us too. a big c-span day. >> and, therefore, a big day for us. i'm willie geist in for joe scarborough. along with savannah guthrie. >> hi, willie. >> and mike barnicle, host of "way too early." >> i feel like i should look at you and say where are you two kids going? >> don't wait up, dad. >> and jonathan capehart. let's talk quickly, jonathan, about don't ask, don't tell. we were talking about the remarkable testimony we are going to hear in a moment from admiral mullen, saying basic this will say question of fair innocence our country. >> a question integrity. this is pretty spectacular, where you have the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff in 2010, saying he personally believes that gays and lesbians

should be able to serve openly, that it's a matter of integrity. how can we ask the people to defend our country when we can't allow them to be who they are? remember 1993, when the country was going through the hearings and hysteria, where you had the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, colin powell, completely against it. >> speaking of reversals, mccain was interesting. perhaps he's changed his tune a bit, although they would dispute that character za the characterizations. >> a big show coming up. first, let's turn to the news. let's look at the top stories this morning. encouraged by members of his own family, the nigerian man accused of bombing a u.s. jetliner is

providing fresh intelligence on who was behind the terror plot. the information is said to be providing new clues on al qaeda in yemen, who trained the 23-year-old on brrr thebefore tn christmas day. the nation's top intelligence officials are offering a chilling assessment when it comes to future attacks. >> the question is, what is the likelihood of another terrorist attempted attack on the u.s. homeland in the next three to six months? high or low? director blair? >> an attempted attack, the priority is certain i would say. >> mr. panetta? >> i would agree with that. >> mr. muller? >> agree. >> general burgen? >> yes, ma'am, agree. >> mr. dinger. >> yes. >> in the meantime, top defense officials are calling for an end to don't ask, don't tell.

the policy that prohibits openly gay americans from serving in the armed forces. defense secretary robert gates and admiral mike mullen voiced their opposition to the ban and suggested that officials take a year of studying the ban on the policy before scheduling a vote. >> it is my personal belief that allowing gays and lesbians to serve openly. now matter how i look at this issue, i cannot escape being troubled by the fact that we have in place a policy that forces young men and women to lie about who they are to defend fellow citizens. >> there is another side to the issue. what are some of the concerns that people in the military have. >> the biggest concern that people use to oppose the policy is the breakdown of discipline within military units, especially smaller military units as you come down the chain

of command it is absurd, but that is the excuse they use. >> there is also a budget impact. once you go down the road, you have to consider whether you give benefits to partners. that's a huge consideration, isn't it? >> it's a huge consideration, when you think of the military or the budget perspective. my view about the budget perspective is we don't have enough on military families to begin with. the idea that we'll oppose gays in the military because of some budget deal is ridiculously hypocritical. >> i want to play where john mccain said yesterday. the other side to this issue. >> numerous military leaders tell me that don't ask, don't tell is working, and we should not change it now. i agree. don't ask, don't tell has been an imperfect but effective policy. at this moment when we're asking more of our military than at any

time in recent memory we should not repeal this law. >> let's play the sound from "hardball." let's listen. >> the day that the leadership of the military comes to me and says, senator, we ought to change the policy, then i think we ought to consider seriously changing it. because those leaders of the military are the ones we give the responsibility to. >> okay, jonathan. i'll tell you what mccain's spokeswoman is quoted as saying. the distinction is admiral mullen and gates were speaking for themselves personally and not for the military. >> give me a break. that's a dumb distinction. he said from the clip from "hardball" if military leaders say this should be done, i would be for it they went before the armed services committee and said this should be done. the secretary of defense says i fully support the president's decision this is not a matter of

when this will happ whether this will happen, but when. >> isn't when the real question? the obama administration has paid lip service to this issue, this is progress to the repeal, but nobody is talking about it happening tomorrow. >> no, it's not going to happen tomorrow. but if anyone thinks this is yesterday's hearing was the beginning of the process, hasn't been paying attention. this is actually the middle of the process. remember, secretary gates said yesterday that he had asked his general council to do a preliminary report on what we're sending the ban would look like. this has been going on for almost a year. two oval office meetings between mullen, secretary gates and the president talking about doing just -- doing just this, repealing ban. >> two quick points. one, senator mccain who i have enormous respect for. it's sad to see him fighting a republican primary challenge in

arizona on the floor with this issue and anyone opposed to gays serving in the military if rent "saving private ryan." watch the first 5:00 minutes of the film and say i wonder how many guys charging on that beach under withering machine gunfire were gay? we'll never know. but when you're in combat, when the fear and clamor and noise is at such a height. no one is turning behind and saying is he gay? no one. >> and michael mullen says he has personally served with gay americans since 1968. >> we'll be more cynical about this and talk about the politics of this, seeing if this is good for the president. with president obama's focus on jobs and the deficit, he continues to step up attacks on republicans while dealing with the struggling economy. two weeks after massachusetts elected a republican senator,

the president tried to regain momentum with voters in new hampshire. >> sometimes it's easy for politicians to exploit the anger, the pain that people are feeling right now. i have to point out, though, that some of the very same folks in congress who oppose the recovery act and claim it hasn't worked have been all too happy to claim credit for recovery act projects and the jobs that every those project produce. they come to the ribbon cuttings and they found a way to have their cake and vote against it too. >> okay. although the president says his policies are not a bolshevek plot, 63% of self-identified republicans believe obama is a socialist. and 39% think he should be impeached. 36% believe he was born

overseas, and 21% believe the group a.c.o.r.n. stole the election. willie, apparently they called you. >> apparently so. >> i think you should say something other than bolshevek there. it's early in the morning. >> drawing republicans out in the light of the day. it started on friday, with the back and forth. what is the strategy here? >> the strategy here is to tap into the anger of the american people about the gridlock in washington. if you look at the election of 2006 2006, 2008, the special election of scott brown, it's not a democratic anger, it's a washington anger. he is saying, hey, look, these guys have idea. hey, when it came time to vote on the budget commission, i was for it, and then suddenly all

these people went against it, they have no principles and they are the ones standing in the way. i'm your president, trying to get something done. i think it's a good strategy. whether it works remains to be seen. but the more he can hammer away at that point and also hammer away at that point away from the white house, the better off he'll be. >> the question is, as jonathan said, does it work? does it get you anywhere? does it actually get legislation passed? >> and look at it from the republicans' perspective too. does it behoove for them to work with the president in an election year? speaking of another strategy that the president has been using, pop lympulism. aig is expecting to hand out $100 million in bonuses. that's going to the same unit where risky trades almost sank

the company last year and leading to the biggest ever bailout. workers agreed to take a 10% to 20% reduction in exchange for getting the bonus a month early. >> any defense to this? >> savannah said the company last year -- you could have substituted country instead of company because of the senate of this company with all of its tentacles, insuring these other subsidiaries, banks, housing markets, fannie mae and freddie mac. the idea that they are allowed, even though they are inching toward solvency what, to be allowed to dole out these bonuses at a time of financial crisis, man, pull the pin on the again achld. >> deep in some of these stories, remember last year where there was the outrage by aig, saying that they'll give it back.

apparently many of them have not actually paid it back. so just kind of interesting. >> but they agreed to 10% less money to get it early. very big of them. >> let's start throwing things. >> you start. >> some of the big banks and financial firms are getting back on their feet. but the housing sector is in big trouble. even more americans would see their value fall below 775% the value of the knowledge. that will affect about 10% of all americans with mortgages. this is really scary, the fact that housing market has not bounced back is troubling. >> an amazing statistic. one way to fix the problem. live in your parents' basement. >> i was going to say rent. a couple of losers here. >> they already knew that, savannah if you want to talk about fiscal responsibility, don't mention las vegas. president obama learned that one

the hard way. and sobering sales numbers from toyota, as the lawmaker reveals new problems with their popular prius. and the illinois primary to fill obama's senate seat. but first, we have ginger zee with a look at the forecast. >> good morning to all of you. we have an active weather pattern in place throughout the nation and we have for a week or two, and that's why places like yo oklahoma are still dealing with the effects of the ice storm. power lines, trees and this is from last week, but still affecting them and cold enough to keep it that way. guess what. i said active you will get more today. that means tons of rain for south texas. 2 to 4 inches brownsville to corpus christie. we've had a mix overnight.

new york, ending, done. should see trying out. 38, new york. 41 philadelphia. a look at your wednesday throughout the nation. you're watching "morning joe" brewed by star bukds. national car rental knows i'm a guy who... doesn't like to be held back. they let me break past the counter... and choose any car in the aisle. unreal! oh yeah! whoaaa-- ( alarm sounding ) i'm sorry. you okay? my bad, mr. sapp. oh yeah. go national. go like a pro. people think that honda is always the most fuel efficient choice. well, this chevy cobalt xfe has better highway mileage than a comparable honda civic. this chevy traverse has better mileage than honda pilot. the all-new chevy equinox has better mileage than honda cr-v.

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many people don't know this. brian williams and i have know each other for a long time. we went to high school together. we played football together. i was hurt at the time, so it was not -- anyway, we were also lab partners for quite some time. and we had a lot of fun and trough story, we actually went to the prom together. so --. >> i knew they were friends. i didn't know they went back

that far. jon stewart in drag. let's look at the morning papers if we could. "the new york times" a call to topple policy for gays. robert gates and mike mullen back the repeal of don't ask, don't tell. "wall street journal" toyota troubles deepen. the department of transportation is considering a civil penalty against the automaker, and more than a dozen recent complaints involving brake problems on the latest prius hybrid problem has been asked to be investigated. and sales fell. "los angeles times." oscar nominations. best picture category. nominations to satisfy critics and fan favorites, there are ten nomin nominees. >> this is like where everyone gets a trophy in sports.

