back in 1987. who would have believed it at the time. >> feels like it was only two years ago. >> the soviet union still around when we started this. >> are you going to admit i was right when i said it couldn't last forever and you said, no, it will be 100 year war and the children and grandchildren will be fighting against us and i said, looks give them pepsi cola. for the first time i realized i was right. >> you said blue jeans would take down gore chef's children. you were right. we want you to vote today. a lot of things going on washington d.c. perhaps the greatest question facing us all today is mika's dress too busy? e-mail us. i like it i.'s festive. john ridley, whose wife is from hawaii likes it. >> she e-mails early saying how much she likes it. >> it worked in miami. >> well, yes.

so i guess it did work very well in miami. but we're in new york. >> yeah, we're in new york. >> anyway -- >> this could be a challenge by the way for people with high definition televisions. >> it might give you a seizure. did you see barney frank last night. >> i did. >> wait until you see this clip at a town hall meeting, just name-calling, chewing out this woman. >> it's not as if the lady didn't deserve it. >> no. but his comeback was impressive, i'll tell you that. >> we have a new msnbc poll not pertaining to mika's dress. we'll talk about the challenge the president faces, a big one. here's mika with the news. >> time now for a look at state's top stories. new polling by nbc news shows president obama's approval ratings has slipped for the third straight month, now stands at 51% down five points from june. when it comes to the president's health care plan, 42% say it's a

bad idea, 36% support it. concerns over the proposal are sharply split. 41% say it's not doing enough while 54% say it goes too far. a top union official tells the "huffington post" democrats may lose the labor vote if they don't fight for a public option in the president's health care plan. it comes amid a "new york times" report democrats appear to be moving away from efforts to build bipartisan support for the reform. the go it alone approach reflects toughening opposition among the gop. >> only a handful seem interested in the type of comprehensive reform so many people believe is necessary. there seem to be many that don't share a desire to see costs cut, increases in coverage and quality, the degree to which others want to see. >> in a possible thaw in diplomatic relations with north

korea's kim jong-il, nbc news has learned two north korean democrats will begin informal talks this morning with governor richardson in new mexico. they helped arrange the 2007 trip to pyongyang to recover the remains of a u.s. soldier. andrea mitchell will join us later to talk about that and other for ren policy issues. in iraq, at least a dozen people are dead this morning following explosions in baghdad, more than 100 others were wounded and appeared to target government buildings near the green zone. also today, the afghanistan government is urging voters to head to the polls in tomorrow's presidential vote despite ongoing attacks by militants including one on a bank just this morning. nbc chief foreign correspondent richard engle is live in kabul this morning with the latest. what can you tell us? >> reporter: good morning, mika.

that attack on the bank appears to be a bank robbery. the government called it a terrorist attack because it may have been carried out by taliban militants. they rob banks, too. it was not designed, we are told, to disrupt the election. the kabul streets remain mostly calm, this is a national holiday. there are extra checkpoints and in this city voter turnout is expected to be high but might not be high in southern afghanistan where u.s. has been on active offensive the last couple of weeks. >> tell us a little bit about how the media is covering this? are there restrictions you are dealing with pertaining to covering this election? >> reporter: not ones that we are dealing with specifically and you and joe, who deal with so much politics in washington and campaigns, i think will appreciate this. but local media are now under severe restriction how they can

talk about this election campaign. the people here supposed to cast their ballots in less than 24 hours, now, local radio and tv, by government restrictions, are not allowed to show the campaign posters, interview any candidates, not allowed to do any quote exposes on the candidates' personal lives, no analysts predicting which way the vote may go. they are not allowed to quote air any racy programs that could tempt people from going to vote tomorrow, and quote this most interesting one, if an unpleasant incident happens to a candidate, the media can only broadcast the related news and not express any views about the incident. they mean if one of the candidates are attacked, there can be no speculation, just report the facts. they're trying to get as many people out to vote and know what is broadcast on local radio and television has a big impact on that. >> msnbc's richard engle, thank you very much.

finally, political columnist, robert novak is being remembered this morning after losing his battle with brain cancer. in recent years, he was probably best known for publishing the name of the cia operative valerie plame. he was 78 years old. >> that's bob novak's -- last chapter of bob novak's life. >> there were many, many. >> what's so fascinating in this culture everybody remembers what happened a minute ago, bob novak, they remember this guy, he was a stooge for the bush-cheney administration, in fact -- i saw that on a liberal blog and, idiots, he was reporting the bush/cheney pushing the war in 2002 and 2003. bob novak hated america, hated their president and were rooting

for america to lose the war. that was coming from bush's closest allies. so i've got to say to bob novak, good job. if you've got the far left after you and far right after you. he did also in the 1990s. republican leadership hated novak because he went after everybody. that's actually -- that's what a journalist is supposed to do. >> yes, it absolutely is. we'll be talking more about bob novak throughout the show and remembering him. >> that's the news at this point. we should check on weather. hurricane bill -- >> by the way, really quickly, for all of you about to write an e-mail. >> no. >> no. hold on. it's okay. how deare bob novak release the name of valerie plame, he hates america, if you could just attach an an e-mail you sent in when the "washington post" released the name of cia programs across the globe that actually endangered american

lives, then we'll be more willing to read your e-mail, but, please, just save it because you're a hypocrite. we really don't want to hear from you this morning on this point. >> e-mail or don't e-mail. >> if you do -- >> if you -- if you want to go after both side, fine, but this morning, if you're going to make a politically stupid short sighted political statement based on one incident, don't waste your time. >> all right. hurricane bill is now a category 4. there was also some major storms last night in new york city. you may remember them. what happened? >> the hurricane. >> i didn't hear that. >> it was amazing. >> really? alex was telling me in makeup. >> "it" my terrace, about a half mile long, you couldn't see much there. i was in my smoking jacket. >> is it on the 104th floor? >> not really. >> kind of above the clouds.

>> i am, usually i am. that's what's so frightening about this. i couldn't even see down to the 99th floor. that was awful. >> ridley is chuckling but he actually has a terrace about a half mile long. i have been on it. it is nice. >> let's get the latest from meteorologist rafael. good morning. >> good morning. stormy might in the big apple. one plus side, temperatures finally cooled down a bit after the rainbow. we're still talking about hurricane bill. it blossomed into a category 4 storm over very warm waters. quite impressive on the satellite picture, well-defined eye, good outflow and more with every page of the satellite picture. it remains strong. winds 130 miles an hour, gusting over 160 miles an hour. the good news, as we take a look at the path for bill, expected to remain a category 4 storm over the next couple of days, as

high pressure breaks down over the north atlantic, looking for it to turn northwest and away from the interests along the west coast. bad news for bermuda but good news for us, bill takes an exit to the northeast over open waters and cooler waters, expecting weakening through the weekend. >> and right now, things are generally quiet. temperatures going to rebound in the upper 80s, low 90s, another scorcher and quite muggy, want to grab your umbrella as scattered clouds are across the northwest and to the west. back to you guys. >> as you look at the weather maps and all the patterns swirling around, reminds me a lot of mika's dress this morning. >> come on. >> we handcuff a high pressure zone. -- we have a high pressure zone. a lot of crazy right here. here's the deal -- >> something different everyday.

>> i have asked the ideologues who center, mails but we also asked fashion experts, do you like mika's dress because they have this really dull plastic bag they want mika to wear. the voters have spoken, already. it's an overwhelming landslide, 90-10, 90% to 10%, keep the dress on. thank god for all of us, she will do that. could you read a couple e-mails for us. >> from florida, mika's dress looks like the wall paper in my grandmother's bathroom. >> not good. come on. >> that's the one -- >> that was the one. >> the most fashion forward grandmother in the world. >> that is a hip grandma. way to go, granny. >> you know what, we're not going to pull your plug. bob in canada -- >> if you have the fashion sense, i understand, the death

panel allows you to live. >> show people pictures of stuff and how they respond, live or die. look at that and go, oh, live. >> let's hear a positive one now. bob in canada says, hey, let's face it, mika could wear a potato sack and look better than anyone else on the set. >> thank you. >> could be some pried q-- prie pro-coe for that >> her dad knows people. >> look at that. >> oh, my god! >> he has a big show this morning. we have a barney frank disco going crazy. >> we'll see that right after the break. michael still is with us, msnbc political analyst. michael steele and quarterback

j.t. watts. i remember watching him. what is the link between republicans and football? i have a few jokes on that one, martin savidge will be here and plus we're going to the new walt journal poll. coming up next -- >> wow. >> i say he's crazy but the mouth says he's okay. look at him. on "morning joe." he is sweet. does your mouthwash work in six different ways? introducing listerine total care. everything you need... to strengthen teeth, help prevent cavities, and kill germs. introducing 6 in 1 listerine total care. the most complete mouthwash.

