public option. a lot of liberal democrats are backing away from having a public option. yesterday, robert gibbs, the white house secretary made it clear the position from the admintration is the same as always, it's preferred but not a deal breaker. listen to my exchange from yesterday. >> what the president is saying is the public option at the end of the day is optional. i guess my question is what do you say to members of congress threatening to walk out saying if this is not a public option, i am out of this? >> well, it's a preferred option. >> the president could envision a scenario where he could live without a public option, and -- >> he cannot envision a scenario with anything that does not provide choice and competition

in a private insurance market that allows people to get the best deal possible on both the price and quality if they enter a private health insurance market. so the town halls are still continuing. there was a very interesting exchange between congress and barney frank and the democrat from the massachusetts, and listen to this exchange. >> why do you continue to support a nazi policy, as obama has, expressly supported this policy, why are you supporting it? >> 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? >> reporter: what was interesting from the nbc poll, it shows a majority of americans do believe some of the health care myths, some things that have been debunked are true. take a look at the list. excuse me, let me get to it here. 55% think that there will be health insurance for illegal

immigrants in the plan. 54% think it's likely there will be a government takeover of health care. and 50% think it's likely the taxpayer dollars would go for abortions, and government will end up making decisions about end-of-life care for the elderly, the so-called death panel idea. and this shows the administration has a lot of work cut out. and do you support the president on health care reform significantly, that has been steady. some polls show they stopped the bleeding and can start to reverse the trend. >> and the key thing is the white house is saying we can have health care reform with or without the public option. so health care reform has not failed, right? >> reporter: well, this is such a polarizing issue. they know if they have a public option in the plan, no way they will get any republican votes. they may lose key moderate

democrats, particularly in the senate. on the other hand if they dump the public option entirely, they see revolt from within the party. it looks like they want to keep the options over. the republicans are not going to go with the co-op idea. maybe they do have the public option. they don't want to nail themselves down to one position. they say the public option is preferred but not the only option. >> thank you, savannah. we have one of 52 blue dogs, and jonathan capehart with us, and michelle bernard, ceo of women women's foreman. what are some of the poll results? >> there is a lot of miss information out there. i think once the public understands more about the public options, and nobody should force anybody to do anything, it's a free country.

i think they will see the president is exactly right. we have to do something, because the concern the system is not working. two, there are a lot of good choices out there where we can improve the peoples' choices where they can live longer and healthier. this is ultimately a good news story, and a lot of folks don't understand it that way so far. >> what would you focus peoples' attention on so they see the world more the way you do? >> well, i have always said health care has to be bipartisan. it's painful sometimes to work with folks across the aisle, but i have done it success fully for decades. as a practical matter in the u.s. senate, it's going to take 60 votes to pass the bill. we have to have a strategy that gets to 60. >> you say it has to be bipartisan. how do you respond to elements

in your own party that say this is something that will get done with a public option whether the republicans want to play or not? in other words, if this goes straight down partisan lines, when there is threats for primary contests for blue dog d democrats, how comfortable are you with that rhetoric? >> it's a question of how you pass a bill. the law is in the senate it takes 60 votes. how are we going to get to 60 votes? it's going to take some republicans to do that, because senator byrd has been sick, and senator kennedy has been sick. we don't have 60 votes in the senate. i think if you want a good bill, a bill that will lift the president's popularity, we should not lose the progress. there are bipartisan approaches out there. they have not been popular with

house or senate leadership so far. the healthy american act is good. and there are some approaches that have had a lot of republican support. why can't we consider those? >> now you sound like me, congressman? why can't we consider those. i have yet to get an answer. i am curious how you deal with threats from howard dean and others in the republican party saying either get onboard with the public option or we will give you primary challenges next year, and we will and are launching advertising against you as being a blockage to meaningful health care reform. how do you contend with that? will that bend the blue dogs to the will of the deeper left? >> as you know, there are many different ways to define a public option. i have always been open to a public option. i think senator shuck schumer's is the best. but on a level playing field.

senator schumer is right. there are about 18 ways to define it, and half of those are completely acceptable to americans regardless of politics. why don't we get to specifics. so far we talked about a robust public option. what does that mean? the article was written by a professor from berkeley, and it's an interesting article, but it's not the only approach. i could make a good argument to you today that blue cross is like a public option already. they have a near monopoly in most states and heavily government subsidized. the co-op option is interesting, too. it works well across three quarters of land area for electricity distribution. the health plan in america is a co-op. >> well, even if there are those that would like to see the democrats go it alone, that's

not possible in your mind because of the structure in the senate? >> knwe don't have 60 votes in e senate of healthy senators. how will you get to 60 votes? you have to have republicans. it's arithmetic, and not ideology. contessa brewer has the balance of the day's news. california investors found a body of the swimsuit model that disappeared over the weekend. police say a television reality star is a person of interest in this case. let's talk to john in california. tell us what you know about this story. >> reporter: good morning, contessa. jen kins is now the person of interest in this case. there are some out let's claiming that his attorney contacted the pd to set up a

meeting between them to talk about this investigation. the police are saying that's not the case, because they have not heard from anybody representing the jenkins. and being a person of interest, he should have already contacted them. the fact that he has not makes him appear a little more suspicious to them. this investigation continuing. they believe that ryan jenkins may headed off to calgary. they say he met this girl in vegas after being kicked off the vh1 series. on saturday they found her body stuffed in a suitcase, a carry on sized suitcase here in l.a. >> thank you for bringing us the details. this twister touched down on a shopping center in texas.

we have cell phone video of the same tornado. several shoppers were hurt slightly. another funnel cloud was spotted in colorado. the twister dropped out of the cloud, and fortunately the tornado did not touch down or cause damage. it just looked cool. images from manhattan, where lightning hit around central park. from lightning to tornadoes to hurricanes, we learned hurricane bill has grown to a category 4 storm. and let's go to our meteorologist, and tell us about bill's progress. >> he is a monster category 4. first, let's look at the severe weather from yesterday. one cluster in the northeast, and lots of lightning last night in new york city. and down slope of the rockies, too. we are expecting an unsettled pattern eastern of the rockies. storms already firing up.

there is a slight risk for severe weather today in places like oklahoma city, and kansas city, and the main threat will be hail and also damaging winds. an isolated tornado cannot be ruled out for today. now a check of the tropics with hurricane bill. lots of symmetry. and the eye is packing winds and gusting over 161 or so. high pressure will erode over the northern atlantic, and that will allow bill to turn to the north sparing us, but trouble for bermuda. we are following breaking news this hour out of baghdad. multiple explosions are coming from the capital. the attacks targeted high profile locations including the finance ministry, next to the heavily fortified green zone. and breaking news from afghanistan, ahead of tomorrow's

election, taliban insurgency has been causing trouble. we will hear more in the next half hour to get more details on all this. could the united states be able to reset relations with north korea. this morning, north korea diplomats will meet with bill richardson. this is the two diplomats' first trip to the u.s. it comes on the heels of president clinton's diplomatic act of helping to release the journalists.

