such a leader on health care and we're going to continue to work with her and republicans in the senate and democrats and house democrats and republicans and try to make some progress here. look, on the public option, the president has said over and over that his goal here is to offer some more choices to bring costs down. and to have more competition. the best way to do that he thinks is through the public option. there's a better idea, we're willing to listen to it. we're still talking with folks on both sides. >> what do you think has happened in the last several months? a new poll suggests fear has grown, faith has dropped in the president. 52% now support a plan, 46% oppose that. that's a drop of more than ten points since last june. what's happening? >> well a couple of things. first, if getting health care

reform done was just a matter of making easy decisions that were politically popular, it would have gotten done a long time ago. it's through four of the five committees on capitol hill, we've got doctors, nurses, hospitals on board. secondly, there's been a lot of misinformation out there that we're working very hard to correct the record on and when you've got the combination of tough, political decisions with the misinformation, of course numbers are going to take a hit. the president was sent to get things done, not get a high approval rating. he's doing the hard work and we feel confident it will be done by the end of the year. >> but even paul krugman "the new york times," who has not been easy on the president, is pretty tough again today "the new york times" saying this --

is that going to change? >> well, first of all, a lot of people lost money betting on president obama, saying that he wouldn't make it through the primaries, the general election, for the last couple of years. i don't think that's some new rash of poll numbers means that reform is dead or that we're off course. we're doing some hard work on big issues and this isn't the sort of thing that's going to get done on a bumper sticker. it's hard and it's going to require the president talking directly with the american people about the choices at stake. i think they appreciate being spoken to like adults and not small sound bites. >> bill, the president just

yesterday, sort of had an explanation for what's going on. let's listen to that. >> last year just about this time, you'll recall that the republicans had just nominated their vice presidential candidate and everybody was, the media was obsessed with it and cable was 24 hours a day and obama's lost his mojo and -- you remember all that? there's something about august going into september where everybody in washington gets all wee-weed up. >> bill, what does wee-weed up mean? >> it's a very complicated medical term. it's appropriate probably in a health care debate. what the president was describing and i stole my point from him yesterday. about people getting so excited. the truth is, there's a ton of agreement on making progress on

health care reform. we've got more work to do and we're going to have to get the bills in the house and senate together and conference, but there's progress being made and people are behind getting something done. despite the polls, the pundits, what folks like you and me say on cable news -- we think we're making progress. >> i notice you're not repeating that phrase, that new verb by the president about getting wee-weed up. did bo the dog have an accident? >> for folks close to the campaign know it's something we've been saying for a long tile. >> part of the inside language. thanks for joining us. there's some harsh, new numbers on the job situation in california. the unemployment rate climbed to 11.9% in july. the department of labor says 87,000 people in california lost

jobs last month. california is among 15 states along with washington, d.c. that have jobless rates above 10%. despite those numbers, ben bernanke says the u.s. economy is on the verge of a long awaited recovery. speaking of the annual conference in wyoming, bernanke said u.s. and global economic activities seemed to be leveling out and the prospects of returning to normal appear good. also, some good news from the housing sector. the numbers are in and july saw a huge jump in home resales. home sales climbed 7.2%. in fact, that's the largest monthly increase in at least ten years. let's get the latest details from diana oleic. what's behind this? >> it's great news, no question about it, so see that some fence sitters are buying homes.

that's what we need to see. what's important to note though is what kind of homes they're buying. the activity is on the lowest of the low end of the market. 1/3 of all sales in july were foreclosed properties and 1/3 of all buyers were taking advantage of the first time home buyers tax credit which will expire in november. when you look at price points, they were down, the price points are being pressured down by these foreclosed properties and by the fact that all of the action is taking place on the low end of the market. just like in retail where we see the big bargain stores doing well. same thing is happening in housing. the $100-250,000 houses are s e saling. prices go down after that. not a total recovery, but it is important to clear out that low

