people. that's a challenge for the president. is he telling the idea of the government working as the solution as well as reagan sold it not being the solution? >> clinton went along and said the -- he went with that direction. but belief in government is something i thought the democrats missed a step here. want to change channels here for a second. if you believe in government and potential to help people, you have to believe in good government and serving well. you have to pass bills. you can't just yell and argue and say we're going to get blow back to rush limbaugh every night. >> on the other hand, they're going to bring a health care bill to the floor of the senate october 12th. this is the fundamental gamble of democrats at a time when there's an anti-government feeling, is it more dangerous to bend that feeling and pull back from movining forward on this bl or better off going forward in face of the headwind? they tried the first strategy in '94 when the bill collapsed. clinton's approval rating went down with it. lost control of the congress. >> if you put up the white flag

you lose. >> bill clinton says you pass health care reform it gets more popular. >> bill clinton said the other day talking to the net roots out there, he said, you lose, you lose. no hiding from this. great having you on. i love friday now. david gregory "meet the press" this sunday with susan rice and rachel maddow. ron brownstein. join us again monday night at k and 7:00 eastern for more hillary clinton. good evening, americans, welcome to "the ed show." >> one of the things i think is most valuable about sports is that you can play a great game and still not win. i'm proud that i was able to come in and help make that case in person. i believe it's always a worthwhile endeavor to promote and boost the united states of america. and invite the world to come see

what we're all about. >> that is our president showing his usual class and gracious, after the united states lost the 2016 olympic games. that is the mark of leadership. taking the losses with the wins, sticking your neck out for something you really believe in. something that's the right thing to do. even if you're getting heckled from the seats. i'm not going to sugar coat this tonight. this is a dark day for our country. a low point for america. you can hang it right on the right wing talkers, and, yes, the republican party. their negativity and lack of patriotism underscores how damaged this country has become over the last eight years. this attack on president obama trying to get the olympics is about the most un-american thing i think i've ever seen. the righties led by the drugster are savoring the moment that the

united states lost today. >> the world has rejected obama. chicago, the least number of votes. first elimination in the round of voting for the olympics in 2016. barack hussein obama. mmm, mmm, mmm. barack hussein obama. has been running around the world for nine months telling everybody how much our country sucks. why would anybody award the olympics to such a crappy place as the united states of america? >> where rush goes the republican party follows. newt gingrich tweeted today, "president obama fails to get the olympics while unemployment goes to 9.8%. iran continues nuclear program. america needs focused leadership." rnc chair michael steele jumped into it, too, with a statement. "our country needs the president's undivided attention on urgent issues facing american families today.

rising unemployment, soaring health care costs, winning the war in afghanistan and dealing with iran's nuclear threat." get a load of this. michael steele telling president obama to focus on health care costs? the hypocrisy here is absolutely mind boggling. now, the same crowd that says they support the troops didn't support the united states getting the olympics. they only support the troops when it's good for them. they only support america when it's good for them. they only support america when it's good for their political agenda. what the republicans did, i think, rivals jane fonda sitting on a gun in north vietnam. this was a great chance to revitalize an economy that definitely is dragging. the irony is that the party that claims to be for the free market, capitalism, and competition, the party that just loves to get out there and go one-on-one did absolutely nothing to compete for this.

their negativity in the 11th hour cost this country billions of dollars in economic development and hundreds of thousands in jobs. i might add union jobs that are greatly needed. the olympicss have always been good for the economy. when we hosted them before on american soil. 1996, atlanta had tremendous redevelopment and revitalization. the olympic park is still being used by georgia tech. this is not a failure of president obama. this is a failure of the republican party. the right wing talkers in this country that openly, openly campaigned against the olympics by denigrating our president again. it's their stated goal to see barack obama fail. well, congratulations, boys, you did a heck of a job. just remember, when obama fails, america fails. and one thing that really bothers me about all of this is the yoouth of this country. what message does it send to young people when you have one