dylan? michael jackson's doctor speaking out for the first time, with a youtube video, and it was shot from his lawyer's office. why would you do that? we are talking to a top defense attorney about just that when we come back. pollen. when i really liked to be outside, i did not like suffering from nasal allergy symptoms like congestion. but nasonex relief may i say... bee-utiful! prescription nasonex is proven to help relieve indoor and outdoor nasal allergy symptoms like congestion, runny and itchy nose and sneezing. (announcer) side effects were generally mild and included headache. viral infection, sore throat, nosebleeds and coughing. ask your doctor about symptom relief with nasonex. and save up to $15 off your refills. go to nasonex.com for details, terms and conditions. go to nasonex.com new anti-aging eye roller. reduces puffiness immediately --

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now that's progressive. call or click today. welcome back. the cardiologist at the center of michael jackson's death investigation has turned to the internet to make his first public statement, msnbc.com. courtney hazlett has something for this. >> yeah, he posted a one-minute

video on youtube. he did not address the manslaughter case surrounding him. we have heard tons about this. he said he gave him the drug hours before his death. he maintains he told the truth all along, and thanks his patients and friends for their support. >> please, don't worry. as long as i keep god in my heart, and you in my life, i will be fine. i have done all that i could do. i told the truth, and i have faith the truth will prevail. god bless you and thank you. >> there is a lot striking about the video, but among that is the concept of the videotaped statement is nothing new, the perfect out let for the famous and infamous with the benefit of not having to answer a single question. it's ironic that michael jackson

himself set the stage for this trend in 1993, when he broke his silence about child molestation charges in a statement. and more recently, of course, we saw chris brown apologize for the attack against his now, ex-girlfriend, rihanna. once you start to look at this, it's interesting, a michael jacks jacks jackson protoe jay. >> are you saying only black men use youtube? >> oh, take it back! >> i know you are not. i want to go to the chief reporter from the "daily beast." have you found, too, only black men use youtube? >> what is your sense of the

doctor? go ahead. >> it's a great thing. i will have to actually look into that. one of the things is -- i found that i went into this, and i have been trying to get this for a few weeks. they took a risk by letting me in. i could not talk to him about the case because an indictment is still pending. you get a feeling for a person after a while. i could have come out and said i find him shifty eyed and somewhat sleazy. he comes out better than in the video. he takes his time. he is deliberate in the answers. he locks in on your eyes. he gives you a sense of confidence in what he is saying, so they have a good witness on their hands if he takes the stand. he is not somebody who will be weak on the stand. that's something the prosecution will have to worry about. >> we have a defense attorney

with us. your reaction to what he just said, and why an interpretation of why you would release a statement. >> they want to go proactively, and show the potential jury pull in california and the public, he is an honest and loving man. he did not do anything wrong. he just wanted to help michael. >> is that the feeling you really get from this? i get a bad, creepy feeling. i wanted to be on his side, innocent until proven guilty, but i lost it a couple times, and i thought, i don't like you. >> he is getting 30 phone calls a day in support of him? >> we don't really know that much. we are so removed from the actual information. >> of course. >> maybe we don't like him, or we do like him, and maybe he is

well dressed -- >> we have a lot of information, law enforcement says we have serious issues with the way he prescribes things, and the fact that he was in the house without the proper medical equipment to do these things. don't be in the spotlight. >> are they trying to taint the jury pool? >> yeah, absolutely. he is trying to come forward first and come out and say i was a goodman. i was a good man. >> you can say that, but all it takes is seven seconds, and you can form an opinion. you could be saying something, and we form our opinion. >> one of the things that happened, they believe he has been convicted by the press from the l.a. police. all he is doing is wearing a black hat. they are very confident on the defense team in six hours of investigation, he has not changed his story.

those are the facts which they believe are going to have him walking free when the trial is finished. >> gerald, a pleasure. thank you very much. >> this is not a controlled substan substance. straight ahead, we are plugging into the internet to see what is out there. we did find britney spears showing off her new body. why not? it's beach season. she will do it with david letterman. that's next. if you're like a lot of people,

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what is going on out there? >> you know how there was pot smoking, and mushrooms, and -- >> yeah, lsd. >> yeah, mom tells me all about it -- i mean, that other people were doing it. turns out they are still doing it. >> the boomers? >> yeah, they are still getting high. ages 50 to 59 who reported ill listit drugs, within a year it doubled from 5.1% to 9.4%. shouldn't they grow out of this at some point? >> do you grow out of sex? do you grow out of rock 'n' roll? you know what i am saying? don't they go together? >> please. >> keep going. you have to keep it together. >> britney spears went on letterman wearing a bikini. i guess she wants to show off

her hot body. the top ten list of what she would do if she was the president. she says pie for everybody! can we play it? >> the top ten ways the country would be different if britney spears was president. >> we would only invade fun places, like cabo. finally, the media would pay attention to me. >> she doesn't get any attention. no love for her, poor girl. that's all i got. that's it. much, much more coming up in the second half hour of the "morning meeting," including following details on a surprise visit with the new mexico governor, bill richardson, by two north korean diplomats. what is going on with north korea? we'll have that conversation after this. achoo!

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welcome back. it's 9:30. we have not gotten to michelle or jonathan. we will do that in a second here. we did not have you show up to look pretty. we want to hear what you have to say. >> thank you. here is what we learned so far today, half hour into the meeting. obama is losing the message war in health care reform according to a poll. the poll is showing the public

is pushing back into the public option and buying the myths coming from the town halls. we spoke to jim cooper, one of 52 so-called blue dogs in the house. he said the only way to get a bill pass san diego to get republicans onboard for the obvious reason that you cannot get to 60 in the senate without them. or so he says. also, the woman that has everything, what do you get her? we will talk about sarah palin. what is he thinking? retired and now back, retired and now back. nfl quarterback brett favre. when should athletes walk away? we will talk about that, and why it's so hard to do. and stocks opening today, after suffering a couple days. and cnbc is a good place to

learn more about that. and north korea here, could we see a possible thaw in the diplomatic freeze with north korea. bill richardson, governor of new mexico, set to meet with the diplomats. and bill clinton talked with the current commander in chief, a 45-minute exchange. barack obama thanked clinton in helping secure the release of the journalists. what is going on? >> the developments are intriguing. the two north korean diplomats visiting with the new mexico governor, bill richardson today. they got a waiver from the transportation department to go and see richardson, and they are the same two officials who

