♪ philadelphia freedom ♪ i love her we do make mistakes, and this situation has a chance to prove that he's doing the right things. i think the fans will be excited for him as long as he continues to do what he's been doing. he's so proactive in this, speaking all over the country and working with the humane society and so on. >> oh, you know, when joe is here everyone is seated and he's the last one seated but when i'm here, hey, welcome, everybody. >> doing. >> show over here. >> willie has a show to do. >> jon meacham was doing my show. >> i know you're -- suzy, you're allowed. we were in the makeup room talking. 6:00 on the east coast. great show today. joe scarborough is on his way. willie, of course, suzy welch, of course, jon meacham of "newsweek" here. how are you? >> i'm well.

i started my day speaking to willie on the phone. >> i'm sorry. >> it's only up from here. >> i'm sorry. >> do you know what he did, mika? >> what did he do? >> it's a phone call segment so he can wake up and call. he came into the studio completely uninvited, frankly, and he made the phone call from right over there. we felt bad, so we put him on here. >> i like it. >> we're going to do a piece about edward r. mur row and which wi willie geist. >> we have a lot going on today. michael vick in the news today finds a taker. the eagles. a little controversial. we'll talk about that. joe, when he comes around, will be, i think, happy. >> we'll read this later, peta's statement. >> here's the problem with peta. i did a story on them the other day about these unhappy males and rubber chickens being thrown at mcdonald's. i can't take seriously a statement, a good statement that makes a very good point, when an

organization also does such flagrant, ridiculously wild things that make you lose confidence in them. >> as strongly worded a statement as you will ever hear and we'll play it for you. not happy. >> keep the shenanigans at a lower level. let's take a look at the news. the health care town halls as well and interesting article in "usa today" about sleep. we are all sleep deprived and very sick. for sure. >> the nation? >> oh, i was talking about us. okay, the nation. you're right. >> just trying to clarify. >> it was we here on "morning joe." all right. let's get a quick look at some of today's top stories. president obama heads west in his push to reform the health care system. he is set to speak at a town hall meeting where politico reports things could get more rowdy. tickets were handed out on a first come first served basis rather than a random selection by the white house.

interesting. that definitely could get interesting. meanwhile, the obama administration is going viral with efforts to dispel rumors on health care sending out a chain e-mail penned by david axelrod. meacham, did you get one? >> i have not gotten one, which wounds me. >> you are wounded. savannah got one. >> well -- >> we'll she'll be on. we'll talk about it. i think it's interesting the town halls are moran domly selected in terms of the people coming. >> it arguably will shake things up. i watched the first one in portsmouth which felt very polite. >> so canned. >> so sort of -- and people do have a hard time when they actually face the president. george w. bush used to say, sit in the waiting room, i'm going to tell him what all and get in and say what a lovely time, mr. president. >> that's a definite dimension of these things. the question from the 8-year-old, i don't think it's time for cute. i think it's time for let's get some friction and conversation

going. video obtained exclusively by nbc news shows the moment a tour helicopter and a small plane collided last week over the hudson river in new york city. a disturbing video. two air traffic controllers have been put on administrative leave, one from making a personal phone call at the time of the crash and the other for not even being in the building. the faa says their actions did not necessarily contribute to the incident. they're supposed to communicate amongst themselves up there. it certainly doesn't help. reports say former presidential candidate john edwards is expected to admit that he fathered a child with former mistress hunter. hunter was hired by the edwards' campaign to produce a documentary accepting $100,000 for the job. now there's an investigation under way into whether she was paid illegally from campaign funds to keep that affair quiet. officials say a wildfire in

northern california has grown to more than 1,000 acres forcing thousands of people to evacuate. it's burning about ten miles north of santa cruz and it is still not contained. music legend les paul has died of complications from pneumonia. the rock 'n' roll hall of famer is credited for inventing the solid body electric guitar. les paul was 94 years old. and a private funeral will be held in cape cod today for eunice kennedy shriver who died on tuesday at the age of 88. anne thompson joins us live from hyannis, massachusetts, with that story. ann, good morning. >> reporter: good morning, mika. in about 3 1/2 hours at 9:30 eastern time this morning, the funeral procession for eunice kennedy shriver there begin here in the streets of hyannis. a group of special owe llympiand

law enforcement officers will lead her body here to the church mind me, st. francis xavier church, to be followed by her casket and then the shriver family marching behind her. yesterday there was a public wake and there you see her five chirp, the four boys spoke and they remembered a mother who was competitive, who had a complete lack of vanity, a complete lack of modesty, as they joke, but most of all who was a mother to 0 them. three of her granddaughters got up and spoke as well and just touched the hearts of everyone who was there. throughout the afternoon at our lady of victory church where the wake was yesterday, there was a steady stream of mourners, many special olympians, many special education teachers, people here on the cape know the kennedy family along with some famous dignitaries including oprah winfrey and massachusetts governor duvall patrick and boston cardinal shawn o'malley all came to pay their respects to the shriver family. the shrivers stood there for six hours greeting friends, greeting

strangers and listening to wonderful stories about their mother that they said absolutely overwhelmed them. mika? >> anne thompson live in hyannis, thank you very much. you know, it's amazing, i was talking to my husband last night about her and she is someone who has had family members who have served in office yet she changed the lives of so many families for generations and generations forever. she's had more in some ways if you try and weigh the magnitude of what she's done with her life, jon meacham. >> well, the kennedys have, we think about it, are a mirror of the american experience for going on 120 years now from ethnic politics to appeasement, the rise of hollywood, wall street in the '20s, all the way through to the more familiar parts. and i think mrs. shriver represents the best part of that

tradition of public service. >> absolutely. >> i think perhaps the only kennedy/shriver who is not controversial and just uniformly accepted as a person of grace and compassion and meaning and just one person in that family that was not a lightning rod. >> all right. well, that is a quick look at the news. let's get weather now. are you ready, bill? >> i am. >> just behave. >> be happy. >> let's go to bill karins for a look at the forecast. no joe here. now behave. >> we can't say anything bad about joe when he's not here then. >> you can if you want. >> no, i don't dare. so just come back around and hit me twice as hard. let's talk a little bit about what's going on in the tropics. tropical depression number two yesterday that dissipated. things are going to get more interested. we've been so lucky. 2 1/2 months, no big storm, no damage, no devastation. the storm just came off the coast of africa. this is likely to be the first storm we're going to have to track. that's the second arrow all the way to your right, the big red

blob, likely near puerto rico or the islands six or seven days from now and after that who knows. that's going to be the storm to watch. the forecast for your friday relatively nice around the country. this is going to be a perfect friday in chicago, kansas city, orlando to charleston. down on the southeast coast a chance for storms. what a three-day stretch for new england and the mid-atlantic. just a perfect summer weekend. 84 today in new york. look at the forecast for your saturday. 89 in new york city, sunny. boston, 85. this is a beach weekend in many areas if you can't get to the beach, maybe the lake, all the way into sunday, guys, this is probably going to end up being one of the better summer weekends of the year. >> wow. all right. bill karins, thanks very much for that very polite weather forecast. all right, willie, let's talk about michael vick, one of the big stories of the day. he has a job with the eagles and there are those who are saying he's done his time, let him move on but there's something about what he did that i think will stay with him forever. >> i guess it's a question whether you believe in second

chances and what the direction should be -- do you kill somebody, drown dogs, do you give him a second chance. michael vick last night signed a two-year contract with the philadelphia eagles. one year with the option for a second year. a lot of people wondering which team was going to take a chance on him. it is, in fact, the philadelphia eagles. now they'll be followed by media everywhere they go. they'll be followed by protesters every game they play. >> his crime was dogfighting. >> for running a dogfighting ring. he served nearly two years in jail. he's done his time and did some horrific things as peta reminded us in a statement reacted to the signing last night. here is what peta said. peta and millions of football fans around the world are disappointed the philadelphia eagles have chosen to sign a man who hanged dogs from trees, electrocuted them with jumper cables, held them underwater until they drowned in his swimming pool and threw his own family dogs in the pits to be torn to shreds while he laughed. what sort of message does this send to young fans who care about animals and don't want to

see them harmed? peta certainly hopes vick has learned his lesson and feels remorseful of his crimes. since he's given no public indication that is the case, only time will tell. all eagles fans can do is cross their fingers be a hope they won't ever have to explain to their sons and daughters what a rape rack is and why their favorite player was using one as falcons fans once had to do. the details of the story are ugly. we know that and we'll be reminded of that, but what do you do with a guy? do you force him to live in a cave for the rest of his life or allow him to play football? that's the question. >> i think this is an opportunity for vick to stand up and say what he did was wrong and be a role model for redemption. when you hear the details of what happened, it is nauseating and yet what would peta have us do with this person? would he be jailed for the rest of his life? that sounds like the option he would support. what he did was terrible but here is an opportunity for a

person to show what it looks like to re-create yourself, apologize and move on to be a really positive role model. >> and he's only 29 years old, so he has a lot of life to live. somebody who gave him a second chance, the eagles did it. >> jon meacham, what do you think? >> that was a heck of a statement. that was well done. i think suzy is right. all of this depends on sort of how -- how much influence do we invest in a football player, and obviously a lot of kids do and so that becomes an issue about whether he will say, hey, i made a mistake and then i cleaned up my act and, therefore, it's a narrative that is instructive. >> there are role models for kids whether we like it or not and they make a lot of money and i think what people are grossed out about here is what he did. they feel like perhaps he doesn't deserve to be back in the spot the light again. i go back to joe's point that he's been making about this, which i think is very salient.

there are people out there released from jail or taking short prison terms for doing far worse things to human beings and we ought to look at that. we ought to spend our time looking at how that system can be fixed. >> and, by the way, a lot of those players, they're in the nfl, the people you're talking about. the wife batterer. they've done horrible, horrible things. this is awful. i'm not diminishing it. a lot of people have done awful things to women who are still playing in the nfl. >> all right. we have a lot to talk about. coming up, we have the moderator of "meet the press," david gregory will be with us. pulitzer prize columnist eugene robinson has a new op-ed in "the washington post." is savannah guthrie live from the white house. joe gibbs will be here. also an exclusive look at the stories politico is working on this morning. you're watching "morning joe" brewed by starbucks. bicycle, i've missed you.

