shocking news on top of "the new york post" that mackenzie phillips had an affair with her father john phillips of the mamas and the papas. >> it's an awful story. >> i guess i'll never listen to "i saw her again last night" in the same way. >> did anyone listen to mahmoud ahmadinejad yesterday at length? >> yes. >> how did it go? >> he was wonderful, spellbinding. >> there's progress. he did not deny the holocaust in his speech yesterday for the first time. true. >> he didn't do that off the bat. he did say he was going to make concessions. he said he was going to allow scientists to come in and look. it was a more conciliatory speech. >> if this problem can be taken off president obama's plate, that would be wonderful. but i think we'll go with trust and verify mode. >> a look at the day's top stories. this morning president obama

will chair a meeting of the u.n. security council, a first for any u.s. president. it follows his address to the general assembly where the president called on the international community to look forward while accepting their share of the responsibility. nbc's andrea mitchell reports. >> reporter: president obama was welcomed to the world stage. along with a rogues gallery of longtime international pariahs. libya's moammar gadhafi for the first time in 40 years. iran's mahmoud ahmadinejad. venezuela's hugo chavez. president obama's message was he was no longer going it alone. but his challenge to critics was blunt. >> those who used to chastise america for acting alone in the world cannot now stand by and wait for america to solve the world's problems alone. >> reporter: ahmadinejad made a show of looking bored, but the president was cheered for his decision to close guantanamo and stop abusive interrogations. >> i prohibit without exception or eequivocation, the use of

torture by the united states of america. >> reporter: he showed his impatii impatient with endless foot dragging on both sides in the middle east. and rebuked iran and north korea for their nuclear arms. >> they must be held accountable. >> reporter: mr. obama made a quick exit moving on to a series of events, steering clear of the next speaker. >> his excellency moammar gadhafi, leader of the revolution, president of the african union, king of kings in the traditional kings of africa. >> reporter: gadhafi raged on for 95 minutes and 8 seconds, a die tribe against the u.n. from a jumble of handwritten notes, waving a copy of the u.n. charter then pretending to rip it up. >> translator: it should not be called the security council. it should be called the terror council. >> reporter: but he only had praise for mr. obama, who he called our son. >> we are happy if obama can stay forever as president of america. >> reporter: he made no mention of the libyan bombing of pan am

flight 103 over lockerbie but went on a bizarre harang about the assassination of president kennedy. iran's president mahmoud ahmadinejad gave a confrontational speech, again many slaing israel and defending his election. >> translator: our nation has successfully gone through a glorious and fully democratic election. >> i'm not sure -- >> that was andrea mitchell reporting. >> but i wonder if that gadhafi clip would be in 2010 campaign ads. we would be happy if president barack obama were president forever. >> andrea's report really encapsulated, but i have to say the daily news did encapsulate thing as well. >> "madmen," calling them the crazy twins. moammar and mahmoud together at the u.n. >> one is crazy like a fox, the other one is plain out crazy. >> and you can decide which one.

later on this morning, the president heads to pittsburgh for the g20 summit focused on climate recovery. protestors unfurled a giant banner across the bridge on saturday. at least 14 arrests coming yesterday. we're going to talk to savannah guthrie reporting live from the g20 summit a little later in the show. this morning massachusetts governor duval patrick is set to announce his choice for an interim appointment to the late senator ted kennedy's seat. according to "the wall street journal," kennedy's family is pushing for former dnc chair paul kirk jr., who was a close friend to the late senator. former alaska governor sarah palin is deflecting questions about whether she may run for higher office in the future. her comments came earlier this morning following her speech to business leaders at an investors forum in hong kong. >> you know, i wish i could

predict the future. cannot. so can't answer that question right now. look forward to more opportunities to send good messages from the u.s. and hopefully help meet some of the challenges that we're all facing today. >> all right, mark. going to send good messages from the u.s. >> who could disagree with that? a good message sender. an official in kentucky says -- i'm just going to move on? >> there just aren't enough good messages. >> there's nothing bad to say. >> i'm not saying bad things. just curious, mark halpern, is she going to run? >> no. >> do you think newt gingrich is going to run? >> yes. look at the actuarial table. this is his moment. >> so he's not just selling books. he's going to run? >> i think the field is so weak, that it's a chance for somebody to become the front-runner. >> is mitt romney weak? >> he's one of the strongest but still weak ironically.

>> one of the strongest weak candidates. happy days are here again. mika, let's continue on that cheery note. a census worker has been found dead, hanged from a tree with the word "fed" scrawled on his chest. the fbi is investigating whether bill sparkman, a part-time census worker and teacher may have been a victim of anti-government sentiment. and for the first time -- >> we're going to be careful on that. we're going to let the investigation go through to the end. but we just need to keep following that story. >> that's disturbing. yeah, we will. >> and because there's -- we need to keep following that story before anything else is said. >> i would leave it right there. >> i think i will. for the first time, an experimental aids vaccine is proving somewhat effective against the hiv virus. in a clinical trial, it reduces the risk of infection by 31%. although not effective enough to be licensed, experts say the

vaccine may lead to promising new research. that is a quick look at the news. it's now time for a quick check on the weather with wtvj miami -- >> can i say seriously? it has been like a week of sunshine without bill karins here. >> ryan has been so sweet. >> it is. he has not said anything horrible about my wife or about willie. >> so polite. >> not on the air at least. >> i'm not going to go there. of course not. when you're just the guest guy doing weather for a week, you keep it low key. you definitely do. >> yeah, you keep your head down. >> and i learned not to wear my kilt up here. >> good call. >> i opted to steer clear of that. >> now i have a mental image, ryan. >> sorry about that, mika. big picture look here. very unsettled look across the northern gulf states and the mississippi valley. we could see flight delays for st. louis, memphis, nashville on up towards chicago later in the

day. right now in the northeast, we have had some outstanding weather. a little muggy yesterday. a little muggy and cloudy this morning with overnight showers. 70 in new york, 70 in hartford, 72 in buffalo. we're going to get ready for a wonderful weather weekend. we'll get through kind of a cloudy, humid day with temperatures climbing into the mid-80s again. shower chances will wind down. 86 in d.c. 88 in raleigh. still dry in the northeast. that's some good news. as we get into tomorrow, 74, lots of sunshine in the big apple. 64 in boston, and the rain chances and shower chances will continue. tomorrow still out west, hot and dry. fire danger still rolling, very strong there through southern california. 102 in phoenix. get ready. the weather has been great in the northeast. it will be wonderful for the upcoming weekend ahead, guys. >> that's fantastic. thank you so much. you know, mika, a lot of people don't realize, you hear brevity is the soul of wit. but a lot of people don't realize that some of the greatest speeches in american

history and world history have been some of the shortest. >> absolutely. >> the gettysburg address, a very short address. >> how effective you can be sometimes if you don't bore people, mahmoud. >> actually, yesterday -- i don't know that -- did gadhafi bore people yesterday? it wasn't a short speech, though. he didn't follow lincoln's path. >> it was 98 minutes. 98 minutes. some of the delegates, the ones who didn't leave reported literally taking naps at certain points during the speech. i think it was a wide-ranging speech. it was not focused. it was not disciplined. he talked about swine flu. he talked about the kennedy assassination. let's listen in a little bit. >> translator: all of you outside, it is clear that all of you lacking the energy because of having to travel on a long journey. why do we do that? perhaps this is swine virus maybe, one of those viruses that

was created in the laboratory, and it got out of control because it was developed by the military workers. we are content and happy if obama can stay forever as the president of america. why? we want to know who killed him. somebody by the name of lee harvey and then another he killed lee harvey. why did he kill him? >> reopen the kennedy investigation. >> a lot of questions raised. why, for instance, did we choose earl warren to run the commission instead of gadhafi? >> he did the whole thing in iambic pentameter. that's what keeps people focused. >> and the lyrics, the translator didn't nail them. so the speech didn't get the credit it deserves. >> actually, he spoke arabic, libyan, whatever he speaks, then

it actually would have been more like poetry. >> it would have. >> i remember in 1988 democratic operatives inside the news media who were trying to explain why michael dukakis was such a soulful man and said, you know, you really have to listen to him speak in spanish to understand just how passionate he is. >> for a little perspective, the longest speech ever at the u.n., castro, 1960, four hours. >> there is that. all right. coming up -- >> this is exciting. we've got your father coming up. dr. brzezinski. >> why he says the u.s. should forcibly stop any israeli attack on iran. >> this is going to be fun. >> that will be just grand, this conversation. also, he's acorn's public enemy number one. a rare interview with the independent filmmaker behind the

acorn undercover videos. and a firsthand look at the undercover issue of "time" magazine. first, we're opening up politico's playbook for this morning's big washington news, including who's pressuring the white house to pressure governor paterson not to run. you're watching "morning joe" brewed by starbucks. >> i think, if i were to try to explain the actions of mr. gadhafi today, i might be busy for the better part of the remainder of the afternoon. instead of $5 per person for fast food, you can serve a nutritious breakfast from walmart for just over $1 a person. one breakfast a week saves a family of four over $800 a year. save money. live better. walmart. without my makeup. now, it's no problem. (announcer) neutrogena tone correcting night serum

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swiffer dust & shine. gadhafi's speech is crazy. it went over 90 minutes. i think he was supposed to speak for 15 minutes. he went on for 90 minutes. as usual, he was all over the place. take a look at this.

>> that's great. i didn't realize he talked about that too. >> that would have been great. >> that was a wide ranging speech, wasn't it? with us now, the executive editor of politico jim vandehei with a look at politico's morning playbook. let's talk about david paterson, one of our favorite subjects here. we heard last week it was the white house putting pressure on paterson to not run for governor here in the state of new york. but apparently, the pressure was coming from somewhere else as well. >> you remember yesterday we talked about charlie rangel, paterson himself, and then yesterday paterson's wife weighed in and said they were upset the white house is interfering. it turns out, we're reporting this morning, that several democratic house members from

new york pressured the white house to pressure paterson. these are largely democrats in upstate new york who think they can't win, or have a harder chance of winning re-election if he's on the ticket. people like dan mcfay, who used to be a congressional staffer, they think the president's a big drag. they like the fact the white house is pressuring him. they went to rahm emmanuel and asked him to please pressure them. >> i think nobody would be more hurt than the appointeded senator gillibrand. obviously, she's not going to try to push the guy over that put her in there. but the white house has to understand. you have george pataki, who's not even talking about running. when george pataki is actually beating her in polls in new york state, the white house has to worry about that senate seat as well if paterson brings it to the table. >> he's a huge concern. top of the ticket in these state races can be a huge, huge drag. that's what the concern is. i think that concern is pretty broad. the concern today is will there

be a fight in the house between those members like charlie rangel who want the white house to butt out, who like paterson and don't want to feel his pressure, and those people thinking about politics and thinking about their own livelihood. they want to keep the seats. if they have the drag at the top of the ticket, they're worried they could lose several points. in a tight race in a bad environment, that could be the difference between having the seat and not having the seat. that's why it makes sense for the white house to get involved in races like this because they understand the ramifications of having a smaller majority in the house or senate. >> coming up on our show, we're going to show the first network interview with the acorn guy, the filmmaker who kind of went and blew this whole thing up with acorn dressed up as a pimp. acorn is fighting back. what are they doing? >> it's not an easy job for them. defending acorn is like defending john edwards. they're basically doing a media blitz. hey, we apologize for a couple of these isolated incidents. they have their lobbying team up on capitol hill talking to

