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good morning. welcome to a brand-new hour of msnbc live. right now, msnbc anticipation is building over exactly what will happen just hours from now in new hampshire where president obama will he be met with the same rangry protests that have disrupted town hall meetings across the country? the president says he wanted a spirited debate but is he ready for almost total -- >> one day, god is going to stand before you! and he is going to judge you! and the rest of your damn cronies up on the hill! who is the boss? secretary of state hillary clinton gets hot under the

collar! she changes the lives of millions but today friends and family remember eunice shriver kenne kennedy. good morning. i'm carlos watson. a terrific hour this morning. eleanor norton and carlos gutierrez and chuck todd is live in new hampshire and we have real housewives in new york, bethany franklin who is joining us today. with me is my special co-host and financial editor jean chatzsky. divers hope to recover final two victims of the hudson river mid air collision. one of the bodies was recovered this morning. officials in taiwan say that a helicopter crashed into a mountain while on its way to res roux villagers whose homes were destroyed by a tee foon that has

triggered the worst flooding in taiwan in 50 years and some remain unaccounted for in remote areas. secretary of state hillary clinton snapped at a student in the conoco congo. she was asked what her husband thought of an international financial matter. . >> wait. you want me to tell you what my husband thinks? my husband is not the secretary of state. i am. [ inaudible question ] >> so you ask my opinion, i will tell you my opinion. i will not be channeling my husband. >> whoa. okay. turns out the student meant to ask her what president obama thought about the issue, not bill clinton. eunice kennedy passed away this morning. as her family mourns in private, public is showing gratitude to the woman who founded the special olympics more than 40 years ago. in fact, the organization started with camp shriver ran back in 1963. her inspiration is her sister

who was developmentally disabled. the 12th world summer games in 2007 hosted athletes from 164 countries. eunice kennedy shriver was 88. in a couple of hours president obama will step in the middle of what he is calling a vigorous debate over health care but that may be an understatement. take a look at what happened at senator arlen specter's town hall meeting this morning. >> i'm not loobyist with all kinds of money to stuff in your pocket so that you can cheat the citizens of this country! so i'll leave. and you can do whatever the hell you please to do! one day, god is going to stand before you and he is going to judge you and the rest of your damn cronies up on the hill! and then you will get your just deserved. >> holy cow. the president's town hall in

port smith, new hampshire will likely not involve no a shouting and shoving match but they are gearing up. chuck todd is joining me live. what is the expectation as the president waeds into these town halls? understanding he obviously did many when he was running for president and certainly done them since becoming president normally on there other issues including the stimulus? >> right. i think the white house sees and this as an opportunity to potentially address this issue of the tone. you know, we've been having a debate about the debate and what has gotten lost is some people have forgeten what we are debating over and it is this issue how to reform the health care system which there seems to be unanimity on on capitol hill because you hear from both sides if they want to do something. of course, it's how you do it. so i think the news out of this today, inevitably, despite what the white house is talking about as far as preexisting conditions and what they want to protect for folks with health insurance reform, is going to be what he says about the tone.

listen to what robert gibbs said this morning on the "today" about that very topic. >> dissent is part of the american tradition. i think what is unproductive, though, is if somebody tries to come to a town hall meeting and you can't ask your question or your mother can't ask her question because somebody else is yelling. >> chuck, is there any sense on the part of the white house that, in fact, some of what we've seen, not just in pennsylvania today, but some of what we saw in missouri, where people seem to be clapping at the notion of someone being lynched, that some of this is actually beginning to hurt opponents of the president and may, oddly enough, actually be helping the president's cause making his perspective seem more moderate and reasonable? >> well, i don't think they're at that point yet. look. they have three town halls this week. i think what they are hoping is their town halls sort of overshadow all of the other town halls that are going on and for what it's worth out here, carlos, it's been fairly

peaceful. it has more of a campaign 2008 steer steer atmosphere. you have your protesters here but some of the anger some have not been anticipating. i see familiar stickers and some of the purple t-shirts and you also see some conservative groups that have rallied folks. you do want to remember something about new hampshire. maybe short of iowa, the most politically organized state in the union, so you can just flip a switch, whether on facebook or good old telephone and get people to show up to a gathering. >> chuck, i'm joined this morning by my co-host jean chatzkyi. i understand the president is talking about health insurance reform rather than health care reform. how does he expect that to redirect the argument? >> well, look. they know they have within issue when you look at the number of people that have insurance, it's something like 87% of actual