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turns out now he has another project, his memoirs, and it's juicy. >> this morning's "washington post" reports cheney believes president bush turned away from his advice during their second term, had gone soft, and showed an independence that surprised cheney. >> oh, my gosh, dad and dad broke up. how do you go soft and show independence? you've gone soft. nice spine. >> the cheney/bush feud or the lack of feud with the chief political correspondent for politico, mike allen. he has a look at the "morning playbook." hi, mike. >> happy friday, willie. >> happy friday to you. we'll get to that story in a second. we understand this town hall meeting in montana today for president obama could be a little more rowdy, as you put it on politico than the new hampshire one. why? >> willie, when "morning joe"

talks, the white house perks up, if we can continue our talk analogies here. >> sure. >> what did joe, what did chuck todd, what did pat buchanan say yesterday? they said the president would have been better off at that town hall this week if the president had answereded critics, had taken tough questions. it's not like president obama would be thrown off his script by some dude standing up in a town hall. so for this afternoon's montana edition, the white house gave out their tickets a little differently. instead of giving the tickets to supporters or more care-free controlled, they went to two town halls in montana and gave them out on a first served -- first curve -- that will ultimately be the question. first come first served basis so it may be a little more tougher questioning this time for colorado. in a day or two the president will go back to the white house method of ticketing. 1,300 people. he'll probably get some tough

questions. >> mike, we know everything a president does is pretty well orchestrated. we're not going to see screaming matches like with arlen specter and claire mccaskill, are we? >> i can guarantee you they're not going to be standing as close to the president as that guy was to senator specter, that's for sure. >> do you 0 think this is a good move by the white house? does he need to face some real questions? >> no, of course. i agree with the point joe was making. this president can answer the questions and have every story say the questions were soft, he didn't take tough questions. the president is sort of getting shortchanged now. the whole point of doing these events is to give the illusion, if nothing else, that you're connecting with the public. he might as well do it. >> jon meacham, is this a good idea for the president to loosen it up, take some real questions? >> he's the white house's greatest asset, so why wouldn't you use it? all these arguments about being overexposed are wrong. because i live an exciting life, i was looking at teddy white's

1964 making of the president book. lbj's people were being told he was overexposed in 19 4. and so it's a perennial issue. mike allen the greatest political analyst of our time, arguably. he has not yet file his playbook, i can point out. but is the white house looking for a sound bite youtube moment where the president takes on something directly and he's against soundbites as a practical matter because it cuts against his level of complexity but are they looking for kind of an iconic moment? >> yes. they know that the risk/reward ratio is very high here. that by answering some harder edged questions that the president does have the better chance for a moment, as you say, and they are poised to send out that video to all their own channels, through to the 1,300 supporters, the 13 million supporters they have from the campaign to their own facebook,

twitter. they've been building a mail list of white house.gov. so this is a reminder they're not depending on us to put out that moment. they're very happy to do it themselves. >> suzy? >> mike, i have a question. what do you make or what are people making about the choice of going to montana? jack and i have relatives in montana, people who live in montana are a breed apart. what is being made of this choice of going to montana where there's a lot of independence and plain spokenness? >> you're right about that. a couple of reasons, the mountain west becoming more and more of a swing area. they're very dependent on. of course the chairman of the senate finance committee, max baucus, that's no surprise. that's why they've been running commercials in that area. but a big reason is the president is doing this national park tour ahead of his sojourn in martha's vineyard. we'll see the president in yellow stone and the grand canyon so this was part of that swing and that was the pacific

region. why today? why there? >> let's talk about the cheney story on the front page of "the washington post" yesterday. you say this might be much ado about nothing. why? >> move along. nothing to see here. >> really? >> no. the cheney camp says this slightly overstated. i think that the story got the music right if not the words. there definitely are differences in perspective between the vice president and the president. we're told that vice president cheney's book, which he's writing with his daughter, liz, a friend of the show, will be full of news or promise but don't expect it to take shots of the president. he doesn't have to do that. if you think about what the vice president has seen as a congressman, white house chief of staff, defense secretary during the war, vice president during those amazing eight years. he has plenty to tell. they're digging through the archives and are going to have a lot of very specific stuff in there. the president's book is going to

be more personal, impressionistic. the vice president's book is going to be very fact based. >> all right. we're looking forward to both of them. mike allen, have a great weekend and get that "politico playbook" out. jon meacham is waiting for it. jonathan capehart will join us and later which of these stories is going to make the cut for the week in review? >> oh, i know which ones. >> everybody is waiting. stay tuned. >> you be nice to hillary. most for headaches.

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look at that pretty sun rise. good morning, everyone. 28 minutes past the hour. welcome back to "morning joe." time now to look at some of today's top stories. this morning's "new york times" is reporting the myth of government sponsored death panels did not originate from partisan bloggers but rather the same conservative media that helped defeat president clinton's proposal 16 years ago. the "times" points to the editorial board of "the washington times" and the american spectator magazine. talk about that coming up. according to "the wall street journal," germany and france when it comes to economic

recovery sites stimulus efforts and consumer spending which helped both economies bounce back faster than the u.s. and the uk. and a new study is warning that about 20% of american teens share prescription drugs with friends. they often include antibiotics as well as allergy and acne medication. researchers also found that almost a third of teens who took a borrowed prescription didn't tell their doctor. getting loose about the pharmaceuticals. >> when we were in high school, there was no prescriptions as far as i know. there was other stuff. >> just heroin. that's a much different relationship with drugs today. >> there is and there are more of them. there are more kids on meds for all these conditions, some of them real, some i would argue just to get state fund iing. >> health care costs. got to control those health care costs. >> did any one of you have a child in your classroom with odd? do you know what that is?

opposition defiance disorder. do you know what that means is this. >> they can't behave. >> i think joe has it. they get medicated for it, help in the classroom and funding. there are are all these disorders. some real. you can argue contrived. i did meet a child, though, in my story that actually have it and it did seem real. it's an on 0going conversation but the medicating of so many children now is what has changed the dynamic. time now to take a look at the morning papers. "wall street journal," europe recovers as u.s. lags. germany and france escape recession even as consumer weakness kobls america. >> an exciting new transition. look at that. see that? >> was that like a swipe or something? >> "washington post," france and germany fend off recession. modest growth is the latest sign of global comeback. >> i think i saw willie. all right. washington times, general stanley mcchrystal.

>> and "the new york times," collision last weekend between a plane and a sightseeing helicopter bears longtime rift over safety between the f.a.a. and ntsb. they say the faa is slow to react. >> we have exclusive video of the accident which will help shed light on it. "usa today," 40 years ago this week, woodstock threw about 450,000 people to a farm in bethel, new york, for three days of music, mud, and -- >> o.d.d. a lot of o.d.d. back in the day. >> also "usa today," six hours of sleep not enough. a study showing we're absolutely kidding ourselves if we think we can handle less than six hours of sleep. >> does 2 1/2 with two screaming babies -- >> you, by the way, for two

years your life is a living hell. >> two years? >> i think about two years and then it starts to ease up and then it's just slightly. >> we find that benadryl is good. >> great. talk about kids medicating, it starts young. >> but that's different. that's more proactive. >> when they have a cough. >> exactly. >> only when they have a cough. >> i used to give borbon. >> up next, "washington post" columnist jonathan capehart and some must-read opinion pages. bicycle, i've missed you. gathering dust, as pollen floats through the air. but with the strength of zyrtec ® , the fastest, 24-hour allergy relief, i promise not to wait as long to go for our ride. with zyrtec ® i can love the air ™ .

did you apologize to that lady you talked to afterward? >> what i will say to you is the lady did not ask for an apology. we became good friends. no offense taken. no offense given. what i was focusing on is what america should be focusing on. >> would you not agree that with this action which may or may not

have been a mistake on your part, you derailed the conversation and praut heat upon 0 yourself and your cause? >> i'm used to heat when we're in the middle of tough issues and absolutely not. >> all right. sheila jackson-lee responding. >> i'm sorry. >> did i interrupt you? >> i'm sorry. >> that was a bad moment t. i also think anchors need to calm down, too. i'm jauss just saying. >> watch what you say about rick sanchez. >> i love rick sanchez. here with us now editorial writer for "the washington post" and msnbc contributor jonathan capehart. jonathan, great to have you back on the show. >> good morning. >> thank you, good morning. hi, everybody. >> let's do some op-eds. >> all right. >> paul krugman has an interesting one. republican death trip. he says, yes, the smear continues to spread and as the

example of mr. gingrich shows it's not a fringe phenomenon. senior gop figures including so-called moderates have endorsed the lie. senator chuck grassley, of course we played that sound bite yesterday, republican of iowa, is one of the supposed moderates. i'm not sure whether his centrist reputation comes from -- he did compare critics of the bush tax cuts to hitler but in any case his role in the health care debate has been flat-out despicable. we all heard what he said about pulling the plug on grandma and also the report that i read earlier that jon meacham, if you could start us off, about where the accusations and words have started being maybe from some mainstream conservative publications. what do you know about that? >> well, there's an excellent piece in "the new york times" tracing the etimology of the death talk phrase, governor palin picked it up, obviously. you now have senators saying,