>> "washington post," president obama with his sleeves rolled up at a town hall meeting in new hampshire. live from the politico newsroom, we turn to mike allen. with a look at this morning's playbook. >> savannah and willie, fun to be with you this morning. >> your headline, what happens in vegas. the president got in hot water with senate majority leader harry reid for some comments he made at a town hall in new hampshire yesterday. let's listen. >> when times are tough, you tighten your belts. you don't go buying a boat when you can barely pay your marriage, don't blow a bunch of cash on vegas when you save for college. you prioritize. >> i had not stand here, mike allen and listen to vegas bashing. >> this was fantastic for harry reid. way behind in his senate race, this was a chance to stand up for his state, stand up to the president. in fact, he got a letter from president obama backing off,

saying i'm sure you knew what i meant, and the president wasn't saying don't have conventions, don't go there. he was saying don't waste your money in bad times, but the nevada delegation got all up in arms, and it was a sign of the political sensitivity to this that the white house put a letter out about the reid statement. >> and you just don't fight vegas. reid lecturing the president. hello. >> what were we talking about two weeks ago. >> a sign of our hilarious political environment that you can't rail against gambling or blowing your money in vegas. >> another topic. face time. the president's performance at that republican retreat inspired an online campaign for more of these meetings. who is behind this? >> this is going to break in about an hour. an exclusive for "morning joe,"

left and right from katrina vanden heuvel to gordon rehnquist on the right. opening up a website. demandquestions.com. it's urging the president to do regular question time with congress this is something senator mccain promised in the presidential race he would do. i asked david axle rrod, he sai the magic about friday was it was spontaneous. he didn't know that cameras were going to be rolling. if you did it every week, people would try to gain in the system. >> he didn't know that cameras were going to be rolling? please. please. >> john mccain, i praised when he made this campaign promise. people do want to hear directly from the president and their leaders debate issues back and

forth. whether it was spontaneous or not on friday, we all know that president obama can handle himself when he knows cameras are in the room or not. >> i tell you what. it may make them want to think twice about the audiences at the town hall, which seem very stack in favor off the president. maybe they self-select people who are willing to wait in line. he seems to do all right getting some tough questions. >> do it. i've got something to write about later today. thanks, mike. >> and it does say something about our political process. that friday was so radically wild that we saw our president in an unscripted moment. thank you. we'll talk to you later in the show. >> it was fun. coming up next, the price for flipping off a dolphin's fan. rex ryan was handed the bill. >> the amount of money they fine him. >> a big smile on his face. >> he'll never do it again. >> good natured. >> went to his bosses last

night. >> ahead, on "morning joe." somewhere in america... the slightest breeze harbors immense power. the tallest buildings leave the lightest footprints. a fifty-ton train makes barely a mark on the environment. and a country facing climate change finds climate solutions. somewhere in america, we've already answered

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welcome back to "morning joe." just before 6:30 on the east coast. >> do you know what this is, savannah? jersey cam. lower manhattan. >> and i was going to blow right past it. >> pause for new jersey. >> pause for new jersey, respect it, and now today's top stories. a major medical journal is retracting a controversial study that linked autism with a childhood vaccine against measles, mumps and rubella. research was drawn after england's medical council found the lead author acted unethically and violated basic research rules. this is the latest evidence that there is no link between autism

and the vaccines. >> a big story, to someone with two little kids, that's a big fear for parents. >> a very big story. voters in illinois have selected their nominees for november's election to fill president obama's old senate seat. democrat alexi gianoulis will face kirk. it is too close to call, and pat quinn is claiming victory, but he will continue fighting until every vote is counted. four people injured when a small stage collapsed outside the stadium where the super bowl will be played this weekend. volunteers were moving equipment when one of the pieces apparently tipped over. thankfully, injuries are not life threatening. >> you have been to a few super bowl media days. >> they are kind of ridiculous. >> some of the questions these

poor guys and coaches, i mean, it really is. it's -- jon stewart couldn't do it as well as they do it live. >> media from around the world, entertainment tonight. >> what is your favorite color, tom brady. what shoe size do you wear? let's take a look at pictures. thousands of them. they go back into the concourse. it's an absurd exercise. you get two weeks between the conference championship games, you have super bowl idol. entertainment reporters, people from all over the world saying things that people don't understand frankly. reggie bush sitting there. the big theme from the actual game itself, that man right now, dwight freeney, all-pro defensive end, with a bad ankle. really, though, everyone is rooting for the new orleans stan saints, right? >> it's a better story for

nonsports people. >> if you are from indianapolis, we'll give you a pass. otherwise, root for the saints. >> it's day to day. hopefully toward the end of the week it starts to get better. a little bit of swelling left. >> we feel like we're playing for so much more than just, you know, to win a game or just for our organization or our team. we're playing for an entire city, an entire region, and you're probably even saying an entire country, just because still so many of the new orleans natives that had to evacuate after katrina have not been able to move back yet. >> go saints. all right, we live in a world where you can't even flip anybody off good naturedly. this is new york jets' head coach. a lovable figure, a great guy. rex ryan, reacting to heckling fans, dolphins fans at a mixed martial arts event in friday.

i love that he was at an mma event. he was captured on a cell phone. everyone was outraged, and the jets have fined rex ryan $50,000 for making the obscene gesture. >> not even at a game. >> not even on company time. >> yesterday i was fined six times in the hallway coming out of phil griffin's office. >> those were all warranted. rex ryan has to pay 50 grand for flipping somebody off. college basketball. many people went to syracuse on our staff. that's why you're seeing this. you'll appreciate this. wes johnson, a lottery pick in the nba next year, doesn't want that kind of injury for his draft status. flipped over. that's like a pirouette. he was okay. this dunk evidenced. and syracuse wins big. they have won nine in a row. 22-1 and off to the best start

in school history. >> go syracuse. >> that was good. up next before they battled for votes, senator kristen gillibrand and our friend scott brown are in a war of campaign cash with big donors with the daily beast's tina brown. that up next on "morning joe," brewed by starbucks. ♪ i see you have the verizon network.

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ben bernanke. >> yes. >> who oversaw the collapse of not only the united states, but pretty much the entire world financial system. >> right. >> and brought our economy to its knees has been reappointed as head of the fed. >> right. >> does this give you hope for being re-elected governor of new york? because may i remind you, he screwed everybody. >> wow. >> eliot spitzer taking shots from colbert last night. here with us now, founder, editor of thedailybeast.com, tina brown. >> good morning, everyone. >> great to see you. we'll get to your explosive piece about andrew young. have you quite a bit to say about john edwards' body man. we may have to bleep that. but first, maureen dowd's don't ask, don't tell op-ed.

she writes in part -- tinea it was a pretty remarkable day on capitol hill. >> i thought it was pretty believing. very moving indeed. one does ask whether it will ignite a cultural war thing and distract.

that's the only thing that scares me, we do need to be focused on jobs now. the timing seems strange. but having said that, it was a moving moment. it is obscene we have had people chased out of the military in this time of strife. if it does ignite another massive culture war moment, that will be troublesome, because obama really doesn't need that right now. he does feel politically he is offering a softer side to his liberal side. the whole question of gay marriage is a far more painful thing to get through. we have a good piece on this. obama has done a political -- we are going to do this, and it's not really addressing everything he needs to do. >> apparently, in some ways, the president felt his hand was forced by the legal posture of some of the cases being litigated over this policy. they realized, if we're to defend the law, now i'm defending a policy i don't support. that is what moved this forward.

let's face it, they were dili dalying on this all year. >> i don't know about dilly dalying. whatever the word. >> not that easy to say. >> no, it's not, especially at 6:40 in the morning. >> the president has been moving on this, the administration has been moving on this since this time last year. to say that the administration hasn't done anything on don't ask, don't tell, is wrong. but your concern about distracting social discussion right now is, you know, warranted. but we're in a different place in 2010. we've gone from a country that was overwhelmingly opposed to gays serving open until the military, to a country where overwhelmly, let them serve. >> bill clinton was talking to a group and defended his record. 19 years ago, guys, america was so different. when he did it he tried to, it

was immensely brave. sort of quixiotic actually. this particular moment is so delicate for obama. he needs a win so badly. i guess for him this is a win with his own base. >> at the same time, jonathan, 1993 is not that long ago. how have we come so far in 17 years as we have? >> think about it. in 1993, corporations giving domestic partner benefits to employees, very few, if any. gays and lesbians were still fighting to save their jobs. all over the country. today, it -- you have a culture where gays and lesbians are for lack of a better word, more accepted. we went through the will and grace years that sort of made, you know, gays and lesbians fun and friendly and nonthreatening and all of that. >> i was never threatened for the record. i want to make that clear.

>> willie has always been down with the gays. >> totally. >> but it's been sort of a lightning-fast move to acceptance for the gay community. there's no way around it. but there are still these two meddlesome issues. have you g you have gays in the military and the so-called defense of marriage act. once those two are done away with, the gay community will reach major milestones, but it will take time. >> maybe washington playing catchup with pop culture. >> and american life. >> we have to get to your piece on the daily beast about andrew young. john edwards' former body man. who gave a full account, a spilling of the beans about what happened with this baby, with rielle hunter. >> i don't know if i can practice this. >> dramatic reading of tina here. she says --

tina, i think if nothing else, we have learned a lot about john edwards through this. but it has shown a light on the political enablers. >> it's a revolting scene, this book. i was mesmerized. it is a truly revolting read. but if you really want a page-turning, sick book, because you have this worm, this enabler for john edwards, constantly enabling him, sucking up to him. getting him diet sprites that doesn't stain his teeth, cutting the labels out of his armani

suits so he can pretend to be a man of the people, so revolting and at the same time hating the person. every servile person eventually hates the person that they are serving. you see there is one moment in the book, he got a great pleasure, young, from keeping the armrest down in the car when edwards got in, because edwards liked to have the armrest up. here is the making of a yaggo. and he annoys him when he gets in the car and you see the mounting loathing between them. but in that sense what i really felt was horrifying is how at the media -- this guy got a free pass, nearly made it to president and there was nothing about him that was authentic. >> reading your piece, that's what struck me. i can distinctly remember in 2004, a very small venue in manchester, new hampshire, a

group of us, tim russert, myself, someone else, went to see john edwards perform. a very small venue, maybe 150 people. dav david axelrod was there, he was working with john edwards. >> he invented the two americas slogan. >> and edwards was mesmerizing. i was mesmerized. he captivated the audience. later, we go out to dinner, talk about how great edwards was. time fast forwards and it dawns on me as the edwards story unrav unravels. 1999, a very prominent democratic senator comes to the ball game at fenway park. i ask him out of curiosity. how is the new guy, how is edwards? he turns to me and says he is a total fraud. 1999. he was on to it. we in the media completely missed it. >> here is a media that thinks it's doing these forensic looks at politicians being completely

conned. one of the things that offended me is that all of these policy gremlins, he didn't read them. he didn't have to read them. all he to do is go on tv, flip the hair, say the two approxima americas. why read the briefing books? he comes up with this stuff and the media let him do it. covers of "newsweek," sit downs with tv anchors. >> to say nothing of the adviser who's guilted the mainstream media into not reporting a story that they knew, the affair. >> i think that the "national enquirer" should get a pulitzer. >> that would be the end of the prize. >> how about a nobel peace pr e prize. >> no one can ascertain, come up

with the answer. what impact the death of his son had on him with regard to this? you lose a child, you're never the same. >> i'm sure it did. where i feel very sorry, particularly for elizabeth edwards, she's trying to find this asuaging political identify. i see a sinister progression. he began as a guy that was a bit of a phony with good intentions. he did love his children and his family. but as the adulation continues and the money stuff continues and the constant ability to have the sound bite veneration in a sense, he lost his moral center and took her down with him too. elizabeth became a colluder in this, allowing her own cancer to be used as a pr stunt.

