>> she doesn't know. she's not supportive of my dream. >> that's all right. that's a good start there. what ftime does that start? >> it's just way too early. >> thanks. >> one day it will be way too late and he'll be making tens of millions of dollars. >> really? >> mark my word. the president is bag on sagging poll numbers and an impatient media. are we impatient? so democrats, do they want the president on the campaign trail? i would say they probably want the spotlight but we shall see. new airline security will be announced today that will take a more specific look at passengers and new threats, not just where they're from but what that means from travelers. is it profiling? and also, nice for the friday before easter, an emotional reunion between a 10-year-old boy and his father

coming home from iraq. on the show today, gayle king will be here, david frum. let's get a rook at today's top stories. president obama will be in charlotte, north carolina, pushing pushing his health care reform law. yesterday in portland, maine, the president addressed his critics and the slumping polls that have defined his health care package. then the president headed for boston where he emphasized his health care reform package is, in fact, tied to the nation's economic recovery. >> the pundits in washington kept on saying, what's he doing? shoring up the banks and the auto industry and passing a recovery act. doesn't he know it's unpopular? doesn't he know, it will make him vulnerable? well, yes. turns i have pollsters, too. we usually know what's going to be unpopular before the newspapers do. but i also knew that if you govern by pundits and polls,

then you lose sight of why you got into public service in the first place. >> obama then called the president of china on his return to washington. the talk lasted about an hour. and the president is said to have welcomed his decision to attend a nuclear security summit in washington in two weeks. let's talk about the health care reform package and as it pertains to the economy. wasn't that the problem along the way, carl, tying it to jobs and to our recovery in terms of trying to get the message out there? >> to. the probl no, the problem along the way was political. the problem along the way is that the republican party offered no constructive support as to how we could offer health care in this country. they saw a political situation to their advantage, which is a country with huge unemployment, with great distrust out there in the country, they're running on it. and obama's absolutely right in termdz termdz of what he's saying. they've got pollings, too. all he can do is govern and make his case. that's what he's doing.

and i suspect that what we're going to see is a country that is in the midst of a cultural war. it's ugly. and that's going to persist. we'll see how the number of seats in the congress fall out in november. but i think he's doing all he can, both substantively and tactically. >> real quickly, john heilman, selling health care after its passed is, what, getting ready for the midterms? making sure people know what they've got? >> a lot of democrats took tough votes on this plan. carl is right. it's also true people in the white house know as happy as they are about this victory, they didn't do a great job selling this plan last year. they know that. they're upset about the fact the country is evenly decided on health care. the president has to sell it for their sake. >> pat buchanan, let they show you numbers. economists expect the labor department to show employers

added 190,000 jobs last month but hiring for census could be the reason for the boost. gallup tracking shows 20.3% was underemployed. gallup classified underemployed people as people working part time but wanting to work full time. meanwhile, a cnn research corporation survey indicates that 48% of americans say republicans in congress would do do a better job dealing with the economy. 48 45% say congressional democrats would better handle the issue. that's a switch from last august, pat, when democrats held a 52% to 39% advantage on the economy. so, what are we looking at as we look ahead for republicans in terms of how they break through all this bad talk that's been happening over health care reform? >> well, things are breaking the

republicans' way. i disagree with carl in the sense that i think what's happened is the stimulus package -- we can say it worked or didn't but it's perceived to not have worked. unemployment is close to 10%. we were told it wouldn't go there. secondly, on the health care bill, the president of the united states has got the greatest mega phone and microphone in the world, the white house, and they clearly lost the national debate on that. if i were the president, i would -- you know, look, you won the battle, mr. president. go out and find issues on which the public now agrees with you and fight the republicans on those issues right down through november. i think that's the way to do it. don't re-argue an argument that has already been decided. >> well, go ahead, carl. >> but i think it all fits together. this is one of these times i agree with 98% of what buchanan is saying. >> good lord. >> no, it's happening. >> you heard it here on good

friday. . >> evenings we've had talking about these things in dark corner in washington, we agree on some thing. but the real point is, what are they going to run on? they have to run on -- look, we have taken care of a huge problem in america by tackling the health care issue. we did the courageous thing. but pat is right, we also have to find our issues that go to this strain of dissent we're finding out there in the country. but also, they're going to go to how the hell did we get into this economic situation in the first place? and it didn't really happen on the democratic watch. >> let me show you some new numbers. heilman, you can take it after this and go to pat. meantime, a new gallup poll showing republicans gang an edge in the upcoming midterm elections. >> too much attention to polls, too. >> but especially now, this gives us a sense of what the atmosphere is politically in light of the battle in washington. >> it's a barometer, but we

can't be hanging on these things every day. >> a lot can happen between now and the midterm election. registered voters preferring republican candidate to a democratic candidate 47% to 44%. 50% of republicans say they're enthusiastic about voting this fall, while just 35% of democrats say they are. >> well, that's the enthusiasm gap. there were some numbers a while ago to suggest the enthusiasm gap evened out and that poll suggests to the contrary. pat's point was an important point before. that's what the white house is thinking about. what are the new issues we can put on the agenda between now and november they think they can win on? wall street reform is going to be a huge issue for them. what they're thinking about right now, there are some republicans who would like to cut a deal and get out of that mess. they know if the republican party gets tagged as the party of wall street it will be a big problem for them. the white house trying to figure

out how high do we set the bar? we might want to set is-t higher so republicans can't get there to have the political issue for the white house. >> pat, these numbers do show an opportunity for sure, that the republicans have? >> they really do. the main number's not the republican versus democrat but it is the energy, fire and enthusiasm gap that john referred to. they are really fired. the conservatives are and the p populists are. if barack obama will come out with a program which will sever these casino with credit default swap derivatives to banks, i think he would get support from middle america if he can simplify the argument and say, we're going to stop happening what happened to us on bush's watch, he would get support there. >> and the volcker plan. >> exactly. >> it makes it work perfectly. he's going to go out front on

financial reform and remind the country of what happened in the last republican administration. we had had a meltdown that had nothing to do with the democrats. and it also -- we had a surplus in this country when, you know, the democrats left office. >> all right. let me -- >> add here. i would say the people that got us into the housing mess, the -- >> greenspan. >> decent folks that didn't deserve them, couldn't handle them and packaged all this at fannie and freddie, that's all not republican conservatives by any means. >> that's true. >> i think that's why people are disgusted with both points at this point. let me get a couple more news stories in. i want to get to the story. the department of homeland security is announcing a new terror screening today that takes a more specific approach to who gets screened and how chosen. beginning this month passengers from all flights entering the

u.s. could be subject to personal screening if they have characteristics. the new plan approved by the president is the result of a christmas day bombing plan. here's a great story from last night's washington capitals game. for the past six months air force colonel rick danny was stationed in iraq. his wife found out he was coming home early so she and the capitals planned an elaborate surprise for their 10-year-old son henry coming off the ice after the flag ceremony. >> dad! >> woo hoo! >> dad! dad! >> you've got to love that. that's a beautiful sight. happy easter, everyone. up next, an exclusive first look inside the politico playbook. later, find out which stories make the cut in our

friday ritual. willie's week in review. first, a look at the weekend weather with meteorologist todd santos. >> good morning. pretty decent setup across the east coast. again today, if you enjoyed it yesterday, how about another run at a lot of record temperatures. areas like syracuse, new york, 82, that will be a record. burlington, vermont, 82. you get the idea. even rochester, new york, 84. clear skies across the entire east coast. most problems across western south dakota, dealing with snow showers. we'll talk about those. even thunderstorms moving towards oklahoma city later today. there's a look at temperatures as you head out the door. by later this afternoon, check out sunshine from maine to southern florida. we'll be back with more. you're watching "morning joe" brewed by starbucks. ♪

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♪ i thought this was the best april fools prank i've seen. take a look. >> three, two, one -- >> no, no, wait, wait. >> the reviews are in, folks. "the new york times," "the wall street journal," the "usa today" all rave and "newsweek" liked it so much, they made it their first non-obama cover in 15 months.

this is like a full-page cover ad that apple didn't have to pay for. unlike the amazon kindle. >> i look forward to trying it out. barnicle is going to get me one. >> he -- he gets you tickets to the red sox game, he gets -- >> yes, he's getting me an ipad. >> he's clearly the facilitator, barnicle. >> but i deserve it. seriously, carl, he owes me. >> i told you what we used to call him. >> believe me, it's just the beginning of what the man owes me in order to put up with him every morning sitting here, and then just leaves. he just gets up and leaves. did you see that yesterday? >> must have been a game somewhere. >> he must have been sick of me. maybe -- well, i give him trouble. let's take a look now at the morning papers. "new york times" -- tension between china and the u.s. have eased significantly with the countries now working together to deter iran's nuclear

ambitions. with the obama administration backing off on a politically charged clash over china's currency. boston globe -- boston has set up a new anti-bullying tip line that's quickly found more than a dozen facebook pages that use obscene language to target teachers at city schools. >> that is a good idea. and i bet those facebook pages are reflections of facebook p g pages of kids across the country. i urge parents to look at their kids' face bok pages. washington post. democrats are privately debating where and how president obama can help or hurt. the president is unlikely to campaign in arkansas and hasn't been to illinois since last summer. willie? >> here with us now, politico's patrick gavin with a look at the morning "playbook". >> happy friday. >> that's cute. >> i love it.

tell me about this story because i don't get it. jim demint, other republicans claiming that health care reform will add thousands of new irs agents to the streets. tell us about it. >> besides the department of health and human services, the irs gets a vast expansion of power under this health care bill. there is no doubt that, in fact, they will get more power, they will need more resources but exactly how much is unclear. right now estimates are around 16,000 additional irs officers, but you're right, congressman demint from south carolinas it could be up to 100,000 more individuals. the administration says that is in dispute. that's probably not going to happen. the regardless the irs has the process of 500 billion more dollars. why they want to make this health care bill successful, work well and make sure it's not totally bureaucratic and in order to do that you have to

hire more irs agents. is anybody more hated than the irs? it's bad politics. you might see republicans focusing on this irs expansion in order to sell to the american people that this is going to be one big pain in your butt. >> winning argument. >> strikes me as a one-day story. >> there you go. >> okay. >> well, this is our one day on it. . dr. emanuel, brother of rahm emanuel, omb official, made a bet with justice scalia. who won? >> what happened is three days after the massachusetts senate results when scott brown won, zeke emanuel run into justice scalia and said, despite scot scott brown, i guarantee you health care will still pass. the original bet was $5, justice scalia was hesitant about making bets but zeke was able to convince him to take him out to dinner if he wins at a very

expensive restaurant in d.c. obviously, zeke emanuel won. so paparazzi will be camped outside the restaurant waiting to see what will be one of the more interesting dinners we've seen in d.c. >> that's a summit meeting for you. >> does that mean he has to recuse himself when health care comes up before the court? >> let's send it to those guys playing tennis. scalia is a great ten miss player. >> i did not know that. >> sometimes he plays with larry summers and they are both fantastic tennis players. >> larry summers? >> swear to god. no joke. >> larry summers doesn't eat well. >> i hope there's a doctor somewhere when those two play tennis. >> there you go. dr. emanuel, perhaps. >> there you go. >> we'll talk to you later in the show. coming up later, xm satellite radio host and our friend gayle king will join us, and former press speech writer,

david frum. next in sports, would you say going to win it all? we look into our crystal ball to predict the winners of the final four and the national champion. we'll be right back. as a dermatologist, i always hear about products