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myth, under a government plan, critical health care decision will be made by so-called death panels. fact, in reality, critical health care decisions will be made by an all-star panel, including jack klugman, mittcy russell and the hilarious

charles nelson riley. health care match game '09, check your local listings. >> nipsey. i'd leave my health care in the hands of nipsey. i trust nipsey russell. >> i still trust him. that's the thing. >> i don't mean to make a joke. >> you're bringing us down, seriously. stop bringing us down. let's be lifted up. you know who else brings us down? never. chief "politico" with a look at the morning playbook, mike allen, mike. >> up with people, baby. >> up with people. >> mike allen and nipsey russell? >> what was that? >> that was the impersonation. last night, barney frank, dartmouth, massachusetts, holding a town hall meeting. a woman comes up and launches into the nazi talk. the health care plan -- jerry

thatt nadler's relative. >> i don't think related to nadler. she brings up the t-4 program where the nazis exterminated patients they deemed unworthy. anyway, here it is, a woman and barney frank last night. >> this is the chief war policy of the hitler -- of a hitler policy in 1939. >> boo! >> where he said certain lives are not worth living. why do you continue to support a nazi policy as obama has expressly supported this policy? >> when you ask me that question, i will revert to my ethnic heritage and answer your question with a question, on what planet do you spend most of your time? it is a tribute to the first amendment that this kind of vial c contemptible nonsense is so freely propagated. ma'am, trying to have a

conversation with you would be like trying to argue with a dining room table. i have no interest in doing it. >> i've had to do that before. debating as only barney frank can. >> my gosh. >> you accuse a jew of being a nazi. way to go. of course, we have others, democrats accusing town hall people of using fascist tactics and being un-american. everybody -- john ridley, when we were doing this show during impeachment, we were doing -- hell, i remember the watergate show, a sequel and it was wonderful. i don't remember people throwing around such hateful talk. it was the impeachment and stuff, i was there at impeachment, i was there pressing buttons with the vast right wing conspiracy in the back room.

it wasn't this hateful, people calling each others nazis, fa fascists, what the hell is going on out there? the 2000 election, you picked your crisis, people weren't calling other people nazis. you get democratic congressman doing it, you have chuck grassley doing it, talking about death panels, sarah palin, you have nancy saying people are un-american. come on, what's going on out there? >> i blame the internet. seriously. there is -- it's so free and easy for people to taken a unanimous name and start saying things they want to say. it gets out in the culture. raising these things, i read this on a blog, i myself try to keep it respectable. people start saying these things and get out there. >> is that in fact -- does that force nancy pelosi to call people's tactics un-american or harry reid to say people are evil if you don't do -- what i

found is if i have a sane conversation with a democrat on health care and we don't scream, i get off and get all this hateful e-mail saying basically, you're marching people to death camps, staring at hitler and didn't say anything. >> this piece right here is a lot of democrats and even republicans look off and try to be respectful, people don't cover it, doesn't make good television. when he pushes back and a lot of people are waiting for democrats to push back all of a sudden, yes, we're excited to see that. people say it's a pushback and now it's out there, what planet are you from? people will pick this up, you talk against health care, what planet are you from? >> the sad thing is we're showing this lady's face for being reckless and irresponsible and dredging something up out of the internet and spitting it up. we do that because of barney frank's response. is mike here? >> let you weigh in on this. >> mike is there. >> i thought we were going to clean this up. >> i agree with you the dialogue

is absurd, especially in contrast to the massive issues the country is facing, seems like clowns are getting more and more airtime, more and more coverage. but these town halls are incredible. that barney frank there, more than 500 people, people came from as far as cape cod to sound off in this town hall. last night, a democrat in washington state, brian baird, 2800 people at a town hall. usually, the staff works to turn out a handful. >> it's amazing in 2000 in an alabama town hall meeting, people all over the country are flooding out there. this is about k street, these people are really concerned. i think democrats are starting to come out, too. >> absolutely. in washington, house democrats taking on the insurance companies a little bit. tell us about it. >> this is amazing. this week, the house investigators sent letters to 52

big health insurance companies, demanding information about all of their compensation, what officers got, what their top executi executives got including bonuses, option, pension, a list of any retreats, conferences. the insurance people has clearly, they're trying to paint a picture of the insurance industry as gold plated. >> mike, let me ask you really quickly, we have to go to break, this reminds me anthony weiner was on yesterday and tuned me, actually all of us, saying we don't need insurance companies anymore for health care, the government should take them over. nancy called them evil, villain, maybe said immoral. have the democrats declared all out war on insurance companies now? >> absolutely. the number one talking point house speaker nancy pelosi sent people out. as you guys know, the president has stopped calling it health care reform and now calls it

health insurance reform. >> okay. >> mike allen, thanks so much. we'll be checking out the rest of the news on "politico."com. >> we never bring you down. >> no. you raised the bar. >> up with people, nipsey, up with people. what's next. >> still ahead, we'll take a closer look at the new nbc health care polls with director chuck todd and still ahead, world focus on pbs, martin savidge. a look at the morning papers. back with more "morning joe."

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all right. live pictures from philadelphia. >> the city of brotherly love, they call it. >> yes, it is. >> there's a lot of love coming in for mika's dress. >> not actually. >> we'll look at the news, 6:30 straight up. >> you'll never see it again. >> 6:30 on the east coast, time for a look at some of today's top stories. according to the "new york times," a new study shows there is not necessarily a connection between a popular vaccine against cervical cancer and several cases of serious health complications, the study found gardicil given to search young girls and young women has a safety similar to other vaccines. the transportation

department says it's working on reports the government is slow to reimburse car dealers on the cash for clunkers program. in some cases, dealers have thousands of applications pending, worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. officials in california now believe a wildfire that burned more than 38,000 acres already, was started in a marijuana field with possible ties to the mexican drug cartel. investigators said they found about 30,000 marijuana plants and ak-47 assault rifle. >> that sounds like willie's apartment in vanderbilt! >> that's terrible. >> a lot going on today in the "new york times," democrats seem set to go alone on the health care bill. tone during recess adds to crippling of bipartisanship. >> and the "washington post." obama aims to fix intraparty

fissure. >> democrats will go it alone on health care. dems must unite liberal and moderate camps. lots of luck, fellow. >> wall stre"wall street journa reluctant shoppers holdback recovery. town 6% from last year. and robert novak dies at the age of 78. >> the home of the dolphins, mika's miami. prices signal inflation in check. signaled to keep inflation low. >> and farve comes back again. the 39-year-old to work with the minnesota vikings. go brett. >> i love brett farve. back in the daily news, it says brett farce. you're ruining your legacy.

>> his legacy. >> always affecting the stories for americans, health care, financial crisis. >> go on. >> michael jackson's new crypt, his final resting place. sta stacko! >> look at this picture. >> saving the publishing industry, saving the record industry, that is front page news. >> can i show you a picture from the "wall street journal." how cool is this? leo the lion, do you know who that is? >> show it so we can actually talk. i'll show. >> this is the mgm lion, this is the actual picture where they were taking his picture. look at him propped up on the boxes there. >> the votes keep coming in and they overwhelmingly support the dress. however, the best e-mails are the ones trashing it. let's read one of those. >> scott in north carolina asks a simple question. mika's dress to him, answers the

question, what would happen if elton john directed apocalypse now. >> seriously? >> e-mail me about a writing job. >> that's pretty good. that is good. >> a new wordsmith. i don't agree, mika in any way, shape or form. >> i will wear jeans tomorrow. >> marin baltimore sent us an e-mail. >> she -- he simply says if only i were a blue flower on that dress. >> that's creepy. >> we'll be right back with the latest msnbc news "wall street journal" poll. for arthritis pain... in your hands... knees... and back. for little bodies with fevers.. and big bodies on high blood pressure medicine. tylenol works with your body... in a way other pain relievers don't... so you feel better... knowing doctors recommend tylenol...

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welcome back to "morning joe," here with us now, marcin savidge of "world focus." great to have you back in the studio. >> can i just say, you are a tropical vision. >> she is a tropical vision.

>> one more vote. >> joe is always the unemployed tie makers of america. >> gosh. >> kind of like "gilligan's island," blame ginger, right? >> that makes you -- >> i'm actually skipper. >> i have a name for you. thurston. >> a lot to talk about today. the british upset we're knocking their system. the afghans going to vote. >> which one do you want to start with? >> why don't we start with afghanistan? >> okay. >> what's the situation there right now? do you expect a positive election turnout? >> you know, i think what remains to be seen, whether fear is going to be the biggest winner in this election. the taliban are clearly trying to intimidate people from turning out. there's a great deal of violence escalating to thursday's

election. yet there seems to be a great deal of enthusiasm from the people of afghanistan themselves. they truly believe this is the only chance -- this is only the second election they've had. they're turning out to vote and believe hamid karzai and the other candidate has raised a great deal of excitement, the foreign minister and raised a great deal of excitement as he does his fly run, very american style campaigning. it is yet to be seen if karzai can get above 50% to avoid a runoff. they're not so much divided politically as ethnically. >> speaking of divisions, the situation is so different than it was in iraq, where, really, we were fighting for the hearts and minds of the iraqi people. in afghanistan, we're fighting a foe, the taliban, who's hated by 80%, 85% of the population. it's almost like these religious extremists are holding an entire country happostage.

