dennis hopper fell ill at the last moment. >> i was walking down the hall. we are going to rebook him, but he got a little ill. he will be back. we'll have him back. >> what did you learn, pat n? >> i learned sarah palin was going to write two books, going rouge. >> i will never text message when i am driving again. this is usually what i use when i text message. don't text message, you moron. >> and mike barnicle, if you hold up a sign on the house floor that says republicans want you to die, that's not a joke. it's a stupid thing to say. thank you for joining us. willie, if it's way too early? >> it's time for "morning joe." but right now it's time for

dylan ratigan with the "morning meeting." >> and samoa, hundreds kills and president obama declaring a federal disaster. and also on the agenda, another day, another battle expected in the senate finance committee over health care and free choice. the public option shot down, but what about wyden's choice? and then debtors' revolt. a man quit his job as a branch manager because he says the company will not stop at making a profit even at your expense. and then the president, socialism, and the kkk. it's 9:00 a.m., pull up a chair

and join the "morning meeting." good morning to you. we begin with new developments with samoa. here is the latest. nearly 100 people reported dead after four tsunami waves, 15 to 25 each, engulfing the southpaw civic island. sweeping people out to sea. dozens still missing. emergency officials looking for survivors, and power and communication outages are significantly hampering those efforts. and fema deploying teams to provide support and assess the damage. on the phone from american samoa, we have -- i will not be able to pronounce the last name,

but it's a native name in samoa that i cannot pronounce. i apologize. the representative of a nonvoting delegate to the house of representatives. alex, welcome to the program. give us your sense of the damage and the state of the response right now. >> where i am from, i am from the village ofly owny, and the damage you hear in the village and i believe it's through the whole territory. it's tremendous. very bad. in our village, lots of homes have been swept inward. and the cars have been just washed on the inner part of the village. we have been searching for some

missing people. we were able to find some of them, and we are still searching. in the nighttime we call it off and then again we start. there have been help from the government. so we have to use manpower. we are using manpower to try and rescue and try to get to those in the families and those homes have been destroyed. >> what is your availability of clean water and uncontaminated food? >> i believe what we mostly need -- in some areas we were able to connect with the electricity and water, but the

village that has been hit real bad, i believe water and electricity is the main need at this point. >> is there a digital portal where folks seeing the images, which obviously bring all of us back a few years, that folks would like to be assistive to you in responding to this as quickly as possible can dedicate those resources? >> yes, i think it's a website that mostly people can connect into. we have a lot of through radios and a lot of families are in the mainland, and they are trying to find and trying to call and write through the media and see if their loved ones are able to

make it through this one, this disaster. >> i understand that the time between the warning siren and the impact of the tsunami was said to be a minute, give or take. is that correct? >> well, there was -- it was almost no warning. when the earthquake hit us, and it started to shake our home, and we did not realize -- we did not know this thing was going to stop. and the wave hit us right there. there was no warning at all. >> also with us in the conversation is ginger lee, a meteorologist here in chicago, wmaq. why is it the ability for warning is so limited? >> there are a couple of reasons. tsunamis can happen in different ways. because of the earthquake, and

it's something that is not as predictable that we wish it to be, and they happen all the time. this magnitude to happen, and we don't know how far off the coast, and we just can't tell. you don't know when it's going to happen. you cannot give warning ahead of time. it's something they are working on obviously to make better. >> and it's stunning to people how quickly the wave can move and the fact that the wave moves inside of the ocean, until it arrives at the destination? >> if you were to be on the pacific and the earthquake happened under you. you may not feel much. it's just a plate in the earth that is moving and getting the energy moving, and pushes it. i like to think of it, if you are standing by the ocean or lake and see a big wave, and it's rolling, and it hits the breaker, as it comes closer -- obviously the pacific of the ocean is deep, and when it gets

to the land it pushes up and slammed into it and that's what makes the 15 to 20-foot wave. >> alex, before i let you go, the most important mission for you and those other responders in samoa in the next 24 hours? >> well, mostly right now, i know the government and we understood that some assistance will be arriving tomorrow morning. the coast guard and also the congressman is on his way, and i believe he will be in tomorrow morning, too. so far at least we have a peaceful night right now, and tomorrow we will start again, and try to look and try to search and try to make something so the other families can have someplace to stay. >> alex, again, just to reiterate, it's

americansamoa.com. >> right, right. americansamoa.com. >> again, we are thinking about you, and to look at the pictures this morning truly stops your heart when you see the impact of these things. alex thank you, and ginger thank you for the science as well. dylan, we have breaking news. while samoa is dealing with the after math of tsunami, indonesia has been rocked with an earthquake. it struck off the coast. there are reports of destroyed bridges and homes as well as some fires here. the quake also triggered tsunami warnings, but they have been canceled. that just happened a couple minutes ago. it's the same area hit hard by a massive tsunami in 2004, and more than 230,000 people were killed at that time. we will see the president in about two hours at the national institute of health.

he is expected to make a major funding announcement. and this afternoon president obama will try to chart away forward in afghanistan. and the idea is to establish strategy. simply to ramp up forces or choose an alternative. and the president is sure to hear passionate arguments on both side. john kerry talked about the debate on "morning joe." >> i think the president is absolutely correct to make certain that what he is hearing from the field, what people are saying is possible is in fact possible. we did not do that very well in iraq. we certainly didn't do it in vietnam. and it's critical to make certificates if you ask the young americans to put lives on the line, the strategy is equal to the sacrifice you are asking them to make.

>> the top u.s. commander in afghanistan, general mcchrystal, without more troops the u.s. could lose the war. the president is expected to explore other ways to increase stability without increasing forces. we will wait for that decision. the public option went down in the finance committee, but it was a close vote. it's perceived to be still in the game. coming up, we will take a look at whether in fact it is. also, the wyden free choice to be voted on today. can we buy the insurance we want, or will congress keep us hostage to the outdated system. back after this. boss: so word's gettin' out that geico can help people save in even more ways -

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back to work. will we receive choice or will they vote in favor of folks like us and mr. capehart and 200 million of us actually have choices or will they continue to make laws that force us into outdated and inefficient systems. but the public option in the new bill voted down twice yesterday. does that mean it's over for the public option? kelly o'donnell has the report. >> reporter: i just ran into a couple members of the finance committee that look sleepy eyed as they get back to work. they were hear last night continuing to go through the amendments. so much attention has been on the public option, because what happened in the committee could

really be a big signal for what could be happening down the road with public option. as you know, some of the more liberal members of the democratic party that sit on the committee really came out swinging, wanting a public option to be included. that is jay rockefeller and shuck schumer. the vote was close, and there were democrats that said no. and all of the republicans voted no. and baucus has been at the center of all this, and he says there are things he likes about a public option, but when looking at the potential of something like that to be passed he just did not see it. >> my job is to put together a bill that will become law. in the senate, that means my job is to put together a bill that gets 60 votes. i can count. nobody has been able to show me how to get 60 votes to pass the bill.