end. >> no doubt. really important information. great to see you. thanks so much. and hurricane bill is getting weaker as it heads toward bermuda. it's now a category 2 storm. winds are still high at about 110 miles per hour. bill is expected to pass this weekend and forecasters in new england say the coast could see waves as high as 35 feet. in georgia, authorities are not giving up hope that they're going to find a woman whose boyfriend says she was abducted while she talked to him on the cell phone. they called off the ground search yesterday after spending eight days combing through a three-state area. police say they're following every lead. there's a reward fund that's been set up. and more disturbing details emerging about the murders of a

former swimsuit model. her ex-husband is formally charged. ryan jenkins first reported jasmine fiore missing this weekend, then he disappeared. her body was found stuffed in a suitcase and dumped in a trash bin. authorities believe he went across the border into canada. now, there's an international man hunt for this fugitive. miguel is following developments. this is really disturbing news about the state of fiore's body when she was found. what are we learning? >> police say that ryan jenkins is their main suspect. that he said wanted for murder and they say that she was killed by strangulation, that jasmine fiore was killed by being strangled to death and they say they made a grizzly discovery at the scene, that her fingers and teeth were missing.

police say it was maybe a chance to delay the identification process. she was identified, but they announced that yesterday, a grizzly find for officers and investigators. >> does the husband, this guy, ryan jenkins, does he have any kind of past criminal record? >> yeah, norah, he has a lengthy record in canada in 2007, he was charged with assault. he severed 15 months on probation for that. he was named as a defendant in a criminal complaint for a real estate scam and charged with domestic violence against fiore earlier this year. those charges were still pending and say that he punched her in the arm several months ago. >> this was before, i guess, they got married? >> they were married in march. family members say they had some problems and that the marriage was going to be, if not already, annulled. they did have some problems in the relationship. >> all right.

thanks so much. and coming up, he was the first secretary of homeland security and now, he says the bush white house was playing politics with nation's terror alert levels. plus, president obama calling the presidential elections in afghanistan an important step forward, but what does it really mean for the 60,000 american troops on the ground there now? and later, it's all the buzz on martha's vineyard. bartenders have already mixed up some special drinks and rumor has it the president is going to play golf with tiger woods. this is msnbc, the place for politics. show and tell

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i wish i could give them all top secret clearances and review the information. we don't do politics in the department of homeland security. >> well that was then. tom ridge in august of 2004, five years later, we're hearing a very different message. in his new book, he says his department was pressured to play politics of fear. the claim, bush officials wanted him to raise the terror threat level before the 2004 elections. joining us now, paul bedard. paul, you have this story first. we just played that sound bite. what's with the change in story? >> he still says he wasn't playing politics. the day that osama bin laden released his tape, october 29th, three days before the election, that secretary rumsfeld,

attorney general ashcroft, said man, you've got to raise your level from yellow to orange. he kind of sensed there was politics being raised here because every time they had seen a tape like this before, it had helped president bush. three days before the election, he's one, two, maybe three points ahead of john kerry. ridge got the feeling that he wanted to raise it in the election. >> just as this came out last night, there was a very quick response from don rumsfeld who said this --

paul, i remember the time very well because i was covering president bush on the trail. when that tape came out, many people on the campaign trail sort of surmised that this was over for john kerry, that it would instantly remind people thinking about the election and how they were going to vote, oh, yeah, terror is the most important thing. >> and don't forget the bomb ng madrid. ridge seemed to pull away from what he heard that they wanted some kind of insurance. ridge, you could say he played politics, too because ridge says that he called the white house. he talked to the communications director and said man, you know, we're going to take a lot of heat for this if we raise the threat level. he was it would be fatal if they raised the level. they never raised it. >> can you address something

that was in "the new york times" and i'm just going to read from it today. mr. ridge provides no evidence that politics motivated the discussion to raise the alert level. until now, he's denied politics played a role. asked by eric of "the new york times" if politics ever influenced decisions, he volunteered to take a lie detector test. wire me up, put bush's law, not a chance, politics played no part. so now, he's saying politics played a part. again, what's with this? >> right. he sites no evidence. instead, he kind of senses, he's a congressman for 12 years, of course a governor. he kind of has a good feel for that. he doesn't say politics drove this decision -- >> this is you know, tom ridge, former military man, former