they are not popular there. >> they are not popular there. there is a certain sect that does actually support them. you are right, the general population probably does not. the thing you have to understand about afghanistan, there is so much that is very difficult to understand, having been over there and spent a lot of time, they don't like any foreigners of any kind, they have never liked any foreigners. the british learned this, the russians learned this and unfortunately the united states is learning this. they are very much against anybody from the outside coming into their country, telling them what to do, how to live or in some way, trying to dominate their lifestyle. the moment you do that, no matter how good your intentions are, for instance, the united states, you are now public enemy number 1, whereas the taliban are local pakistan regional in ter loper, we've come from afar. >> if you look at the polls, interesting when we first got over there the first couple of years, 70, 75% approved, had a favorable rating for us, taliban

down 15%, we've gone down in the ratings, and taliban, 15%, you hear these reports about the taliban on tv, you think, we're fighting for the hearts and minds, martin, i think you're right. they don't care for either one of us. stunning, the taliban as unpopular as they are in most of the country-side, holds such sway. >> it's been eight years. the people there are really fed up with war. the casualties against the afghan people, despite our best intentions continue to rise. now american casualties and british casualties have risen to their highest since we've gotten into this conflict. a lot of discontent will come out in the polls and who will win. i still think karzai will win but changes the mantra that you're still here. people want change. they do believe the karzai

administration is very corrupt. that's one of the overriding themes in this campaign. >> let's go through a couple must reads. >> "los angeles times." america the delusional. goes through all the different people who used all the different versions of language for the health care plan, what it means to them. he says this. it really is a case of both sides really not taking the right approach at the conversation, fair enough. >> this goes back -- this happened for eight years in the bush administration, it happened for eight years in the clinton

administration. john ridley, barack obama or any president, as i explained to my republican friends a republican will be in the white house again. let's not make the same mistake the democrats made over the past eight years, but it seems like we are. how does any president, republican or democrat break this cycle of vicious rhetoric, what do you do? >> it's becoming increasingly more difficult to break this cycle. president obama tends to be a cool, calm, collected guy. you saw this in somesome of the town hall meetings, it almost became problematic it was too cool and calm and collected and people wanted, where's the pushback? where's the fight. towards the end of the election cycle, you have to fight. he didn't do that. in retrospect, he made the right choice, he looked cool and calm, you get to a point sometimes you talk about these hot button issues, people do want the volume raised a little bit, they like to see fightback.

do you want the public option or not. take a stand, say what you mean, look people in the eye and put your policy forward. >> he doesn't do that. he doesn't do that, though. it's frustrating, i know, to a lot of people in his face, because he didn't do that with the stimulus package, the house wrote i. cap and trade, the house wrote it. all these bills, the house wrote. you go back to his illinois days in a the legislature, this is a guy that voted present 100 times. he does sit back and allow events to come to him and then try to shape them any way he can, right? >> yes. yeah. >> sometimes, i think he's too smart for the room. people say, look, you're really not trying to be bipartisan, bring people together, you're trying to be multi-partisan, you have blue dogs and liberal democrats and these folks coming together, i'm bringing you together. >> he's ratcheting up the divisions instead of what he promised, to bring people together. >> i'd like to see a little bit of fire in the belly when it

comes to this debate. however, i agree with you, i think americans also want to tone down some of the rhetoric we've been listening to. i listened to this debate you were having about why americans are acting the way they are an why it seems they're so angry or mean spirited. i think a lot of people are afraid. i think this context of the health care debate is just one factor of what's going on. you have to remember we went through the worst economic meltdown since the "great depression." we're not clear how this will end just yet. on top of that, you have other things, people's life savings wiped out, a lot of those who think their life would improve doesn't look the same there. is a lot of fear in this nation. then there was a lot of government giveback. on top of that now, this major health care reform. people are just feeling fearful. >> the thing we don't point out in the press enough, yes, it was a horrible situation with 8%, 9% of americans default iing on thr homes. we don't talk enough about the

88, 89, 90% people that kept paying their mortgage. they were resentful of the government hand-out. you go to health care reform, where, what, 70, 75% americans are happy with their health care insurance. and we're now going to try to change the entire system to take care of the 15% that don't. >> and so where do all these people come from? they come from middle america and they're not right wing tools of k street. thi . >> i think that has a lot of that anger, too, dam mitt, i'm playing by the rules, this government is getting bigger. why am i paying for my house? why am i working and paying for my health insurance and barack obama, simplifying it, but this is the sentiment, i think, why is he making me pay higher taxes for people that aren't doing it. >> martin savidge, stay with us -- >> i think that's part of it. >> perhaps. i'm racing cross country in this small sidecar,

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>> what did i tell you the first time we met? i'm a niners fan. >> that never gets old, does it? got that r and the v in the wrong places. now, he will have those letters in the wrong places in minnesota. he will be playing for the rival of the packers, the team that made him who he is, he will be playing against them. fred has sports. >> thank you and good morning. i don't know. maybe he had his fingers crossed when he swore he would never play in the nfl again, just weeks after saying he would stay retired, brett farve signed a two year $25 million deal to play for the vikings. he will likely play friday night against the chiefs. it makes the vikings the team to beat in the nfc north. >> everyone i talked to, former players, coaches, people in general said if you were to go back, this is a perfect fit.

it really is. >> baseball. rodriguez, pudge heading back to the rangers. the 14 time all-star started with them. he will serve as the rangers backup catcher. could have used him last night against the twins. minnesota's joe mauer showing his power. and giving a lead with a two-run blast. twins came from five runs down and beat the rangers 9-6. red sox, david ortiz not in the starting lineup but hit his 18th homer of the year, three rbis and three-run score. and victor martinez capped it off and they are tied with texas for the wildcard. perfect time for your best player to step up and earn his pay. cabrera ripped a single to center, scored two. tigers took the lead and won it

5-3, detroit has won 4 of the last 5. check out this play. right back to jon garland, who got his ball in front of the ball before it hit him in the gut. a great reaction by garland to make the play. not enough. bills won the game, 5-1. the season hasn't started already the assistant coach keith ack tin is a were in. he won over $98,000 in the lotto. unfortunately for him, he still coaches one of the worst teams in the league. finally, folks were all a twitter in glasgow, scotland after lance armstrong issued an invitation to anyone who wanted to join him in a casual ride in the city. nearly 300 took him up on the offer bringing traffic to a stand still. he is still there for a u2 concert and trip to ireland. that's it for me. thanks a lot. john ridley standing by his man, brett farve. the media feels about farve the way it does about obama, deep

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it's willie. >> tell me, it's time. >> mika, it's time. >> oh, my gosh. >> that's enough.

that's enough. >> we have breaking news coming in. it's actually broken on the joe scarborough radio show. pat buchanan reports exclusively he was asked to be on dancing with the stars. >> yes! >> he turned it down. >> i want to hear it. >> pat buchanan turned down the offer. >> that would have been great. >> a bodysuit, high heels, sequins. >> would bring some civility to dancing with the stars. >> you know what his best move would be? >> i think so. >> i got down there with shelly and she said, no way! >> anyway, tom delay is on the show. he's no pat buchanan but tom delay. apparently, he is very excited about this. he went on abc yesterday, giddy about dancing. listen to him. >> really? >> i love dancing. when the producers for "dancing with the stars" gave me a call,

i jumped right at the chance. this is going to be so fun and so crazy. i'm really looking forward to it. conservatives can let their hair down and open their collar and put on some dancing shoes and get out there on the floor, just like the rest of them. >> you know what, actually, i don't want to see that. >> very happy. >> extremely happy. >> good for tom! >> who wants to see that? >> i do. >> don't be hateful. he and tucker showing conservati conservatives can move. conservatives can move, they're fun people. >> no doubt about it. that's what i hear. >> yeah. >> let me show you a friend of the show, rahm emanuel. >> chief of staff of the white house, i don't even know what this is. i don't know if it's funny or what, kind of fascinating. last week, he was reading a fantastic white house program, reading for kids. >> that's nice of him. >> he has kids, he knows how to relate to children. but some of the jokes, i don't know, they seemed to go over the head of the kids.

listen. >> he ran to the barn and found the animals registering to vote. obviously not in chicago. duck was officially in charge, biggest decision, what do you think he has to make? picking that chief of staff top man, that is a tough decision. lots of choices. >> you can go wrong. >> real wrong. >> the president headed back to the farm and duck is working on his autobiography. do you think he gotten an advance for that. >> a little publishing? >> who are they talking to? these are children. >> i think that -- >> he's the slow guy. >> dark circles on -- >> i know it's the top of the hour, but i just want to show our viewers. >> you have to love that guy. >> britney spears showed us last

night she does indeed have her bikini body back. she went on letterman. he had her do the top ten, her top ten ways the country would be different if she were presiden president. >> mika, she'd look good next to mika. >> drop the banner, tj. drop the banner. >> hanging out in south beach. >> mika is the host. >> what's wrong with you? >> made her triumphant return to letterman last night to show off the goods. >> speaking of -- >> that's attractive? now go raise your small children now. >> it's really offensive to me, oh, my gosh, rrrr. britney the mom. >> i'm just saying. the last picture we showed of her was her sort of semi topless on the cover of "rolling stone"s, pulling her pants down, just saying, she's a mother. that's nice. >> mothers don't have to dress

in the morning and undress at night? >> she pulls on her pants one leg at a time. >> on "rolling stone." >> yeah. okay. hey, chris, as a segue, we've got a couple more e-mails. >> no! >> about mika's dress. i want to say overwhelming -- >> i will wear jeans and plastic hair clip tomorrow. i'm not going to try. >> there's still great e-mails trashing the dress. >> overwhelmingly positive but -- >> what, 9 out of 10? >> at least. >> those are no fun. it makes us uncomfortable when people say things that are nice. read some. >> time for news. >> mika's dress is what people at woodstock saw that took the brown acid. >> a little historic reminiscing. >> the guy in iowa says mika in that dress equals tropical deliciousness. >> oh! >> all right. >> i don't like that.