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live look at the white house this morning at 27 past the hour. oh, the sun is coming up over washington. think of a strategy when i come to your -- you're going to be in a seat? a box at fenway? >> somewhere down below. >> how do we get lebron to do the show? you let me know. i'll come see you. >> time for a look at some of today's top story. the u.s. military is sending out mixed messages over it's don't ask, don't tell policy. now telling soldiers they can be kicked out for acknowledging they are gay. earlier this week army secretary mchughes said he wouldn't try to discharge service members who told him in private kvgs conversations they were gay. now he says he misspoke, that don't ask, don't tell remains the law of the land until

congress acts. in the wake of the recent sex abuse scandal rocking the catholic church, the arch bishop of dublin is speaking out against the vatican. he criticized the church's reaction to reports of abuse, calling it, quote, hopelessly inadequate. the vatican has denied covering up any alleged incidents of abuse. carl, real quick. >> he's one of great dear churchmen. when i wrote my biography of pope john paul ii i spoke months and months speaking to him. for him to say this is an historic event. he was very close to pope john paul ii. he was close to ratzinger. when ratzinger was the cardcard. this is a major, if as reported, a huge breach. he has more moral authority than almost any bishops on this question. i'd like to see exactly what he

said. that's a remarkable story. that's real news. >> we'll stay on top of that. first national fuel economy rules have been finalized by the obama administration. by model year 2016 vehicles must get an average of 35.5 miles per gallon. i like it. the new standards will be equivalent to taking 50 million cars off the road by 2030 but will cost consumers nearly $1,000 more per vehicle. everything, i guess, has a price. that's a look at news, now sports. >> the final four is tomorrow night in indianapolis. just a couple miles away from the campus of butler university. they're the hometown favorite. i guess you call them the underdogs. they're favorites in the game against michigan state. they rolled through the tournament beating syracuse, kansas state. they're not quite the hoosier story people are making it out to be. they take on michigan state. michigan state there for the second straight year. lost to north carolina in the final last year. the only number one seed left in the tournament is duke.

duke gets west virginia in the later game. we saw coach k. there. the final four, these are our staff picks. by staff, i mean, a couple people sitting around this morning at 3:00. >> oh, cool. >> wie got butler -- >> that's just you, right? >> me and jen and casey. like three people. >> oh, sweet. >> butler beating -- >> very scientific. >> it is. and duke -- west virginia, perhaps, the sent mental favorite among many americans against duke. >> my assistant from west virginia and she is just ecstatic. >> the winner, we went with our hearts on this one, the hometown favorite, butler bulldogs. it's not anything against duke. all you duke fans can relax. i understand, chris, we're getting some really long e-mails from duke fans. >> what? >> usually the nasty e-mails are one or two lines. look at how long this person's e-mail is. this is literally -- >> that's bold. >> and they attack me and pete.

but the part i'm going to read is about willie. you failed to do your job properly and offer objectivity and balance. it's way too late for you, willie geist, to show any class when it comes to checking your anti-duke sentiments. you took the "morning joe" platform and abused your position to promote your agenda to bash duke. >> that's what we do, yes. what are you doing? >> are you suggesting i'm rooting for west virginia against duke? that -- i don't know where it comes from. it's an unfair attack. i'm a journalist, first and foremost. maybe i just like visiting morgantown, west virginia, from time to time and picking up souvenirs. that's all. duke playing the victim card, it's like the yankees playing the victim card. relax. >> give me the pom-poms. give them right here. stop. >> we picked duke. come on. you can't call bias. by the way, this could be the last year of the 64-team tournament. you might have 96 teams in the

ncaa tournament next year. we had 65 next year. the new model would have 32 teams getting a first-round bye. tournament would still finish in three weeks, start two days later than the original, different setup, but same length, championship game on the same monday every year. it would also eliminate the n.i.t. could have 96 teams in the ncaa. >> that's longer than the baseball playoffs. >> it would be like spring madness. march and april madness. >> right. now, speaking of baseball here, roger clemens, a few months after he denied using performance-enhancing drugs, he's now defending his performance in the bedroom. >> oh, wait a minute. why do we need to hear this? what's the -- this is sports? >> a couple days ago, a woman he had a relationship with made some snide remarks about his intimacy. so the rocket fired back on twitter saying this, this is is

from roger clemens' twitter account. quote, i've taken great care of my body and to this date and time all the pipe on this body are still working great. thanks for asking. >> willie, it's enough. >> we thought we should bring in this story. >> what were the comment that the woman made? >> he had dysfunction. >> what kind of dysfunction? >> stop it? >> you mean -- >> coming up next, political reporter for "the huffington post" -- sam, bring us back in here. sam stein will join us and mika's must read opinion pages. plus, what's the worst thing that could happen to an island like guam? >> it would tip over and capsize. >> could guam tip over and capsize? apparently not an april fools' joke. that was a united states congressman voicing his concern that guam might capsize. that's coming up on "morning joe" brewed by starbucks. resilience. elasticity.

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cnn has fallen on tough times of late. with the host of their most popular shows losing almost half of their viewers. over the last year. i mean, that's -- you know, from ten to five. i don't understand why they can't connect with viewers. >> here we go? the snoopville. what's it mean? >> this is the magic. >> i'm still on the brake. why are we moving? >> okay. as a fuse program not so good

but if that were a garry marshall sitcom, i'd love that. gin and prune juice. >> oh, my goodness, that wasn't very nice. 38 past the hour. welcome back to "morning joe." >> no piling on over here. >> with us now, political reporter for "the huffington post," sam stein joining the conversation. we also have pat buchanan in washington, carl bernstein here in new york along with john heilman, me and willie geist. let's start reading our must readings. we're going to start with david brooks, "new york times," the ecstacy of fiscal policy. hes, first you need to change social norms. the financial cries has helped to peach people the dangers of excessive debt but there's probably going to have to be a public crusade like the ones against littering and shoeking to hammer the point home. think warpen buffett tv spots, think oprah, think tom hanks. someone has to remind the country that debt is selfish.

second the whole deficit hawk brand needs a makeover. accept a lower standard of living. this is still a billy mays nation, thank god. the message has to be america can be richer and shinier. debt reduction has to be about renewal and prosperity, not pain and sacrifice. pat buchanan, if you agree with that, how do you do that? >> i don't agree with that at all. look, the deficit is enormous, $1.6 trillion. trillion dollar deficits as far as we can see. if you cut out social security entirely and did away with the defense budget desirely and really furloughed every soldier and civilian at the pentagon, you still wouldn't balance the budget. we're not going to be able to do this without serious pain. everybody knows it. i think if you're mature, you'll have to look at it that way. look it right in the face. >> it's a great lead, though. because he says, let's say you're a political consultant, sitting in your west hollywood bondage themed strip club, party

donors picking up the tab. it's a terrific lead into it. but, of course, the real problem is, we are in a country where the citizens don't want to make any kind of sack figsacrifices. >> that is for sure. >> they don't want to pay taxes. they don't want to send their children into the military. it's across the board. it's a cultural problem that goes way beyond taxes. >> i totally agree with you. i think it may be a message problem as republicans look to break through and have a positive message that actually sticks with the nation. sam stein, is that the challenge? >> national service, we need. >> is it a message problem? maybe. i don't know, though. it's very difficult to ascertain what exactly is the platform of either party. obviously, the health care bill was projected to save money over the long term. democrats never really pushed that as the primary read to sell the bill. the problem with the debt and deficit is recessionary problem, we're not getting tax returns from people who are taxed. until the economy turns around, until there's more job creation,

you're not going to be able to actually sustain any sort of deficit reduction program over the long term. so, you know, i agree with the sentiment that david brooks is expressing, but, you know, first and foremost, this should be about jobs, i think, for any political party. >> yeah. but how do we -- reining in spending, worry being our debt, is that something our country can't handle conceptionally, john heilman? >> it is a hard thing. i remember a decade ago in the wake of ross perot, people used to think -- the way to animate this concept is generational equity. could we rally young people around the idea that this was actually their future at stake. if you didn't reform entitlements the country would go bankrupt and hurt them primarily. it seemed like a sexy idea. obama had a lot of young people who voted for him. maybe you could get people to rally around this idea. but it's very hard to do what david brooks is talking about, make this idea compelling, make it sexy, make it not seem like

posterity. >> the unemployment rate of 16 to 24 now in this country is close to 50%. it's astonishing. >> at the same time, the president somehow needs to stay with his base and make sure he keeps the support that he has there, his poll numbers still holding strong. sam stein i'm going to read from your article in "the huffington post." obama okay with base. how far can the administration go in alienating its progressive base without repercussion? combined with the disappointments, concerns have mounted even further that the gusto to vote simply won't be there in 2010. sam? >> well, you know, i talked to a bunch of people for this article. you know, we one of the defining features of health care was just how much the administration was negotiating against progressives. they basically put the public option out there on the chopping block from the get go as a way to win votes.

the problem progressives this is you sacrifice these policy prescription and you don't get any republican votes in exchange. with offshore drilling now, the whole idea is to sort of grab one or two moderates. we haven't seen any republicans come out and say, yeah, we'll support the bill. so there's a lot of concern among whether the base is going to be motivated to go out to the polls in 2010. sure, their passion for obama, they're feeling bolstered by the health care win. there's only a certain extent to which they're willing to stomach continued punches in the gut. now you're seeing a lot of nervousness among strategist. >> john heilman? >> doesn't that comparison you just made lead to a different conclusion? i mean, progressives made a lot of noise about wanting the public option but then in the end, they're willing to trade that for the larger goal, which was covering 32 million uninsured americans. isn't it the case that progressives would accept some -- a little more offshore oil drilling if you could get a price on carbon? >> that's a great -- listen, i talked to bob, campaign for america's future, and he said

progressives, institution of progressives, they understand the need to compromise. they're willing to accept watered down legislation if it means getting victory. the problem, again, is the process by can you do it. is the process so solid it sort of turns people off? again, look, for instance, labor and health care debate. labor gave up a ton of exsis tax, the public option and able to secure a victory in exchange in form of health care bill. when you do things like offshore drilling, the question that progressives have is, what are they getting in return for giving up offshore drilling? are they going to get a republican vote? what are renting being asked to give up? if they're connecticut stantly being asked so sacrifice, the enthusiasm will be there but not as strong coming into 2010 as compared to a presidential year. >> pat buchanan. >> let me ask you, it looks like the problem the democrats have is the demographic issue. in '08, obama really got out young voters and minorities came out in record numbers.

african-americans voted for him 24-1 and came out tremendously highly. however, in 2009 what happened is the white folks basically working in middle class, some of whom had gone to obama, many who were tepid on mccain, they came surging to the polls. virginia and new jersey. especially massachusetts. and that's the energy enthusiasm gap. conservatives, 50% anxious to get to the polls.

only 35% of democrats. how does obama re-energize that particular base between now and november? >> if you were on the ballot, it would be a lot easier. in 2008 there was a lot of passion, obviously, for the historical candidacy. one of the great things -- one of the profound quotes i got this past week was from stan greenberg, prominent pollster for bill clinton in 1994 who said openly that he worried it was going to be a repeat of '94 in 2010. he said the country's got ton a point where it's so polarized, there's virtually a cap on what heard him talk about the bondage problem. that's going to be in the "week in review." what else makes the cut? we'll tell you when we come back. national car rental knows i'm picky.