governor. the reason i ask this question, people are saying if he thought gross about it then, that politics was an issue then, why didn't he stand up and say something? why didn't he leak it then to the "new york times," u.s. news and world reports, nbc news, the department of homeland security, feeling pressure. that would have been a huge story, the bush administration trying to play politics days before people were going to vote. >> people say, hey, buddy, why didn't you quit? but can you imagine if tom ridge quit on the sunday before the election? that would be just canning the election to john kerry and let's face it, he was still a loyal subject to the bush administration. >> thanks so much. and a tragic story from iraq. sources tell nbc news that four u.s. soldiers are accused of hazing and terrorizing fellow soldier until he killed himself. the soldiers forced him to do

puch-ups, called him names and singled him out. he locked himself in a bathroom and shot himself to death with his own rifle. he was just 19 years old. president obama calls a heros welcome from a terrorist highly objectable. he spent years behind bars for the bombing of pan am flight 103. family members of those on board are reacting to this joyous greeting that he received back home in libya. >> it's a betrayal of our loved ones. how could the scottish government have done this? it's beyond comprehension. it's a mockery of justice. >> there's nothing we can do about it. we feel helpless. >> compassion for a mass murder defies description. >> al megrahi was released on

compassionate grounds. he has prostate cancer and has only months to live. coming up, the man who says he may be the father of michael jackson's daughter, paris, speaks out. plus, more on mark sanford. another report out about questionable use of private planes. that's right. where was he taking these planes? we've got those details straight ahead. who was paying for those planes? this is msnbc, the place for politics. wet cat food... and unlock the freshness of the outdoors... for your indoor cat... fueling an exhilarating adventure. each entrée is bursting with high-quality protein plus wholesome grain and garden greens. specially formulated to promote hairball control ...and healthy weight. friskies indoor wet cat food. feed the senses. now turn treat time into party time with friskies party mix cat treats. get the party started!

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regarding the michael jackson estate. courtn courtney hazlett writes the scoop. what's being discussed today? >> i want to discuss miley cyrus, too, but another time. in court, this aeg tour they wanted to -- or aeg wanted to have this tour and the issue was how would it impact the estate? the movie coming out in october has footage from the rehearsal. the estate claims if split isn't fair. it's 50/50 as it stands and they would like to see more going to the estate. >> we also heard jackson's children's god father on the "today" show claiming that he could be paris' dad. he wants contact with the kids. what do you make of that?

>> it feels a little strange to have all these people coming forward and saying they could be the father of these children. mark lester, he makes a point of saying this morning that he's not looking for anything at this point in time. it was really a gift. >> when i gave it, i made a decision. that was it. i had given something as a gift and didn't want anything to return for it. that was it. end of story. >> you were married at the time that this happened. did you discuss this with your wife? >> the family members say this isn't about money. it's about mark lester wanting to have interaction with the kids, which he has up until this point, then was cut off when michael died. >> there will be more stories. thank you so much. coming up, what olympia

snowe just said right here on msnbc. she says there will be no public option in the senate's health reform bill, but nancy pelosi says there will be no house bill without a public option. so how are they going to make this work? plus, what does bo, the presidential pooch, have in common with snoopy? think thanksgiving day and crowds of people. we've got the answers ahead. this is what we call a tease. this is msnbc, the place for politics. nk that honda is always the most fuel efficient choice. well, this chevy cobalt xfe has better highway mileage than a comparable honda civic. this chevy traverse has better mileage than honda pilot. the all-new chevy equinox has better mileage than honda cr-v. and chevy malibu has better mileage than accord. however, honda does make something that we just can't compete with. it's self-propelled. there's never been more reasons to look at chevy.