>> halperin and heilmann wrote about that, he fell in love with himself and didn't need to listen to anybody else. >> gillibrand and harold ford jr., they are fighting for the big money in new york. who is winning the battle? >> i'm a big fan of gillibrand's. i'm a fan of harold's too. i think she's getting a bad wrap. what keeps being said about her is she only raises money because chuck schumer helps her. she's an amazing fund-raiser and incredibly smart. oh, no. all about chuck schumer. she also gets the kind of jilted caroline kennedy social snob. when are we going to stop thinking certain donors in new york. a lot of those jilted kennedy people are supporting

gillibrand. >> harold has a lot of people on his side too. >> a lot of people on his side. but i have had enough of guys who walk the walk and are very charming and women who do a huge amount of work and know about the detail are kind of dismissed. i think they are both bright people, but i think gillibrand is getting a bad wrap. >> why are you looking at us? >> i know you, and you too. you too. >> we have been up since 3:00 a.m. studying. >> exactly. >> studying all night and we didn't get the same grades. >> tina has actually writing blurb andrew young's paperback. >> revolting. >> high praise. still ahead, debbie stabenow of michigan, gene chatski, but first, joe biden describes his pick for the best picture -- what's it called again?

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use." if you have a few moments, i'll tell you about the best picture mom kn nominees, there are ten of them. "avatar" has passed the $2 billion mark. mike barnicle, your choice? >> "the hurt locker, " i give best picture to. >> i haven't seen all of them, but "precious." >> tina? >> "precious." it's so powerful. >> we're journalists. we're not allowed to make choices. best actor nominees.

>> mike barnicle? >> clooney. >> the hurt locker dude. >> jeff bridges. >> he won the golden globe. >> you're not a real journalist. >> we usually wait until 8:00 to say that i don't have a pick. >> the best actress. >> mike barnicle? >> helen mirren. >> mirren too. >> i haven't seen any movies obviously. >> get a life. >> it is sad. >> i only watch the wiggles at home. i don't get out very o. joe biden on with andrea mitchell yesterday. and andrea mitchell reports, talking about his pick. he couldn't quite come up with the name of the biggest movie in the history of the world. >> academy awards picks.

>> i think one of the odds on favorites -- is this -- this new -- this new program that i looked at it and wished i was seeing it in 3-d, and you sit there and watch this science fiction thing unfold in front of you. >> "avatar." >> "avatar," the magic of it is overwhelming. there are some other real good ones, but i predict "avatar" will win. >> you watch this science picture thing unfold. >> using 50 words when one would do. "avatar." >> he didn't have the one. >> i'm going to offer him a pop culture column. >> you should. >> the science fiction program. coming up, "the financial times" krista freeland joins us, coming up. somewhere in america... there's a home by the sea

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♪ >> look at this picture. wow. >> it snowed last night. >> welcome back to "morning joe." it's 7:00 in the morning. a beautiful snowy white house in the morning. that's where savannah guthrie spends most of her time. but today she is in new york with little old us. >> it's warmer here. after the groundhog saw his shadow yesterday. i'm sick of the. >> that means six more weeks? >> it's not complicated.

mika and joe on their way to l.a. so you're stuck with me tina brown, here lashing out at politicians, jonathan capehart of "the washington post." and also joining us, our friend, krista freeland. >> taking a pro philandering position this morning. >> she was defending john edwards and others like him. >> not john edwards exactly. and i would like to say that i thought tina's piece about john edwards was one of the most beautifully written thing i have ever read in a long time. absolutely fabulous. having said that, i would like to disagree with the basic thesis. the point that you were just making is this notion ofhypocri and journalists and others should note this personal hypocrisy. maybe it's okay for them to be

hypocrites and for there to be a distance between their personal lives and what they do in public. and john kennedy is a perfect example of this. if we lived in the modern media age, could he have done what he did? >> let's get to news real quick and we'll come back to this. >> everybody contemplate that bizarre position. >> that excellent,ic ono plastic -- >> well reasoned -- encouraged by members of his own family, the nigerian man accused of trying to bomb a u.s. jetliner is providing fresh information. it is providing new clues in al qaeda in yemen who apparently trained the 23-year-old. it comes after a national debate to provide the suspect with miranda rights. and there is a chilling

assessment when it comes to the potential of future attacks. the question is, what is the likelihood of another terrorist, attempted ta eed attack on the homeland in the next three to six mont six months, high or low? >> an attempted attack i would say it's certain. >> mr. panetta? >> i would agree. >> mr. muller? >> i would agree. >> mr. bergen? >> agree. >> and top defense officials are calling for an end to don't ask, don't tell. the policy that prohibits openly gay americans from serving in the armed forces. in testimony on capitol hill, defense secretary robert gates and mike mullen voice their opposition to the ban. they say that a year should be taken to study the policy before taking a vote. >> it is my personal belief that allowing gays and lesbians to

serve openly would be the right thing to do. no matter how i look at this issue, i can't escape being troubled by the fact that we have in place a policy which forces young men and women to lie about who they are in order to defend their fellow citizens. >> now, we brought in krista freeland for the contrarian point of view. she is here to say gays have no place in the military. >> i'm willing to say politicians shouldn't be punished for having mistresses, but i'm obvious until favly in - >> what do you think of what happened on the hill? >> i think it's great. and it's interesting to see obama choose to take on this issue i think as way to keep his left-wing base appeased. and we're seeing him support fairly traditional conservative policies, coming out with this idea of looking at deficit reduction as the next step.

>> jonathan, this is more than a wreak e reactionary move. >> i know of two meetings he has had with gates and mullen, telling them, look, i want this done. this is -- this isn't right. so there have been things -- you have those meetings, gates called for a preliminary report on what would it look like if we repealed don't ask, don't tell? yesterday's hearing is not the beginning of the process, it's actually the middle of the process, and i don't think it will take all of the year, when you look at the tasks that gates set up that they have to do, a lot of the work has already been done. >> would you agree that the timing is pretty politicalliy y

convenient? >> will it be useful to him or not? it's inspiring to see two guys say that. i thought that was a wonderful moment. it will communicate in a large way to the american people, two senior, senior figures with military -- >> in their uniforms. i agree. the symbolism. >> let's not forget, we're in the middle of two wars and we have a policy that's booted nearly 14,000 troops as a result of this policy. we need -- we need boots on the ground in two major wars. why do we sustain a policy that kicks people out? linguists, troops, folks that we actually need. >> i think the linguists was the last straw for a lot of people. we can't keeping these absurd judgments. >> jonathan, the gay community is upset with obama?

does this do anything to repair that? >> maybe. there is a split with the gay community. a big chunk wants something done on don't ask, don't tell. and the other chunk wants something done on same-sex marriage. >> same-sex marriage is far, far more thornier. >> and more impact on more people, right? >> right. don't ask, don't tell is very symbolic. >> we'll get the other side of this from john mccain. firing back. three american soldiers were killed in pakistan this morning in a road side bombing in the northwest part of the country. the soldiers were in the region on a mission to train paramilitary forces to better combat militant fighters. the little publicized mission will draw new attention to the president's u.s. troops on pakistan soil. with focus on the jobs, president obama is stepping up

his approach to dealing with the struggling economy. president obama traveled back to the northeast yesterday, where he tried to regain momentum with voters in new hampshire. >> sometimes it's easy for politicians to exploit the anger, the pain that people are feeling right now. i have to point out, though, that some of the very same folks in congress who oppose the recovery act and claim it hasn't worked have been all too happy to claim credit for recovery act projects and the jobs those projects have produced. they come to the ribbon cuttings and -- they found a way to have their cake and vote against it too. >> is that a laugh? >> laughing at your own jokes, just in case they didn't get it. >> the laugh comes into obama's stumping into these days, a new part of his repertoire.

>> a poll. the president has said his policies are not a bolshevek plot, but 63% of republicans believe obama is a socialist. 39% believe he should be impeached, and one in five believe the community organizing group a.c.o.r.n. stole the election. dailiycos a liberal leaning organization. >> let's talk about the president's strategy. he seemed to pick up a lot of steam on friday on the so-called question time. he's drawing republicans out. asking them to put everything in the light of day. is that a good strategy s? >> i think that's excellent strategy. and we've seen his numbers nudge up a bit. he's putting the economy front and center and coming out fighting. i think even though actual policy measures are fairly symbolic, he is talking about jobs and focused on the job issue.

i think people like that. and he's being more aggressive about saying, look, a lot of the problems are you facing today are not actually my fault. a lot of those problems are part of the bush legacy. i think it's a cardinal moment. it's the economy, stupid. and then obama is getting a lot of points for addressing that directly. with smart policies. the voelker rule has been really important. >> savannah the white house has to like what they saw on friday, building on that with the republicans. >> they were quite pleased at the white house. the president said do you have time with one more question? he said this is great. that was like the equivalent of an end zone dance. >> just let him loose and maybe steam will get kind of drawn down. in britain we have question time, and it's a fantastic thing. you see people really asking questions and really being put on the spot. >> that's what i was saying last hour. the most remarkable thing about this is that it was considered so radical that the president

would go off the script. despite widespread criticism, aig set to hand out roughly $100 million in employee bonuses. headed to workers in the same financial unit where risky trades almost sank the company last year and it would have if it wasn't for the biggest ever government bailout. workers agreed to take 10% to 20% cut in exchange for getting the bonus one month early. >> what is the defense? >> this is an area that they can get a very skilled worker. and you want very specialized people. >> what about people taking 10% less? >> people want to get their money. i think it's a smart thing for them to do, because there will be a lot of criticism of this,

so if you can get the paycheck in your bank account before the populist rage mounts. >> the housing sector remains in deep trouble. new figures predict more americans will see value fall below 75% of the value of their mortgages. the underwater investments will affect more than 5 million homes in june. about 10% of all americans with mortgages. this is just one of the most concerning things in terms of looking around the economy and real, organic growth to have a housing market still in so much trouble has got to be of concern. >> i think it's huge. because as we've been saying a lot. the u.s. consumer was the real engine, not just of the u.s. economy, but of the world economy. and people who have houses underwater will have a hard time of consuming. one of the real sources of people spending in the past is home equity loans.