richardson worked with before to regain the release of two americans at that time in the 1990s. it's not clear what the agenda is. the white house gave the seal of approval for this meeting, but claims that they are not engaged in anyway with the talks. richardson could be the cutout, and give the white house distance and deniability in case things turn south. but there is a slight glimmer of hope that the north koreans are backing up from their previous position with the underground nuclear test, and now with the release of the two journalists earlier this month, there are signs that the north koreans are beginning to back off that

provocative stance here. >> okay. jonathan capehart, and michelle bernard with us. now, jonathan, elaborate on the bill richardson aspect as opposed to hillary clinton, and they have made a lot of noise about hillary clinton, and they had bill clinton and now bill richardson, and what is going on here? >> the united states does not have a formal diplomatic relations with north korea. that's why you saw the administration holding itself at arms' length from clinton's trip to free the two journalists. that's why you see the administration holding bill richardson meetings with the two diplomats at arm's length today. but the administration welcomes this overture from the north koreans. the six-party talks have been going on for years where they have been trying to get the north koreans to back off the

nuclear arms portion of its nuclear program, and try to bring them back into the community of nations. but north korea of late has not shown much desire to do that, up until the visit by president clinton, and i guess that was earlier this month, to free the two journalists. >> i want to play a sound byte from andrea mitchell's show. take a listen. >> i don't know what language that is, but i don't suspect it's andrea mitchell. although hillary clinton is the secretary of state, and she may be able of commute indicating in multiple languages, and that's not one we understand. my apologies. >> i will try to channel what that was we were hearing. we don't know if this was a thaw

in the relationship, but somebody left the door open. very interesting. president obama, all throughout the election campaign said, hey, i will go out, and if i am elected, we will speak with rogue nations, and -- i am paraphrasin paraphrasing. something is happening with north korea. it could be positive and it could be negative. right now in the context of what is happening with health care and pretty much him losing control over the democrats in his party, it could be positive that president clinton, he got these girls back, and bill richardson is having talks. there are other things happening out of the administration, and we did not see this happen during the bush administration. >> yeah, any overtures that may be on going in the middle east in general, and now this is a

version of unofficial talks with north korea. >> yeah, and there is a good reason, too, besides the fact that the u.s. doesn't have formal diplomatic relations with the north koreans. they are very unpredictable. the clinton had an agreement with the north korean government to back off of the nuclear weapons. and during that time, they made their biggest advances in secret during that time. and this is a yellow light at best in terms of how the obama administration can proceed. again, officials are interpreting this as an attempt or chance to be able to open the door ever so slightly. and what they will ask for is

direct talks with the united states, and that cannot be on the table according to administration officials. >> you don't recognize the language that the secretary of state -- nothing would you, huh? >> nothing in this building. >> run the tape around and see if you can come back with something. >> will do. contessa, following breaking news out of afghanistan and iraq. >> we are looking at a massive bombing in iraq. richard engel is in kabul this morning. tell me where things stand this morning, richard. >> reporter: the situation in kabul is fairly calm. the militants that stormed a bank, and that was a separate incident. the incident in baghdad is more serious. i just spoke to friends and colleagues in baghdad. there were a series of

explosions, all of them aimed at government ministries. more than 60 people were killed. the biggest at the foreign ministry. it was -- it's a very serious situation there. >> all right. so let's go back to afghanistan. we will talk about here we are the day before the presidential elections. and looks like the insurgency is trying their best to derail the elections. >> reporter: i just came back from a walk around kabul, and the city is quite calm. shops were mostly closed. today is a national holiday. tomorrow also a national holiday, when people here go to the polls. but children were out on the streets. there was extra security put in new check points, the entrances and exits are secured with extra afghan soldiers, and guard dogs

sniffing for bombs as they go in and out. it looks like the elections will go ahead smoothly. the situation in southern afghanistan quite different. we spoke to colleagues in southern afghanistan, and they said today the taliban has been distributing leaf let's not to go to the polls. the mother of two children kid naps yesterday, remember we showed it to you live when they found the kids. the mother was arrested. hours after the mother was reunited with the children. the woman reported to police four black men kidnapped their toddlers and demanded money for their return. hours later the children were found safe outside a home. and the police found several pounds of methamphetamine in the mother's home.

now, people are trying to break a record for people dancing to "thriller." they think maybe 1,000 dancers may show up on sunday. the current record was set in toronto, when 120 people danced. but, wait a minute, didn't it looks like it was the philippines when the prisoners were dancing -- >> it doesn't count if you are in prison. what else were they going to do? thank you, contessa. lots more here on the agenda, including sarah palin. palin's gifts from around the country, and what a lovely list it is. i won't give anything away. it's a fine and dandy list of

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to take one of these easy steps toward better hearing. that's 1-800-336-4990 call now! i am contesa brewer, and we just received gifts what sarah palin received last year from her admirers. a glass elephant. a statue of the virgin mary. and all the gifts came from outside alaska. one was from a supporter north of the border in canada. she only has to declare things of value of $250 or more. >> yeah, whatever, andy bar

wrote about the governor's gifts. what stands out to you? what was the most compelling gift or bizarre gift? >> i think what stood out, it was harder to assess the volume of the stuff, because it was hand made. you have custom built bibles from goat skin, and all sorts of prints of pictures and things made in the governor's image. there was a plate with the governor's face painted on it. it's an interesting group. the thing that caught me, as contessa was saying, it comes from all over the country. she had a lot of stuff valued at less than $250. >> what does it say most were hand made? >> it's the appeal she makes.

it was personal. 19 gifts listed, and the thing that catches me is the fact people took time to do something personal to make an appeal to her. >> yeah, that's what i was going to say, a handmade gift is a bigger investment than buying something and sending it, jonathan capehart. maybe this is going off the political analysis reservation, but if you are connecting to people to the point where they are making a goat skinned covered bible for her, people are making a connection. >> yeah, and did she get any clothing? remember the shopping spree she had a year ago? is she keeping this stuff? is this going in a

palin-prepresidential library. where is it? >> yeah, they are hanging on to it, and they are just disclosing it. these are gifts reported for 2008. what will be interesting is this year coming up and what she receives when she really seems to resonate more in terms of a national star. >> wow. >> let's look at a presidential poll because why wouldn't we when we talk about sarah palin and she stacks you will well against her opponents. only romney gets more votes effectively than palin does. regardless of anybody's opinions of her, she remains. >> she is absolutely a player. so interesting, because the people who dislike sarah palin dislike her with so much passion but she up there. only mitt romney higher than her and many people who believe at this point in time she is a

serious contender for the republican nomination in 2012. love it, like it, dislike it, she's here to stay. sarah palin is the person that just keeps on going forward. she's her own boss. we've seen norah o'donnell report about it on her recent trips from alaska. she takes her own advice and there is a momentum building among a certain type of women in particular for that really like sarah palin. >> she, very very least, stands out of the of the beltway and outside of the world of the special interests and banksters and that she can pick up. jonathan? go ahead. >> i can't stand it! i can't listen to you praise this person who, you know, yes she is following her own advice which is to not study, which to not figure out where she wants to take the republican party and, therefore, where she wants to take the country if she were entrusted with a leadership position in the united states. >> jonathan, i'm not disagreeing. >> she's a maverick. >> i'm not disagreeing with you.

but the fact that the only person who has a higher rating than her right now in the polls is mitt romney. says there's a lot of people out there, republicans, conservatives, who like sarah palin and maybe like the fact that she didn't do so well in the katie couric interview. what else can i say? >> we're out of time. >> they don't care! >> we're heading to break. no, we are head to go a break with lovely messages from our sponsors is a nice way to present it. we are back with the break room after these love imessages right after this. you've gotta wash this whole room! are you kidding? wash it?! let's wash it with febreze! whoa! [ sniffs ] [ male announcer ] for all the things that you can't wash, wash it with febreze.

