good morning, everyone. i'm carlos watson. kicking off this friday on msnbc running on empty. the government's cash for clunker program goes belly-up after car shoppers flock to dealerships in mass numbers to take advantage of government rebates. i think you've heard enough about health care? think again. the house sets off on its awe august recess. blue dogs on the take? that's right. a new report reveals how cozy the key brokers in shaping health care legislation are getting with health care companies and their lobbyists. doping on the diamond. boston's david ortiz and manny ramirez become yet the latest baseball stars implicated in the ever-expanding steroid scandal. welcome to msnbc live. i'm carlos watson. we're joined today by michigan

senator and republican congresswoman of wyoming and also nbc's savannah guthrie at the white house and tiki barber joins us to talk steroids in baseball and whywycliff stops by today. good news on the economic front. recession eased up in the spring according to a just released gdp report. commerce department said the economy shrank at 1% in the second quarter of this year versus 5.5% in the first quarter. "the washington post" reports that former bush aide karl rove played a bigger role in the firings of u.s. attorneys than original thought. rove says he only played a peripheral role and didn't know that the white house initiated the firings. blunt memo, colonel timothy reese says iraqi forces are able to protect themselves and time

for the u.s. to, quote, declare victory and leave. in afghanistan, top u.s. commander may ask for more troops as part of a new strategy. today a new united nations report says civilian casualties in afghanistan have jumped 24% this year. restaurants aboard "endeavour" arrived home after successfully completing 16-day mission to the international space station. with them is a japanese astronaut who is returning with experimental anti-bacterial aunds underwear he wore for an entire month. glad it was him and not me but something willing to do something like that is my co-host. you know every day i welcome a terrific guest co-host and today, it's rilveed wolf. >> how did you know i wore those underwear? >> a guy with a best-selling book and subbing for keith olbermann, tonight at 8:00 not only can you get keith, typically wonderful show but you'll get extra richard wolf

who will be sitting in. >> i won't tell you what underwear i will wear tonight. >> fair enough. talk about sitting in for keith. how was that? >> great show. fabulous team. it's got a great audience. look. these people care about the show and care about the issues and it's great to be a part of that. >> i was struck by timothy reese, the colonel about getting out. what he heard in the '60s vietnam one senator said let's declare victory and go home. do you think that is a realistic possibility including robert gates said he would pull out troops ahead of time this week? >> what is surprising it's so explicit. that people are actually using that kind of language and that really is a shift. people often say how have things changed bins the bush era. bush said i'm trusting the commanders on the ground. the commanders on the ground are

speaking out a way they have not done before. i think a sign things have changed in iraq but this is going to accelerate. this war is effectively over. troops will still be there. there will still be training missions and anti-al qaeda and counterterrific missions, but the focus needs to be in afghanistan. civilian casualties up and the threat from the taliban and al qaeda leadership is still very real. >> let's bring in savannah guthrie who is live at the white house right now to continue this conversation. savannah, what are you hearing from the white house about colonel timothy reese's memo suggesting that it may be time to, quote/unquote, declare victory and get out of iraq? >> oh, well, i think they are very quick to say we're not changing any mission accomplished banners anywhere and that is there is a lot of work to be done. think from the white house perspective they are keeping as far as from that as they can while, of course, supporting the military and their commanders on the ground. >> i also, obviously, like everyone else saw the beer

summit yesterday or the president said it's inappropriate to think of it as a summit. we can call it happy hour, if you will, at the white house. >> better than a keg party, carlos. >> richard loves keg parties but a guy like me. any follow-up to that? or is this story kind of over for the moment? >> i can tell you the white house hopes the story is over. i mean, this was something they, obviously, knew was a mistake for the president to be weighing in and the president himself said he wished he had made different remarks about it at that news conference more than a week ago. then the president came out of that press briefing and let it slip that sergeant crowley asked to have a beer at the white house and that ensued all of this talk about having a beer summit. now, it's happened and behind them. the picture is out. and, look. i think they feel it went as well as it could have. sergeant crowley certainly had very warm words for the president and the vice president who got invited, i'm told, just kind of impromptu. having his afternoon meeting

with the president and the president said if you want to come and have a beer with the guys. biden does bond with firefighters and police officers so he was a hit. >> too many jokes i could make at this point about a guy jumping into a keg party. that's it. savannah guthrie, good to see you and have a terrific weekend. >> you, too. the white house is guaranteeing the clack for clunkers program through this weekend and senator karl levin of michigan says the house plans to pass $2 billion to people the program running. a week after taking effect the cash for clunkers program has run through a billion allocated to it. that program al indicates money to people who turn in old cars for more fuel-efficient cars. michigan senator debbie stabenow joins me now. good to see you. >> great to be with you. >> senator, i assume in michigan where unemployment is north of 15% and, obviously, there have