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the election. neither karzai nor his challenger have declared themselves the winner, but both say they are confident their candidate will be the winner. richard engle is live in kabul. i know there was a great deal of violence and yet, they're calling this a success. yet, we still don't know who won, so how is it a success? >> reporter: i think the international community is calling it a success because they spent a lot of money, more than $200 million, to organize this election and the government of afghanistan is calling it a success because it is very proud that it was able to hold this election despite the threats of violence and i think had it not gone off, it would have been a big slap in the face that after eight years of war in this country, they weren't able to hold this election. it was deeply flawed. many people did not come out and

vote and we're hearing today that voter turnout, especially in the south, may have only been in the teens. 15%, maybe 10% in many areas of the taliban-held south. certainly an imperfect election, but both leading candidates have seemed to have accepted the process and according to their own findings, each thinks they have a very good chance of winning. >> richard, you've done some great reporting. thanks so much. we appreciate it. and some massachusetts republicans are responding to senator ted kennedy's request to change state law and allow the governor to appoint a replacement if necessary. brad jones said he proposed the same idea in 2004, but was rejected by the democrats. any change would in the happen immediately.

lawmakers aren't expected to return until after labor day. senator kennedy is currently battling cancer. president obama is again slipping in the polls. with me now to talk about it, white house reporter for politico and jeff zellny. jeff, i'll start with you. just in the past hour, andrea mitchell interviewed olympia snowe. she said there will not be a public option. how big a blow is that for the white house? >> in many respects, it's why president obama has been sort of going back and forth on will there be a public option or a cooperative bipartisan plan. i mean, this is no surprise to the white house. they know that the house is in favor of a public plan and the finance committee is not. part of this is the negotiating

tactic. look for new phrases to come out in september to get them away from the word, public plan, so to speak. it's really the culmination of what's been behind the discussion all week. >> i guess one of those new phrases is no wee-weed. let me ask you about "the washington post" abc news poll. we've seen this anger out there is real. 49% said they thought obama would improve health care. that's a 20-point drop. how does the white house react to that? how are they going to change that if the mood of the country is souring on his proposal? >> we heard from robert gibbs today that the president is willing to spend his political capital on that. we are going to see some rebranding.

we've seen the president go through a couple of different stages. taking the baton in july and saying he was going to be the one talking about this. he did that at town halls. apparently, he's going to be making speeches come september in a way to address the country in a very different setting. and also, there's going to be a shift in the way they talk about it. in moral terms. reach out to faith leaders yesterday. that's a way to get evangelicals on board and folks of faith. those polls, they show, too, that independents and seniors are really moving away from the president, which is troubling. >> that's what i thought was so interesting about the internals in this poll was in fact the drop in seniors. jeff, sounds like there is a lot of storm clouds, thunder there. if you need to run inside, just let us know. >> the perfect metaphor, actually. >> it is.

i have to ask you then about this warning about storm clouds that charlie cook talks about and says -- this was scary when charlie sent this out last night, for many democrats. it suggests this may hurt some democrats in their house races. how does that affect the white house, chief of staff, rahm emanuel, trying to get these house members to vote for this plan? >> well, this is one of the reasons those blue dogs were being so insistent on having an input on the plan. there's no question that this is very worrisome for the white house.

but i think at the same time, it's -- even charlie would say, it's too early to say for sure exactly how many seats will be lost, but if the mood of the country is real, the anger among voters is real on this, so it's worrisome to the white house, which is why -- the president, about an hour ago, left for camp david, the smile on his face to me was the most convincing gesture he had made all week. he was thrilled to be out of here and anxious to get away. it will all be here when he gets back. >> even if hurricane bill is going to be causing 25-foot waves at martha's vineyard. what about that? there's a lot of criticism today saying the president is trying to get away, trying to get some vacation time and yet, it seems there are just so many problems. after him, including the demise of the health care plan. >> i was talki ining some