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to the break room we go. and a controversial editorial in the financial times music journalist pop culture expert msnbc contributor and a man with one name -- toure joins us. nice to see you. >> yeah. . i'm a little upset about something right now. neil ferguson has many things, a position teaching at harvard, a column in the financial times.

>> sure. >> and a child understanding of race. and a column last week that ignited a firestorm and the ire of many including paul krugman to a cartoon felix the cat. because, as he wrote, they are both black and lucky. and i and many others find it immature and offensive to link the optical blackness of a cat or a shoe to the cultural blackness of a person. and i can't believe the financial times saw fit to publish that! are there no -- >> he is just make ago comment. he's just -- he's just a poetic license. >> it is not a poetic license. is there no there/there. there is no comparison between these two things. he should be ashamed and the times should have cut it out. it added nothing to the story. >> he was adding his own flare, his own flavor, his own

junasakux. >> so you think -- >> you think he was just straight off the reservation, racist, diminishing, demeaning? >> i don't want to say neil ferguson is racist. let me stick with intellectually immature and the child vision of race to say that the blackness of a cat is the same as the blackness of a person. look, i'm not black, you're not white. >> sure. >> these are metaphors and when you go off the reservation, you try to say a black cat is the same as a black president? i don't appreciate that and paul krugman agrees with me and james valor agrees with me and many others agree with me and a lot of people online who have attacked him back. ferguson had some kind of pathetic piece in the huffingtonpost trying to defend why it was not racist. >> what was the essence of his defense? >> i don't know. >> i know what the essence of his defense was he is like felix the cat! no. he didn't do that. i don't know what he did. >> i don't know.

i don't know. i don't know. >> people don't know what to do with a black president. some people do not know what to do with a black president. >> criticize him without it being around black or race. if the president is lucky, no problem, go for it, but when you bring race into it now, it's like why? why? >> i got it. >> not right. >> it's wrong. >> let it go. >> it's wrong. >> are we going to make that bet? >> we'll discuss it at commercial. >> no, let's discuss it on the show! >> a hundred bucks, sarah palin. she can get it done. >> he has got sarah palin to win the republican nomination in 2012. a hundred bucks. i say no. >> i believe she can get it done. >> yes! i just made a hundred bucks! >> still ahead in the second hour of the "morning meeting," jonathan capehart is on the verge of a aneurysm in washington, d.c. a new poll shows the president losing the message war over his health care plan. it's all beginning to look like a campaign war in august in an off year.

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good morning to you. welcome. nice to see you. 10:00 a.m. in the east and 7:00 a.m. out west. how are you? welcome back to the second hour. let us reset our agenda and carry on. a new nbc news poll showing obama losing the message on health care and those myths about reform are having an impact. in the meantime "the new york times" saying democrats are ready to go it alone and try to get health care reform done without the republicans. a blue dog dem jim cooper told us this morning it's not really an option. >> it is knew mayorically not possible. we don't have 60 votes in the senate of healthy senators so how do you get to 60 votes? you have to have some

republicans so it's a matter of arithmetic. >> a appeal from the doctor who lost saw dr. jackson alive and what he has to say about the investigation and the cloud of suspicion that hangs over him. brett favre is back again. what makes it so hard for some athletes to throw in the towel? jeff gardere revisits the meeting and what is in manhattan? dangerous twisters and lightning and it is hurricane season. we'll break it all down for you. it is 10:00 a.m. pull up a chair and join the "morning meeting." the president may be shifting his appeal on health care reform. according to this morning's "the wall street journal" and latest nbc news poll numbers are any indication, now may be the time for such a shift. nbc news political director, white house chief correspondent for that matter, chuck todd, breaking it down at the white house this morning. what is the strategy here, if there is a shift at all, and how would it work? >> well, we've seen the strategy

shift over the last three weeks, which was to try to answer the question what is in it for me when it comes to health care reform. and that is why they've been talking almost exclusively about insurance reform. but, you know, at this point, it doesn't look as if this last two weeks where the white house did kick up the pr aspect a little bit themselves. three town halls and supporters running tv ads has helped very much. here is the new job approval rating. i think we can throw them up on the screen. president, for the third straight month saw his overall job rating drop again. it's pair barely over 50% and sitting at 51 and disapproval at all-time high so far in our poll, 40%. now it's very polarized at this point but, still, to be sitting at 51, the folks that they've lost here in particular of concern to the white house, seniors, independents, and suburban women. they are the most -- the groups that sort of the swing voting

groups back in 2008 and when they moved in favor of the democrats, it moved everything. well, they are the ones sitting in the middle there almost in that no opinion or even slightly disapproving a little bit. now, this is not yet helping republicans, okay? we asked do you approve how congressional republicans are handling health care and they are at businessmalratings. over 60% disapproving and 21% approving at this point. republicans will take that because they think the focus is entirely on the president. now, the other part of this poll that we wanted to test was this whole issue of misinformation. take a listen to michael steele this morning from "morning joe." >> there is clearly an attempt by -- at least the house members to put in place a structure that causes concern for the american people's respect end of life decisions. i think that's a legitimate point. you don't have to call it death panels if you want to. you can call it a panel.