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can't use" and it's friday and also time for "a week in review." the bondage, the whole thing in west hollywood? is that will be in there but we're going to start with young children. you've been to ballet recitals, ball games for little kids, just on see the looks on their face in a scarface play. >> say hello to my little friend. you take that, you cockroaches. >> at number three, say hello to our little friends. >> you do sxoek you kill people. that's wonderful, tony. >> the movie "scarface" is an iconic orgy of sex and drugs and violence that was just begging for an elementary school adaptation. >> okay, you want to fudge at me? you fudge at the best. >> the scarface school play which, unfortunately, is not a school play at all but a hollywood creation rang up 2 million views on youtube this week. it stars a child version of al

paci pacino's tony, who is miami's biggest popcorn kingpin. tony montana suffers the same tragic fate when he's taken out by a rival with a fudgein' nerf gun. at number two, meltdown on ice. >> and he just broke a stick over the ice. he has lost his mind. >> jim playfair of the minor league abbotts had a simple disagreement of opinion with the referees. >> jim playfair is going nuts. >> any expert worth it is salt says that breaking a couple of hockey sticks in half and ripping off your jacket like the incredible hulk while foaming at the mouth is the most way to win friends and influence people. >> he's on the top of the bench. and jim playfair throws another stick on the ice.

>> playfair joins phil wellman in the minor league sports tantrum hall of fame. >> and the number one story of the week -- >> do you like bondage clubs. >> we have news about the unbelievable bondage club. >> bondage themed nightclub. >> ladies on display, ready to go. >> was it a lesbian bondage club. >> bondage, bondage. >> the republican national committee found itself tied up in knots this week when reporters discovered that the group had spent nearly 2 grand wooing donors at a hollywood bondage joint. >> what are you doing, eating dinner and discussing politics while women are trumping around on stage with horse bits in their mouth? i don't get it. >> women parading around in horse bits struck some as inconsistent with the republican message. but could chuckling democrats say they've never used the lap dance as a fund-raising tool?

>> we have -- i do -- i cannot say for sure. >> the lesson for all of us this week? whenever entertaining for business at a lesbian bondage establishment, always expense it under, miscellaneous charges. >> when we're preparing an fec reports you can be darn sure nobody's going to write down the name of a strip club. >> that's smart. never write down the name of a strip club. >> the thing you say on "morning joe" and you don't remember. >> mika pointed out the horse bit. >> i read about that and i wondered how that was attractive. >> as a connoisseur of these institutions, how does that place rank among your favorites? >> lesbian bondage? i've never visited. >> move on, willie. >> one more i have to show you. this is sort of an addendum because it happened yesterday. >> a late add. >> congressman hank johnson of georgia, democrat, add an armed services committee meeting last week was talking to u.s. navy admiral about the addition of

8,000 marines to the island of guam, expressing his concerns about what might happen with the addition of that many troops. >> this is an island that at its widest level is, what, 12 miles from shore to shore. >> i don't have the exact dimensions, but to your point, sir, i think guam is a small island. >> my fear is that the whole island will become so overly populated that it will tip over and capsize. >> we don't anticipate that. >> carl, how soon can you get that movie out about -- >> movie on congress, and that's going to be in it, unless it was meant to be irony. even then -- >> he says -- congressman johnson says it was a joke. if you didn't get the joke, he feels bad for you. >> the admiral sure didn't get

it. >> thanks very much. >> david frum next. (jennifer garner) there's a lot of beautiful makeup out there

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♪ it turns out that the day after i signed the bill wasn't arm getten. no asteroids fell. the earth didn't crack open. nobody lost their doctor. nobody's been dragged into a government plan. we're going to be okay. we're going to be better than okay. >> i heard one of the republican leaders say this was going to be armageddon. well, you know, two months from

now, six months from now, you can check it out. we'll look around. and we'll see. >> leaders of the republican party, they called the passage of this bill armageddon. armageddon. so, after i signed the bill i looked around to see if there were any asteroids falling. >> he likes that line. >> he likes it a lot. is that the third? at least the third. >> at least. >> welcome to "morning joe." one minute past the top of the hour. i'm mika brzezinski. joe is off on this good friday. willie geist and i are joined by john heilman and also sam stein of "the huffington post" in washington. pat buchanan as well from washington. here with us now, former special assistant and speech writer to president bush and found of frumforum.com, david frum. nice to have on you the set with us this morning. >> thank you. >> we'll read from your article that you entitled "waterloo."

that caused a little hub you bu >> it was put on the record by jim demint, saying health care would be the president's waterloo. not so. >> i'm going to read from it. pat, chime in as well. you say this, conservatives and republicans today suffered their most crushing legislative defeat since the 1960s. a huge part of the blame for today's disaster attaches to conservatives and republicans ourselves. we would make no deal with the administration. this would be obama's waterloo. only the hard liners overlooked a few key facts. obama was elected with 53 of the vote. the liberal bloc within the congressional caucus is bigger and stronger than in '93-'94. this time when we went for all the marbles, we ended with none. >> well, we had a choice. the choice was to try to shape the health care bill, knowing those facts, knowing what a priority it was for the

president or else to go for all the marbles and try to stop it. i had been arguing through 2009-2010 this bill is not irredeemably bad. there are things you don't like, and i would have voted no on the final package but there are good elements, the element taken from mitt romney's plan in massachusetts and many trace back to the republican alternative to the clinton plan back in the 1990s. so, build on those. draw a line against the elements you don't like. max baucus was desperate for a deal. there was a deal to be done. instead, we made the choice to go politically for total defeat. that choice proved wrong and we need to have some self-examination. >> pat buchanan, did republicans misplay this? >> well, i think we're going to find out down the road. my feeling is that when you can't get olympia snowe even for a bill like this, it's probably an awful lot wrong with it from republican and conservative standpoint and you're better standing up against it, defeating it and hopefully making a bill that does do a lot

of the good things and does have more republican aspects to it. but we're not going to find out the answer to this question, i think, for a number of years. but certainly in the short term, republican party, it's hard to say they've been hurt when we've been looking at the numbers we've been looking at this morning. >> sam stein of "the huffington post" is putting on his grumpy face this morning. tell us why. >> i just think -- i think it's sort of absurd to suggest that this bill was too -- what is it -- hot to handle for olympia snowe. she voted for the earlier version with a trigger for the public option. a clear calculation was made that the republican party had to be all against this bill. i think it did in many respects blow up in the party's face up. end up with legislation they didn't effect from a language stand point. david, have you heard from any republicans privately about your column? do they disagree with you? are some agreeable? >> i haven't heard from anybody who's an elected official but i've heard from a lot of

figures, via e-mail, from all around the country. i've been deluged with -- i'm still reading e-mails up through lunchtime on march 26th so i'm a little behind. often from committee chairman, precinct chairman, people who are donors, activists. there are a lot of people who care about the health care issue. and not just health care politics. they are very upset and been very supportive. may i pick up on the point that pat buchanan made that it's not a total disaster because there will be republican gains in 2010. if that's true, then how important was this bill? if this bill is the biggest thing since medicare, the idea, well, we're stuck with it but we'll pick up some seats. the house of representatives and senate have changed hands many times since 1965. medicare is still there. the house and senate will change many times over the next 30 years but this bill will still be there. it's there forever. and to trade the opportunity to shape it for some gains in november, that strikes me as a reckless calculation. >> i was in politics, excuse me,

i came in the end of '65, early '66 and we picked up 47 seats in 1966, the year after medicare and won five of the next six presidential elections, two of them with 49 state landslides. i mean, when you take a look -- >> but medicare is still there. >> a new republican party is emerging. and partly it brings some negatives. that is a sign of life and of, frankly, of energy and fire. and that is usually the sign of a great comeback. does it have disadvantages as it did in '64? sure. but when you've got this fire at the grassroots, i think you go with it. >> but -- >> you're telling them it's armageddon all the time. >> but you describe '64 as having some disadvantages is like the japanese emper in 1945 saying the war didn't go all together as desired. >> let me bring john heilman into the conversation. >> i have a different question. it connects back to sam stein's question, since we have you

here, david, you know, you have actually gotten a lot of flack for this column, among fellow conservatives. you've been attacked by everybody. i believe you no longer have a job at the american enterprise institute. >> correct. >> chris buckley, you remember, back in 2008 endorsed obama and was trashed by the conservative movement and the republican party. now you're sitting in that seat. what does it say about the conservative movement at the moment that someone writes a column like you wrote, gets so much criticism, takes so much flack and faces almost punishment for having expressed these views? >> i'm not complaining about it. as pat buchanan said, this is a moment of ferment inside the republican party. if you stick your neck out, you can expect flack. that's normal in politics. don't complain. i don't regard myself as an opostic. but i'm going to fight now for a different -- i think we need a more moderate governing-oriented that accepts this bill, whatever we thought at the beginning, i

would have voted no, is a fact of political life and we have to make it better. not make false promises of repeal. >> i'm not asking you to be self-pitying. this can't be a healthy thing for the conservative movement when someone expresses a view that is not what the mainstream conservative point of view is now get trashed the way you have been trashed over the last couple of weeks. that's not a healthy atmosphere for ferment. >> if i were wrong, it would be healthy. if it was stupid and crazy, i can see why people turn against it. the real problem is not the party should be welcoming of all kinds of disdissent. the point is, i'm right. >> pat buchanan, go ahead. >> to john's point, when you have politics as it is today, there's ferment in both parties. look at the attack on blanche lincoln, the challenge to her. look what was done to joe lieberman, extra hawkish. it is in both parties you're getting cal enged.

look both party are in great ferment. i like the odds of the republican party far better than this modern, get along, go along party. it's now got this huge tea party thing which brings negatives as well as positives. as we found in the nixon/agnew/reagan era, this can be the beginning of something big if you can bring the coalition together. >> david frum? >> unlike the nixon/agnew era. a third voters now have a college degree. this is a country where educated women are an ever more port of the electorate decision. it's not 1970s america anymore. >> but, david -- >> the problem is the republican party has been running the 1978 playbook for a generation. it worked for a time. >> you're wrong, daiftd. let me tell you where you're wrong. we nominated john mccain. he lost the college educated.

obama is losing the college educated now as well as the working and middle class. that's why he dropped 30 points from where he was. we are winning them back. we lost them when we nominated a moderate mccain. >> we are at the trough. we're at the trough of the worst economic recession since world war ii. and the president is in the 40s. i think that's a pretty fine accomplishment for him. it makes mel think if this is where he is at unemployment at 10% where will he be when unemployment drops to 7%? >> let me show you numbers. pat buchanan, i'll let you pick up from there. a cnn poll indicates 47% of americans say republicans in congress would do a better job. that's a switch from last august when democrats held 52% to 39% advantage. also a new gallup poll shows republicans gaining an edge in the upcoming midterm elections with registered voters preferring a republican candidate 47% to 44%.

