>> did he oversleep? >> why are you asking me? >> is he coming in the door? is in the elevator? what's the deal? >> i don't know. >> he wasn't on the elevator with me. >> like the green pocket square, by the way. >> thanks. i thought i would miss it up. >> the drunk has slept in. he'll be here any minute. >> he still has vodka -- >> no, i don't think it was vodka. i think he's a lazy slob. >> wow. >> wow. >> so we'll get the camera at the door, and the second he walks in, we're calling him out. what do you think? >> hey, it's your show. >> okay, good. you know what, it is now, actually. he'll be here any second. on the show today we have george pataki. do you think elizabeth warren has recovered from the party? lampshade on the head. a good day to have t. boone pickins on the show. he has a lot to say about what's going on if the gulf coast and ideas about energy as well. it will be good to have him on

the set, handsome man that he is. >> i sat next to t. boone pickins at dinner last fight. he has a lot of interesting things to say about it bp situation and college football, incidentally. >> where were you? just you and t. boone? >> yeah, a couple billionaires just shooting the breeze. >> who was the other billionaire? >> mort zuckerman. >> all right, get the steady cam down the hall here. as i do news, when joe comes in, i want you guys to, like, assault him as if you were paparazzi. got that, pete? can you get the -- can you get the steady cam that was in the control room out by the elevator? sounds good. i'm going to get to news. there's a lot to talk about here, including huge amounts of information about the times square attempted bomb pentagon. authorities are giving details about why a pack pakistani born man rigged a vehicle with a bomb and left it in times square.

yesterday faisal shahzad admitted his role, saying he received bomb making training in pakistan. they praised officials capturing the suspect so quickly. >> when he was apprehended last evening at jfk airport, it was 53 hours and 20 minutes. now, we know that chuck bower can do it in 24 minutes, but in the real world, 53 is a pretty good number. >> but today there are new questions about why shahzad was allowed to board a plane some 24 hours after authorities learned he may have been connected to the attempted bombing in new york. this morning "the new york times" reports lapses in security played a role in the near escape. fbi surveillance team following shahzad even lost track of him. the tooipz writes this, fbi agents located mr. shahzad in bridge po bridgeport, connecticut, and continued to follow him.

at about 12:30 p.m. on monday, more certain mr. shahzad was the suspected terrorist, investigators asked the department of homeland security to put him on the no-fly list. three minutes later the department sent airlines, including emirates an electronic notification they should check the no-fly list for an update. workers at emirates evidently did not do that because at 6:30 p.m. mr. shahzad called the airline and booked a flight to pakistan, via dubai. and his arrest was unusually quiet. >> i didn't think it was anything to be concerned about. obviously he was trying to get out of the country. there was no threat, no skirmish, no incident of that nature. >> wow. >> you're here. >> shahzad claims he acted alone. investigators are learning if he has links to the tpakistani taliban. >> that's something. let's bring if richard

engel, on the phone from islamabad, pakistan. richard, you were on time. can you bring you the latest if. >> reporter: yes, got in late last night. we're trying to retrace his steps during this period of the summer of 2009 to the early fall of 2010. that was the period that faisal shahzad came to pakistan on a mission to learn how to make bombs, to get further radicalized. it seems he had a contact in the city of karachi. he landed in karachi, met with his contact, who is known to have militant ties to what one of many militant groups operating in this country. and then he went on to waziristan and was able to, according to shahzad himself, learn some bomb-making skills himself, although it's not clear at what level his training went when you look at how amateurish the bomb-making was.

if this was the best al qaeda and taliban can do in their train, they've gone very far back. he did receive some training here, according to his own admission, but probably wasn't with with the top al qaeda leaders and top taliban in this country. >> richard engel, thanks very much. there's some information on faisal shahzad, born in pakistan. a student at the university of bridgeport. my gosh. so, we get a sense of the timeline now in terms of how he was caught, a little lost and found there. nice of you to show up. >> richard says -- it was nice of me to show up. richard got into islamabad late last fight. guess what, i was in rhode island. that's pretty exotic at times, too, so i was late, too. >> i was at the same event you were at. >> oh, that's right. you were. no excuse. >> and i got up earlier because i live far away. >> so, here's the interesting thing.

if we can get past the fact that on some mornings the orphanage holds me a little longer because father foley and the boys need me down there. >> it's hard to get the babies to stop crying. >> sometimes you can't walk away from those little kids. you look into the eyes of the little orphans and it's like you're looking into the eyes of god. but if you don't like orphans or god, let's move on with this show. let's move to jonathan -- >> let me ask. it was all going so well. >> richard brings up a great point. he says, this is is the best al qaeda can do, and i've been hearing quietly in the intelligence community for a while that al qaeda's really getting busted up. that it's -- and in fact, the wo white house was bragging not so long ago they've got them on the run. "the new york times" had an article about -- new york times

magazine, about terrorist organizations die. this could be the best al qaeda can do right now. >> if this is the best al qaeda can do, they're not on the run, they're limping along. >> sort of the new jersey nets of -- >> of terror organizations. but this just seemed -- remember from the very beginning, officials were saying, this amateur hour. they found basically a hodgepodge of things, that when you put them all together properly, it could be a bomb, but instead, you just got this truck that smoked and had firecrackers in it and propane and gasoline that didn't do anything. didn't work. he should -- if he paid money for this terrorist training camp, you know, ask for money back. he wasn't trained properly. >> all right. >> which is good. >> willie, do they take discover cards? how do you get your refund from al qaeda? >> we're very lucky. >> they said he had contact -- >> we're lucky he's an idiot. >> yeah, that's the bottom line in this. he might be the hero in all this for being such an idiot putting

that bomb together. they said he was in waziristhaa. not sure if he got formal train organize just met a guy that helped him put together this bomb. unimpressive. >> who knows. let's get to some other news this morning. we have a lot to get to now that you're here. clean-up crews battling the oil slick in the gulf coast are rushing to take advantage of calm sea this is morning. strong winds hampered their effort. wo later today the coast guard is hoping to carry out more controlled burns to reduce some of the slick. while the white house has said their focus is on plugging the leak, they were also working to raise the cap on how much bp, the company that owns the well, will are to pay. right now they're liable for $75 million, but a new measure would raise the limit to $10 billion. >> their fail-safe built into that law that remove the cap based on the conditions that caused the spill.

our administration will work with congress, democrats and republicans, so change that cap and ensure, as i've said and as the president said, that bp is the responsible party, the cause of this, and they'll pay for everything involved in the spill. >> as i said earlier, t. boone pickins is is going to be on the show. >> can't wake to talk to him. this is an environmental disaster. >> economic disaster. >> yesterday bp admitted this could spill out 65 million barrels a day. as "new york times" points out, this is also a pr nightmare for bp. you know, bp's been trying to be the sort of nice, young, hip oil company. you've seen all the commercials. >> yeah. >> i think oil companies should hug polar bears. this kind of cuts against that. >> they positioned themselves as

having a larger social mission to help get us off that independence of foreign oil. now every single day you have the white house putting their boot on their throat and dragging them through this. you have these shrimpers and fishermen saying, hire us, pay us, bp, dot right thing. pr-wise, not good. >> not at all. and "the washington post," jonathan capehart, talking about how currents could possibly take this oil spill all the way up to north carolina. >> yeah. we were talking about this over the weekend when norah was hosting on sunday, that that was one of the things they were talking about between the wind and the rain and -- and the concern that that was feeding, that it would get into the gulf stream and shoot it out of the gulf, around florida. >> right. >> because that would turn what is already a catastrophe into something -- >> you think it can't be worse. >> i thought jonathan did very well on sunday morning.

