tv MSNBC News Live MSNBC March 20, 2010 10:00am-10:59am EDT
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putting on the pressure. president obama will soon be heading to capitol hill to talk with fellow democrats about his health care plans. can he get enough on-board to pass the bill tomorrow? the count is on for 216. the pope is apologizing for sex abuse in ireland. but is he planning to do anything about it? take a look at these bite
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marks on a new york city cab driver. we'll tell you how they got there. plus, just in time for the first day of spring, a snowstorm in the plains. i'm meteorologist mike seidel in oklahoma city. more on the storm and its impacts and where it is headed coming up. good saturday morning, everyone. i'm alex witt. thanks for joining us. right now on capitol hill, democrats are closing in on the 216 votes they need to pass the senate health care bill. moments ago i spoke to long-time health care reform advocate representative john dingell. >> well, we're going to win. the bill is going to pass. it is going to the president to be signed, and 32 million people are going to get health care. >> nbc's luke russert is live on capitol hill for us. with another good morning to you, luke. we have the democrats sounding more confident. they're going to get to 216. is that how you hear it? >> yeah, that's what i'm hearing, alex. you saw mr. dingell who's actually been in the house since 1955. has introduced legislation on this magnitude every year since
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he's been in this house. the words i'm hearing are extremely cautiously optimistic. they are right there, right around that 216 magic number. some -- one democrat i spoke to recently says there are about 214. some go about 210, 212. either way, those are well within striking distance for house speaker nancy pelosi and president obama. so cautious optimism seems to be the day up here on capitol hill, very close to making this dream for many a reality. >> yeah. okay. we have a big story that will erupt about an hour or so from now whether there is a news conference with bart stupak talking about abortion in terms of the funding of it. what's this all about, what do you expect he's going to say? >> this is interesting, alex. this is kind of a last piece of the entire puzzle right here. bart stupak has been a very, very hardened pro-life democrat from michigan who wants extremely strict abortion language within this bill, within this health care bill. he got it passed in november in
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the house, he wants it overall in the senate. one democrat i spoke to says that, while democrats are close to getting that 216 number right now, and they don't need necessarily bart stupak, if they were to get him inside of the tent, it would be a slam-dunk. it would be more than 216. this is wrought with caution though, because of the pro-choice members of the democratic caucus do not like moo stupak's position on the abortion issue. so 11:00 a.m. today when stupak has a press conference, it will almost be the first shot heard regarding the abortion issue and the final piece to getting that 216 number this weekend. it will be very interesting to see how the speaker reacts to mr. stupak, as to the pro-life democratic members. >> okay, luke russert, thanks for keeping a close eye on things for us. we appreciate that. msnbc will have live coverage all day tomorrow as the house prepares to take this historic vote. keep it right here on msnbc sunday for the final round of the health care battle.
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the governor of minnesota says he thinks any flooding from the red river this weekend will be manageable. tomorrow's projected crest of the pririver at fargo, north daa has dropped a half a foot. kevin tibbles is monitoring the situation for us in moorhead, minnesota with that stop sign in the background still barely treading water there. what are residents saying about all of this red river rising? >> reporter: well, alex, all the residents here in moorhead and on fargo, the other side of the red river here, are all doing their march madness brackets. and it doesn't have anything to do with basketball in this part of the country. they're all looking and seeing what the temperature is, what the flow of the red river is, what's the sort of depth of the floodplain that they happen to be living on, then they've sort of calculated along with how many sandbags have they factored in, and at the end of it all, they'll try to come out and