50% of republicans are very enthusiastic about voting this fall. >> mika, you're exactly right. remember with the party was at 20% identification earlier when we were talking? what is happening is that people are coming to the republican party because it is a fighting party. and it looks like now it is headed for a major victory despite the terrible loss of david frum. >> okay. frum? >> they haven't lost me. i'm not accepting the verdict of the membership committee. i'm staying. but, look, supposing that's already. supposing republicans have a major victory in november. if i were a democrat, i would take that trade. i would say, we have reshaped a sixth of the economy. we did it entirely our way. we did it with new redire redistributive attacks and regulations. so we lose the house of representative foss a time. we'll get it back. this bill is forever. and i think that what really pains me about this is

republicans care about politics and democrats care about government. if they can put a governmental change on the board, that's fine. the republicans say, if we get the committee chairmanships back, that's a good trade. that's not a trade i want to take. i want to shape this bill. >> john? >> let me put a fine point on a question that arises out of pat's critique. republicans, if there's anything they're happy about is that they have energy, this enthusiasm gap. a lot comes from the tea party. what's your opinion, tea party good or bad for the republican party? road to ruin or road to revival? >> tea party is a dangerous temptation with good elements. there's a lot of energy. people are expressing very real from uses. the committ people are really right to be upset about all of this debt for so little economic recovery. but, it is a movement without leadership. it's a movement without discipline. it's a movement that makes mistakes all the time. we've seen many of them. and remember, if you add up everybody's been to a tea party across the country and then

assume the people in washington who came to the rallies in washington are completely different, we're still talking a third to a million, half a million people? that's a lot but it's not enough to sway national politics. >> look, without the tea party group -- i mean, somebody's got to be behind this astounding revival of the republican party. without the tea party folks and energy and fire and numbers, quite frankly, david frum would be right, because the demography of the country is pointing to the death of the republican party down the road. in the short term, the only way they're going to get back the presidency, which is the real power center, and do what they ought to do, quite frankly, is bring these people in. and the idea of writing them off and working with harry reid and nancy pelosi, i mean, that's -- >> all right. david, i know you want to respond. but we're losing sam stein. sam stein, final -- i think this is his last block. final thoughts. >> it is, it is my last block, sadly. my thought about what pat says,

i think pat is sort of wrong on one aspect, one major aspect. the reason the republican party is not necessarily because of any profound message or leadership, although they're scaring voters to come to their tent is because of the economy. you have this prolonged recession that's going to dissatisfy a host of voters and of course they'll turn to the party out of power because they're promising something different. now back to that kvgs with sam greenberg, he said the president needs to have a message about economic recovery. people feel bad. even if the economy is slowly and surely starting to turn around. so what obama has to do between now and november, and certainly now in 2012, is to get a message where it's almost like, i feel your pain. i understand this economy is not recovering fast enough, but we're doing the best we can. look, job growth is happening. let's wait and see what the numbers are coming out, i guess, in an hour or so about number of jobs created this past month. >> 14 past this hour.

we've given this topic 14 minutes and we'll give it more. it's fascinating. sam stein, thank you very much for being with us. come back soon. coming up next, a preview of "meet the press," moderator david gregory joins the conversation. also, the president hits the road again this morning making a fullcourt press on everything from afghanistan to jobs. the latest from the coat diva, savannah guthrie live at the white house. first, todd santos with a check on the weekend forecast. >> very good morning once again, mika. looks like a beautiful day again. if you missed it on the east coast, how about a repeat performance again? there's a look at the satellite picture across the northeast. a few very thin low clouds across western pennsylvania. beyond that a nice start. expecting the plains to remain green through much of the day today. maybe volume affecting delays if folks are flying this friday. otherwise, there's a look by at least as you head out the door in the next couple of hours. temperatures starting off in the 40s, pushing into the 70s, with the exception of boston and new

york, cooler with the onshore winds. we'll see record temperatures up towards burlington, vermont. back to chicago with 63 this morning. 81 by later this afternoon. also, close to some records. back with more. you're watching "morning joe" brewed by starbucks. ever wish you knew a retirement expert? let's meet some. retirement's a journey and, we know the territory. we're chartered retirement planning counselors at td ameritrade. we're trained. we're seasoned. experienced. we'll help you with rollovers. consolidating old accounts. opening new ones. guiding you through paperwork. we're like retirement co-pilots. call us soon. when you're ready, we're here.

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heilemann. heilemann. frum was fired from the conservative think tank the american conservative think tank, although they say they did not fire frum. they simply decided to terminate

his office, research assistants. frum resigned. i mean, you can do your job without a salary, office or benefits. it's been nearly 30 years since my protege, the professor lost tenure at columbia university but he still lectures every day outside to a very inquisitive pile of used syringes. >> that's pretty good. that happened to me, too. with us from washington, we have the moderator of "meet the press," david gregory. and at the white house, the coat diva, co-host of "the daily rundown," savannah guthrie. david gregory, i need your thoughts on this, your expertise. just culling through the past few days, look at this. look at this. pleather, pink pleather, emerald green trench, and now we're teal. that's just the past few days. >> reporter: oh, you're killing me. you know what's weird about it? those are all willie's coats.

>> that's upsetting, actually. >> reporter: he's so generous with his fashion. >> david, the analyst of all political analyst, i'm thinking she needs to retire the pink pleather. >> reporter: i like the pleather. >> i like it. i like color. >> fine. all right. very nice. savannah, i'm jealous. the one today i'm getting. david, looking at some of the polls we've been talking about today, and i don't know if you were able to listen in on part of the conversation we've just been having, we've been wondering if there is an enthusiasm gap or an opportunity potentially for the republican party. some have these numbers showing more americans are voting republican in the next elections and are excited about it. >> you go back to 1994 and talking even to people inside the white house as well as others on capitol hill, there is an enthusiasm gap that democrats hope they're shrinking now. we've seen for really the balance of the first year of the obama presidency that conservatives have remained united in opposition to the obama agenda.

and to specifically economic policies laid out by the administration and then the health care fight is really animating the right wing of the country and of the conservative party, the republican party. but i think health care reform has an effect on the democrats that's very positive, which is to say, the president achieved something. there's reason to be excited. and because of the unified republican opposition, i think you'll see more mobilization, more excitement on the left as well. seeing that the president has achieved this. so i think the hope and the expectation is that in terms of base mobilization, you have something that's roughly equal that goes into the fall. but the economy is still what's so important. you know, ultimately, talking to republican strategists and democratic strategists, washington has to be talking about the things that people are talking about at home, that they're worried about at home. it's not at all clear that health care reform or the repeal of health care reform is what people are really focused on. it's still jobs.

>> savannah, the president traveling in maine yesterday, went out of his way to tie health care reform to the economy. said, this is about tax cuts, about small business, this is about job creation. he also went out of his way, i noticed, over and over again to mock not only republicans but people like john heilemann and the press. what was he doing there? >> reporter: his favorite target. i was struck about this. he riffed on the fact that pundits and reporters, as he says, are noting that he's not going anywhere in the polls on health care. he says, look, it's only been a week. you know, i think you guys played the sound bite earlier. what were reporter if they were farmers and they planted seeds would they go out and say, nothing's sprung up yet? i think we find it fascinating. we saw the president at his most sarcastic yesterday. look, this is a guy who never misses an opportunity to beat up the press and rail against the so-called cable chatter. i just find it interesting

because, of course, he also professes not to watch it, see it or pay attention to it, but he certainly seems to know a lot about it. >> david gregory, why don't -- jump on that. there's clearly a concern about the economy. i wonder if the president is especially with his travels today, north carolina, trying to focus on jobs while still trying to sell health care. at what point does he maybe make a choice? >> well, i think there's going to be a list of accomplishments that the president goes out to campaign on. he's going to talk about stimulus today to make the argument that without it, the economy would have slipped into depression. the difficulty about the stimulus is that the impact on jobs has really not been felt. the impact on state budgets has really not been felt. so, while he can make an argument and others in his administration can that it staved off a real cataclysm of severe depression, the fact is

it didn't necessarily spark recovery. that's the difficulty here. the gap in jobs, the loss of jobs since the recession began, 8 million jobs, raises questions about whether those jobs are coming back at all. and when they'd be coming back. so, i think he's got to go out and continue to make this case. also fight against this perception and some of the criticism that the administration was not focused on jobs, they were simply focused on health care. that's a specious argument. clearly they haven't been focused on jobs. it's the question of how effective they've been. the big question that hangs over the economy and, thereof, the president, what actually produces sustained recovery? which is a return to the job levels we saw pre-recession? that's the thing that's really going to drag on the administration as you move forward. >> savannah guthrie, finally, what david was saying about the stimulus, i mean, again, we had an argument yesterday on the set as to what exactly the stimulus

did. the white house will tell you time and time again, the number they put on it, saved 2.1 million jobs. it's very hard to gauge saving jobs but there are state that would have cut jobs that didn't because of it. i don't think they tried to sell it as more more than that, did you? >> reporter: if you look at what david gregory just said, he put it perfectly. it's not that the stimulus created jobs. most people accept that it created jobs. the issue is, was it felt? i mean, look, if you're talking about 2 million jobs when this recession has lost 8 million jobs, it's a deck chair off the queen mary. people aren't feeling it. this is the issue that most concerns the white house right now. we're expecting a jobs report this morning. the consensus forecast is that we'll add 200,000 jobs. but there's a lot of hiring that's just temporary for the census. tim geithner just yesterday on the "today" show saying unemployment is going to remain unacceptably high for a very long time. that's the real problem for this

white house. >> david gregory, before you go, who do you have on "meet the press" this sunday? >> we will talk to one of the president's top economic advisers exclusively, dr. roamer, christine romer will join us. we'll have a focus on national security threats, both at home and abroad at a time when there's been so much discussion about health care. there's a lot lurking as well on the international scene when it comes to security threats. and we'll talk about this new book by david remnick about this new book about obama. >> we have him on next week hopefully as well. david gregory, thank you so much. savannah guthrie, we'll see on you "the daily rundown" right after "morning joe." we'll continue the conversation here on "morning joe." still ahead, the editor of "o" magazine gayle king joins us on set. newark mayor, cory booker, last month had a huge milestone. we'll be back with much more right here on "morning joe."