with norah. >> oh, thank you. >> very good. i didn't see. >> because you were drunk. unlike you -- >> i watched. >> -- jonathan showed up sober. >> that was nice. >> we commend you. >> thank you. >> good job, jonathan. >> thanks. i only had one martini. >> what were they doing on sunday morning? >> we actually had a show on sunday morning. >> right. >> right. >> as frank sinatra would say, doll face. we were there sunday morning and then they had a show after us. >> oh. how wonderful. >> in the afternoon. so i had time to recover. >> good for you. >> nice. >> but it was sunday afternoon. >> have you recovered yet? >> i'm good. you were just wrong. the fbi is investigating a suspicious envelope of white powder that was addressed to arizona governor jan brewer. an employee at the state capital opened an envelope yesterday, triggeren an evacuation after white powder spilled onto a computer. investigators are trying to

figure out just what that substance is, but to injuries or complaints of illness following the incident. the scare comes weeks after brewer signed an immigration law that requires under certain circumstances police check the identification of people they suspect are in the country illegally. opponents had criticized the original version of the law for fostering racial profiling. >> obviously, opponents of this bill, many opponents of this bill, out in arizona have been extraordinarily hostile. they're angry, they're enranged. but this is one more example of that rage spilling over. >> of where it can go. absolutely, i don't think -- i don't think this story ends in many ways very well in terms of how people feel about one another and the conversation nationally. coming up, we're going to get an exclusive first look inside the "politico playbook". ahmadinejad warns u.s. against warning new rounds of

sanctions. the suns basketball team takes a stand on the new immigration law. tennessee still the site of the horrible scene this weekend. 30 lives were lost from flooding and tornadoes. we're still watching the cumberland river. it crested yesterday. it's coming down for you. queet get a good idea how many millions of dollars were done and what they're calling a 1 in 1,000 year flood. going any year in nashville, you have a 0.1% cans of having a flood like this. today's going to be an absolutely gorgeous day in the northeast. i'm going to call this one of my top ten days of the year. cool, crisp morning, up around 80 degrees, low humidity this afternoon. picture perfect from boston down to washington, d.c. around the rest of the country, a couple strong storms today right around -- maybe around pittsburgh, detroit, cleveland. that's about it. we're also talking about that oil leak, some call the loop current dips down, goes back up

through the gulf stream. that's how it's possible for water in the gulf to get up the east coast. otherwise, it's a beautiful day out there. enyoi it if you possibly can. you're watching "morning joe" brewed by starbucks.

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♪ they have captured the times square bomber, faisal shahzad. the big break, the big break came when an heroic times square

sidewalk artist was able to provide this sketch of the culprit. >> that's pretty good. >> that is good. 20 past the hour. let's take a look at the morning papers. "new york times" -- the big headline, terrorist suspect charged. "the wall street journal." investigates are worried spain and portugal may also need debt bailouts. this is the euro fell to its lowest point against the dollar in a year. mika's trips to the south of france this year and next year, will be cheaper. live from nice. >> can i go. miami herald shows charlie crist surveying the oil spill

above the coast of louisiana. the pensacola journal -- florida will soon be receiving $25 million from bp to help the state prepare for possible effects to its beaches and waters. right for you the spill is more than 60 miles from my hometown, pensacola beach. so, pensacola and ft. walton, destin, panama city, all of -- they all have a little time to prepare. >> those really are the most beautiful beaches. it would be a shame if something happened to them. >> it's the whitest of the whitest -- >> it's the whitest beaches in the world. that's why they're going to do everything they can. jonathan, you should go. you've never been to pensacola. >> i've never been. >> it's hot. oh, my gosh. >> is it hot and muggy hot or -- >> no. it's this kind -- >> hold on a second. hold on. >> what? >> it's not hot. mika went out after a book signing in july last year --

>> but i've run in the deserts -- >> it was 98 degrees, a hot day. i said, don't do it. because i played football in this weather and i'm telling you, you don't do it. >> i like running in the heat. >> middle of the day -- she says, i've run morocco and the sahara. i said, you have not run in pensacola. dead serious, she wasn't the same for three days sdwlo i wasn't. >> if it's record high and the humidity's there -- >> and i run five miles. i kept thinking, i can do this. >> that being said, it was gorgeous. it is gorgeous. and they're still open for business. as the news journal said, they've got the gift of time. let's hope that all of those beautiful beaches along the gulf coast and in alabama and mississippi -- >> get through this. >> yeah, can get through this. >> let's turn executive director of politico, jim vandehei.

good morning. >> good morning. >> interesting story, very counterintuitive about the immigration law. conventional wisdom is it's bad for republicans, bad for november. but you say otherwise. >> i think a lot of the focus and commentary has been looking on the long-term effects of the arizona law and the fact it might turn off latino hispanic voters for the republican party in the long haul. if you look at the polling data over the last week from gallup and "new york times," it shows a majority of voters like the law. they don't think it goes too far. if you break it down by regions and overlay that on where the competitive house and senate race is, this could actually be a very positive thing politicly for republicans in the short term because a lot of those districts have strong majority white populations. and there's -- if you talk to local politicians, especially the democrats, they say, listen, the politics on this are on the side of those who support the arizona law. not the other way around. they think washington has it wrong. >> inside those numbers, "the

new york times" poll you're citing there, 69% of respondents from the south say the law is either about right or does not go far enough. and 66% from midwest say the same thing. very interesting numbers there, jim. >> exactly. this is why you have a lot of democrats calling washington saying, we don't want to have this debate. the last thing we want to head into november talking about a big health care program and talk about immigration reform in a way that works against democratic candidates in swing districts. remember, not every single race is competitive. there's only a handful in this year there tends to be more, maybe 40 or 50 in the house and 10 or 12 in the senate, but those seat tend to be in the midwest, the south. places that have very strong majority white populations. immigration and i also think health care can work against the democrats. that's why you have a lot of people nervous and worried when

they're seeing in their districts as well. >> are you surprised to hear this? >> not at all. this is why politico is as successful as politico is. those on the east and west coast look at this and say, oh, this is shocking, it's horrible. just like franklin graham came on and said things that make people melt. that's where 60%, 70% of america is, especially in the southeast and midwest. i had one moderate democrat that voted for the -- in the senate that voted for the -- voted for all the president's programs. jim vandehei, this senator said to me, if harry reid thinks we're going to let him wrap immigration reform around our necks before we're up in 2010, quote, he's off his rocker. house democrats are angry that this has come up. this is a nightmare for democrats in the south and the midwest, who are already reeling from health care reform.