>> okay. >> he ought to get with barry in baltimore. anybody watch barry levinson. >> how about the guy joe on a radio show. >> he's a big fan. >> we have this guy on our radio show, joe in brooklyn, he admits he hasn't had sex since 1969. >> i'm not sure you should say that. >> he calls in. he's very frustrated -- >> all the people -- >> you know what type of show we're running over there. this guy listens and wabc -- >> it's odd that people listen to radio and call in with those kinds of -- >> he's unanimous. they can speak more freely. >> somebody should write a book about that. >> also, it's the top of the hour, everybody else is doing news, we will read e-mails. somebody saw willie on the reservoir. >> i am 95% sure i saw willie running around the reservoir at

central park last night. let me just say, tv does not do you justice. you are so tall and sexy in real lif life. >> ah! >> also barry. >> maybe you should just direct another movie. let's go. here's mika. also, q does our music for us, q e-mailed me and he said, thank mika for me i just went on orbits and booked a flight to miami. >> thank you. >> all right, q. here's mika. >> one more, jonathan k. fashion guru. mika's dress is fabulous, keep the dress. >> if you have k on your side, if god be for us, who can be against us. if k-par be for us, who can be

against us. now mika with the news. new polling by nbc news shows president obama's approval rating has slipped for the third straight month. now stands at 51%, down five points from june. when it comes to the president's health care plan, 42% say it's a bad idea. 36% support it. concerns over the proposal are sharply split. 41% say it's not doing enough, while 54% say it goes too far. a top union official tells the "huffington post" democrats may lose the labor vote if they don't fight for a public option in the president's health care plan. it comes amid a "new york times" report democrats appear to be moving away from efforts to build bipartisan support for reform. the go it alone and toughening opposition within the gop. >> only a handful seem interested in the type of comprehensive reform that so many people believe is necessary. there seem to be many that don't

share a desire to see costs cut, increases in coverage and quali quality, the degree to which others want to see. >> i want to ask you about these polls. three straight months in a row going down for the president. >> yeah. he's at 51%. that's probably about where george w. bush was at this time in this is pretty. stil -- in his presidency. still a lot of losses. he does not want to get upside down in his overall approval rating for a lot of different reasons. reagan always fretted that, feared it and bill clinton the same. but, john, in the end, we have unions saying they're not going to support this and all these polls really don't matter. in the end, it's those moderate democra democrats. barack obama has figure out to way to get claire mccaskill, ev

evan bayh, mary from arkansas, everything else is just noise. how does he get those six or seven moderates and maybe pick off one or two republicans from maine and keep his progressives? >> that's the tough thing and interesting thing about democrats. >> everything else is noise, republicans don't matter, town halls don't matter, this is down to matter. how do you get the 6 or 7 moderate democrats. >> when democrats went to this national strategy and democrats in the west are different from democrats in the east, you end up with blue dog democrats that look good on paper because all of a sudden you have majorities and seats you're picking up. these folks are different. how do you get these folks together when you have some saying we're not going to support the public option and you have democrats in the house saying there is going to be a public option. that is tough. i think ultimately there might be a public option in the house and not one in the senate and

which one will be picked up. the big deal is when congress comes back, who will be the person that drives this? pelosi or barack obama? we talked about that before the break, is the president going to step up and really lead this. >> the administration can say we don't care about the polls or follow the polls. what will be interesting, how many members of congress follow those polls? >> that's the thing, they do follow the polls and the town hall meetings are relevant they affect the evan bayhs and claire mccaskills and mary landrulls. and people say, why do you keep doing that? there are so many parallels. democrats can learn so much from the mistakes republicans made in '95 and '96. in '95 and '96, i had no use for moderate republicans from the northeast, midwest, far west. why don't they want to balance the budget as quickly as me? why don't they want to cut taxes as much as me?

why don't they want to deregulate as much as me? in '98, i flew around to try to help some of my friends in the northeast, midwest, northwest. i went from seeing these people as my opponents in the party to thinking, my god, we don't have a majority without these people. you go to one of their town hall meetings and it's like a blue dog in the democratic party now, you sit there going, how did they even win in this district? you go up and hug them, what can i do to help? that's what democrats need to learn that right now, all of these progressives that see these blue dogs as their enemy, they don't understand, without these blue dogs, john baoehner s speaker of the house. would you rather make peace with blue dogs or would you rather have john boehner speaker of the house. if you're a progressive, liberal, don't care where you're from, that should be an easy

answer. >> what do you do to broker that peace? >> that is where leadership comes in. that's where president obama gets the blue dogs, gets the six or seven moderate democratic senators, pulls in the two republicans from maine and pulls in nancy pelosi and the people and they sit at the white house and say, you guys have to make peace, i can't do it for you. >> one of the troubling things i see in this country, goes back to this fear discussion, we're losing our ability to compromise anymore in this nation. there seems to be this ability i'm not going to compromise, i'm not going to back down, i'm not going to give in. the problem is america is one big compromise, this nation exists because of what used to be our historic ability to see there is common good in reaching common ground. more and more people are taking hard stance, saying, you're not thinking like i'm thinking, you're not american anymore. that's a problem. >> when the president or gibbs or sebelius floated the public option might not be the most important thing over the weekend. do you see everyone on monday

said, no, it's one or the other. >> then he's accused of being a flip-flop flip-flopper, accused of backing down, weak. we need to find common ground, we need to find a compromise. i believe the president tries to make this compromise happen and criticized for that. >> bill clinton got re-elected in '96, in part, because he signed welfare reform. remember how he enraged his base, progressives said he was betraying the poorest little children in america. he did that. he signed it. sometimes you have to do that. george w. bush, i couldn't stand the fact that he did it. he had the medicare drug benefit in 2000, 7,0$7,000 billion liability to medicare. they compromise sometimes. if they don't, i think the president's numbers keep going down. they have to find the middle. barack obama ran, really, as somebody that was going to be post partisan, but you can't

sell yourself as post partisan if nancy pelosi's writing your stimulus bill, if henry waxman's writing your cap and trade bill, if barney frank is writing your finance reform bill. at some point, i don't knock them. they are doing, if i were a democrat, i would want them fighting for me and my values. people didn't vote for that type of leadership. they voted for barack obama being post partisan and now's the time for him, i think, politically, to step up, i'm just saying politically, for his own stake, step up and take control and be the post partisan we saw in the iowa speech. >> all right. let's go to political news. >> that's mika telling me to be quite eat. diplomatic relations with kim jong-il. two north korean diplomats will begin talks this morning with governor bill richardson in new mexico. it comes just a day after former

preside president bill clinton met personally with president obama to discuss his recent trip to the communist country. andrea mitchell will join us live coming up in just a few minutes. officials in iraq say at least 75 people are dead this morning following a series of explosions in baghdad. more than 300 others were wounded, the attacks primarily targeted government buildings near the green zone. overseas today, the afghan government is urging voters to head to the polls in tomorrow's presidential vote despite ongoing attacks by militants. police exchanged fire by gunmen who took over a bank in kabul. in order to counter the threat, the government has banned media from reporting on election day violence. finally, political writer robert novak is being remembered this morning after losing his battle with brain cancer tuesday. for decades he served as columnist for the "times" and

later became a central point in then valerie plame cia case. we get the news in iraq, two or three years ago, that would have been front page news. seems like those issues are crowded out at home by domestic concerns. i'm curious personally what you hear. i think at some point americans are just going to say enough. if iraq melts down, if afghanistan melts down, we don't care, bring the troops home. >> unless you have a son or daughter serving in the military, you have left iraq, we have already done that. the obama administration never saw that as their war. afghanistan, that's the war that's ramping up. i'm not sure we can say, all right, we'll start leaving. there is talk we will be there five years, maybe ten years and not even sure if we get the outcome we want. >> the general said we need more troops. >> if there was ever a time people are concerned about another vietnam, afghanistan, of

all the times that's been misapplied, afghanistan may be the one to say, it's talking like that. >> martin, thank you so much. we'll have you come back really soon. >> great having you here. the chairman of the rnc, my goodness, michael steele will be with us. >> what was that about. >> you two tend to get into it. and pat buchanan, we'll ask him why he turned down "dancing with the stars" and sarah palin a force in the gop. and andrea mitchell, breaks last night, governor richardson meeting with north korean diplomats. 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.