well, we took out the death panels from the legislation. of course they weren't actually there to begin with so it's an interesting thing to claim. this happens in every really contentious public debate. there will be something that is a piece of misinformation or disinformation and we spend a lot of time trying to deal with that while other things will affect us for a long time go kind of undiscussed. >> jonathan capehart, you know the president is going to be doing these i guess it's a town hall still in montana and they are choosing people more at random. it looks like they are going to, is it fair to say, take the risk and maybe have the possibility of more friction? because i actually think that first down hall in portsmouth that's what they lacked, whether they meant for it or not, whether it was planned or not, it just didn't capitalize on the

president's talents which is to get in there and handle it. >> yeah, i think maybe the good folks in new hampshire were a little too polite. more respectful of the president. maybe in montana today there would be some people in there who want to mix it up and, you know, hold the president's feet to the fire over their concerns. there are legitimate concerns out there about health insurance reform or however we're calling it today but a lot of this rhetoric, death panels and pulling the plug on grandma, i think is lowering the debate and we've got two problems here. we. i should say the administration, the democrats have two problems. one, the president has sent the congress out to do these town halls for him to talk about a bill that is not even there. we are in the middle -- congress is in the middle of negotiating health insurance reform and the

idea that, you know, they've been distracted by conversations about death panels that aren't really there is a huge problem. you have members of congress who are fighting phantoms and that's part of the second problem and that is, i think, the democrats and account administration didn't take seriously the euthanasia argument that was out there. >> hmm. interesting the suzy welch. >> i think you say they're lowering the debate but the thing about death panels is people get them. i mean, everything about the health care debate otherwise is amorphous and you can wrap your head around it. that's why people are talking about it. it is a galvanizing concept whereas everything else if you ask even democrats who support the health care package, what's it about? what really happened? they sort of fumble around. death panel, people can talk about it. it's concrete. it's a metaphor for something that bothers people and this is a metaphor for something about the health care package that

bothers people. >> and you're right. but i think people are fumbling around and members of congress certainly are fumbling around because there's no there there yet. there's no final house bill. there's not even a senate bill just yet but there's no final senate bill where people can say, okay, if this bill happens, this is what's going to happen to me and my health care and my family. if this bill passes, this is what's going to happen to me and my health care and my family and right now we're in the middle of the negotiating process where things will come in, go out, and i think people, again, have legitimate concerns about what might be in the final health care bill but right now people are concerned and angry about things that might not even be there. i.e. the so-called death panels. >> exactly. jon meacham, and these crowds coming. i don't think this is manufactured. this is personal. people want to know. >> well, the debate has fallen into a predictable, which is not

to say it's illegitimate but a predictable pattern. you have people who believe that socialism is on the march and then you have reformers who believe that they are fixing a system that they ultimately bankrupted if we don't do it. and, once again, the large middle seems to be silenced on this. i completely agree with suzy. i hadn't thought of that but the vote is the right analogy here and part of it is i think people have to decide if, for instance, the death panel is a kennard, it has to be called that and then we have to press on. otherwise we talk a debate about the debate doesn't shed any light at all. it generates more heat. but i think that the president's going to be looking for a moment where he can look like the cool, prophecorial figure who rises above things and leverages the strength that got him this job to begin with.

>> exactly and it certainly doesn't seem to have been capitalized on. it may have just been a confluence of events. having said that, it seems to me that, you know, this debate -- this debate has gotten a little bit ahead of the white house or they haven't been able to sort of get their handle on the message and they seem to be trying with every day a new angle. for example, even the change in approach to the town hall that we saw from yesterday to the one that they're going to have today in montana. it seems to me that they seem to be flailing a little bit. >> well, opposition is easier to some extent and this is an ancient playbook. this is the way we alluded to before, the clinton bill was stopped by a complete wall, built by bill kristol, who said vote no. just say no on this. and with this imagery, and it drives me crazy when the people deploy imagery from the third

reicht. it seems you can debate the merits on this all you want and we should but the overheated avocations of world war ii are just wrong. >> and jonathan capehart, if you're trying to fight this thing, if you're against it, the biggest opponent to this plan is the economy and it is the way the white house is, you know, dealing with this situation, maybe too many at once. i think it just genuinely makes people afraid and they're wondering, gosh, if i don't have a job, am i going to like this plan? what's in this plan? i don't think the rhetoric and the vitriol is necessary if you're trying to bring it down. >> correct. you're absolutely right, mika. and i think someone out in one of these town hall forums should ask the president today in montana, mr. president, you

often say that doing health care reform is essential to economic recovery. make him explain that because that's been the mantra out of the white house since the inauguration, since before inauguration, and it is most likely true, the crushing health care costs that are weighing down the economy adding to the deficit. the president needs to explain that so that the folks out there who are leapfrogging, and i think it was john who mentioned this, the two strains of the debate going on now where you have people who are concerned about socialism. there are a lot of people who were concerned not just about socialism but the direction of the country and the economy, and he's got to explain how the two are intricately linked. i think that's the right word i'm looking for, to bring people along but right now, again, there's no there there just yet for anyone to grab on to. >> all right. we're going to have to continue this after a break.

are you doing sports? >> i'll do it. >> can i help? >> no. >> jonathan capehart, stay with us. coming up, it's the front page story in "the philadelphia" this morning. the eagles sign michael vick. details next in sports with willie geist. can i help? >> all right. >> if you miss part of "morning joe" check us out online.

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gathering dust, as pollen floats through the air. but with the strength of zyrtec ® , the fastest, 24-hour allergy relief, i promise not to wait as long to go for our ride. with zyrtec ® i can love the air ™ . time for some sports. we told you at the top of the show michael vick has been signed by the philadelphia eagles, a two-year contract. the nfl commissioner a couple weeks ago allowed the quarterback to participate in preseason games and he played two of them and can start practicing immediately. that's part of his conditional reinstatement. he will be allowed to play games in october. >> i'm curious, check the e-mails on this. i'd like to see what people are saying on it. >> vick will have a news conference at 11:00 eastern time and will start practicing

tomorrow. the eagles' current starting quarterback, donovan mcnabb, pretty supportive of his new teammate actually. >> i think this guy should be rewarded a second chance and we're all a little -- are dog lovers and i have dogs myself. i've looked past it and i think everybody else should as well. >> mcnabb says give him a second chance. vick overshadowed the return of tom brady. my wife's favorite football player. his first action since his season ending knee injury last year. a pass to chris baker here. pats won 27-25 over the eagles. 10 for 15 with two touchdowns. to some banal. a couple pitching gems. the yankees started a long road trip in seattle. matsui, the yankees go up 5-0 and it was sabathia with that pitching gem striking out branyan. eight strong innings, gives up only one run. yankees 11-1, now 6 1/2 games up

on boston who lost at fenway yesterday. in the national league, phils looking to sweep the cubs in chicago. chris lee. strikes out fukedome. the phillies won 6-1. they sweep the cubs at wrigley. the most dominant athlete of our generation has the first day lead at the pga championship. tiger woods shot a 5 under 67 in the first round at hazeltinen. a birdie putt. he's up one shot on paddy harrington as he looks for his 15th career major history. he is hot. he won his last two tournaments. no reason to believe he won't do it again here today. >> didn't really let me help you. >> did you want to say something? how about the red sox? >> let's take larry out to dinner. i feel bad. >> he believes the red sox will

come back. >> really? >> as they have before. >> should we go to a game? let's call him. let's go to a game. >> remember what they say about baseball. it always breaks your heart. it was designed to break your heart. >> i love the red sox. >> not for the red sox, though. >> we need to support them. they will make it. up next, the "week in review." the great taste of splenda® no calorie sweetener and added a little fiber? sweet! sweet! (together) sweet! (announcer) now for the first time, a gram of healthy fiber in every packet. sweet! (announcer) splenda® with fiber.

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no laughing. >> oh, is it time? >> time to get serious because it's time for "the week in review." we begin in africa. >> wait. you want me to tell you what my husband thinks? my husband is not the secretary of state. i am. >> number three, hillary's african odyssey. >> i'm not going to be channelling my husband. >> the secretary of state's interminable trip to africa started so well. there was dancing, diplomacy and general goodwill. then some punk college kid asked the wrong question. >> what does mr. clinton think? >> you want me to tell you what my husband thinks? >> while hillary was visiting camps in africa, the husband she wasn't going to be channeling was visit iing las vegas for an early celebration of his own birth. ♪ viva las vegas >> back in africa, secretary

clinton made more news by ensuring nigerians that america is just as corrupt as their country. >> our presidential election came down to one state where the brother of a man running for president was the governor of the state. >> it's been a long trip for hillary but we know bill is excited to have her back home this weekend. >> it depend upon what the meaning of the word "is" is. >> pole position. ♪ everybody looking at me now >> tween idol miley cyrus inspired young girls around the week with her performance at the teen choice awards. the lesson, if you dare to dream, you, too, can work the afternoon shift at flash dancers some day. the 16-year-old disney creation took some heat for the dance that involved hot pants, an ice cream cart and a pole.

while many parents were outraged, the exotic dancing community was impresseded. the general manager of scores strip club in new york said in a completely unsolicited statement if she'd like to come try out in a couple of years, our door is open. and the number one story of the week, one day god's going to stand before you, and he's going to judge you. >> town halls gone wild. >> you have awakened a sleeping giant. >> you can't trust them. never have. >> that's not true. it's the law. >> how dare you -- how dare you. this is not health reform. this is control. >> you are talking down to the american people if you think we are that stupid. >> i don't understand this rudeness. what is this? >> the health care debate took a bizarre turn this week as concerned citizens shouted down their elected officials. >> you're lying to me. >> packed heat outside a presidential event in new

hampshire. >> you're carrying a gun at a presidential event. >> and tried to get the attention of their congresswoman while she ordered some takeout. >> seriously. really, come on. >> meanwhile, sarah palin introduced us to death panels, the imaginary grum of imaginary people who will carry out president obama's imaginary orders to kill your sweet old grandmother. sorry, granny, it's just not going to work out. >> a government program that will pull the plug on grandma. >> so, mr. president, once and for all, where do you stand on killing grandmothers? >> reform will promote euthanasia. >> whoops, wrong sound bite. let's try that again. mr. president, do you or do you not, sir, favor the government's sanctioned elimination of the american grandma? >> i am not in favor of that. >> there you go. thank you for clearing it up. my gracious. it was never in the legislation.