this points to something no politician wants to touch. which is if you're looking at reforming the american economy so you don't have a rerun of 2007, 2008, one of the things you should do is make it harder to get a mortgage. >> you're a canadian, i think you're aware of that. >> look, i wore canadian colors today. >> and proud to be a canadian, which i don't quite understand. let's talk about your piece in "the financial times" saying america could learn something about canada. >> i wrote about the canadian banking sector. it's a challenging subject to make interest. to my delight, paul krugman followed up with a piece, and paul voelker questioned about the canadian model yesterday. so there you go. >> what is the lesson? >> two really important lessons of the canadian banking system.

first is regulation, regulation, regulation. and canadian regulators were actually criticized by the imf and believe it or not, china, for being too boring before the crisis. >> boring is good. >> and canadian bankers said our regulators, they are such dogs. instead of feeling that growing the sector is their job, they feel like their job is saying no to us. actually it turns out for the whole community and for the banks, it's great to have regulators who think their job is to say no. and the other thing that's important is this point about mortgages, that actually you cannot get a mortgage in canada unless you put 20% down. if you have less than 2 20% dow payment, by law that mortgage must be fully insured. that made the mortgage market a lot tighter. that means subprime hardly exists in canada. so the kinds of problems faced

in america, canada doesn't really have. in good times, it's very hard to hold the line on that. >> all of our public policy is designed around, everybody is entitled to a mortgage. it's like the modern-day equivalent of a chicken in every pot. >> a little political collusion in that too. in many ways, politicians in this have been able to shift -- >> that was a bipartisan thing, right? responding to voters. and what's interesting and really sort of we as people who might want to have a subprime mortgage one day, for example, should be thinking about, is actually a system that makes it hard to do that, that makes it hard for banks and households to do things that are too risky, at the end of the day is better. and the home ownership rate in canada is the same as the united states. >> before you go, i want you to have the last word on hypocrisy and politicians and philandering. krista is defending is, what do

you say? if it's a quiet, don't ask, don't tell relationship, your wife is okay with it -- when have you a woman on the payroll who is so flagrant that every single member of your campaign staff is having to act as a beard, and you have to have one of your campaign staff to pretend that they sired a baby? >> what if you have a mistress that slept with a mobster? >> i hear you. tina, thank you so much. we'll be reading the daily beast. up next, savannah's partner in crime with a look at the stories out of the white house with chuck todd. good news out of detroit. general motors reporting a 5% sales gain last month. we'll talk with senator debbie stabenow in a few minutes. ginger zee first with a check on the forecast. the snow in the northeast is all but done.

no airport delays to tell you about. however, big problems in texas. lots of rain anticipated there. i'm talking 2 to 4 inches, so that's crazy. up here in the northeast, just lingering snow showers. temperatures feel like they should this time of year. you're watching "morning joe," brewed by starbucks. at northern trust, we understand... that while you may come from the same family... you know, son, you should take up something more strenuous. you have different needs and desires. - i'm reading a book. - what's a book? so we tailor plans for individuals, featuring a range of integrated solutions. you at your usual restaurant? son: maybe. see you tomorrow. stairs? elevator. to see how our multi-faceted approach... can benefit your multi-generational wealth, look ahead with us at northerntrust.com.

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at the republican caucus they said we've got a plan. it will provide everybody coverage at no cost. and i said, well, if that were true, why wouldn't i take it? let me think. i could have everybody get health care coverage that's high quality, and it's free, which i'll bet is really popular. but i'm not going to do that. i'm going to go through the pain of working hard process in

congress, getting yelled at and called a socialist. because that's how i roll. i'm a gutton for punishment. >> here with us now is chief white house correspondent and nbc news political director, chuck todd. and co-host of "the daily rundown." >> what a great show. just saying. i'm sorry. >> thank you for loaning us savannah for the morning. >> every once in a while we'll help out these other shows, you know. >> loaning, it feels a little objecty phi i ti objectifying. >> the pro promo was about curling. i have been begging, i want to do play-by-play curling.

it won't happen for curling, but wherever we are in four years, the hinterlands of russia, i am in. >> my request was in before yours, and i'm calling the luge. >> that's fine, man. i want curling. >> chuck, have you ever gone curling? have you ever actually performed this sport? >> bocce ball, which is sort of the non-ice version. >> barnicle is shooting me death rays for the grandfather remark. >> just make sure the two of you are home by 11:00. >> chuck, let's talk a little business here. the white house, i understand, is getting out aggressively, the story about the christmas day bomber, the fact that he, yes, was mirandized, but is he now

speaking, spilling intelligence to the fbi. >> it's interesting. they are now getting aggressive about it, although i don't think they were prepared to do it now or yesterday. i think in the next couple of days they were prepared to do it, dennis blair yesterday, in that public hearing before the senate intelligence committee, sort of let loose with a fact, which is that they were still getting intelligence from abdulmutallab, the christmas day bomber, and at the time he said that, no one knew that publicly. it was assumed that he had no longer been talking. as we now know and pete williams reported earlier this guy has been talking at least for almost a week now, for the last five or six days, thanks to the help of the fbi, getting his family to come back to the states and convince him to cooperate. so on the p.r. front, absolutely, the white house feels very much as if this whole

debate about whether they can get information out of somebody after they have been mirandized, after they stopped trying to get intelligence out of abdul mu tul -- abdulmutallab, they are really tickled about a radio address that susan collins did, saying they weren't getting more intelligence out of abdulmutallab. when she gave that address, he was in the middle of cooperating. they feel vindicated this morning, that's for sure. >> chuck, i would like to ask you, and everyone else here in new york, even the kids, what your reaction was if any, to the fact that yesterday at the senate intelligence committee, dennis blair indicated that he felt strongly that an attack, a successful attack on united states soil would occur at some point during this summer? and i'm looking for it on the

front page of "the new york times" and other papers, and it's hard to find that news story on our front pages. what do you think the deal is? >> i would say this. which came first that comment from all of our intelligence officials, or the incredibly leading question? when you ask an intelligence official in public, do you expect a terrorist attack in the next three to six months? what do you expect them to say? no? in a weird way, i mean, no public official will publicly say no. because then it looks like -- then it's almost -- you're putting up a sign it's not going to happen. then if it happens, never mind the ramifications on that front. >> didn't they say it was a certainty? they didn't waffle. >> when you talk to the others, it's a certainty they are going to try. >> attempted. >> and i think that is where, again, it was a very leading

question. it h had a reporter asked that question, a lot of people would be criticizing the reporter, but because it's an elected official, that doesn't happen. >> chuck what is their argument? they say abdul mutallab is talking. they are saying that is intelligence a month later. what about getting intelligence immediately? in this particular case, he did talk initially about an hour and then clammed up on his own. but what about the notion that you need to identify somebody as annen believe combatant, because in the moment after a suspect is caught, you need to get that intelligence in a timely fashion? >> first, they argued this on a couple of front. number one, they said because he was captured on u.s. soil, he was going to get legal rights, no matter what. that he was going to have a right to a lawyer that is just -- there's -- whether he would have been mirandized or

not, he would have a right to a lawyer. the idea that he wasn't going to have a lawyer is sort of fantasyland. the second thing they would argue is whether or not they mirandized, he was clamming up. these guys clam up when they are enemy combatants too. the idea that they would get more intelligence immediately because he was annen believe co -- an enemy combatant, he clammed up for the same reason after the initial sort of first couple of hours of interrogation, he clammed up, the assumption is he probably would have clammed up had there been cia interrogations or dni interrogations at the time. that's their argument, and the fact is you can't re-litigate this, can't go back in time. that's where it becomes a debate sort of in the ether when there

is actual reality taking place on the ground. >> this doesn't settle it. we'll let you get back to your curling briefing books. >> msnbc. you know what it stands for? >> no. >> must show nothing but curling. >> that's the kind of thing that chuck todd brings to "the daily rundown" every day. >> you are sprinkling a little daily rundown magic on our show. >> we'll see you guys in about an hour and a half. >> on my fourth hour. in a few minutes, senator debbie stabenow will join us. and a major shift on autism. a respected medical journal is retracting a medical study that

influenced parents to stop giving their children shots. that when we come back. ♪ oh sure, we have plenty of employees that... you can label as "different." like janice. uh-huh. yeah. fashion deficient. and tom... copy incapable. it's open kimono time. looking good, dan. oh, we want to make sure all our ducks in a row. yeah. volume control syndrome. but we focus on the talent and skill that each person... brings to the team. i mean, no one's really concerned about labels. not even mine. labels get in the way. disabilities rarely do. visit thinkbeyondthelabel.com to evolve your work force.