i call it rationing. >> well, whatever it's being called, this information that is being pushed not necessarily being pushed, e-mail, viral e-mail or talk radio, it's being pushed right out front. take a look at the different incorrect takes on the health care bill. these were all statements proved false, that somehow the health care was going to be given to all illegal immigrants if this was passed. 55% believe that. that it would lead to an entire full-fledged takeover of government, 54% believe that. and then on the issue of end of life care, a majority didn't believe that there would be this but you still had 45%. the fact is this tells you everything you need to know about the message war, dylan. if the white house has to sit there and push back on these big issues, hot button sort of when you've mixed health care with the culture war and they're having to deny this is proven

negative, hey, this is never in there, this isn't do that, that tells you why they're behind on this issue. >> how much is the white house hurt by the overall dissatisfaction with government, period? >> this is where it gets particularly with independents, the issue of government getting involved with the banks and automakers. i talked to some democratic polsters who said when they asked an open-ended question what -- of what the stimulus did, where did the stimulus money go? do you know the first two answers were banks and the car companies? guess what? the stimulus didn't go to banks and the car companies. that was a separate issue but it's been conflated and now it's about government is getting its hands in everything. so while our poll shows 60% believe health care needs a major overhaul, that's all they agree on. >> jonathan? >> chuck, i have a question for

you. you dean show these numbers but i saw you show them on "morning joe" in support of the public option. one thing i notice is from the last time you polled on this and now, statistically, there's no difference. it's tied between people who support a public option and people who don't. my question is -- does that mean there is an am bif lance toward the public option or people don't know or understand what the public option is so they are evenly split? >> you're right, it's a small shift. you can call it a margin of error. my feeling is i want to see a third straight month of us polling the question and then we see there whether is a pattern here. you have to wait for sort of three times on a polling question, one. two, i tell you what the white house believes. they believe people don't understand the public option. in fact, not only the public, they believe that people that are advocating, that are the angriest right now about the public option, have different interpretations of what it is. what frustrates the white house

is that they think too many of their closest allies actually believe this is step one to single payer, which they know is a toxic message, and that has not helped their cause. when a couple of members of congress were quoted as saying, yeah, this is step one to that, they felt that that just undermined their efforts and even trying to advocate it, and then they would also argue, look, give the co-op idea a chance. don't just kill it yet. how do you know the public option is such a great idea sf it's not like we have testing on that either. >> yeah. what really strikes me about all of the polling, chuck and jonathan and michelle, is the lack of trust. >> uh-huh. >> and everybody knows the health care system could be better. >> yeah. >> no one trusts the u.s. government, democrat or republican to do it. >> dylan, one more thing on that. >> yeah. >> people with private insurance about 60% of those we surveyed, about what it is, about the split there, 60 and 40, have some sort of public insurance,

you know, medicare or military tri-tri-care or stuff like that. people with private insurance are the ones most concerned about the idea of the public option because all they are hearing right now is what they won't get anymore with their insurance. they have not heard the message -- the president has tried, no, no, we're going to do this. >> affordability, choice, all of these things. >> but they're not hearing that. they are worried about losing pieces of their care. they are worried about losing what they have. >> which goes to my question, though. he has credible messages potentially on port ability and on choice and cost control, but i would argue because of the government's failure to behave in a trustworthy machinery with the bank bailout, hundred cents on the dollar. people know what happened there. with the automakers. with the stimulus being ambiguously beneficial at best and now there is -- which basically is what chuck just said. if you are the white house or a politician in america right now, what can do you to reduane any

trust to have any credibility to deal with the problem we want all dealt with but nobody trusts the people in power to do it? >> absolutely. chuck, piggybacking on what dylan just said, women, when you look at the demographics during election, by and large, decide who is going to go into the white house. at the independent women's forum we're hearing from republicans, libertarians and independents and democrats and whether they are soccer moms or unemployed moms but we are hearing from women who say we don't agree on much but we do agree we do not want the government involved in making decisions for our family, in dealing with health care issues and dealing with issues such as breast cancer and the care for our children. are women going to decide -- more importantly, who -- you know, are women the people who give the final yes or no to the health care plan or are they more dangerous to what the president is aspiring to than his own democratic congress? >> he saw big drops of three big

groups that were supporters of him in november of '08. independents and seniors and suburban women. and suburban women, this is working women, this is -- they are the heads of households and they understand the insurance company bureaucracy, frankly. they probably have more idea of how the health care system works because maybe they deal with it with their kids or themselves but they are the most informed on the issue and that is who probably the single most important group out there that the president is struggling to get his message across to, suburban women with private insurance. and they need to figure out how to give them security on this, that not only will you not lose your insurance, but this is how we make it better. these are your frustrations. well, we're trying to answer those frustrations. and that is -- you're absolutely right. it's suburban women. i think they can make or break the white house politically but you know what? actual legislation, they're going to get something through. >> sure. >> if they have to strong-arm their way through it.

they may not feel good politically out of it and the public may not like what they're doing but it looks like they're on a road to get something out of congress. >> i guess the only thing on that is what do you think of the jim cooper comment, representative cooper from tennessee this morning, saying without 60 in the senate, this is a pipe dream? partisan version. >> chuck grassley, the chief republican negotiator, if he is out there saying publicly, guess what, i can't bring any more republicans with me, even if i cut a deal that i think is good, well, then that puts the white house in the position of saying, okay you've said it publicly, now i can go reconciliation route. cooper is right, maybe they can't get 60 votes but what if they change the rules of the game and do this and only need 50 votes in the senate. it's a whole new ball game. >> chuck, thank you for the insight. contessa, with the balance of today's news. california investigators identified a body found stuffed in a suitcase and toss inside a dumpster. a swimsuit model who disappeared over the weekend.

she was last seen friday night at her home and police say a television reality star is a person of interest in this case. let's go to john klemack in california. what is the back stoshy here? >>. >> according to one of our police they believe this ryan alexander jenkins who was on this vh1 reality show, megan wants a millionaire owe she dates a bunch of guys trying to find a wealthy man, a wealthy bachelor, aapparently they say after he was kicked off the show he went to vegas and this is where he met up with jazz mean who happened to be dancing there. they say she moved to the los angeles area. what happened between then and saturday when they found her body is what they want to know. they are calling jenkins a person of interest in this. not necessarily a suspect but one of the sergeants here told us that he believes because they have not been in contact with this guy, because he hasn't contacted them, it starts to

look a little bit more suspicious. now according to police, they say on saturday, they found the body of jazz mean fiory apparently stuffed into a carry-on sized suitcase and tossed into the trash in a dumpster here. they are not sure what happened up to that point. that is why they want to find jenkins. in less than an hour, north korean diplomats will meech with governor richardson in new mexico. no word on the exact topic of discussion but it comes on the heel of president clinton's diplomatic coup to help win the release of two american journalists jailed in north korea for four months. yesterday, president obama debriefed with the former president for 45 minutes and thanked clinton for his effort. hurricane bill has strengthened and now a category 4. let's go to rafael miranda. we are talking about bill expected to pass rafael

northwest of the leeward islands. what are we looking in terms of landfall? >> a very impressive category 4 storm. bill has the ingredients to maintain that strength the next couple of days. warm water and light shear out there. winds gusting over 160 miles per hour. here is the good news as we take a look at bill's forecast path. high pressure continues to steer bill to the northwest and as the high pressure breaks down over the weekend, bill will take a more northerly and northeast past and headed to the canadian maritime. we're not looking for a correct hit here direct hit here. high swells from cape cod to florida. >> we will keep our eye on that because we know computer models can be changed. it can be wrong sometimes. >> it can be changed, huh? >> sometimes it happens. >> they can be changed. thank you. a lot more coming up on the

"morning meeting." brett favre is back, if he ever left at all. why is it so hard? i ask you for athletes to hang up the towel. brett is back. favre fever hits minnesota. right after this. ♪ should i stay or should i go now ♪ my guys brush their teeth like they clean their room. i'm glad anticavity listerine® smart rinse™ attracts stuff like a magnet, then shows it in the sink. ewww. gross.