>> it was never there. the president doesn't support it. the hillary thing, we need to talk. she was not off this week. i liked both of her soundbites and miley cyrus -- i'm just going to say that we've gotten rid of her in our household. >> as the mother of a teenaged girl, miley cyrus dancing around that pole is alarming. >> i have an 11-year-old who watches her every day. not anymore. >> are we shocked by these things anymore? >> i'm not shocked but i wish i hadn't been so stupid as to allow my daughter to watch the show because my mother, she's always right, my mother has said i don't like the way that child acts on the show. she's a brat, she talks back. you don't want your daughter watching that. and now we have her on the pole. so anyhow. >> my goal is only to talk about cyr cyrus. i love a 5-year-old girl who gets arrested in the girl's room in daycare. it may not be successful. we're going to have the cyrus

fan. >> miley cyrus and hillary clinton saying i am not my husband. talk about the different images for women. >> exactly. we have so many people capitalizing on the miley cyrus story. >> including you perhaps? >> i will not capitalize on it. >> have you been offered anything that might give you the chance to capitalize on be it? >> i have. you may share because i'm not saying it. >> i believe the gentleman who runs the scores gentleman's club, a recreational facility here in new york, also a restaurant, love the hors d'oeuvres, i believe that gentleman who was referenced in the piece there you an indecent proposal. am i correct? >> yes, he has. >> what did he offer? >> a pole dancing lesson but then he would give money to a charity of my choice. >> how could you -- >> of $10,000. >> you're not going to put clothes on the back of needy children? >> i will have to make a donation. >> hold out for more money. >> $50,000.

no, i just don't see that happening. i'm sorry. >> it's a form of exercise. >> men everywhere have that opinion. >> cyrus fans. >> i have a story about cyrus fans. >> i'll bet you do. >> i'll save it for later. >> i'll bet you're the only person who does. >> i have the story about cyrus fans. i will tell you it in the break and you can tell me if it's worthy for television. to the news. joe scarborough on his way. time for a quick look at some of today's top stories. today president obama heads west in his push to reform the nation's health care system. he is set to speak at a town hall meeting in montana where politico reports things could get more rowdy than his last event in new hampshire. tickets were handed out on a first come first served basis. rather than a ran doom selection by the white house. meanwhile the obama administration is going viral with its efforts to dispel rumors on health care. the white house is sending out chain e-mails penned by david axelrod. and video obtained exclusively

by nbc news shows the moment a tour helicopter and a small plane collided last week over the hudson river. meanwhile, air traffic controllers, two of them, have been put on administrative leave. one for making a personal phone call at the time of the crash and the other for not being in the building. the faa says their actions did not necessarily contribute to the incident. we're going to get much more on this from nbc's tom costello in just a few minutes. reports say in the next few days former presidential candidate john edwards is expected to admit that he fathered a child with former mistress rheal hunter. accepting $100,000 for the job. now there's an investigation under way into whether she was paid illegally from campaign funds to keep that affair quiet. kind of a sad story, probably more personal than professional,

yet there was so much hope, john me channel, to his candidacy. >> edwards was a bright political star, burned out very fast. but there is an element of tragedy here because after he lost in '04, he spent a lot of time learning about poverty, learning about health care, a smart man. might have had something to contribute at this point and has become this tabloid punch line. >> just a mess. >> there's a loss to the country, i think. >> officials say a wildfire in northern california has grown to more that be 1,000 acres forcing thousands of people to evacuate. it's burning about ten miles north of santa cruz and is still not contained at this hour. ♪ and those are the sounds of music legend les paul who died of xcomplications from pneumoni.

the rock 'n' roll hall of famer credited for inventing the solid body electric guitar. les paul was 94 years old. and scientists in california say they've identified a genetic mutation that allows members of one family to get by on just six hours of sleep a night. it may sound like good news to work aholics. they say the gene is found in less than 3% of people. >> who are these people? >> i did not get it. i did not get it. that's for sure. all right. that's a quick look at the news. let's get to our top talkers and michael vick probably our top story this morning. got a job. >> finally got a job. a lot of people wondered where he'd end up, which team would roll the dice on him and it was the philadelphia eagles. they're going to have a press conference this morning at 11:00 where michael vick will appear. they'll officially announce that signing. here is last night andy reid the

head coach of the eagles explaining why they took the chance. >> we do make mistakes and this situation has a chance to prove that he's doing the right things and i think the fans will be excited for him as long as he continues to do what he's doing. he's been so proactive in this and speaking all over the country. working with the humane society and so on. >> as you could probably predict peta came out strongly last night, just warning it's a pretty strong statement here.

so this is an interesting study, though, because we're a forgiving country. kobe bryant, obviously these are defenseless animals, kobe bryant, ray lewis, you could point to. athlete after athlete has gotten in trouble and the slate has been wiped clean. >> where vick is different, vick can say i had a mental illness. you have to have some form of a mental illness to have this kind of cruelty in you and he can say i am terribly sorry. this was so wrong. i was sick and now i'm well. >> not just say, he needs to do something.

for animals. he has no choice, but i hope he feels it. >> we might as well leverage -- the way, as you're saying, the way to do this is to turn a vice into a virtue. that's what all of us have to do when we make mistakes which all of us do. he could pole dance for $10,000. >> he probably would make a lot more money than i would. >> i do think he -- there should be a very public expression of regret and good work. >> most people didn't even know this kind of dog gaming went on. i think for many of us, what, people do this to dogs? so now this is an awareness and he can draw attention to this cause. >> that's true. that's true. >> and i'm interested, jonathan capehart, to get your take on it because michael vick, he's declared for bankruptcy. he lost two years of his nfl career. he went to jail for two years. what else would people have him do? >> i guess people would have

him, i don't know, give money to animal causes and charities. >> he will. >> and be a spokesperson. personally i think if he were to do that, that would just strike me as being, i don't know, given the severity of the crime a little disingenuous. i just think that he should -- gate, he's going to have a new paycheck. he's going to philadelphia. he's going to play in a sport where he's very good. i think he should just keep his head down, do his job and when asked, express remorse and hope -- and i hope that there is remorse. one of my concerns when i wrote a column about this two years ago. the number of e-mails and letters that i got and phone calls that i got from people who couldn't quite understand why this was such a big deal. many people said what's the big deal? it's not like he killed -- he murdered someone. we're just talking about dogs. we're just talking about animals. that's what concerns me.

unfortunately, there are a lot of people -- he could claim that he was suffering from mental ill illness but there are a lot of people out there who feel to this day, do not understand why michael vick went to jail and why he did -- why what he did was so horrendous. >> we have some e-mails, mika. vick is going to be on "60 minutes" this weekend speaking for the first time. >> that will be interesting. >> we'll hear his remorse, perhaps. >> it's such a polarizing issue. there is kind of a -- look, this is probably not the best word and will get people angry, a hysteria pertaining to animals and people who love animals. i do. i have a rescue from hurricane katrina. i love animals. i grew up on a farm, but there is, you know, a sense of perspective in terms of what he did and what a lot of other people did out there who are turned out of our system and rehabilitate their careers after doing far worse things to children, which has always been joe's point and i think we just have to, again, simmer down and see how he goes with this.

we're getting e-mails? >> what are people saying this morning? >> yeah, we've got some e-mails saying, hey, pete rose was shunned from baseball, michael vick can now play football. let's get real here. this is all about money. the eagles want to make money. let's not kid ourselves. >> michael vick is 29 years old. still a very talented guy. exciting to watch. he'll do some exciting things for the eagles and he'll generate buzz for their teams so they clearly waive the costs of this and said, you know what, it's worth a little bad publicity to have this guy on our team. anything else, pete? >> you know what, i think what i want to do is gauge the e-mails, find out, if you can, if they're split. >> it is about split. most people say give him a shot at redemption, others say how can we let him back in the nfl? >> the front page of the business section of "the new york times," this woman who is writing a book, she had an affair, she says, with bernie madoff. suzy welch brings up the point

that this may, well -- >> my prediction is this is the first of many. this woman had a 20-year relationship with him. i think there will be others. people have a very hard time feeling sorry for ruth madoff. she is reviled. she can't walk the streets of new york and this almost makes you feel sorry for her, almost makes you think, well, maybe she didn't know anything, she didn't know about this 20-year relationship, maybe she didn't know. this is the first sort of stroke in her column although, again, i think she's for some reason, for many reasons, plays out as this unsympathetic character. >> interesting. and also jonathan capehart i'm looking at another story in the business section, glenn beck losing some advertising for words that he used. do you think we're going to see especially in light of what's happened with the health care debate perhaps maybe a backlash to some of the words being used to try to bring down the bill, whether you agree with it or not. it seems to me that everybody's miss being the point and you ought to let the economy be the

other side of the story and yet you've got people using words like this. i know this is pertaining to another topic, the word he used which i'm not even going to repeat, but it looks like it's not cool anymore to be vitriolic and it's going to cost people. >> and i hope that what happened to mr. beck will make other people think twice about what they're saying. it's one thing to deep down believe the concerns you're expressing and the direction you think the country is going in, and it's another to say things just to get attention, just for ratings. when we talked about this last week, i think it was donny deutsch who said, you know, this guy says things that aren't true all the time or things that he doesn't believe in all the time maybe just for ratings. and hopefully losing sponsors, that's money out of people's