>> reporter: five democrats voted against the rockefeller bill, which is more liberal that would tie all the payments that go to the doctors and hospitals to the same rates used by medicare. and there is a widespread belief those rates are low and below the market value for what the services would be. and chuck schumer had one that was a little more popular. the doctors and hospitals would get the fee for the services they would provide, still under a public option. he says the vote as not the end but a rallying cry for the public option. >> if you follow this closely, we said all along we never expected to win in finance committee. and some were saying we are going to get so few votes we should not bring it up. and no single democrat has been they are against the public

option, and baucus said he likes it and he wants to see if it will get 60 votes, and we are feeling we might get there. >> no republicans have signed on to anything that would contain a public option. and moderate democrats have not voted for it as well. part of what the response was yesterday was the practical side of politics, counting the votes. they just don't see it yet. now some of them are seeing new pressure on president obama to be more clear about whether he will accept a bill that doesn't have a public option or whether he is willing to try and champion it again to see if it can get new attention and interest in that idea. dylan? >> thank you, kelly. now, we are joined by our guests. senator, welcome back. your thoughts on the public option? is there a version you can see

yourself voting for? >> look at the vote yesterday. it's a bipartisan vote. a bipartisan vote against the so-called public option, the government takeover. >> no, no, hang on, senator. nobody said government takeover. they are saying create a public choice where there is an alternative, but my question for you is is there any version of a public choice or publicly sponsored health care plan that you could imagine yourself being in favor of? >> i don't see that, dylan. we have an outdated system, and we need to make changes. i don't think this is it. i just got back from wyoming and i was there yesterday talking to people in wyoming, and are asking what is in the bill and what will it cost, and that's why people want to read the bill before we vote on it. >> what would you be most aggressively pushing to update the system? in other words, when you look at the inefficiency, the holes in

the bucket, lack of choice or competition or tort reform, and there is a lot of things that are training taxpayer money here, and where would you begin the update? >> as you know, not one single simple magic bullet that will solve the whole thing. we are talking about medicaid abuse, and waste and fraud. but i believe people ought to be able to buy insurance across state lines and get the same when individuals buy their insurance and they could get the same tax benefits as companies do. you have to have incentives for individuals to stay healthy, and not the community rating they are talking about, give them incentives to lose weight and get blood sugars under control, and deal with lawsuit abuse, which is awful, and we have to work with people that get their insurance through work. let small businesses group together and get buying power.

who is worried most by this is the seniors. they are very worried because they know it will fund the $500 billion out of medicare. people that are seniors are most affected by this. >> so to your list of five, and i will work with your list, there are two things that struck me. one, to vote on the wyden choice today, or there is the republican amendment that will come down the line from olympia snow that goes to liberalizing the choices for those like myself, who are trapped in employer health care, and i have great care, but my options to swap out are diminished. would you vote yes if you were on the senate finance in choice? >> i want to give more people choices -- i think people ought to have the same choices that i have as a united states senator. i have the same choice as the janitor in the building or the park rangers. we have the buying power because there is a lot of people under the program. >> but that is wyden choice,

right? so you would vote for wyden if you are on the senate finance? >> i want to see the other specific details he will bring forth in the bill, and if everybody has to buy it and the funding mechanism, but i think the people should have the same choices as the government employees, yes. >> and then the only other industry that has that is major league baseball. and there is an argument for risk pooling. what are your thoughts? where would you vote on the exemption? >> i want people to be able to buy across state lines. what we need to do to eliminate the barriers there, and i think we will get more competition and prices down. most people ask about what is this going to cost? they are worried about the cost. what is it going to cost them personally. most people, right now, dylan,

who look at it they think the whole program will cost them personally more and they will get worse care as a result. >> all of the cbo scores show that any of the choice amendments or anything that would liberalize against state lines, and treatment and subsidies being allowed for everybody and not just employers, everything seems to score well for the cbo. >> part of it is because they are moving so many people to medicaid, which is republicans and democrats alike are furious. >> i think that's a different conversation. >> it will save us all a lot of money before we come to the taxpayer for a check. straight ahead, libyan leader, k leader, gadhafi and chavez

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hugo chavez, and moammar gadhafi talking about terrorism. >> these guys get together for a summit. they wanted to redefine terrorism. they say it's time to reject attempts to link terrorism to the jlegitimate struggle.

when d this guy is accused by his own people of campaigns of terror. and they say maybe it's time for a south american treaty organization to rival nato. big ideas from chavez and gadha gadhafi. >> yeah, i wonder how brazil feels about that. what else is going on? >> a story about polanski. while he is living his life on the land of luxury, he apparently is living freely, and goes into all of the shops in paris, and spends money, and people love him because of his free spending ways. it's been a good life for him every since he ditched out on -- >> they picked him up. >> he had a house called the milky way. lovely. >> put him back and put him in jail.

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welcome back to the "morning meeting." 9:30 in the east and 6:30 out west. good morning to you. let's reset the agenda. a nasty tsunami crashing into america samoa. and the death toll at around 100 and expected to rise. here in the u.s., the senate, the public option knocked down twice by finance committee members. do republicans win the day or will the public option live again? is this a republican or democratic issue, or are all politicians trying to prevent all taxpayers from getting better health care. meanwhile, a debtor's revolt in the country, particularly against bank of america. all the financial institutions

received money from the federal reserve to support their enterprises, and yet not keeping them from squeezing every dime out of us. and we will meet a man that quit his job at b of a because he says they will stop at nothing to turn a profit off of us. and then the stocks are higher. the stock market rises thanks to massive government subsidies of the banks. is there job creation for those creating subsidy. let's get back into the meeting. the top democrats have the companies in their cross hairs. >> it's an effort to curve the premiums for everybody. antitrust enforcement act. it is a warning to insurers to clean up your act.

