to say, well, it could be somebody else.

we confirmed that dr. murray said he gave michael jackson this anesthetic. it's interesting today we were talking to nancy snyderman about it and she's this strange gray area in these really powerful drugs, these prescription medicines that aren't illegal to obtain. just highly unusual, and i think it speaks to a larger problem which is especially ref leprevan hollywood where you have access to doctors who will just kind of yes you. how do you regulate these types of medicines you can get but you shouldn't get your hands on. >> in the case in terms of his defense, if lawyers basically prove that this drug by itself did not kill him but there were other drugs he was taking that he didn't know michael was taking, that that pretty much clears him from the manslaughter. >> it's difficult to say. they're looking at how reckless dr. murray just might have been. in california you can up a manslaughter charge if you can prove implied malice, extreme,

excessive disregard for human life. so that's a really serious thing because there's some discretion involved there, and dr. murray, let's not forget, was not board certified as a cardiologist. he did things that are on the face of it considered reckless. propofol is high. >> do we know what else they're looking for? they have already searched the houston office, the home michael jackson was renting. do we know what else they're looking for? >> throughout this, we don't know what they found. i think they have ten days to actually file publicly what it is that they find. i'm sure because of the circumstances here they'll let us know sooner than that. they have been looking this whole time just tying together where is the prescription for this medicine? who did the prescribing? what name was it prescribed to? there are lots of gray areas here where, you know, michael jackson didn't tell anybody the whole story, and so the best you can do -- he's the only one who knows what was happening here, who was involved, what he was taking. he's not around to testify so

they need the paper trail. >> but interesting, he probably wasn't the only one. it seems like this guy was in a cloud, so there are other people around him interacting with his doctor. i don't think he was the one figuring out who the best -- or who the worst doctors were, where to get the drugs. who were the enablers in this case. >> michael was really good at this. when i was speaking with the nurse she said i never saw any of these other people coming in and out of the house. i spoke to another person exceedingly close to michael yesterday who said, listen, it was one in, one out. >> did michael jackson have any accountability in this? >> absolutely. especially when you consider he's a father. he's a father, too, and that changes the game as well. >> we can't just slough it off on the doctor. whatever he did was wrong, he'll face whatever charges accordingly, but once again we have to take our own responsibility. >> one doesn't negate the others. >> it's easy to focus on the others -- >> it's easy because it's a

death investigation. michael jackson, we can't drag him out of whatever grave he may or may not be in. >> i think we've been doing a good job of not holding dr. murray accountable for this. i think we've gone to great lengths to give the benefit of the doubt as well he should have. i think right now where we're focusing is what is going on in the medical community that allows for this -- >> that's a big story. >> and as we move away from that, it will shift again. >> thank you very much. >> thank you. >> but still ahead, republicans feeling the heat over the birther movement. are they afraid to talk tough with the far right fringe? what's at stake here? also, the white house happy hour. can a beer and a handshake help president obama get past the gates arrest controversy? plus, talk about must-see tv, william shatner's tribute to the poetry of sarah palin. you are watching "the big picture" on msnbc. before they give you the lowest price, some pharmacies make you work for it

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over the years we've witnessed pong pong diplomacy, shuttle diplomacy, and cowboy diplomacy. now we're expecting to see beer diplomacy play out at the white house. >> president obama is hoping a rounding of beer will help cool down tensions in a the country. professor henry louis gates and sergeant jim crowley will throw back, if you want to use that language, a cold one with the president thursday at the picnic table outside the oval office. just now white house press secretary robert gibbs spoke about this much-anticipated meeting.

>> i think the picture alone will communicate that despite the incident, despite what happened, despite what was said after that, we can still sit down and discuss issues that are important like this. >> and joining us live msnbc political analyst and friend of the show, lawrence o'donnell. good to see you. >> good to be here. >> donny said earlier that you get testosterone and guys and beer and you can work it out. is that what's happening here? >> this is a political show. this is nothing but that. nobody involved wanted this to happen a week ago, and now it has to happen or they can't move on. look, you know, sergeant crowley is -- if this was any other case, he'd be in more trouble every day because his police report is not holding up. once you start playing the tapes, they promised us, his union guys promised us, when you