sympathetic members trying to keep their funding, and they're filing a lawsuit against the makers of that video. they really want to try to change the public dynamic right now and the dynamic in congress where they're going to lose their funding. the irs yesterday cut off their volunteer tax status, which is great for them because it saves them money. >> and barney frank has now turned against acorn. >> when barney frank turns on you, katie bar the door. >> jim, thanks so much. we'll be reading politico.com today. appreciate it. >> let's talk really quickly about gillibrand, new york state. she was appointeded instead of caroline kennedy. and some polls, even in new york state, don't look great for it up against pataki. i would guess you'd really want the guy who made her a senator to get out. >> she does want a stronger top of the ticket particularly if republicans do have a strong candidate. this is the obama presidency in the balance. they need to keep seats in places like new york because they're going to lose them in

redder areas. >> mika, i never thought of george pataki as a really vibrant, excited guy, but let me tell you something. we had him on our radio show yesterday. >> oh, yeah? >> two days ago. >> i remember that. i wasn't on it. >> boy, he was on his toes. >> cool. >> he sounded better than i've ever heard him sound. he was talking about one, two, and i just sat back, and i said this guy sounds like he's running. and he said, well, i'm up to two or three miles, one of those political answers. >> one of the smartest people in american politics. >> i will say that george pataki sounded more engaged and energized than i've heard him. he always sounds sort of gray. he's ready. i think he may be ready to be a united states senator. that would be a good race, wouldn't it? a close race, you think? >> all depends on the climate. >> the climate's probably going to get worse for democrats only because unemployment's going to keep going up. >> okay. >> which it would probably do

under a republican president as well for the first couple of years. >> okay, moammar. banks are making lots of money on huge overdraft fees. they keep on hitting and hurting customers over and over again. now, three of the country's biggest banks announced they are changing those policies. our report comes from nbc senior investigative correspondent lisa myers. >> reporter: in a major reversal, bank of america says beginning next month it will finally allow customers to opt out of overdraft protection. that means, if there's no money in your account, the transaction will be declined. now the transactions are paid for a fee of $35 each. the bank also says it will no longer charge fees on very small overdrafts and will limit the maximum overdraft fees per day to a total cost of $140, down from $350 now. the changes come in response to an uproar by consumers.

some who vented on youtube. >> i can't stand the bank fees. >> yes, i do deserve two overdraft fees, but six? come on. >> wells fargo responded the same as bank of america. jpmorganchase went farther to reduce the overdraft fees and changed the transactions to add more fees. consumer groups say all are welcome changes, but not nearly enough. >> overdraft fees are one of the most abusive practices currently out there in the marketplace. >> reporter: there are things consumers can do to avoid overdraft fees. watch your account balance closely and try to maintain a cushion. if your bank won't let you opt out of overdraft protection, shop around. bank of america says it's making these changes now to provide immediate help to customers who repeatedly overdraw their accounts. but by addressing consumer

complaints, banks also hope to quell demand for a crackdown by congress. lisa myers, nbc news, washington. >> all right. coming up, a look atted too's morning papers. plus "the washington post," jonathan capehart, and barney frank and bill go at it when "morning joe" continues. >> that was something, wasn't it? >> yes. wow. pure cane sugar and the stevia plant.

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look at new york city. a little smoggy this morning. bill o'reilly, why do you think barney frank? he knows he's going to go on bill o'reilly, and they're going to fight each other. >> they're gladiators. >> welcome back to "morning joe." it's just before 6:30 on the east coast. time for a look at the day's top stories. thousands of police are mobilized in pittsburgh this morning. protests are expected as leaders of industrialized and developing nations discuss the global economy and lay out safeguards

against future crises. court appearances are scheduled today in new york and denver for three suspects who investigators say are linked to a possible terror plot. officials say they found bomb making instructions on the computer of a 24-year-old man originally from afghanistan. he and two others are charged with making false statements to the fbi. and although the federal reserve says economic recovery is picking up, policy makers are signaling no plans to start raising interest rates. following his decision to keep the rate near zero, the fed warns unemployment might not again to edge down until sometime next year. >> let's look through the papers. might want to talk about that terror plot that was foiled. there are a lot of people upset right now because they think they fumbled and didn't get the big guys. >> let's start with "the new york times." obama at the u.n. is back on iran and arms curbs. >> pittsburgh post gazette.

last steps to the summit. >> home buyers get a reprieve. >> washington timds, scars and stripes. congress flies tattered flagged over buildings. >> and houston chronicle, solar power may shine for the city. coming up next, jonathan capehart. he'll be with us for the must read opinion pages. and your father dr. brzezinski is going to be coming in. we're going to be talking about israel, iran, and if the united states should take coercive action to stop that. >> let's ask him a whole slough of questions. the flowers are blooming. the air is sweet. and zyrtec® starts... relieving my allergies... 2 hours faster than claritin®. my worst symptoms feel better, indoors and outdoors. with zyrtec®, the fastest... 24-hour allergy medicine,

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let's get back to these two young people who took it upon themselves. don't you admire them? isn't this what we should be? all citizen watch dogs, whistle blowers on corruption. >> there's a problem because you

said -- and i don't know this, and i have no reason to look into it -- that they may have violated maryland law. >> nobody cares about the maryland wiretap law. i want to know in spirit. >> what an outrageous statement for you to make. nobody cares about the maryland law. i do care about the law. i'm an elected official. >> you're a little eccentric, congressman. >> bill, in all -- >> do you care about the spirit -- no, thank you. >> i want to finish my sentence. i don't understand why you have a congenital inability to let people talk on an important subject. i admire the impulse to stop corruption. i do not want to condone violations of the law. when you say who cares about the maryland law? i think you're being irresponsible. >> did you see bill there, oh, you're just eccentric. oh, my god. >> wow, i'm really surprised. put those two together, and they start screaming. >> that was good. >> all right.

it's tiring. really? isn't that kind of tiring? it's all so predictable. blah, blah, blah, blah. >> two such big characters. >> the thing is, you know what's interesting -- can i finish? can the general finish? can moammar finish? unlike a lot of these stupid shows you watch where everybody comes in, you're great, you're great. why is the other side so evil? well, they're so evil -- this is actually -- what a shot. two different viewpoints. you've got to give o'reilly that. and o'reilly seriously, mark halperin, gets people with whom he disagrees. >> and he engages. >> and he engages. >> i find it boring. >> wait a second. barney frank condemning somebody for talking too much? you want to talk about moammar, that guy can talk. and he acts shocked when other

people try to talk. >> for all frank's defense of acorn in that interview, he says they shouldn't get any more federal funding. he's turned his back. >> so what was the point of the conversation? also, we're going to have the guy who took the videos, first interview on the show today. be very interesting. here with us now, editorial writer for "the washington post" and nbc contributor jonathan capehart. jonathan, good morning. nice to have you on. >> good morning, joe, willie, mark, mika. >> wiretapping laws, does that patter to you? >> i don't care. i don't live there. >> you're so eccentric. >> here's the must reads. >> "boston globe," you guys will just be bored by that, but i like it, and i think it's important. >> way to keep the viewers engaged. by the way, you're going to hate this. this is from me. go ahead. >> "the question then remains

who will be responsible -- this is about health care -- for addressing and paying for the pediatric obesity epidemic? the changes being proposed to the u.s. health care system should encompass long-term return on investment, meaning financial incentives for insurers to address longer term health problems. otherwise, the current short-term focus ensures that the u.s. health care system will be carrying this heavy burden of pediatric obesity well into the future." how do we address this? >> you know what we do to address this? i'm deadly serious. school has started. i know, when all of us grew up, my mom pushed me out the door at 7:00 or 8:00 in the morning in the summers. we would run and exercise. when school started, after school i'd be playing football, basketball. i think they -- i know this sounds -- if this is really such an epidemic, and i really believe it is -- >> it is an epidemic.

>> if kids aren't going to get exercise at home, run them at school. two hours of recess, one in the morning, one in the afternoon. >> they're cutting because of budget cuts. >> i understand, but they can't cut this because, again, kids are just sitting there playing video games. >> they're turning into blobs. >> we've got to figure out how to engage these kids in exercise from day one because they are blobs. >> your physical ability and nurturing it and growing it, it feeds right into your intellectual growth. >> jonathan capehart, you are very fit. very, very fit. >> yes, he is. >> do you agree with us? >> absolutely. >> yes, i agree, but i would also add there's got to be parental responsibility. you said something very important. your mom pushed you out the door. we've got to get the kids away from the wii and the sega, whatever they're playing these days. >> there you go. >> say atari. why don't you just talk about s asteroi

asteroids, dude? xbox. just say xbox, and you'll be fine. >> that's what i was thinking of. they've got to get out of the house. instead of playing bowling or tennis on wii, how about actually get out there and bowl or play tennis or something? >> willie geist? >> and sega genesis was last mentioned in 1987 on television. >> donkey kong. >> i am so with you. i'd put a $1 surcharge on a can of soda. >> we've got to -- while we're teaching reading and writing and arithmetic, we've got to engage kids, get them exercise. >> our children are fat. >> remember when we grew up, the presidential fitness award. that's a small part of it. >> that's right. i had one. >> nationwide, kids need to start getting outside and exercising more. >> back when we were kids, there would be one child who was a little bit overweight. i'm sorry. there's five, six, seven, eight, nine, or ten overweight kids in every classroom. it's unacceptable, and it's our fault. >> they come home after sitting

in school all the time. >> and it's the crap they sell in grocery stores. >> and they sit there -- they come home, sit, play their sega, genesis, asteroids. then they watch tv. then they go on the computers. they're facebooking it. >> they eat garbage, and they drink poison. >> here's the deal, though, mika. here's why i push back on that so much. very few people had as bad of a diet as i did growing up. >> that's terrific that you're lucky and tall and you wear it well. >> moammar, can i please finish? seriously, can i finish? >> okay, mahmoud. >> exercise erases a multitude of sins for young children. kids absorb a lot of junk they shouldn't be eating when they are young if they are active if they run and they bicycle and they exercise. i'm dying right now. it's not because all of the captain crunch i had.

it may be the cigarettes. but we've got to get the kids exercise. >> the garbage you put in your system, even if you stay thin because by the grace of god you don't get fat, you still are not healthy. you're not building a healthy body if you eat a bunch of crap created by these companies that feed on our addiction to junk. somebody has to say it, and someone has to be honest about it. >> no one needs to say it, mika. nobody needs to say it because that's all you ever talk about. so i think you've got that one taken care of. >> with crunch berries? >> i love crunch berries. >> there's real fruit in crunch berries. >> there are real fruits. it has seven essential vitamins. that and count chocula. >> did i mention fruit loops? >> let me just say, king vitamin, have breakfast with the king, and vitamin's in the name. you want to know what the best cereal ever was? >> lucky charms. >> no, you don't even remember

this. >> quisp. >> quispy quakes. >> cookie crisp, which was literally a bowl of chocolate chip cookies. poor milk over a bunch of cookies and eat it. >> lucky charms is like all marshmallows. >> so that's it. older brothers voted for quake. younger brothers voted for quisp. >> no one is listening. take a look. walk down the street. no one's listening. >> mika's right. >> mika, when you see a fat kid, do you intervene? >> i will tell you what i have done. do you want to know? >> oh, no. >> the kids -- and i don't agree with this, and i make some noise about this. the kids go to town for lunch. they leave the school. so around 12:00 every day, the town stores are full of kids.