registered voters if you want to look at this through a politically prism, over 90% of voters have health insurance. it's about trying to let those folks know who have insurance, what they would get out of reform. so, for instance, today, he wants to emphasize whatever bill he signs will make it so that you can't get dumped off of your insurance because of a preexisting condition and that is what you're going to hear a lot of. in conjunction with that, the health and human services department released a report about this issue. they are trying to turn this a little bit and trying to tell people who have insurance what they get out of reform. >> chuck todd in new hampshire, thanks so much. we will be talking to you more as we get close to the 1:00 town hall with president obama. for more on the president's effort to defend his health care plans we're joining on the phone by debbie wassermann shultz of south florida. good to speak to you again. >> good to speak to you, too. >> what do you make of president

obama going and beginning his own series of town halls? is there an expectation on your part that this can shift the conversation and, if so, at the end of a shift, what he hope is stru? in other words, hope the public option ends up in a senate bill? what would ab positive result of the president's efforts over the next couple of weeks during the recess? >> well, i think the president is, obviously, our best messager on health care insurance reform. we need to make sure that we can get the word out across america that there are a few things that they need -- americans need to be thinking about when it comes to health care. that if they like their plan that they have now that they can keep it. that things are only going to get better when we can reform health care insurance. for example, right now, an insurance company can drop you if you have a preexisting condition. under the new health care insurance reform bill that we will pass by the end of this year you will no longer be able to be dropped if you have a preexisting condition. we'll make sure, for example,

women who end up paying higher premiums because of our gender, that will no longer be allowed. the annual cap and lifetime cap that insurance companies put on health insurance policies will be prohibited. so insurance coverage will get better for people who have it now. the people that don't have it now will be able to be covered and, generally, if we include a public option which i am hopeful that we do, we'll make sure that we have a public option that will help bring down the costs by making the private plans more competitive. >> congresswoman, jean chatzky. i'm wondering about the money. there is so much confusion about how this plan will be paid for. do you expect to see clarity in these town hall meetings over the next couple of days? >> i think president obama is going to be able to shine a spotlight on how we're going to not only pay for it, but how we're going to make sure that we cover everybodyake health care insurance more affordable. i mean, really we've got to stop

the bleeding here. we are going to bleed ourselves -- the health care system that we have now will bleed us dry and we'll continue to spiral the deficit ever higher. we're going to do it through a combination of savings and making sure that we can add some more burden to the wealthiest americans who, right now, are really taking care of only themselves and who by paying a little bit more will be able to make sure we can make health care more affordable for everybody. the bottom line is that we've got to make this more affordable health care system that covers everyone and gives people comprehensive coverage that focuses on prevention. >> we only have a minute left, but i've got to ask you about two somewhat explosive conversations. one is the end of life conversation and the disproportionate amount of costs spent by people in the final years and final months of their lives and whether or not how you

want to think about that. the second piece is the question of obesity and to what extent that offers a disproportionate weight, no pun intended, on our health care costs and whether or not there should be greater linkage between people's own health and what preventive measures they take and what they end up paying. your thoughts on whether or not those conversations should be addressed head-on by president obama and other democrats. >> it's going to be really important that we begin to change the health care system to a prevention-based system so that we can address obesity, which is rampant in this country from young children all the way up to senior citizens. we've got to focus on making sure that people eat healthy and that we're focusing on prevention when it comes to health care and as far as euthanasia that is the most ridiculous accusation that opponents like rush limbaugh of this plan are trying to soak the fire to get people worked up. i represent a huge senior citizen population and,

obviously, any health care plan i would be supportive of is going to make sure we are sensitive about people's health care needs all the way through their lives. >> thank you for joining us. >> thank you. is the health care debate getting lost in the chaos? we want to hear from you. as we do every day, we ask you to go to iv r twitter.msnbc.com and you'll see my picture there. click on it and shoot me a tweet. or you can go to twitter.com/carloswatson, another way to find me. we will talk today. is president obama too willing to bargain on health care? we talk wheeling and dealing with congresswoman norton coming up. you're watching msnbc live. i'm carlos watson. the idea that barack obama will kill your grandparents and children is somewhat hyperbolick. well, please i thought so, until i saw this. >> i use this remote control to

contact life call. i have fallen and i can't get up! >> sorry, ma'am. can't help you. obama doesn't want us to. >> oh, socialism! hotel booking fees, but did you know you also get hotel price assurance? it's a one-two punch of savings -- pow! pow! lower hotel booking fees mean you get a lower total price. plus, if another orbitz customer then books the same hotel for less, we send you a check for the difference, automatically. my daughter was with me.