hear those tapes you will hear how wild and out of control professor gates was. sorry, we don't hear it. >> can't hear it. >> so he needs it. he's going to get a presidential blessing basically to say you're okay, you know, and gates is helping out the president because he's a friend of president. the president needs to move on from this and that's what they're going to get out of it. >> everybody has been looking for the great teaching moment here, and in a strange way in this wonderful conciliation, which has to happen so we can move on, are they pretty much saying we haven't learned anything? it's like let's pretend it didn't happen, hug and make up. >> i think the teaching moment may be this very elemental thing for kids, which is literally how to make up. but in terms of the larger issues that have been raised like racial profiling, i don't think there's a teaching moment that will come out of it for that. i have raised the issue of the teaching moment about professional policing because this is a suggest i have studied

for several years. i wrote a book about a police deadly force case in boston many years ago which was a huge scandal which ended up forcing the police commissioner out of his job. so i have studied this a lot. what you see in this case is an instance where basically it was gates is saying you're not the boss of me, and the cop says, oh, yeah, i'll show you i'm the boss of you. i have handcuffs. that's very, very unprofessio l unprofessional. he arrested him because he didn't like the way the man interacted with him. that's for me is the law enforcement teaching moment which is they don't have the right to do that, they shouldn't be doing that, and every time we catch them at it, we have to call them on it. that's being missed. >> frankly, as a white guy -- i always know that they'll pull me aside and whatever situation they'll sit me in a certain kind of car. i know a lot of guys are waiting -- my grabbed fath-- grandfather was a job. it is what it is.

>> the race conversation made people uncomfortable, and henry louis gates is doing a favor in your words for president obama, so how they handle it beyond all the cable chatter as the president likes it call it at this point? >> i think they're hoping for the handshake picture. >> that's the bingo moment. >> i think we've seen that picture from the white house before in improbable situations that you couldn't expect it. that picture will be the 1,000 words. >> what happens behind the scenes? do they pull these guys aside before? do gates and crowley just get to walk into the white house -- >> crowley they don't know. he's a difficult customer to deal with ahead of time to try to kind of rig the behavior. gates they do know and gates is an adult. gates understands exactly what the political stakes are of this. gates understands exactly what would help the president without anyone saying a word to gates. e he will be there to help the president in the imagery of this. i hope we can have a better conversation about race relations in relation to law

enforcement specifically. a better one than this particular case has allowed us to have over the last week. >> i think you're right. lawrence, thank you very much. great talking to you. we're just getting in, and you will be interested to hear this, comments from former secretary of state colin powell. he spoke to cnn's larry king. >> you're saying gates was wrong? >> i'm saying skip perhaps in this instance might have waited a while, come outside, talk to the officer, and that might have been the end of it. i think he should have reflected on whether or not this is the time to make that big a deal. he's just home from china, just home from new york. all he wanted to do was get to bed. his door was jammed, so he was in a mood where he said something. >> what about those who say he brings the whole history into the body of the black movement? is. >> that may well be the case but i still think it might well have been resolved in a different manner if we didn't have this verbal altercation between the two of them.

>> maybe the lesson of this is that people not voting on this along racial lines. i heard a lot of white people seeing the other side, black people seeing the other side. maybe the good news here is we see this thing and anybody can intellectualize this thing out and say it's not black or white, no pun intended. you saw that with powell last night. >> i think you put yourself in their shoes and try to understand and the reality is we'll never know, and people aren't comfortable talking about race, so maybe they will be comfortable talking about policing and what is crossing the line and others have made a great point that conservatives have not jumped into this and had it been a white professor they would have brought up a conversation of someone being in their home and how this arrest happened. >> the libertarian position is strongly opposed from this. i have read things from the right wing of the republican world saying this arrest was outrageous, that we libertarians don't believe police should

behave this way in someone's home. colin powell is in that discussion accepting what the police report said henry louis gates said. henry louis gates says he did not say those things. there is now no proof that he said anything provocative and everyone is assuming that the crowley account is accurate. we have no right to do that. >> lawrence, i think colin powell is doing what the president and others have tried to do, finding a happy ending. we sure see the politicians trying to make this a happy ending because it's a difficult conversation. still ahead, from the wide stance to the business world, we're going to tell you what former senator larry craig is up to these days. but first, bulking up for a world class competition. that's it. look at that. you're watching msnbc. my doctor told me something i never knew. as we get older, our bodies become...