it would keep the insurance companies protected from antitrust laws. the big provisions here target price fixing and would prevent insurance companies to not have a monopoly -- that doesn't roll off the tongue, either. >> only if you are in the insurance companies. congresswoman diana degette. thank you for joining us. >> so far we have not heard a lot of resistance. i am sure there will be resistance. after all, the insurance industry is one of only two industries exempted from the

antitrust laws for all these decades. it seems to us, if part of our problem is consolidation of insurance companies in one market, then putting them under the jurisdiction of the antitrust laws might actually mean more competition, which would mean lower prices. >> i want to walk down some of the statistics to get a sense of what happened, and remind all of us what happened over the past 10 years. premiums up 132%. health care industry, $263 million lobbying this year. we presume to try and perpetuate some of their anti-competitive structures. what is the next step for you to advance the amendment that lib rates compitition for all of us in the country? >> the amendment is narrowly drawn, what it says is health

insurance companies will no longer be exempt from the antitrust laws. we still allow state to regulate insurance like they do now, but they say you cannot price fix or have a monopoly on a market. senator leahy is working on the bill, and others in the house. we intend to take the legislation and offer it as an amendment to the house bill when it comes to the floor. that and in combination with another factor in the bill, we hope it will gain more competition. if we can gain competition among insurance companies, what that will mean is hopefully lower prices for consumers. >> congresswoman, it's jonathan capehart here in new york. do you have any idea how or why the exemption was granted in the first place? >> i really don't know. it's national league baseball, and the insurance industry, not just health insurance companies. and it's been like that forever. i imagine part of the reason,

originally, was because states traditionally regulate insurance. that's good for a variety of reasons, but what it's not good for, especially with the way our economy has evolved is it really allows a lower competition -- in lower competition areas, it allows one insurance company, like in pueblo, colorado, to take over the whole market. that's not good for rates for consumers. >> ezra? >> congresswoman, i was curious of the effects if it passes. would there be any role for antitrust insurance -- what could we expect if we see that provision go into law? >> we are not going to have an exchange in each separate state. we will have a national exchange that will be administered on a regional basis. that will help also. but the federal antitrust laws are really designed to make sure

that in any state or across state lines, insurance companies are not combining to price fix. we don't know what will happen since they have been exempt all these years, but we know if we allow federal investigations or prohibit this kind of collusoin. >> 76%, that's proving my point. breaking news right now out of the centers for disease control. doctors say many of the folks that day from the h1n1 flu in the united states also had pneumonia. because of that, the cdc is recommending children younger than five and seniors is people

with high-risk conditions get a vaccine for pneumonia along with the swine flu vaccine. and the tsunami swept people and cars out to see. villages are flatened. the tsunami was sparked by an 8.0 earthquake off the coast of samoa. the state department says its in no hurry to slap sanctions on iran because of the nuclear indications, and president mahmoud ahmadinejad went a step further and saying the talks will be a test of whether the u.s. and other countries respect its nuclear rights. the u.s. says it hopes the talk open the door to further dialogue. and then a top state department official held talks

with cuban officials about restarting mail service. and then first lady, michelle obama, joined the chicago delegation. and the president will travel there tomorrow to put pressure on the international olympic committee. maybe not pressure. maybe to coax them to award the olympics to his hometown. and nbc's john yang is in chicago. >> reporter: well, contessa, this city really wants the olympics. city officials really want the olympi olympics. that banner is an indication of that. and the team is in copen hag yn right now. the obamas and oprah winfrey.

they have already been lobbying, including events on the white house south lawn. >> i cannot think of a better city to host the 2016 games than my hometown. >> chicago will make america proud and america will make the world proud. >> reporter: of course president obama has a lot of other things going on, a lot of other things on his plate, he will be in denmark, copenhagen for about four hours on friday. all the cities make their final pitches, including chicago, on friday, and then the committee votes. he will leave before the vote. here in chicago, people are going to be gathering downtown around city hall watching and waiting to see if they are going to get the olympics for 2016. contessa? >> we are keeping our fingers crossed. thank you. this started as a joke but came a reality. it held the state's only out

house races. there are rules and regulations. the vehicle must be a certain size, and no performance enhancers -- i don't know what that means, but it's not allowed. all of this for outhouse races. >> innovation begins in 1,000 different places, contessa. and this is just one of them. >> outhouse races. >> peculiar, yes. one lawmaker calling the president an enemy of humanity, and that's constructive, and then joe wilson being cared to the kkk, and also beneficial to the health care debate. let's enjoy crazy talk, since that seems to be the primary skill in some cases. we're back after this.

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welcome back. time for trend or talk. we are taking stories everybody is talking about, seeing if it's a trend or passing the time away. and jonathan capehart is in the house. let's look at recent statements by our lovely electives. arizona representative, franks raising eyes. the republican congressman went so far as to call president obama an enemy of humanity. this from the same man that assures us he does believe president obama is a natural-born citizen but should release a longer version of his

birth certificate. >> well, he could make the birthers back off by simply showing the long form birth certificate. that would solve the problem. there is some issue there that he doesn't want people to see the birth certificate. >> jonathan, and maybe he is playing for the home crowd. and that leaves us to question who are the people that sent him to congress? >> yeah. and steve king of iowa saying same-sex marriage is a step towards socialism. he says he is worried the hawkeye state will turn into a gay marriage mecca. des moines, beware of stylish men on pilgrimages. they say same-sex couples want

to access benefits. >> congress is debating cutting the out rech groups funding. ezra? >> there is a reason god created adam and eve, and not solomon and steve. >> same-sex marriage is not a trip towards socialism, but a trip toward marriage, and maybe worse. >> well, think about it. marriage can be more dangerous than socialism. >> you are on your own there. >> there was a lot of anger this afternoon, or i should not say this afternoon, but recently, after this outburst by joe wilson. >> would not apply to those that are here illegally -- >> you lie!

>> now, we have been over there. it was not a lie, and etc. does it justify being likened to the kkk when you behave like that level of a fool. >> we probably have folks wearing white hoods and white uniforms again riding through the countryside intimidating people. you know, that's the logical conclusion congressman wilson represents. >> dylan, we have a saying among white people and black people, when somebody does something like that, you just say, my people, my people, why go there? it doesn't rank or rate. congress is filled with cutups trying to one-up the other. >> and we wonder why things are broken. >> yeah, why we are all

hostages. >> yeah, outdated systems. and then florida congressman, a democrat speak k after-hours on the house floor warning americans about the republicans health care plan. listen. >> the republican health care plan is this. die quickly. that's right. the republicans want you to die quickly if you get sick. you want the democratic plan or do you want the republican plan? remember, the republican plan, don't get sick. and if you do get sick, die quickly. >> ezra, which amendment is that? >> i don't know how he could have said that. the republican plan is don't get sick, and if you do, we will allow you to die. some time with toure after this. um bill--

why is dick butkus here? i hired him to speak. a lot of fortune 500 companies use him. but-- i'm your only employee. we're gonna start using fedex to ship globally-- that means billions of potential customers. we're gonna be huge. good morning! you know business is a lot like football... i just don't understand... i'm sorry dick butkus. (announcer) we understand. you want to grow internationally. fedex express you want to grow internationally. 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.