pockets on the network and show. maybe that will pump the brakes on some of these wild statements. >> absolutely. jon meacham, real quickly before we go to break. look, medium, just medium, is changing. there is opinion in television. we bring it to the table. we strive for balance as much as we can. at the same time isn't there, as we evolve into a world of opinion and internet and different ways of getting news, there's a responsibility that we still hold here and some are losing it and never got it back. i don't think it's going to work anymore. >> no, and the market of ideas will decide. there is a supply and demand problem right now. there is an endless demand for people to speak. there is a limited supply of intelligent things to say. >> on that note -- >> fabulous job. fabulous. >> it is working for glenn beck, though. his numbers are bigger than ever. >> his numbers are -- >> that's the extent. >> look, it works but it

doesn't. i think losing advertisers is a sign. and i'm glad for it in light of the words that, you know, he used there and stood by. we just can't have that. we just can't have that. jonathan capehart, thank you very much for being with us. >> have a good weekend. >> you, too. and come up the moderator of "meet the press" david gregory. also football and nascar great joe gibbs. eugene robinson. first, more on that dramatic home video of a midair collision between a small plane and a helicopter in new york city. a full report with nbc's tom costello when we come back. ( rock music playing ) - ♪ oh! what do you say to a spin around the color wheel? - to paint with primer already mixed in? - ♪ yeah yeah yeah... - test samples instead of can commitments? - ♪ whoo! - what do you say we dip into our walls less... - ♪ are you feeling it? - ...and grab ahold of the latest tools out there... - ♪ oh! ...so we can quit all that messing around with extra steps

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welcome back to "morning joe." exclusive new video obtained by nbc news shows the moment of impact between the tour helicopter and small plane over the hudson last week. yesterday adding to the story two air traffic controllers were put on administrative leave, one

for making a phone call at the time of the crash and the other for not being in the building. we're joined now by nbc news's tom costello who has been following this story. first of all, the video, tom. really disturbing but potentially incredibly helpful in determination what happened here. >> reporter: yeah, this is exactly what the ntsb was hoping for and they tell us that they plan to go through that video piece by piece. if you don't mind, i'd like to start, though, with really the most recent breaking news because this is really hour by hour and that is that aviation sources are now telling us that the controller in the tower last saturday was on 0 the telephone in a personal conversation at the time and here's the thing, because he was wearing a headset, they have a recording of the entire conversation. also, the supervisor who was supposed to be in the tower wasn't. so both have now been suspended. they face disciplinary action. the faa tells us they don't have any reason to believe those actions contributed to the crash. now the nbc news exclusive video we obtained.

home video. and as we have warned you before, it is disturbing to some but it shows what appears to be the moment of impact as this helicopter is flying over the hudson river and suddenly this plane comes up from behind. we've asked former ntsb investigator to look at it. he says he believes that the rotor from that chopper cleanly slices right through the right wing of the plane. this is critical because they have been trying to figure out exactly how these two collided and the original theory, mika, was that the plane was climbing and banking and turning to the right and literally the chopper was in that plane's blind spot this video, it would seem, seems to support that theory. >> hey, tom, i want to go back to the first part of your reporting. it's a little confusing because we thought these below 1,100 feet that they weren't controlled by air traffic control, so what's the link to that guy who was on the phone? >> reporter: well, that is why, as i said to you, the faa doesn't believe this necessarily

contribu contributed to the accident. however, as they have done their investigation they have learned that the controllers at teterboro were clearly not doing what they should have been doing. number one, paying strict attention to the job and not having a personal phone conversation and, number two, the supervisor was supposed to be in the tower. he wasn't. so this is all part of this ongoing investigation as they gather more and more and more data. will it in the end be in any way contributory cause or is it merely something they have learned as a result of this investigation? mika and willie, almost always, and we have said -- you and i have always talked about this, in an accident it's multiple things that go wrong. so is this one of those multiple cascading events that contributed to the accident or, as a result of this investigation, do they realize they have some problems in the tower at teterboro they need to address? >> all right. nbc's tom costello, thanks very much. wow. a lot of layers to that story.

coming up next, a farewell to eunice kennedy shriver. we're going to talk with andrea mitchell in hyannis when "morning joe" continues. rewrite your hair's past and give it a whole new life. new aveeno nourish plus. active naturals wheat formulas proven to target and help repair damage in just three washes. - building shiny, strong... - hair with life. announcer: new aveeno nourish plus.

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when you're ready to ship, we'll even pick them up for free, no matter how many you have. priority mail flat rate boxes only from the poal service. a simpler way to ship. call or go online now to get started. shea changed the world and what she did with very, very few

resources but just the force of her character has changed the lives of more people and brought more happiness. >> she really has in many ways more than others did with the tremendous contribution eunice kennedy shriver made to society. joe scarborough is with us now from birmingham, alabama. joe? >> good morning, mika. yeah, she really did. and that's something hearing those words from bobby kennedy that she made as much difference as president and senators and attorney generals and the family. that is a remarkable compliment coming from bobby. >> it sure is. we're following the story now as they say good-bye to eunice kennedy shriver. chief foreign affairs correspondent and host of msnbc's "andrea mitchell reports," andrea mitchell. andrea, good morning. what is in store today? i take it friends and family must be coming from all over the world.

>> reporter: well, it's quite a celebration here today, a celebration of a great life, a life that changed the lives of millions of people around the world and as you and joe were just saying, even more so than the political figures in the kennedy clan. the kennedy family will gather brothers. ted kennedy will not be here. his wife, victoria, will be representing him. he is really clearly not well enough to be here, to be surrounded by so many people especially as he continues his cancer treatments for brain cancer. but this will be quite a parade, in fact, within an hour or so people will begin marching here. the family will march behind the ca casket surrounded by law enforcement officers from all over the region and special olympians. i talked to loretta claiborne who is a woman who viewed eunice kennedy shriver as her grandmother. had a really close personal relationship. they talked on the phone. they wrote letters and she will be writing a special torch.

the summer parish church for the kennedy family where eunice prayed as a girl, where maria kennedy was married to arnold schwarzenegger in 1986. so it's quite a moment here and, as you say and joe says, it is a celebration of an extraordinary life. >> and, andrea, suzy welch is here. she has a question for you. >> bobby mentioned her character. it seems to me there were so many options open to her to sort of go into a different world, a world of glamour and socialite and she just chose this different road. that's where i think people come out on her is she had choices and the choice she made is what speaks to her character. is that -- >> it speaks to her character and her faith. i interviewed bobby kennedy jr. yesterday and talked to members of the family, talked to maria at the wake and her faith was the most compelling part of that character. that faith led her to differ with other members of her family on issues such as abortion. she was deeply, deeply

religious. that comes through. bobby kennedy jr. was her god son and she transmitted that faith to him and other members of the family. they didn't all live their lives the way she did and the other thing was her gender. she really broke out of all the constraints, if you can imagine, a woman growing up in the '30s and '40s and being part of that very irish family and she struck out in a very different direction. they had a real irish wake late into the night. they were up all night at the compound last night. there was a lot of singing, a lot of music, a lot of bono, to play irish songs. bono was very close to her. oprah very close to maria shriver from their television roots when they both started in local news in baltimore, maryland. so there were a lot of family and friends gathering of not only the political clans but the social and special olympians, a key to this woman's life. >> andrea mitchell live in hyannis, thanks very much. and i just want to point out for

those who are interested the mass is going to be streamed live at eunice kennedy shriver.org. the family doing that. super bowl and nascar champion joe gibbs gives us his guide for successful living. but first, the moderator of "meet the press" david gregory and the latest headlines out of the white house with savannah g guthrie. keep it here on "morning joe." ♪ bicycle, what are we waiting for? the flowers are blooming. the air is sweet. anzyrtec® 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.

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we hope to quell the misconceptions that are apparently held by even some in the senate about what the bill is and what the bill isn't. but we'll continue to hope that they can make progress.

now whether or not it happens, you know, i don't know. >> robert gibbs not taking the bait when asked about senator grassley's pull the plug comment. meantime, the president heads to montana today and he's going to hold another town hall meeting on health care but this time the tickets are first come first served and the crowd may not be quite so friendly. with us now from the white house nbc news white house correspondent savannah guthrie in washington, d.c. we've got moderator of "meet the press" david gregory. savannah, let's start with you and the president's trip out west. is the white house buckling up for a bit of a rougher ride today in the town hall meeting and i guess part two of the question is do they hope -- does the president hope to have a few tougher questions thrown his way so he can get rid of some misconceptions? >> reporter: well, you know, i think the media the other day when they did the town hall in new hampshire, the president was casting about for skeptics,

hoping to get some tough questions so i do think they will welcome that opportunity. look, they think barack obama is at his best, that he is more than able to answer any questions, that he is, after all, a harvard trained lawyer and can certainly handle any arguments that he gets. this first come first served ticket distribution which is different than what we saw in new hampshire and in recent town halls, i am told by white house officials really doesn't have to do with the white house trying to get a rowdier crowd but is more a function of the fact this is a smaller community and it's basically more practical and feasible to do it on first come first served. you'd have long, long lines and i'm also told these were long-standing plans. while they resist the notion that somehow they're adjusting their ticket distribution process in order to get a more vocal bit of dissent, i don't think they are in any way shying away from it and, look, if they get some yellers at the town hall, if it gets a little rowdy, they can put to rest any notion that they have these staged audiences who are afraid to

answer the tough questions. >> david gregory, the dog days of august have been particularly hot for the democratic party, for moderate democratic senators going out to town hall meetings and yet you look at the poll numbers. they're unchanged. 43% of americans in the latest gallup poll say they support the president on health care. 49% oppose his health care plan. this is still a tossup, a jump ball. where does the white house think it goes the rest of this month and into the fall to win this battle? >> first of all, if you look at the polling, those are the numbers bill clinton had back in 1993. so that's a very uncomfortable place for this white house to be particularly when you don't have the president specifically backing a plan at this stage which is allowing others to fill the void here. and there's so much confusion on top of that. what i think the white house wants to do at a town hall like this and going into the fall is

to define the terms of the debate, try to deal with all of the misconceptions, deal with myths out there, and really take hold of this thing in a way where the public understands where the president is specifically coming down and that the public can feel reassured for those who have insurance about what this would mean and what it wouldn't mean. the biggest problem for the president right now and he's expressed it is that for somebody who is the primary spokesman for this administration and that's the president himself, he's not cutting through with a message that's reaching people. it's been a source of frustration for him, somebody who likes to communicate the complexity of an issue. that's not what's taking hold right now and that's what the clintons found in '93 and '94 just how difficult it was. >> mika, very interesting, mika, that we saw robert gibbs at the top and of course robert was a bit more combative a couple of days ago but he really had a chance to lay in to charles grassley for his grandma comments but, mika, he deferred.