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there are a lot of things considered news in this world. >> but there are only a few stories that make us say -- >> no way! >> no way! >> that brought to you by kristin and melissa wexler. that's the daughter of the directors. that's the easiest way to get on tv. hey, girls. let's start off, this amazing video out of washington state. watch now as this hydroplane flipped during a race over the weekend. so the boat came completely, look at that, out of water. turned before landing upside down. the driver, can you believe this, is okay. he says pretty much walked away without a scratch. >> ricky burns is an american swimmer and old medalist. look at what happened to him in rome this weekend. look at this. he tore the back of his swimsuit in a qualifying heat of the 4 x 100. the suit split when he leaned over to stretch.

burns said he felt like he was putting on a pretty good show. it all worked in his favor. the u.s. qualified for the finals and won. >> i had that happen to a skirt once. >> when did these swimsuits happen to men, these jumpsuits? >> it's a lot of science that goes into it. >> i'm a speedo guy myself. i'm just kidding. >> my stomach just turned. >> it's so not true. >> if you thought it was hard for a gold medalist to swim in a ripped suit, watch these guys running in an oversized suit. it was the sumo suit world championship in london. there was the 100 meter sprint, the long jump, the high jump, and a shot put. >> in the late '80s somebody got ahold of a shot when people were wearing them and they sent that out over -- >> when were people wearing speedos?

>> i have been living with that ever since. just to not scare people -- >> you wore a speedo in public? >> it was in europe. i was in my early 20s. it was different times. i'm embarrassed, mortified, i have not worn one in 25 years, thank god, and i shouldn't have even said that because it will haunt me the rest of my life. move on. >> that's what's going through my head right now, crickets. >> birther backlash, why republicans -- everybody is stunned. do not want to talk about the far right fringe that doubts president obama's legitimacy. >> why critics say police in some of our largest cities are not getting their fair share of a big chunk of stimulus out there. is it fair or are they just giving to the more needy? this is msnbc, the place for politics. i'm a diabetic and i want you to know over 230,000 u.s. doctors have authorized their patients to receive their diabetic supplies through liberty medical. and that begins with the one touch®ultra2 meter. easy to use, fast results...

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i'm julia boorstin with your

cnbc market wrap. stocks ending mixed. the dow lst 11 points. the s&p dropped 2 points and the nasdaq gained about 7 points. americans remain worried about the economy. consumer confidence dropped nearly three points in july falling for a second straight month. this despite optimism over the stock market rally. economists expect confidence to remain steady. oil prices took a tumble following a two week rally. they dropped $1 to settle just above $67 a barrel. and u.s. officials are wrapping up high-level economic talks with china today in washington. chinese officials concerned with america's soaring budget deficit urged treasury secretary timothy geithner to safeguard china's assets in the u.s. which total more than $800 billion. the two sides also signed an agreement promising greater cooperation in tackling global warming. that's it from cnbc, first in business worldwide. back to msnbc. okay. we are back.

i'm donny deutsch. >> i'm tamron hall live in new york. the big picture at this hour. some major u.s. cities are getting left out as the government hands out $1 billion in stimulus money to help keep police officers on the job. vice president joe biden went to philadelphia today to announce the grant. it's part of the $787 billion stimulus package passed earlier this year. the major cities not getting money, new york, houston, seattle, and pittsburgh. and new york city mayor michael bloomberg says he's disappointed to put it mildly, and, quote, to punish our police department because they have driven down crime with fewer resources. says the backwards incentive system that is sometimes at work in washington. the justice department decided about 1,000 places needed the

money more. >> okay. now the bigger picture, the affect on city that is won't be getting money to help keep police officers. as we said, one of them was pittsburgh. it was the scene of a deadly confrontation a few months ago between a man and police officers. three police officers were killed and a quiet street turned into a battlefield. the gunman was wounded. joining us is luke ravenstahl. he has the distinction of being the youngest mayor of any major american city and he's running for re-election this year. mayor, your city was on the short end of the stick. it's pretty much the problem with any entitlement problem that the ones that are successful are the ones that get punished. what's the solution? we have to help the people who need the help, no? >> we do, and, of course, in many ways we are disappointed that we weren't chosen for the grant, and we're one of, of course, a lot of cities that aren't. on the flip side though, it is

also positive in that, number one, our crime rate is low, and, number two, our economic k indicator are trending rather well. so in some ways it's good news, and, of course, in other ways it's always bad news when you don't get dollars from the federal government. >> tell us about some of the challenges that the officers in your city are facing. >> well, similar to many big cities across this country, we face numerous challenges of course dealing with crime. we all in pittsburgh had a very tragic event, as you mentioned, on april 4th of this year where three of our police officers were gunned down. the men and women of our police department, as they do across this country, put their lives in the line -- on the line every single day to keep our residents safe. they do a great job here in the city of pittsburgh. we have almost 900 police officers on our force. they keep our residents safe. this is the second year in a row that we've started to see our crime rates go down, which of course is good news for the