political party rooting against america getting something like the olympics? what message to young people? think about the young people in the region around chicago that would have been able to go to the olympics and inspired to compete. that won't help at all now, of course, they got to get cheap airfare to rio de janeiro. get your cell phones out. who's happier about losing the olympics? rio or the republicans? text "a" for rio, "b" for republicans to 622639. we'll bring you the results later on in the show. it's the demeanor of the righties that is so dis-hartening. joining me from chicago, congresswoman jan schakowsky. congresswoman, your response to some of the republicans that are out there just ripping into the president, calling him a failure, and also basically their campaign against chicago. what's your mood at this hour, congresswoman? >> well, imagine had the

president not gone to copenhagen, then, of course, they would have blamed him for not working hard enough for getting the olympics. there's no way for him to win. i'm just proud of the president of the united states, michelle obama, the mayor of chicago, the people of chicago who worked so hard and so long. of course, i'm disappointed, but, you know, the president, again, was a class act when he congratulated rio de janeiro, south america has never gotten the games before. we were -- >> what about the political reaction? what about the republicans actually campaigning against the united states and downtalking chicago? how do you feel about that? >> well, you know, first of all, i feel really bummed today. when we were standing on the plaza with hundreds and hundreds of happy chicagoans hoping to hear the good news, it was so incredibly disappointing and

really deflating for all of us, because we know that chicago is the greatest city in the world. it would have been a great host for the olympics. >> what went wrong in your opinion? yeah, what went wrong? >> i don't think anything went wrong with our effort and our bid. i really, frankly, think that it was mainly that they decided that south america, that brazil, a rising country, not at the place where chicago is now, could benefit very much from the olympics. you're right, the republicans are just naysayers. whatever this president does -- >> at everything. at everything. >> how dare rush limbaugh. how dare he say that this president goes around talking about how bad our country is. he has finally been able to establish us as real participants in the world community and if anything would have stopped us from getting it

is the last eight years where we have -- >> finally, what about that? finally, congresswoman s schakowsky is this part of a political hangover? maybe america isn't as popular as it used to be with all the things that took place over the last eight years? >> it may be that. i think it was a choice for giving the latin america a chance, giving rio a chance. i really feel that chicago benefited just from being in the competition and having the light shone on our great city. i don't think it really was such a putdown of barack obama, the united states of america. i really don't think so. >> congresswoman jan schakowsky, thanks for your time tonight. i appreciate it so much. for more on all of this, let's go to msnbc contributor jim warren, also in chicago tonight. jim, what's the inside story here? what was the tipping point?

why did chicago get exited so quickly in this process? >> i think they, a group of some of the most sophisticated political practitioners in america, mayor richard daley, some of his top aides and alumni club which include david axelrod, rahm emanuel and president barack obama were absolutely outfoxed politically by a very interesting, curious electorate, median age 72, mostly european, mostly male, mostly white, only 13, 14 females. i can tell you that after a series of exchanges in the last hour with top officials of the u.s. bid, they were absolutely convinced when they woke up this morning they hadlocked in 35 committed votes. 35 people who told them they were going to vote for them. they ended up getting a mere 18. as they now reconstruct or think they're deconstructing what happened, they believe they were

fooled ironically by much of the african vote which they believe had been committed to them and most of which now seems on the first round, at least, to have gone to tokyo. why tokyo? well, in the theory of what happened that the chicagoans now possess as they fly back here, they believe that they were snookered by the head of the the international olympic committee, mr. rogue gi, who from the beginning wanted to have the olympics for the first time in south america and who then convinced the africans on the first ballot to vote for tokyo because in his mind it had the best technical bid from all these criteria that they apparently use, it was the strongest. vote for them. they won't ultimately make it. we know you want the u.s. they'll still be in by the second round. when he did that and when, supposedly, they followed his urgings, chicago was seemingly snookered. >> jim, can i take from your answer, there, that it really made no difference whether the president went or not? that this was over before air force one left american soil?