he pulled back. i think the obama white house may still hope that grassley, collin, snowe, maybe three republicans possibly that can still be salvaged. >> i guess there is always hope. jon meacham and i have been talking about, david, would be that i wonder if some of the words and leaving grassley out of it because that's its own story within itself, but some of the words and phrases being used to describe what's in this plan and some incorrectly so not necessarily what the other side or anybody who wants to kill this plan needs to do because the economy, it seems to me, and everything else that's going on in the country right now, are the biggest threats to it, wouldn't you think? >> right. well, the opponents have brillia brilliantly employed incredibly high, often inappropriate language about this from death

panels who pull the plug. the safest thing to be in america is a grandmother apparently. and so i aspire to that but it looks unlikely. i just think that particularly when you get into the third reich imagery we're way past and cannot support that and can't allow that. the long history of this, mayor daley used it from 1960. there's a long history of using this. what i was wondering about from david, what he said about the message not getting through. that must be incredibly frustrating because they actually haven't had that experience, have they? >> no, they haven't had that experience and the president has talked about it both privately and publicly that he has to be thinking about how he communicates this but we talked about on "meet the press" on sunday, the issue is he's made a decision that he does not want to dictate to congress. he wants to let chuck grassley and others do their negotiations, see what they can actually produce and that it

seems likely when they come into the fall the president will weigh in more specifically about what he'd like to see. but in a void, this is what's taking over. hillary clinton talked about how they were never able to get over the hump. to get over that fear of change. and it's what former president bush dealt with on social security. when there doesn't appear to be an imminent threat, very difficult to move people away from where they are. you go back and read the history from senator kennedy's point of view about the '93-'94 fight and how maddening it was to the would-be reformers to see what opponents were doing to the plan. nevertheless, people are concerned about this and the message is just not getting through. look how much time has been spent over something that's not in the bill, the death panels. >> it is ridiculous be a time could be running out. savannah guthrie, the white house taking a different tack with the montana town hall. what are they planning, and are they going to try and maybe take some risks and shake things up a

little bit to get hold of that message? >> reporter: well, look, there's the potential today for the president to experience firsthand that he has not before, this kind of new town hall dynamic that we've seen many members of congress face around the country because the tickets were given on a first come first served so people were able apparently to go to these two places, stand in line and get a ticket. so it's a little bit looser of a scenario in terms of ticket distribution which opens the possibility that you'll get some folks who may be more fervent, who want to let off some steam and i do think the white house is not resisting that. i don't think they're afraid of that and may view it as an opportunity so we'll see. as we also have talked about, there's something about facing the president of the united states and people wondered if that's what happened, if that was working in the new hampshire town hall, whether people when they're face-to-face with the president find it difficult to yell at him, frankly. they'll never get as close, let's face it, as the guy with

arlen specter the other day because of the secret service. >> no doubt about it. david gregory, of course america is divided and your panel on sunday morning no doubt will be very, very divided. who do you have on? >> well, we want to try to reflect some of the anger in the country and the debate but get a little bit past the confusion and to some of the bottom lines. we have dick armey who has been behind some of the organization of these town hall meetings. msnbc's only rachel maddow and tom daschle who is a big figure and adviser to the white house. he was the one who was supposed to be leading the charge on this for the obama administration before he took his name out of nomination and a lot of people think his presence has been sorely missed so i think we'll have a good group including appearances by congressman charles rangel as well about where all of this had is heading. >> all right. david, thank you so much.

david gregory. if it's sunday, it's "meet the press." savannah guthrie, thank you so much. savannah, we may be talking to you on the radio. we definitely know we're going to be talking to david later on this morning on our radio show. mika, what do we have coming up next? >> all right, david and savannah, thank you very much. up next nfl and nascar legend joe gibbs will share his game plan for life when we come back. imodium multi-symptom relief combines two powerful medicin for fast relief of your diarrhea symptoms, so you can get back out there. imodium. get back out there. but i've still got room for the internet.

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the mouthwash that gets teeth four times whiter than the leading toothpaste. and kills bad breath germs. listerine® whitening vibrant white™. i think this guy should be rewarded a second chance and we're all a little, you know, dog lovers. i have dogs myself. i will look past it and i think everybody else should as well. >> eagles current quarterback talking about the newest quarterback of the eagles, michael vick. with us now three-time super bowl champion and nascar champion and owner of joe gibbs racing, he is, of course, joe gibbs, the author of "game plan for life." your personal playbook for success. coach gibbs, it's great to have you today. i grew up a giants fan and still resent you for beating us each and every year. >> i fnl you. i've been in a costume because i don't want anybody to see the

redskins coach. i get some lumps in new york. >> smart man. >> my father is a fan. >> let's talk about the news of the day. i guess first of all were you surprised that the eagles took michael vick? >> i felt like it was probably going to be somebody that would take him and say this solved all of our quarterback problems. i thought they would probably take him to be a starter. i didn't think somebody would take him to go in behind a starter that they have there. it was a little bit of a surprise. what we hope here some of these young guys made a horrible mistake, paid a big price. now we all hope that he would reinstate his career, have a great finish and learn from his past mistakes. >> how do you weigh that as an organization from the pr sta standpoint? you're looking at what you need as a team and how he can help you as a team but do you worry about what the press is going to say every game, the protesters following you and what it says about the character of your organization? >> the big thing for me i was always real cautious when you get your team going, to have --

if you have something big come in like that, all the attention goes to something else rather than your team something else r than your team and the key people on the team. i worried more about the team than i would the pr. it's going to be a huge pr deal. my thought was always for the team. you don't like to see something unsettling once you get going. it's still early in pre-season, and i felt like they are a highly qualified bunch, and they know what they are doing. >> you did a heck of a job leading the redskins organization over the years. you talk about it in your book "game plan for life." what is the message of the book? >> this is 11 scholars we chose to write on the 11 most important topics that america through research said we need to have victory in to have a modern day successful life.

and you don't want me writing on the topics, and so we got 11 expects to write on the topics, and my stories, when i abided by those principles and god's word, i had a measure of success, and when i went against them, i had disaster. my message, the message i want to spend the rest of my life, it's the most important message, the bible is a modern day game plan for life. >> what are some of the other topics by the scholars? >> we went through the professional research firm that went out in america, and basically all the things that you may expect, and for instance, heaven, are where we going to spend eternity, and finances, and marriage relationships and sex, and creation, how did we get here?

all of the key things to live a modern day life. many times, we discuss this, and i would love to hear somebody say in the middle of it, i would love to hear what god has to say about this. i would love to make that in making any decision in life. and the greatest thing about being on god's team is he helps you with all of the decisions. >> i like it. >> it obviously worked for you. you have been successful with everything you have done, football, life, and thank you for coming in. the book is "game plan for life", and you can pick it up now in scores. we will be right back on "morning joe."

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welcome back to morning joe. time for a quick look at the weekend review. we begin with hillary in africa. >> wait, you want me to tell what you my husband thinks? my husband is not the secretary of state, i am. i will not be channeling my husband. >> the secretary of state's trip to africa started so well, there was dancing, diplomacy, and general goodwill. and then some punk college kid asked the wrong question.

>> translator: what does mr. clinton think through the mouth of mrs. clinton. >> while hillary was rescuing refugee clams, her husband was visiting las vegas for the celebration of his own birth. back in africa, secretary clinton made more news by assuring nigerians that america is just as corrupt and ass-backward as their country. >> the brother of the man running for president was the governor of the state. >> it has been a long trip for hillary, but we know bill is excited to have her back home this weekend. >> it depends on what the meaning of the word is. >> number two, poll position? tween idol, the lesson, if you

dare to dream, you, too, can work the poll. the 16-year-old took some heat for the dance that involved shorts and a ice cream truck and a poll. they said in an unsolicited statement, maybe she could try out in a couple years. and then number three -- >> you have awaked asleeping giant. >> this is not health care reform, this is control.

>> you are talking down to the american people if you think we are that stupid. >> i don't understand this rudeness. what is this? >> the health care debate took a bizarre turn this week as the concerned citizens shouted down elected officials, and packed heat outside the presidential event in new hampshire, and tried to get the attention of their congresswoman while she ordered some takeout. >> seriously, really? come on. >> meanwhile, sarah palin introduced us to death penals, the imagine nary group. so mr. president, once and for all, where do you stand on killing grand mothers. >> reform will promote -- oops.