all right. toure is here. we start with "jon & indicate plus 8. >> what is that? >> jon is deemphasized from the show which will now be called "kate plus 8." the show was all about family and now focus on single motherhood which with eight kids sounds like a horror movie frightening. i have a hard time enough when i'm alone with my two little ones. good luck, kate. god's speed. the new show starts appropriately november 8th. >> they call her floatis? >> the first lady will be on sesame street's opening. i expect to see the grouch off

in the distance with a bucket of fried chicken. >> very talented. love that. >> tom delay, how is he doing? >> somehow, he survived. >> next, conan. >> these two couples remain. they were the low scorers of the night with 18 points and we will now reveal their fate. ♪ >> tom and cheryl, you're safe! >> lobbyists must have got involved or something because tom delay stumbled into week three and i predicted next week would be his last and i stand by that. >> conan. >> conan o'brien joked that newark, new jersey's health care program would be a bus ticket out of newark. the mayor, unsurprisingly, did not find that funny at all!

>> not only the mayor of new jersey's largest city but i'm mayor with a city with one of the largest airports in the united states so now, according to the powers invested in me by the people of the city of newark, i'm officially putting you on the newark, new jersey, airport no-fly list! try jfk, buddy! >> no word on whether fred armanson is on that list who is on "snl." >> the f-bomber? >> jenny slate will not be fired for her crime but it faux pas still falls on me. my mom called mean' said she went to my high school and was valedictorian. i bet she didn't drop an f-bomb when the parents were there for the graduation. >> i like to defend her. they built a skit based on the word friggin' and enough to make

the poor girl say it enough times. >> but not in front of the camera. >> they walked her to the edge of the cliff and she jumped. >> do you think it was too much for her first big sketch? she is an academy girl! >> i'm moving on! is there any hope left for the public option? republicans claiming victory after two rejections in the senate. two republicans join the "morning meeting" after this.

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voting down the public option. today, they take up senator wyden's free choice amendment that allow all of us to choose our own health insurance on national exchanges. senator kay bailey hutchinson joins the "morning meeting." americans taking matters into their own hands. talk with a man who quit his job as a bank of america branch manager because he says the company, in his opinion, will stop at nothing to turn a profit at its customers' expense. driven to distraction. the obama administration launching a high level summit on texting while driving. but why not focus on all of the distractions behind the wheel? perhaps this is the gateway to do just that. it's 10:00 a.m. pull up a chair and join the "morning meeting." welcome back. senate finance committee back to work on health care reform as we speak. amendments to add a public insurance option defeated twice on tuesday and more showdowns to

come including one today on choice. kelly o'donnell is live on capitol hill for us there. what is going on? >> i want to bring you up-to-date. i know this issue has been really on your radar with the wyden choice amendment. it's not on the list of amendments we were provided by the committee expected to come up today. we don't have a reason why yet and as we discussed some of this is free form and the chairman can move to certain amendments and move away from them. it's really kind of up in the air. i know it's high on your interest, i wanted to say it's not expected to come up today. >> thank you, kelly. >> on public option, what we really have to talk about today is what does it mean from here. two very important votes before the senate finance committee on a public option and both of them failed and both failed because they didn't have enough democrats behind them. and now, really there's a question is this an opportunity to restart the conversation about public option which would be a government-provided insurance plan where people could get affordable premiums

competing against private insurance. is this the time to start it again, or is this the beginning of the end of the public option? well, it was really practical terms that made chairman max baucus said he couldn't vote for it. he says he doesn't have the vote count. here is how he described it. >> my job is to put together a bill that will become law. in the senate, that means my job is put together a bill that gets 60 votes. now, i can count. and no one has been able to show me how we can count up to 60 votes with a public option in the bill and, thus, i restrain to vote against the amendment. >> one of the sponsors of the two amendments, chum chuck schumer of new york said it was an opportunity for debate, a chance for people possible tu on the record to having actually vote and know where to go next. now, some of the things that advocates for public option could do, we know that the house is much more supportive of that and there will be a point when the senate and house have to

merge their ideas into one final bill. that could be a place where it could be done. we also know that the senate leadership is going to be spending a lot of time talking with the white house about what must be in the final bill as they piece these pieces together from the five committees that have been writing legislation. there again, the president could weigh in and say he is prepared to do more to fight for a public option, or perhaps be willing to say it won't happen this time. >> thank you very much. joining us now from the "the washington post" both jonathan capehart and ezra klein. awaiting the arrival of kay bailey hutchinson. ezra, i would love for you to get us more up-to-speed as to everything going on in this process in the sausage factory, if you will. where are we? where are we headed? how does it relate to things that would make health care cheaper and more accessible for patients and doctors? >> we rejected two amendments yesterday that would have made health care cheaper for

patients. rockefeller's amendment would have made health care cheaper and that went down pretty hard. schumer's amendment went down not as hard and how health care is going right there move is two things to watch. one is both tom carper and maria cantwell. think carper i'm more interested in in allowing states to create their own could co-ops and if alabama doesn't want to have it, is it doesn't have to. maria cantwell, i need to understand it better before i go into it. i don't want to explain it till i have a better grasp on it. once the bill comes out of finance it has to get merged with the health committee bill which has a public option and go to the floor and merged with the house bill which has a public option. so there is still a lot of wheeling and dealing to be made here. the senate finance committee is the most conservative committee this bill will go through and

the question is whether or not they can argue that you can't get 60 votes so you can't move it any further to the left than it already is but all of the other committees say the majority of the democrats want this, you guys don't have a leg to stand on here. >> when you look where this conversation began with the origin house draft however many months ago and you look at the overall understanding in the u.s. political body of the priorities for, again, choice, competition, transparency, the most basic fundamental values that largely not applied in health insurance right now are we closer to the values in the debate? >> better than what i thought approximate. you get to keep the subsidies for the exchange and automatic of that seems to be preserved. we talked about a chance with the wyden -- one of the big fights to come in the days is