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back. i have no idea how i'll feel a year from now, foif years from now, ten years from now. but i didn't want to say, you know what is it f? i think the guys will know that i'm in it for the right reasons. and that's because i still love to play. >> brett favre is back in the game after retiring two times now. what makes it so hard for athletes to throw in the towel? joining our panel is sports writer david zern and psychologist jeff gardere.

i think why not. if you can do it. >> he says he loves to play. i don't think it's about the money. he could be an announcer. he is well off probably. we find with a lot of these athletes, this is what they do best. they become addicted to the stepping on the field and their lives are incomplete. what happens when someone dies in real life? what happens? they die. that's why a lot of people want to work till the end and why this man wants to keep on being a football player and a graeble quarterback. >> the problem being a football player tends to be a job you can't keep until you're dead for the obvious reason, you know? >> yeah. with some tragic exceptions, of course. but, look. finally our national nightmare is over. in the sports world brett favre is known as the hamlet of mississippi. couldn't make up his mind. this has emotionally exhausted football fans. three retirements in 17 months. each one more tear-stained than

the last. richard nixon did not retire as much as brett favre. and people are just happy that we can now move on with our nfl season without the perpetual trauma. maybe the good doctor should talk about the effects on football fans of having to go through this emotional wringer with brett favre every six months. >> michael jordan went through this. muhammad ali kept fighting and kept fighting. >> that's right. that's right. those great boxers do keep on fighting until they tarnish the legacy. >> their reputation and their mind. >> you're right. the sports writer is correct. what about the fans? what we've learned is it's not about the fans. it's about that football player, it's about brett favre and what he wants to do and -- >> for anybody who does something that is incredibly dynamic, a rock star or an athlete, an actor, whatever it may be and that is a period of time that comes to a conclusion and finite time in people's lives with huge crafts. >> the issue is people don't

know how to just let it go and walk away with grace. rocky marciano. >> help us do that walk away with grace. >> if you want to walk away with grace look at what it is you accomplished. that is the bigger legacy. don't look at the last season where you threw nine interceptions in the last five games. >> people watching football on tv are wondering why you're not out there. >> a great point. then what you have to do is find another way to live your life and still have the excitement. there are other things that he can do. he doesn't have to do this but he feels, in his mind, this is what he does best and he is going for the last hors dhooray. >> that makes me feel good. thank you for joining us. >> thank you. >> a pleasure. >> still ahead on the "morning meeting," we are plugging into what else may be going on in this lovely world of ours, particularly the political world including more woes for our friend blago and the extra gig he he has been doing to make a couple of extra bucks. he can't hang up his hat either.

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♪ let's plug into politics, if we could, very briefly and lovely contessa brewer, what do you got? >> arizona republican party found a new weapon to use against barack obama and his push for health care reform. they posted this picture of the president looks sort and tired and hagared and a cigarette sticking out of his mouth. >> that is a low blow. >> chicago style politics have marred the first 200 days of the obama presidency but this photo has been doctored. here is the original photo. it was taken in august 2003 when obama was campaigning for an illinois senate seat. can you see no cigarette in his mouth. come o people! that's wrong! >> is there a saying if you don't like the truth, just make

it up? >> paeshl apparently that is what we are up to now. what is a week if we don't talk about the former illinois governor? turns out a law passed. the new governor has just signed it preventing people from profiting off of their crimes. officials convicted of corruption. the illinois attorney general would need to go to court and try to grab the windfall profits like when he shows up at a party covering an elvis song and gets paid for that, they would go and try to seize that money, maybe from the book he plans. >> to use it to pay for health care. >> good idea! you are so smart. >> that will bend the curve. we are back at the "morning meeting." still ahead, in fact, unions playing hardball on health care and some threatening to say they will stay home in the next election if the president compromises on the public option. why is that? plus, deadly violence erupting in baghdad and afghanistan. now a live report from richard engel who is in kabul ahead.

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big labor send ago strong message to the democrats if you lose the public option you will lose union support. contessa has the details. >> the country's largest labor union, afl-cio is drawing a line in the sand. without a government run option no real reform and they will pull their support from the dems who don't fight for it.

here is the secretary treasurer on the rachel maddow show. >> we're only going to get one bite at this apple and if we pass a bill that doesn't break the strangle hold that the companies have over the health care industry we will not get another shot at it for a number of years. >> part of the union's more aggressive approach toward lawmakers who as one official told the huffingtonpost take laborer's help. >> mike allen is with us and michelle bernard is also here. president and ceo of the independent women's forum and also plil analyst. your interpretation? >> we have a game of chicken going on here, dylan. the white house is banking on the item idea that when it comes down to it, the progressive liberal democrats are told it's this or nothing. you're going to get a down payment on health care or a big defeat for the president that they'll say will take it. but the comments from mr. trumpa

make you wonder. >> here what they make me wonder. labor unions have done a great of accumulating benefits for their members and very good at collective bargaining, obviously, at least on the benefits side. if there is not a public option, if you go with something like wyden/bennett, port ability, choice, all of these things, co-op, whatever it maybe, the unions lose their power to attract new members because their benefit of better benefits goes away. is it not self-serving for the unions to claim to be in favor of a particular health care option when all they are really in favor of or all they really are is against any health care reform that would diminish their ability to enlist new members even if it comes at the country's expense? >> absolutely. the labor unions right now simply exist for one reason, to self-perpetuate receiving union dues and having political

influence. i think it's absolutely amazing to watch the clip from the show last night where this guy is saying that president obama, i'm strong-arming you, buddy. and my answer to this would be they are showing themselves to be as ridiculous as many members of the american public think they are. what happened to pragmatism? what happened to competition and what actually happened to winning? maybe it would be great for the democratic party to lose the support of labor unions because a lot of labor unions is what holds america backs and keeps us from being -- >> they might win the suburban women and independents. >> absolutely. >> mike allen, have you had anything from the union in terms of their explanation as to why they would pursue health care reform only if it retains union pour? in other words, if there is health care reform beneficial to america but does not make the union more powerful and in make the unions less powerful because it reduces their negotiating leverage because everybody gets