been tough woes this comes as good news. >> yes. >> that the billion dollar program has run through so quickly. do you have a sense of where we go from here? >> sure. i have to say when i authored this in the senate, i had no idea that it would be as fast as it's been. i knew it would be successful because there are all kinds of people that want to get back into showrooms and want to buy new great cars and i'm hoping they will all be american-made when they are buying them. but the reality is that it was so popular that the funds, the first billion dollars, they've gone through just about. i mean, as of today, as of now, people should continue to go into showrooms and until the dealers hear otherwise, the program continues to have funds. but we know that it is, in fact, moving more quickly than we thought. i should tell you that my original bill had a $4 billion allocation. it was set back to 1 billion and now we're realizing that we

could use all 4 billion. >> doubt. >> do you think the appropriators will increase it up to that amount? >> well, i know that the obama administration is working hard on this. they are the ones that have brought this to our attention. they are extremely supportive. this is about jobs and putting people back to work and as you indicated, the house has a $2 billion piece of plechings today that i understand they are going to try to pass and then we will see what happens in the senate and i'm very hopeful. >> senator, i want to bring in richard wolffe, a nbc contributor. we've been talking about this program and health care as well. >> i want to follow-up on the cash for refund. could you be a victim in the sense that if you are thinking about buying a car, you may say to yourself maybe congress is going to have a few more billion out that i can benefit from, so i'm going to delay and defer my purchase decision based on what might happen in congress and

that, itself, kind of distorts the market, makes the press demand until you guys act again. saen there a danger of this kind of intervention? >> let me say this is based on what has been done in other countries like germany where their program was wildly successful and increased auto sales by 20% in one month and they went back and extended theirs as well. we're talking about a time when people are extremely tight, middle class families and very, very tight and maybe losing their jobs and trying to figure out how to keep the car going and can they afford that new car that they need. this is a way to help stimulate demand and that is what a stimulus should be all about. just as we have an 8,000-dollar first-time home buyer's tax credit to try to stimulate housing markets, this is to stimulate auto sales. so you're right in the sense that someone could make some decision as to when they purchase their car and so on, but the reality is if you talk

to dealers -- and i grew up with it, my father who had a car dealership -- this has been the worst time ever they've seen in their lives and in the last week, they are very excited because people are coming back into the dealerships and even if they don't get one of those vouchers, they are looking at the great automobiles that are in the showrooms and a lot of people are buying new cars. >> senator stabenow, only a minute but have to ask but health care. i know as a trained social worker and someone focused on this for a long time, is your sense that we'll ultimately end up with a public option as part of the plan? or given what is going on both in the senate and with the blue dog democrats, do you think the reality is that we'll end up without a muscular public insurance option? >> carlos, i strongly support a public health care choice for people. but regardless of bhaps and, frankly, it's a tough sell in the senate. i'm not sure we have the votes to pass that in the senate.

but either way, we can make major reform that will increase coverage for people, make it more affordable, change the way we do health care in this country for families and individuals, businesses. we know one thing. status quo, not good enough. we are in a situation right now that is not sustainable and not working for people. i believe we are going to get health care reforms that will be very positive. i'm hoping that a public choice for people will be a part of it. >> senator stabenow, we got to go but i have to ask you about your michigan state spartans. football season around the corner i know you're a big sports fan. any reason for you to celebrate this fall, you think? >> absolutely. i got two degrees from michigan state. they are going to be great this year. by the way, go tigers. because they are number one right now as well! >> first place. senator, good to see you. look forward to seeing you again. >> thanks. >> the health care showdown in the house. senator nancy pelosi puts the

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welcome back to msnbc live. i'm carlos watson.

now, in the final day before the summit recess, the house energy and commerce committee expected to wrap up work on legislation that would provide health care to nearly all 50 million uninsured. now, at the very at the same time time nancy pelosi is taking aim at insurance companies for proposing a public option. >> we want a strong public option in the legislation. insurance companies are out there in full force, bombing shock and awe against a public option. >> strong words. democratic congresswoman allison schwartz from pennsylvania joins us now. good to have out the show again. >> good to be with you. >> it sounds like things are intensifying not only speaker pelosi's comments but the president called out the insurance companies. i know that democrats are beginning to run ads in about a dozen states. how intense do you think it will get during the august recess? >> in the august recess, it's very important. as you know, we are moving ahead in the house. we are going to see all three

major committees at the end of today having voted out a way to make sure that every american has meaningful health insurance. i think it's good they are at the table and committed to making very strong market reforms that really matter to people with insurance. ending pre-existing conditions, making sure they don't deny coverage. that is important. and