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hopefully their basements are going to be dry. that's what's going on in this part of the country. as you just mentioned, there's good news, and that is that the red river is not expected to hit the record heights that it reached last year that caused so much concern in this part of the country. as a matter of fact, when it does crest tomorrow, as you said, it is going to be cresting a little bit lower than originally projected. that could very easily be because of the fact it got a little bit colder here so the snow isn't melt be as much. we also understand that the ground is actually absorbing a lot more of the water than was expected, so in spite of the fact our little stop sign over there is almost underwater, it doesn't seem to be coming up as quickly as it was a couple of days ago, and that's good news for everyone. maybe we can all go watch basketball tomorrow. >> let's hope so for everyone there. you too, kevin tibbles. thanks so much. as the residents in the midwest are bracing for the flooding, the plains is putting up with a snowstorm. let's get the latest details now
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from nbc meteorologist bill karins here in the studio. where are the biggest trouble spots? >> denver from yesterday cleaning up. from oklahoma up through kansas city. i feel guilty. i'm trying to figure out if i'm wearing shorts or not this afternoon. we're looking at windchill. the windchill is 5 right now. it's 5 in denver this morning. it's extremes from the east coast to the middle of the nation. look at the windchill in dallas. it's 29. oklahoma city, a windchill of 14. this is just one last plunge of cold arctic air that's headed all the way down to san antonio this morning with a windchill of 38. so we talked about the cold and then we have the snow. i think the cold actually may be a bigger story than the snow. we're getting some snow out of this which is more of a nuisance, stuff that will melt in a day or two. to be this cold this time of year is a little bit shocking. worst of the snow out of oklahoma city where mike seidel has been all morning. tulsa, interstate 44 and interstate 35 from wichita to oklahoma city are probably the worst of the drives as we go throughout the morning. later on in the afternoon the
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ozarks will get some of that. talking about the east, it's already 62 in new york city. we are heading up to 72 degrees. but this is it, alex. we go crashing back down to reality. but i feel guilty. honestly, it is the first time ever doing weather i feel guilty. >> well, poor guy. but tomorrow, still not bad. like 65? >> i don't want to rub it in. just trying to make feel better in the middle of the country. >> bill karins, we'll leave it at that then. in a few minutes we'll have a live report from the snowy plains as mike seidel is in oklahoma city. we'll check in with him shortly. a vampire attack in new york city? well, police are searching for a man who allegedly tried to rob a cab driver. we'll give you a look at this guy. there he is. then he repeatedly bit him. when the man wouldn't hand over the cash. let's check out the bite marks on the taxi driver's next and arms. wnbc's tim minton explains what happened after they reached their destination. >> reporter: instead of paying
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for the ride the guy in the back seat took out aç gun. there was a struggle, the suspect, he says, pulled the trigger but nothing happened. that's when the driver says he grabbed the gun. that's when the robber went vampire on the stunned driver. >> those are some nasty looking bites. the driver's not gotten back in his cab since the attack but plans to go back to work next month. british airways cabin crews are on strike now after they failed to reach an agreement with contract talks. thousands of flights over the next three days have been canceled and those passengers have been notified, but british airways says it hopes to operate 65% of its international flights using leased planes and outside crews. all eyes on the federal reserve earlier this week and good news after tuesday's meeting. the federal reserve decided not to raise interest rates. rates will remain low for an extended period now. joining me is vera gibbons, an nbc news animalyst. what's this mean for the economy? what's the take-away here?
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>> they said they'll stay low for an extended period. they say rates will stay low through the summer which is a positive. still concerns, caution as far as the housing markets. the government's been propping that up. there is still concern there. the tone as far as the fed is concerned was a little more optimistic as far as the job mark goes saying we are seeing signs of stability there even at an unemployment rate of 9.7%. >> stability lots different than significant job creation. that continues to elude the market. though you have these jobless claims down. >> those are important because that's really a gauge to the pace of layoffs and companies' willingness to hire. it gives us a sense of what's going on. they have trended down in the last three weeks, but if you look at the four-week average, 471,000 which is still above the level that will signal job creation here. economists say that needs to go below 425,000. job creation is still elusive at this point. >> what's behind consumers who are doing more shopping? i don't understand how that works. if you don't have a job? >> but they're watching it.