>> i think all along, i personally thought in talking to some folks, it's not as if i talked to a ton of ioc members, that rio was clearly the front-runner and madrid probably second as a result of the huge influence of the 90-year-old mr. samaranc who put a lot of the folks on the ioc and was guilt tripping them about voting for madrid, win the last time out had more votes than london web when it came to the competition for the 2012 olympics. in let ro spect, it didn't make a difference. the bid this morning, the presentation this morning, i didn't think it was overwhelming. knock on wood president obama was there because i think mayor daley and the head of the chicago bid committee, i thought they were lacking assertive passion and obama in some ways saved the bid particularly when the basic question was asked during the question&answer

period, what's going to be the legacy of this bid? the person who answered it fumbled it so badly the president asked the head of the chicago -- can i take a swing at that? if you were watching, he did a much, much better job. >> he did. >> i agree with jan schakowsky. if he hadn't shown up and we lost, he would be bashed. should he have worked a lot harder? i think the fix was in. >> is there response from the obama white house of all the negativity thrown out there by republicans and right wing talkers of america, in the sound chamber, their negative attitude from the whole thing? any response from the obama team? >> not today. their point of view is going to be, look the other way. not give legitimacy to the comments. look forward. they were obviously on point today. we'll go anywhere to support america. in reality, retrospect, this was not going to happen. chicago, as great a city as it is, as much as we love it, was a

huge long shot and they deserved some credit for, you know, making -- at least getting 18 votes they got because rio had ultimately such a convincing case. >> jim warren, msnbc in chicago tonight. thanks, jim. appreciate your time on this story. 2012 republican hopeful tim pawlenty, governor of this state, minnesota, says the cash for clunkers was a joke and obama's health care plan is manure. governor, you just stepped in it yourself. i'm after you. minnesota, minneapolis, minneapolis, minnesota, mayor is next. advil pm or tylenol pm? with advil pm she's spending less time... lying awake with aches and pains... he should switch to advil pm. the better night's sleep.

really bad. then we learned that a flu shot can reduce the risk of getting the flu by up to 70%. we got our flu shots at cvs pharmacy. best thing we ever did. yes, indeed. [ laughs ] come in to get a flu shot today and get a $100 coupon book just for stopping by. go to cvs.com to find a flu shot location near you. cvs pharmacy. vegetables are naturally low in calories. v8 juice gives you 3 of your 5 daily servings. it's a tasty, nutritious way to make this number go up... and help this one go down. v8. what's your number? republican governor tim pawlenty says he's not trying to be cute when he says he's still considering running for president. don't worry, tim. we don't think there's anything

cute about it. the mayor of minneapolis joins me to talk about it. eeeeee

all this talk about 2012 is premature, speculativspeculativ. i don't know what i'm going to be doing. i'm not trying to be cute or coy. i don't know what i'm going to be doing a few years from now. we'll see. the focus of that is helping in 2009 and 2010 in other race, not my own. >> minnesota governor tim pawlenty has no idea why people are asking him about 2012. he's just trying to help other republicans win. this presidential speculation is complete completely out of the blue. i doubt it. it has nothing to do with the

fact that pawlenty, who lost a bid to be john mccain's vice presidential candidate last year, has been assembling a team of republican presidential campaign veterans? mccain's former spokesman george w. bush, former political director, sarah palin's personal campaign shopper? pawlenty's going to need some major help after all. 55% of the people of his own state of minnesota say they don't want him to run and nearly half of minnesota voters say there's no chance they'd think about voting for him. joining me now, r.t. rybak, mayor of minnesota. good to have you with us tonight. >> good to be here, ed. >> what is tim pawlenty doing? just playing with the headlights, playing with the spotlights, or do you think he's seriously thinking about making a run for the nomination? >> i think he is a deer in the headlights. i guarantee you tim pawlenty will be in the private sector at the end of 2012 because he's not going to beat barack obama. in minnesota we have an