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nature gave us the recipe; we just gave it a name. new sun crystals all-natural sweetener. two natural wonders. one sweet taste. welcome back to "morning joe." beautiful shot of new york city. is that snow? we had a little snow last night. time for a look at today's top stories.

a major medical journal retracting a controversial study that linked autism to a childhood vaccine for measles mumps, and rubella. the lead author acted unethically and violated bafks research rules. the move sevrves as the latest evidence that there is no link. and illinois voters have determined that alexi giannoulias will square off against mark kirk. and the race remains too close to call in the democratic and republican primaries, pat quinn will continue fighting until every vote is counted. >> can we still write in blago? best man for the job.

and michael jackson's doctor reportedly prepared to surrender as early as this morning if officials charge files against him. dr. conrad murray is expected to be charged with involuntary manslaughter after he acknowledged giving jackson hospital-grade sleeping medication. he denies any wrongdoing. we'll be right back with senator debbie stabenow from michigan. ♪ so, is iams any less healthy for him

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in that situation, obviously, there is a deep

humanitarian need, do you ever think i'll pull a prank on abc? do you ever think i'll replace -- very quickly. i'll replace diane sawyer's canteen with urine? ever any of that that crosses -- because i know you were a firemen, but you're also from new jersey, so -- i assume -- >> look, i've told you this a lot. there's you and stevie colbert, and you have all your little reindeer games you play. >> we like to have fun. >> and then there's the professional side of the news media. >> by arian, very funny. >> which side are you guys on, the professional side or t reindeer games? >> the line is increasingly blurred. with us now, senator debbie

stabenow of michigan. good morning. thank you for being with us. >> good morning. a snowy day in d.c. looks a lot like michigan. >> that's why savannah escaped up here to new york city. let's get to a topic near and dear to your state. that's jobs. >> yes. >> something the president has been talking a lot about since the state of the union address. it's a bad picture in your state to say the least, isn't it? >> it really is. but i think the president is laser focusing on small business and capital that small businesses need to be able to expand, and then continuing to focus on rebuilding america and infrastructure jobs, and i was very pleased that the president announced in his budget he wants to continue the manufacturing tax credit, which i helped to champion in the recovery act, and as bad as it is in michigan, i have to say, that without this white house, focusing on manufacturing and jobs, it would

be much, much worse. >> mike barnicle. >> senator, let me ask you a rather obvious question. given the news story, the revelations about the difficulty of the toyota company over the last couple of weeks. >> right. >> this would seem to present a rare opportunity for american automobile manufacturers, for michigan. now, ford has already taken advantage on its own over the past six or seven months, by building terrific cars and grabbing market share. what hope is there that general motors might be able to seize on this perhaps once in a lifetime opportunity to get back in the game? >> i think this is a great year for our american automobile companies. last year was very tough, and the administration helped get two of our companies through a very quick bankruptcy, out the other side. we focused on retooling. ford is bringing manufacturing back from mexico to michigan. that's a great story. gm's paying off their loans by

june. gm's going to have the chevy volt online by the fall. and chrysler is making great cars. we have a partnership with the federal government for the first time. every other country is investing in manufacturing, and for eight years we didn't and we lost almost 6 million manufacturing jobs. now we have president obama who gets it, and we're beginning turn it around. >> and ford sales up 24% year over year. jonathan capeheart of "the washington post" is with us. >> hi, senator. i want to switch to health care. >> sure. >> do you think the health care reform legislation should be put on the back burner and the president should pursue jobs, jobs, jobs. >> i have seen health care and jobs as one of the same. we are losing jobs to countries that have lower health care costs. small businesses layoff people to pay higher premiums. nothing has changed.

costs are still going up. we have people losing their homes. 5,000 people a day losing their homes because of a medical bankruptcy. so from my perspective, we have to focus on jobs. for me, it's always about jobs. jobs includes tackling health care costs. >> krista freeland. >> senator, we've also heard from the president that next year, in his budget for next year, he is going to be focusing on deficit reduction and he thinks it is going to be time to be worried about that. is that too soon? should the president still be focusing on stimulating the economy? >> we have to be focused on both. it's tough this president not only inherited the biggest deficit we've ever had, but the biggest deficit in jobs we ever had. we have over 15 million people without jobs, bread winners, no longer able to bring in a paycheck, and it's a disaster in my book. i want to make sure we are laser focused on jobs, but at the same

time, we have to send a signal that we get it about these huge deficits and we're putting in place rules to begin to change that, things that president clinton had in place, that balanced the budget when president clinton was in office and the democrats put in place something called pay as you go. and the president has to begin to pivot to long-term deficit reduction, but i will continue to say that the focus first has to be on jobs. >> and, senator, back to health care for a second. first of all, what do you think is the path forward to get this bill passed? and number two, be honest. if that senate bill on the floor today, would there still be 60 votes before scott brown is seated? >> it was tough through the fall, we had over twice as many filibusters and objections by the republicans than we've ever seen in our history.

efforts just to stop everything which frankly doesn't get things done, doesn't solve problems so it will be tough, but in my book, i'm hopeful the house will pass the senate bill along with changes that were already being agreed to by the house and senate and white house. a second bill that would narrowly focus on changes that i think need to be made. and then hopefully we can get this done. >> hey, senator, i don't mean to pick on you, because -- >> oh, come on. >> whenever i hear united states senate talking about the health care plan on the floor of the senate, saying it's going to be tough. it was tough all last fall. tough is watching a patrol in helmand province, tough is not looking for the 60th vote when have you 59. why can't you pass something? >> hopefully we will pass something. you saw a group on the other side was their goal to stop the

president and the majority from being successful. it took 60 votes, and i would say back to you, those 60 votes were not easy to get. now with 59, we'll move forward, get things done, and we will do something significant on health care, but this is -- a constant challenge when there is not a willingness to focus on what's happening in this country. jobs lost, businesses can't get capital. people losing their homes. instead of that, around here, way too much focus on the game of who is winning, who is losing. from my perspective, the real tough part is how somebody today keeps food on the table, roof over their head, is able to care for their family. and that's what we need to be focused on. >> senator debbie stabenow, we'll get mike barnicle off your case. >> hey, you guys got it all. the two of you in charge. >> i know. the kids took over.

>> the kids table moved over one. >> that's great. >> thank you very much. coming up, gene chatski with us, and matt lauer's interview with michelle obama on life in the white house and life in the public eye. you're watching "morning joe," brewed by starbucks. the chevy malibu and toyota camry received 5 star crash safety ratings. ♪ has onstar. big deal. i'll just use my phone. let's say we crashed. whoops, you lost your phone and you're disoriented. i'm not disoriented. now you are. onstar automatic crash response can call to see if you're ok. onstar emergency. is everything ok howie? you don't answer, they can automatically send help to your exact location. i think i'll ride with you. the award-winning malibu. from chevy. and all your little mile-pebbles ameriprise financial can help.

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thanks for bringing that up. >> beautiful. >> beautiful to not be standing in the cold. >> savannah guthrie is very happy to be in new york. that's where nbc's matt lauer found himself sitting down with michelle obama, the first lady, for an exclusive interview during her husband's first year in office. she's seen her approval ratings soared as her husband's slipped a little bit in the right direction. matt asked what it was like to have everything you do, say, and wear be felt around the world. >> could you have imagined the magnitude of the press you've received? >> no. i can't believe i'm that interesting. there's no way i could have predicted it. but i can say that i've enjoyed this year. i feel honored and privileged to be this nation's first lady. it's been a wonderful welcome. >> it seems a guessing game going on about you, mrs. obama.

people are trying to figure out what kind of first lady you want to be. and do you want to be a first lady in the laura bush mold, a little lower profile and less controversy, or maybe in the hillary clinton mold, a little higher profile and maybe with that comes more controversy. have you thought about that? >> every first lady who's sat in these shoes or stood in these shoes has brought something very different to the task. that's sort of the beauty of this. we don't have a job description. so i think every model is one that i learned from. but my goal overall is just to be helpful. >> i was here almost a year ago today, interviewing your husband on super bowl sunday. it was a heady time for you, as a family, and for democrats. there was all the talk of hope and change. and here, as we sit here a year later, the mood and the tone have changed dramatically. and i'm just worried if that stings a little bit. >> you know, i think we're all, you know, working. we have to continue to work on

how to disagree without being disagreeable. barack warned us about this over the course of the campaign. i mean, he talked a lot about hope, but he said that hope, with that comes compromise and sacrifice. and it's painful. and it takes time. and it's true. and we're sort of feeling the pain of that. and it's a natural reaction. >> but has it been hard to keep your spirits up and his spirits up? >> i don't want to seem, you know, unrealistically optimistic, but our experiences on the ground are outstanding. >> let me read you some of the accolades you've received over the past year or so, okay? >> take your time. >> no, i'll go through them slowly. >> you were named to "forbes" magazine most powerful women list. "people" magazine's most beautiful list. time magazine's most influential

list. and you made maxim magazine's list of hottest women. >> no, i didn't hear that. are there people laughing about that? >> i didn't even hear a chuckle, not one chuckle. i don't know anyone who can live in those two worlds that i've just mentioned here. >> i don't either. it's a good thing, i don't know. well, you know, i approach this position like i approach my life. i try to be as authentically me as i can be. i've said this before, because it's easier to maintain it. so what people have seen over the course of the year is really michelle. and i find a level of comfort in that role. so i don't think about occupying a list or a title. i still see myself as michelle obama, the girl who grew up on the south side of the chicago, marion and frazier's daughter. i've got this husband that does these interesting things and i'm

malia and sasha's mother. >> that was matt lauer with the first lady. obviously, hugely popular. >> she is. >> you can see why in that interview. >> i was personally offended the way you, barnicle and cape hart were talking about her hair and makeup during the whole time during this segment. what about the substance? >> i was all about content. that was barnicle. >> actually -- i love her new hair. >> i'm going to tell you something. your behavior here this morning is very just unseem, your abuse. >> am i grounded? >> what about the weakest among us? we have to let -- we have to let -- >> i hear you were playing basketball over the weekend. >> could you bring my walker over. >> isn't there an ice flow or something -- >> just push him off. >> you are from "the washington post." first ladies get covered by your paper a lot. this first lady gets covered by every paper a lot. she is very popular. what has she done right? >> what has she done right, aside from representing the nation to the best of her

ability, besides taking on the cause of military families and making sure that they don't -- that their issues and concerns don't fall through the cracks, that's right. >> it's more complicated. i think she's done really important thing right, which we didn't necessarily know she would do before moving into the white house, which is she's been very careful not to be hillary clinton. she made a really clear decision that she wasn't going to be a public policy person. and that's part of the reason americans love her. >> less complicated. she's just been herself. >> as she said in the interview. >> people like that. >> chrystia freeland, people like you, and we are glad you are here with us this morning. >> flying were canadian cover. >> educating us on the canadian banking system. our research shows, whenever we talk about canadian banking -- we get a huge spike. >> paul volcker will love you. coming up next, financial expert jean chatzky joins the conversation and shows mike barnicle how to balance his checkbook. that'll be fun.

we'll be right back.

look at that. that's from the top of the rocket. 8:00 in the morning. a live picture of new york city. we're getting some low-hanging clouds and perhaps even a wintry mix, i like to call it, savannah. pictures there of times square. it's actually snowing in wk d.c., at the white house, where savannah guthrie does her best work most days of the week. but today she's here with us.