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they're buying things beyond the basics, beyond necessities. little splurges when they can, if they can. they're paying with cash. this is a relatively new trend. about 40% or so, cash transactions. the other 40% debit card transactions. just a small percentage on the credit cards these days because it's become very difficult, more expensive to use your credit cards despite the reform. people are tired of the penalties and fees that go with the territory. they're really looking to rein in the spending. it is good for consumers. it is really the fool-proof way to monitor your spending is to pay with cash. stores don't like it because you spend more when you spend with your credit card but it is good for consumers. >> people have apparently been listening to you over the years. >> i hope so. >> speaking of using the debit card, people at starbucks are changing things up? >> i'm guilty of that as well. >> every saturday, just for. you yes, they're going to start doing these customized frappacinos. frappacinos is a big part of
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their business, about $1 billion in sales. they've been around about 15 years but sales have been softening a bit so they'll try something new. say you want it with extra caramel or you want a low-calorie version. probably cause longer lines at starbucks but they will try to do something new to continue to drive traffic. they'll start this next month in the u.s. >> i've seen this with the teens. >> they love them. like 400, 500 calories. >> thank you for the segment and the coffee, vera. pope benedict has some choice words for irish bishops and orders an investigation into allegations of sex abuse. but does the pope need to say or do more? and osama bin laden is still wanted dead or alive. that depends on which official you ask. either way, he's still on the run. so what is the state of al qaeda? we'll take a look on msnbc saturday. [ female announcer ] for dazzling white teeth, give toothpaste the brush off.
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health care holdouts. right now all eyes are on those undecided democrats. the ones who have not yet declared whether they'll vote yes or no tomorrow. president obama has already persuaded some fence sitters. this afternoon he heads to capitol hill to try and convince a few more. lori montgomery, the health policy reporter for the "washington post." good morning. let's talk about those who have done some switching. you've got a few that have gone from no to yes. who are they and what's behind the switch? >> they're sort of all over the map. the guy who got the ball rolling was dennis kucinich, a hard-line liberal from ohio who rode out to ohio with the president on air force one the other day. the president clearly did a lot of lobbying. kucinich had been adamantly opposed to any public health care bill without any insurance plan but the other day he said, you know what? i'm going with the president on this. since then we've seen six more
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people switch from no to yes which has really heartened the democratic leadership, particularly since some of these people are freshman from very difficult districts who clearly have come to the conclusion that they're better off with this bill than without it. >> okay. what about the flip side? potential yeses going to nos? >> we've seen a couple of those. they're happening also for similar reasons. they're people in difficult districts who have concluded that they would be better off without this bill. right now, however, the focus is on a group of antiabortion democrats who were also decisive in november when the house voted the last time on this bill. they were successful the last time in persuading nancy pelosi to add some language that would clearly ban federal funding of abortion in the house bill. the senate bill which is what they're voting on today does not have that language. it has sort of different and less stringent language. right now there is a big battle going on to try to figure out what house leadership can do to
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mollify that crowd and keep them in the "yes" column. >> on the abortion issue, lori, you write that one potential compromise could include staging a separate vote on stronger antiabortion provisions. how would that come about? >> well, bart stupak, the michigan democrat who was successful in november in changing the bill, has said he will not support it this time unless there is a separate vote on a bill he introduced yesterday that would strip out the senate abortion language and restore his language, which just flatly says if you get federal subsidies for insurance, you can't buy a policy for abortion coverage. there are six to ten other antiabortion democrats who would like to see the stupak language, but it's not clear whether they might be satisfied with something less than a wholesale change which is what stupak wants. they might be satisfied if they could just get a vote on the house floor on this proposal. it's not clear yet whether that
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will happen, because the pro-choice faction in the democratic caucus is adamantly opposed to taking a vote. >> this will be interesting in 40 minutes or so, bart stupak is scheduled to have a news conference. we'll follow that. lori montgomery, thank you for your time. tomorrow on "meet the press," just hours before the final vote on health care, watch a final debate between two key parties leaders, john boehner and steny hoyer. check your local listings. this morning the pope has issued an apology to vic tichls sex abuse by irish clergy. pope benedict announced in an unprecedented letter a formal investigation of irish diocese. >> it is evident from the letter that pope benedict is deeply dismayed by what he refers to as sinful and criminal acts and the way the church authorities in ireland dealt with them. >> nbc's stephanie gosk who is