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with us now chief white house correspondent political director, chuck todd. thanks for being with us a lot to go through. let's start with the presidential's approval rating, 51%. tell us about it. what's happening? >> well, joe, look, third

straight month. it's clear health care has taken a toll on the president. this is -- now, he's down to 51. the three groups he's really hurting with, there are three groups reacting initially to health care, seniors, they deal with health care system more than a lot of us, suburban women, that, the folks that run households and deal with the health care system day-to-day and, of course, independents seeing this town hall stuff on the left and right and a little bit nervous about all this government intervention. >> are you focusing mainly on independents, suburban moms, what group do you want? or is it the seniors you have to get back on your side? >> i think at this point, the loss of suburban women, you look at those three groups, the loss of suburban women is the one most painful politically, that's the one you try to get back

immediately. >> you wrote a book about the swing counties, we talk about philadelphia, buck county, montgomery county, is it suburban women that swing these elections you saw in your book in county after county? >> it is. remember, joe, they're the ones, the most affected by the economy in many ways. they see the checkbooks, they're the ones taking the kids to the doctors, they're the ones that have day-to-day interaction with insurance companies, know their health care plan better than most of their spouses. that's why they're paying attention to this debate a little bit more. they're trying to figure out what's in it for me? that is something our pollster says at the end of the day on this health care debate, this is what happened to the clintons in the '90s and what's happening to the obama white house, they haven't been able to tell the american people that have private insurance what they get out of health care reform. he's trying, if you notice the

last three town halls have all been focused on that issue. they're not hearing it. people with private insurance are hearing, oh, this is -- i might lose this benefit or this might change or i don't know -- they're hearing what they're not going to have or what the opposition says they're not going to have there, not hearing what new they're going to get. at the end of the day, we're a selfish society and health care is a very personal thing. >> it is. chuck, on that, you said they're paying attention more exactly because it is so personal. also, i think, to tag off what martin savidge was talking about and what you and dillon were talking about on the radio yesterday pertaining to the overall economy and the fear people have, i think, a growing distrust, you have bailed out companies still giving out $100 million bonuses. people are saying, a, can we afford this? this is really personal, i do really want them, as in this administration, handling these problems, given everything else that happened so far i don't think has helped sure up trust.

>> i go back to what colin powell said two or three weeks ago he was talking about the president he supported saying he may have overloaded the circuits, may be trying to do too many things at once. chuck, health care the most percentage of all of these things for a lot of americans. does the white house regret anything about the way they've ruled this out? what are you hearing there? what's the strategy to stay above 50%? i said before, reagan always fretted going below 50% in approval ratings. no president wants to be upside down in the overall approval job rating. what's the plan there. >> at this point, they just want to get it done. i think that's why you're seeing so many public signals, we're ready to cut a deal on the public option, we'll look at these co-ops, do these things. at this point, they want to get a deal, get this done and get this debate behind them. they can win the battle here and get a health care bill passed.

lose the pr war. the faster they get this in the rear view mirror, i think at this point, they see, is the best option to move forward and start focusing on other issues. the other thing they need, you talk about this anxiety over government intervention, they need either more attention to be made or more money to be paid back for instance on the t.a.r.p. i've heard this frustration from them, these banks have been paying back money to the t.a.r.p. and it gets interpreted as they don't want to have government involved, sort of like, hey, we've softened the blow on the economy. things appear to be back headed in the right direction, at least with the financial sector and these folks are paying money back to the government. they're not getting any of the credit here on this. they think that if the public sees that, they see government work working and they see government can succeed at something, maybe the benefit of the doubt comes back to the president when he's trying to say government is part

of the solution when it comes to fixing health care. >> on that point, did the president make a bit of a mistake or administration trying to put a number to how many jobs would come back and how quickly they would come back. definitely, all of us would agree the economy seems to have stabilized but people are looking, you promised this number of jobs maybe nobody could really predict. >> it's an economic model. i remember quizzing one of their economist, i think it was jared bernstein. it's a tried and true method. it might be, this is unlike any other recession we faced in a long time. you don't know. there were three or four theories of the case, this will be a recession, the spike down will spike up and jobs will just come in a hurry. we'll see. at the end of the day, they will get judged on the jobs number, not now, not in three months, in september 2010, if they don't have those job numbers and not

seeing 150, 200,000 jobs added a month at that point, then i think you will see a political firestorm. >> remember, chuck, these polls are merely a snapshot. it's what's happening this time next year with job numbers that will affect polls that will affect mid-term elections. right before we go really quickly, is the white house blaming the town hall meetings, the chaos that's out there, talk radio for these falling numbers? what are you hearing? >> they're upset at the media coverage a little bit. when you look, we test ed it an threw up the graphic there. majorities believe some of these things that somehow health care will go to illegal immigrants, the federal government will be paying women to have abortions, the federal government will decide when to pull the plug on grandma essentially. nearly 50%. so they realize that that is -- they feel like that information has only come from, you know, opinionated media. let's just keep it at that.

>> all right. thank you so much, chuck todd. >> we will be reading your updates throughout the day on fir firstre firstread@msnbc.com. >> what republicans and democrats have in common. j.c. watts with andrea mitchell. keep it right here on "morning joe." ( conversation ) garth, you're up. hold on, i'm at capitalone.com picking a photo... for my credit card. here's one from my prom. oh, what memories. how 'bout one from our golf outing? ( shouting ) i know, maybe one of my first-born son. dad, mom says the boys gotta go.

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budget was definitely a concern. she was like, "help me." so i'm thinking: new cool thing is the netbook. two pounds, three pounds, 160 gigabyte hard drive. really great battery life. we get the netbook. i said, "bring him back into the store. let him pick out his bag." she introduced him to me. and it was like, "you're the guy who got me the netbook." he says, "this never happens, but i'm totally going to hug you right now." i get hugged all the time. how could you not hug this?

welcome back back. two weeks ago, president clinton traveled to north korea to negotiate the least for two american journalists. remember that. >> north korea diplomats are on their way to new mexico to meet with governor bill richardson. nbc news chief correspondent andrea mitchell joins us live from washington this morning after breaking this story late last night. good morning. >> good morning, mika. >> give us a sense, big picture, how big a step is this or not? >> we don't know yet, frankly. the mood is definitely changed. the north koreans are now in new mexico, they're going to meet for two days, we're told, with governor richardson, the same north korean diplomats from new

york who actually helped get north korea and richardson together and he went to pyongyang two years ago, we went with him on that trip to bring back remains of u.s. soldiers. they are players and led to negotiations of bill clinton going and bringing back laura ling and euna lee. they had to get the okay from the state department to go outside the radius of new york city. diplomats who belong to missions with whom we do not have diplomatic relations have to stay close to the u.n., have to stay in the united states. i'm told they may take side trips in santa fe. i asked and they said, you never know, they could show up in las vegas. i'm not sure that will happen but is an image. there's more details and more reporting from the officials in the state department, the "new york times" has interesting details today what happened when bill clinton went. we know clinton sat in the situation room with the

president and national security team and then went to the oval office he was with the president presumably one-on-one. that was an interesting meeting last night. basically, kim jong-il is not dying. he's not on his death bed. he looked better in those pictures with clinton and apparently is better. there is not the division, noticeably the division in the succession of leadership we thought was going on with that regi regime. the long time nuclear negotiator for north korea sat in on those meetings. two other quick things. today, minutes before launching a rocket, south korea canceled that launch. that is a very important signal and north korea said it will send an official delegation to south korea to the funeral of former south korean president. this could be a warming. >> interesting, john ridley. >> andrea mitchell, john ridley, how are you. >> fine. >> all of this, starting with reporters and bill clinton going over there, is that just chance or is this in some way, was it tiptoeing into some diplomacy

from the obama administration by sending bill clinton in the first place? >> the obama administration was ready for diplomacy. that has been their policy of engagement with iran and north korea. north korea has to first take some steps as hillary clinton said yesterday. it's up to north korea if they want to engage. until now for the past year, preceding the obama administration, there was nothing but bad signals, rocket launches, nuclear test firings. north korea had been really guilty of a lot of bad behavior. now, we're seeing a big change. it could be significant. >> andrea mitchell, thanks very much. what is going on today. are you booked already. >> we have bernie sanders and we will talk about the liberal defection. let me say a quick word about bob novak and echo what joe scarborough says. i knew him well in and out of his different roles. he had a long career, the longest career of anyone in washington that we can remember.

he was a reporter first and foremost, we shouldn't just focus on the last months of his life, last years of his life. he will be missed by a lot of people. >> andrea mitchell, many things, we'll see you at 1:00 eastern time right here on msnbc. we will be right back. (miley cyrus) miley cyrus & max azria ♪

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welcome back to "morning joe." here with us now, former republican representative from oklahoma and chairman of the j.c. watts company, former congressman, j.c. watts, very nice to see you again, sir. >> mick car, thank you very much. thank you guys for having me on. >> i want to show you a poll here and a sense of what you think the republicans are doing. the republican poll, 62% disapprove of the gop's handling

on health care. do you think the republicans are perhaps letting a good opportunity go by the wayside here, given the way the other side has been handling this debate? >> i think you sure ly can't --i think in this discussion, with the american people understanding that you do need reform, that the system has some flaws, in spite of it being the best in the world, republicans can't get in a situation that democrats got themselves into with the bush administration, saying we're against this plan, we have no plan of our own. i think right now, it's kind of an opposition position, but i do think that there are -- there's room for improvement in the system. i think we have to be more forceful, i think, in telling what our plan would be or what the republican plan would be, in terms of moving us forward. i do think the administration deserves some credit in some of the things they have done to

this point. i think they've got a lot of flaws in their legislation. in terms of getting pharma to come to the table with savings over the next ten years, i think that's a good thing. i think the fact that they took it on, in spite of there being flaws in their policies, i think the fact they're taking it on is a good thing. this debate needs to happen. >> at the same time, it seems like they haven't got a clear message or a voice, as you said, they didn't come back strong enough with a plan that counters the democrat plans, yet it seems, john ridley, that the white house and democrats are not in sync, that there would have been an opportunity here. really to fight back in a more eloquent way. >> i would ask the former congressman, it is going to places of anger and places where it's not about discussion and particularly for the republicans, when it becomes about outreach, you look at how the sotomayor was handled, you