expression about people who are all yak, no talk. no action, hasn't done a thing in minnesota until he got his frequent flier card to fly around the country. the piece of good news about building the team, he has the bush people around him. i like the fact he has sarah palin's shopper. she went on a shopping spree in downtown minneapolis. that may be the stimulus we need here. that's the one piece of good news that tim pawlenty could finally help this state. >> pawlenty is a lot like bush. he is a conservative, but fiscally, he's even tighter than bush. he said this about the cash for clunkers. here it is. >> the effect of this is that we pulled the demand forward and just dissipating what was future demand for car sales. see that in the numbers today. along the way we hurt the used car lots, salvage industry, charitable industry that converted old cars and more. i would not support increasing those programs. there's a joke that says the main value for the cash for clunkers program, we may get a

lot of cars with obama stickers off the road. >> get a lot of cars with obama stickers off the road. i don't know what you think, i think that's border line racist, class warfare because of the economic disparity in this country. is this who this guy is? really now being cast on the national scene, going to get a lot of attention now. is he known for saying stuff like this? >> you're going to have fun with this guy, ed schultz. look, i guess you can make a joke of somebody struggling out there and trying to get a car. make a joke of somebody on an auto assembly line desperately trying to get to work. i guess you could make a joke out of it. i haven't tried. it didn't work for hoover very well. what i hope is that all the investigative reporters around the country come out here to minnesota. we love to have you here. spend a few years and do your very best to find a single thing this guy has gotten done as governor. i got to tell you, that guy is runs around the country bashing

obama. i sit here in the largest city in the state in minnesota and we have gotten close to $100 million as part of the federal stimulus program that is putting people to work. that's what we need. thank you, president obama. ignore my governor, thank you, president obama, for helping put america back to work. >> after a bridge collapse in this state that killed 13 people, he was slow to want to tree pair the bridges and he opposed a half cent sales tax on gasoline that had not been raised for some 20 years. do i have that correct? >> here's the story. tim pawlenty and i were there at the bridge collapsed. it was in front of me. i had to do that work. the governor and i worked together. when the cameras were here he said the right things. we were going to invest in infrastructure. when the national reporters disappeared he reversed face and said he wouldn't make it. we had to get an override of the legislature to do it. be careful what we says in the spotlight. when the light goes away, he

becomes a different person. those of you following him nationally are going to have fun. you're not going to be covering him from the white house. >> mayor of minneapolis, r.t. rybak with us on "the ed show." appreciate your time tonight. coming up, republican congressman and dr. paul brown, gave a town haller, a prescription for depression. go to the emergency room. that lands him in the psycho zone. now yourard comes with a way to plan for what matters to you. introducing blueprint. blueprint is free and only for chase customers. it lets you choose what purchases you want to pay and those you split... interest...with full pay. you decide how to pay over time. if having a plan matters. chase what matters. eate your own blueprint at chase.com/blueprint.

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"psycho talk" tonight, georgia congressman paul brown. he's one of the gop headliners in the fear campaign against health care reform. now, a few months ago he said a public option, quote, is going to kill people. more recently at a town hall meeting, one of brown's constituents told him that he wouldn't couldn't afford insurance to cover treatment for his major depressive disorder. here's brown's psycho response. >> people who have depression, who have chronic diseases, in this country, physicians are treating folks. people can always get care in this country by going to the emergency room. the question is, can anybody access health care in this country? >> did you hear that booing in the background? the crowd understood the insanity of brown's answer. go to the emergency room for

depression? congressman brown's a doctor. he ought to know better. he should know better. brown just rambled on through all of the boos and then unintentionally made the argument for a public option. >> anybody as access to health care in this country. the question is, who pays for it, where do they get it, at what cost? the most expensive way of finding health care. >> well, finally these town hall crowds are starting to make sense of what's going on. that's exactly why we need a public option. a trip to the emergency room should not be your go-to move unless you have an actual emergency. telling someone suffering from depression to just go to the emergency room is ignorant, intensive "psycho talk." coming up, "daily show" co-creator liz winstead will

tell us what michele bachmann has in common with the former miss california winner, carrie. also, the senate finance committee bill is in. how good is it? ron wyden is fuming over max baucus' watering down of the health care bill. iter v8. it's the most powerful half ton v8 in its class. step up to the best. it's gmc truck month. get 0% apr for 60 months on 2009 gmc sierra or get $6,000 total cash back on select 09 sierra 1500 extended and crew cabs in stock. see your gmc dealer today.