instead of buying lunch, they're buying pizza and candy. and i got so angry one day because the school wouldn't listen to me, that i went to every child in line, and i said, do you know what you're eating? that is not what you're suppose to be eating for lunch. >> those poor children. >> i suggest you put it back right now and go get yourself a healthy lunch so you can actually listen in class today, right? i know your mother. would you like me to tell her that you are having a two-pound hershey bar for lunch. >> i have a very important message. amelia, farley, you only have about ten more years to live with your mom, and she can humiliate you no more. we just endure the pain day in and day out. >> and they had a soda, and i told them to put it back too. >> coming up on "morning joe," we're going to see where it all began. the madness.

dr. brzezinski's going to be talking about his crazy daughter and also the craziness that's happened at the united nations. but first, the russians are coming to the nba. freddy ball game is next with sports. how to get rich, by america's health insurance companies. raise health insurance premiums 4 times faster than wages. pay your ceo twenty four million dollars a year. deny payment for 1 out of every 5 treatments doctors prescribe. if the insurance companies win, you lose. tell congress to rewrite the story. we want good health care we can afford with the choice of a public health insurance option.

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gadhafi was forced to camp in westchester county on land rented from donald trump. but the donald kicked him out because he doesn't associate with despised fundamentalists who are not in the miss usa pageant. >> time for some sports. bobby cox has been an institution in atlanta for the next 20 years. we just got word his run is coming to an end. fred roggin has sports. fred? >> thank you and good morning. they say when it's time to go, you'll know. for bobby cox, it's that time. the manager of the braves announced he'll retire next season after 50 years in it baseball. braves facing the mets. adam laroche with a pair of rbis. mets with a golden chance to get back in the game.

sacks full. luis castillo grounded into an inning ending double play. braves are now just four games out of the wild card. jorge cantu with an rbi singing up the middle. ross gload came in to tie the game at 6. came through with a game-winning hit. marlins rally from three down to beat the champs 7-6. more late-hitting heroics in the nation's capital. dodgers and nats. pete orr with a shot to andre ethier. he dropped it. not like it would have mattered. runners were tagging. nationals won 5-4. victory meant so much more to the team. with the win, they avoid losing 100 games this season. to anaheim, who let the cat out of the bag? yankees romero pena dressed as catwoman for rookie hazing. yankees always seem to land on their feet. robinson cano gave them the lead

with an rbi single 'went on to win 3-2. their magic number to clinch the east is five. tampa bay trying to salvage anything. sacks full. rays battle back from four down to take the lead. last gas for the mariners. bill hall to center. if it's gone, it ties the game. upton made the leaping grab at the wall. rays went on to win 5-4. the team once known as the americans could be owned by russia's richest man. billionaire mikhail kokorov has signed a deal to buy the new jersey nets. he made his money in the nickel business and also ran a successful prostitution ring in eastern europe, giving new meaning to the phrase from russia with love. you wonder how bad indian wants to beat pakistan in cricket? the indian coach said increased testosterone levels would get india the victory. he has mandated that all team

members have sex before the big match. he's even gone so far on laying out directions on what to do if a partner is not available. use your own imagination on that one. that's it from me. we'll talk to you guys tomorrow. all right. coming up, nbc's chuck todd is going to be here in the studio. of course, the "news you can't use." tom delay, did they kick him off "dancing with the stars" last night? he didn't deserve to be. he was left in the hands of the american people. pure cane sugar and the stevia plant.

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please tell me it's time. >> time for the news you cannot use. we start with a very disturbing story. in fact, if the kids are around, maybe take them out for a second. mackenzie phillips, the daughter of john phillips, the guy who founded -- he was the leader of the mamas and papas. there they are sitting together. she's got a new book out where she says -- she makes the claim that she had a long sexual relationship with her own biological father, that man right there, john phillips. she went on oprah's show yesterday -- and we're not going to play the goriest details of it. this sound bite here will give you a general sense. >> i woke up that night from a blackout to find myself having sex with my own father. this happened over time -- it didn't happen every day. it didn't happen every week. but it certainly happened, and

it happened enough times -- >> many times. >> many times. >> and by the way, when she's talking about waking up the next day, she's talking about her wedding day. first time it happened was the night before -- >> that's not the gory part. >> there were details she got into with oprah. some of phillips' wives have come out and said, this can't be true. it's impossible. shame on oprah for even having her on the show. there you go. a story a lot of people are talking about. >> probably wouldn't have said it at all if the guy was alive, you know what i mean? >> he died in 2001. happier times. let's talk about tom delay dancing, dancing, dancing. dancing machine. he surprised a lot of people. we were impressed with his performance on monday night on "dancing with the stars." he did the cha-cha. he did it to the song "wild thing." he scored low but not as low as a lot of people. last night was the big night. will he stay, or will he go?

here's the announcement. >> the next couple definitely safe to dance next week is -- tom and cheryl. >> yeah, good times. >> another week of tom delay. >> i can't believe it. i was sure he was gone. >> he wasn't that bad. >> he was not. >> no, he was. >> he threw himself into it. >> there were much, much worse dancers. >> this is just wrong. >> this is so wrong it almost feels right. >> he's got a certain something. >> exactly. >> his fate was left in the hands of the american people, and they stood tall with the former congressman. >> they've got to be proud. >> that means we have to see more of this. >> so we'll be watching him again next week. good for us. speaking of former congressmen who have run into

some trouble in their past, jim traficant. >> the chairman. >> he's out of the clink. he's back in business after seven years. he was on ha"hardball" with chr matthews last night. he hasn't really changed much since he went into the slammer. here we go. >> i still have federales swarming around me. sometimes i see this money going all over the world, all this stimulus money. stimulate this, that's what i'm saying. i want to get the irs, kick them in the crotch real good, and i want to apologize to all the hookers in america for having associated them with the house of representatives. i think it's a big whorehouse, and they'd better start taking care of america. >> the thing is the hair. they took it away from him in prison. joe, you served with jim. tell me about him. >> i love the guy. >> really? >> he called everybody mr. chairman. he's a very fun, likable guy, and actually didn't take himself

seriously even in the court of law, when he got himself thrown in jail. no, seriously, who didn't like jim traficant? he would wear these not only rugs on his head but he would wear these jackets that were basically shag carpet. >> you know the most depressing thing about traficant is he comes from one of the mob capitals of the country, unofficially, youngstown. they didn't care. they sort of embrace the idea that their congressman was going to -- i'm not saying the mob was responsible for traficant, but the fact that they allowed their fine city of youngstown to be represented by him just showed you what the mob thought of congress, i think. >> top of the hour. >> i like jim. >> welcome to "morning joe." >> i wish i would have been able to vote for him. >> can he vote? >> not anymore, i guess. >> chuck todd's with us. >> when does he get to vote? >> as well as "the washington

post's" jonathan capehart. we need to get to the news. >> we do need to get to the news very soon. a lot to talk about. united nations, you're going to be playing a lot of that. >> that was quite something. >> that was something. it was crazy times at the u.n. some news getting out of there, slipping out. the president challenging the world, saying we've made mistakes. but you have no more excuses. we want to work with you. we talked about it before, mark halperin. some news from iran. ahmadinejad talking about possibly a concession or two. >> making an offer. we'll see if it's a real offer. >> in "usa today" the fed all but declares the recession is over. time forred too's top stories. this morning. president obama will chair a meeting of the u.n. security council, the first time for a u.s. president. it follows wednesday's general assembly. the leaders of iran and libya raled against capitalism and the

west. in his address, president obama called on the international community to look forward while accepting their share of the responsibility. >> those who used to chastise america for acting alone in the world cannot now stand by and wait for america to solve the world's problems alone. we have sought, in word and deed, a new era of engagement with the world. and now is the time for all of us to take our share of responsibility for a global response to global challenges. >> later this morning, the president heads to pittsburgh for the g20 summit focused on economic recovery. climate change is also on the agenda, a big topic for protestors who unfurled a giant banner across a downtown bridge on wednesday. thousands of police officers are mobilized with at least 14 arrests coming yesterday. we're going to talk to nbc's savannah guthrie coming up, who's reporting live from the g20 summit in just a few minutes.

>> chuck todd, conservatives last night -- i saw pete wehner, for instance, in commentary, saying barack obama used an international speech to criticize america. he did go through a laundry list of what we had done wrong. those on the left liked the speech. how do you think it's going to play for swing voters? >> i thought they tightened up their rhetoric and toughened it up. what's funny is the criticism coming from the right on obama's international speeches to me felt like they were criticizing the ones he had done a couple of months ago. it was almost as if the press releases were ready truly before they read the speech. i thought the speech was much tougher and a little more, frankly, what the conservatives have been hitting on. he's been too apologetic. i thought it was much less apologetic. i thought it was different. >> chuck is right. the right wrote these in advance. whatever obama says, they're going to disagree reflectively. it's a problem for them, but i think it's a problem for him

too. on issues, including international issues, he needs support on afghanistan, on iran. he needs support from conservatives, not just reflective opposition. >> we talk about bipartisanship all the time. on domestic stuff, no one pays attention. you've got to have it on the foreign policy stuff. someone's going to pay a price for this at some point. one of the two parties are going to pay a price for this, either the president or the republicans, but the fact that there is not agreement, that there is open warfare on foreign policy, that's truly ugly in american politics. >> let me just read a couple of lines here, jonathan capehart, and get you to respond that caused some concerns. when the president talked about global warming, the president yesterday said the days when america dragged its feet on this issue are over. when the president talked about democracy at the united nations, the president said, in the past, america has often been too

selective in its promotion of democracy. and then said, i took office at a time when many around the world had come to view america with skepticism and distrust. part was due to misperceptions and misinformation around the country. but part was due to an opposition of specific policies and a certain belief on critical issues america has acted unilaterally without regards for others. and talks about how our actions in the past led to almost a reflexive anti-americanism. what do you think about taking that tack at the u.n.? >> well, i mean, that's, i think, what the folks at the u.n. wanted to hear. for the longest time, the united states, particularly with the previous administration, didn't care too much about the u.n., or wanted to go it alone on a lot of things. you know, obama as accountant dat and now as president has made it clear that the united states -- there are lots of big problems in the world. leave aside the big problems here at home. but there are a lot of big problems in the world that need

to be solved, and the united states can't do it alone. it needs to have the international community with it. by acknowledging some of the anger, if you will, the discomfort with the united states posture over the last eight years, he's trying to bring these folks along by acknowledging what a lot of people in the room feel is the obvious. i think now he hopes, hey, how about some troops for afghanistan and other things the united states would like to have to move forward? >> i certainly agree we can't go it alone. you look at afghanistan. you look at iraq. you look at the challenges in iran. as we've been saying, we've been exhausted. at the same time, i think this is going to be a continuing -- what was the name of mitt romney's book? he played on this theme, like no need to apologize or something like that. i think this is going to be a theme going into the 2012 election at least. republicans saying, we're not going to apologize for america.