>> and how short our memories are. i mean, last time we had this immigration debate, there's often a disconnect and i think a growing disconnect between washington and how we perceive a lot of these issues and the country does. you're seeing this not on just immigration, but if you think about commentary on obama and the obama administration in washington, they say he's got his groove back, on top of his game. you get outside of washington there's a big disconnect. the polling shows people are uneasy with health care plan, and democratic-controlled governance, and huge signs there could be massive loss of house and senate seat. democratic strategists were telling us, it's going to be 20 to 25 seats they'll lose, they now think it's 30 to 35 seats potentially. something is working against democrats politically outside of washington. >> jim, jonathan capehart has a question for you. >> you said the arizona bill would have short-term benefit

for republicans coming in november, but is there any indication this will be a problem in the long term for republicans, say, going up into 2012? >> i think the indication is that you have a camp inside the republican party, karl rove and others thinking about the party more broadly, not just in the same couple months. they look at the same demographic data and they see in all white or mostly white republican party cannot survive long term. that's why they're concerned. that's why you see the split inside the party. you have rubio in florida mror saying, listen, we don't think is a good thing for us. it's because they have big populations of latino voters and they've had some success attracting those voters in the past. if you're in a state where you don't have a big latino population or in a district that's white majority, politics are much different. >> thanks very much. ahead, new york governor george pataki, elizabeth warren

and oil tycoon t. boone pickens. >> can't wait -- >> do you think elizabeth recovered? >> she was much better than you were. i don't think you should ask that question of anyone. pete, can we get that picture back up? >> no, no, it's good. >> from sunday morning. >> no, that was good. >> i hurt for you. >> it was early. >> do you remember anything? >> what do you peen? jonathan and norah were on. oh, we were on, good. when we come back, the latest candidate being interviewed for the supreme court and which high school is getting president obama as commencement speaker. here's a clue. it's where derek jeter graduated. it's rollback time at walmart,

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♪ all right. a pretty shot from the top of the rock here. welcome back to "morning joe." it's just after 6:30 on the east coast. today there are new questions about why faisal shahzad was allowed to board a plane some 24 hours after authorities learned he may have

been connected to the at which timed attempted bombing in new york city. there were two security lapses that allowed him to come close from escaping. first, fbi surveillance teams reportedly lost track of him before he headed to the airline. and emirates, the airline he was flying, failed to check his name against a no-fly list. buzz is surrounding a supreme court pick. d diane wood knew obama when he taught law at the university of chicago. so far, the president has interviewed three other candidates who were said to be at the top of his list. solicitor general kagan, judge thomas. a michigan high school has won a competition to land president obama as their commencement speaker. he chose kalamazoo high. yesterday obama said he's looking forward to the speech

and gave a shout out to the school mascot saying, go giants. >> i believe that's where derek jeter went to high school. >> intersection of politics in sports, actually. tonight the phoenix suns host game two of their western conference semifinals series against the san antonio spurs and they will not be wearing their usual home uniforms. the team's owner says hi player will wear los suns on their jersey to honor the latino community in their community on cin cinco de mayo and to protest the new immigration law. very interesting. what does the nba to have say about this? commissioner stern said, quote, we think it's appropriate what the suns are doing. as the backing of the league and of the players union, the suns wearing jerseys to protest the few law. jazz and lakers, game two of their series. kobe bryant, tough as ever.

turn-around jumper here. up 15. then he'll knock down a long-range jumper. kobe had 30 point in the 111-103 win. we have to show you this one from the east because it was so bad. it just has to be witnessed. the magic and the hawks in the eastern conference semifinals. here's a dunk here to michael petris. hawks were up 20 at the half. this is an nba playoff game, they went up at one point by 46 point. that doesn't happen in the nba. the magic went on to win by 43, 114-71. >> surprise that the celtics have been dominating. >> they lost the first game. >> right. but they were ahead. should have won that game. does boston have a good shot at beating cleveland? >> yeah. they're a little old but they have guys that have been there before, they've won a title so they might be able to pull it off against lebron. another phillies fan on the field last night in

philadelphia. it's every night now. >> did they shoot him? >> they didn't pull out the taser tonight. he ran onto the field. they arrested him without incident, apparently. this a day, remember, after a teenager was tasered in the outfield. security did not use the taser this time. . this is two night ago. he swre video now. we have video now of the guy running out on the field. this is the incident from two nights ago. he was zapped with the taser for about -- he made it 30 seconds before -- >> my gosh. doesn't the audience at this point think he was shots. >> authorities examined the tape and they said the officer acted within department guidelines which allow officers to use tasers to arrest fleeing suspects. >> give me a break. >> there's children there. >> fleeing suspects. he's surrounded by 60,000 people. >> and walls, by the way. >> and walls. >> giants walls. >> what about the kids, mommy daddy, did they just shoot him? >> remember back in the '70s -- >> they cooked him.

>> a streaker would run around without anything on. >> it's not their fault they couldn't catch him. >> that was a mistake. tina brown we will comes us back. she has a look at this morning's must read opinion pages. you're watching "morning joe" brewed by stars bucks. 1,400 lbs of cargo. but only one can do it while driving on electricity.

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♪ for those who weren't let in on the big secret, mr. brown, fema director brown under katrina, intim ated on fox, and i will editorially say, didn't appear to be pushed back on real hard, that this spill was leaked on purpose in order for us to walk back our environmental and drilling decisions. i'm not entirely sure a factual answer i might give to any one of your questions is going to change the notion that your network put out the former fema director to make an accusation that the well had been purposely set off in order to change an

offshore drilling decision. he sue aw an opportunity to say, look how bad this drilling is. look how -- >> but he came out against offshore drilling. >> there was nothing new -- >> but don't you know what you're saying to a third party, not somebody like myself or somebody like yourself listening to you, thinks you're sounding insane. are you somehow suggesting he knew this would happen and that's why he came out for offshore drilling? it sounds like that's what you're saying and it sounds crazy, crazy. >> chris, the way you put it, it sounds crazy to me, too. >> i don't know how you can accuse this president of such powers as knowing this catastrophe was coming down the line. >> chris, i don't think he anticipated this catastrophe at all. i think they took advantage of it, which is what the rule is, take advantage of a crisis. >> all right. >> okay. >> welcome back to "morning joe." tina brown is with us.

"the daily beast". >> hi. >> this section is going to be our browny section. we're going to talk about brownies, domestic brownies and then we're going to talk about british brownies. let us start very quickly. is there anything to add to domestic brownie? >> he really is the gift that keeps on giving. i love the way he came off. quietly off to the side and then he comes roaring back, snorting like of his arabian horses. >> i was waiting for that. >> there the. >> i mean, it's insane. at least he has the grace to say, you make -- that sounds insane to chris matthews, because it was. >> robert gibbs made' very good point. first of all, who was this guy to say that? second of all, where was the push back? maybe there are some points to it but why wouldn't the person interviewing him, no matter what network you work at say, wait a minute, are you kidding me? aren't you in a difficult --

>> this has been rush limbaugh's schtick the last few days. >> the problem is that barack obama now supports offshore oil drilling. he made it part of his comprehensive plan. so, you just -- that's why brown's argument completely collapses, because he said he's always been against it, when he was on fox he said he's always been against it. he's wanted to kill -- no, he's not always been against it. he brought it up in the campaign as a possibility. and a month ago -- >> now he's opened the door. >> i mean, he -- even more insane he's implying the only reason he supported it because then he could retract from it. it doesn't make any sense. >> it's even crazier than that. he was for it and then intentionally blew up the well so that he could then say, never mind. >> by the way, for the record -- >> i mean, what a wonderful gift for robert gibbs. >> for the record, barack obama's position on offshore drilling right now is the same as the head of the american

petroleum institute's position, which is, we have to continue offshore drilling, we just have to have safeguards in place. again, another reason why mr. brown's argument just makes no sense. now, let's go from domestic brownies to foreign brownies and mika's going to read t"the wall street journal". an election fought on fairness in which the conservatives have guaranteed spending increases on health care and pensions by linking them to the growth and earnings rather than prices is not likely to deliver the decisive change in economic policy britain needs. whatever the outcome, mr. brown's legacy will cast a long shadow. >> mr. brown's legacy in this election will be one shot. it's sort of like, we have the michael dukakis in the helmet going down the hill. britons have head in hands prime minister brown. >> it's absolutely incredible. here is this guy who sat there