>> can you imagine if some of these reporters were working on a farm and if you planted some seeds and they came out the next day and they looked and nothing's happened. there's no crop! we're going to starve! >> it's been a week, folks. hey!

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♪ (announcer) right now, all over the country, discover card customers are getting five percent cashback bonus at home improvement stores. it pays to get more, it pays to discover. look at this shot from the top of the rock. looking good, new york, on this good friday. welcome back to "morning joe." it is just after 7:30 on the east coast. time for a quick look at some of the day's top stories. the department of homeland secure security is announcing a new terror screening strategy that takes a more specific approach to who gets sxreen how chosen. passengers on flights from all countries entering the u.s. could be subject to special screening if they have personal characteristics matching

specific and updated terror threats. the new plan approved by the president is the result of a security review following the christmas day attempt to blow up a jetliner headed for detroit. there's been a surge of violence in gaza that may complicate efforts to break a dead look in the u.s.-backed effort to restart israeliy/palestinian peace talks. reports are saying several children have been injured following israeli air strikes on the hamas-ruled gaza strips. it follows rocket attacks from gaza into israel, including one just yesterday. and the u.s. military is sending out mixed messages over it's don't ask, don't tell policy. now telling soldiers they can be kicked out for acknowledging they are gay. earlier this week arm secretary john mchugh said he would not try to discharge service members who told him in private conversations that they were gay. and now, mchugh says he misspoke, saying don't ask, don't tell, quote, remains the law of the land until congress acts. when we come back, a big milestone for newark, new jersey, mayor cory booker next on "morning joe."

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37 past the hour. how many followers do you have? >> over a million now. >> over a million and one. >> i'm going to do it. >> i'm going to do it you too. with us, the mayor of newark, cory booker. once his city named the most dangerous, going a month breaking the trend that has last 44 years. 44 years. mr. mayor, it's kind of morbid but congratulations.

>> thank you very much. tremendous accomplishment for the city. >> also on the set, john heilemann, pat buchanan in washington, willie and me. how did you do it? >> it wasn't one thing. it's a lot of things coming together. we have a genius police director and cops putting their hearts and souls into the streets every day. on the other side you have a community stepping up in ways that are inspiring from people doing ex-offender re-entry programs to block watches. a guy got a stimulus check and started mowing the lawn in a drug neighborhood where guys were hanging out and able to dispersion drug dealers. so many individual heroism and police officers that care, investing in technology, new strategies, it's really working. >> new strategies, new ideas, thinking outside the box, everything starting at the grassroots efforts, literally, cutting the grass, but it has to be gal vanized, because for years you'd say the word newark

with the tone of the worst. how did you get people to work together in a place with no hope? >> we came into office and said -- i was told by many crimeologists, stop raising expectations. i said we're going to be. the top city in america for reducing gun violence. people said, don't do that. we were able to get everybody to do things they weren't doing before. from clergy to nonprofits to foundations, all working together to be number one in the country. now, over three years, we're the second best city in america for reducing gun violence. we feel like we're just in the foot hills of the mountain we're going to climb. >> this is a great milestone for you, but there's still a ton of work to do. newark is not greenwich, yet anyway. where do you go from there? >> and thank god for that. >> we have to continue the work. every day you sort of take stock in the accomplishments we made. but, you know, look, one murder is too many. one shooting is too many. we're going to continue to put more police officers on the streets.

we're going to continue to invest in technology. we've expanded fashgnashlgts ang investigations and gang investigations and partnering with residents who are willing to step up. we have some ingenious strategies. i'm searching the country for other people doing well, trying to copy what they're doing. we believe the best story in crime fighting not for the month of march but for the next five years. >> you talk about gun violence, mr. mayor. a week or so ago mayor bloomberg wrote a harsh letter to the obama administration basically saying the administration was not helping enough and that we were actually falling -- the administration not doing as much as it should be doing, could be doing to help cities with gun violence. do you feel the same way as mayor bloomberg? are you on the same side? >> one of the first calls i got yesterday was from eric holder talking to me about strategies, ways we can work together from the federal level to local level. this is not a time to divide us. mayor bloomberg has been one of my best friends making change happen.

so many people on my side of the aisle get all upset when the supreme court overturns d.c.'s gun ban law. i laughed about that. none of my murders am newark, except for one since i've been pair, was bought by somebody who bought a gun legally. we're going to choke the illegal guns coming into our city through laws that most gun owners agree with. like the terrorist exemption where we can stop people from getting on planes, no-fly lists but we don't have stops to them buying guns in our neighborhood. we need to focus on where we agree as a nation. left and right we found ways to move the ball forward. even in new york, one of the conserve ty think tanks, manhattan institute, has become a partner in newark, new jersey, and some of our strategies to prevent crime. we've been able to bring people together. mayor bloomberg, my partner in new york, eric holder and definitely the obama administration, there's things we should be doing together to move the ball down. >> and, you know, yesterday, willie, i said cory booker was my hero.

that was -- >> i knew you were going to get to this. this is her subject. >> this is before i found out he's teaming up also along with everything else he's doing, with the childhood obesity foundation. >> yes. >> you're working with the private sector. i would say that probably some people looking at newark would say, gosh, don't you have other things to worry about. tell me why this is related. >> people don't realize that all these problems we have are intermixed. you can't just look at one in a vacuum. so we know in newark for you that if we don't have safe places for our kids to play and parents say i'm just going to keep my kid in the house, not only is it surrendering the streets to crime and violence and actually adding obesity, lowering self-esteem, raising the cost of their health care and otherwise taking our city in the wrong direction. so, we know that kids that have high self-esteem, that are active, engaged, involved in sports do better in school, have better life outcomes. we want to see newark set a national example. not just in fighting violence and crime, but really being an

innovative think tank to issues like fighting obesity. the first lady and i talked yesterday on a conference call with senator frist on the republican side. again, this is not a right or left issue. america needs to stop looking right or left and move forward. we're thinking about real strategies, again, starting in the grassroots, celebrating our success in cities and trying to grow these islands of excellence in the fight against obesity in creating healthy lifestyles. >> safe places to play and good food to eat, self-esteem. that's your future. >> yes. >> that is newark's future. pat into cbu kainto can buchana. >> first of all, congratulations. i grew up in washington, d.c. just the other day we had four kids shot down with an ak-47, in the southeast, five wounded. the kids were coming back from a funeral for someone else who had been killed. if you had just one piece of advice to give to washington, d.c. on how to deal with this horrendous problem they've got, what would it be? >> very, very simply. i'll go back to a guy that said

something 44 years ago at the time newark set this last record, that the problem today is is not the words and evil actions of the bad people. it's the appalling silence and inaction of the good people. apathy and silence is what is killing us in our cities. we have -- in newark, new jersey, we have 2,500 kids, in america there's over 2.5 million children on waiting lists for mentors. we cannot allow our inability to do everything undermine our determination to do something. when we see tragedies like that we get up in the state of sedentary agitation. not willing to get off our seats and do something. we as individuals will always get realities that we participate in creating. if we don't do anything, we see the land to the evil folks that want to do bad. my best advice to washington, people in washington, d.c., is stop pointing fingers at other people. the city of my birth. stop pointing finger at other people about what they're not doing. look at yourself and say f i did the same thing as last year we'll get the same results as

this year. >> mayor cory booker, on twitter, congratulations. a long road ahead. >> thank you. >> we wish you the best of luck. >> very grateful. in a few minutes gayle king will be here on the set of "morning joe." up next, new developments in the bullying case out of massachusetts. who's coming to the school's defense in this case? we'll tell about you that.

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welcome back to "morning joe." a beautiful day in new york and throughout the northeast here. gets up to like 75 today in noection. parents accusing massachusetts school officials, as we've been telling you all week, of ignoring some red flags about the bullying that may have led 15-year-old phoebe prince to commit suicide in january. none of her classmates -- nine of her classmates, i should say, have been charged with various crimes in relation to her death. but the superintendent is defending the school. giving his side of the story to

nbc's jeff rossen. of the story to nbc's jeff rossen. >> at south hadley high, a tragic example how dangerous bullying can be. 15-year-old phoebe prince killed herself. prosecutors say after months of torment. >> she was a really good friend. >> friends say phoebe was bullied in the hallways on her phone and online. they say it was common knowledge to students and staff, but school officials never stopped it. >> the whole incident. >> thursday, the superintendent agreed to a within on one interview to answer accusations that administrators ignored repeated cries for help. >> we do not know of any staff member who did not report sting that they should have reported to us. the people who work in our schools care deeply about the schools there. they would not stand by seeing a student hurt. >> reporter: but the local d.a. says that's not true that,

phoebe's mom did complain twice. >> the actions or inactions of some adults at the school are troublesome. >> the d.a. says the inaction of your staff at the school war, in her words, troublesome. how donds to that. >> she'll have to explain what's troublesome. it's not troublesome to me. >> he says the principal only found out about about the problem about a week before the suicide in january. the mean girls have been charged with harassment, along with two boys charged with statutory rain. >> do you think school zrait administrators should be held accountable in general for cases like this. >> yes, that's part of their charge. >> so if staff members knew and didn't do anything, that would happen to them. >> they will face disciplinary actions. >> but so far you haven't found that. >> now more parents are coming forward. >> i have a son with cerebral palsy and he gets picked on regularly. i've called the school to address it and they don't do a thing about it.

>> the prince case is becoming the new face of an age-old problem. just down the road in massachusetts, a young boy hanged himself last year. in ohio, jesse logan hanged herself after a nude photo was spread around her school, and the list goes on. 40 states now have anti-bullying is laws on the books but still kids are acting out. >> parents need to sit down with their kids and hold them responsible when they engage in this behavior. >> leaving a town to wonder if someone could have saved phoebe's life. >> i hope people will get a lesson out of this. treat each other with respect. >> that was nbc's jeff rossen reporting. the superintendent saying we didn't get any information that would have risen to us taking action on this. the mother says she approached the school twice. coming up next on "morning joe," gayle king joins the conversation. always excited to see gayle. all that and much more when

"morning joe" comes right back.