the poll data is pretty constant, pretty steady that people do not think that this is a good idea. >> i get to a lot of places and i've not had anyone come up to me, i know i'm inviting it, i've not had anyone come up to me and lobby for the public option. this is about as unpopular as a garlic milkshake. >> you know, i don't know if they're lying or just misinformed or don't get out of the beltway much. if they were watching "the ed show," the republican leaders would know 65% of people support

a public option according to the latest cbs/"the new york times" poll. so do 75% of american doctors, according to the "new england journal of medicine." despite that support, the senate finance committee bill does not include a public option. the committee is expected to vote on the bill next week and then the real dealing on the floor is going to get done. joining me now, oregon senator ron wyden, member of the senate finance committee and working on two-hour sleep, they finished at 2:00 in the morning last night. senator, good to have you with us. i'm glad you have a smile on your face. i don't think you were smiling last night when the committee did not take a vote on your amendment about choice. now, what is your -- your claim now is that there are going to be americans out there who are working in the private sector that are not going to be able to get out and get a better policy? is that what this -- your beef is about? what is it? >> that's absolutely right, ed.

the fact of the matter is under this legislation if you work for a company, say a mid-sized company, and your insurer is ripping you off, abusing you, under the legislation you're formally stuck. you wouldn't be allowed to go into the marketplace. it's called an exchange. and get something better. that's not right. we ought to make it possible for consumers to hold the insurance lobby accountable. i would also point out i think it's going to be very hard for members of congress to explain why their constituents get no choices while elected officials here in washington, d.c., get lots of them, good, quality ones. >> all right. based on that, will you still vote for this bill? where do you stand at this hour? >> ed, we are running on fumes this evening because i went to bed around 6:00 a.m. and we're still looking at the legislation. we're going to fix this. american people deserve real health reform. we have a progressive president, progressive congress. we can get this job done right.

we can hold people's premiums down and promote real competition. as you know, i support options. both public option, private options. the fact of the matter is all americans ought to have choices. their elected officials do. let me tell you something, ed. if an insurance company were to rip off a member of congress in october of 2009, come january of 2010, the member of congress can go out and get options. that's what it's going to take to hold premiums down. i'm going to insist everybody gets it, not just members of congress. >> respond to this sound bite here. this is the chairman max baucus, here he is, on the insurance companies. >> the insurance -- the companies are going to start dropping employees. they're going to start dropping them. they're going to say, hey, i have a smaller pooler here, sicker people. i'm just going to start dropping. it is very destabilizing. i cannot think of a major member so opposed by both business and

labor. both. both. >> i want you to respond to that, senator wyden. is that true? do you agree with him on that? >> ed, first of all, i understand that stl a status quo kcaucus out there that doesn't want the american consumer to have the kind of choices members of congress have. they are slicing a fat hog. yes, you have folks in business and labor. their benefits managers get to call all the shots. they control all the money and they consider it a threat to give workers more choices. i just think if we're going to hold these insurance companies accountable, worker ought to be able to turn the tables on them. >> yes or no answer. is there a mandate in the senate finance committee bill? >> there certainly is a personal responsibility requirement. we tried to relieve folked from. i have reservations about that as well. what we ought to be doing is coming up with affordable