affordability. a big ballots to get the subsidies up to 350% that means putting more money into the bill and also a fight over revenues. right? they want to take money out of the bill and make the excise tax not fall for the west virginia coal minors. a lot left here. >> understood. to that end, senator kay bailey hutchinson joins the conversation, a republican from texas. a pleasure to have you, senator. i know that you have a set of talking points that goes to state level insurance exchanges. in brief, tell us what you would be in favor of and how it relates to the amendments, particularly the wyden choice amendment and how that allows the type of exchanges you would want. >> i do think that exchanges that do not cost the governor and therefore, require taxes of employers or individuals are the way to go. states can do this without a federal mandate. this is something i'm promoting

at the state level where it would give employees a choice. they would own their own policy and it would be affordable and employers would find it much less expensive and not having administrative costs and a real factor in their expense levels. so i think that there is something really good there, but not the big government co-op type thing where you have subsidies and, therefore, costs. >> the trick as i've been learning about this, as a journalist, senator, what really strikes me is some of the just anti-competitive aspects of the current structure, lack of choice for employees and patients and portability. the antitrust exemption. things that strike me low hanging fruit. do you get the sense that our congressional body is ready to engage low hanging fruit even if it means updating of the status quo? >> i would love to see a bipartisan effort at taking some

of those key areas that everyone would agree on and passing something like that. i haven't seen that in the senate finance marked up -- not marked up. to be marked up bill and certainly the house bill was not it. i'm very worried about this public option which i think would be devastating and the house bill that makes hospitals and health care providers pay for most of this and employers would be taxed. i think we got to get that all off the table if we're going to talk about reform in health care and would help people have affordable access to health care coverage. >> you mentioned one of the problems with your bill is subsidies. i know you're running for governor of texas. uninsured rates there above 20%. if you're not helping the folks through subsidies what is your idea for getting the people into the coverage network? >> yes. absolutely. i think we do need more insurance in texas as the highest rate of uninsured in the country. that's not acceptable. what i want to do is make it

affordable for employers to give access to health care to their employees. that's why i like the health care exchange. utah is doing the great -- utah is doing this with great success because employers would then be able to give their subsidy, their 200 a month or 300 a month that they now do as their share of a covered group, they would give that to the employees. the employee would take the best from this exchange which would have more benefit of a higher risk pool which brings down costs, and they would be able to even share it if it's a two-income family. >> senator, i know we all have to sort of wrap this up but where do we get the greatest resistance in our congress from the most basic aspects that liberate choice and freedom for employees and patients and doctors and yield the competitive spirit that america is known for? >> well, i think the majority in congress has put forward a bill

in both houses that will not allow choice. i think if we see that that goes down and we can then start with some of these newer ideas that are not big government takeovers and they're not big subsidized co-ops but instead let the free market work that's when i think you will find success and the president hopefully, would adropt that and find success as well. >> then to that end, once you've got an efficient enough updated system you can come back for a taxpayer debate for subsidizing those who can't afford health care even in the most efficient system, correct? >> well, of course, you're still going to have medicaid for your less fortunate people who can't afford anything and don't have any access to coverage and you have the chip program, you have medicare. that can be made more efficient and certainly more usable. but for the people who have the ability to have insurance, but it's just not quite affordable,

i think we can do a lot without a big government takeover. >> yeah. again, competition goes a long way. thank you, senator. >> thank you. >> that and employee choice would be a good way to go. getting information from princeton, minnesota, about a bomb threat. it looks like it's closing all of the schools in this school district in prnton because of multiple bomb threats in and around town according to the assistant of the superintendent right now. apparently suspicious looking packages discovered at the post office and high school and getting that from the local paper here prnton local eagle. all schools in princeton as a result of those bomb threats. when we get more information how serious this is, you can imagine they are going to have the bomb squads going in to check out these suspicious packages and we will pass that information along. breaking news.

a massive tsunami slammed into the south pacific island of is a mow on, america is a mow owe, tango. a earthquake triggered the tsunami waves. people say they were up to 20 feet high and villages flattened and people in cars swept out to sea and those waves spread all the way a mile inland. right now, coast guard and fema crews on the way to help with the relief efforts and overnight president obama signed a major disaster for the american island of samoa. new information on the earthquake in indonesia. the government says 13 people confirmed killed in this 7.9 quake off the coast of sumatra island. news wires reporting there are thousands trapped in the rubble where these buildings in padang collapsed. experts predict for years that

padang could be wiped out because of a quake because of where it's situated, its location. this is the same area hard hit by a massive tsunami in 2004. more than 230,000 people were killed there. we're staying on top of all of this. the u.s. supreme court is taking up an important gun case. nbc justice correspondent pete williams joins us now with the details here. this has to do with the second amendment, right? >> it's a very big deal. the question is does the second amendment apply to the states? a couple of years the supreme court said it applied to the district of columbia. now the question is can cities have strict handgun bans like washington, d.c. did? the case at issue is chicago. you may remember this was a very big deal during sonia sotomayor's confirmation hearings because the courts are divided about whether the second amendment is a protection against the federal government or does it apply to state laws as well? so this is going to be a closely followed case by the nation's

gun rights advocates and millions of people will care very much about this case, so it ensures there will be another high profile showdown over gun rights in this coming supreme court term. >> you have cities on both ends. cities like d.c. and chicago and on the other hand, arizona which is now allowing patrons to go into bars carrying -- >> well, right. the question here can the states do whatever they want? the question isn't so much can states have very lenient laws allowing possession of guns. the question here can the states or the cities in this case have very restrictive laws does that violate the second amendment? >> we will watch for that. a lot of people caring about the outcome of that decision. dylan? >> up next here, bank of america already has banked billions in taxpayer money from the bailout. in fact, the taxpayer subsidizes most of the financial system right now. we will talk with a man who

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debtor's revolt continues to brew in this country. contessa brewer has the latest. >> it appears fedup bank customers emboldened by a small victory achieved by bun one bank of america customer. this lady threatened not to pay her credit card bills after bank of america more than doubled her rate. she won. bank of america agreed to lower her rate from 30% back down to the original 13% or so that she signed up for. >> the irony here, she signed up for 13%, she had to go to war

with a public relations campaign when they jacked her to 30% to get back to what she thought she was going to get. what kind of a country is it where you have to go to battle to get what you thought you were buying in the first place? >> that's why we describe it as a small victory because she is still paying a 13% credit card history. >> it's a thieving country when you behave that way. >> now we have this guy who was an assistant branch manager for the bank of america. carrying the torch going after his former employer who he says unfairly raised his interest rate. >> what i'm telling the world is that bank of america will stop at nothing to turn an insane profit at your expense and my expense and when things go south we all got stuck again to pay the bill through the form of bailouts. >> we should mention we did reach out to bank of america for a response but, so far, the response is slow coming. >> again, we only called them an hour or two ago so let's give