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following all this for us from rome. stephanie, good morning. what else did the pope say about all this? >> reporter: good morning, alex. the pope uses his letter to address a number are different groups within the irish catholic church. to the victims he writes you have suffered grievously and i am truly sorry. to the bishops he writes, serious mistakes were made in responding to allegations. he doesn't go on to say exactly what those mistakes were. and in perhaps the most powerful part of the letter with be he addresses the guilty priests themselves. he says they will have to submit to the demands of justice. in other words, submit themselves to the civil courts in ireland, that that is really the only way that ireland will be able to heal. now this is important, because the church has been criticized in the past for protecting guilty priests. it looks like he's trying to mend those ways to some degree. >> but stephanie, a lot of people are looking at this letter -- i've heard from people who are giving me tweets following your reporting -- that
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this letter addresses those in ireland as if it is an issue just there. does the pope go further and we're just not hearing that yet, to address the other nations throughout europe and elsewhere that are having these problems? >> well, he doesn't do it in this letter. there were a lot of people hopeful that he would. as you know, in the last few months specifically in the last week, we've learned of a number of allegations flooding in this various countries, including the pope's homeland, germany. there were a number of german caucus that hoped that he would address their crisis specifically. since january in that country, there have been more than 300 allegations that have bubbled up. there are a lot of people there that wish the vatican would take a more direct line in addressing what's going on in europe in general instead of just specifically talking about ireland. alex? >> okay, stephanie gosk, just there outside vatican city, thank you. still ahead, congress will be voting on health care legislation just about 24 hours
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from now. congressman dennis kucinich is helping reach 216 by switching his no vote to yes just this week. can he help sway other democrats? i'll ask him directly. plus, today is the first official day of spring but you'd never know that in denver, colorado. take a look at things there. not pretty. we're back in just three minutes. with 4g from sprint, i can download files up to 10x faster than 3g... outside. i can stream the movie "airplane" to my cell phone... at the airport. i can have a crystal-clear videoconference with my clients...
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and they believe in terms of the minnesota governor saying things will be manageable there. that's a snapshot of what it looks like across this country right now. the director of the cia says al qaeda's on the run. leon panetta tells "the washington post" the terror organization bad shape that the u.s. recently intercepted a message from an al qaeda lieutenant who was pleading with osama bin laden to step up and take charge. i'm joined now live by the national security reporter for "the washington post," joby, good morning. this letter from the al qaeda lieutenant begging osama bin laden to step up and take charge, how likely is that to happen? >> yeah. well, i think they wish he would come out of hiding and show himself because they haven't seen any sign of him really since 2002. his own people are getting nervous. they're getting hammered over there right now. we're seeing a tempo in terms of predator strikes and arrests that's just unprecedented. they're really say, s.o.s., that
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signal to osama bin laden, come and help us out. >> before i get to the status of things from leon panetta's perspective, there are conflicting views on the hunt for osama bin laden. general stanley mcchrystal says this guy will be caught, brought to justice, presumably in a court of law. then the opposing viewpoint offered by eric holder says, he thinks he won't be caught alive. what do you think about the differing views here? what's that signal to you? >> i think they're all trying to look really tough so the line from the right has been that the obama administration is soft on terrorism, they favor civilian trials instead military trials, they want to close down guantanamo and i think there is a big push-back against this saying we are being tough on these guys, we've killed 600 and some taliban and al qaeda figures just in the last year and a half. that's more than the bush administration was able to kill in the last four years in the administration. so we're being tough and they're just trying to project this
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toughness right now in congress and elsewhere. >> a lot of al qaeda-related operations though are secret. they're covert, joby. why is it that leon panetta's coming out now and talking about them? >> i think they're pushing several people out to make that point right now, that we are doing well in pakistan at least. but i think they're also afraid -- of course, it is only as good as -- lasts until the next terrorist strike. they do see al qaeda looking for ways to sneak around our protections by getting somebody who doesn't have a criminal record, doesn't have any background in terrorism and maybe can't pull off a dramatic or spectacular strike but can do something just to show they are still alive. any time that happens, that's where the criticism starts, are we being tough enough, vigilant enough. that's always the risk. >> joby warrick with the "washington post," thanks so much. >> thank you. it cost me my job. >> well, the whole thing was a lot of people are telling me this decision could cost me my job. that was a freshman democrat announcing his support for the
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health care plan even though it might cost him his job in november. plus, all eyes were on this billboard in texas. but not because of the ad. we're going to explain why. it's a good one. - cherry. oil or cream? oil or cream? cream. some use hydrogenated oil. reddi-wip uses real dairy cream. nothing's more real than reddi-wip.