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hyperbolic. ..i'm carlos watson. now, is the blis becoming too willing to bargain on health care? the senate's number two democrat says the president is willing to delt deal on health care. congresswoman eleanor holmes norton joins us now. i want to ask you about senator dick durbin from illinois and close to president obama and they served in the senate

together. he said this past weekend that, yes, white house and president obama are finally willing to do a deal. are you worried at all the white house is too willing to deal or, in fact, is that the smart move to get into a conference committee where the president may be easily able to get the things in health care reform he wants to have happen? >> why do you think he is not in it now? of course, he is dealing with us in the house and the senate but he is not in the midst of it and i think because he sees himself and by the way, that the role of the president in our system, as the great arbiter. when you have two bills, somebody has to arbitrate them. i think that is precisely the role he'll play. what kind of, quote, deal it is he has to watch out for. there are hardened sides. i see them in my own house of representatives and that may be the mistake in waiting so long to get in. >> well, you said that, congresswoman, the deal remains to be seen. but reading the tea leaves, what do you think it might look like?

>> well, when you don't have a bill, the other side can come at you every which way and there's not a thing can you do, except respond with your list of things, because what people want to know now is how. for example, i represent the district of columbia. that's a very progressive district. the whites and the blacks are equally, hispanics, all equally progressive and, yet, i am getting mail, mail, for example, that says i like my health care plan, i don't want to be forced into a public plan. there's lots of mail that says i like my employer-based plan. you will throw me into a public plan. now, the very knowledgeable constituents who are writing liking their employer-based plan do not know, i believe, that health care is going up at a

rate three times their wages. they think health care is more or less free. where is that coming from? that's coming from what their wage would, in fact, the bottom line that they take home would, in fact, generate. the president, indeed, the congress is trying to deal with those figures as well, but since most people like what they've got, they can't understand what all of the fuss is about. >> we only got a few second, but i wanted to ask you about d.c. statehood. it's an issue, obviously, near and dear to your heart a long time and there hasn't been a lot of public talk about it. i know earlier in this year there was progress to allowing you or whoever is the d.c.'s representative in the house of representatives to have a full vote in every way. can you give us an update where that is? d.c. any closer to statehood? >> yes, intooeeds carlos. thank you. both houses have passed the bill but a very lethal -- i'm making some progress on getting it off

so that we don't have a civil rights amendment that, in fact, has attached to it an amendment that takes away all of d.c.'s gun laws so we are working very closely with our leaders in the house and the senate and we're getting there. >> but you do think there's a possibility that this year or next, d.c. might have a fully voting member of the house, but not two senators? >> but not -- well said. not two senators yet because this is such an incremental congress. it won't do both. i've tried to get both during my term in the congress but as you can see with health care, everything gets to be incremental and especially d.c. voting rights. >> that would be a transformative change. i can only imagine what it would be like. >> even in the house. >> even in the house. thank you for joining us. next time you're in new york, please stop by. >> thank you, carlos. >> thank you. up comex wall street's toxic threat. commit may be showing signs of life but the same cannot be said. is the government doing enough?

you're watching msnbc live. it's all about the benjamins, the place for politics.

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qualify for the cash for clunkers program. go to chevy.com for details. welcome back to msnbc live. live coverage. president obama getting ready to depart any moment for portsmouth, new hampshire. you see his helicopter there, marine one. the president is getting on air force one and head up to portsmouth, new hampshire. this is the first of three town halls he is specked to do this week on health care. the president is very much trying to shift the conversation about health care and his direction and, in fact, as chuck todd told us earlier this morning, try and shift, if you will, the tenor and the tone of these various town halls including ones that members of congress are holding. right now to talk more about health care and other matters i'm joined by former secretary of commerce carlos gutierrez. secretary gutierrez, good to have you join us this morning. >> pleasure. good name carlos.