the benefits that are now in the unions, how does that make the democrats look in their relationship -- in other words, as people come to understand the self-interest of the unions at the expense of everybody else potentially how does that play in the relationship between democrats and republicans, the president and the voters? >> two things going on here. i think you put your finger on one of the reasons that unions are fighting so hard for this. but, also, secondly, this is a bargaining position. and this is what a lot of democrats witch wish that the president would do. there is a lot of democrats who think that the president gave away his poker chip of the public option way too soon in this process. so what we're seeing with these very line in the sand comments is how difficult it's going to be for the president to get a bill, even if he is just relying on democrats and white house officials are telling us this morning that he does now realize he'll probably have to do it just with democrats. but even that is easier said than done. >> michelle it goes back to the

trust conversation with chuck todd at the beginning and goes back to the treatment of the banks. if you allow health care to be dictated by the health insurance interest or labor interests at the expense of america as we allow the banks to be restructured, at the expense of america it doesn't leave this political body left, right, or center in very good shape. >> it doesn't leave it in good shape at all. look for the next ad that says to millions of americans, particularly women, isn't it the labor union that put gm, chrysler, and all these other auto dealerships in bankruptcy? wasn't it the labor contracts that put them and your spouse or even you out of business? labor has a big problem here. i believe that labor can win. >> go ahead, mike. >> no. along with the fact they were making cars that people didn't want to buy. >> for sure. that's one more implicated but they are vulnerable there and when it comes out the labor unions are for the public option to retain their own power even if it's not the best health care

option. >> why trust them? >> exactly. violence erupting today in afghanistan and in baghdad. iraq. in kabul a gun battle between police and militants, three militants being killed. a day before the country's presidential election and in baghdad a wave of bombings killed three 75 and injured more than 3 hundred. nbc news chief foreign correspondent richard engel is in kabul this morning. taliban insurgents, are they doing everything now they can to disrupt tomorrow's election? >> it's not clear if they are doing everything they can, but there was that attack today. the afghan government says it was more of a bank robbery than an attempt to disrupt the election. in southern afghanistan, they are handing out leaflets and this one came from kandahar and says last warning and it's telling people to stay off the streets because if they don't, they will be killed and that the taliban is not responsible for their deaths, trying to avoid,

it says, civilian casualties. election officials say that security preparations in many parts of the country are adequate and, obviously, this is a large country. it's very difficult to secure and it is afghan soldiers and police that are taking the responsibility. u.s. troops and nato troops will not be anywhere near the polling sites. they will be outside of the town providing air support and securing the major roads in and out where there are roads. >> it looks like, if i can ask you about baghdad now, this is the deadliest day in that city since u.s. troops have drawn down their troops. what are you learning what is happening there? >> this is -- it could be a turning point moment in baghdad, because if you remember, after the june agreement, u.s. troops pulled back to bases and handed over day-to-day security responsibilities to the iraqi security forces, meaning that u.s. troops are not really allowed to just go out and patrol and enforce security as

they had been since the start of the war. the iraqis, obviously, very proud of their new sovereignty, started to take down a lot of the checkpoints and a lot of the blast barriers that had been put in place to prevent car bombings and motor attacks like the ones that we saw today. this is a real test of the iraqis ability to rule this country and to control iraq by themselves and if today is an indication, they're not passing that test. >> richard, thank you very much. wicked weather left a real mess in parts of the country. a twister that touched down in beaumont, texas. look at the shopping center here. ripping the roof off of this kohl's store and the cars tossed all over the parking lot. we have cell phone video of the same tornado. several shoppers suffered minor injury and there you see the cell phone video. at least one person taken to the hospital. another funnel cloud spotted in colorado. this twister dropped out of the clouds near pikes peek peak and it aapparently didn't cause any

damage and didn't touch down but the video inveble. this is manhattan. major lightning storm seeing it strike there around central park we're being told. back to school shorps aren't just bargain hunting but cutting back altogether. major retails seen sales from hammers to handbags plummet in the wake of a global economic downturn. no reason why you would need a hammer if you're going back to school. however, despite assurances the worst is over it looks like american shoppers, consumers account for two-thirds of the nation's economy have yet to really invest in a recovery. that means retailers can count on consumers buying the bare minimum in this back to school season. a kidney transplant took place four years ago is at the extra of a controversy over illegal organ trafficking. the guy see here, nick rosen, the donor, claims he was compensated for his kidney $20,000. he says he doesn't care if it was illegal. in fact, he made a documentary detailing his experience, including interviews with

doctors who performed the surgery. the recipient denies the payment and he claims he met rosen through a friend of a friend. reality show. richard hatch is behind bars once again! hatch's home confinement following a four-year sentence for tax evasion was reportedly revoked for inappropriate contact with the media. just hours after this interview with nbc news's matt lauer. his lawyer appeared today on the "today" show. >> i really don't know what the grounds are for why they have him back in jail. i haven't had any response yet to my very many phone calls. >> dylan, the thing was richard hatch was clear that his life is so structured that he has to get permission even to talk to members of the media. so one would presume he had to get permission to have that interview with matt lauer. >> one would. they put him in jail for goodness sakes. it's pretty black and white for that guy. >> we'll stay on top of that and

try to get some answers. ahead on the "morning meeting," the doctor who was with michael jackson before he died has released his own video on youtube. we talk with the journalist who got the last interview with dr. conrad murray and we'll have his comments coming up. gecko: uh, you wanted to see me sir? boss: come on in, i had some other things you can tell people about geico - great claims service and a 97% customer satisfaction rate. show people really trust us. gecko: yeah right, that makes sense. boss: trust is key when talking about geico. you gotta feel it. why don't you and i practice that with a little exercise where i fall backwards and you catch me. gecko: uh no sir, honestly... uh...i don't think...uh... boss: no, no. we can do this. gecko: oh dear. vo: geico. fifteen minutes could save you 15% or more on car insurance. the first complete women's multivitamin in a drink mix. with more calcium and vitamin d...

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koorlgs cardiologist of the center of the michael jackson statement turns to the internet post ago one-minute video on youtube. while he didn't directly address the manslaughter investigation that is currently yaung going which he is the center of, dr. murray did thank his patients and friends for their support. >> please, don't worry. as long as i keep guarding -- god in my heart and you in my

life, i will be fine. i have done all i could do. i told the truth and i have faith the truth will prevail. god bless you and thank you. >> the same day the video came out dr. murray sat down with his first interview with a reporter for the daily beast. we spoke with him earlier in the "morning meeting" about murray's demeanor. >> i could have come out of that interview saying i found him shifty-eyed and somewhat sleazy. he takes his time and soft spoken and locks in our eyes and answers your questions. he gives you a sense of confidence in what he is saying so they've got a good witness on their hands if he ever takes the stand. >> investigators believe dr. murray gave michael jackson the powerful anesthetic propofol in the hours before his death. tainting the jury pool is what i say. >> absolutely.