them a little time and see what happens. joining the conversation is ben and ben, communicate to us the essence of the mathematics. i have it on the table here where you can see that the taxpayers are effectively, through the federal reserve and direct treasury investment, giving the banks money at 0% and that banks, on average, are lending the money back to us at credit card rates at 12.3% and the banks have absolutely no money and basically a legal structure to borrow money from taxpayers and lend it back to us. i presume from your video you you understand that math and didn't feel comfortable running a business that way? >> absolutely. we borrowed the money at 5.1%. when i say "we" i mean my grandfather and myself. we took that money on the premise it said 5.1% and in the

small print they even claimed that the terms could change subject to whatever. any logical or reasonable person, i think, would think how could change of terms go from 5.1 to 32%? i think that's insane. >> arthur delanie wrote a piece on the debt revolt for the huffington post and it's worth a look. they have an entire division of the huffington post dedicated to identifying people that are being picked off in this way. arthur, how prevalent is this and how do people -- what is the best way for somebody to respond if they had what they thought was a normalized credit card rate and suddenly finds themselves with a 30% sticker? >> the first thing anyone should do is call the bank. obviously, that doesn't work a lot of the time. anne is not the only one trying to do this but so far the only one that had any success. i guess it can't hurt to go on

youtube like ben and anne and generate bad publicity for your bank. >> if you want more visibility, if you're credible in your case, i guess, that's the key. a lot of people like to complain. arthur, what do you consider a credible debt revolter like ben and other people who wants to be on tv and complain? >> a credible debt revoltor is somebody who has done everything right and made at least their minimum monthly payments and then had their interest rate jacked unfairly. >> jonathan? >> arthur, what role do the consumer protection agencies have in all this? why aren't they a resource for consumers to channel their revolting energy into? >> well, you can get in touch with a consumer protection agency and then when the bank sees that, you're trying to bring the hammer down on them, they might give awe little more attention. i talked to a few people who have tried that, but no one who has really had a ton of success.

>> again, the huffington post aggressive in covering the debtor's revolt. we here at the "morning meeting" similarly aggressive. ben, thank you for sharing your story with us. the more we see of this the more we see taxpayer lend money to banks to lend back to us without any compensation for their claw backs or anything else is insanity. arthur, xep up the good work. we are plugging into politics next. sarah palin pulling in big bucks for her memoir. either going rogue or going rouge parnl. why is she having a tough time going on the lecture circuit? we're back after this. half year. and when i fell and busted my back up, that ended my driving career. and then i lost my health insurance. we tried to get health insurance on our own, but was turned down every time because of pre-existing condition. last year i lost my wife to cancer.

like all of this could have been prevented if we'd of had a simple thing called insurance it's just hard to swallow. to lose somebody like that i'm from fayetteville, north carolina, ...and i smoked for 29 years. the one thing about smoking - is it dominates your life, and it dominated mine. and the sad thing about it is that you can always use an excuse if cigarettes don't kill me, oh well - something else will. but, you can't use that as an excuse. i honestly loved smoking, and i honestly didn't think i would ever quit. it was very interesting that you could smoke on the first week. chantix gave me that extra help that i needed to get through a tough time. (announcer) chantix is a non-nicotine pill. in studies, 44% of chantix users were quit during weeks 9 to 12 of treatment,

compared to 18% on sugar pill. it is proven to reduce the urge to smoke. i did have an unopen pack of cigarettes in my purse and then i think i opened my purse and realized it was still there. and i said, "what the heck, i don't need these..." ...i said, you know, "bye, i don't need you anymore, you're not my crutch, i don't need a crutch." (announcer) talk to your doctor about chantix and a support plan that's right for you. some people have had changes in behavior, hostility, agitation, depressed mood and suicidal thoughts or actions while taking or after stopping chantix. if you notice agitation, hostility, depression or changes in behavior, thinking or mood that are not typical for you, or if you develop suicidal thoughts or actions, stop taking chantix and call your doctor right away. talk to your doctor about any history of depression or other mental health problems, which can get worse while taking chantix. some people can have allergic or serious skin reactions to chantix, some of which can be life threatening. if you notice swelling of face, mouth, throat or a rash stop taking chantix and see your doctor right away. tell your doctor which medicines you are taking as they may work differently when you quit smoking.

chantix dosing may be different if you have kidney problems. the most common side effect is nausea. patients also reported trouble sleeping and vivid, unusual or strange dreams. until you know how chantix may affect you, use caution when driving or operating machinery. chantix should not be taken with other quit smoking products. as a non-smoker it's wonderful. the best thing that ever happened. the best thing i have ever done besides my husband, and dogs, and family. with the chantix and with the support system, it worked. it worked for me. (announcer) talk to your doctor to find out if prescription chantix is right for you. sarah palin a tough sell on the lecture circuit. contessa brewer has the story. >> she may have pocketed 700

million for her book but apparently she is sell herself on the speaking engagements not so much. apparently the bookers asking 100,000 for each speech but an industry tells page six that have fear booking her because she think she is a idiot. palin is polarizing and some might cancel if she is on the lineup. >> what if she went to the kennedy school of government? because people know they want a support her and people want to be with her whether you like it or not or whether anybody likes it or not. what if she took the time to go back to school? >> it might alienate the people who already support her. >> i don't think so. i think everyone is a niver of a little education. >> do you? >> i do. >> conservative women have their own calendar and among the calendar women, michelle bachman, the controversial congress woman and our former

pageant queen carrie prejean. >> coming up in the next hour of the "morning meeting" although we're in the next hour of the "morning meeting," so i guess the last half hour, contessa. we've been at this a while. driven to distraction. the white house launching a two-day summit on texting while driving but what about putting on makeup or reading the paper or eating? we will talk about it next on msnbc. [ queen ] want your longwear to give you more? well, get on out of that department store. and into covergirl outlast. no department store longwear gives you so many different ways to last through breakfast lunch and dinner. more choices, more shades, more outlast. ♪ covergirl

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now we have hands-free phones so you can focus on the thing you're really supposed to be doing. chances are if you need both of your hands to do something, your brain should be in on it, too. >> we're ready for a drive here. blackberry and newspaper and makeup and a bottle of vodka. all we need is a car now. comedienne ellen degeneres hitting the nail. the root of the problem is the lack of mental focus when you're driving a large multithousand pound vehicle with other people near you. this morning, transportation secretary ray lahood is holding a summit how to discuss that problem.