plotting for 12 years to get rid of tony blair. i never understood why blair put up about him because he leaked about him morning, noon and night. >> and blair for some reason, that no one really understood, had this weird psychological dependency on brown that made him not, frankly, fire him. he then gets the job. and from day one it's this giant stumble bum performance that has left the british people just loathing the guy in such an extraordinary way. actually, he's a verya he's so inept politically that he cannot run this job. >> brilliant guy but certainly not brilliant when it comes to politics. now 1979, margaret thatcher showed the way for ronald reagan in 1980. i wonder if this third-party candidate cleeg show the way? >> no, in that sense it's

exciting because it would be interesting to have the same thing happen here. the trouble with cleeg, he's a great tv performer but he doesn't have any preparation in any sense to government in any way. i think it would be a panic-stricken cleeg, he would find himself with a clear majority. it's great to be the fresh face in the wings but to way he could do it. the interesting thing for the brits is they are this constant push and pull between wanting change and this iconic punk-like strand. on the other strand he's very conservative. they'll make this lunch for cameron in the end, i think. >> cameron is no margaret thatcher. we're not going to see dramatic containing, are we? he's sort of warmed over labor. >> cameron is so desperately trying to say he's not upper class that he had to go against type. what none of them can talk about which is immigration, which is the real thing britons care about, bigot-gate, when brown

said that, why are there so many eastern europeans? the north of eng rand is krakow at this point. >> let's say kleeg pulls it out and wins. who are the people around him? do people feel confident he would bring in people who would be good to help him govern? >> no, they don't, really. it's purely about, oh, my god, there's a third choice. we cannot stand brown. here's cameron, this strange lated upperclass guy pretending to be man of the people. they didn't fall in love with cameron, he just represented change. and then this third guy that could really bring change. >> so what you're saying, it's television- television-driven, image-driven, change, hope, a guy not really ready for office -- >> stop it right now. >> does this sound like anybody we know? >> he's very anti-american. we shouldn't want kleeg because he's very anti anti-american.

>> there's a lot of people are the to be pd -- >> to, no. >> one final question, this cleeg character, have you seen his birth certificate? seriously, he could have been born if krakow. >> nothing wrong -- >> i like that about him. he's a real new briton in that sense, an international kind of man. i'd rather have this than the fact that cameron can't get over the fact -- he can go back to being posh once he wins. >> embrace it. >> you are something else, tina. thank you so much. coming up -- >> hold, wait. what's on the front front of "the daily beast". >> great piece about ray kelly. ray kelly is my god. he's just sensational. and a piece about what obama could learn from bush over katrina and the oil spill. he thinks he has some things to learn, which is quite a provocative piece. >> very good.

tina, thank you. coming up in a few minute, new york governor george pataki who doesn't think we should call the new york times square arrest a full success. laura bush was on "oprah" yesterday talking about the moment her husband quit drinking after a long weekend bender. she explains when we come back. national car rental?

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oh, yes. >> wait. >> let jonathan do that. >> it's in stereo. >> willie, tell me it's time. >> let's can have a contest. >> bye, everyone. >> what is he thinking? >> i don't know. >> we talked about the whole thing. i tried to get your attention. >> okay. >> i'm sorry. let's talk about "news you can't use," laura bush on the

"oprah" show yesterday. >> did she say anything? >> she talked about 9/11, different moments if the presidency. she talked about the moment george bush quite drink sgroog drinking was a very acceptable social part of our life in midland. >> you said the three bs. >> he liked to drink beer, bourbon and b&b afterwards. we had the wild drunken weekend. it was no different from any other -- >> where you say you heard -- >> the same toast over and over for dinner. and then george just woke up and knew he wanted to quit. and he stopped. >> when you give the same toast four times at the same dinner,idinner, it's time. it's time to hang it up. >> so you only do it once? >> you agree with the three bs. you like the three bs. >> bourbon and beer. b aec b&b, not so much. >> what else have you go the?

>> i've got something for you here. state senator, checking out porn. >> oh, no. >> oh, oh. >> they're having a hearing at the state level. he was just busy. he said he was can caught on camera looking at porn. he said he didn't know it. he was looking at e-mail -- >> is that porn on an abercrombie commercial. >> something a buddy sent him. why was there a camera on his computer? he said, quote, this could happen to anyone. >> well, except for people who don't look at porn while they're in hearings. >> in chamber. >> those people -- >> does that work? >> probably. >> i'm confused. george pataki next. with expedia, when you book your flight and hotel

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here's how it went down. the alleged bomber boarded the flight. started relaxing, thinks he's home free. authority are on his tail, charging through jfk screaming, stop the plane! stop the plane! oh, my god, it's too late. the plane is pulling away full of terrorist celebrating heir victory. the plane is leaking gas and one man has no intention of letting them get away. victory is ours!

>> usa! welcome to "morning joe," great to have you with us. >> was that funny? >> yes, that was funny. mika brzezinski along with us, as well as willie geist. look who's back from venice. jonathan capehart. yesterday, there was a certain star, i'm not going to say his name, a certain rock star, very nice to me but pet you lent to everybody else. i'm not going to say his name. >> who? >> bon jovi. he was nice to me but rude to the staff members. but you called out somebody else. >> everybody said this about her. >> gabby sib-d dibe, she was so rude, the star from "precious." this was at the white house correspondents' dinner. she said, come back if five minutes. i told a coworker of mine and

she said, she's horrible. i told her a saw "precious three times" your performance is incandescent. and she said, i guess i should say thank you. >> wouldn't let pictures be taken. very interesting. >> coming out of the woodwork. >> most of the people, though, were on the other side, both politicians and people from hollywood were extraordinarily gracious. >> yes, very gracious. >> interesting about precious. >> bradley cooper was very nice. >> bradley cooper is wonderful. hot, young star. and very patient with the thousands of people that were coming to him. he would stand up, shake their hand, smile, ask them questions. >> toothpick in his mouth, i don't get that. >> it's his thing. >> you like that? >> i like it. >> bradley, no toothpick. >> in a tux, kind of a rugged -- >> do you do that? >> no, because i can't pull off rugged. >> i couldn't carry that off. quickly, a lot to talk about today, including the oil spill in the gulf. and "the washington post" writing a story about how scientists are now talking about

the possibility that this oil slick could go all the way to north carolina. the other big story that we're following right now, obviously, cover of "the daily news" wondering if there's a conspiracy here, how many more people are involved. to help us with that, let's bring up former governor of the great state of new york -- >> hello, governor. >> the empire state, who works in this building. governor pataki, good to see you. give us your take on what is obviously on the front page of all the new york papers this morning. do you think we did a good job? >> the police did a great job. but we were very, very lucky. here's a guy who actually had a truck full of bombs, explosives, drives to times square, i guess nights them, the truck is smoking. thank god we had alert citizens who went to the police. thank good the nypd and fire department are the best in the word and they reacted the way

they did. >> you think we should have done better? >> i understand you can't stop everything in it's tracks but we have to do far number. i think a number of the policies of this administration just weaken our efforts to protect ourselves from terror. >> i don't understand what you're saying. >> let me tell you one thing, we were lucky -- we were lucky in times square. >> you i think they should have stopped the van in lincoln tunnel in. >> no. we were lucky in times square, unlucky with the christmas day plane. we were unlucky in ft. hood. khalid shaikh mohammed shouldn't be tried in a civilian court. they should not have ended the policy of the prior administration that allowed monitoring of overseas phone calls when one of the individuals is suspected of terrorism. these are policies that didn't hurt us as a free society but that made us safer than the policies that the obama administration has in place today. >> let's bring in roger cressev.