residents of the city of pittsburgh because we're keeping them safe. unfortunately, as it pertains to today's discussion, it prohibited us from getting the funds from the federal government. >> mayor, are you surprised at bloomberg coming out so strong crying foul when in reality the whole fundamental foundation of these stimulus packages, everybody is not going to get everything, there are choice that is have to be made in every area. so to cry foul to me kind of undercuts the entire premise of the stimulus. >> well, i understand the mayor's frustration because he, like i, have to deal with, of course, balancing a budget, looking for resources, looking for dollars, and assistance from the federal government but also keeping his residents safe. i understand his frustration, but we knew going in that this was a competitive process. there were more cities that weren't chosen than were, and we look at it in a way that shows that the city of pittsburgh is doing some good things in fighting crime, is keeping our crime rate low, is a safe place to live. certainly, we're very happy about that. unfortunately, in this case it really worked against us.

>> mayor, thank you very much for sharing your city's story with us and, donny, it's interesting because actually mayor bloomberg's comments were tempered when you look at representative peter king who basically said it was a disgraceful thing that new york in his words were shut out and he went on to say some more very aggressive language. in the end though 3,800 new officers hired and 881 retained because of this money. some of the stats out there. so in the end i know some of the cities are certainly upset, but it went -- the monies went to the cities with the higher crime rate -- >> and this is what the stimulus is doing? people say the stimulus is doing nothing, it's not true. a shout out to all the cops out there. you put your lives on the line every day and the crowley incident obviously an unfortunate one. we beat that to death, but my grandfather was a cop and, you know, i think just like sometimes whites can't know what blocks are thinking, vice versa, sometimes somebody making 60 grand a year putting the life on

their line, sometimes we don't know what they're going through. >> up next, our face-off on the hot topic birther movement. >> what republicans are say being those on the far right who think president obama is a manchurian candidate, not a u.s. citizen. later william shatner, sarah palin, a tribute in poetry. ♪ ♪ once you've dealt with the things that come between you... don't let erectile dysfunction get in the way. ♪ viva ♪ viagra! viagra...america's most prescribed ed treatment... can help you enjoy a more satisfying sexual experience. to learn more, spend some quality time with viagra.com ask your doctor if your heart is healthy enough for sex. don't take viagra if you take nitrates for chest pain... as it may cause an unsafe drop in blood pressure. side effects may include headache, flushing,

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welcome back. new this hour on msnbc, we are just getting in video out of

cambridge of the woman who made this infamous 911 call that led to the arrest of henry louis gates. she was seen leaving her home with her husband to walk their dog. she made a few brief comments. here is what she said. >> not at this time, but, you know, if you have anything you can speak to my attorney, wendy murphy, and hopefully soon we'll be able to have some exchange of words. >> whalen is heard in the 911 saying she's withining or someone saw a possible break-in at a home. she does not mention race despite the police report saying, quote, two black males were at that home. kind of sad this woman is being followed by cameras and she's being pushed into this after being just a neighbor looking out for her community. >> but she's learned the words, speak to my lawyer. >> talk to my lawyer. >> are republicans doing enough to quash the squauo-called birt

movement? >> republicans are even preparing for questions when they go home for august recess. officials in hawaii are trying to set the record straight. they confirm once again, once again they've done this, that president obama was in fact worn in hawaii august 4th, 1961, write it down. julian epstein and alex johnson are here. al alex, let's bring you in on this. the focus is how republican lawmakers are handle it. you have this video of a writer following some congressman who won't say, yes, the president deserves to be president, he was born in the united states. what do you make of this? >> well, i mean, look, i think most sensible minds are coming around on this issue, not even coming around, have the right position on this.