tom is on the beat. >> 16%, 16% of all fatal accidents involve some sort of distracted driving and at any given time 11% of all drivers are using some sort of a hands-free or a mobile device i should say mobile device and that means 11% of drivers may be more distracted than if they're legally drunk. >> reporter: from texting drivers who rear-end other cars. take out a mailbox. or nearly go off a bridge. police report distracted driving is now a constant threat. horrific cases involving bus, truck, and trolley drivers, even train engineers. and then there's the case of 19-year-old reggie shaw. three years ago, on a utah highway, reggie crossed the center line while texting. the accident he started killed

james and keith. they were rocket scientists, husbands and fathers. >> and i remembered being so shocked that someone could be so selfish and irresponsible and they killed my husband. >> reporter: at the university of utah, researchers have spent years studying driving while on a cell phone or while texting. their findings are stunning. >> it's double the risk of someone who is driving at a .08 blood alcohol level. the text messaging driver is a dangerous person on the road and a ticking time bomb for an accident. >> i think there is an epidemic in america. >> reporter: now, the obama administration is weighing in out with new statistics this morning. more than 5,800 people killed and 500,000 injured last year in accidents involving some form of distracted driving. the under 20 distracted driver and 20 to 29-year-olds were the most involved in fatal accidents.

nationwide, 18 states and d.c. have outlawed texting while driving. six also ban hand-held cell phones. but the transportation secretary says every state must take distracted driving as seriously as drunk driving. >> the reason .08 works and the reason that seat belt laws work is because there are police on the street stopping people, issuing tickets and hauling people in to the lock-ups when they are above .08. >> reporter: reggie shaw was charged with negligent homicide. as part of his sentence, he takes a story to anyone who will listen. >> i thought it was safe. i thought it was something that i could do, that i could drive down the road and send a text message and be safe. >> reporter: that video was produced by zero fatalities in utah. reggie shaw -- make that 30 days, 30 days in jail but he was the last person, dylan, to receive such a light sentence in utah. if did he that today, he could

receive up to 15 years in prison per dead individual. per death. back to you. >> thank you so much, tom. experts focusing on cell phones today for the next couple of days, in fact, in washington. but we here think there are many other activities, those that are on the table in front of us, for instance, that put drivers at risk as well. joining us now, brandon nixon, ceo of a company called drive cam which monitors distracted drivers through cameras mounted in their dash boards and then our panelist, jonathan capehart, remains with us here in new york. brandon, the most consistent thing that you see on these in-car videos that leads to problems? >> so first of all, we applied the government's actions to bring together this panel of experts. it's really an important topic. we've been studying distracted driving and risky driving now for a decade at drive cam and the number of types of things

that are risky driving continue to go up with technology. if you take a look at texting today, one thing that is just amazing to me is that there was a study done on texting where, on average, a person takes their eyes off the road for four seconds while texting. at 55 miles an hour, that's the equivalent of driving your car the length of a football field with your eyes closed. >> put it in context, and we've got some take -- statistics here. compelled to brake it takes about a half a second to hit the brakes and when you're legally drunk add another four feet and reading an e-mail, add 36 feet and sending a text message at 70 feet which approaches your football field. if you were to then add things like reading the newspaper, which i know you've seen on some of your in-car cams, obviously,

putting on your makeup, how do those things compare to texting and these other variables? >> they are all distracted driving and the goal is to get all of that off the road. but as technology enters the cam and it takes your eyes away for a longer period of time off the road, that's where the real danger comes in. there's been several studies that have shown that a truckdriver that texts is 23 more times likely to get into an accident than one that doesn't. there was a aaa study that showed anywhere from 25% to 50% of all accidents are caused by distracted driving. >> brandon, you know, when the transportation secretary thought up this summit, there were little giggles here and there, oh, driving while texting, ha, ha, ha. we've seen people put on makeup in their cars and read newspapers in their cars. is the fact this summit is happening because this is something that is so pervasive

and men and women do it, young and old do it, and that it really is a danger across the country? >> it really is a dangerous thing. at drive cam, we have 14 million clips, video clips of risky driving and we've analyzed this database and anywhere from 25% to 35% of all of our clips are caused by distracted driving. and it's not limited to teens, it's not limited to truckdriv s truckdrivers. it's really across the population. >> brandon, i see 18 states have banned texting while driving and six of them also have banned any hand-held phone whatsoever. any statistics in the states that have moved down this road? >> at drive cam, we do not believe there is any silver bullet to eliminate this off the road. we think it's a combination of things so we think it's going to take some legislation and regulation similar to many of the states that have already passed. we think it requires a video-based feedback technology like drive cams to really

monitor the behavior, as well as provide the ammunition for them to change their behavior and then, also, it's going to take a fairly large public awareness campaign for them to realize the dangers of what it's like. i mean, literally when you're texting on the road, it is like you're playing russian roulette behind the wheel and just because it comes out okay. >> will you put a camera in my car? >> yes, i will. >> as long as we can edit some of it out. i think it would be very interesting. you would know better than me, brandon, people forget the camera is in there after a minute and next thing they are singing and playing music and yelling and screaming and all of the rest of it, right? >> they do but when they do something wrong they look up to the camera because they know it's there. >> busted! thank you, brandon. contessa? breaking news from princeton, minnesota. the entire school district on lockdown now because of suspicious packages found at the

post office and at the high school. here it is. the students at the high school are on lockdown and can't go out of their classrooms. they are bussed to the middle school where they will be released to go home or their parents can pick them up or they will be bussed home at that point. officers say they used police to block off the entire block here and send in the bomb squad and look at these suspicious packages. it looks like a box sitting on the step here and a similar package again found at both the high school and at the post office. we will stay on top of this for you when we learn more information. coast guard and fema headed for america samoa where a massive tsunami killed 99 people there on america is a mow owe. the death toll higher if you considered samoa and tonga. four sue noomy waves up to 20 feet high and swept people and their cars out to sea. entire villages were flattened. president obama has made a

disaster declaration for the island of america samoa. president obama reconvening afghan war council and top-to-bottom review of strategy and troop levels in afghanistan. chuck todd is the political director for nbc news. other than increasing troop levels, chuck, are there any specifics what alternative strategies might be looked at? >> actually, i think you're going to see the conversation about true levels in many ways might be tabled at this discussion. look. it's a who's who. anybody who has a piece of afghanistan or pakistan portfolio for the u.s. government is going to be there from intelligence folks to military folks, to folks from the state department and key players inside the white house. one thing that some might say by looking at the entire group that is going to be there, you're like, well, they're going to need three hours because that's a lot of people to even give sort of their initial 30-second take on what they think is going on. i'm told it's really going to be the start of what is going to be a for our five meeting set of discussions about what is the