i take you don't agree with everything he's saying? >> we're coming up with a broad indictment on an administration which isn't appropriate right for you. if you want to look at where this investigation failed, how we got to this point, that is fine. some. things he talked about were based on policies that were in place in the previous administration, that haven't been fixed. if we want to politicalize this before shahzad is comfortable in his cell, that's fine. >> are we politicalizing this -- >> whenever a guy starts out with, all due respect, you know you're going to get hammered after that. but with all due respect, as you pointed out giving miranda day warnings on the plane is the policy of the prior administration. i'm not saying it's only this administration that hasn't done

things right. we should do better. we should not be giving miranda warning to criminal terrorist who is are not citizens. we should not be giving khalid sheikh moemd -- >> but this guy -- >> he's an american citizen. >> so we have to give him miranda right. >> but we did not have to do it to the christmas day bomber. we don't have to give khalid shaikh mohammed -- >> ba does all that -- >> what does that have to do with what happened in times square? >> what information could we have obtained but we didn't because these policies are not in place? we know, at least as of this morning, it's apparent that we know, that he was trained to make bombs in pakistan. and that he had a number of overseas phone calls while he was here from pakistan. now, another prior policy was when you suspect someone of engaging in terrorism, we allowed monitoring of phone calls from overseas.

that policy was reversed. joe, can i give you one more -- >> really -- >> forgive me here. >> that's all right. >> why is it this administration, not to politicalize it, is refusing the request of senator lieberman to find out about the ft. hood shooter before he went on that rampage? that's ffgs that could help us find out what contacts american citizens have with terrorist trainers overseas and they don't do that. >> roger, let me debrief on you a few things -- >> please do. feel free to respond to the governor, if you like. first of all, we haven't gotten your take yet. you're obviously our terror analyst here. what's your take on this guy that went into times square and looks like he threw a lot of random elements into the back of a van, panicked and ran off. does this look like a job of an amateur? >> well, this is a bomb that would not have worked. that is the bottom line. now, joe, we've talked about in the past about intenlt versus

capability. this guy had serious intent. he did not have the capability. that's the most significant point right now. that doesn't mean in the future that another person who tries to attempt this can't be more successful. the 2007 bombing attempt in london used gas and propane canisters. that had a greater chance of working than what shahzad did. while we're being -- we're being very careful about not saying too far saying, it's crude, amateurish, it's still serious. all that said, if that's the best an organized terrorist group can do now, we're doing pretty well. >> that's what i was going to ask you next. i talked to people in the agency over the past couple years about the decline in al qaeda's capability. they've been talking about it for quite some time, saying, this organization just isn't what it used to be. a "new york times" piece talked about the possibility of al qaeda dying as an organization. we don't want to get too far ahead of ourselves, but certainly it seems like the organization could be on the ropes.

>> look, joe, there's a fact here we forget. for the past several years, both in the bush administration and now obama administration, we have been beating the knot osno of al qaeda's infrastructure. that has had a serious impact on their capability to project threats into the homeland. that's why al qaeda and arabian peninsula used mullab to try to take down a plane. >> one more thing, roger, then back to the governor. you talk about they see predator drones, could you explain just how limiting these pretty tore drones are toñ members of al qaeda, who now at this point know, you know, they almost killed. >> the number two guy. most know if they stick their head out of a cave, a bird will be looking down on them and

they'll get blown up. >> that's right. because we've had nine years of working this problem to get very good at developing the intelligence and going after it. we're killing the leadership, also destroying the infrastructure. with they think about getting together, the first thing they do is look above them to see what might be there. that has a disruption effect as well and that's a good thing. >> one final question. i want to clear up something the governor asked. has the obama administration stopped allowing us to listen in to telephone conversations, international telephone conversations? >> you mean originating from the united states to pakistan? >> right, yes. >> so, you have to go through a legal process now to do that. but the bottom line is, that wouldn't have identifiedany earlier. ray kelly was spot on, 53 hours from identification to arrest is lightning speed in the counterterrorism business. >> i have to say, governor, that's so surprising about what you're saying this morning because most of us have been in awe not only of ray kelly and

the new york city police department -- >> so am i. >> also the fbi, cia, all the federal agencies. it seems like this is america at its best. >> you're absolutely right. the response to this incident was america at it's best. they did a tremendous job in catching this guy in a little over 53 hours. but the point is not to catch someone after they ignite a bomb in a crowded area that could have gone off. it didn't, thank god for a lot of reason. the point is not to let him get to the point where a terrorist, who trained for six months in pakistan, making calls back and forth, is allowed to drive a loaded van full of explosives into times square. >> governor, again, we live in an open society -- >> absolutely. >> you're either going to have to arrest this guy in his home -- >> no. >> -- and drag him out -- seriously. do we have -- do we stop every van coming into new york -- >> it's not a question of stopping a van. it's a question of having the intelligence before it reaches that point.

that someone who has gone to pakistan, trained in a terrorist camp, comes back, makes repeated calls back and forth to pakistan, we should have some intelligence that this person may be a threat to us as a society. >> all right. >> that's what was lacking. >> roger, let me ask you one thing that obviously i think we may be able to agree on, that is that the airline screwed up. >> yes. >> what happened there. i mean, that obviously was a great breach, they allowed somebody on a no-fly list to get on a plane going to dubai. >> and almost leave. >> let me agree with the governor on one point. we need to do a better job identifying these individuals before they get to the point of trying to execute their attacks. >> that's the point. >> shahzad is part of evolving threat in the following way, he's the type of guy that doesn't appear on anyone's terror database. if you look at individuals who are not carried-carrying members of al qaeda or pakistani taliban, we need to be evolving as a government to identify these guys sooner. everybody get that.

it's just a tough problem. >> an update for you, roger, in terms of trying to identify the problems along the way, this is according to reporting by savannah guthrie. this morning nbc news reporting the transportation security administration will implement a new requirement for airlines when it comes to checking additions to the no-fly list. right now airlines obviously are required to recheck the list within 24 hours. here's the new rule. they will be required to check within two hours of being notified of a special circumstance as of the case with this guy. >> that's a step in the right direction, right, rojer? >> absolutely, joe and mika. the issue here was -- there were two problems. first, when his name was put on the no-fly list, emirates did not update their list of people fast enough. that was their fault. the second thing is, secure a flight, whichcy atransportation security administration's new program to take ownership of this program, still being implemented and wasn't going to be done for all international flight until the end of the year. -54árá has to.ccelerated because the good news here is that even

though he got on the plane, there was a layer -- a last layer of defense. that was, the national targeting center that looked at the manifest, matched it against the no-fly list, told customs and border protection police, we have a problem. that's why he got pulled off. >> governor, can you give the obama administration credit for pounding the heck out of al qaeda over the past year and a half? >> yes, yes. >> with unprecedented predator strikes. >> i give them two things. one for pounding the heck out of al qaeda with the predators and the second is what roger was just talking about, the quick response to the fact that this guy almost got away. changing those rules. that is a positive step on the part of this administration. if they would stop giving miranda warnings to terrorists who are not citizens, that would be another positive step. >> point taken. thank you. >> roger, thank you as well. >> come back. you're right downstairs. no excuse. up next, how taxpayer

bailout money is spent. she's also quite a party girl. we'll bring in the head of the congressional oversight panel, elizabeth warren. also, what does the big oil spill mean for the future of energy reform? we'll talk to t. boone pickens. first, bill karins with a check on the forecast. >> good morning, everyone. still amazed by the pictures out of tennessee. just incredible how much damage was done there, from the grand ol' opry, tennessee titans football stadium got flooded out. they will have dry weather from now on and clean-up really begins. airports, this is a beautiful day today. this is picture perfect spring weather. cool, crisp morning. afternoon will be nice and mild. check out this forecast in the northeast all the way down to d.c. low 80s, low humidity. it is nearly ideal with just a light breeze. beautiful weather through the southeast. texas will be warm today, near 90 in dallas, maybe 93 in san

antonio crow. the cool weather's up there from minneapolis to billings. watch out in detroit today, could see strong storms this afternoon. you're watching "morning joe" on this wednesday brewed by starbucks.