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i'm every woman it's all in me ♪ >> the big story tonight is, i have an ipad. folks, i got to tell you, i am not the only one who should be

excited. everyone look under your chairs. because everyone here tonight gets a picture of me holding my ipad. you're welcome! whoo! >> funny. welcome back to "morning joe." two minutes before the top of the hour. we are here with pat buchanan in washington, john halman still on the set with us and here with us now sirius xm host and editor at large for o magazine gayle king. we're finally together. >> i missed you the last time. >> you did good, as usual. >> thanks. >> we've got a lot going on. politics aside, we've got the final four ahead on this good friday to talk about. i believe gayle has some opinions. >> please don't get me started. i'm sitting here because i actually wrote willie. i e-mailed him and said i was offended because listen, my son went to duke. i'm a proud dukie. i was a member of the parents' committee. when people say it's an elitist

school, i said i can't help it if everything tastes better with gray poupon on it. while wearing my cashmere sweater. you had such vitriol. you were waving the pom pons. i did not feel the love. i was offended. >> vitriol. >> it's an olive branch i'd like to extend to you. it's a west virginia t-shirt. >> nope. >> the guy with the coo nskin cap and a musket. >> you're going to feel very badly monday night. >> we all know what's going to happen. they're going to win. >> it's not true. >> it is true. >> some people don't like duke. >> what? >> some people don't like duke, not the university, duke basketball. >> i've heard that. >> i just don't like the phrase dukie. >> that's unfortunate. >> we say it proudly, jon. >> i think that's strange. >> we're grown-up too. >> you guys want to put money on this or anything? >> $5. >> i'm in.

>> let's move on to this story out of boston which we were following the past hour. boston has set up, on the front page of the paper this morning, a new anti-bullying tip line and quickly found more than a dozen facebook pages that use hateful language to target students and teachers. officials have become apparently increasingly alarmed by what they're seeing, especially after the two suicides, western massachusetts students. this is a problem that i know you've been talking about on your radio show. >> you. >> you that plagues schools across the country and where the line is in terms of who do you hold accountable. >> let's hope this time we learn something. this is not the first time this has happened. i hope it's a rallying cry for all of us. it breaks my heart when i hear parents try to defend it. kids call each other names. boys will be boyce, girls will be girls. the social media has taketon to a very different level. i think we have to respond in

kind. the things we used to do i hate to say back in the day when i was growing up, we can no longer handle the situation that way. >> i will tell you, we talked about our kids with each other, social media, let me ask you about that. i'm saying i think parents need to, especially with teens. >> i was a snooper. >> know their passwords on their facebook pages. >> i would just make a cursory pass just to check things out. i didn't even suspect anything. i think it's important just to know who they're talking to, what they're doing and who they're doing it with and hanging out. i think that that's part of your job really as being a parent. >> i did that and i have two younger kids. and i will tell you, i was aghast at what i found. >> what did you find. >> it's led to huge changes in my household. >> what kind of things? >> discussions among kids, and i have to be careful with their privacy at this point, but discussions among kids that would pass through my kids'

facebook pages which i have completely broken into and read that were not even something could i say here on the set, not even in jest. >> at that age. >> yes. >> sexually explicit or seriously, i mean, was it disturbing because there were threats of violence? >> hatred. >> what kind of category? >> hatred and talk about sex that was unbelievable. i don't even think some of the readers understood what was passing through the page. but my point is, you know what, some kids are too young for the internet and you've got to make that decision and ban it. >> i'm really glad i didn't have to deal with facebook because they didn't have it when kirby and mo were younger. the kids don't realize the power of their words. they think we just say it and it doesn't mean anything and when something happens like phoebe prince, then everybody starts to regret or i'm sorry. i just think that we have to get

inside the schools and get them younger and have a zero tolerance policy for this kind of stuff. >> the computer becomes a very convenient baby-sitter. and you don't want to go there. i mean in our house, it's hard but with one of our kids at this point, they are not at the computer unless an adult is sitting there looking at the screen at the same time. it is that severe. >> really? >> yeah. after what i saw, absolutely. >> how old. >> 11, yeah. >> don't you think on some level. >> it's hard, believe >> he on some level you're putting your finger in the dam because the information is everywhere? the computers are everywhere. they have black berr ys at school. >> you may as well put them in newark or new york city in the middle of the night and say walk around alone. >> why did you say newark? >> the mayor was just talking about how crime is down. >> newark has a long road as the mayor will tell you. i brought it up as an example, it could be any city and letting your child on the internet alone

personally is like letting them out in the middle of the night and say walk around alone. >> my point is they can get the internet away from you on blackberr ys and other kids' houses. it's hard to stop the availability of information. i think gayle's ideas about zero tolerance, that's the way you've got to go. >> we get to the point that other kids who stand by and say nothing, if you encourage other kids to let them know this is not fun, this is not to rated, kids could be our biggest advocate if they would also get engaged in this fight so it doesn't get to something as drastic as the death of phoebe prince. that story was heart breaking to me >> he on so many levels and so many opportunities there to have prevented it. we're on our parenting high horse. but why not? gayle king and i. >> stand on the tableable. >> yes, i feel strongly. president obama will be in charlotte, north carolina today to talk about jobs and the economy but is still pushing his

health care reform plan signed into law earlier this week. yesterday in portland, maine, the president addressed critics and the slumping polls. the president then headed for boston where he emphasized his health care reform package is in fact, tied to the nation's economic recovery. >> the pundits in washington kept on saying, what's he doing? shoring up the banks and the auto industry and passing a recovery act. doesn't he know it's unpopular. doesn't he know it will make him vulnerable. well, yes. it turns out i've got pollsters, too. we usually know what's going to be unpopular before the newspapers do. but i also knew if you governor by pundits and polls, then you lose sight of why you got into public service in the first place. >> pat buchanan, the president also taking some punches at the pedia. he also called the president of china on his return to washington the talk lasted about an hour. and obama is said to have

welcomed hu jintao's decision to attend a nuclear security summit in washington in two weeks. pat, the president, i don't know, he's kind of on a roll here with these speeches. does he have maybe an opening with the victory of health care reform to get something done or is he still struggling to tie it to the economy? >> i think he's got a chance to pivot off a big victory for him and again, take a look at his hand, what are the really good tickets, really good cards he can play between now and november and focus on them. but he's sort of acting like a salesman who sold us the car and then is chasing us home to describe what a great deal it is. look, we're going to find out. it may be a lemon, it may be a terrific deal but we're going to find out soon enough. he should go back to selling a new car. >> is it a lemon, gayle? >> why don't we give everybody a chance to find out. i love how we're taking the polls already and saying it's not working. i love how he pointed out it's only been a week.

everybody just needs to take it down a notch and let it play itself out. i believe he has surrounded himself with the smartest people. he's a very smart man. and i think he's paid some good decisions. let's give them a chance to work. >> we look at the atmosphere with the poll. >> it's scary. i'm sick of polls. >> are you? >> we keep taking a daily poll. that's supposed to be a barometer of how people are thinking? how can anybody say that? it's only been two days. >> guess what, gayle, a new gallup poll shows republicans gaining an edge. republicans gain agedge in the upcoming midterm elections with registered voters preferring a republican candidate to a democrat by 47 to 44%. 50% of republicans, and this is interesting, say they're very enthusiastic about voting this fall while just 35% of democrats say they are. and gayle, you may be sick of polls but let me tell you, both democrats and republicans and the white house look at them. >> oh, they look at them.

guys, it's april. we have a long way to november. so let's see how it plays itself out. >> the numbers i just looked at, pat buchanan, does that show an opportunity for the republicans? some would say they've miss aid few along the way. >> you know i agree with gayle to this extent. >> wait, stop the presses. wait, wait, wait. what is the date? what is the date and what is the time that pat buchanan, pat buchanan -- pat, pat. >> between now and november, she's right. >> pat, could you repeat that again, pat, please. >> she wants to hear it again. >> i can't pull it back. look, i think she's right. it's only april. and we've got about six, seven months to go to the election. a lot of things can happen in afghanistan, in iran. the president can move to new issues. the unemployment can start coming down. if it does, i, and he can say look, this is working. hold on. the republicans are too negative. and that would be effective. but i do think you take that

energy and passion gap that, goes back to last november. that's why the republicans won. their people cared and really came out. and the young people and the minority who's had vote ford obama, they stayed home and said what are we going to vote for. that's the real problem the democrats have. >> i know every time he speaks, i get inspired all over again. i really do because when he speaks, he makes a lot of the sense to a lot of people. >> gayle's a fan girl. >> no, no, no. >> but both of them are right. >> i'm a supporter. there's a difference between being a supporter and a fan. >> there's obama girl and that's not. >> you no, no, no. >> both gayle and pat are right though. this is one thing the white house agrees. they're reading the polls but they also think they have time to get some stuff done and in order to get democratic enthusiasm up, they're going to have to. want to move on the energy legislation and wall street legislation. he might want to move on education. all that stuff could, you know with, a little luck could get

done between now and november. and that will change the electoral calculus a lot depending if it gets done. >> if the economy doesn't turn around, this is potentially, pat buchanan, an opportunity for the republican party to perhaps press the reset button? is that a fairway of putting it? >> well, the republican party's opportunity is based, quite frankly, on the perception that obama is failing and the democratic policies are failing. so if they run straight against obama and the congress, pelosi and reid, that's smart policy. however, and they might do well. i'll tell you, when it comes to january, february, when they start moving out to iowa, you're going to see deep differences because republicans are going to have to come up with their alternative ideas what they would do, for example to, get rid of a $176 trillion deficit and there's no sweet easy way to do that. >> uh-huh. >> you know what? change ask hard. if you're going to make unpleasant decisions, do it now.