look, barack hussein -- excuse me, barack obama -- >> did you deliberately do that? >> that was a mistake. i was thinking about his name and i was thinking he should have stuck with barry as he had -- >> what thank -- that is a repu thing to say. >> let's not get too wound oup. >> let's not get too wound up by an argument people are making that's perceived as racist, that the president is how a terrorist or -- >> and he should have kept his name? >> that was not my implication in any way. >> go ahead, julian. >> i don't know if we can let alex dig himself out of the mud here. i'm not quite sure what the meaning of that last statement was. but, look, this is something that is dramatically hurting the republicans. this is actually good for obama because what this birther movement is doing is it's exposing many of the republicans

and obama's critics as being paranoid, as being nutty, as being desperate, and many republican members of congress are stoking these coals. you had on this network on the chris matthews show, chris matthews questioning the author of a republican member who had introduced legislation on the floor that was keeping this issue alive and he was unable to say whether or not obama was a legitimate citizen. there is no question about this, but the republicans keep stoking these fires because they don't have a solution on health care. >> is this hurting the gop? i want to be fair to you, a, to explain the hussein thing and is this hurting the gop? >> look, all apologies, honestly not intended. i will say, look, the leading conservative blogs have been adamant today, if you look at the national review online, red state, another conservative blog about denouncing this movement. i think they have taken a good forward step in terms of putting this behind us because i don't think anybody, republican or

democrat, conservative or liberal, needs to be behind this issue. he was born in the united states. i think everyone recognizes that. this issue was actually born out of a hillary clinton supporter on a blog called the blue state. >> what do you say to those congressmen who ran from the camera and would not look that camera -- >> i think they're foolish. >> -- and say you're full of crap, he is and deserves to be the president of the united states. >> look, i totally agree. besides, what do they want to replace him with biden? come on? i think he's the president of the united states. i don't know, what is their alternative? do they want the supreme court to remove him? i think the movement is ludicrolew ludicro ludicrous. i think we should move on to things that are much more important. >> the problem is so many republicans are not doing what alex just did, which is to con tem the movement. including many republican members of congress will not condemn it. they run away from the camera. they keep this issue alive. the republican base is keeping this issue alive, and the impression that the american

people are left with is in the beginning part of this year we had rush limbaugh saying we hope barack obama will fail. now we have this birther movement, by the way, first we had the tea bag movement, now this birther movement. these republican wing nuts could use some better pr help. you have this impression where there's nothing like this cultish-like following and desperate, rabrain dead-movemen. there's nothing coming out from the republican party on health care, nothing on an economic problem that occurred on their watch. >> alex, what do you think is behind the birther movement? what do you think? >> we just celebrated the 40 years of the landing on the moon and i mean there are still people who don't believe that happened. there are always going to be segments of our society i think that want to hold onto some sort of conspiracy theory. there are the 9/11 conspiracy

theorists -- >> are they nuts? >> i think they are. >> is it fair to say julian's point is the most important one, in that the republicans still have not figured out that you can't run on hate and fear anymore. >> i don't think -- >> it does not play today and that's pretty much the only thing they have in the playbook. >> i think that's an unfair assessment of republicans running on hate and fear. there are a few fringe players running on these types of things. you get them on the left and on the right. let's not think those people represent what the majority of republicans are, and i think republicans have grave concerns about the amount of money that's being spent by the obama administration and by the democratic congress, and they've been talking pretty adamantly about those. i think there are republicans coming forward on health care solutions. so i think it's not fair to assess them all and say they're running on fear and hate and trying to capture the 5% of the party that you're making -- >> their whole platform was a negative platform. >> i think so long as you have republican members of congress

stoking the coals on this and you have the republican leadership refusing to come out and issue a shermanesque statement condemning this, you will have the impression there are big quarters in the republican party that are silently encouraging this kind of wing nut behavior, which is only hurting the republican party. >> alex, it's great to have you on. i'm happy you were able to clarify your statement because i can imagine your every twitter account, facebook, e-mail is going to be blowing up. so you will be spending -- >> thank you for the second chance on that, tamron. i appreciate that. >> thank you, julian, as well. always a pleasure. >> i'm surprised you let him off. he asked for it by changing his name. i was ready to go. i was surprised you backed off. >> i didn't pull back. i think he deserves an opportunity to explain and he did. it's not my place to always smack someone down. i think he walked into the hole. he is in it right now. >> are you getting soft? >> i'm getting soft in my old

age. we're going to show you a picture of donny in a speedo. >> every viewer that was watching has just turned off. male and female. >> donny and his speedo. it's something we thought you should know. and larry craig, donny, larry craig -- >> not in the same sentence, no. donny and larry craig, we do not frequent the same bathroom. and on "hardball," chris matthews has a special look on how former governor sarah palin may be following richard nixon's example. interesting topic. r bodies beco. less able to absorb calcium. he recommended citracal. it's a different kind of calcium. calcium citrate. with vitamin d... for unsurpassed absorption, to nourish your bones.