coverage so people can buy it. >> okay. so there is a mandate. what about taxing benefits? are some benefits still going to be taxed? >> i've always said that if you have folks at goldman sachs getting $40,000 worth of benefits you shouldn't have a working class work who doesn't have coverage subsidizing them. we're working on that issue. i don't think we should be giving a handout at taxpayer expense to goldman sachs' executives. >> finally, senator, what about this amendment from the senator from washington? maria cantwell. can you buy into that? do you really think 50 states are going to be able to go off on their own and do their own deal and set up pools and do you think that will satisfy consumers in this country in. >> ed, i think maria cantwell is headed in the right direction. we in the northwest like to lead. this is a replica of what they're doing in washington state. the real answer is to get the biggest possible insurance pool. that's how the consumer gets the

best deal, what members of congress have. that's going to hold the insurers accountable. >> get some sleep, senator. good to have you with us tonight. all the best. >> thank you. >> senator ron wyden from oregon with us. i want to bring in a doctor has been working closely with the congress and white house to forge a consensus on medicare reimbursements. a major sticking point in getting the public options. joining me now dr. jack luin, a ceo of american college of cardiology. dr. luin, good to have you with us tonight. medicare reimbursement rates i've had a number of senators tell me they will not sign on to a public option because the reimbursement rates of the rural states is not fair. can that be fixed and where do we stand on that? >> well, you know, if congress would do a couple things with the public option, it would become a lot more attractive. one, make it clear if there is such a public plan that it will support itself entirely by premiums it raises. in other words, people choose it

and it will be competing with other insurance companies. the other thing is, though, it ought to be pricing its services to doctors, hospitals and other health care providers. somehow competitively with the private insurance side, not trying to discount. medicaid is a huge discount. it's a public charity for doctors in most cases. by designing the thing right, there would be a lot more support for a public option than there is right now in a lot of areas. >> what about over in the house side? they're talking about medicare plus 5. is that workable? >> i think that is workable. i think that would, you know, congress can change its mind any time, but, yes, medicare plus 5 starts to get people interested. that would get the pediatricians and primary care doctors interested in the process. >> so what is, in your opinion, the number one thing that's going to hold up a public option that will give competition to the private sector? >> i just think it's political. you know, the folks on the

conservative side of this see the public option as a path to the single payer. on the liberal side of the agenda people see it as a way to maybe move a little bit in that direction. you know, the public option shouldn't stop us from going to health care reform. senator snowe's idea of instituting the public option where insurance premiums are rising too fast or where there's no competition. there are states out there with only one insurance company. that's not competition. maybe that's where we go to start with. who knows. >> do you have -- see any merit at all in 50 states doing their own thing? setting up pools to negotiate? is that a workable solution? >> i would rather see a federal context that applies to all states, frankly. if it's one that kicks in when there are reasons to kick in, because there's uncompetitive rates or there's no competition, that then we create something. that might be a much more sellable approach and consistency across the nation

would make sense. >> doctor, finally, how adamant do you think the white house is behind closed doors about competition for the private sector? >> well, you know, i think the insurance reform piece here is a critical part. that's probably more critical and more important than the public option. if we got that insurance reform and made that radical in terms of rating policies instead of the underwriting and rejections because of pre-existing conditions, really did some powerful insurance reform in the exchanges we'd have more competition. >> dr. lewin, great to have you with us. appreciate your take on this. thanks for your work. i know you're working hard on it. panel, bill press, nationally syndicated talk show host. michael medved, talk show host and author of the book "ten big lies about america." gentlemen, we've got five bills out there, four public options, one of them with a co-opt.

how's this going to fly? bill press, who's winning this battle now? >> i feel a lot better about this issue tonight than i have before. the finance committee is almost finished with this. we're not going to have to listen to chuck grassley anymore within a couple days. or mike enzi or olympia snowe. look at math, three good bills 234 the house, one good bill in the senate, piece of crap for the most part coming out of the finance committee. going to be up to harry reid -- >> why is it a piece of crap bill? >> i tell you why, because it doesn't have any public plan option for the most part. that's the biggest thing. the co-opts are a nonstarter, ed. so is the idea of going to 50 states. it also has the fee on insurance companies which you mentioned earlier. union members would have to pay that extra fee which i don't think is fair. harry reid is going to put those two bills together.