congressional aides and they say this is the busiest recess they've seen in a long time. i do think there's an understanding that the president deserves a vacation. he'll be there a week. it's not as long as most presidents take a vacation. i bet he will be doing some work there. in addition to golfing, i bet he might be on the phone, making some calls to the hill. >> that's right. in fact, the president was on his way out right before this rain started, jeff, and he was asked as he was boarding marine one if he was going to play golf with tiger woods and the president said, i'm going to play some golf. i can't imagine why anyone would want to play next to tiger woods. any way. jeff, go get inside. i'm sorry to make you stand outside. and mia, great stuff as always. another big political story just in, more heat today for

mark sanford. they've got a new investigation just out that reveals he took dozens of flights on private planes and did not report them. why is this a big deal? because you're supposed to report them. staffers say that's because friends paid for the flights x however, a state law requires reports showing how this travel is financed. martha's vineyard is preparing for this visit by the first family. the president and his family are off on sunday for their first week-long vacation since he became president. they'll be staying at an exclusive farm on the island. we mentioned there's word the president will play golf with tiger woods. robert gibbs was asked about that in the briefing. here's what he said. >> i have no idea if he's going

to golf with tiger woods. i think he's going to spend a decent part of his time relaxing with his family. >> and of course, part of the first family includes the first dog. that's right. well, bo, is expected to get a warm welcome at the martha vineyard dog parade. who knew? room for the internet. with my new netbook from at&t. with its built-in 3g network, it's fast and small, so it goes places other laptops can't. i'm bill kurtis, and wherever i go, i've got plenty of room for the internet. and the nation's fastest 3g network. gun it, mick. (announcer) sign up today and get a netbook for $199.99 after mail-in rebate. with built-in access to the naon's fastest 3g network. only from at&t. my daughter was with me. i took a bayer aspirin out of my purse and chewed it.

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you heard that thunder and lightening. check out this shot of the white house. it is raining pretty hard, just about an hour after the president left. also want to give you a check of what's happening on wall street today because the market is up. 131 points. and you better hurry if you want to take advantage of the cash for clunkers program. after one month, the government is hitting the brakes on the

program. phil lebeau is at a ford dealership in chicago. did you trade in your clunker yet? >> no, norah, i have not. i'm sure my wife would appreciate if i did. she would call it a beater, but we'll discuss that at another time. this program, i think we're going to see a flurry of activity this weekend. 457,000 vehicles so far have been brought through this program. works out to about 1.9 billion in federal rebates that have been accounted for. of that 1.9 billion, only 145 million have been paid out to dealerships because the federal government has reveeed less than 40% of the paper work. with every sale, the dealerships have to document the clunker

meets all the guidelines of the program and will be taken out of commission. it's going to take a while to work through that backlog of paperwork. there's been concern that the $3 billion might run out. >> just to remind everybody if somebody's saying, yeah, maybe i'll go out to the dealership this weekend. what qualifies as a clunker? >> there's a number of stipulations and there's websites. some major ones, you have to have owned your vehicle for at least a year, has to have been insured for that last year. the most important one is that whatever you're trading in, they have stipulated miles per gallon. whatever it is for that particular model, that year, you have to get at least four miles per gallon greater with whatever you're buying. you can't just trade one car for the other. has to meet certain guidelines.

>> good to know. we'll discuss later what a beater is. that's a new word. >> you bet. >> you're the expert. thanks. it's a blue day on the floor of the new york stock exchange. not because of the stock situation, but because of hundreds of workers decked out in blue jeans from the gap. the dress code violation is in honor of the gap's birthday. up next, after months of trying, this pint sized reporter finally bagged an interview with barack obama. coming up, damon weaver is going to tell us what it means for the future of tv news. how did he land his interview? this is msnbc, the place for politics. carol, when you replaced casual friday with nordic tuesday, was it really for fun, or to save money on heat? why? don't you think nordic tuesday is fun? oh no, it's fun... you know, if you are trying to cut costs, fedex can help. we've got express options, fast ground and freight service--