>> quite simply. >> but he looks to be like a guy who is stealing himself for prison. >> i want to defend dr. murray. >> can you get him to come on the show? >> i'm doing my very best. dr. murray says nothing that is not totally true in this statement. that's what is very interesting about it. everything he says in this one-minute video, you can't argue about. >> hang on. you're saying it's extraordinary and unusual that someone has released a statement, the contents of which everything is true? >> that's not totally the point i'm saying. however, as we stand here to indict him more or less and say why is he doing this, he has prison written all over it, this is tainting a jury pool, you do have to say, he says, listen, i've spoken the truth and from his standpoint, he has spoken the truth and he has done nothing but cooperate are investigators. this is a guy his car was taken within hours of jackson dying. he has never run from the investigators. he has done nothing but comply

during every step of the way. >> several hours they were looking for him they didn't know where he was. whatever he has done. >> so what? >> gerald poser saying wearing a tie and looking me in the eye. didn't bernie madoff do the same thing? >> i think you're looking for conspiracy. >> no p. murray was the personal physician and there was propofol in michael jackson's blood. >> it is illegal. >> you cannot have propofol outside after hospital. >> it's highly unusually and duane read doesn't stock it. however, if you're a physician and have a clinic like dr. murray did, you can find a way to get it. it's not illegal. it's highly irresponsible and i mean, i've been begging my doctors for propofol. just kidding. series yuly, you can make it happen and highly unusually but not illegal at the end end of the day. what you will see is when the medical community ultimately

clamps down on prescribing practices and things like that. >> this is a man the doctor is under water in his house. needs to make money. everything that we talk about in america, whether it's health care, whether it's the housing crisis, whether it's the banking, all of these things come together actually in this story. we don't have -- we don't know who has got the drug. where is the drug some what is appropriate for the drugs? are doctors motivated to go outside? was this doctor in any way motivated to go outside the oath if you will and go into a situation like this because he was under water financially? because he had gotten too deep into depth? there is so many narratives here that i think -- >> but any time -- >> but any time you have a private physician working with one patient, one wealthy patient. >> i like to keep two or three around myself. >> but you're naturally going to have malfeasance. if i don't please you, i lose my job. do i create a practice, i'm on

my own again? >> dr. shopping. >> i think you bring up a good point in saying this does have tentacles in other areas. what you're looking at as well during these probate hearings which is not boring on the surface but with katherine jackson going in and saying i don't want to keep the terms of this aeg contract secret because what if i need to tell the lapd something about and it it just shows even when there are organizations and we see this in the government, we see this everywhere we go, that are separate, oftentimes, they do have tremendous overlap and you're really seeing the worst case scenario. >> people keep secrets, whatever it is, it's an opportunity to distort the truth and take advantage of the situation which is what what we've seen in our government. >> i just can't believe the guy is not buried. what is going on there? >> that's for her, not me. >> why is he still held up? let him rest. >> we are doing that on thursday. we are doing that on his birthday. i have it covered for you.

i'm on approximate. and for you. >> all right. thank you. >> of course. >> the take-away coming up. a moment that was lost in translation here at the meeting. hillary clinton sound bite that was not a hillary clinton sound bite. we still don't know exactly what it was but i think we can figure it out and we have translators on deck here at msnbc. >> what language was it? >> i don't know.

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welcome back. a couple of things here in the take-away. first off we just had the union conversation. we asked starting yesterday and even the day prior for a union guest to join us for that conversation. we're actually quite hopeful a union guest will join us for that conversation in the near future. lest you think our journalism is one-side odd that issue. we hope a union rep will join us for that conversation soon. also lost in translation. earlier, we tried to bring you what we thought would be an

insightful exchange on the subject of north korea. here is what happened. a signed bite from andrea mitchell show in her conversation with the secretary of state hillary clinton yesterday. take a listen. [ inaudible ]. >> i don't know what language that is. i don't suspect it's either andrea mitchell, although hillary clinton is the secretary of state. well, being nbc news we have the business of on-staff translators. jacob, what do you do all day? >> i do translation from arabic. i monitor the arabic website and see if there is any breaking news and something worth covering, i tell you guys and you cover it. >> so did anything ring any bells language wise when you heard that tape? >> no. this discount like arabic to me. like if you don't hear someone spitting or like when we talk, it's not arabic. it sounds like someone is mumbling. >> you see spitizing a telltale

signs of arabic? >> yes b to sufficient owe indicate. >> suffocate. >> if you know what language that was, we would love to know. something we hope to do more of with the program and this is a fun way to do it. go to dylan.msnbc.com and e-mail us if you know what language that is. asian? >> i think it looks like korean. >> that does it for us today. carlos watson is up next. pollen. when i really liked to be outside,

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"what do you mean homeowners insurance doesn't cover floods?" "a few inches of water caused all this?" "but i don't even live near the water." what you don't know about flood insurance may shock you. including the fact that a preferred risk policy starts as low as $119 a year. for an agent, call the number on your screen. good morning, everyone. welcome to a brand-new hour of msnbc live. i'm carlos watson. president obama lands on the losing end of the message over health care. in fact, a brand-new nbc poll despite a big-time public relations blitz the american public is skill skeptical of his efforts to reform the health care system. widespread violence strikes in afghanistan. they are pushing forward in

their campaign of intimidation ahead of tomorrow's presidential election. dramatic news overseas. is north korea warming up to the west some we've got new signals that the deep freeze may be thawing as north korea sends two diplomats to new mexico with talks with governor bill richardson. maybe the biggest news story of this year, the new push to push america's hispanic population ought shadows and engage what is going on in the country. should the government legalize drugs some we talk with two former police officers turned drug warriors who say it's time to wipe the slate comren in the war on drugs. good morning. i'm carlos watson. a tremendous hour this morning. maximum seen waters and california representative linda sanchez and don brown is with us and "the new york times" columnist bob herbert stop by and nbc news rich engel live in afghanistan where the elections going on and savannah guthrie live at the white house. kelly chao is with us this

morning and joins us to preview tonight's big finale. as we always do, i want to fast forward through the top three headlines we're following. 75 people killed in a series of baghdad blasts. truck bombing explode inside iraq's foreign ministrministry. it was by far the deadliest day in baghdad since the u.s. troops withdraw from the city in july 30th. a body was found stuffed notice a suitcase inside orange county trash bin as that of a missing model who disappeared over the weekend. police say she has been strangled. richard hatch is back and behind bars. the original "survivor" winner taken back to jail hours after giving a "usa today" "today" interview. this morning on the "today" show they don't know why hatch was arrested. >> i really don't know what the grounds are for why they have him back in jail. i haven't had any respons