>> i was going to compliment you. my mom said we only give those name out to good, smart, handsome guys. at least in your case, she got it right. secretary gutierrez, i wanted to ask you a little bit about the economy first. i wanted to ask you about the recession. bob herbert, "the new york times" columnist talks about the unemployment numbers masking far more worrisome reality encall it a scary reality. how concerned are thaw despite the good news on wall street we're not doing enough to turn the unemployment picket and what do you think we can do right now to get the number down from 9.5% closer to 5%? >> my concern, carlos, is we're going through a first wave of the recession and we may well be, you know, leveling out. the problem is now we have to deal with the big problem in front of us which is the deficit. are we going to take care of that deficit by increasing taxes to the point where we cripple

the economy? how are we going to incentivize businesses when our tax rates are extremely high? this isn't over yet, because on top of the deficit, we do this 1.5 trillion dollar health care plan that's being debated. so my concern is what comes next? where do we go from here? and is there a second wave that we're going to have to deal with? >> but, mr. secretary, what do you say to people who previously had jobs that paid them $30,000 or more and been out of work and unemployment benefits are running out and they are looking at, at best, part-time work and some of them are completely discouraged. what i just heard you seem to suggest was that the deficit is in such a bad place, we may have to ride it out. are there not additional actions both as a former cabinet secretary and former ceo for a fortu fortune 5 hundred company you would like to see obama administration and others to take to change the number of

unemployment in the short term? >> yes, i would. i think it starts out by recognizing that jobs are created by businesses, by the private sector. so i think we need to look at business taxes. we need to look at small businesses taxes. we need to look at reducing the tax rate for capital investments. it has to be a focus on businesses that create jobs. if you look at what we are focused on today and what the brain power of the government is going toward, it's government involvement in health care. it's a cap and trade system. so i don't believe that the focus is on how do we incentivize business to vest more so we can create jobs. we could be focused on the wrong things. i believe we're solving the wrong problems so it's a matter of strategy. >> we're watching live pictures of president obama walking towards air force one. he is getting ready to get on the plane and head up to new

hampshire for the first of a series of town halls this week on health care. what do you make as you watch these town halls, including what was, at best, a vibrant exchange this morning that senator arlen specter had and some would say a scary exchange he had. are you concerned at all that people are crossing the line in these town halls? >> i think actually, you know, this is a great country and we are seeing a process unfold and i think what's happening is that, you know, how do you sell or how do you convey a 1,400-page plan to people and get them engaged? this is a government for the people, by the people. but we've got -- we're dealing with something tremendously complex. what the american people have heard is, you know, very positive talking points about this system, but they haven't heard risks and i think they deserve to hear, look, we're

spending a trillion and a and a half dollars on health care. what if it goes wrong? what are the pros and cons? what are the things that can go wrong? because things do go wrong. in the absence of that, people are filling in the vacuum with a lot of, you know, tactical discussions what is going to happen to the aging population. i think we really do need new forms of transparency, new forms of getting information to the american people, but information isn't just doing a sales job. it's pros and cons, risks. what are we really getting into? >> i love that point and i would love for you to join us either later this week or early next week to do that. i think an important point. i agree that conversation should take place and it hasn't taken place. i love that point. thank you for joining me and congratulations on the first name. >> you, too. >> for more, check out our website.

carloswatson.msnbc.com. what will it take for president obama to have a successful fall after stumbling this summer? the points to watch out for coming up. bethany frankle shares her skinny secrets. that's right. got room for the internet. with my new netbook from at&t. with its built-in 3g network, it's fast and small, so it goes places other laptops can't. i'm bill kurtis, and wherever i go, i've got plenty of room for the internet. and the nation's fastest 3g network. gun it, mick. (announcer) sign up today and get a netbk for $199.99 after mail-in rebate. with built-in access to the nation's fastest 3g network. only from at&t. nation's fastest 3g network. you know why i sell tools? tools are uncomplicated? nothing complicated about a pair of 10 inch hose clamp pliers. you know what's complicated? shipping. shipping's complicated. not really. with priority mail flat rate boxes from the postal service shipping is easy. if it fits, it ships anywhere in