>> move on with news and talk more about that. massachusetts governor duval patrick is set to announce his interim appointment to the late senator ted kennedy's senate seat. according to "the wall street journal" kennedy's family is pushing for former dnc chair paul kirk jr., who was a close friend to the late senator. >> paul kirk, what can you tell americans about him? >> just be a classic caretaker for the seat for just a few months. he's experienced in washington. former democratic party chairman, very close to the kennedy family. i think he'll do what needs to be done in there. >> chuck todd, what can you tell us about paul kirk? >> america knows him as the guy who always teams up with frank farrenkoff and gives us the presidential debates. >> he'll be a caretaker. >> he'll be a caretaker, but he will be a caretaker that the white house -- he gets that he's not going to grandstand. the nervousness was that a michael dukakis would get there

and be michael dukakis and be -- go his own way. some will say, gee, duval patrick is appointing a senator. that's just going to be helpful to the white house. >> who replaces him in the long run? >> i think it will be martha coakley, the attorney general up there. she has put together the fastest campai campaign. the others are way behind her. >> the biggest thing is women in massachusetts politics have sometimes looked strong on paper but not done well. >> and speaking of women in politics or not, former alaska governor sarah palin is deflecting questions about whether she may run for higher office in the future. her comments came earlier this morning following her speech to business leaders at an investors forum in hong kong. >> you know, i wish i could predict the future.

cannot. so can't answer that question right now. but look forward to more opportunities to send good messages from the u.s. and hopefully help meet some of the challenges that we're all facing today. >> chuck todd, mark halperin predicted last hour she wouldn't run in 2012. what do you think? >> i completely agree except with this caveat. sometime in october, there will be a draft movement in new hampshire, october 2011. she'll flirt with it. she'll show up. >> drink the kool-aid. >> she'll do it just enough to make her endorsement matter. i think that she's smart enough to know -- she plays -- yeah, i think she's going to play this. she won't run at the beginning. probably never will run. i bet you she toys with the draft movement that will somehow puff -- new hampshire always loves to mess around with the process. she'll embrace it, and it will probably end up helping whoever's out in front because it will almost freeze the race. >> i remember newt teasing in

'95, sort of going up there a couple of times. >> colin powell teasing. >> colin powell did too. what about newt gingrich? you think newt's going to run in '12? >> i change my mind on him every week. he just launched this hispanic website a couple of weeks ago, the americano. and you think, well, maybe this guy is really trying to be a player. i assume he runs if he thinks the field is weak and he thinks he can somehow be one of the final two or three. >> court appearances are scheduled today for three suspects who investigators say are linked to a possible terrorist plot. it comes amid suggestions investigators may have blown surveillance in the case by questioning one of the suspects without the fbi's knowledge. that suspect may then have tipped off others before the investigation was complete. >> there are a lot of people in the intel community that are outraged because they got the guy that's got the bomb parts

here and basically was mixing up bombs which they thought they were going to deploy across new york. unfortunately, they don't know who he works for, who sent it to him, and so they bungled this case before -- and this -- i mean, this was serious. i'm not going to tell you where they were going to put all the bombs, but i'll tell you, it was frightening. >> for the first time, an experimental aids vaccine is proving somewhat effective against the hiv virus. in a clinical trial, it reduced the risk of infection by more than 31%. although not effective enough to be licensed, experts say it may lead to promising new research. >> let's bring in chuck todd. chuck, news out of the u.n. another thing we haven't talked about yet. big news really. we're getting reports that gordon brown, the british prime minister, tried desperately to get a meeting with barack obama, and he stiff-armed him on five different occasions.

obviously, going back to the libyan terrorist. >> i guess it's no longer just a very special relationship. it's just a special relationship. i think it's always special. at this point it's special they're not meeting. >> five separate snubs. >> a lot of times you see it gets played down. i think even yesterday the white house is saying, oh, we're going to meet with prime minister brown in pittsburgh, and they chair something, i think, together here at the u.n. so they've spent a lot of time with each other. clearly, i think brown wanted to show that america had forgiven him, and i think we were not going to help him out because frankly the politics of great britain suggests gordon brown's days are numbered either as head of the labor party or prime minister himself. >> he'll step down for health reasons, spend more time with his family. >> one of the reservations some people had about barack obama as

president was he didn't know a lot of world leaders coming in. we're not a year into his administration, but pretty far in there still an open question. with whom does he have a special personal relationship? with which world leaders has he bonded enough to make deals and put national interests aside and come together? right now i can't name anybody. >> in fairness, i think the relationship in brazil is for real. i think it was a personal intervention by the president to basically calm that situation down at the summit of the americas with cuba. i think he has -- whether this is good or bad. i think the sarkozy relationship is -- >> remember sarkozy trashed him. >> i think there is -- it is one of those pieces, sarkozy is a big talker, but he gets what he wants from him. >> it is ironic, as much as obama was trashed for having france and germany go against him at the beginning of the iraq

war, he had close relationships with sarkozy, who really liked him, and also with merkel, when he wasn't rubbing her shoulders. >> oh. >> and blair, of course. >> and blair. they had a really close relationship with blair. it is interesting, though, that sarkozy almost seemed to have contempt for him. why do you think they -- >> look, they just have had -- i just think that every time he's able to -- they're able to movsar cozy. that's what i mean. when they need sarkozy to say something, they're able to move him at these events. you're right, after they leave, i think part of this has been there's been this for six months jealousy. he comes into their country, and he's the most popular guy in the country. obama comes in more popular and more interesting. so you do -- look, i saw it the first time with obama and harper up in canada. harper got competitive with obama because obama came in, and it was the biggest event. literally canadian television was breaking in, not since

kennedy came. and you're like -- >> mika, that's what my mother always used to tell me. when kids at school didn't like me, she'd say, they're just jealous. >> that's so sweet. that's a sweet way of putting it. that's good. >> by the way, joe, i'm confused. if the president is too close to world leaders, he gets criticized on the right. and now he's not close enough. >> i don't understand. >> never happy. >> you don't really care what moammar gadhafi or ahmadinejad think of you, but it's good to be liked. >> i'm glad that gadhafi is into jack ruby. there's something about he's into the conspiracy theory. >> chuck todd, you were great on the radio yesterday. >> that will be the next movie, "gadhafi." >> between 10:00 and noon, mark halperin will be on today. jonathan capehart, thank you so much. see you soon. coming up, on to the g20.

will it be just another summit, or will anything get done? we'll talk to savannah guthrie. plus dr. zbigniew brzezinski. >> this is going to be interesting. dr. brzezinski next. also, our exclusive first look at the cover of the new issue of "time" magazine. first let's get a check of the weather with wtvj miami meteorologist ryan phillips. here we go. with showers exiting the northeast. that's some good news. still be left with a little cloud cover through the afternoon hours. overall as we get into the next few days, weather getting better in the northeast. it will cool down. warm one with highs in the mid-80s. thankfully dry in the southeast. atlanta highs at 84. no airport delays on the east coast. stick around. much more to come. you're watching "morning joe" brewed by starbucks. [ woman ] dear cat. gentle cat.

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an almost reflexive anti-americanism, which too often has serve as an excuse for collective inaction. now, like all of you, my responsibility is to act in the interests of my nation and my people, and i will never apologize for defending those interests. but it is my deeply held belief that in the year 2009, more than at any point in human history, the interests of nations and peoples are shared. >> welcome back to "morning joe." after president obama chaired the meeting with the u.n. security council this morning, he's off to pittsburgh to host the g20 summit. live from steel city, nbc news white house correspondent savannah guthrie, already on location. >> she pick a fwraet site. >> and somebody it in reverse behind you clearly. i can hear it. >> reporter: i know. it's probably that leaf blower from the white house following

me. >> so tell us what's on tap today. are we expecting -- what are we expecting to come out of this? >> reporter: well, that's always the question with these summits, right? is there really going to be any news beyond these big broad statements they can get all the leaders to agree to? i think there are going to be a couple of big issues. number one, financial regulatory reform. this is something discussed at the g20 in london in april. the leaders really want to hear from america that we are serious about enacting reforms. a lot of folks, particularly europe, feel that this financial crisis was made in the usa. they want to see tough financial regulations so that it doesn't happen again. some of them are concerned that it's not happening fast enough because, of course, the president has been consumed by the health care debate. another big issue i think we're going to hear a lot about is an exit strategy from fiscal stimulus. yes, the leaders got on board in april, saying they committed to stimulus, doing whatever it takes to stave off a great depression. instead, we just had what some

called the great recession. but they want to know there's a long-term plan here. they're very concerned about budget deficits. germany in particular has been kind of merkel going around campaigning. she's up for re-election. talking about their fiscal rectitude and drawing a comparison between themselves and us. europe in particular will be really wondering whether there's an exit strategy from fiscal stimulus and what the u.s. plans to do in the long term with that deficit. >> are we going to actually see the president get together with the british prime minister? are they going to be reunited? is it going to feel so good? >> i don't know. we'll see. they're certainly going to see each other. brown was interviewed -- >> you know that song? >> i know it well. it's on my ipod. >> too much information. >> reporter: you brought it up. >> so anyway, are they going to get together or not? >> reporter: right now we don't see it on this schedule. gordon brown was asked about this by brian williams yesterday, and, of course, as you would expect, downplayed

this idea of a snub, saying they had a very close working relationship. the backdrop here is the u.s. being none too pleased about the scottish authorities' decision to release the lockerbie bomber on compassionate grounds, something that brown said was really out of his hands and something for the scottish authorities to deal with. >> how's pittsburgh treating you? >> reporter: it's good. i mean, other than the garbage truck, it's beautiful. we have a beautiful backdrop here. we like it. >> have you been to the warhol museum yet? >> reporter: i thought you were going to say have i been to -- never mind, the bars or whatever. i thought we were going to go down that path again. i'm just conditioned. but, no, i haven't been to any museums. >> savannah, it is great to see you. let us know what happens. >> say hi to the garbage men for us. up next, a rare interview with the man known as acorn's public enemy number one. the independent filmmaker behind those undercover videos.

and also we've got dr. brzezinski coming up. >> that's true. we do. >> chuck todd, mark halperin still with us. we're going to have a roundtable conversation with dr. z when we return. i'm walgreens ceo and i'm also a pharmacist. getting an early flu shot is the best thing you can do... to protect you and your loved ones from the flu. it's also one of the easiest things you can do... because walgreens is now offering seasonal flu shots... every day of the week with convenient hours guaranteed. so you can just stop in. our 16,000 dedicated pharmacists... and take care clinic nurse practitioners... are waiting to help you beat the flu... in neighborhoods nationwide. at walgreens we want you to know, there's a way to stay well.