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why do we need reform? why do we need to regulate the banks? don't we have bank regulators now? there are bank regulators. i've heard that term bandied about. why do we have to wear a belt with our suspenders.

we already have one set of bank regulators. >> to, right now we don't have any pant on. >> that's pretty good. >> one way to explain it. >> with us now the chair of the congressional oversight panel, and professor of law at hartford, elizabeth warren. good to be back on. >> good to be here. >> what did you think of mika's dress the other night? >> she looked fabulous. >> what are you talking about? >> that's not what elizabeth warren is here to talk about. >> her mother said it didn't look that great but elizabeth said it looked wonderful. we were talking about mothers and you told us before you went to a sorrity event in oklahoma, what did your mother say to you right before the door opened in. >> she rings the door bell and looks over and said, oh, you should have pressed that dress before you came and all i could think is, i'm wrinkled. >> you remember that all those years later. >> that's mika's life have day. so, you have been coming on for a year, year and a half now, and

talking about the need for financial reform. we may be a week or two away. >> that's right. >> this is the big finale. >> that's right. >> are you excited? >> i am. i'm excited, but in that nervous, you know, are we watching a wreck unfold or is it all going to come together? >> that's what i meant. is there actually something here to be excited about? >> yes. it's in front of the senate right now. the bill's already gone through the house. what's in front of the senate has got a strong consumer agency in it, but it's already been amended and pulled in, put under the fed so that it has virtually zero margin for error. no more amending it or else its lost its vitality, ability to get something done. at the other end, there's resolution authority. remember, that's the part that says, nobody's too big to fail. yes, you're a large financial institution, but if you get into trouble, we're going to figure out a way to save the people who

were doing business around you and let you die. so, that's the idea behind that. for me it's the anchor pieces. the stuff you feed in, american families, not destabilizing them financially, not feeding crud into the agency, resolution authority at the other end. we've got stuff in between, derivatives, huge ball in the air. >> but if we pass on the issue we've been pressing, mika especially, if we pass the bill as is right now, is too big to fail finished? do we move past that culture where a bank, lets say, citi goes under six months from now and they can't put the gun to our head saying, give us billions of dollars or the economy dies? >> we are in a much better place on that. >> explain how. >> well, we will now have -- you know, the notion that what we're going to do is just stand up and thump our chest and say, we'll let you die. you can say that, but the

reality is, whoever thought henry pahlssul paulson, henry ps going to run to the united states congress and say, give me money or the economy dies. what you have to have is a credible plan. it has to deal with all the people around the one that needs to die. >> let's say citi six months from now, we wake up and we find out by reading "the wall street journal" that citi is insolvent, they can't pay their debts, they're going down. what does this bill stop from citi saying, give us money or we die? >> we'll have a structure in place, bells and whistles on that, but a structure in place that will deal with counterparties that citi has been dealing with, the doughnut around them. so that it won't start taking the whole economy down. and that citi itself, shareholders are wiped out, top management's fired, their debt takes a hit, citi as it was once

known will be gone. and if that day comes, that means too big to fail is also gone. you really run a risk that if you're going to get out there and gamble like this and it comes up badly for you, that your business can be terminated. >> should goldman sachs ' leaders be persecuted criminally? >> well, you know, let's see what the facts show. i think you meant prosecuted, not persecuted. >> prosecuted. >> i just want to be sure. >> prosecuted and then we'll persecute them. >> everyone has their own job to perform here. that's what investigations are for. the evidence is being collected. you know, if the people who are looking close at that data think -- >> does it make sense to you that it's being looked into in. >> you bet it makes sense. >> that's why i understand the civil angle of this being alone. >> although, do remember, there's civil, and you keep

looking. and so, civil does not mean there can't be a criminal charge as well. >> right. >> and let's keep in mind, this is one transaction. so, a charge on one transaction, one deal, doesn't mean that there aren't charges on another deal and another deal and another deal. >> over the weekend warren buffett said he wasn't disturbed by this in the least. did that surprise you? >> actually, it did. you know, i think of warren buffett, who's really about honest markets, and he said a lot of really good things and have done a lot of really good things about honest markets, but i was really surprised he thinks that's not disturbing. he may are a personal relationship here with someone. i don't. >> i think he has some money, perhaps, involved. >> he has a money relationship. i think he loaned them about $5 to $10 billion -- >> in goldman, i believe it was. over the last 18 months, two years or so, wall street has been painted with this broad brush as sort of evil, in it for themselves, all they care about

is money. i heard lloyd blank fifein talk to charlie rose friday night talking about the social importance and economic importance of what financial services companies do. can you explain that a little bit so people don't think they're all just evil money-grubbers? >> i could try. well, look, we have to have banks. we have to have someone who helps us with the finance. but frankly, we also need electricity and we also need water. we need a lot of things that keep a complicated economy and a big country running. i think the real case -- the real question in the case of financial services is how much was financial services about making sure there's money to run your business and how much was it about making sure there's money to buy your house and how much was about trading with each other and building up lots and lots of profits and sucking them out of the real economy so they can take them for themselves? you know, that's -- >> that's what it was about, wasn't it? it used to be wall street funded main street.

it really did. if you have a business on main street, chances are good what happened on wall street was connected to you because that's where the big money came from. now it seems main street is funding wall street. >> let me give you an example of that, lehman, let's look at lehman brothers, you remember, from 2000 to 2008. just look at what lehman paid out. they paid out $3 billion in dividends. that's good, right, for investors and all. they paid out $50 billion in executive compensation. >> that is unbelievable. >> wow. >> that is crazy. >> just to make it clear, right up until 2007, lehman never showed a loss. they showed incredible profits. investors were paying, you know, way over book on it. they were supposed to be this enormously prosperous company that was actually trading in

mortgages on a bunch of people who were never going to be able to pay off. and and they imploded and posted staggers losses, not just on shareholders but now looking at potentially $100 billion of loss to be imposed on the people who were debtholders. >> so, they paid almost 20 times the amount of bonuses to their own employees as they did dividends to their shareholders. >> that's right. so i thought that was -- >> that says it all. >> that's right. an apt explanation for exactly who this business is being run. >> all right. >> elizabeth warren, always good to have you with us. >> great to see you. >> it was nice seeing you let your hair down. >> she was fun at the white house parties. >> willie, you were there last night? >> i was there for a little while. i was seated at denner next to a native oklahoman, t. boone pickens. a friend of yours. >> that's exactly right. >> elizabeth, thank you.

new protest in greece over big cuts if government spending. in a few minutes, t. boone pickens. he's in the green room right now. he'll be out here shortly. keep it on "morning joe" brewed by starbucks. ♪

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♪ all right. live shot for you of old yankee stadium. oh, willie, it's a shame. you know, we went to a red sox game the other night. those boys did quite well. it was fun. and i got lewis that tool, you know, that yankee shirt. >> are you calling will you wis a tool? or the yankee shirt a tool? >> nope, nope. >> lewis is a good man. >> he needs a haircut, though. >> he needs a haircut. we'll have to send him to our hairstylist and maybe try to fix him up a little bit. that tool. welcome back to "morning joe." it's just after 7:30 on the east coast. >> too strong? >> it's too strong. >> it's love. >> there must be another term

for him. >> no, he likes it. he's good with it. let's get to news now. the fbi is investigating a suspicious envelope of white powder that was sent to arizona governor jan brewer. investigators are still trying to figure out just what that substance is. but there were no injuries or complaints of illness following the incident. the scare comes just weeks after brewer signed an immigration law that requires under certain circumstances police check the identification of people they suspect are in the country illegally. opponents are-h criticized the original version of the law for fostering racial profiling. iran's president is warning relations with u.s. may never be repaired in new sanctions are ahmadinejad, in new york for a conference on nuclear nonproliferation, warned tuesday that the u.s. atomic energy agency had no business poking it's notices into missiles. he says iran had not become a republic of fear.