take the best of the senate and the house. i think we're going to get a good bill now. we have a public plan option. >> michael medved, how hard are republican hard-right republicans working olympia snowe? she says she's got a lot to think about coming out of the senate finance committee. if she tips over and goes with the democrats, what's that going to do? >> well, i think it would help push the reform generally, but look, olympia snowe is one republican. what is remarkable here, and, ed, something no one expected. i don't think the president expected it. the republican party is unified. at most you will get one member of congress, both the house and the senate, to back a plan with a public option. i don't think senator snow's going to do it. the reason the republican party is unified is because the american people are truly dreading this entire process. let me tell you why. >> michael, let me ask you this. you work in the pacific northwest.

maria cantwell came out with an moment last night that lets states individually go do their thing. is that workable? is it working in the state of washington? >> i think it is. i'm familiar with basic health we have up here. it does a pretty good job. this is one of the basic questions conservatives have been asking all along, which is, why does this have to be from washington? why does it have to be from the top down? it would be far better if we actually had this in some kind of a federal system. people either like or don't like, with governor romney and the democrat and the legtsture did in massachusetts. they have their own health care program in oregon and vermont and hawaii. let the states do their thing. >> ed, you know the answer to that. you know the answer to that. that's the same reason medicare works because it's a national program. there are some states not big enough to have a viable program. >> quickly, i have to switch subjects here. quick answer. michael, loaded question. how come your party hates the olympics so much? >> i don't know about my party. i've always hated the olympics.

i've lived through having the olympics in los angeles. it's a disaster for any city. i actually was celebrating today, not because it was a defeat for obama, it was a victory for the city of chicago. i love chicago. chicago caught a break. >> oh. bill, i can't believe that. what do you think? >> ed, i love the olympics. the olympics in los angeles i went there with my family. usa, usa. i can't believe the republican party -- the republican party was rooting against the united states of america. what does that stand for? >> what i was rooting against was this. i was rooting against using tax money to support a playground for the rich. which is usually something the democrats object to. >> you know what it is, michael? you don't understand it. it is jobs. it is opportunity. it is inspiration. it is -- >> how about inspiration in chicago dealing with crime and potholes before they build olympic villages? that might be something --

>> no different than any other big city. gentlemen, thank you for joining me on a friday. i was amazed of the negativity thrown out by the republican leadership. john boehner, i hope he's blushing. accusing the president of abandoning important things to go to copenhagen. we know overseas president obama met face to face with general mcchrystal about afghanistan. colonel jack jacobs will give us an update and the landscape.

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by protecting your freedom to choose the doctors and treatments you need. and to have your tax dollars go towards your care-- not insurance company subsidies. you've done your work. and we'll keep doing ours. learn more at aarp.org. in my "playbook" tonight, president obama met with his top commander in afghanistan face to

face today for the first time. the president and general mcchrystal met for 25 minutes in copenhagen on board air force one before the president headed back to washington. the white house says the meeting was part of obama's on going review of america's strategy in afghanistan and that no decisions were made. for more on all of this, bring in msnbc military analyst, retired army colonel, jack jacobs. jack, what's the temperature of this meeting? is this the first time these two men have ever met? they don't have working relationship. today was the first day in a critical issue. what do you think? >> what i think, i usually don't believe in coincidences, but consider this. yesterday in london general mcchrystal gave a public speech in which he said that he thought that the vice president's idea that we focus our attention on counterterrorism and more or less leave afghanistan to the taliban was a very bad idea. woops. not surprisingly, the very next day he summoned to copenhagen to