look at the football and talk about that and using to get people into the republican party? >> you know, i continue to be disappointed, in terms of t the -- what the party establish. does in terms of trying to grow the party with those non-traditional constituen non-traditional constituencies. jack kemp, in the early 1990s when i got involved in politics, i joined up there, are many of us, chairman steele has made it a part of his agenda at the c constituen constituencies. >> doesn't it hurt the cause, when a nominee like sotomayor comes up, the first hispanic nominee to the supreme court and republicans decide for the first time in 40 or 50 years they're

going to actively oppose a nominee. seems like they may have picked the wrong nominee to start with if they want to have that kind of outreach, right? >> joe, you're right. it doesn't hurt when you consider sotomayor and her confirmation process. however, i would hope in that case, or in circumstances like that, that there would be consiste consistency. i think, obviously republicans will take a beating on her confirmation. at the same time, we should also be as outraged when miguel estrada has to go through when he goes through when he doesn't get confirmed. when a janet brown goes through what she goes through and she didn't get confirmed. i think there's an equ equal -- there's an arri aether made on the democrat and republican side when it comes to

ethnic minority candidates. >> no doubt about it. democrats on the judiciary committee, the united states senate, did everything they could to block conservative justices if they were black or hispanic. the difference between democrats and republicans is democrats already have overwhelming -- those voting blocks in an overwhelming way. i think we have to be smarter and sometimes i wonder whether we are ever going to figure out how to walk through that minefield. >> joe, let me point to some other areas. look at diversity in staff. i don't say you should have black staffers on republican committees, the rnc and senator committee and so forth, the nrcc, i don't say you should have black staffers just for the sake of having black staffers. when you say we can't find anybody that qualifies, we don't have as many black staffers as we do others, that just doesn't wash with me.

i think we've got to do a better job. i'm not looking for a party that looks like me, i'm looking for aport tai that looks like america. there's way you can objectively and genuinely and honestly do that without, you know, creating quotas and all the other arguments people try and use. >> what exactly was the link between football and republicanism? >> that one, it's too early in the morning. that one weptover my head. >> yeah. >> okay. >> hold on a second. >> chris, let me -- >> did chris -- give me another shot. ask that question again. >> chris. yeah. you have been talking in my ear for ten damn minutes, ask j.c. what the link is, i had to ask him what the link is between republicanism and football. >> i will take responsibility for this. i apologize. >> j.c., i don't know what the link is. that's what we've been teasing all morning. does anybody on your staff tell us we needed to ask the question

about the link between republicanism and football, j.c.? is there a link between republicanism and football? j.c., they even have sam wyche thinking about running. >> he's there. >> okay. >> j.c.- >> that's poor producing. >> that's poor producing, j.c. i apologize for my executive producer. when are you getting back into politics, brother? >> joe, i'm having a good time making memories with grandkids. >> oh! >> most importantly, brett farve coming back, good or bad? >> i'm just going to let it unfold and see what happens. brett's worn us all out. >> still a politician. >> j.c., it's always great talking to you. >> thanks for having me on, gang. >> that was a run away beer truck. what the hell was that about. >> notice, i just flinched. >> you asked and he didn't answer. chris goes, you have to ask the question about the link between

republicanism and football. >> i could feel. >> it you shouldn't have done . >> i'm an artist. i didn't feel. >> it you shouldn't have done it. >> coming up, andy serwer will be re. >> we want an answer. >> and tyler mathisen, will show us how some companies are thriving in this rough economy. we'll be right back with dancing pat buchanan. >> put on your dancing shoes. >> toe tapping pat. you're watching "morning joe," brewed by starbucks. with my new netbook from at&t. with its built-in 3g network, it's fast and small, so it goes places other laptops can't. i'm bill kurtis, and wherever i go, i've got plenty of room for the internet. and the nation's fastest 3g network. gun it, mick. (announcer) sign up today and get a netbook for $199.99 after mail-in rebate. with built-in access to the nation's fastest 3g network. only from at&t.

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welcome back to "morning joe." >> is that where you were yesterday? >> he was. >> were you wearing a tank top. >> i was wear iing an singlar. >> you can move more quickly through the air. >> i don't feel well. >> manhattan's most esteemed residents. always elite. been seen walking around from jackie o. to mika brzezinski to madonna to willie geist. mike his exercise. >> he just sits on the bench, the barnicle bench. that's what we will call it. chris, we will let you defend yourself. >> why would you do that? >> i want him to defend himself.

readhe j.c. watts' quote that -- >> we finally did the research, and it's the political argue, and he says the sacrifice and commitment, that message probably resinates with a lot more. >> the republic-- what year was? >> '79. >> that was one of the great orange bowls, nebraska won. that was beautiful. >> that was twofold, j.c.?

>> i am excited about who is joining us now. with us now, msnbc political analysts, pat buchanan. >> twinkle toes buchanan. >> we decided your dance was called -- >> the chop. when did "dancing with the stars" notify you, and did you consider doing it? >> it was an e-mail, and it was about six months ago, and they asked if you were interested, and i went back, and then they came back to me and i said, no, i don't think so i am not in that good of shape right now. and they are probably out there saying is there any dumber conservative in this country

than buchanan -- >> can you suggesting that tom delay is a sloppy seconds next to you, pat buchanan? >> no, no, i would not tell you, do not do that, do not do this! >> too late. the genie is out of the bottle. let's talk about novak. bob novak was a journalists that challenged both sides, wasn't he? >> he was not only that, but a real patriot. that article was written as a cover story, and it included me

and novak and a number of other folks that were against going into iraq, because it was not in the interest of our country. >> that article accused novak of hating america, and cheering against the president and hating the president and cheering against american troops. novak enraged both extremes, didn't he? >> yes, he did. i will say novak was -- somebody as clear-cut as he was, he made a lot of add vversarieadversari. but that was just about the best shoe leather reporter in years. every one of his columns, him and evans, they would have

information nobody else had. and i would tell novak i have about 1,000 reporters, and he was out there doing the work and a great reporter. beyond the exterior, the gruf exterior that came out on tv, this was a real genuine friend. he was just aerrific guy. one of the authentic people in a city that is often very synthetic. >> yeah, he is so authentic in a town full of phonies. pat, stay with us. we will talk about michael novak when we return with "morning joe." and tell

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welcome back to "morning joe." coming up on 8:00 a.m. here in new york city, and almost 5:00 am in the home of john ridley, who is still on l.a. time. john, you are such a coastal elitist. you don't know middle america. let's go to boston. there it is, boston, mass. and down to washington, d.c., as we continue our trip. looks like a nice day in washington, and then right back here to new york city. we are looking at the jersey cam at the big apple. >> looking good. >> a wife-beater, smoking a cigarette. >> you like the shot? it's a good shot.

>> do not>> good morning, and h you? >> speaking of which, is rihanna really getting back with chris brown? we think chris brown should be sent to jail forever! >> yeah, and she requested that the restraining order could be reduced so they could be closer. if you read the police report, it was not i got drunk and i got out of control, it's pretty vicious. >> as you say mika, and we say on the roda radio show, and if beats you once, he will beat you again. >> richard pryor who was pretty

abusive with some of the relationships, and he said when a man hits a woman, two things can happen. if she leaves, she leaves, and if she stays, you own her forever. >> rihanna is rihanna, and she could have whatever she wants. a lot of women depend on the men. >> yeah, and whether you are a movie star or the governor of a state, it doesn't make you happier to stay in those kinds of things. >> i am just saying she does have options. >> nothinging go good is happen here. let's go to mika. president obama's approval rating has slipped for the third straight month. 42% say the health care plan is

a bad idea, and 36% support it. concerns over the proposal are close. despite on going attacks by militants, police exchanged fire with gunman that took over a bank in kabul. the government banned media from reporting on election day violence. >> that doesn't stop it. >> i guess if you don't see it, it didn't happen? what? okay. two diplomatic relations with north korea, nbc news learned diplomats will begin talks with bill richardson in mexico. it comes day after bill clinton met with president obama to

discuss his recent trip to the communist country. still with us, pat buchanan, and he is also in washington, d.c. poll numbers. pat, president obama's approval rating down to 51%. he just another five percentage points over the last few months. what does the administration need to do to turn the health care debate around? >> he dropped the public option, so to speak, even though they say they didn't drop it, they just approved it. i think he has to pull the house and the senate together, and say the republicans are not going with us and let's get together what we have going here. and they need to get together and get this thing done and passed and on my desk so we can say that we got 50% of the way,

and we were hoping 100%, and we did not make it, and let's get something done. >> what else would you expect from "the new york times"? . we are out here talking about what the american people are talking about, and that's trying to get common sense discussion going in the debate. i think the republican party and leadership on the hill had been relevant. i think we have done a great deal in our efforts to try to slow down the train. remember, this was supposed to have gotten done in the last two weeks of july. now we actually started a newt debate about exactly what is at stake here and what does it mean to families under the public option or co-op or no co-op. debate is an important part of this. it's reflected in the town halls across the country. i have been excited to be able to talk to folks and hear from