make a point of turning things around. it's not supposed to be easy. >> i hear you on that. the one thing we've talked about a lot on the show, joe and pat talk about it, we all do, how are we going to pay for all of this. you are worried about that, aren't you? there are some numbers. >> the numbers. >> we don't know about here that could cost our children. >> that's right. that's the thing. we don't know all of the answers at this particular time. at least i think we're taking the correct steps. that's what i think. >> all right. moving on. >> mickka, you're right. there are a lot of unanswered questions. but so far baby steps so far so good what i see. >> in the wake of the recent sex abuse scandal rocking the catholic church, the archbishop of dublin is speaking out against the vatican. at a special mass yesterday, he criticized the church's reaction to reports of abuse calling it "hopelessly inadequate." the vatican denied covering up for any alleged incidents of abuse. you know, this story especially

now, right now, is one that the church, i don't know, i just don't think. >> i wanted to hug you for speaking up. i haven't heard anybody at his level speaking up about this. for him to step out there in the way that he did without mincing words, i am not a catholic but it was very hard for me to hear the phrase petty gossip along with the charges being levelled. >> that's the bottom line. >> it was. >> this is a big moment because this is an important figure in the catholic church and the catholic hierarchy. the catholic church is a political organization. the vatican is very much like it's own kind of white house. to have someone of this stature breaking with the vatican, breaking with the pope, launching this kind of criticism, it's like a big deal, the equivalent of harry reid trashing barack obama on health care. this is a big moment, a big fisher within the vatican party if you are going forward. if other members of the church start to speak out, you could see a real crisis of legitimacy

for this papacy. >> do you think the church gets it at this point? we had petty gossip, dirty laundry and yesterday the church blaming the no, for what's going on here. does the church get how big this problem is. >> i think it does. this problem has been enormous in the united states. frankly, we've gotten past the worst of it before they got to the zero tolerance policy, but a lot of this willie this stuff dates back to the '50s, '60s, '70s, '80s, '90s, a lot of it. i do think the vatican gets it but il do agree it has not responded as swiftly as it ought to and left a lot of things hanging out there. with regard to "the new york time times"," i think a lot more is going to come out for this reason. that archbishop in milwaukee, he was the one that sent a letter. he presided over an archdioceses where he moved around a predator

priest. he has remove himself an orange bishop in 2002 for paying almost half a million dollars to cover up a homosexual relationship with a male lover. there's a lot more to that milwaukee story and that we've been told or the "new york times" has reported. >> he used church money to do it. as you said, just moved the priest in question to a different dioceses where he was free to work with children again. >> then he sends a letter to the vatican to the holy office that said should i defrock this can character who is molesting people in the 1950s, and this is 1996. i think in that sense, the milwaukee case is really a cheap shot at the pope on that one. i don't know about some of these european cases or about the irish archbishop. >> you know what, mickka, i would like to hear the pope speak out himself more than the cursecy statements. i mean really speak out. it almost goes back to steal a chapter from the watergate era, that question of what did you know, when did you know it. i would go further, how did you

handle it. i think there really has to be -- i think he has to be that truthful with us at this particular time because it's not going away. every day, there seems to be a little bubble of another part of the story we haven't heard before. >> this one directly to the top. gayle stand by, pat stand by. thank you very much. >> pat, what did you know and when did you know it about what -- >> burn the tapes. >> okay. coming up, we're waiting a big monthly jobs report due out in just a few minutes. up next after a rough week, rnc chair michael steele is making big changes to the way his party spends money. that's next in the politico playbook. and later, it's how we like to start our weekend around here. stay tuned for willie geist' week in review. first let's go to todd santos with your friday forecast. >> nothing but good news i tell you as far as air travel is concerned. some areas where volume could become arab. planes all coming in green.

no delays reported at this hour. clear skies, light winds from maine all the way down into florida. temperatures, 62 in chicago right now. 81 by this afternoon. 69 in new york with that wind coming off the water keeping it just a little bit cooler. looks like a beautiful weekend, as well. we'll be back with more. you're watching "morning joe" brewed by starbucks. >> i agree with gayle to this extent. >> wait, wait, stop the presses. wait, wait, wait, wait. >> what is the date and what is the time that will pat buchanan, pat buchanan. >> you know? >> pat, pat. >> between now and november, she's right. >> no, pat, could you repeat that again? pat, please. >> she wants to hear it again. >> i agree with gayle. >> i can't pull it back. i can't pull it back. imagine skin so healthy, it never gets dry again.

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>> sarah palin and fox news apologize to ll cool j for trying to use an old interview but you'll still want to tune into the show to see sarah's exclusive one-on-one interview with president richard nixon. >> i wrote 26 love letters to some countess in spain. >> i'll try to find you some and i'll bring them to you. >> sarah palin, no rules, just right. >> that's a good get. >> yes, it is. thank you, pat. let's take a look at the morning papers. she's adorable. "new york times" tensions between china and the u.s. have eased significantly in recent

days with the countries now working together to deter iran's nuclear ambitions and with the obama administration backing off a clash over china's currency. >> "washington post" facing a tough midterm election in which they could potentially lose majorities in congress. democrats are debating where and how president obama can help or hurt. the president is unlikely to campaign in arkansas and has not been to illinois since last summer. >> the detroit free press, a good sign for the u.s. economy. march auto sales jumped more than 24% from a year ago. car shoppers were lured to show rooms by big promotions from toyota and other automakers. >> "atlanta journal-constitution," drivers will have to pay more for cars and trucks but also save at the pump under tough new federal rules aimed at boosting mileage and cutting emissions. the new standards call for 35 miles a gallon within six years. here with us now, patrick gavin with a look at the morning playbook. >> morning.

>> we've been talking a little bit about bondage as it relates to the republican national committee. >> right. >> we'll talk more about that later in the week in review. what does it mean for michael steele and his committee. >> the thing about michael steele is that his job is probably safe for now. there's a big reason. it would take a two-thirds vote to push him out and the republican party probably doesn't want to kick out its first african-american chairman when there's been talk how they want to reach out to that job. that's a hard threshold to get over. they're bringing in a former rnc chief counsel to look at the books, establish new procedures to make sure these sort of bondage events don't happen again. my colleague jonathan martin has an interesting take on this. despite steele's gaffes and slips is, he's a likable guy, but the reality is that the rnc itself is having some lagging fund-raising. and on top of that, a lot of people are worried they're not going to be able to raise the money to win back great seats in

2010. if that doesn't happen, then michael steele's job i think is very much in jeopardy. >> i think there's something about the word bondage that set this off. >> i've never been to bondage. what happened here, john, i have no clue? when we talk about michael steele. john goes me no speak english. >> como esta. >> what happens in the bondage club stays in the bondage club. >> i've seen a couple stories with michael steele this week where they use the word embattled. it's never good when the word embattled is before your name. >> embattled and bondage. >> never, never good. but i agree. i don't think that he's in danger of losing his job at this particular time. he's very glad that he's easter weekend i think. he's thinking i need a resurrection. it's been a difficult week. >> another story, pat, you were telling us about on your last hit with us, this republican

position on the irs or the expansion of the irs under the new health care reform law. what's the big concern for republicans there? >> the big concern is that when you have this $950 billion piece of legislation and there's two primarily organizations that are going to work on this the department of health and human services and the irs. the question is how many workers especially on the irs front are going to be hired to sort of process up to $500 billion in subsidies and tax credits. the hhs secretary kathleen sebelius said it's not going to be a lot of people. jim demint says it could be around 16,000 people, it could be 100,000 people. in our last segment carl burns said this is a one-day story. i have to disagree. when you're looking at a bill of this size, the debate is over, the bill passed. now you're looking at how is this bill going to be processed and affect average americans. that is a very big deal. >> john heilman, is this a good issue for republicans, the irs

expansion? >> i think patrick's right in the sense that to the extent that the health care bill imposes additional taxes, additional bureaucratic regulatory burdens on americans, republicans are going to make hay out of that. i'm not sure attacking the irs per se is necessarily a political winner down the line. to the extent republicans in the past, one of the reasons for people who support the flat tax say this will be great because it gets the irs out of your life. they don't like it when they get audited i'm not sure it's a salient political issue that you can attack the agency and gain a lot of political ground on and that sniper baby go to the broader theme of the expansion of government in our lives. >> i'm glad you explain the connection. i couldn't figure out, what does irs agents have to do with health care reform. it's genius in a way to single out agents because every time we hear the word, it's never considered a pleasant experience. >> they're there under whoever

the administration is. no one thinks irs is with the democrats. they think it's a bad government agency all the time. >> bipartisan hatred. patrick gavin, thanks so much. have a great weekend at the bondage club or wherever you're headed this weekend. >> it's easter. please stop. willie, i hear we have a lovely e-mail for this easter weekend. >> from door reen in michigan. mika, savannah guthrie is one of the smartest quickest thinking and articulate journalists on television. yet you and joe talk about her drinking, her negative relationship with chuck todd and today her coats. you may just be joking but i find it demeaning to her and i'm sure her parents do not enjoy it. >> that is not true. >> put the coats back up. gayle, plether, seriously. can we see the coats again. pink plether. she has to retire that one. that's all we were saying. >> i can tell you right now

having spokenton savannah's mother recently, she loves joe and mika. >> we love savannah. >> i know when she sees savannah on tv, she's very proud. you can tease somebody when you have a good relationship. >> exactly. >> you should tell that person to lighten up just a little bit. >> we like the e-mails. maybe just lighten up. pat buchanan, thanks a lot for being with us this morning. when we come back, and pat, have a great easter. >> yes, pat, have a very good easter, pat buchanan. >> i agree with you, gayle. >> special mommy hug to you. have a great easter. >> pat buchanan has risen. >> he has risen. >> oh, my. that's enough for pat. the march jobs report is due out any minute now. we'll have those numbers for you as they come out right here on "morning joe." i've been growing algae for 35 years.

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welcome back to "morning joe." it is just after 8:30. breaking news on the jobs front. the march unemployment numbers just released. payrolls up 162,000 jobs. the unemployment rate remains unchanged from last month at 9.7%. the department of homeland security is announcing a new terror screening strategy today that takes a more specific approach to who gets screened and how they are chosen. beginning this month, passengers on flights from all countries entering the u.s. could be subject to special screening if they have personal characteristics matching specific and updated terror threats. the new plan approved by the president is the result of a security review following the christmas day attempt to blow up a jetliner headed for detroit. and there was gunfire and chaos on chicago's southside this morning. at least six people were shot in two separate incidents at the

same location. when police were investigating the first shooting, gunfire broke out a second time. coming up next, our political roundtable with the washington post's eugene robinson. plus, what's the worst thing that could happen to an island like guam. >> it would tip over and capsize. >> that was not an april fools' joke. the story coming up on "morning joe" brewed by starbucks.

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this is a island that at its widest level is what, 12 miles from shore to shore? >> i don't have the exact dimensions but to your point, sir, i think guam is a small island. >> my fear is that the whole island will become so overly populate that had it will tip over and capsize. >> we don't anticipate that. >> we don't anticipate that. >> oh, my. >> we should explain what that was. >> that was congressman hank johnson a few days at the house armed services committee meeting. and you know, think about it. >> here's what he says. >> how wide is manhattan island. >> just the entire conversation. >> how wide is manhattan island. i'm starting to worry about us tipping over too if enough people come in on a saturday

night from brooklyn, the whole thing could go over. >> what is going on there. >> basically they're contemplating adding 8,000 new marines to the island of guam. he's concerned that that many people plus their families might lead to a tipping point he says metaphorically after the fact. here's what he said. i was not suggesting the i land of guam would literally tip over. having traveled to guam last year, i saw firsthand how this beautiful island is overburdened and i was simply voicing my concerns that the addition of that many people could tip the delicate balance. a metaphor also. >> that was very well performed as a dead pan metaphor, don't you think. >> with us now, associate editor and pulitzer prize-winning columnist for the "washington post," eugene robinson. eugene, please, please. >> you realize, mickka, you know me. it doesn't always raise the bar. >> oh, yes it does. we love having you on.