so glad to have you. >> one night only. >> when you say that, it feels a little inappropriate. >> you won't there, i didn't. joe and mika en route to the west coast where they'll be doing some live shows from l.a. we've got a great group assembled around the table, well, for the most part. >> with a glare exception. >> we also have mike barnicle. how are you? >> i'm increasingly angry. >> i can feel it. oh, the rage. >> jonathan capehart of "the washington post" with us all morning. joining us today at the table, personal finance editor, jean chatzky, also the author of "money 911: more most pressing money questions answered, your money emergencies solved." good morning, jean. >> good morning. >> what is the most pressing question today for most people? >> debt, debt, and debt. >> personal debt or government debt? >> both. but i think for individuals sitting at home, it's how much debt do i have. how do i get rid of it, what do

i do about the fact that my home is under water and i'm thinking increasingly about walking away and is that such a terrible decision if i can't even hope to get back what i paid for this house for decades. >> there's so much talk when the economy almost fell to pieces that this is a defining moment for american -- not just the economy, for american culture. we're going to stop paying as we go, we're going to change our ways. but it turns out changing human behavior is a little bit more difficult than we thought. >> but i think looking at that cultural shift is a really important thing to do. i mean, is this a point at which we stop spending so much, start saving more, will that last 40 years as it did after the depression? i mean, personally, i don't think we're going to see it for 40 years. i think the whole way that we do business in this country has just increased. the time frame has shrunk. but i do think that people are going to prioritize saving a little more, prioritize security rather than more, more, more. >> one quick thing before we get

to news and savannah, and this will make savannah happy, i lived through the depression, and this is nowhere near as bad as the depression was. >> you know, it's not that easy to mention the depression and everyone laughs, but you did it. all right. >> well done. let's move to the news real quickly. encouraged by members of his own family, officials say the any nearian man accused of trying to bomb a u.s. jetliner is again cooperating with interrogators, providing fresh intelligence on who was behind the terror plot. the information is said to be providing new clues into al qaeda in yemen, which apparently trained the 23-year-old man before the attack on christmas day. although he has been cooperating with the fbi for several days, officials wanted to keep it quiet as they followed up on those potential leads. details began to surface during testimony yesterday on capitol hill. in that hearing, top intelligence officials offered a chilling assessment when it comes to the potential of future attacks. >> the question is, what is the likelihood of another terrorist

attempted attack on the u.s. homeland in the next three to six months? high or low? director blair? >> an attempted attack, the priority is certain, i would say. >> mr. panetta? >> i would agree with that. >> mr. muller? >> agree. >> general burgess? >> yes, ma'am, agree. >> meantime, the nation's top military officer is calling for an end to don't ask, don't tell, the policy that prohibits openly gay americans from serving in the armed services. defense secretary robert gates is ordering a review on how to lift the 17-year-old policy, something admiral mike mullen described as a question of integrity. >> it is my personal belief that allowing gays and lesbian to serve openly would be the right thing to do. no matter how i look at this issue, i cannot escape being troubled by the fact that we have in place a policy which forces young men and women to lie about how they are in order

to defend their fellow citizens. >> officials say three american soldiers were killed in pakistan this morning in a roadside bombing in the northwest part of that country. pakistan's army says the soldiers were in the region on a mission to train paramilitary forces to better combat militant fighters. if confirmed by the u.s. military, the little-publicized mission will draw new attention to the presence of u.s. troops on pakistan soil. with his focus on jobs and the deficit, president obama continues to step up attacks on republicans while defending his approach to dealing with the nation's struggling economy. two weeks after massachusetts elected a republican senator, president obama traveled back to the northeast yesterday, where he tried to regain momentum with voters in new hampshire. >> and sometimes it's easy for politicians to exploit the anger, the pain that people are feeling right now. i have to point out, though, that some of the very same folks in congress who opposed the recovery act and claim that it

hasn't worked have been all too happy to claim credit for recovery act projects and the jobs those projects have produced. they come to the ribbon cuttings and -- they found a way to have their cake and vote against it too. >> all right. all this coming as a new daily coast poll shows 63% of self-described republicans believe obama is a socialist. 39% believe he should be impeached. 36% believe he was born overseas. and one in five believe the community organizing group a.c.o.r.n. stole the presidential election. despite widespread criticism today in -- >> so we don't have to live next to them, 21%. >> moving on to another subject you'll love, barnicle, today the insurance giant aig set to hand out roughly $100 million in employee bonuses. that money is heading to financial workers in the same risky unit where financial trades almost sank the company last year, if not for the

biggest ever government bailout. workers did agree to take a 10% to 20% cut in compensation in exchange for getting their bonuses one month early. >> jean chatzky, what is the defense for this? a lot of people outraged this morning. i guess the defense for many and others, if we've paid back the money with interest -- >> then we can do whatever we want. and do we really want the government in there dictating what we can do for this company, because it will lead tor other companies. does it feel right? no, it feels awful. but there's nothing that should be done to stop it. >> and the bonuses are almost a cosmetic problem. is there anything that's been done structurely to fix whatever it was in that same financial arm of aig, to change the way they do business? >> what we're seeing from a governmental level this push towards the creation of a big regulatory agency that would, in fact, watch over this company, companies like it, and protect

consumers. and whether or not we'll actually get that months or years down the road, i think remains to be seen. >> what's fascinating about that, it seems like such a washington solution. it's not like we have a dearth of regulators. it's like alphabet soup. >> we don't have a regulator watching this particular thing. and i have elizabeth warren on this show all the time, and i think she's brilliant and we should do what she says. >> this is another big story. >> jean, weigh in on this one. some of the big banks and financial firms are back on their feet now. not the housing sector. it remains in deep trouble. new figures predict even more americans will see their homes values fall below 70% of the amount owed on their mortgages. those underwater investments will affect more than 5 million homes in june, about 10% of all americans with mortgages. this is so troubling. and you've kind of alluded to it before. when a person is in this

position, under water on his or her mortgage, they're faced with this decision, do i just walk away and face bankruptcy and all that comes with that. what should people do in these situations? >> it's a really hard question. they're not only looking at these payments that they can't make, they're looking at the fact that if they did walk away, they would be able to rent something significantly cheaper, support their family, put food on the table, send their kids to college and do everything else that was promised to them. now, granted, walking away, i think, is so much easier if you are a single person living in a community where you don't have a lot of roots. it's not so easy if you have kids in the school and you want to be able to maintain your life, as well as your lifestyle. but i think that as we look at this, we've got to ask, when is washington finally going to address the principle on these mornl mortgages? i mean, when are we actually going to get some help in terms of the program that won't just attack the interest rates on

these loans, but will actually focusn't underlying problem. >> mike barnicle, i thought we were getting help on that. what was all that money for? >> i always thought one of the biggest problems underlying all of this mess is the fact that have few people in washington have had the stones to stand up in public and explain what the mechanisms really are. what the deal really is. with regard to housing, a large part of housing problem originated from unregulated morning companies like one al qaida countrywide. it's not the banks. most of those companies are now out of business. they went out of business. flushed down the train along with homeowners' dreams. that's one element of it. the second element of it is that companies like morgan stanley and goldman sachs, they are not banks. they became banks when they got in trouble. but nobody in washington explains that to the public. you know? aig, nobody explains to the

public that the reason it couldn't be allowed to go down the drain is its tentacles were so vast, so underreaching that if they did allow it to get flushed down the drain, then the big banks go down, and only then. and now back to present day with the legislation on the thing, there's only one piece of legislation consumers are interested in other than having their mortgages taken care of if they're in trouble, and that's, let's hammer the credit card companies. if they can't put a contract out in english that you can't understand, then they should be in business. >> and we will get some of those changes. they're coming down the pike very, very shortly in terms of how the credit card companies are going to be forced to deal with consumers in a more fair way. but i think coming back to the mortgages for a second, we can chip away at the interest rates on these loans. we can force banks, we can force lenders to modify loans and reduce the interest rates until they are instructed to tackle

the principle on those loans, or decide to do it on their own. i interviewed with a company called aqua financial. they're a mortgage servicer. but they have taken it upon themselves in about 15% of their cases to actually modify the principal on their loans. it's working. if you look at the number of permanent loan modifications from bank of america and jpmorgan, you're looking at low single digits, they're at 40% and somebody needs to ask why. >> why aren't banks incentivized to do it? do they think the government will step in and rescue these homeowners, so why should they forgive the principal? if they're looking at foreclosure or forgiving some part of the loan, why wouldn't they make that calculation? >> i think they're looking at, where will they lose less money. and right now, they think if they take these homes, they'll actually lose less money by having the asset.

>> there's also something very interesting going on here. it's something that hasn't been talked enough or written enough about in my estimation. it's the culture of debt in this country. politicians with get up there and say, look what the banks did to us. we did it to ourselves. you go into any store and watch kids or adults swipe a credit card through a thing, to money ever exchanges hands and then it's not a great leap to go forward to unbuying a house, i want to buy the $350,000 condominium. you know, i make $12 a week. grab it. >> you know what's interesting about that, i know you'll remembers this, mike, the disappearance of layaway. does that not say it all? those at home who don't remember it, layaway was the concept of, i want something, i'll put a little money down, i'll come back, keep paying for it, and pick it up when i have the money for it. >> well, it came back, this season, this christmas, layaway started to come back, we started to talk about it again. and that's right, we didn't buy

our homes, we carried our homes. just like we leased our cars and carried our cars until we gave them back and got a new one, of course which we were under water. >> here's the ultimate problems with layaway. seven years ago, i purchased a sport coat on layaway. but because of my age, i forgot to go pick it up. >> i thought you were going to say it was going out of fashion. but, no. there are many risks involved with layaway. >> jean, finally, these predatory mortgage companies, the ones who said, hey, you've got to money, why don't you get yourself a second home in the hamptons. what happened to all those groups? >> as mike said, a lot of them have gone away, a lot of them are under water. and those are the people who are feeling as if there's really not such a big problem in walking away from that home, that second home. you don't live there, it's very easy to walk. >> all right, jean. stay with us. up next, if you want to talk

fiscal responsibility, do not mention las vegas. president obama learned that the hard way. details next in the politico playbook. also, nancy pelosi's new strategy for tackling health care. and later, what's it like to do the jobs most americans won't do? >> we can relate. >> just ask me. we'll spend a year walking in the shoes of america's immigrant workforce. it's an undercover experience you'll want to see. but first, here's ginger zee with a check on the forecast. >> good morning, willie. good morning, everyone. it's been a slick commute in the northeast and philadelphia has a 45-minute delay. so that's for the airport. but on the roadways, it's been a problem too. i want you to know that there's a little more snow on the way. as you can see, it's going to be very light in nature, but anything adding on to what you had, 0 to 2 inches, it's going to hurt. down in texas, it's hurting in the moisture department. way too much rain today. in the next 36 hours, 2 to 4 inches at best down in the south. that's a look at your wednesday forecast. you're watching "morning joe," brewed by starbucks.