have a brief meeting with the president of the united states before obama came back to washington. i think the two are very closely related. >> okay. well, with that, if the president were to choose the strategy that vice president biden is talking about, do you think mcchrystal would go along with it or would he resign? >> i think it's likely, under those circumstances, if the president decided not to cut the baby in half, and, in fact, give general mcchrystal none of the additional forces he wanted and furt further more to focus attention on al qaeda as the vice president suggests and as the secretary of state thinks is a bad idea, i think general mcchrystal would have a hard time staying on board. i think he might resign. >> if the president is going to commit 40,000 more troops, number one, it means we're going to be in for a long time. number two, it's going to cost a heck of a lot of money. most of all, this would be a continuation of the bush policy. would it not? >> yes, it would. of course, it is the policy that

the president of the united states said he wanted to follow when he was talking about it during the campaign. i think he's changed his mind. one of the things that's changed his mind i think is the congressional delegation who told the president of the united states, it's okay for you to send more troops to afghanistan for a long period of time, for it to cost a lot of money and for us to have more casualties and maybe with not the result you want the united states because you don't have to run for office again until 2012. we're running right now. i think he has to yield to the democrats and some of the republicans in congress, many of whom are very unhappy with the direction that the president has been taking. >> and jack, is it the trap of every president that military commanders always want more forces? i mean, i'm hearing that on the radio, i'm seeing it in the editorials that it's just the school of thought of a general to think that he can win a war, yet, when you look at

afghanistan, nobody's ever won there before and yesterday general petraeus said we're not going to make the same mistakes the soviets made when they were in afghanistan. isn't adding 40,000 more troops doing exactly what the soviets did? >> it might. it depends what kinds of troops they are and if they're special forces and special operations forces focused on specific areas to get rid of the al qaeda and ca taliban. it's going to take a long period of time. a lot of money and a lot of patience from americans. if all we're going to do is send lots of troops over there, you can bet they're not going to be successful. i think this is the problem the president's confronting and you're absolutely right about generals. look, anybody who asks a general is going to get the same answer. how many troops you want? i want them all. there is no such thing as too many resources. the real test is what you do with them. i think ultimately the president of the united states is going to come down, likely, in the middle. he's going to give some troops

for a period of time but is going to demand there be lots of lots of improvements in the situation in afghanistan. >> when do you think he'll do that, jack? >> he's already stretching it out. i think it's going to take a couple weeks before he gets his ducks in order and makes the announcement. >> okay. msnbc military analyst retired army colonel jack jacobs. thanks so much, tonight. >> thank you, ed. coming up, "daily show" co-creator lizz winstead wants to know why she wasn't asked to join the girlfriends, ann coulter and michele bachmann in the pinup for the conservative woman of the year calendar. ♪ if we never had to get well soon, would we simply stay well always? there's a place to find out. at walgreens, we're redefining what it means to be well... with products and advice you can count on every day. in every area of your life.

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welcome back to "the ed show." it's friday and it's time for "club ed" with lizz winstead. co-creator of "the daily show" and brains behind "wake-up world." hey, girlfriend, how are you tonight? >> hi, ed, the music was wacky. what happened? >> yeah. see, you're in new york, i'm many minnesota. i mean, this is kind of a wacky friday. we do this rotation l thing. >> i know. >> i know we want to talk about some things. vy to ask you about david letterman and the workplace. what's happening with this deal? >> well, i'm just sure glad i didn't ever have to have sex with david letterman. i mean, it's so weird when things, you have to go on tv to

explain them. i'm not any of the women involved. i'm not him. i'm not a blackmailer. i'm just like, wow. a guy comedian cheating on his wife. there's a shocker. news flash. >> i thought he was going to run for the senate. all right. now, speaking of the senate, it's the same old rhetoric on health care. you know, the t.e.a. partyers and 912ers are out and about spewing the same old rhetoric. >> ed, here's what i've never gotten in the health care debate. the fact all of these 912ers and t.e.a. baggers would stand in line for hours and hours to get a tigt into a town hall so they could complain about having to stand in line for hours and hours for actual health care. is that lost on anyone else? like, i just don't understand it. find the time to scream about not wanting to stand in line. >> what do you make of the senate finance committee not really coming up with