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capitol hill where president obama is set to rally his party ahead of tomorrow's planned vote on health care. although just a handful of lawmakers are still undecided, it is enough to stop the legislation in its tracks. with that, the white house is making appeals to both moderates and progressives. both wings of the party are laying out their own respective reasons for backing away from the plan. joining me now from the capitol, congressman dennis kucinich, democrat from ohio. good morning to you, sir. >> thank you, good morning. >> you are certainly the popular guy from being courted by the president earlier this week to being courted by the press to talk about what changed your mind. what is it that was the tipping point to get you to go from no to yes?
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>> when i realized that everything that i was trying to do to change the bill kept hitting road blocks and that i was going to inevitably have to vote on the bill as it is, and if i voted against it, i could be the one that kills the bill, and if i vote for it, i can be the one who helps to enlarge the space where we can have a discussion about health care and make more comprehensive reforms down the road. even with that, it is not an easy decision. all the criticisms i've made of the bill are public record an i stand by them. but i see this inevitably and ultimately as the only chance that we have to get to the issues that i'm truly concerned about to start propelling a movement at a state level to work on diet, nutrition, complementary alternative medicine. none of these things are really addressed in this bill. there are many things that aren't addressed. it is not a good bill but it is the best we have at the moment. some of my constituents who were for it kept telling me something
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is better than nothing. i think that's probably the reduction that many are going to rely on in voting for this. >> you anticipated my question about your constituents. let's get to the question about whether or not you're making personal appeals to other progressives on behalf of the democratic leadership. are you doing that? >> yes. and i've done that actually without being asked and i've shared with other members of congress, whatever their political persuasion or wherever they are in the spectrum about why i felt it was important to make a change that would enable the bill to survive and that would enable a chance to have a national discussion about where we go on health care. because this bill is just a step, however flawed the bill is, it is a step. 16 years ago, the clintons started a discussion about health care and it was so -- it was so soundly defeated that we waited a full 16 years to come up with another opportunity. i don't think that we're going
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to have another chance in our lifetime to be able to really move towards the kind of health care system we need. i not for a for-profit health care system. i've done everything i can to show why we should have a not-for-profit. but i think we have to point to the history of this country where we take a small step in a direction, however flawed the legislation is, right now in the hopes that we can use this as a pring boa spring board to a real powerful discussion. >> you're talking about long-term changes. >> absolutely. >> what we see as voted on goes into effect with no discussion? >> what we're seeing voted on is the bill that i didn't like. and if i vote to kill it, i have to put that on my conscience, those who think that, well, let's start over again. i wanted to do that. couldn't get anyone to listen to the importance of trying to dom
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up wi come up with a better bill. bill that i have to vote on is the the bill whether i like it or not. we have situations in life where everything we'd like to have happen doesn't happen. then you still have to make the decision, well, do i kill it or not? this is not an easy thing. it is like driving a car, you hit a road block. you can go through the road block and keep going in the direction you want to go, maybe go over a cliff, or take a detour and inevitably try to get back to the direction you want. this is not an easy decision but it is one that i feel will at least keep that space open that we can move toward real reform down the road. >> okay, representative dennis kucinich, thank you so much for being so honest and open about it. >> i appreciate the invitation to be on your show. thank you. with so much riding on this health care bill, it is not just tomorrow's vote that members of congress are looking at. they're also eyeing the upcoming mid-term elections and political landscape months, even years away. apparently we are looking long ln term in many ways.