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breaking news out of florida. live pictures of a rescue seen. a worker reportedly fell 40 feet

at the big ben power plant. the chopper from our affiliate reports the worker weighs in excess of 300 pounds and workers are trying to rig a lift to transport the injured worker by boat to an ambulance. i'm damon weaver and i'm going to interview president obama about education. right now, this is where i'm going to interview president obama. right now, i'm waiting for him to arrive. >> how are you, sir? >> president obama did arrive and damon weaver's campaign to interview the leader of the free world came to fru. he got the president to talk about school lunches, bullying and basketball. he joins us now. damon, we have talked before.

congratulations. what was it like meeting the president? >> it was very cool meeting the president and he's a very nice guy. he's very tall and he likes to give good detail. >> very tall. that's interesting. what did you think of the white house? >> well, the white house is a very big place. i would love to stay in the white house and i like the statues inside and i liked

the -- >> you liked the red room? >> the red rug. >> oh, interesting. got ya. i understand this is customary for you. you've interviewed joe biden, lots of famous people. you asked the president to be your home boy. what did he say? >> well, he said he would like to be my home boy and gave me a handshake and took some pictures. >> why did you ask him to be your home boy? >> because i want to be friends with everybody and i want people to be my home boy because we're close friends. >> you have some very needy, pecific questions to the mangos. >> that's an interesting choice, yes. i also want to play a quick clip because you asked him about dewayne wade, playing basketball with him. >> my buddy promised me if you

gave me the interview, he would play in a one-on-one basketball game. would you be willing to play him? >> i would play dewayne wade and he was here. i'm sorry to hear that he was trash talk about his game. i've got to admit, he's a little better at basketball. i might rather have him on my team than playing against him. >> that was a pretty good interview. you heard the president say he probably couldn't keep up with him. i have to do a little ribbing with you, damon, because i noticed that somebody asked you who you wanted to be like and you said, wolf blitzer. what about me? >> well, you're a woman and wolf blitzer's a man. >> i got ya. well, you've been great, you're certainly an aspiring journalist. i'm proud of you for getting

that interview with the president. what's next? >> some football players. >> who in particular? >> steve nash, michael vick, bolden, tony romo, donovan mcnabb and many more. >> what would you ask michael vick? >> what was it like being traded to the eagles? >> that's it? what about his past? >> well, why were you fighting the dogs. >> and why that wasn't a good role model for people, right? >> no. >> no. it was not a good role model, you're right. damon weaver, you're an amazing young journalist. pretty impressive. good luck in school. take care and i know we'll be talking to you again. >> thank you for all you've done for me. >> take care, dear.

david schuster and alex whitt are going to pick things up next. today, right here on msnbc, one of the top republican moderates in the senate said the public option proposal, it's off the table. so how is this going to work? this is msnbc. the place for politics. bicycle, i've missed you. gaering dust, as pollen floats through the air. but with the strength of zyrtec ® , the fastest, 24-hour allergy relief, i promise not to wait as long to go for our ride.

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the beach is nice this time of year, but while president obama vacations, concerns mount about his health care plan. mr. president, when you go back to d.c., drop your plan. >> political warfare. the group now out with an ad mocking president obama's vineyard vacation. but the white house isn't having any of it. >> i don't think the american people begrudge the president taking time with his family

that's well earned and well deser vd. >> is this starting to hurt the president? where it counts the most with the american people. to catch a killer. police are talking about the gruesome details of the crime. >> fingers and teeth were removed. >> a hollywood murder that has turned into an international man hunt. with great faith in the american people, i accept your nomination for president of the united states. >> john kerry went on to lose the 2004 election to george w. bush. now, explosive accusations from tom ridge. and who's sexier? yes, america has voted. on this summertime friday, it's

just something we just thought you should know. all right now on "the big picture." good afternoon. i'm david schuster. >> i'm happy to be here. thank you very much. i'm alex witt in new york, filling in for tamron hall. president obama is getting some health care advice from tom daschle today, his first choice for health and human services secretary. earlier this summer, daschle worked with bob dole on a plan and the two both believed that the prospects for passing legislation were better than in 1994, but the public may be losing patience. according to a new poll, 49% say they have confidence in president obama to make the right decisions, but that is down from 60% at the 100-day mark. the white house says it's not worried. >> i think the president would