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welcome back to "morning joe." we have for you now an nbc news exclusive. you remember the hidden camera videos that got the nonprofit group acorn in trouble. mara is here with more to talk about the young man behind it. >> his name is james o'keefe. he's a 25-year-old independent filmmaker, whose work has been described as a combination of "60 minutes" and "borat." we caught up with james in new york for his first ever broadcast interview to find out who he is and what he did with the hidden cam rap '. this is how much of the world was introduced to james o'keefe, dress like a pimp for a hidden camera investigation into acorn, the community advocacy group whose voter registration efforts in disadvantaged communities were targeted by president

obama's opponents last year. this is how i met him, as a soft-spoken, self-described radic radical, dealing with an awful lot of new attention. >> we think you're unbelievable. >> reporter: has caught him completely by surprise. did you expect all these repercussions when you started? >> no. >> reporter: posing as a pimp and prostitute, o'keefe and hannah giles, a friend he met on facebook, caught acorn employees in five cities appearing to give advice on tax evasion, human smuggling, and prostitution. >> if you're just taking money from underage prostitutes, oh, mied go, that doesn't sound good. >> reporter: o'keefe said he and giles spent about $1,300 to fund their trips. he won't say how many offices they visited. do you consider yourself a conservative? >> i consider myself a progressive radical. i don't really want to conserve anything. >> reporter: how do you define yourself? as a journalist? as an activist? >> i don't have a business card. i'm too busy doing what i do. i let other people frame it.

>> reporter: it's a style he has been honing since his college days at rutgers university. he started with pranks, like complaining about lucky charms being served in the dining hall. >> as you can see, we're not all short. we have our differences in height and believe it's stereotypical of all irish americans. >> reporter: and moved on to more outrageous political fare, like calling planned parenthood if they would accept donations to abort black babies. >> there's definitely way too many black people in ohio. so i'm just trying to do my part. >> reporter: o'keefe is going to release more acorn video in the upcoming weeks and is getting ready to start on his next project. >> i would like to expose more corruption and do more investigating. it would be a privilege. >> reporter: his hope, that this introduction to the public is the beginning of a long relationship. >> wow. >> as for acorn, they've now filed a multimillion dollar

lawsuit against james and giles, plus the conservative blogger who posted the videos on his website. >> so lawsuits filed? >> lawsuit based on the fact that the people who were taped were not -- did not agree to be taped. >> how did he pay for the hidden camera stuff? >> he says that it was -- there's been a lot of speculation as to who's behind this, who's funding you? he said it's completely their project. him and his accomplice hannah giles, they funded everything themselves. they had a hard time scraping together money for their plane ticket to california. >> isn't it remarkable that a guy with a camera can go around to these offices and totally defund a pretty powerful political organization like acorn? >> it's had a profound effect on the organization. >> mara, thank you very much. we appreciate it. >> that is great. thank you. >> coming up, the first look at the new cover of "time" magazine. first, dr. zbigniew brzezinski

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can you guarantee how obama will govern? no one can guarantee america. we are content and happy if obama can stay forever as president of america. >> oh, we're back. here with us now, former national security adviser dr. zbigniew brzezinski. he was the co-author of america and the world, conversations on the future of american foreign policy. ed da, thanks for being on the show this morning. >> good morning, mika. good morning, joe. >> good morning, dr. brzezinski. also with us, of course, willie geist. we have mark halperin. >> willie, good morning. >> mark halperin from "time"

magazine. everyone wants your take of what happened yesterday at the united nations. we were talking around the table, some interesting things, the president's speech and also ahmadinejad perhaps giving some concessions. what was your takeaway? >> well, ahmadinejad was ahmadinejad. that is to say, partially unpredictable, partially a haranger, partially a debater, partially a negotiator. that's more or less typical of the way the current iranian government operates. >> were you pleased with what you heard from president obama? >> what? >> were you pleased with what you heard from president obama? talking about the united states moving away from a unilateralist approach to the world. >> i think the general approach of the president is absolutely right. it's the historically needed thing. the united states really damaged itself over the last number of years. so he's reconnecting with the world, and he's doing that well.

i have a little more concern about his policy in the middle east because it seems to me that he elevated the issue of the settlements before the general assembly because apparently he wasn't prepared to pursue it. so why raise something which is bound to produce resistance and then drop it. i think that has hurt him actually. it has undermined his credibility. if you look today at israeli press on the subject, that's quite evident. it will help the more extremist governments. >> we're going to talk about the middle east in a minute. one of the things that many of us around the table were surprised by and also "the new york times" editorialized about it today, the president did not talk about it yesterday, and that is afghanistan. how do we move forward in afghanistan? >> well, again, it's really not an issue to discuss in the united nations. i think it's, first of all, an issue we have to discuss very closely with our allies.

that's particularly the nato allies who have forces in afghanistan together with us. we have to discuss it with afghanistan's neighbors, particularly pakistan. to some extent, the chance occurs as the talks unfold with the iranians. to some extent with the chinese, who have influence on the pakistanis and who will have an interest in the region close to them not exploding. so that's how we have to tackle the decision-making process regarding afghanistan. >> mark halperin here with another question about afghanistan. this administration normally pretty disciplined. we don't normally see internal disagreements aired so publicly. why on afghanistan are we hearing so much about the vice president, vice president biden's very different policy prescription from what's being pursued here? is that an accident or something else going on? >> i think it's sort of typical. when an important issue is being debated and there are

differences, there develops an inevitable tendency to try to create sort of outside pressure in one direction or another. i don't think it's anything untoward, anything unusual. but it's a reflection of the seriousness of the problem. and i think it's a good thing that there are different points of views being discussed. this is an enormously complex issue. if you pressed me right now to give you a one minute answer as to what we ought to be doing, i'm not sure i could tell you very much beyond some generalities. so the discussion is ongoing. i think it's good. i think it's important that the president finally make some decisions. but particularly with our allies because we don't want to be stuck alone. i don't think we should just pack up and go, but at the same time, we need to be very careful not to make this into the u.s. war against the afghans, and that's a risk we're facing. >> chuck todd. >> doctor, i just want to follow up on mark's question. first, also, not just in the administration, but there seems

to be open public debate between the pentagon and between the uniforms and the civilians, that's one. and, two, you brought up an excellent point on china. where is china on afghanistan? why haven't they been supportive -- more supportive publicly of what the u.s. has been doing there? for what you just brought up, stability, one would assume stability there. considering they've had their own issues with some islamic fundamentalism, that they would be more supportive of what's going on over there. >> well, i think the chinese are clearly worried because of recent developments which you referred to as upheavals have made them more worried. they also have a major worry in pakistan because, in a sense, pakistan is a friend in their rivalry with india. they have a concern for pakistan being constructive but not intensely islamist. i think china could play a role

here. but that raises also the issue of our own strategic approach. can we in the long run prevail in afghanistan if pakistan is not fully with us? and the pakistanis, rightly or wrongly, have very, very deep seated concerns about the political posture of afghanistan insofar as their rivalry with india is concerned. so they in a sense want to make sure that afghanistan is a kind of reliable source of strategic debt. i think getting full pakistani cooperation on afghanistan could be facilitated by great involvement of the chinese in the discussions. i would think our diplomacy ought to be striving to achieve that. >> and quickly, on the pentagon issue, the uniform versus the civilian? >> that's always the case. >> true. >> look, if you were in uniform, if you were conducting a military operation in which lives are at stake, your own

life is at stake, you'd want to have maximum force. it helps you to prevail. it also minimizes your casualties. but if you're the political leader, you have to ask yourself, all right. but what's beyond this solution? or are there other elements you have to take into account? in the afghan case, for example, the traditional reality that afghan politics is not based on the nation state but an amalgam of statelets, almost you can call it, that together are afghanistan. and that political stability requires, yes, use of force, but also a lot of localized accommodation. >> dad, mark halperin has a question for you. >> dr. brzezinski, we had ahmadinejad talking yesterday, at least retorically, about being open to some kind of inspections or work with scientists on their nuclear program. we've got talks coming up between the united states and other criticize near iran.

what roll should a possible military strike play in these talks? is that good for u.s. policy, or is any threat of nuclear attack possibly drive the israelis in a bad direction? >> if we're serious about negotiating with iran or giving the united states a chance, you cannot start the negotiations by making threats or having another country make threats by implying that one way or another we would be complicity in it. i think that actually hurts the negotiating process. if we want to deal with the iranians and see if there is some room for accommodation, let's give negotiations a serious chance. that will take some months. and we'll know whether the iranians are prepared to accommodate. now, in the long run, in the long run, the ideologues come with a result which involves no nuclear weapons for the iranians, who they say they're not seeking, unlike the north

koreans. secondly, a political change in iran, which brings to the surface over time a more moderate government. and, third, the reemergence of iran, not only as an ally of the united states in the region, but also, as it has in the recent past, been an ally of israel. these are the strategic objectives that it's worthwhile to be pursuing. but pounding the table, making threats, suggesting there's going to be a unilateral attack is really counterproductive. it plays into the hands of the iranian hardliners. >> do you think the israeli government sees that? will they be patient? barack obama is not very popular in israel. does he have the leverage to get them to back off or get them to not engage in military planning? gl that is the problem. if israel were to strike on its own, we would look as if we were complicity, especially if our air space is to be used. that's why we have to be clear on these issues if we want to

avoid incidents, confusion, and very, very serious strategic mistakes. >> dad, to avoid some confusion, you made some comments to the daily beast that certainly made the rounds over the past few days about whether or not how the u.s. should respond if israel flies over u.s. air face to get to iran to attack. and your response -- i'd like you to characterize it because it has been mischaracterized. at the same time, i wonder if you felt you were fanning any flames of controversy out there. >> i wasn't deliberately fanning any flames of controversy. i simply said that, if the israelis violated our space, there could be an incident, and i said it's very much to be avoided. this could be a collision. i simply said we don't let the israelis use our air space for an attack for which we will then be blamed by the iranians. we have 120,000 troops

vulnerable in iraq. if the iranians start retaliating against us, it will be in iraq. it will be in afghanistan. it will be in the strait of hormuz with the enormous rise in the price of oil. these will be the consequences of an attack on iran, which has been perceived by the iranians as having been undertaken in complicity with us. or our interests and everybody's interests, including israel's interests, that we be clear on this. we're a country that also has national interests we have to protect. we cannot let our foreign policy be guided by something else than our national interest. >> dr. brzezinski, we all hope it comes to this. let's ask the tough question right now. if those planes do take off from israel, they fly over iraqi air space with the intention of taking out targets in iran, does the united states intervene? do we fire on those planes? >> you don't wait until something like that happens. you make your position clear in advance. the israelis have the policy of not letting foreign armed planes

fly over their air space. i don't think we should take the position that we're going to be fuzzy on this and simply create ambiguity. i think this is a situation in which you have to discuss these options carefully but also be very clear about our interests. my view is that the iranians having the bomb would be a disaster. but my view also is that precipitating a war with iran, when this is not at this stage absolutely necessary or even then perhaps, is also a disaster. and therefore, i think we have to be very clear. fuzziness or lack of calculation in advance is counterproductive. look, for example, what i just referred to earlier. this whole affair over the israeli settlements. we took a public stance that we're against it. that's stopping the settlements is necessary for the peace process to move forward. when all of a sudden we are bucked on this, we bucked back off. that doesn't help our credibility. it undermines our strategic

stability. our strategic credibility. so all i'm saying is in these complicated issues of life and death, of war and peace, clarity, national interest, clearly defineded purpose are absolutely necessary. fuzziness, evasiveness, weakness leads to conflicts, to collisions, to very negative consequences. >> he just made a very -- this is always the great danger of foreign policy that i think liberals and conservatives would agree with that last statement. you can't be fuzzy because it's when you're fuzzy that you cause confusion. >> and also, we've had a series since dr. brzezinski had his interview, we had richard haass, les gelb, we talked to a series of foreign policy experts who all said the same thing. there can be no ambiguity. >> and the domestic uprising that would create. >> here's the deal. it is in the opinion of a lot of people we've talked to this

week. shooting down israeli jets is not a possibility. making sure, though, that we never get to that point, which is what it sounds like, dr. brzezinski, you just said, that is critical. there can be no ambiguity. not only that, i know we're talking about pro-israeli supporters in america, but consumers also would certainly need to understand that gas prices would go to $4 a gallon, $5 a gallon. the instability that this would create right now would be devastating. >> by the way, listen to prime minister netanyahu's words when he came over here. the relationship between netanyahu and obama isn't as bad as some would paint it to be. it's sort of like, you know, they are not ideologically close, but there is a -- it's sort of in the same way two brothers are still close even if they don't agree.