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hey, let's take a look at some of the morning papers. "new york times," a call to topple policies for gays in armed forces. defense secretary robert gates and admiral mike mullen both back the repeal of don't ask, don't tell. >> in "the wall street journal," toyota's troubles deepen. the department of transportation is now considering a civil penalty against the automaker. meanwhile, japan has asked toyota to investigate more than a dozen recent complaints involving brake problems in the latest prius hybrid model. ford up 25% last month. >> debbie stabenow was very excited about that when we talked to her this morning. "los angeles times," oscar nominations. this years with the best picture nominations have expanded. they have ten nominees for best picture. >> "the washington post" front page photo shows president obama with his sleeves rolled up at a town hall meeting yesterday in tennessee. >> the detroit news, terror

suspect talks to feds. abdulmutallab is giving good intelligence about the christmas day bombing plot. and the front page picture showing an abandoned home encased in ice. a pair of artists are somehow hoping to draw attention to the housing crisis. oh, it's art. i thought it was actually ice. >> it's symbolic of how homeowners are melting -- >> it's not melting. >> frozen asset. >> art really is subjective, isn't it? live "the politico" and newsroom -- >> he wishes it was made of gingerbread or something. >> mike allen's got a look once again at politico's playbook. hey, mike. >> good morning, guys. >> good to see you again. let's talk about nancy pelosi, if you don't mind. i understand she has a new strategy, she said, come hell or high water, we're getting health care done. what's her latest approach? >> the speaker's now talking

about a two-track approach. not giving up on that comprehensive health care, the whole enchilada, but doing a little side dishes at the same time. and she's going to start next week with repealing the anti-trust exemption for the insurance industry. that's something that the house had wanted to do. so they're going to start to cherry-pick elements of comprehensive health insurance reform. and besides getting health care done one piece at a time, this is also one of votes that we've been talking about, symbolic going into these elections. a way for house democrats to say, hey, we're on the side of consumers, not of business. >> mike, i have to ask you about this. the president apparently got in a little hot water with senate majority leader harry reid. you know, they have a past, actually. a recent past. here were the comments that angered reid by the president in new hampshire yesterday. listen. >> when times are tough, you tighten your belts. you don't go buying a boat when you can barely pay your mortgage. you don't blow a bunch of cash on vegas when you're trying to

save for college. you prioritize. >> mike, isn't the lesson here, don't go after vegas, it's a dumb political move. >> well, it is. there's sort of a new pc where you can't seem to intrude on the convention of business. the president climbed down from this very quickly. he wrote a letter to leader reid, got to stick up for his state. and he said, las vegas is one of our great destinations. i always have fun when i'm there. he didn't say exactly how much fun, but he said he's looking forward to going back. >> hold on, i have to stop you, jonathan capehart is rolling his eyes. >> i'm rolling my eyes, i'm gasping. harry reid is lecturing the president about his comments on las vegas? good grief, the president writes him a letter, oh, i'm so sorry about las vegas. and meanwhile, he's just saying, mr. president, i'm sorry for saying what i said to those "game change" guy. >> tables have turned.

mike allen, thanks so much. we'll be checking you out at politico.com all day long. >> you'll having a good time, doing a good job, haven't broken anything? >> just poor mike barnicle's heart. thanks a lot, mike allen. coming up, stocks are mixed ahead of new economic data due out this morning. we'll get a check on business before the bell with cnbc's erin burnett. plus, jean chatzky, jonathan capehart, and mike barnicle when we come right back. ♪

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at the leading national supermarkets on frequently purchased groceries could have saved $55 in just one month by shopping at walmart. [ mom ] game time costs less at walmart. save money. live better. walmart. many people don't know this. brian williams and i have actually known each other for a very long time. have been friends, actually, since high school.

it's funny, our yearbook is full of photos. we played football together, actually. he -- i didn't -- i was hurt at the time, so it was not a -- anyway, we were also lab partners for quite some time. and we had a lot of fun. it's funny, true story, we actually went to the prom together. >> that's a handsome woman, isn't it? >> that's exactly right. >> jon stewart is a handsome woman. >> he should stay away from drag. >> i have a feeling brian williams used to lock jon stewart in the lockers. let's get a check on business before the bell with erin burnett at the new york stock exchange. >> we've got some jobs numbers. these are the best jobs numbers since -- hold on -- i believe the beginning of 2008. these are the adp number, which is basically a survey of employers, of private sector jobs. so we're going to get the formal government number on friday. this one does not always, let's

say, accurately indicate what we'll see on friday, but it's a very important. so we did have job losses, but not as many -- again, it was the best turnout we've seen since february of 2008. we still, though, are losing jobs in manufacturing. hard to believe there are still jobs to be lost this, although we're still the world's biggest manufacturer. construction still continuing to lose jobs, 37,000. we've lost 1.8 million jobs in construction in america since the peak by that measure in the beginning of 2007. we saw creation in services. and obviously the majority of our economy is a services economy. maybe that shows we're stopping digging this deep hole in unemployment. that's the main thing. and i would say the market turned up on that a little bit better than expected. we're now back down, plenty of concern out there, big picture on the state of the economy, deficit. one other thing, guys, interesting. this aig story, i'm sure you may have mentioned it -- >> a couple times. >> i must say, this is a little

surprising. you've got goldman sachs paying $16 billion, bank of america paying, what, $4 billion, just to its investment bank, and aig paying $100 million. it is true, we have put $182 million into that company. it's just one of those things, i wonder whether the media says people are outraged. >> so you're taking the pro-bonus position? >> i'm not even saying -- the number is so small. >> we've been looking for someone all morning to take that position. >> it's not even that i'm pro, i just don't know this amount is causing issues around the country. and to unwind the situation of aig, to have any hope of recouping some of the $182.3 billion american taxpayers have been put in, you want to have people that are going to work 24 hours a day and bust their you know what to get aig in a position where some of that money can be paid back.

and if paying a couple of them a couple million to do that, where at the same job at goldman, they might have gotten $8 million or $10 million, it may not be the end of the world. >> we were going to follow the herd and do conventional wisdom, but, erin, you've challenged us this morning. >> and we understand ken feinberg, the pay czar, was on tv this morning saying, these bonuses will end in march. >> yes. a lot of these were committed to in advance. it's that a whole argument of contracts. but by the way, 97% of the people that received them gave back a significant portion of what they were contractually supposed to receive. >> or they said they would. >> they're technically not getting paid yet, and i don't know if some of them are going to try to maneuver out of them or not. that's an interesting point, savannah. i just had that 97% of them had agreed to a cutback. so i'll get a little bit more on that for you. >> what else you looking at, erin? >> comcast came out with

numbers. we're number one. number one u.s. cable operator. they did basic video subscribers for cable, like 200,000 people fewer subscribed, but they gained in digital phone and they gained in high-speed internet. it was in line, actually a little bit better than expected, but fundamentally in-line in terms of subscribers. people are happy. and they now are focusing on the nbc transaction. >> hey, erin? >> yes. >> do you think it's possible that before the end of the year, we would be able to get sainthood for brian roberts, the head of comcast ? >> i'm sure. why don't you petition? >> i've already started. >> what's involved? >> a man wants to keep his job. >> they may not treat you so well over there. >> the headline, erin, comcast, we're number one. >> the headline is comcast, we are number one, exactly. >> we'll get some of those foam fingers. we're number one. and the aig bonuses are good for america, so says erin burnett.

>> i don't know if that was quite the quote, but go ahead. >> thanks, erin. coming up next, from jay-z to mo'nique, a look at the next generation of african-american history makers. and a little bit later, what's it like to do the backbreaking work of america's immigrant class? we'll take to one man who was determined to find out. you'll hear his amazing firsthand account, coming up. national car rental knows i'm picky. so, at national, i go right past the counter... and you get to choose any car in the aisle. choose any car? you cannot be serious! okay. seriously, you choose.

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it's kind of strange, being

the commander, being the only one if charge. so when i came in the schoolhouse and they were hollering and everybody's jumping up and i was looking around to see why they was jumping up. and i figured out, hey, they're jumping for me. you can't pick how you come to the earth, and i think that people just recognize your potential and go beyond the color of your skin. >> that was teresa king, a u.s. army command sergeant major, one of thegrio.com's 100 history makers in the making. it's an interactive web feature in celebration of black history month. with us now, founder and editor of thegrio.com, david wilson. >> i came bearing gifts. >> what have you got? >> the grio pens. >> you've won us already. >> no one brings presents. >> it's good. >> before we get into the list, let's talk about thegrio 100,

what is it and how'd you come up with it? >> we're looking at future history makers in the making. what we did is we looked at african-americans all across the country, in different areas and expertise and we said, now, who are people, you know, who are the people who are doing things now that in 10 or 15 years will make a tremendous impact on just not the african-american community but america as a whole. that's how this list was pretty much compiled. it's really tough, but we finally got down to the 100 number. >> yeah, i was going to say, probably a lot of choices. before we move on to the list itself, explain to folks who don't know what thegrio.com is. >> we focus on news that affects and reflects the african-american community and opinion. so, you know, we've been up since june and we've had a lot of great success so far. >> talk about the woman we just saw on the front page there, teresa king, who is she? >> teresa king is the army's first female commander of the u.s. drill sergeant school.