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is telling me to do one thing... and, my mind, my heart is telling me to do something else. managing my highs and lows is super important. with my contour meter i can personalize my high/lo settings so it really does micromanage where my blood sugar needs to be. i'm nick jonas and never slowing down is my simple win. welcome back to msnbc live. i'm carlos watson. now developing news in new hampshire involving proat any timers in portsmouth. nbc ron allen is live there with the details. good to see you, ron. >> how are you, carlos? >> ron, so apparently there is fairly significant, almost disturbing news. let us know what is happening there in new hampshire. >> well, things are peaceful. there are perhaps several thousand people here in front of the high school and they are lining the road up to the high school.

people for health care reform, for lack of a better way to describe them on one side and people against it on the other side. things are very orderly but let me clear up one thing. is there a man in the crowd who has a handgun strapped on his lower leg. i asked the chief of police about this. the chief of police says that it is legal for him to have the gun as long as it is not concealed. it is a registered weapon and what is more the man is on private property, a church ground there at the end of the roadway and the church has apparently given him permission to be there. the police are keeping a close eye on this man and i suspect he won't be here by the time the president gets here in a couple of hours time. >> ron, hang on a second. but to be really clear, we're seeing the pixs right now. you're saying a guy has a gun in the open where we already know there are concerns about every president's safety, but certainly this historic president, the 44th president of the united states and there's no -- the guy is just being

allowed to stay there, is that right? >> the chief of police here, i just asked him because i was amazed by this, too. aapparently the law allows him to be here as long as the gun is not concealed and it is registered to him apparently. he is on private property, the church ground. a church that leads into road to the high school and the chief of police said the church have allowed him to be there. the authorities are keeping a close eye on him. i am going to check back again because something a lot of people are going to be amazed by thaw is the way the law apparently works in new hampshire. i bet you a lot of money by the time the president gets anywhere near the state of new hampshire this man and his gun will be nowhere near the high school. >> i can't imagine some lawyers in new hampshire can't file an emergency injunction but i'll leave that to the lawyers on the ground. ron allen, thank you. we will be returning to talk to you as we get closer to the president's town hall.

the president will be speaking there in an hour. we saw the president boarding air force one moments ago. now that today's provocative daily topic. it's august. the president's poll numbers are about to be tumbling. he is greeted by a number of protesters and one guy with a gun. we take a look at four presidential tipping points. aurie, good to see you. >> good to see you. >> i can't get to your tipping points until we talk about the guy with a gun in new hampshire. we saw pictures of him. what do you make of that? >> i think it's really odd. when i traveled on senator obama's campaign plane there were tremendous clearinghouse service. we would go in hours before and everything would be sniffed by dogs and they had tremendous authority as far as i could tell being there that secret service working with local authorities to sweep, to clear and remove people. forget holding a gun. the service would work with

local authorities to say you're too close to the facility, the president is coming in several hours later. this struck my ear as odd. i don't know what the law in new hampshire is somewhat different. >> i was disturbed when i saw president bush in iraq and saw a guy have enough time to take one shoe and throw it at him and then a second shoe. i said, you know, i don't care where you stand politically. i don't want the president of the united states that some guy has enough time to take two shoes and throw at him at point blank range. >> you think about the split second it could would take to draw that weapon. when ron allen said i bet awe lot of money by the time the president gets here that guy will be nowhere to be found. why can't we get rid of him now is my question. >> not only that. i have been concerned and i had my daily editorial yesterday. i said i had concern about language. i love that we're doing the town halls and love they are spirited and people voicing strong opinions but i thought, in some cases, we were crossing the

line. my concern is words could turn into actions and those actions in some cases could be violent. i got to worry when you show some guy on tv out in the open with a gun on his leg, that's going to have a ripple impact. it's not like other people aren't going to watch that and, in cases, maybe model that? >> you already got a situation that is polarized as it was described. people for health care on one side of the street and people opposed on the other. it would take very little to tip that situation into a dangerous one. >> i think it's difficult. we got to turn to the tipping point we were talking about. we were trying to look at from here to december. what can the president do whose ratings once in the 60s and 70s and now in the 50s. not bad but clearly not where he would like them to be. you think there are four key things that could make the difference between obama having a good fall or a great fall. the first you think is what. >> i think taking charge on capitol hill is the first one. we had a guest earlier in the program talking about how he is the great arbiter.