ultimate strategy here going forward? some of these goals about afghanistan, can it be a country that is stabilized? what is the decision about getting rid of the taliban? is it to eradicate all of the taliban or going after 10% to 20% and hope you get the leadership and the rest will sort of switch sides and look for stable countries? so all of those questions are going to be discussed today. meanwhile, of course, overseas in geneva, we have the issue of iran which is just showing that we're at this point in the obama presidency he doesn't get to pick the issues anymore, the issues are picking him. >> are there high expectations with that meeting with iran? >> well, i tell you, there is. you talk to our own andrea mitchell and she says they seem to be a lot of optimism on the u.s. side, that, you know, iran will come to the table fairly seriously and if they don't, that the permanent members of the security council, including

sanctions skeptics like russia and china there at the end. that is what we are all watching. top commander in iraq is delivering good news while speaking to house lawmakers he said thousands of u.s. troops will soon return home because they are no longer needed in iraq. >> although challenges remain in iraq with the continued support of congress and the american people, i believe we are now in reach of our goals. >> that withdrawal is expected to drop troop levels to less than 120,000 before the end of the year. chicago making all-out push to win the 2016 olympics. the president will join the first lady tomorrow evening. how hopeful are chicagoans at this point? >> they are very hopeful and some are hoping they get it and some hoping they won't. all across the city you see banners like the one hanging

behind me on the michigan avenue bridge. the civil public commit comooet is behind this push. the president is there and going to be there. the first lady is already there and mayor daley and his wife are there. oprah winfrey will be lobbying on behalf of the games. a poll in the "chicago tribune" four weeks ago that said the residents of the city sharply divided. 47% supporting the bid and 45% opposing it. but whether you're for or against it, come friday, when the announcement of the decision, a lot of chicagoans will be watching and waiting and hoping one way or the other. contessa? >> john, thank you very much. the interesting matchup here, you've got oprah winfrey and president obama and interesting who has the midas touch. >> i don't want to say it but when it comes to chicago, my money is on oprah. thank you. up next at the "morning meeting," getting even. the washington way. progressive groups taking a page

out of the conservative's playbook. but this time, they are tag it a step further hitting opponents where it hurts in their pocketbooks. first, no matter what you've heard, if you like your doctor or health care plan, you can keep it. insurance companies will be prohibited from... denying you coverage because of your medical history, dropping your coverage if you get sick,

or watering down your coverage when it counts. because there's no point in having health insurance... if it's not there when you need it. insurance companies will no longer be able to place... some arbitrary cap on the amount of coverage... you can receive in a given year or lifetime, and we will place a limit on how much you can... be charged for out-of-pocket expenses. because no one in america should go broke... just because they get sick. we'll require insurance companies... to cover routine check-ups and preventive care, like mammograms and colonoscopies. if you don't have health insurance, you'll finally have quality affordable options once we pass reform. and i will not sign on to any health plan... that adds to our deficits over the next decade. everyone will have the security and stability that's missing today. it was tough news to hear. everything changed. i didn't know what to do.

right about then, our doctor mentioned the exelon patch. he said it releases medicine continuously for 24 hours. he said it could help with her cognition which includes things like memory, reasoning, communicating and understanding. (announcer) the most common side effects of exelon patch are nausea, vomiting and diarrhea. the likelihood and severity of these side effects may increase as the dose increases. patients may experience loss of appetite or weight. patients who weigh less than 110 pounds may experience more side effects. people at risk for stomach ulcers or who take certain other medicine should talk to their doctor because serious stomach problems, such as bleeding may worsen. mom's diagnosis was hard to hear, but there's something i can do. (announcer) visit exelonpatch.com for free caregiving resources.

you want revenge after 15 years? >> m. >> i've been busy. >> you want to know what you did? >> help me! >> but that was 15 years ago. >> you destroyed my father! >> robert f. kennedy said it and he meant it. don't get mad, get evening. it seems washington likes that mantra of late. the spitball fight that perpetuates. jonathan capehart is along for the ride. >> uh-huh. >> glad to hear. >> great to be here. >> like being at home.

>> yeah, it is. >> yeah. >> let's start with forget about firing back. progressive groups saying they prefer revenge later to try to stop a top conservative from getting fired and the ever playing game of spitball. former lieutenant governor went after obama health care reform. she then claims chicago style arm-twisting tactics. i'm not sure what that is. blamed for her resignation from a lucrative gig on the board of the can tell medical group. >> she is playing hardball politics. koing the phrase there were no death panels so she has no place to campaign. >> you should be able to come back with a bat. >> of course her and candel. did she lose it?

>> come here! >> former house leader dick armey, his day job dried up after he took the helmet free to work. that group is known for organizing tea party in town and all protests against sort of health care reform. armey said he lost the highest paying job of his career. armey denies that his job had anything to do with his activism but he still is in the firm -- i should say the firm still decided to part ways. did the left go over the jugular? >> this is for blood! this is the old days. and the bad days. all or nothing days. they're back! >> and we wonder why things in our country don't work because we're too busy trying take the other guy down. but in the tit-for-tat battle you will say the biggest is claimed by the gop.

the president's so-called green jobs. jones resigning after what he called the smear campaign from the right leading up to the resignation and glenn beck repeating jones association with radical leftist group. color of change.org once led by jones have been waging a campaign to get advertisers to abandon beck's program. the group says 62 firms agreed to stop running ads. quite the lion fight. so who stands on the top of the mountain? week, we'll let you skied decide that one. i think people would like to see updating of all of these broken systems. >> sure. but the reason why this politics continues is because it's effective. you do something to me, i'm

going to hit harder and escalates to the point you can't say anything or do anything. even remotely just like the slightest infraction can cost you a paycheck and cost you a government position. cost you your name and prestige. >> great for the politicians and terrible for america. >> yeah. >> kind after screwy system. we are back after this. ♪ crunch. wheat thins. that's what's gonna happen here. because you're tasty... with toasty whole grains. (crunch) wheat thins. toasted. whole grain. crunch. have at it.

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today, a special day for us here. our good friend and neighbor jonathan capehart joining us live and person. we talked public option and bank of america and all of these outdated and broken systems. tit-for-tat and holding people hostage in this country. >> you said you want to free the hose staj and i'm the first one, i'm out of the box! >> you're free to roam.

see you later. i want to roam myself. the president may speak in a second here on stimulus spending and looks like monica is over there. i'm looking at the back of her hair. "msnbc live" after this. when i first saw the new outback it looked so different to me. but when i got back from my first trip...

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