>> i am not in favor of that. >> let the record show. we will not bring up the miley cyrus link? >> i have no miley cyrus link. >> willie, have you all discussed yet the offer? >> yeah, that's where i am headed, joe. >> we don't have to go there again. >> listen, listen, listen. we don't have to go there again, but i think if sally struters says one child could feed a child a day, can mika allow

children to go hungry across the country because -- >> i don't think that. >> how can you say no to the kids? i don't think that's the case. it's a poll dancing license. >> don't think of it that way. >> mika, change the subject. >> i am shocked and saddened. mika is taking the kind man's offer. >> what do you think? >> i think it's vertical joe gau. i see no reason why -- >> here is the deal. miley cyrus, too young to work the poll. mommy, too old. and certainly not something that i -- i will have to think about

a way to get around that. >> that's what i say, willie, just let the kids starve. let granny be put before a death penal and let children -- some of the kids in nantucket this morning are waking up, you know, and -- >> okay, joe. >> we have a lot to talk about today. obviously the president is going west. he is not going to be holding death panels, but town halls instead. we have had the sound and the furry, now i suspect we will level out and have more of a balanced real conversation about health care. i think montana is going to be interested. i don't think it will look staged. i think that's going to play to the president's benefit. >> it depends on what happens in monta montana. we are bringing in into the town hall differently, and it's first come first serve, and so they

are not randomly picking them. it will be interesting to see the crowd they get. i don't know if it will help or hurt the situation, if the president is confronted with some of the questions that we have heard at some of the other town halls, my gut is he can handle them and it might help him if it happens. >> we'll see. run through the news quickly. we have jon meacham still with us, and willie geist that has the real week in review, but the guy, sam will be here. and then gene robinson. >> willie geist, with sam, just humor him. i know, you have the week in review. >> time for a quick look at today's top stories.

as we just mentioned, obama heads west to push the reform of the nation's health care system. he is set to speak at a town hall meeting in montana, where things could get more rowdy than the last town hall. and we will be watching what happens. the obama administration is going viral with the efforts to disspell efforts on health care. and they are sending out a chain e-mail by axelrod. and then there was video of the plane and the helicopter colliding. the faa says the two employees

in the tower did not contribute to the accident. reports say in the next few days, former presidential candidate john edwards is expected to admit he fathered a child with former mistress, rielle hunter. now, an investigation under way into whether she was paid illegally from campaign funds to keep the affair quiet. officials say a wildfire in northern california has grown to more than 1,000 acres, forcing thousands of people to evacuate. it's burning about 10 miles north of santa cruz, and is still not contained. and those of the sounds of music legend, les paul, he invented the solid body electric guitar.

he was 94 years old. scientists in california say they identified a genetic mutation that allows some members of a family to get bio ju by on six hours of sleep. >> look at this guy. >> how about we not use video for this story? it may sound like good news for workaholi workaholics, but the gene is found in less than 6% of people. >> if they want to see people that get by on three or four hours of sleep, you can look right here. let's go to gene robinson, mika.

this guy won't stop writing columns. he says "we are told the economy is on the mend but we still see six-figure job losses every month. >> eugene, we knew that coming into this presidency, barack obama was going to be faced with more challenges from the beginning than most presidents. what does he do to move us towards an era of good feeling which, my god, i don't think has

been with us since the early 1960s? >> yeah. it's a good question. clearly, that's something that we wanted to do when he came into office. i think it was genuine. as you mention, joe, he did start off with this incredible almost unprecedented economic crisis in having to deal with all of that, which naturally affects everything else that he has tried to do. you know, you can only create -- you talk about bipartisanship in washington, and you can create a feeling if both sides want to play, and a lot of people don't want to play. i think one question going forward is, you know, is obama going to continue to try this the way he has been trying it up to now? is he going to get tougher, and,

you know, more traditionally presidential in the sense of, for example, here is the way that i want to do health care, do it my way? or what? my guess is that he is going to continue trying to do things the way he's attempted thus far, because that's who he is. he doesn't like either or propositions. he likes both propositions. he really thinks that we create a lot of false choices for ourselves, and we get trapped by them. i think that he is going to push ahead. >> jon meacham, a lot of conservatives would suggest that myself, included, as i do quite regularly on this program, that the president has not tried very hard to reach out whether you are talking about the stimulus package, our cap and trade, or

health care. just saying that, though, creates a divide in washington. we cannot even debate whether he is being partisan or bipartisan. it reminds me how clinton and george w. bush were going to be not dividing, and it was the most decisive in history. >> this is a problem as old as jefferson and hamilton. we had one uniter, george washington for 30 minutes in the spring of 1789. the nature of the politics is to have vigorous, often vicious, and sometimes violent arguments. we always managed to come out about three yards ahead to seize that image, and sometimes further. i think obama is a little like

the lucy and the football with "charlie brown," and the media is charlie brown. every time he fails to do something, he really managed to do it. this is a man that carried the first african-american nominee, car carried virginia and north carolina. and to me what strikes me as fascinating is this this is the first argument that he has not really controlled. why that is is interesting? >> i wonder, eugene, one question, if it's the economy that is bogging down the argument, and not the words being used? everything else going on, maybe it's just making people, when it

comes to the public will for health care reform scared about making the massive leap forward at this time. >> i wonder if it's technology getting in the way, and so many conversations going on right now, and how can you have a closure around this issue? >> eugene? >> i think the economy is a factor in that it's made a lot of people anxious. clinical anxiety, about their future, about their children's future. so that has to be playing into it. i think in the health care debate, as john just touched on it, this is so personal. nothing gets more personal and individual, and it touches every person and family, and it's such an emotional issue that kind of phishers and divides and

suspicions, and grieve yuances people have about each other and the government and it tends to come out and expresses themselves. you see that at the town halls. you hear a lot of general distrust of government, which, in another context, it would express itself, that maybe, it's just saying the government is too big and too expensive. but in this context, it's like what is it going to mean to me and my family and health? >> exactly. >> one thing that joe would no better than any of us having been in congress, is big reforms happen in the country because there have been universal benefits and started from scratch. this is a reform of an existing system. it's a layer with a complexity that is mind boggling. >> eugene robinson, if you could stay with us, that would be great. joe, a check on business before the bell, with

international superstar, erin burnett. but first, the editor of the "new york times" book in review, sam tanenhaus is here. keep it on "morning joe" brewed by starbucks.

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welcome back to "morning joe." the memorial ceremony for the long-long navy pilot is set in

jacksonville. his jet was shot down on the first night during the first war. good morning, michelle. >> reporter: good morning, willie. there will be a public memorial here. his remains will not be present. there will be a ceremony, and a prosession of his remains through town, moving slowly and not stopping anywhere. and it will go by certain locations that meant something to him and his life. there will be a private burial. his remains was found 18 years after he was shot down west of baghdad. and questions remained even thousand. it was not until this month that two iraqi citizens came forward and said they saw to see his plane shot down. they said they buried his remains at the crash site. some of the questions that came

up over the 18 years is there is evidence he ejected. his status was changed from killed in action to missing in action, then missing and captured, and his family is not convinced that he did not eject from the plane, and was not captured. there are rumors that circulated through baghdad, supposed sightings of him. and there was a report that he was driven from one place to another after the war. and the family is saying they don't believe the rumors that he died at the crash site. they are investigating the situation along with military officials. unfortunately, that has been a question mark over the ceremony. but today will be a time for them to lay his remains to rest, and for the family, as they say through their sadness to have closure, though the question on their mines is not answered, even after so many years,

willie. >> yeah, it has been a long 19-year odyssey for that family. getting closure today. thank you so much michelichellm. today is a huge day, the day the world war ii ended. i want to play something that shows as they covered that scene on that day. >> it's a never-ending celebration as we greet the peace in new york city. if i am a little punchy, it's because i am punchy. we have been here seven hours, and it will go on throughout the night. from the hollywood canteen in hollywood, california, the place that has been the home for millions of g.i.s from the world over, and they are all

celebrating here tonight. and are they happy? listen to this. >> that's amazing. august 14th, 1945. >> thank you for putting that together. >> arguably one of the best days in the 20th century. i am one of those people that would not be here if that had not happened. my grandfather was in the navy, and was there, and today remembering the pilot that just came home, and it's important to remember the pacific veterans, the d-day european theater. >> there is the kiss, of course, that we are looking at, the picture that incapsulates the moment here. with us now, sam tanenhaus,

and you know, willie just go with me, it's called the "weekend review." >> this is so embarrassing. i tell them to change the name. maybe we can call ours, week in review, point 2.5 or something. let's look at a great book at one of the most interesting writers in america. it is about katrina, with an interesting twist. the hero of the book, and this is not fiction, and it was a american rescuing all sorts of people, and then arrested and accused of being a terrorist, and arrested by homeland security. >> let's head to week in review. how do you get your arms around

the health care debate? how do you take it to the next level here? >> we have a story coming in from one of our great correspondents, who is in london, and she is showing how -- describing how the brits, who are always grum bulling now are liking it. well, it's an interesting look at how the brits see our health care debate. >> interesting, joe scarborough from birmingham. jump in. >> let's talk about your job. you are not chained to a 24/7 news cycle, and you are able to get more of a birds eye view.

where do you see this going? we are now going to get down to business. >> it's so hard to tell, joe. i think what we realized is this is the third rail in american politics. you go all the way back to theodore roosevelt that tried to do this. franklin roosevelt and harry truman. and john, it would be interesting to know your thoughts, it was the big medicare to go through, and closing the door on social security. somehow the president is not able to say this is medicare, but better. somehow it has become a different kind of debate. i would like to know how you react to that? >> well, i think the great victories of the 20th century legislatively were social security and medicare. and both were from scratch, and both had universal benefits. and this is something that -- since we are trying to reform an

existing system, somewhat public and private and deeply personal, and benefits for which will not be universal, because you can argue about who gets what, i think it complicates it to the extreme, and it's hard to imagine how it works. >> i am struck by two different numbers. during the campaign, the big number we heard was 46 million uninsured, and now the big number we hear is 85% of the people like the health care they have. how do those number compute? >> gene robinson, we have a few seconds left, but maybe the time something not right. is the timing right? is the fact that the economy collapsed and we have been trying to rebuild, and is that getting in the way of one of the major goals of this presidency? >> well, you know, it certainly -- i think it looked at the time, as if the timing were right, and what is the

better time in the president's first term. you go for it the first year. there is where poll after poll shows people want health care reform. and it depends on what you mean by that. i think jon's observation about the universituniversity, i thin quite a good insight. and so should we have started the conversation a different way? i don't know. >> we will see what happens in montana today. sam, will you stay with us? >> you bet. we will go to the new york stock exchange live with erin burnett next on "morning joe." for dazzling white teeth, give toothpaste the brush off.