a time for arbitrating and leadership. i think if he draws clear lines and says, senator durbin, we're friends but i meant what i said. this is going to be to have a public option this is what i'm doing and what we need for reform, not only on the substance but also in taking leadership and going into the fall is a tipping point that will help people see him as a leader. >> i got to have you move through the rest quickly because i took so much of your time. what is the second tipping point in the second point? >> he doesn't have to win over the whole republican party. he won't. a couple of important republicans can be significant for him. we all remember george bush and ted kennedy. it didn't matter that george bush did not work with -- >> maybe surprise republicans. >> i think that is number two. number three, you got the supreme court taking a big case. people aren't talking about it yet in september on campaign finance reform and they may rewrite these laws and they may rule out some of the public funding and this is a placeplace where the president will have a choice to leave and revive public funding or to step back

and let public funding die potentially because of his own narrow self-interest because of the kind of campaign and money he was able to raise and a lot of advocates who support and hope he will -- >> big impact on 2010. last and final tipping point? >> i think you got internet campaign we heard so much about and lately much less. can he get those people in organizing for america back out there on his initiative. they are trying to do it. we haven't seen yet, though, whether that is a tipping point people say the president has extra juice. >> 30 seconds left, jean. >> that's interesting because over the last couple of weeks, those e-mails have started to flow again in the way that they weren't over the past couple of months. so it will be interesting to see. >> will they produce last-minute vick roy health care? interesting. might surprise republicans. thank you both very much there. leave it there. >> thank you. up next out of school and searching for work but with unemployment on the rise at home, guess what a lot of recent grads are doing? taking their job search overseas. we're going to talk about it.

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welcome back to msnbc live. i'm carlos watson. every day we're reading some of your tweets and a lot have been terrific goinging to my twitter page and responding to what we're talking about on the show. let me read a couple of them. here is what aleostar writes. interesting. okay. then padiv 2 asks this. that's particularly intriguing, given last year's campaign. car314 says -- that's interesting. kind of what congress is supposed to be, actually. okay. understand your point there.

follow me at twitter.msnbc.com and you'll see my picture there. click on it and let me know. would love to hear from you. 9.4% of americans currently out of work. jobs are working hard to pull their weight. productivity search by 6.4% in the first quarter according to just released numbers from the labor department. actually the highest jump in almost six years. let's go to cnbc area rin burnett. i was giving you the whole station. i wanted to call you cnbc. erin, the productivity numbers sound good. but is that good news for people out of work or does that mean companies are figure you out how to get the same amount of work done with fewer people? >> tough one. i think it's more of the latter. at least from the numbers that we can see. i mean, productivity goes up like i said when fewer people get more done.

usually in a recession you wouldn't see that. what has been unusual about this recession is we have seen productivity rise throughout that may mean that companies have been able to jettison the least productive workers successful. but, obviously, one thing you get when you see the other data which is a wage data is that you aren't seeing any kind of income growth and that, obviously, is very troubling when you look at the future of the mortgage market and consumer spending which as we all now know well is two-thirds of the u.s. economy. >> don't you wonder also, erin, if it's sustainable? we're seeing stories in the newspaper about how people are not taking vacations and about how they are coming to work even when they are told to take furloughs because they are afraid. can this continue? >> that's a very good point. i mean, if that is going through the productivity you raise a fair point. hard to see that continuing. one thing that is interesting perhaps as a result of the small uptick we've seen but specifically in the auto industry, thanks to cash for clunkers you see shifts being

added, over time being added and some plants actually being reopened by some of the big three. you're going to see that data coming through as well. >> erin, finally, quickly, are there any interesting sectors or even regions of the country starting to show new signs of life in the past couple of months that maybe are flying under the radar? >> obviously, you're seeing it in autos and we know that isn't necessarily under the radar. when you look at the big spending that might happen right now, the second biggest season of the year for retail spending is back to school. obviously, holiday season around christmas is number one. around back to school you will see some pickup. whether it's back to a normal level, obviously, that's a huge question but you'll see that with the likes of tech companies and iphone in particular and net books. anybody sort of involved in that manufacturing product, hp big there with net books. you'll see it there. but under the radar, one final thing. auto mechanics is interesting. 1.3 million of them around the country didn't get laid off and kept their jobs through the slow down and they are still there. goes to show you there is

populations of people doing all right. back to you. >> erin burnett, thanks. >> good to see you both. the real housewife of new york city running her own successful franchise. chef, author and reality tv bethany frankle is live with us in the studio after the break. you're watching msnbc live. i'm carlos watson. y equinox. with an epa estimated 32 miles per gallon. and up to 600 miles between fill ups. it's the most fuel efficient crossover on the highway. better than honda cr-v, toyota rav4 and even the ford escape hybrid. the all new chevy equinox.