it's sort of a very tight relationship. still a tight relationship. >> dr. brzezinski, we want to change topics to poland. the poles have to feel betrayed because of what happened over the last few weeks. can you speak to that? >> well, they feel let down. but to some extent that was also a product of their own overemphasis on this sort of russia oriented implications of the missile shield that we were planning to build in poland against iran. i think the administration strategically, technologically has a case in altering the program and as it benefits on the sidelines the american/russian relationship that's not a bad thing. what was bad was the way it was handled. the abrupt way it was communicated, the total ig nornls apparently of the top decision-makers because of poor staff work that on the day it

was communicated the poles were observing the 70th anniversary of the russian stab in the back when they were resisting the nazis. so that's created an emotional atmosphere over there. i think we can take steps now to correct that. at the risk of sounding -- i'm plugging my family on a show in which my daughter appears, and my son, mark, had an article yesterday in the international herald tribune. that suggested a series of steps the united states could take, peaceful, non-military steps, to beef up its political standing in central europe. and i think that's the way we ought to go. we ought to really take stock of our relationship with central europe, with poland, but not just poland and try to re-ignite the sense of confidence and trust, and enthusiasm for america that has been prevailing for years in central europe. >> you know, i think we should change the name of the show from

"morning joe" to the brzezinskis. mark's column was great >> i'm very proud of him. dad, thank you so much for coming on the show. >> very nice to be all with you. it's always lively. always unpredictable, always a little fearful. >> fearful. >> sort of how i feel at home. growing up. all right, dad. thank you so much. >> wait a second. talking about fearful for you. >> oh, well, i understand. >> always dangerous sitting next to joe. >> yes. i broke my pen. thanks, dad. call you later. up next our first look at "time" magazine and a former bush speechwriter tells tales out of office. his revealing book including candid thoughts on the president and hillary clinton, coming up on "morning joe."

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welcome back to "morning joe." willie geist, take us. >> let's start out west. chuck todd's l.a. dodgers hanging in tough. a beautiful shot. only thing keeping my hopes alive. >> is there's las vegas, 5:00 in the morning, which is about 10:00 at night in the rest of the world. just getting going out there. chicago, there's the director's pic. the series tower poking through the clouds. chuck, you wish you were there? >> i'm always happy to be here. >> speaking of brad lidge, there is philadelphia, pennsylvania.

looking good, philly. >> city of brotherly love. we're going down there, going to talk to the national association of broadcasters. >> that will be fun. >> now we're home to new york city. live pictures from the top of our building at "30 rock" a feller plaza. >> it's the top of the hour. we have rick stengel with us, he's going to be unveiling the new cover of "time" magazine in a few moments. >> and also chuck todd here as well as of course the great willie geist. lots to talk about. let's start out with a quick look at the top stories before finding out what's on the cover of "time." >> time for a look at some top stories. this morning president obama will chair a meeting of the security council. the u.s. embassy in london is playing down reports that say the white house turned down repeated requests from the british government for a bilateral meeting between president obama and prime minister brown. the british media is framing it

as a snub following scotland's release of the pan am bomber on compassionate grounds. after yesterday's vote in the state legislature, massachusetts governor deval patrick is set to announce his choice for an interim appointment to the u.s. senate. while the governor would normally face a 90-day waiting period he is moving to declare a state of emergency so the bill will take effect immediately. >> no the federal reserve says economic recovery is picking up policymakers have no immediate plans to raise interest rates. the fed warns unemployment may not edge down until sometime next year. here now to unveil the cover of this week's new "time" magazine, "time" managing editor rick stengel. >> i wish you could introduce me everywhere. >> rick, did you see the speech yesterday at the united nations, gadhafi. >> i did. >> we're going to play the greatest of moammar. >> 90 minutes. >> sort of chopped it up like

those old records. the greatest hits. >> he's been waiting 40 years to give that speech. >> most thought they were going to have to wait 40 years. should we go to "time" magazine. >> i want to see it. >> let's see the cover of "time" and then we'll see moammar. >> the cover of "time" magazine this week is the debut of a year-long project that we are working on. the cover is the tragedy of detroit. and as you may have read in the new york times and elsewhere, time inc. bought a house in downtown detroit so we're investing in the community to cover one of the most important stories of our time. through detroit, detroit itself is a prism through you can see what's happening in industry, in race relations, in cities across america. and we are investing. we're stake holders like the people of detroit. we bought a house, we have a correspondent there, it's a collection not just of "time" but others, sports illustrated, all of which have a cover about

detroit coming out this week. >> the problem with detroit is, we obviously can look at what's happened at general motors and say that was a punch in the gut. you could have said the same thing in the 1980s. you could go back to the riots in '67, '68. a lot of people go all the way back to '68 and say detroit never really recovered from that. >> and by the way, i spent time there recently and you still see some buildings and store fronts that were burned out in 1967 that haven't recovered. in fact, the roots of what went wrong in detroit or even before the '67 riots where there was a separation of the races in that city. the industrial plan that they had actually wasn't very forward looking. i mean, so what happened when detroit stopped making cars, that americans wanted to buy, what happened to all of those engineers and folks that have incredible training. there was no other industry. so you also have a city, by the way, which is 140 square miles

which is now depopulated. has half the population it had 20 years ago. what do you do with a city like that. one of the things in the story, dan wrote a fantastic cover story for us, is you take a city that is deit newed of people and you have to create a new park system. you have to let parts run wild. you have agriculture in downtown cities. >> what happened, we talked about the riot in '68. after the riots was there white flight to the suburbs? >> there was great white flight. >> and money left the center city? what happened? >> there was a great deal of white flight, an apartheid situation where the city became black. >> segregated. one of the more segregated. >> in fact, dan writes about how in the 60s there was a wall that was built between an area that was a dominant black area of the city and an area that was a dominant white area. so the fact that the suburbs and the city didn't work together,

the fact that nobody was looking ahead, the fact you had coleman young saying you know, the hell with anybody else except someone who is going to help me. and john dingell who didn't do favgers for the city of detroit. it was a perfect storm of a lack of planning, a lack of foresight that led tuesday the situation we're in now. >> by the way, one thing to praise "time." this is sort of a good future sort of how journalism can do -- we're always whining about we don't have the resources to do this. but the surgical strikes of doing -- telling a better story. msnbc.com is doing something with elkhart, indiana. going back to detroit. philadelphia almost. it's almost happened to philadelphia. and they rescued them. what is the model for detroit of sort of -- i say this because we're going -- i'm going to pittsburgh today. pittsburgh is a city that they didn't have the racial issues but they had to remake themselves. so i look at philadelphia, i look at pittsburgh and it's sort

of one of these things you look at detroit, philadelphia almost slipped into this. pittsburgh almost had its own version of going down a bad path. and obviously it's a double whammy. >> i think probably -- i'm not an expert but i think part of the problem in detroit is that it was such a one industry town. when that one industry went off the rail so to speak there wasn't much to depend saxt philadelphia where i used to live, brotherly love and sisterly affection had a different base of people. i think they were a little more foresightful than detroit was. one of the things that detroit has to do is make the use of not only the industrial base but its human capital. they have incredible engineer there is, incredible people who know about manufacturing. there are other industries that can grow up there. now that the union stranglehold on the workforce is over, you can start a business for a relatively small amount of money now in detroit.

>> the drop-out rate. >> what we have to guard against is the cynicism and skepticism that a city like detroit can't be managed that. i say that because people say that about new york city. remember john lindsay called new york the ungovernable city t unmanageable city and suddenly starting in '93, '94, we talk about bloomberg, too, guess what. new york went from 1989, 1990, being a miserable place to live to now being a completely transformed city. that can happen. with the right type of leadership. >> we have a piece also about dave bing, the new mayor who i had din didder with a couple weeks ago. he was a great nba basketball player. he also is making -- he knows he has to make hard choices the way new york had to make hard choices, other big cities had

to, and detroit hasn't. you know, that piece was written by our full time correspondent there, steve gray, who is based in our house in the west village of detroit. >> by the way -- >> i'm inviting you guys out. >> remember when, by the way, remember when every journalism organization had a detroit bureau. because we covered the auto industry. also had a business office there because you had huge -- you sold -- when did "time" shut down its business office in detroit? >> right. >> probably ten years ago. >> right. and you know, we had -- there were enormous amounts of advertising from detroit and all of american publications, that started. >> you had a bureau. "wall street journal." >> rick and chuck, willy's going to play the best of. we'd like you to chime in. director's cut. is it going to be edited down?

>> we had to. went 98 minutes did gadhafi. we took the best of. you'll hear about swine flu and a new investigation into the kennedy assassination. >> here is gadhafi. >> all of you, lacking the energy because of having to travel along a journey. why we do that. perhaps this is swine virus may be one of those viruses, it got out of control because it was used as military. we are content and happy if obama can stay forever as the president of america. why we want to know who killed him. somebody who by the name of lee harvey, then jack ruby kills lee harvey. why did he kill him? >> willie geist, crazy but as i

look at the newspaper -- i saw this. he may be crazy but he's on the front page of "the wall street journal." on the front page of "the new york times." he's on the front page of the financial times. he's on the front page of "news day." >> how many spellings. >> this is the one case -- >> look at the headlines. >> spell my name right. can't do it. >> nobody can spell his name. >> crazy after all of these years. >> and a picture on "the new york times." >> look what happened to him. he came in from the cold. he agreed to give up his weapons of mass destruction, nuclear whatever it is. and then he expected to be the kind of you know, recompensed by the west. now he shows his true colors again. >> you throw an opening ceremony for a terrorist.