them and reflect back to the american people and certainly to the president and the congress what people are saying. >> we have an nbc news poll where we are seeing the president's approval ratings show. 21% approve, according to nbc poll, and 62% disapprove. do those numbers concern you? >> no, they are consistent with numbers that i have seen since 2006. there is still a long way to go for the party. >> why is that? i heard you give that message before. why do republicans have a long way to go to earn back the trust of americans? >> well, like anything, you look at your relationships with people, and you have somebody that you trust and they break the trust. you are suspicious, and you want to see them earn it back and you want to see them take the steps necessary to prove that they can trust you again. we had a contract, for example,

with the american people, how would we govern and lead, and we broke away from that. it brought you into the united states congress. and when we broke that contract, it was like, you know, have you to prove to me you mean it. it's the environment and a whole lot of things. i think the party is prepared to move forward. i have been out there along with a lot of other folks with other people trying to help them understand our position, which is talking about government control and then what our vision is. >> this poll, this poll pertaining to sarah palin, which shows there is -- she does have a role here. whether we like it or not, she has got an interesting amount of support. this shows if the election were

held today, barack obama would win. she gets 33% of the vote. look at favorability turning here. >> 73% for republicans? and then if you line up all the republican candidates in 2012 -- >> yeah. >> she is in a dead heat with mitt romney. >> what does that tell us? >> we will go to pat buchanan, who is talking to his girlfriend who might be with him on "dancing with the stars." it looks like sarah palin may be in the running. the polls suggests that she could be the republican nominee. could she win in 2012? >> i have no idea. i cannot tell you what i am going to do in the next 12 minutes let alone in the next two or three years. this is the drama of national politics. and sarah palin, she is taking time to spend with her family,

and to assess where she wants to go next. god bless her for that. when she decides where she wants to go -- >> michael, michael, let me ask you really quickly. she did interrupt the time with family to talk about death panels. let me get it straight from you as chairman of my party, the republican party, do you wish sarah palin and newt gingrich had not brought up the term "death panel." is that an unfortunate use of terms? >> no, but some characterize it as unfortunate and some characterize it as what they think and feel. that comes from someplace. it's something out there in the grassroots of america. not just with palin. >> do you believe it, though? >> it may or may not be. we don't know what the bill is. this clearly is an attempt by

the house members to put in place a structure that causes concern for the american people's end of life decisions. you don't have to call it death panels if you want to, you can call it a panel, and i call it rationing. regardless of how you approach it, the american people are concerned about it. they need to stop getting hung up on what it's called and deal with what impact it will have on the american people. >> pat buchanan, i don't see anything in the bill that resembles what sarah palin and newt gingrich are calling death panels, and i think it hurts us with independents and when we overreach. the bill is bad enough as it is. we don't have to engage in

hyperbly. >> there is a part of the bill that the democrats did not want to debate, and when grassley used the term about grandma, the democrats ran away from the thing. they don't want to debate it. they dropped the provision 1233 entirely. >> isn't that a johnny isaac son debate? >> well, let me say this, i think that where the chairman is correct is this. the country has not identified with the republican party at all. 21 or 22%. it's identifying with republican arguments against this bill, their concerns against a takeover. all of the republican concerns, those concerns are the same as the groups coming out to the town hall meetings, joe. the real thing is, you have the 40% of the country that is

conservative. town halls, roughly, they defeated obama's plan in the public mind. what the republican party has to do is bond with all of the opposition that agrees with them but doesn't trust them. so what is happening -- >> pat, that is exactly right. that's what we have been doing. >> one quick point. the middle america, those town hall meetings, they are not being drawn to the republican party, they are being driven to it by the fact that they are being called every name you can think of, and while the voters of the blue dogs are being attacked, that escapes me. >> it doesn't make sense that jerry would accuse people going to town hall meetings using fashious tactics. we hear people shouting at town

hall meetings, and some call them evil. >> that's the key point here. i think pat has it exactly right. when you talk about showing a poll that says only 22% of the people like us. well, this is not a popularity contest or beauty contest. what we have to do as a party is stand out there with the american people, as i indicated we had with the contract before, and fight for those things that they want done, express, you know, what we would do. we just can't sit there and point our fingers and go, oh, gee, look at what the democrats are doing. we talk about portability, and we talked about creating business pools for small business owners, and tort reform and a host of other things that the democrats rejected. republicans and independents and others are saying we may not like you but we like the

direction in which you are going, so leads more. >> michael, thank you so much. >> good to see you, michael. by the way, i do like how he says, we republicans broke the trust with the american people. >> that was very forthright. >> yeah, i think that's important. i do think that republican leaders need to come out aggressively and stair down people that talk about death panels, and that make irresponsible charges. >> what does it say, if sarah palin came up with the term and also quit in the middle of her first term in office, let alone everything else i could list is number two among republicans of potential contenders. what does that say? >> pat, if you talk about nixon, you look at the poll where you have romney more of a mainstream

candidate, and then number two, three, four, sarah palin, huckab huckabee, and newt gingrich. >> well, joe, i agree with you. that's what -- when i came into the politics, it's the goldwater thing. we were going to crush rockefeller, and the rest of them, and we did. we got 38% of the vote in the general election. that's what happens. i do think that a couple of those candidates really start bumping their head when you get up to 41% or 42% in the general election. >> yeah, obama still beat sarah palin in the general election match up. i know that's making the base mad on the republican side. it's just the reality.

you can come to terms with that or not. it's up to you. it's just a reality. people on the far left have to understand, have you to deal with the blue dogs if you want to pass a conservativconservati. >> coming up, a look at which companies are booming in the tough economic times. fortune magazines'

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essentially, what the president is saying, the public option at the end of the day is optional. what do you say of members of congress threatening to walk out who say if there is no public option, i am not in this. inherent in the decision is he could live with or without a public option? >> he cannot envision a scenario in which we live with anything that does not provide choice and competition in a insurance marchet that allows the people to get the best deal possible if they enter a private insurance market. >> savannah? wow! sam donaldson's long, lost daughter. my, gosh! you have nothing on her.

you know what gibbs was thinking? bring back david gregory. that's a picnic compared to this savannah guthrie. >> that was good, savannah. you asked the right question. >> they were going to fire gibbs today, and ask ridley to come in today. >> yeah, and now i am not doing it. forget it. >> savannah, what was that all about? do you hate robert gibbs? >> reporter: for crying out loud. i was just asking a series of questions. whatever! >> you did a good job. they are just joking. >> the administration afenneded a lot of people on the left when they talked about moving away on the public option, and now they are back to trying to have it both ways, maybe we will go with

the option, and maybe a co-op, and maybe, wink, wink, a co-op is the same as a public option. >> reporter: yeah, i think that's what i was driving at with gibbs. >> you don't know what you were driving at? >> reporter: you are killing me, joe, today. >> you can ask touch questions, but we can't? is that how it is, savannah? >> reporter: well, in other words, the white house is not signaling to them, don't worry, we are for a public option, we will fight for it and never let it go and hug it tightly and embrace it forever. what they are saying is we are still keeping all of the options over. the position has not hardened at all from the white house. they are saying all along we have left our options open. maybe we will have a public option, maybe we won't. what is not optional is choice

and competition. >> so do you get a sense, as buchanan said, and i think somebody else said this morning, they want to get this behind them. let's just ask something, even if it's giving everybody a free aspirin. let's get a health care bill and get it behind us once and for all. >> yeah, they realize as soon as the president signs the bill, that approval rating is likely to go back up. we have seen our latest poll shows another drop in the approval rating is down 10 points since february, and that's because we waded knee deep into the messy issue. i think that there is a recognition here that as soon as health care reform as an issue is done and they can tie it in a neat bow, his approval rating is likely to rebound. there is a desire to get this thing done. the president has made no secret

of that. they hope to get votes done in september. he wants something on his desk by the end of the year. >> savannah, i hate this question usually, but i think this is interesting. what is the mood there? >> i think there is frustration, clearly. what they have not been able to do is get their message across. their positive message. they are finding some of the myths, and our polls bares this out, it's being believed by a majority of americans. euthanasia, and death panels. i am thinking in particular of senator grass lil llegrassley, doing the negotiations, and some

will tell you he is close to a deal that he can live with. yet, he goes out in the august recess and throwing out a lot of red meat. i don't believe that we should have a government plan that should pull the plug on grandma, and he is doing nothing to help that situation. frustration is clear. and there are some folks that say this is part and partial of it. we know before this is all said and done, you guys will write us off for dead five or six times and we expect that to be part of the process where they take that view. >> pat buchanan, if you are in the white house would you advise the president? forget the republicans. you get grassley, this guy you thought was going to work with you, and he is telling people in iowa, you have reason to be fearful? >> i think what he is doing, he is being flexible, and he is

being realistic, and he knows the government option may not go through, and that's an option that is not necessary. he is prepared to go with grassley or without grassley. i think the president is conducting himself right now in a way that he has got to. of course he is antagonizing the left. i do say this, i believe he wants a real package that has real reform in it, but the public option is too much weight, he may dump it over the side. >> it looks like it's too much weight for a lot of democratic senators. we will see. >> savannah, thank you so much. we kid with you, savannah, but only because we think you are kind of funny. no, you are great. >> coming up, a check on business before the bell. >> we love savannah here.

she is great. >> great? >> yeah. >> did you see how she handled gibby yesterday? >> yeah, like a reporter should. >> you are watching "morning joe" brewed by starbucks. >> what is that? barnicle is hiding under that with his sunglasses in central park waiting for a woman to walk past. show and tell you weren't always my favorite day. with all the pet hair in the air, i'd spend class preoccupied, bothered by itchy eyes. but now i have new zyrtec® itchy eye drops.