so she is a drill sergeant drill sergeant. tough as nails, but a really soft heart and she's someone who's making a huge difference. and again, she sort of embody what is thegrio 100 is all about. >> and you're not just focusing on people like this, but you're going pop culture a little bit too. >> exactly. >> jay-z, my 2-year-old daughter's favorite artist, i should point out. i'm not kidding, she walks around the house, throws up the diamond -- >> where'd she learn that? >> it's strange she throws around the diamond walking around the upper west side. tell us why jay-z made the list. >> jay-z made the list not for music, but for business. he's someone we see as making a lot of great strides in business. obviously, he's part owner of the mets. he's president of def jam. he's someone who's making a lot of big news and he's creating a blueprint for how a lot of young

men will sort of pursue business and careers in not just being the artist, but being someone behind the music. and that's what jay-z is all about. >> what about mo'nique, she's on your list. why did you choose her for the list? >> mo'nique is someone that's breaking the mold. i don't think hollywood has seen a lady like mo'nique before. she does her own thing. and i think she's a tremendous inspiration to a lot of african-american women, and not just african-american women, but women in general who don't fit the stereotypical hollywood mold. >> i have to ask you two questions. one, what do i have to do to get on this list? no, in all seriousness, after doing this list, do you already have in mind who the next 100 will be? >> well, you can send a check -- that's why i gave you the pen. no, we're looking.

i mean, we're looking. our eyes are open, our ears are open, and we're looking at people who will -- again, the good thing about this list, it took us a long time to get it down to 100. that's the beautiful thing. >> the people to choose from. >> yeah. >> who was number 101. who was the person that didn't -- honestly, didn't get there. >> jonathan capehart, obviously. >> not even close. >> it was actually willie. it was actually willie. >> it's inside here. >> it is, it is. yeah. >> is there any quality in common among all of these folks that you feel like really makes somebody stand out as a role model? >> again, i think all of these individuals aren't just having an impact within in the african-american community, their impact will ultimately be felt nationally. i think that was one of the big qualities. traditionally when you look at black history, a lot of people tend to think of what these african-americans did for the african-american community or other blacks.

i think what we wanted to do is look at individuals who have influence that reaches well beyond the community, and even have the global influence. >> and you've launched the site, t thegrio, kind of in the wake of the watershed moment of the election of barack obama. there was a lot of talk before and after about what his elevation to the white house meant for race relations in our country. what are you finding a year later? >> i think we are having a lot of conversation, which is good. i think, you know, there's -- and i don't think that americans give ourselves enough credit. you know, there's always little blow-ups and we talk about it. and that's the beautiful thing about it. we end up talking about it. and i think we need to do more and more of that. i think it has been good for the nation. and i'm looking forward to the next few years. and certainly, it's good for us at thegrio, because that's what we're all about, having these discussions. >> jonathan, was there an overstatement after the president was elected in january, saying, this washes away the sins. we read so many columns about

what this meant. >> we're post-racial -- >> a post-racial society. >> we have cleared a hurdle, but we have not gotten to that post-racial society. what we have gotten with this president, though, is someone that can help us lead all these conversations that we've been having on race. and also to show people that while there have been a lot of advances and a whole lot of progress, that there's still a lot to -- a lot to achieve, within the african-american community, but also within the american community. it was an amazing moment that barack obama got elected. but it also showed that just electing a black man as president does not wipe away all the problems. >> he explained it perfectly. that's the only sort of downside. there has been some overstatement about how far we've actually come. while we've come a long way, we're not there yet. i think she's absolutely right. >> as we head into the next election season, how much of a discussion point do you think race will be? >> i think it's going to actually be bigger this election

than it was -- i mean, last election, people were rallying around history. the fact that we were electing the first black president, well, you can only elect the first black president once. there are going to be a lot of people who said, well, i voted for president obama last time, so they're going to -- you know, it's going to be one of -- voting for president obama is going to be the new, you know, some of my best friends are black. >> well, we moved for voting for him because of the color of his skin in 2008 to in 2012, the content of his character, the content of his policies, which will be another move forward in this country, will be judging him on his record. >> i think we're seeing that already. that's what we're seeing in the poll numbers. we're not thinking about who he is and what he looks like. we're now thinking about what he's been able to accomplish if >> the research 2000 poll that came out --

>> the daily khost. >> you're doing great work up there. so glad to have you on board. david wilson, thanks so much, and thanks for the pen. up next, cutting lettuce, processing chicken, delivering food on a bicycle through the mean streets of manhattan. our next guest exposes what it's like working in the shadows for minimum wage. we'll be right back. - ( music playing )

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travelers. how do we know howow many classrooms we need? the census helps us know exactly what we need. so everyone can get their fair share of funding. we can't move forward until you mail it back. 2010 census and when it comes to the playoffs, we get together every year to watch it.

with walmart's prices, i can afford all the food it takes to make everyone happy -- no matter how many times they come back for more. [ female announcer ] people who spent $100 a week at the leading national supermarkets on frequently purchased groceries could have saved $55 in just one month by shopping at walmart. [ mom ] game time costs less at walmart. save money. live better. walmart. welcome back to "morning joe." we're here with investigative journalist, gabriel thompson. he spent a year undercover working alongside immigrants doing jobs most of us wouldn't want to do. great to have you with us. >> thanks for having me. >> lay out the premise for the book. what'd you do, how long did it take you, how'd you get the

jobs? >> i wanted to do a year doing jobs often done by immigrants. i feel like we don't have a good connection or detail on what those jobs entail. you'll hear a lot of conversations about people saying, imimplamigrants do this immigrants do that. i didn't want to do so much a policy piece as more an exploration of what the lives of immigrants are like and what the industries that they predominate in are like. so what it's like to actually work with alongside them. the other great benefit about doing this project is that while i was able to get access to places i normally wouldn't have gotten access to if i'd identified myself as a journalist, i was able to work shoulder to shoulder with immigrant and get to know them on a much more personal level. >> so tell us about where you worked. what were the jobs? >> i spent two months cutting lettuce in yuma, arizona, for a company called dole, which everybody knows. from there, i went to rural

alabama and worked in a poultry plant for two months, doing the graveyard shift. >> what'd you do? >> what'd you do in the poultry plant. >> yeah, everybody -- there were two jobs i had, one, to set the scale, the plant would kill about 1.5 million birds a week. it's a 24-hour operation. i was working the graveyard shift. one of my job was to tear chicken breasts. you're standing in one place, it's 40 degrees, and chicken breasts are coming down on a line and you're tearing them by hand, one by one. and in the course of a shift, i could tear between 7,000 and 8,000 chicken breasts. whatever the jobs you have, they all have that same fact in common, in which you're doing one very unskilled job, which if you do it long enough, you'll have serious health problems with your hands and stuff and it can lead you to go a little

baggy. >> you're wearing gloves and things? >> you're wearing gloves. >> it's great for people to get more information about what kinds of jobs are being done by largely an immigrant population. but you mentioned, you know, a journalist and everything, it's important also to note, you didn't deceive any of your employers in going to work? >> i totally deceived every employer. because at the outset, i mean, it was more a mission of when i told them my work experiences that i say i spent years as a community organizers, no, because none of them would have allowed my access. so what i said was -- and actually, they asked me very few questions. that was a concern of mine. why would i be trying to cutlet us the in arizona where i never saw another white person in the field. >> that's what i asked you. do you view yourself in a similar fashion as the guy who got grabbed trying to wiretap the phones in senator -- or whatever they were trying to do in senator landrieu's office? >> well, he was trying to commit

a felony, right? >> yeah. >> i don't think i was trying to commit a felony. what i wanted to experience and get access to is what it's like to work in these jobs. now, if i had believed that the poultry plant, for example, was very interested in having americans that eat chicken know about what goes on in these plants, i would have had no problem, this is what i want to do, because we want everyone to know what happens in these huge slaughterhouses. >> and as soon as they figured out what you were up to, they fired you? >> yeah. they found out the next day -- i was working the graveyard shift, so at 11:00 p.m., the beginning of the shift, they called me in and said, we talked to your lawyers, we need you to leave. maybe if you had come in earlier and told us what you were doing, we could have worked with you. which, not true. >> which was the worst job of all the jobs you did? >> the worst job, a job i

couldn't have seen myself doing for two months, which was my goal, which was working in the flour district in manhattan. i thought it would be a great contrast, because the jobs i'd been working before were these massive multi-national companies. this was a mom and pop shop. sounded kind of quaint and cute, flowers, you know. but what i realized was the bosses in that little shop, the mom and pop, were incredibly abusive, so as soon as i walked in, they sort of ran that as their fiefdom, they'd be yelling at workers, and i found that more than anything, the psychological unhealthiness of being yelled and not being able to yell back was exhausting. >> i don't think i'll have a chicken sandwich for about the next five or six months. >> we've only scratched the surface here. it's an incredibly interesting book. "a year of working in the sha w shadows." coming up next, what, if

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all right. time to tell you what we learned today. i learned what a thrill it is for fill in for mike barnicle on way too early with mike barnicle. it was one day only. you can have the show back tomorrow. >> i'm taking it back.

>> jonathan? >> i learned that las vegas is incredibly sensitive. >> a little sensitive. the president mentioned them in passing and harry reid gets an official letter. >> i learned that getting old isn't for sissies, especially around savannah, she beat the hell out of me today. >> she's ruthless to our greatest generation. it's unfair. >> by the way, willie, if it's w way too early, what time is it? >> it's "morning joe." and right now it's time for "the daily rundown" with the cruel savannah guthrie and the everves sent chuck todd. he's talking. intelligence officials say the christmas day bomber is cooperating again with the fbi. >> we've got good intelligence and we're getting more. >> and is a terror attempt against the united states before july a certainty? intelligence officials tell congress yes. good morning, it's february 3rd, 2010. i'm savannah guthrie. >> and i'm chuck todd.

let's get to the rundown. let's start this morning with new information from the administration on umar farouk abdulmutallab. a small group of us got a briefing last night at the white house, a briefing that came after national intelligence director dennis blair, in testimony before congress yesterday, revealed earlier in the day that abdulmutallab is actively cooperating with investigators and has been since last thursday, providing fresh intelligence on a number of investigations. a lot of them having to do with yemen. we've learned that abdulmutallab's family has been an asset in the investigation. on new year's day, fbi agents flew to nigeria. and on january 17th, they returned with members of abdulmutallab's family, who the white house says helped persuade the suspect to talk. the latest information may help the white house make the political case against republican critics, who have attacked the administration over the decision to read abdulmutallab his miranda rights. >> and chuck, the cia director, fbi director, and the director of national intelligence came together yesterday for that