>> you talk about a miscalculation. he did try to mainstream himself and then the whole thing about throwing -- celebration for a terrorist it blew up a plane didn't go well for him. >> too soon. >> yeah. >> let's also talk about, speaking to the united nation as topic that didn't come up, your father said it shouldn't have, but it comes up here all the time. afghanistan. joe klein writes in "time" magazine about the president's problems in afghanistan and across the globe. >> yes. joe actually has that counter intuitive take which is basically that what the domestic programs that obama is doing are actually going to do well and pass and we're going to have a health care plan, and lots of presidents actually would treat from the domestic to international relations. what joe is saying is that the

international area is actually going to be much more difficult. we're so focused on health care now so it is the fall that he will never figure out. what joe is saying that afghanistan, pakistan, is the real nut that needs to be solved. that is the most challenging one. >> that in fact his momentum, he will get momentum in domestic policy that will help. >> also we had ahmadinejad yesterday. and chuck todd, the white house has to be more concerned right now about iran, about what's happening with israel. you said that we had a closer relationship perhaps between netanyahu and obama than it seems. it seems to me if netanyahu is filling the need to go to russia, to strike a deal with the russians, i think we've got a real problem right now. >> boy, it is interesting, watching the body language between medvedev and obama. to get the russians to say you

know that they might reluctantly believe that sanctions are inevitable on iran. so the fact that's sitting out there i think that the white house will spin this saying hey, look, we did get something, even though missile defense wasn't quid pro quo we did get something out of the russians that is meaningful when it comes to iran. we were told september was going to be do or die. now this october 1st meeting is do or die. by the way, to pick up on what rick was saying about joe klein's column. we are hitting that point of the obama presidency where he is going to have less of a chance to pick the issues. and instead the issues -- and this happens to every president, where the issues pick you. and afghanistan is clearly one of those things that is picking him. jobs is going to be one. i think figuring out how to create jobs is going to pick him where as much as he wants to go to energy or he wants to go to social security reform. ain't going to happen. >> speaking of body language, i

saw you pick that up where the president seemed eager in front of the russians -- >> see that body language. >> instead obama and are like this. >> the body language of how the president was leaning forward and eager. and they were both -- they were slumped and the president at least in body language is looking so eager. almost overeager toward the russians. who seemed to be enjoying, i won't say pushing him around but giving the impression, we can look at pictures of putin basically, i don't give a damn. the russians want to be treated by a super power. >> can be symbolic. its image, its substance and negotiations. i can't deny the pictures that you saw because that's exactly what it looked like. rick stengel, thank you so much. >> great to be here. >> all eyes on pittsburgh for

the g-20 summit. we'll talk to christie whether world leaders will get anything done. erin burnett on why the fed is holding steady. a check on business before the bell. first, here is today's forecast with ryan phillips. >> thank you. good morning to you. quiet conditions. detroit in the 60s this morning. in the 70s here across the northeast. boston at 73. showers exiting across the region. more sunshine in the northeast and the southeast. stay tuned. more to come, you're watching "morning joe" brewed by starbucks. does your mouthwash work in sixifferent ways? introducing listerine® total care. everything you need to strengthen teeth, help prevent cavities, and kill germs.

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>> i wish i could predict the future. cannot so can't answer that question right now. but look forward to more opportunities to send good messages from the u.s. and hopefully help meet some of the challenges we're all facing today. good messages from the u.s. i hope she made a lot. you have a problem with people making money on speeches? >> that's what she was out there for. >> also to send good messages about the u.s. >> that's right. >> do you -- can liberals make money on speech tours but conservatives can't? >> i was not criticizing. i was asking and pointing out that was why she is in hong kong. >> well, maybe she just wants to visit hong kong. >> no. she's making money. >> is that bad? >> nope. here with us now is former chairman and ceo -- no bitterness. just pointing out. and chairman and ceo of playboy enterprises and board for the

center for american progress, christie hefner. >> good morning. the nice thing giving a speech in hong kong you can give the money back because the shopping is great in hong kong. >> you see. exactly. it all goes around. a good thing. >> it is. so, what's the center for american progress's take on what's going on, let's go over a couple of issues. for instance, acorn. that's obviously acorn's in the news. even barney frank pulled away from acorn. i would guess the center for american progress has worked with or been allies with acorn in the past. what's your take on that? >> i think it's problematic. you've got an institution that i think objectiontively has done work in the past in community organizing. but these revelations and most particularly you know, these videotapes have to make you say this is not an organization that's got management oversight in place that you have to have

if you've got a grass roots organization. so i think they are going to have to do major house cleaning to restore credibility for anybody to feel comfortable partnering with them. >> let's also talk about afghanistan. it seems to me obviously progressives and people, board members like yourself, the center for american progress, concerned with military stretched across the globe. afghanistan has to be problematic for the president, and especially his base. and there's nothing wrong talking about this. this would be like george w. bush doing something that would be offensive to conservatives over the past eight years. how's the center for american progress and progressives getting their arms around afghanistan right now? >> the sense that i get is it's not so much like the iraq war where there was simply a growing groundswell of outright opposition, this is the wrong

war, done the wrong way, let's get out as soon as we can. i think this is more a questioning of, well, what is our strategy here. how are we going to measure success. what exactly are we trying to accomplish. is it really about al qaeda in which case perhaps as vice president biden said a different strategy would be more effective. is it really about trying to establish sustainable, you know, well-run country, and is that realistic. so, the feeling that i get, in listening to john podesta and others we need a national conversation and we need to reach agreement as a country as to why we're there and what we're going to accomplish and how we're going to get out. >> mark halperin, the assumption that liberals are going to stay with their president because he is their president. but we remember the great rupture of american politics, 1968, chicago, was actually the left that -- they didn't go to miami to protest the war.

the way they did. they went to chicago. they tore that city apart. they tore the democratic party apart. could the president be facing not the same thing in 12 but could he be facing a full scale progressive revolve if we're still in iraq, if we're still in afghanistan, and our troops are still scattered across the globe? >> i doubt it for three reasons. one is he has had incredible rapport with the left. he's done so many things already as a candidate and certainly as president, he's not seemed to have ailianated. his administration has deep roots in the left. the best thing he has going for him is the right hates him so much t atmosphere t attitude of the left now is if the right hates you, i love you. and the right hates him so much i think the left will rally and stay with him because if they go against him they know they can bring him down. >> chuck todd, i read on the huffington post or was it

twitter feeds, liberals saying this president is not going far enough on the stimulus, krugman, this president has not gone far enough on cap and trade. it's nothing. this president hasn't gone far enough on health care, baucus is a flack for the health care industry. i think there are some progressives getting concerned. >> i sometimes wonder if it's a conspiracy of rahm emanuel asking to attack from the left. i know. i'm so cynical. but i want to go back to afghanistan. susan collins, republican senator is startsing to question sending troops. so this is -- >> george will. >> obviously. there is clearly -- these afghanistan elections were a wake-up call for a lot of interventionists, people that believe in interventionism in national security and believe in america playing a role in these places, and then you realize who is the partner.

look, and in some case as little bit of administrative spin. mcchrystal about this idea that he wrote this report before we knew how corrupt essentially the afghanistan elections were. fine. but there's some truth to that. how do you partner with a country if there is no country to -- if there really is no central government to partner with. >> different in '68, i know you're not making a complete -- >> i don't think we're going to have a chicago '68 in 2012. i'm saying the white house understands, they can't assume liberals will always be with them. if they stay in these wars that george bush began. >> what i was going to say, though, i think that a hallmark of this president and presidency is an actual willingness to listen. and to adjust based on changes on the ground. i would just mean in a military sense. and i think more than anything else what drives a base crazy is the sense that there is no

responsiveness, that they are being shut out. i don't think that's the sense here at all. >> christie hefner, stay with us. we have our political roundtable coming up. first, erin burnett joins us for a first look at business before the bell. it's all coming up on "morning joe." >> have you seen that o'riley clip where o'riley and barney are going after each other? we got to play that one. pure cane sugar and the stevia plant.

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let's get a quick check on business before the bell. erin burnett is live at the new york stock exchange. erin, what's going on? >> so it's headlines now. jobless claims, single most important number. that's the straw. sometimes you know we put a hole in it. to see if -- why it doesn't blow as far. all right. sorry. that was the flying object. the jobless claims are 530,000. that's down, the survey was expecting them to be up so that's better than expected. continuing to show marginal

improvement though those are still painful, we're not going to be adding jobs soon. the market is reacting, futures are going to be higher. i said that is the most important number for the economy right now. because the other headlines out there are three, they come from what the fed said yesterday. when they -- you know, a lot of people are concerned because in this statement the feds sort of said some of these programs out there where we're supporting the mortgage market is one example, we are going to stop supporting it at some points. in other words, we're not going to sit there, we're going to take the training wheels off. some were worried. i would say the three headlines are actually all, well, pretty good. one, they said the economy is picking up. a month ago they said it was leveling out so they are upgrading the view of the economy. even as they upgrade the view they are saying we're not going to raise interest rates. so you're going to start growing and money is still going to be free. that's kind of perfect. right. they said rates are going to stay at exceptionally low levels for an extended period. they are nowhere near close to

raising interest rates. that is all good news. that's what the fed had to say yesterday. so -- >> erin, we hear about inflationary concerns all the time. why is the fed keeping money -- it's making it as cheap as it's ever been. >> yes. >> it seems to me, call me radical here, but it seems to me that our economy now is not fueled on cheap money and private debt. now we're staying afloat by cheap money and public debt. i don't see any of the fundamentals changing from where they were a year ago. >> it's amazing you say that because we have an interview today with one of the most famous hedge fund managers and i spoke with him last night. and he was the one who two years ago said we were in for a doozie of a recession. the point you said is his point now. he is concerned about inflation. all we've done is take our private debt and the fact we couldn't pay it and make it the

responsibility of the entire country. that's what we've done so. you're right. fundamentally all that changed is the obligations from joe and erin to the entire united states of america. you're right about that. a lot of people are worried. >> we're still fueled by -- i would say cheap money. basically free money. >> free. joe, you know what. it's like a balloon. we had a bubble, right. then it burst so the balloon got a hole in it. it's got a million holes from this crisis. all we've done is we're huffing and puffing into it and trying to inflate it. it has too many holes to stay inflated. my eyes itch. i have to banish you to the garden. but now with zyrtec-d®, i have the proven allergy relief of zyrtec®, plus a powerful decongestant. i can breathe freer with zyrtec-d®. so, i'll race you to our favorite chair. i might even let you win. zyrtec-d® lets me breathe easier, so i can love the air™. zyrtec-d®. behind the pharmacy counter. no prescription needed.

young people take it upon themselves. don't you admire them. isn't this what we should be, all citizen watchdogs, whistle blowers on corruption. >> there is a problem because you said, i don't know this, i have no reason to look into it they may have violated maryland law. >> no one cares about the maryland wire tap law.

>> i'm sorry. what an outrageous statement. nobody cares about the maryland -- i do care about the law. i'm an elected official. >> you're a little eccentric, all due respect. the spirit, do you admire the spirit of the two? >> thank you. >> no. excuse me. i want to finish my sentence. i don't understand why you have this inability to have people talk on a complicated subject. i admire the impulse to stop corrupti corruption. i do not want to condone violations of the law. and when you say who cares about the maryland law, i think you're being irresponsible. >> you know, i understand mika, we don't watch screen fest. but you know what i think i like about that, mark, i can tell seriously, those two like each other. seriously, they have done this time and time again. >> it's their show. >> that's why television was invented. for that very -- >> i like, you know.