>> he can choose that or the israeli -- and clashes broke out in greece today with tens of thousands protesting big cuts in government spend pentagon. those cuts were ordered to help greece recover from an economic crisis that's affecting markets around the world. this morning officers used tear gas on some protesters who tried to break through a police line guarding the parliament. >> i have to say, i don't understand these protests. i mean, do they people -- are these people the only people in the world that don't know greece is out of money? greece is bankrupt? their government has been spending more money than they've been taking in for so long now that all of europe is going to collapse because of the short-sightedness. >> they seem to be aunaware. when you were aware, they dispute lewis is a tool. they don't like the word. >> the term is too strong. >> he's fine. >> jonathan gave me a different word. >> no, but that word works, too, but we can't put that on our

website. >> right. we're putting tool on our website. >> tool box. you go to the tool box, you click to and then his -- dpr. >> all his red carpet pictures. the pictures of him loving himself and fixing his hair. when we come back -- >> we'll be right back with tncht boot. boone pickens. you're watching "morning joe" brewed by starbucks. ♪

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president's proposal for offshore drilling is dead on arrival. >> we can see the obvious risk of drilling to our coastline, our environment, when equipment is too be too safe to fail, fails. we've seen the devastation. now we should all know that drill's not too safe to fail and it has never been. >> when we said that drilling could destroy jobs, fishing and tourism sectors, they chanted again, drill, baby, drill. but now, they've stopped chanting. >> now the founder and chairman of bp capital management, the man pushing those guys in washington, mr. t. boone pickens, trying to get energy reform on track. good to see you again. >> now, before we talk about that, before we talk about the gulf, let's talk about a sooner. a sooner you know well. we just had elizabeth warren on. >> sure did. >> it was like a family reunion over there. you've known her for a while. >> you bet.

everybody in oklahoma knows elizabeth warren. so, they don't all know me. they know her. but, oh, sure, we're both from the same county. >> really? >> and the first time we met she pointed at me, she said, you're as well known in oklahoma as will rogers, which was a real compliment. she said, i'm from the same county you're from, but i'm not from holdenville. i said, well, you're from wetumkah. she said, how did you know? i said, there were only two counties -- i thought she was testing me. >> well, so, let's talk about what's going on in the gulf right now. we have people desperately coming in front of cameras saying, we're going to try to get it done in the next month or two months. how big of a mess is this going to be? how big of a hole is that going to be to close up? >> if we get lucky, you could shut it off pretty quick, but

you have to get lucky to have that happen. if we don't get lucky, and i think this is more likely, is you're going to have to drill a relief well down and intersect the vertical hole blowing back out to the surface. what does that mean? you're going down 15,000 feet and you're going to have to -- and, believe it or not, these guys are good. i mean, they can put you on a dime down there. so, we aren't going to get down there and probe for it. >> they'll know where it is. >> yes, sir. >> how long would it take? >> that -- i'm not in agreement with some of the remarks that have been made about this, that it will take three months. and they keep saying that. i'm interested in how long it took to drill a vertical well. and now i'm going to drill a relief well that's going to come in at an angle to it. >> so, you think it could take longer than three months? >> yeah, i think -- i think if i was going to bet, i'd say it

was -- it would be longer. it would be close to four or five months than the three months. >> so three, four, five months? what type of damage are we talking about in that time that's happening moment by moment? >> if we don't get lucky, you'll keep looking at that same 5,000 barre barrels a day. >> oh. >> don't sell these guys short. i mean, this crowd is about -- they're as smart as any group in the world with these kind of things. it's an accident. it's an accident. nobody's to blame. there wasn't anybody that screwed up or anything else. these guys are good. we lost 11 people on that fire. that crew had been together for years. they were experienced people. they're not amateurs. and they had a bad break. they had an accident. and that's it. and what i want everybody to do is look at it, those that can help, help. and those that can't, pray.

but that we work together, pull together. now that we're through, we've gotten it fixed. now if you want to investigate, do it then. now's not the time to -- you know, it's his fault, their fault -- >> politicalizing. >> right. just everybody, we're all americans, get in there and get it done. >> right. >> let's talk about what this means for the pickens plan, where offshore drilling figures into what you're trying to do is the guys are trying to knock around in washington to get something done. >> well, the pickens plan has been put with climate bill, the kerry/lieberman/graham bill. i don't -- i mean, there's not going to be any oasis drilling for a while. that doesn't mean shut down the gulf, but i do think it's going to be a while before they're going to vote to drill off the

east coast or the west coast of the united states. am i for that? yes, i'm for anything american. i want to get off opec oil. but i do see maybe an opportunity here that the natural gas act, which is a part of the kerry/lieberman bill, that it can go stand alone at this point, because that will truly reduce dependency on opec oil. so, if we could get that initiated, that would be great. but -- >> are you going to get the money you need for wind power? >> you know, wind power, joe, s is -- people don't understand, i think, that wind power's price off the margin, the margin is natural gas. natural gas is so cheap that it's hard to price and finance a wind deal. and so you've seen -- you'll see this year, i think florida power, they're the largest in the wind business, that their construction will probably be

down dramatically, like everybody else, until natural gas prices get above $6. then you can come back and finance the wind. >> mr. pickens, how much natural gas do we have in the united states? >> we're number one in the world. >> and do we get it from -- do we get it from wells in the ocean? do we get it from on land? >> both. >> both. >> but you have more now on shore than you do offshore. but we have -- let me give you a number. jpmorgan came out with one for north america, which gas from canada, surface gas to them, comes to the united states. i always feel like -- i used to live in canada. i lived in calgary back in the '60s. >> is that where you got the accent? i thought that was an calgary accent. you picked that up. >> i worked on it. but anyway, we -- jpmorgan gives

us 8,000 trillion. now, i know -- what does that mean? 8,000 trillion? it's a hell of a lot of gas to start with. but 8,000 trillion is in place gas, in place, not recoverable. a rovab a recoverable figure would be smaller than that. you take the colorado school mine's 2,000, which is a recoverable number. you've got somewhere between 2,000 and 4,000 trillion cubic feet of gas. that is two to four times -- now, listen -- >> what is that in terms of years? >> pardon me? >> in terms of supply. >> 200 years. >> okay. >> no, we're big. we're the biggest in the world. now, this is cleaner by 30% than oil. it's cheaper. it's abundant. and, by god, it's ours. and we should be using it. we're fools not to use it. let me conclude with this one point. that 2,000 trillion cubic feet

of natural gas, a, something we'll use in the industry is barrels of oil equivalent. that then compares it to oil. barrels of oil equivalent would be over 400 billion barrels, we would be over twice the size of saudi arabia. >> oh, my gosh. >> here we are -- we are -- it's fabulous. >> t. boone pickens, thank you so much. it was such a pleasure, by the way, to meet your lovely wife the other night. >> oh, thank you. you know what she's doing? >> oh, yes, to save the morgans. >> that's right. >> the mustangs. >> the mustangs, sorry, the mustangs. >> yes, she's going to have a big party the 20th of may. >> may on 20th. she's bringing the mustangs in the building, right? >> that's right. >> i want to go to that party. >> they'll come in and they h e have -- i won't tell you what it is because you're going to be there. but they -- they're fabulous horses. >> i know, they're beautiful. thank you so much. >> nobody better to talk college football with at dinner than t.

boone pickens. >> t. boone pickens, thank you. the very latest when we come back on the alleged murder, i guess, at the university of virginia campus. you'll hear what the suspect in custody is saying. he's saying it was an accident. we'll explain why. national car rental? that's my choice. because with national, i roll past the counter... and choose any car in the aisle. oh, buck chooses the blue one! [ male announcer ] go national. go like a pro. choosing your own car?