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wow! i am kind of confused. which one is this? >> let's get a check of business before the bell. we have mark haines, and of course, he did not buy that. i did not give it to him. he stole it from somebody. mark haines, what does it looks like on the street today? >> dude, that is so wrong! >> that's so funny. >> you know, one page, i had trouble reading one page because of the anti-theft device like somebody would steal this book, it was right in the middle of a page. >> great book. >> take it from here. >> willie, how are you?

>> i am out of here. >> where did he go? >> you hurt his feelings. he spent several days working on that book. >> isn't that cute, he thinks he is back in congress. a lot of nervousness about is there really a recovery going on, or is it stock piling? people are talking about a w. recovery, and that is -- the stocks are up and then back down again. who knows? and deere, equipment operations down. earnings down. things are not looking good for them right now. and then what is this?

more deere news. and then warren buffett, the dollar's status as a reserve is in peril. and is joe back yet? >> no, i think we lost him. >> he is gone for good. >> really, i was just kidding. i really like the book. >> stop it. you are pandering. >> i dog eared pages that i wanted to talk to him about, like where he talks about the meltdown. i like the last chapter on reagan, and -- >> we will let the ghost rider know that. >> i don't think he is coming back. i think he is pretty upset,

haines. >> like i am "the new york times" book critic. i was just kidding with joe. but as a crumb pgrumpy republic doesn't have much of a sense of humor. >> thank you, mark. >> have a great day. and our friend andy is coming up.

think they are called ugg boots. last year $582 million worth of these boots sold worldwide, just up from $37 million 35 years ago.

in the second quarter of this year, a warm weather quarter, they told $70 million worth of uggs. and the stock price more than doubled since 2005. >> that's comfort? >> you cannot say that about many countries. you are a hollywood guy. could you tell the stars not to wear uggs with bikinis? >> that bothers you? >> yeah, seriously, women wearing them year round. no. >> mika, what would you do? >> well, first of all -- >> let's look at mika's dress. now, look at the tan boys. all color, and no color. we coordinated this.

>> you did? >> let me ask bland person number one -- >> can i please introduce them. >> tyler, you guys have the great documentary that i think will change the world. what did you find in your tan, drab -- >> we found that companies that have boots, and companies like chipotle mexican grill, and the fastest growing company of all, the maker of the blackberry, they thrive and survive. >> we don't see soup lines, but lines around the apple store when the new iphone comes out.

>> if you have a new mouse trap, a better mouse trap, it will work. i think the hot button thing is value. it has to be a good value. amazon, you know, they are selling books. it's cheap during bad times. apple has the hottest products under the sun. and a company like chipotle, it's not the cheapest food out there, a burro is $8 or something like that. >> any trends here that suggest that americans are moving in a new direction, or is it just quality right now? >> it's quality. i will tell you one of the things that is very interesting. a lot of the companies that we looked out here were founded during times of recession.

the company that makes blackberry up in canada, a lot of these things -- they have grown out of recession. big companies may not be hiring, but smaller entrepreneurs are banning together and getting together and putting things out there. >> that's what is so exciting. andy, did you read that? you get all the people that get great business degrees, and they wanted to work on the street, and no jobs there, and they say i am going to my garage, and i will start a new company. we are probably going to see from these seeds remarkable companies coming? >> yeah, and they will persevere. there is only one big winner on wall street, and game stop, you know, a company that sells software and games -- >> yeah, and they lead the nation in obesity?

>> mika, wow -- >> and there was a poll. uggs lead to foot problems, too, by the way. >> that's the best source of news right there. >> we do not call mika a moral scold for nothing. you think new companies may be coming out of this, and also if you are good at what you do, you can survive the hard times, and that's the bottom line. >> yeah, the basic companies that we showcase tonight on cnbc are ones that have grown in the stock market despite the bad condition of the stock market. they have growth. >> and you talk about some of the things are higher priced.

where do people find that margin? do we all have the holdback, i will pay more for this because i know the brand and quality and this is worth it to me? >> well, you know times might be tight, and i will go out and buy a new mac or iphone, or i am paying more to get the best technology, or if i am going to amazon, that makes more sense to me than trudging out and buying something not worth anything. >> now, pat, what do you think? >> the question is, is it really a w? we heard from mark about shanghai down 4%, if it's a w

and then we start back down, i think it's a disaster for the democrat party coming up. but if you think you will get through the summer of next year, and there are many jobs, and i think obama can say people that had faith in me, you are right. i think they will do better. everything depends on the economy, next fall, next summer. >> and warren buffett warned about the deficit, and guys like me warning about the deficit and we sound like chicken little. can we spend, spend, spend and never have to face inflation? >> i think, joe, we will see the end of the dollars world reserve currency. i think the united states of america will confront the same kind of default you see california close to. you see a lot of countries of the world hitting that wall. you take a look at the debt and all the things that are owed,

the liabilities, and we are piling them on. i think the day of reckoning is coming, and we have not hit it yet. >> and yeah, after world war ii, it took them a long time to get over it, and now it's a healthy economy. >> as far as the stock market goes, speaking of what pat was speaking to, we came back because the market went up from march, because the worse of it was over. now the market, i think it will not go anywhere because we need a reason to take it to the next level, and we will not get that in that next year. what do i know? it's a theory. to me that makes sense. that's the conventional wisdom, if you will. >> what worries me the most is how do we get out of what we have wrought here. i am afraid we will inflight our way out of this, and pour money

into this -- >> yeah, a and bubble is a bubble is a bubble. >> and yeah, when barack obama said we tried it george bush's way, let's try it our way. and george bush, two wars, tax cuts, and a $7 trillion medicare drug benefit plan, throwing money everywhere. we tried that, and that created the bubble, and now we are going to try to spend our way out of the spending crisis. >> the interesting thing, and i think obviously the government is doing spending, and consumers are doing a lot of saving. >> did you say unfortunately? >> well, i am not suggesting that we should all throw savings out the window, but try to encourage people to say, where

is the balance between paying down the big mortgages, and not buying things that are so far out of what you can afford, but at the same time, if you are feeling comfortable, see the deals that are being had. >> in some ways, we don't save in the fat times. we tend to save in the lean times. >> yeah, do we do the wrong thing? >> lenders are cutting back on credit cards. you are not able to get the same level of home equity line of credit? >> is that a good thing? >> it's a good thing in the long run, because it enforces financial responsibility. >> pat buchanan, is it not a good thing that we americans are finally saving? it's gone up 7%. >> yeah, i think it is. i think cutting back on some of the credit cards is a good thing, and giving mortgages to people that can pay back is a

good thing. and behaving responsibly is a good decision. >> you see all kinds of destruction still going on, readers' digest. and every day in the paper, more bankruptcies. >> thank you very much. "fastest growing companies of 2009," tonight at 9:00 eastern time, and 10:00 pacific time, on cnbc. >> we'll be right back. after "morning joe," check us out on the radio. 10:00 a.m. eastern time. find the link. you can go to joe.msnbc.com.

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welcome back to "morning joe." this is the time of the show where we all dance together, and talk about what we learned. >> we uncovered an exclusive photograph of pat buchanan from 1973 in the nixon white house. it was before "staying alive" came out. >> this is shocking. pat, you actually -- i never knew that you were the influence, the inspiration for staying alive for "saturday night fever." >> yeah, joe, i learned there is one more guy that has less sense than i do or more nerve, and his nickname is the hammer. >> it was an e-mail, and as i recall, it was an e-mail about six months ago, and they said,

you know, they just asked if i was interested. they came back to me and i said, no, i don't think so. i don't think that this is a good idea. i am not in that good of shape right now. >> are you suggesting that tom delay is sloppy seconds to you, pat buchanan? >> no, i don't know. but i will tell you, i would counsel the hammer, don't do this. >> you know, pat, he is a breathe of fresh air. a fun guy. >> what did you learn today? >> i learned you can never have enough color in a dress in the morning? >> mika? >> i am going to dress -- one day this week, i am going to dress the way i want to dress. >> i love that dress. >> mika? >> time for the "morning meeting." >> if it's way too early, what time is it, willie?

>> "morning joe." but now it's time for the "morning meeting." >> welcome, everybody. nice to see you. topping our agenda today, the president losing the message war on health care. a new cnbc poll showing the public is talking about the health care reform. we are talking to jim cooper about the health care. and the doctor breaks his silence, grant it, by the way of a youtube video. but what the heck. why would you do that? meanwhile, a model murdered in california, and the star of a reality show is the main suspect. yes, truth is stranger than fiction. what is going on with the weather? late summer humidity spawns all

sorts of unplezantries. and it's 9:00 a.m., so pull up a chair and join the "morning meeting." we start this morning wlt latest on health care for obvious reasons. democrats breaking away and poised to go it alone if they need to. a new nbc poll shows the president may be losing the message on the public option, and the town halls may have an impact on the public opinion. hey, savannah. >> reporter: what we are hearing at the white house, folks are recognizing this is going to be

a tough thing, and they may have to do health care without republicans. it's not their preference, but it may get to that. a new gallop poll out this morning that has the president's approval rating at a new low. 51%. and look at what the poll shows on the public option. a reversal since the last time we polled. 43% support the public option, and 47% oppose. if you look back in july, it was the opposite. obviously, dylan, there is a lot