>> invented for monkeys and dave gar0way. >> i'm tired of seeing these people screaming at each other for the sake of doing it. you can tell they like each other and what they're doing and they keep going because it works. what are they yelling about? what was that about? >> the maryland wiretap law. >> and who cares -- what a stupid comment. if it was about childhood obesity i would have listened. we talk about that. >> g-20 summit, will the president speak to the british prime minister or snub him. >> i bet you actually there's some moment where the president does one of these, grabs his arm, puts his arm around him to basically quiet down the british press. >> the british press, the american press, though. >> i think point's been made. i think point's been made. you know what dr. seuss would say, brown is down, puff is up. >> exactly what i was thinking.

>> does the president reach out today? >> he's got to. i think they won't need to run into each other. it's not like gadhafi, a big ally. i think they will probably have body time in the steel city. >> is brown down? is brown gone? will brown retire before the day is done? >> i think he may go with more time with his family excuse and not be there for much longer. >> i thought we were brewed by starbucks. are we sponsored by brown? >> what can brown do for you? >> i had the pleasure of listening to sarah brown this week. she spoke at a dinner at the clinton global initiative. she is most impressive. she is dedicated to this issue of maternal health, the only one of the millennium goals we made zero progress on. so she's quite a good ambassador. >> let's talk more about what we started with erin burnett, the economy. christie, economists have to be concerned about inflation, about

the fact that we've gone from, basically ginning our economy with cheap money and private debt. i know they want a soft landing. this could end up badly. >> i think there has been this worry. i was hearing a lot end of august, beginning of september that we could see a significant downturn in the market because of the worry about inflation and the uncertainty about what the fed would do. i think the fed clearly has chosen the soft landing priority, so you see the statements and that's reflected now in not seeing that double digit downturn in the market. longer term starting in the g-20 we have to flip economies with china. china has to become a consumer and we have to become a bigger saver in our country. deleveraging public debt and personal debt is going to be hard. >> china makes things and saves. america doesn't make things and spends money. let's strip it down.

>> that's essentially it. >> you know mika, we had savannah guthrie at the g-20 summit talking about also the concerns european nations had about our stimulus spending, our debt. for some reason america just isn't concerned about inflation the way european countries are. >> it's going to be a fine balance for this administration as they present themselves to the world because they want to move forward toward better rules, perhaps even regulation, tighter standards in terms of how we run our economy. yet, money has been flying out the window for the past nine months. >> there was a time the g-20, we forget when it was planned. all of these were quickly planned. this one was planned, was sort of in case of emergency g-20 that they went ahead and planned, meaning in case the recession was worse. i think that's why this is not getting a lot of attention because this isn't -- we're not in the deep, deep recession, the fear was that we could be in at this time so the idea was have

something ready to go, have a meeting in place, and now it's turning into a conversation about financial regulation and how do we pull out. remember, this was originally planned out of fear that they were going to have to have -- basically they tabled the conversation in london the last g-20, on the idea of do we need -- should government spend more or less or whatever, you know. and that was the point of this g-20. now frankly, because the world economy has pulled back from the brink, they are having a different discussion. >> and hope flee, though, i think that will be used as an opportunity because the level and depth of cooperation that occurred in the height of the panic of the recession, was really unprecedented. and if we can actually build on that, given that it's a very interdependent global economy, as we looking at whether it's regulatory issues or exchange rate monetary issues, that would be in my opinion, a very good thing coming out of it.

>> remember, with china. everybody says china is able to do this. look, when you're an autocracy, there is only one place to turn on the spigot. it doesn't work this way. all of the criticism the president is getting on climate change. china can turn it on or turn it off. >> you want to be china for a day. >> before we leave, shout out to duke street journal. the winner for duke street journal points out on "the wall street journal," gadhafi, financial times, gadhafi. new york times, gadhafi. and then "news day" not as kind. >> still crazy. >> still crazy after all these years. >> christie hefner, thank you so much. >> thank you. >> up next, former bush speechwriter matt latimer's candid look at his former boss.

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welcome back. here joining us former speechwriter for president george w. bush, matt latimer who is offering stunning insights on his former boss and some others. in the new book, "speech-less:

tales of a white house survivor," he writes this or has this to say on the former president's reaction to obama's campaign criticism. quote -- after one of obama's speeches the president had a human reaction. he was ticked off. he came in one day to rehearse a speech, fuming. quote, this is a dangerous world, he said, for no apparent reason and this cat isn't remotely qualified to handle it. this guy has no clue, i promise you. he wound himself up even more. you think i wasn't qualified. to no one in particular, i was qualified. a little frustrated, was he. >> yeah. you know, he's a human being like everybody else and president obama had given a speech and president bush had a human reaction. >> matt, the headlines out of your book are mainly ex-white house staffers, democrats and republicans saying that you shouldn't kiss and tell, that you shouldn't speak out of school. what would you say? >> i'm amused to find these

pundits in the washington way none of them have read the book and they have these ideas and opinions. most people who have read the book and the whole story find it funny. it's my story. my dad's watching now. who came to washington, went to the highest levels of capitol hill and the pentagon and the white house and saw a circus. you know what a circus washington, d.c. is. >> talking about the circus in the white house that you saw. >> you know, george goodwin has that book "team of rivals." i saw often in the bush administration a team of buddies, they weren't bad people. they wanted to help the president and the country but a lot of people were in positions that they seemed to have thin qualifications for. but there are other people who are hard workers and wanted to help the president. you know, i came to washington wanting to think i was going to advance the reagan revolution and in fact it turned out that that's not what happened. >> one of my criticisms of the

bush administration was that there was nobody there really to stand up to the president and say no. my biggest complaint was about spending. that it was one big giant club. it was -- is that what you saw? >> exactly. what you see now and the reaction to my book is a perfect example. there is a club mentality in washington, d.c., and if you're not in the club or not on the list or saying things you are not allowed to say or they don't want you to say they pack people. >> when karen hughes was in the white house you got the sense she was the person that could go to the president and say no, mr. president. and because every leader needs one person that can talk to him straight, and say this is bad for you. >> yes. >> after karen hughes left who was in the white house that could do that? >> his closest -- when i got to the white house the person closest was dan bartlett who started as the young person i think in the governor's campaign. i don't know -- i certainly

didn't tell him no. he was president. >> tell us, give us more insights on the president. what are people going to find out about the bush white house if they read the book? >> they are going to find out things about capitol hill, the pentagon and the bush white house people don't know. it's a behind the scenes look at what goes on. people ask, what's it like to work in congress, what's it like to work in the pentagon, what's it like to be a speechwriter for a president. president bush comes across, some read these excerpts and people say he looks better than they thought and looks smarter. more engaged. >> there are also things in the book, though, kind of, well, they are tales -- maybe things you would think your speechwriter would keep between you and them because it was only the people in the room. it doesn't really add value to the national conversation, perhaps the way hillary clinton is characterized. >> i appreciate what you're saying but i respectfully disagree. i thought an obligation to tell the american people what i saw as unsensored and unvarnished as possible. and i think almost everything in

that book adds something to a president and to other people in the book. i mean, lots of presidents have used salty language before and said thing they probably shouldn't have said. but i mean, i think the american people can decide for themselves their portrait of presidents. many aides from administrations have written about their time. some things are flattering. >> it's no secret that a lot of conservatives walked away from the last eight years disillusioned. you said you were a reagan conservative. you wanted to continue the reagan revolution. are you one of those conservatives that left disillusioned because this white house was at least on spending anything but conservative. >> absolutely. you know, there's a moment in my book where i talk about the president saying you know, dismissing the conservative movement. we were talking, writing a speech about the conservative political action committee. >> you tried to put conservative movement inside the text of the speech. >>dy. >> which we all know what the

conservative movement is. but the president -- >> he said he redefined the republican party. i'm sure he meant that in a positive way. i wasn't sure. and he wasn't a bad person. >> but his argument was -- i know gary, i hardly think defeating one guy is obliterating the conservative movement. >> i absolutely agree. >> you know what i found actually mika, and i've been slammed by conservatives since 2005. for telling the truth about run away spending. a lot of conservatives read your book call immediate up and said okay, so this is the problem with him all along. he didn't know what the conservative movement was. some of the same people criticize you. >> the same people. >> that's been the problem with this party for the past four years. a lot of courage behind closed

doors. >> matt latimer, thank you. your business travelers forecast. wet across the midwest all the way into the deep south, lower mississippi valley. in boston not bad, mostly cloudy, 78. in detroit and chicago, mid 70s. dallas showers, maybe thunderstorms. sunny and hot weather continuing in phoenix and l.a. oh, hi! welcome to progressive.com. are you all right? a ferocious white whale wrecked my boat. well, i'm sure we can help you, captain... ahab. well, it looks like you haven't had a claim in over four years, so you don't have to pay a deductible. that means you saved $500! $500? i could get an electronic fish-finder. that's the spirit. saving you money on boat insurance.

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welcome back to "morning joe." what we learned today. >> that over the course of the 98-minute speech moammar gadhafi requested a new investigation into the kennedy assassination. interesting direction to go. >> there are a lot of good

things about joe scarborough but his love of quips. >> oh, my. >> i learned my faether find ths is show fearful. >> let's see. what did i learn today. i learned that perhaps no one is the greater moral than mika brzezinski especially on food. why is it that you hate -- >> we need to start saying it. we need to address it >> you hate fat kids. against fat kids? >> talk about it. okay. not here's how you eat well. kids, we're fat. >> i'm not going to judge you because you're overweight. unlike mika brzezinski, i see the goodness. i don't look at the stomach. right here. that's what counts the most. willy, together. >> biggest muscle in the human

body the heart. >> you know what they say. they say -- >> we're coming. >> only use 10% of our brain. >> right. >> go ahead. >> only use 10% of our hearts. and little fat kids, we're with you. >> we have to go. it's way too early. you say that and then i'll say it's "morning joe" and time for the "morning meeting with dylan ratigan." >> they say i'm on drugs, willy. good morning to you. i'm dylan ratigan. welcome to the "morning meeting." it's go away. bye, have fun. come over here. come over here. i love you. haven't seen you in so long. you're so beautiful. my goodness. so busy. thank you. topping our agenda, choice, no choice. amendment that would allow consumers to pick their health care plan goes to vote. talking about the health care

fight in general and whether in fact those of us in the 174 million category will be given real choice in this health reform bill. again, gephardt was the house majority leader when the reform effort died some 15 years ago. >> it is now history and the unhindered expansion of capitalism will have the same fate. >> and then iran enjoying their rhetorical moment as the u.s. and other countries walked out on ahmadinejad's u.n. speech. the world perhaps closer if they weren't already, the russia, the rest are are they getting ready to turn their back on iran. a census worker found hanging from a tree with the word "fed" across his chest. new poll shows many americans have extreme views, is extremism becoming mainstream or the mainstreaming of extremism