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there's a lot going on today, but here are three things we thought you should know. former u.s. senator larry craig, certainly you remember him, right? >> i never met the man personally. >> but you remember his name. >> yes, i do. >> he was busted in that sex sting in the minneapolis airport. he's opening a consulting firm with offices in idaho -- >> a few hand signals under the stall. >> they have four clients including a construction management company with clients that include the u.s. department of energy, u.s. department of defense. craig did not run for re-election last year. that was not -- i did not see the video, but let me apologize. i'm being told whatever video we showed was not larry craig. he pled guilty to the disorderly conduct to the arrest in 2007. we're sorry for whatever video you just saw. >> moveon.org has released a new tv ad featuring sarah palin. it focuses the gop's opposition to green jobs. it come not long after palin

attacked president obama's energy bill. take a listen. >> meet the new face of republican opposition to clean energy. >> that bridge to nowhere up in alaska. you can actually see russia. i'm certainly not a quitter. i'm a fighter. >> now that palin has more free time, she has a new pet project, standing in the way of millions of new american green jobs. and sarah palin's last speech as governor of alaska certainly left a lot of questions. late night host conan o'brien says after watching the speech a few times, he thinks it was meant to be a poem. listen to former governor palin. >> i say it is the best road trip in america, soaring through nature's finest show. denali soaring under the midnight sun and then the extremes in the winnertitertime

competing with the views. >> he asked william shatner to read the speech as he believed it was intended for to you hear it. take a listen. >> soaring through nature's finest snow. denali, the great one, soaring under the midnight sun. and then the extremes in the wintertime. it's the frozen road that is competing with all of its ice fogged frigid beauty. the cold though, doesn't it split them? >> the last thing we thought you should know. what were you doing 25 years ago? were you spraperhaps wearing no shirt and a speedo with a really bad farmer's tan. that's what donny was doing. >> let me preface it, 25 years ago, in europe. look at that. >> this is donny.

he's -- >> take the children away from the tv. >> and we show this because he's been calling out everyone else for the past two years on health care reform, racial profiling -- >> i was in europe 1983. we have not born it since and can you get off the picture please? by the way, you're going to be think being that later on. that's all i'm saying. >> i was thinking how i was sick but -- >> more importantly, did you notice donny kind of looks like david hasselhoff meets billy cyrus. >> everybody in the early '80s. >> i didn't have a bad tan and i wasn't topless. those are the things we thought you should know. >> you love it. >> let's all cleanse and pray to the lord. >> you wouldn't do this to schuster. >> schuster would never go out like that. >> this is 25 years ago. i'm a journalist now, a captain of industry. >> thank god you're a millionaire. that's all i can say. >> i have nothing to say. i'm not even reading the tease.

i'm storming off the set. congress is hard at work on the health legislation. >> let's get right to after that cleansing breath that we had next read on politics. it's stories we'll be talking about. mark, first of all, thank you for your composure and professionalism despite what we just saw. i greatly appreciate it and the lord will bless you. in the meantime though, what do you have for us coming up? >> well, i have no comment on that photo at all. >> you are a smart man. >> but obviously up here on capitol hill health care remains the big game. house democratic leaders are negotiating with conservative blue dog democrats. on the senate side we're still waiting for that senate finance committee health care bill from max baucus. also tomorrow president obama hits the road going to raleigh, north carolina, and also bristol, virginia. those who were battleground states president obama won just last year. finally, we have a brand new

nbc/"wall street journal" poll coming out tomorrow night at 6:30 on nbc's "nightly news." the new numbers on president obama, the health care fight, congress. it's going to be great stuff. >> tell us about this cabinet retreat this weekend. >> "the washington post" reported that there's going to be this big cabinet retreat to basically go over the first six months of the obama administration. you know, obviously the last couple of months have been a pretty tough time for the obama crowd. the poll numbers have gone down, the health care legislation has stalled, but the obama administration and the white house says this is just kind of a normal kind of corporate retreat to evaluate the last six months and serve as a pep rally to go forward. >> is it fair to say when we see the poll numbers tomorrow, they'll be heading south? i think we will see a continued drop. >> i can't say either way. people can certainly find out first thing tomorrow night. but certainly we've seen some other pollsha