>> but high la man's fear is unfounded because as we all know, manhattan is anchored in position by the george washington bridge and the two tunnels. therefore it cannot capsize the way guam could. >> i feel so much better. i will sleep soundly tonight. >> thanks, eugene. okay. i'm moving on now. let's talk about the enthusiasm gap, shall we? i want to show polls to eugene robinson. gallup poll, 2010 congressional election, who would vote for republican candidate versus a democrat. who is very enthusiastic about voting in general. look at this 50% of republicans want to as opposed to the democrats. eugene, is there an opportunity here for republicans to break through and what does this mean about health care reform and its ebness and its big victory? >> well, you know, it is -- tas huge opportunity i think for republicans.

as pat was saying earlier, there's -- agreeing with gaishlgs which was amazing but did a spit take with my coffee. >> delicious. >> but going -- there's still awhile before the election. things can change, and in fact, things will change. that's what always happens in politics. nonetheless this enthusiasm gap has jumped out at me for some time now, and i think, i mean, what are the reasons for it? i think one reason is for a long time, the white house didn't really give its core supporters a whole lot to cheer about. and we will see if maybe finally in the wake of the health care victory, democrats become more enthusiastic about the administration enthusiastic about coming out to vote for democrats in the fall. if they don't, it's going to be pretty bad for the democratic party and pretty good for the

republican party. >> john heilman. >> gene, you asked that question whether the white house is going to start to give democrats a reason to be enthused. this week the biggest thing out of the white house was the decision to ban parts of the offshore oil drilling. a lot of environmentalists hate that. i guess the question, is that seems like a thing do you in a general election year, not to get the base fired up. what's the thinking on the part of the white house in making that move right now? >> i think the thinking has to do with their attempt to get some sort of -- get some republican votes for an energy bill, but in terms of -- but in political terms, i don't think it makes sense. you know, we've got an election coming up as you said, drill, baby, drill, was not the democratic party's slogan in the last election, and it isn't going to be in 2010.

and that's not calculated to put the democratic base back to sleep, but is maybe like taking half an ambien or something. >> you know, "the washington post" reporting that the democrats are mapping out their 2010 campaign strategies, eugene. so far it looks like the only one he's gone to campaign for was martha coakley and he lost looking back. so you know, is it i guess a reliable conversation to look at whether or not the president showing up for you is a liability, given all that's happened or do we not know that yet? >> i don't think we know that yet. i think it's the time for candidates to be working that out. it's clear that he's not going to be an asset in every single race. however, those who underestimate the personal popularity and magnetism of barack obama tend to have their clocks cleaned. so i think he'll be an asset in

more places and that he's a liability. >> he brings the spotlight. there's no question about it. i can't engine somebody would turn down the offer to have the president campaign. >> there will be people who turn him down. there are democrats in vulnerable districts. >> explain why. >> because he's unpopular in their districts. there are democrat who's won districts that mccain won in 2008. those places are still not likely to be open to obama's charms. the interesting question will be for democrats who are in districts like that but who still voted for health care and took that tough vote. so then the question for them becomes do you want the president to come to the district even though he's not popular there but in order to help you sell the vote that you made on health care, or do you want him to stay away and you have to explain it for yourself. those people are going to be in a tricky position in terms of making that decision whether they want the white house's help or not. >> that's an interesting question. >> what those people in those

districts want is a lot of money from the dnc so they can run a lot of tv ads and second, for them, a lot of them it might be better just to double down and have him come in rather and that kind of fight this battle by themselves. >> all right. let's move on to one other issue. you have an article today in the "washington post" about the catholic church, eugene. i want to read from it. you say easter is a time for benedict as the spiritual leader of a billion people to meditate and reflect. then he must act. it is time for the pope to be honest and open about the tragic failure of the church to prevent or punish horrific sexual abuse including his own errors and he must credibly assure the faithful that such crimes will never be allowed to happen again. even more urgently, molesters still serving as priests must be defrocked and reported to civilian authorities. penance as benedict well knows, is a sacrameant. it is not optional. i guess that's the issue. i mean this week we've heard everything about the potential

for the pope to get immunity on this issue and i just -- i don't know how they -- how they get away from this. they've got to face it head-on. i don't think anyone would disagree with that. >> they have to face it head-on. that statement that came out yesterday from the vatican from the pope's successor or as head of the congregation for the doctrine of the faith was amazing in its -- in its institutional defensiveness. it's absolutely the wrong tone and the wrong approach to what is becoming a much larger problem for the church. you could say, okay, ten years ago, could you have said it's just the americans. they're litigious. they are hung up about sex. it's just an american problem. they'll get over it.

now it's spread throughout europe. and even if you -- the most worrisome thing for the church i think is that there was a fairly serious incident in brazil, the nation that has more catholics and that any other on earth. latin america is the center of gravity of the roman catholic church right now and is the future. and if this sort of thing spreads down there, the church is facing intense competition from evangelical protesttant denominations that are making real headway in the church's heartland. for snugal reasons alone, the church has to confront it and has to confront it openly, honestly with the pope talking about his own involvement. >> as a catholic myself, i don't disagree. >> as long as the church remains in denial and in a posture of defensiveness, it will have a continuing crisis of legitimacy and needs to do what eugene said. >> eugene robinson, thank you

very much. happy easter. >> a temporary raising of the bar there with eugene. we're going to bring it back down with the week in review. how low can you go. which of these stories will make the cut. i vote for the kids putting on the "scarface" play. we'll see if it makes it. (announcer) we're in the energy business. but we're also in the showing-kids- new-worlds business. and the startup-capital- for-barbers business. and the this-won't- hurt-a-bit business. because we don't just work here. we live here. these are our families. and our neighbors. and by changing lives we're in more than the energy business we're in the human energy business.

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that was a good dog. as you know, every week, we put together the top three stories. well, i'd say stories. they're not really news stories, no redeeming value. here's this week's version. >> say hello to my little friend. take that, you cockroaches. >> at number three, say hello to our little friends. >> you do coke and you kill people. that's wonderful, tony. >> the movie "scarface" is an iconic or ji of sex, drugs and violence. that was just begging for an elementary school adaptation. >> okay, sosa, you want to fudge with me, you fudge with the

best. >> the "scarface" school play, which unfortunately, is not a school play at all but a hollywood creation. rang up 2 million views on youtube this week. it stars a child version of al pacino's tony montana who apparently is miami's biggest popcorn kingpin. >> you son of a b. >> elementary school tony suffers the same tragic fate as the movie version when he is taken out with a rival with a fudging nerf gun. at number two, meltdown on ice. and jim playfair just broke the stick over the ice. he has lost his mind. >> the head coach of the abbo abbottsford heat had a disagreement. >> jim playfair is going nuts right now. >> any expert will tell you that breaking a couple of hockey sticks in half and ripping off

your jacket like the hulk while foaming at the mouth is the single most way to win friends and influence people. >> jim playfair once again throws the stick on the ice. >> he joins mississippi braves manager phil wellman in the minor league sports tantrum hall of fame. and the number one story of the week. >> do you like bondage clubs. >> we've got news about that unbelievable bondage club. >> and a bondage-themed topless nightclub. >> with the ladies on display and ready to go. >> what's it a lesbian bondage club? >> bondage. bondage? >> the republican national committee found itself tied up in knots this week when reporters discovered that the group had spent nearly two grand wooing donors at a hollywood bondage joint. >> what are you doing, eating dinner while women are tromping

around on stage with horse bits in their mouth. >> women parading around in horse bits struck some as inconsistent with the republican message. but could chuckling democrats say they've never used the lap dance as a fund-raising tool. >> i cannot say for sure. >> the lesson for all of us this week, whenever entertaining for business at a lesbian bondage establishment, always expense it under miscellaneous charges. >> when we're preparing fec reports, you can be darn sure nobody's going to write down the fame i've strip club. >> good advice for all of us. coming up next, what, if anything, did we learn today? as a dermatologist, i always hear about products that promise to make my patients look younger.

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welcome back to "morning joe." time to talk about what we learned today. and i learn that had pat buchanan gave us a wonderful easter gift. yes, let's look inside an easter basket right now. >> i agree with gayle to there extent. >> wait, wait, stop the presses. wait, wait, wait. wait, wait. >> what is the date and what is the time that will pat buchanan, pat buchanan. >> you know. >> pat, pat. >> between now and november,

she's right. >> no, pat, could you repeat that again? pat, please. >> she wants to hear it again. >> i agree with gayle. >> i can't pull it back. >> then right after that morning joe" moment she gave him a mommy hug. i like it had. >> she did. sam stein and gayle king. >> pat buchanan did not agree with me though. >> not once. >> what did you learn today. >> i learned sunday night is going to be a huge night in boston, massachusetts, baby. joe scarborough, not you but mika brzezinski. we'd like to you come. >> no, i love him though. >> chris leicht, we're all going to be up there for the big opening night. >> i love the red sox. >> red sox victory, baby. >> they're so fabulous. willie, what did you learn. >> that the president of the united states suggesting that we, members of the media, would make bad farmers. i resent that. i was at whole foods the other day and picked out all my own produce. i put it into the bag. >> farmer willie. >> we want to wish everyone a

happy easter weekend. willie, if it's way too early. >> it is "morning joe." joe is back on monday. right now, time for the daily run down with chuck and savannah. >> good friday brings good numbers. the private sector added jobs last month at the fastest rate in three years. but it's all relative. the unemployment rate still will not budge. we're going to get first reaction from the white house with economic adviser christina romer joining us live. >> and a big change if security screenings at airports. who and what the tsa will look for on international flights and why. it's april 2nd, 2010. i'm chuck todd. >> i'm savannah guthrie. let's get right to the rundown. we're going to start with the numbers just in. unemployment stuck in position last month at 9.7% but for only the second time since the recession began, there was job growth. 162,000 jobs added in march. cnbc's john harwood joins us now. john, where is the job growth and was this better and that

expectations or worse and that expectation z- >> well, it's about what expectations were. the word on the street was maybe 200,000 jobs. this is really the month that the white house has been waiting for because when they get into positive territory on jobs, even with the unemployment rate stuck at 9.7, which we expect it to be stuck in that range for the rest of the year all the way through to november, they want to begin to try to get on a roll and show that the economy is, in fact, turning around. that's a difficult argument to make with the high unemployment rate but at least the positive job growth gives them some talking points, some way to make that case. >> john, break it down a little bit for us. we have the private sector numbers and the census workers which we heard republicans were prespinning yesterday. the rnc put out a release saying don't buy any of this, it's all census workers. break it down. >> look, the details here are that the administration is