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let's bring in msnbc political analyst pat buchanan. and also peter fenn. good morning, glad to have you here. i want your reaction to what dennis kucinich was just saying. i'll go with you first, peter, being the democrat here. it is not an easy decision for him and yet he's somebody who, without being asked, is going out lobbying for it. basically he feels it is at least better to get something on the table and then try and refine it down the road, how far down the road, who knows. but how much do you think that reflects a lot of democrats' approach? >> i think there are a number of them that are concerned about it, alex. they don't think it goes far enough. what dennis is saying -- he's one of the most liberal members in the united states house of representatives. he says let's not let the perfect be the enemy of the good. and also i think for those who have a sense of history, if you go back and you see what lyndon johnson did in 1957 on civil rights, passing the very first
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real civil rights legislation that led to the real changes in the '60s, it was a step, it was a movement forward, it was a tough thing to do, and you know, this is a kind of issue that's not unlike civil rights and, you know, it's going to be reformed and changed year after year, but we have got to do something. this health care system is a disaster. >> so, pat, how much do you think the gop listens to that which dennis kucinich says and thinks, okay, if this is going to be the mentality of those that are still sitting on the fence, we're going to go down in flames tomorrow with that vote. >> the difference between dennis kucinich, who is a progressive or a liberal, and peter says one of the most liberal members of the house, is he gets a lot of what he wants. he wants to go in the direction frankly of a single payer, government takeover of all health care, get insurance companies and everything out of it. he says we go part-way but we don't bring government in enough. i understand that. but the real problem for the democrats is the moderate, centrist and even conservative
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democrats in the south who basically don't trust government, don't like how far this is going. they're the problems i think today for, alex, the democratic party and for the president and those who want to win this thing. frankly, dennis kucinich, if he votes for it, is not going to lose a vote in his district. some of these foe lows aellows y risks their careers. >> the cbo says this will reduce the deficit billions of dollars in the first decade. it will be hard to argue those numbers. >> i debated howard dean down in florida. i said, okay, 500 people. everybody in the room that thinks this is going to result in deficit reduction, raise your hand. nobody in the room did. even howard said, you see, i didn't raise my hand either. these numbers are really suspect. i was back in the medicare battle back in 1965 and what they told us about the numbers proved wrong. it was three or four times what
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they predicted. i think that's going to be true here. >> okay, peter, what do you think in terms of these numbers and, look. with no gop support, you get the democrats completely owning this bill. if unemployment remains high, peter, come november in particular, how do democrats justify spending this much money, $940 billion, on a program that's not focused on jobs? >> well, first of all, there are a couple things about it. $940 billion is obviously over ten years. there is the $138 billion. look, the congressional budget office numbers, they're bipartisan group. it's not like anybody's cooking these numbers. the other point is that the next ten years it's supposed to be up to $1 trillion. but the whole key here, alex, is we have to do something to bring some of these costs down and in terms of jobs, listen. if you've got doctors treating 33 million more -- million -- patients, that's a lot of jobs. that's a lot of drugs for the health care folks and it does
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seem to me that in terms of the politics of this, alex, that if the democrats don't pass this, then they will be known as the do-nothing congress and the do-nothing president come next november. as unfair as that charge might be. so my sense of this is, with the economy tilting upwards, passage of this legislation, you're going to see a better environment for the democrats. when karl rove is telling me that it's better if the democrats don't pass this for the democrats, i think, hmm, why is karl rove saying that. >> peter's got a very good point. look, if the -- if this thing goes down, the democrats can be pounded mercilessly as a do-nothing congress who wasted 14 months on a turkey. on the other hand, if it goes through and is it clear millions of americans, middle americans and centrists are just appalled and phone calling and everything and conservative and moderate democrats walk across and say we'll impose this on you even
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though you ate it, they're in real trouble either way. it's six of one, half-dozen of the other. and it is a very difficult vote for these folks. >> i got the six of one, half-dozen of both of you next hour again. thank you very much. guys, see you then. that historic health care vote is set for tomorrow afternoon. will the democrats get the votes they need? keep it right here, msnbc's going to have live coverage all day sunday. it's the first day of spring but it is still feeling a lot like winter for a large stretch of the country today. there is a fierce snowstorm which has already slammed parts of the colorado front range with as much as 20 inches of snow. now it is taking aim right at the plains which is where we find the weather channel's mike seidel live in oklahoma city. so, what kind of winter have they had overall? this sure doesn't look like spring for those folks. >> reporter: it doesn't, but they've gotten used to this with el nino. a lot of snow down south here. remember dallas had their biggest storm on record earlier in the season and they started off winter here in oklahoma city with their largest snowfall on record.