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welcome back to "morning jo joe". a live shot of new york city. looking beautiful. downtown new york. let's go downtown, and talk to our own international superstar, erin burnett. she is not cnbc's superstar, and she is the world's international

superstar. it seems to me your fame keeps growing, and barack obama may try to appoint an international superstar czar, because we have them for everything else. >> really? i want it. really. please. >> you have news about the pay czar. yeah, we do have a czar for everything, don't we. some of them keep quitting, but this is still in place. this man dealt with some of the handing out the money after 9/11. he is in charge of wall street pay, at least pay at the banks that still have government money. today is the day, joe and team, where he will be receiving the proposed pay packages from some of the big companies. they have to hand in how much they intend to pay some of the top 25 people today. he has 60 days to respond. he will get the handouts today.

here are the numbers that have been reported out there. and so far we are hearing that gmac, which is a financial arm of general motors, and by the way, allied bank, not everybody knows because they don't put that in their advertisement, that's part of gmac, and that's their proposed conversation. and bank of america, $7 million on average, and citigroup, about $6 million citigroup as the one trader, and you may have heard his name, andrew hall. if you include him, i think the average goes up at citi to about 10. and his contract, and many others, were set before february 17th. now, that's really the cutoff date, and so fineburg can change

things. we all know that it's more complicated than that. >> this guy was a subcontract, right? >> andrew hall? >> yeah. >> well, he works for fibro, which is a unit of citigroup based up in connecticut. he got to decide what it was and who works there. and it's like iraqi kurdastan, joe. >> sorry i asked that question. they are trying to wrap me, and it is going up or down, and you are always good at the predictions? >> well, i gave that up in the fall. but the only main economic headline we got was consumer prices, and came in utterly flat as expected, and if you want to round it, just to make sure you believe it was flat, it was 0 .0

00%. >> that is flat. >> the glasses are looking good, joe. >> thank you so much, erin. we will see you on monday. coming up next, pensacola, florida, it's marking its 450th anniversary. that's right, 450 years. we will talk to the person that has the evidence of what went wrong and why the town let me in when we return. bicycle, i've missed you. gathering dust, as ollen floats through the air. but with the strength of zyrtec ® , the fastest, 24-hour allergy relief, i promise not to wait as long to go for our ride. with zyrtec ® i can love the air ™ .

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welcome back to "morning joe." tomorrow marks the 450th celebration of pensacola's founding. that's where joe is from. that's his hometown. and now, the president of the university of florida. it's great to have you on the show this morning, judy. >> it's my pleasure to bring you

our news and our birthday from pensacola, florida. >> give us history. 450 years. most americans don't know this. what happened? >> well, 450 years ago today, 11 ships saliled into pen sa pensa, and it turned out to be our town. >> tell me about the friendly rivalry between pensacola and st. augustine. i always heard the history about st. augustine. >> well, we live in st. augustine's shadow a bit, because six years later, the spanish founded st. augustine. and their birthday starts in 1565. there are signs that say american's oldest city and

settlement. we are the oldest settlement attempt. and they are the oldest permanent settlement. we have a friendly rivalry between us. >> and give us the perspective here. and 1600, hamlet was written by shakespeare, and then jamestown was founded. and pensacola comes first. and there was a natural disaster, and tell us about that and the evidence that you have to back that up. >> one of the things that happened, five weeks after they landed here in pensacola, there was a direct hit by a hurricane. we recently have experienced that also. and it sunk 10 -- six of the 10 ships here in pensacola. we found two of them. but it turned the great settlement attempt with 1500

people, and all the food was stored on the ships, and it turned it into a disaster and rescue mission. well documented. >> you have all the documentation and history, and then you can say how joe was allowed to be a citizen? >> we are proud to have him as a citizen of pensacola. i know him from way back. isn't that right, joe? >> yeah, you do. and mika insists, there are two great tragedies of pensacola's history, one at the beginning and one at the end. hurricanes that wiped america's first settlement out, and then let me in. thank you so much for being with us. we will talk to you tomorrow on the actual 450th anniversary. thank you. >> take care. >> we'll be right back.

>> all right. >> we'll stay? >> no, i want to go to the panel. jon meacham, let's talk about the president of the united states going out west. what message does he have to get across? how does he break through the noise? >> he has got to find a competing set of pretty simple straightforward imagery to fight the language of death panels and socialized death medicine, and he needs a counter effective message. it goes against his instincts. sometimes it doesn't work when inner a political fight like this. that's what he has to do. >> there are, of course, parallels to the campaign.

barack obama, you know, went to church with a guy that hated america for 20 years, and barack obama pals around with terrorists. we saw in the campaign, the president takes a hit from these attacks, and he keeps on going, and keeps his head down, and then he recovers. do you suspect that will happen again. he gets the stupid nazi charges and races charges, and does he keep his head down or will we see history repeat itself? >> all of history suggests that he will pull this out. again, a lot of people, me included, were cynical about the idea that we were going to elect an african-american president last year. he carried virginia, north carolina, and florida. this is a man that defied expectations and media wisdom again and again and again. i would not bet against him. >> and jon meacham is exactly right. president obama carried north

carolina and virginia and florida last year. it doesn't look like democrats, if the election were held today, would carry virginia and new jersey in the governor elections. >> well, there has been a lot of change in the economy, and i think that unsettled some people. you know, there are special circumstances that you could argue in the virginia race and in the new jersey race. we will see. i tend to agree with what you were saying earlier, and i think that obama will pull it out, health care, and i think we will get a health care reform package that passes and is signed. i do worry going forward about the more extreme polarization that we see in the town halls,

and i certainly hope that that kind of calms down. but it makes it more difficult for i think the president, for the nation, if there is a sort of radical conflict between those who support him and those who don't support him? >> let me bring in sam tanenhaus here. you write about the death of the conservative movement. of course, it seems to me, you talk about the extremism of that movement. we talk about naziism and racism, and of death panels. it seems to me that some elements of the conservative movement are playing into their worse instincts. >> we are not convinced you were born in pensacola, or anything

to do with that town. >> i have a copy for you. >> won't work. >> we have seen repeatedly in the history of the right, a tendency to demonize and also maybe to give too much voice to what used to be called the lunitic fringe. some of those invented some of those very harsh arguments about american politics, and about american history and american ideology. >> sam, you could say that about the leflt over the past eight years over the war, and some of the harshest critics, some that made you flinch over the past eight years, energized the base

and helped elect president obama, it's on both sides isn't it? >> yeah, and what the leaders are to do is repel the extremes and use them to position themselves in the center. something else that interests me about president obama is he is a master of or tory, and a master of the academic lecture. i am not sure he has proven himself to be a great retail politicians. >> we will find out. coming up, willie's week in review, different than sam's version, and we will show you why when we come back. i'm racing cross country in this small sidecar, but i've still 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 wherevei go, i've got plenty of room for the internet. and the nation's fastest 3g network. gun it, mick. (announcer) sign up today

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welcome back to "morning joe." time for the top three stories of the week. we begin with hillary clinton's long, long trip to africa. >> you want me to tell you what my husband thinks? >> at number three, hillary's african odyssey. >> i will not be channeling my husband. >> the secretary of state's trip to africa started so well, dancing, diplomacy, and general goodwill. and then some punk college kid asked the wrong question. >> translator: what does mr. clinton think through the mouth of mrs. clinton? >> wait, you want me to tell you what my husband thinks? >> while she was visiting aids

cams in africa, the husband she would not be challenging was in las vegas for the celebration of his own birth. it has been a long trip for hillary, but we know bill is excited to have her back home this weekend. >> it depends on what the meaning of the world is is. >> number two, poll position. tween idol miley cyrus inspired many young girls with her teen choice awards, where you too can work at flash dancers some day. the 16-year-old disney creation took heat for the dance that created hot pants and an ice cream cart and a poll.

the exotic dancing community was impressed. they said if she would like to come try out in a couple years, our door is open. the number one story of the week. >> one day god is going to stand before you and he is going to judge you -- >> town halls gone wild. >> you have awaked a sleeping giant. >> you are talking down to the american people. >> how dare you! >> i don't understand this rudeness. what is this? >> the health care debate took a bizarre turn this week as concerned citizens shouted down their elected officials, and packed heat outside the presidential event in new hampshire, and tried to get the attention of the congresswoman while she ordered takeout. >> seriously?

really? come on. >> meanwhile, sarah palin introduced us to death panels, the emergency n-- imagine nary people. >> to pull the plug on grandma -- >> there is a program that determines that you will pull the plug on grandma. >> so mr. president, once and for all, where do you stand on killing grand mothers? >> reform will promote euthanasia -- let's try that again. mr. president, do you or do you not, sir, sanction the elimination of the american grandma. >> i am not in favor of that. >> i am glad that we cleared that up. back to the miley cyrus story, and one final chance to take the offer from scores, as you have been presented by the general manager, to strip for charity. it's for kids.

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n . welcome back to "morning joe." it's time to talk about what