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welcome back to "msnbc live." you're looking at live picture there is from portsmouth, new hampshire. president obama speaking in just a few moments at a town hall there on health care. you see it, there are hundreds of protesters there. people, frankly, on both sides of the aisle there in new hampshire, portsmouth, new hampshire. we'll be hearing from the president very soon. we just saw pictures of him boarding air force one just a little bit ago. she's actually one of the most outspoken stars of bravo's hit reality show "the real housewives." she's the author of "naturally thin," a book that spent 18

weeks on "the new york times" best seller's list. bethany, glad to see you again. >> thank you for having me. congratulations on your show. >> thank you. tell me about how you ended up on the show. because everybody wants to be on a reelt shality show, but i ass it's not that easy. >> it was pretty easy for me. literally, they were desperate, and really desperate for the fifth mom/wife, and they found me at polo and tried to get me into this category and i said, i'm not a mom, and i'm not a wife, i'm an apartment girlfriend, so this is a stretch. >> did you have any trepidation about doing it? >> i did. they kept after me for about two months. and then i said, there are people on bravo that have brands, and this could be a way to either ruin my entire life or really blow it out and it's been unbelievable. it really has. >> i read when you started the show, you had $8,000 in your pocket, and that was it.

>> yes. i wasn't going to the racetrack, i didn't have $8,000 in my pocket. in my bank account. but i was really trying to build my brand, but was definitely struggling and department know if it was going to pan out. so i'm a gambler. >> how good has this been? you said something very insightful. there was a salary negotiation, and some of your colleagues wanted more money, and you said, stop haggling over a couple thousand dollars. >> it's not even a conversation. i have three more books coming out, my margarita is going to do 20 times what grey goose did. that's what it's about, focus on the big picture, not the minutia. we become replaceable, atlanta, washington, the real housewives, six women anywhere are crazy enough to be on this type of a show. >> it's interesting, the people going on this show and others like it view it as the

opportunity to build a brand. for you, that's been true. for others on the show, i have to say as a viewer, it's a little annoying. >> i try to do it in a more subtle way, to what's actually happening on my life. but when i was on "the apprentice," i had a cookie company, which i still have now, which is fine, and i was there, i didn't to have the cookies selling, but my heart wasn't into it. you can't just grab on to something because now you're on tv, you have to really have it inside. >> what would surprise us most, for those of us that aren't living your life right now, what would surprise us most about your experience, being on tv, being one of the real housewives of new york. >> everyone thinks i'm a gl glamrama, i buy everything on ebay, and i'm pretty low budget.

low maintenance regimen. not regime. >> i am dying to get into this whole nyc press thing and what sort of parents would allow their children to do a reality show like that, but i know we're getting short on time. >> i can't wait. we'll do that another time. because that's vile. >> skinnygirlscocktail.com. >> and i don't now if your viewers are big twitter followers, askbethany. that does it for me. i want to thank today's cohost, jean chatzky. dr. nancy snyderman, i can't imagine you're going to have anywhere as near as much fun as i've had this hour, is it possible? >> i'll do my best, carlos. we have a lot going on today. as you know, in a couple of minutes, president obama is going to talk at a town hall in portsmouth, new hampshire. it's a heated up environment. we'll talk about what that means

for everybody. will the president face the same level of anger we just saw at the town hall meeting with senator arlen specter. and michael jackson's autopsy is done, but it's being kept secret. why would that be? it is approaching noon on the east coast and that means the doctor is in. it all starts right now. ♪ bicycle, what are we waiting for? the flowers are blooming. the air is sweet. and zyrtec® starts... relieving my allergies... 2 hours faster than claritin®. my worst symptoms feel better, indoors and outdoors. with zyrtec®, the fastest... 24-hour allergy medicine, i promise not to wait as long to go for our ride. zyrtec® works fast, so i can love the air™. mr. evans? this is janice from onstar. i have received an automatic signal you've been in a front-end crash. do you need help? yeah.

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