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13.5 inches, alex, back on christmas eve. they've been adding to that total, and all we need is a little under five inches with this storm and it is the snowiest season on record. we're going for the gusto today. the snow backed off since about an hour ago but roads are slushy and snow-covered. despite the high marked sun angle, we're getting no help. temperatures right now in the upper 20s. despite the powerful march sun, can you get roads slushy and snow covered. a lot of people knew it was coming after yesterday's highs in the 70s, they decided, hey, why even bother going outside today? it was so nice yesterday. five to eight inches here. in tulsa, 8 to 12 inches. in arkansas, they're even expecting several inches. it wraps up tomorrow morning and by monday and tuesday, temperatures once again head back up to 60 to 65 degrees. it is a wintry weekend but as we well know, this time of the year it doesn't last very long. meanwhile, the east coast today, 75 in central park.
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oh, my gosh! what a day in the -- up and down the eastern seaboard, especially in philly, d.c. and baltimore where they had their snowiest seasons o on record. >> i feel guilty with our record here as i look at you, my friend. mike seidel, thanks. more next hour. for the latest on the snowstorm and weekend forecast for your air yre area, logon to weather.com. 3-d movies are the big craze in hollywood. but soon you won't have to leave your home for 3-d action. will nadya suleman and her 14 kids soon be living on the streets? her mortgage mess next here on msnbc saturday. come on up here where your brothers sit. [ birds chirping ] wow! did i ever tell you what it was like growing up with four sisters? that sounds fun. yeah...fun for them! [ male announcer ] chevy traverse. a consumers digest best buy. with a 100,000 mile powertrain warranty. it seats eight comfortably --
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a texas man is undergoing psychiatric evaluation this morning after being rescued from a billboard naked. officers were called to the scene after the man climbed up the sign in the buff and began dancing around there. police initially tried to coax the guy down, but then had to approach him with a ladder truck. one officer said it appeared the
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man was under the influence. there is a job right there, coaxing down the naked guy. okay, well television manufacturers are trying to cash in on the growing popularity of 3-d movies in theaters. sony recently unveiled its line of 3-d tvs in tokyo. joining me live here, caroline mccar thuccarthy, a reporter fo cnet.com. is this the new hot thing? >> apparently it is. panasonic has this exclusive 3-d tv deal with best buy. on the shelves for one week, these 50-inch, first shipment shoe sold out. >> a recession? where is that? so you get a 3-d tv, but can you watch things in 3-d at this point? >> well, yes. march 24th, next week, the first u.s. sports game broadcast in 3-d will be on the msg channel,
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across the pond april 3rd, manchester united versus chelsea. there is definite will be going to be things broadcast in 3-d. 25 of the world cup soccer games in south africa this summer. it is going to be at least for now limited to sports for the most part. we don't even know when the 3-d dvd of "avatar" is going to be released. people are thinking december. they're not sure. the big limiting factor though i think is not the availability of broadcast, it is going to be the glasses. >> are they going to have one set that goes for everybody? >> not yet. they run between $100 and $150 for the most part and they are right now not compatible with other manufacturers' televisions. if you have a panasonic tv, you need panasonic glasses, sony tv, you need sony glasses. that could be a problem if you want to go to a friend's house and watch the game in 3-d. i also think it is an issue for bars that might be like, hey, we have a 3-d tv, bring your own glasses, we're going to watch the game. i think a lot of them are hoping they can capitalize on that.
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there are definitely manufacturers trying to make interoperable glasses but we don't have them yet. >> do we get the sense this 3-d experience will extend beyond sports. i get it in the big imax. but are we going to watch like "law and order" in 3-d? >> maybe the ones with the really shocking victims. some people might get a kick out of that. you look at promos for the new life series, the sequel to "planet earth." i'd love to see that in 3-d. whether we're going to be watching 2 1/2 men in 3-d, i don't think so. if you look at the success of "avatar" and now "alice in wonderland," there will be a push to import that 3-d to the home. >> i'll be interested to see if it moves beyond sports in the home. >> so is porn. >> oh, we didn't want to go there. the guys in the studio want to go there.
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college at least aren't making the grade and the education secretary wants do something about it, even if that means keeping teens out of ncaa basketball tournaments. plus, basketball star lebron james reaches an historic milestone and the youngest player to do it. we'll explain on msnbc saturday. [ female announcer ] food myth #35. [ woman ] when you go with frozen, it can't be real. [ female announcer ] oh yes it can! with lean cuisine. they put in real wholesome ingredients like farm-picked veggies, real cheese, and crunchy walnuts. just one of 90 varieties with no preservatives. lean cuisine. keep life delicious.
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residents in north dakota and minnesota are bracing for more flooding as the red river continues to rise. but there is some good news this morning. minnesota's governor says he thinks the flooding this weekend will be manageable. we've got a live report on this coming your way at the top of the hour so stay tuned for that. meantime, education secretary arne duncan wants to make sure the ncaa's scholar athletes don't ignore the scholar part of the equation. he's proposed a new rule barring any college basketball team with less than a 40% graduation rate from competing in march madness the next year. now if that rule were in effect right now, 11 of the teams that are competing in this year's ncaa tournament would be out, and that would include number
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one-ranked kentucky. bill leach is the editor of deadspin.com. arne duncan says if you can't graduate just 2 out of your 5 players, something's out of whack. does very a point? >> in a way that, yes, these are college points. but certainly the 40% is a pretty aepre pretty arbitrary number. he's looking at six-year graduation rates which ultimately punishes people that are playing now for faults of previous administrations. >> tell me what happens. say a teen does not make this rule now. what happens the next year? >> the idea that like if they don't pass the rule, the idea -- the thing is it is a six-year. duncan's saying you have to graduate within six years. that doesn't actually count players now. what you're doing is if this rule were instituted, if players played five, six years ago, perhaps under a different coach or perhaps dropped in for one
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year or went professional, you'd punish the people currently playing who are currently not a part of this factor at all. >> so a lot of people will be bumming about the fact that it goes retro. >> the ncaa when they responded said what we use is the annual percentage rate -- progress rate. excuse me. the idea that like they actually mark semester by semester. certainly everybody wants college basketball players to attend school more and graduate certainly. but the idea that we somehow live in this time, cbs paid $6 billion for the ncaa tournament. a lot of this has to do with that. the ncaa can opt out of their contract this year which is why you're getting a lot of talk about all the changes that would be happening with that. a lot of this is publicity moves all across the boards putting pressure on the ncaa who are looking to maybe get out of this contract, maybe go cable. these are the type of changes duncan is saying, i know you're
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making all these changes, keep this in mind when you do this. >> what about if a player opts out before graduation to play pro in the nba. >> that counts against the 40%. it does. but that's a relatively small percentage of what happens. a lot of players don't do that but that's another general problem duncan's trying to address, that people have this idea you go into college basketball as a stepping stone to the pros. the percentage of people that do it is very small. >> we should know arne duncan played hoops at harvard. >> and he had a very high graduation rate. >> you think? at harvard? much more at the top of the hour. democrats will be voting on health care legislation around this time tomorrow. will they get congressman bart stupak's vote? house leaders hope to reach a deal with him over the abortion issue. he'll talk about it coming up on msnbc saturday. llen that used to make me sneeze, my eyes water. but with new zyrtec® liquid gels, i get allergy relief at liquid speed. that's the fast, powerful relief of zyrtec®,
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