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the university of virginia lacrosse player accused of killing his ex-girlfriend has

made a stunning admission. jeff rossen is live in charlottesville, virginia. good morning. >> reporter: hey, willie. good morning to you. it really is a bombshell admission from the male lacrosse player. he now admits that he knocked the female lacrosse player's head against the wall over and over again the night she died. this may come down to a bad breakup. it was inside this campus bar at a post exam party where 22-year-old yardley love would spend her final hours sunday. police say when this stunning star lacrosse player went hole, her life would end. according to new court papers, her on again lately off again boyfriend, george huguely, a player on the men's lacrosse team, was about to pay a visit admitting to police he kicked his right foot through the door that leads to love's bedroom. huguely went on confessing that night he was involved in an altercation with yeardley love. he shook love and her head repeatedly hit the wall.

officers found her face down on her pillow in a pool of blood, bruises on her face, her right eye swollen shut. the victim, police say, of blunt force trauma. her roommate and another friend discovered her body. >> you believe this is first-degree murder. >> absolutely. >> that he intended and planned to go and kill her? >> that's our belief. >> friends say love and huguely had a turbulent romantic relationship that recently got physical. some say just weeks ago when they broke up, he tried to attack her in public. now police sources tell nbc news they're looking into possible death threats he sent her over text message. >> i think there's a lot of stigma on women to kind of deal with that, and i would hope that there would be something we could do to prevent those kind of things. >> before it gets to this. >> we definitely don't want to be here again. >> huguely has been arrested for first-degree murder. his school lacrosse picture replaced by a jail mugshot.

now even with his stunning admission of violence, his lawyer is building a defense. >> we are confident that ms. love's death was not intended but an accident with a tragic outcome. in the meantime, george is withdrawing from the university of virginia and remains in the custody of the authorities. >> reporter: tuesday, his parents came to support their son. wouldn't comment. college friends say there were warning signs. at 6'1", 205 pounds, george they claim was aggressive when he drank and liked getting his way. in 2008, he was arrested for public swearing and intoxindication and resisting arrest. allegedly screaming racial and sexual slurs at the officer. but his old friends back home in this wealthy d.c. suburb paint a different picture entirely. >> i'm absolutely shocked. the george huguely i know growing up, the george huguely that played in my backyard with

me every single day was not capable of doing something like this. >> reporter: the crime has rock this had campus to its core. the university of virginia with its beautiful views and southern charm has now lost a beautiful young woman in a murder as ugly as it gets. >> it's really sad because she's in the prime of her life when it ended and her family and friends have to deal with that. >> hi. apologies. now the lacrosse team has decided to continue on with the season and play on. the men's team is ranked one, the women's ranked number four. the university left there up to her parents to decide whether the kids should play or not and they decided yes, the kids should. >> jeff, real quick here. the lawyer is saying it was an accident and yet, this guy's admitting in the papers that he slammed her head against the wall. those two things don't add up. >> look, if you look at it from

a legal perspective, according to experts this is not a full-on confession. he's not saying i knocked her head into the wall and went to go kill an her. he is just saying according to police that he knocked her head against the wall during an altercation. you can see his lawyer setting this up. look, this was a fight but he didn't mean to kill her. you can sort of sense that from the sound bite he gave yesterday. >> jeff rossen live in charlottesville covering a horrible story. thank you, jeff. >>. coming up next, senator mary landrieu, the oil spill off the coast of her state in louisiana. we'll be right back. [ male announcer ] let's take the garden into our own hands.

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top of the rock. shot for you there. welcome back to "morning joe." it is the top of the hour. we still have jonathan capehart with us. >> morning. >> willie geist, joe. >> and a lot of news, front page of the "washington post" today talking about, hey, jonathan, do you mind? we're on. the red light there means we're on the air. >> oh, well, it's willie's fault. i'm sorry. i didn't mean to throw you under the bus. >> pete's here. >> welcome to "morning joe." it's the top of the hour. "the washington post," isn't that your paper. >> that is my paper. >> a front page headline talking about this oil spill, which of course, we've been concerned about the possibility of it going to louisiana to mississippi, alabama, florida.

now the possibility that the currents could take that all the way around to north carolina. "the new york times" talking about the possibility, t. boone pickens was talking about 5,000 barrels a day. >> a day. >> the "new york times" front page talked to scientist who's said this could explode to 60,000 barrels per day. a catastrophe. we're talking about what's happening in the investigation of times square. >> which is why we have on the set with us this morning. >> this is big. >> pete williams. >> and he's weighing the blue-themed tie, as well. >> i got the memo. >> very good. >> the headlines and then we can talk with pete. our top story this morning, authorities are giving more details why a pakistani-born u.s. citizen rig add suv with a bomb and left the vehicle in times square. yesterday faisal shahzad said he received bomb make training in pakistan. after the arrest, new york's police commissioner praised officials for capturing the

suspect so quickly. >> when he was apprehended last evening at jfk airport, it was 53 hours and 20 minutes. now, we know that jack bauer can do it in 24 minutes but in the real world, 53 is a pretty good number. >> pete, you look at the timeline in the washington "washington post." a remarkable response by new york city cops, fbi, other agencies. pretty impressive, isn't it? >> it is when you consider this suv came in. he wasn't the registers owner of it because he had made the sale of it. he bought it for cash the month before in an unrecorded sale. so there were no record that he was the owner. but they were able to trace it back to him several ways. first of all, they found the phone number he used to arrange for the sale in a parking lot in bridgeport, connecticut. trace that had back to his calls, found out had he also also caused a fireworks dealer to try to get the components of this bomb. but he will -- what's odd, he

parks the thing in times square and leaves the motor running, emergency flaeshs going, closes the door and walks away. his keys were in the ignition. among those were keys to his house and keys to another car that he owned. so there was lots of evidence that was able to lead them back to him. it did take a great deal of detective work. it's virtually in the criminal investigation world a polaroid picture. instantaneous. >> doe panic? decided to rush out because the car started to smoke? >> there are a coup the of possibilities. if he has told them yet, we haven't heard. one possibility is just as you say he thought this thing through. you think he's probably planning it for at least a month because that's when he bought the car. it was rusty, falling apart. he said he told the seller he didn't care. took him awhile to acquire all these components. so he had clearly planned it.

it's possible he saw all those people around, got panicky and walked away. the other possibility is somehow he was starting to initiate it and he thought it was cooking too fast and he wanted to get out of there and wasn't worried about his keys. >> after the attempted bombings in london, we heard those were amateur acts. later we found out there were, in fact, international ties. same thing's happened here. 24 hours after this happened, we kept hearing nothing to see here. move along. amateur act. now investigators do believe that reaches across the globe. >> yes. now is, the reason they said initially they didn't think it was internationally inspired is they check the intelligence traffic for the previous 24, 36, 48 hours. there was nothing about this. none of this an attack is coming. no spike in the chatter. that was one reason they thought perhaps there wasn't an organized group. that could still be the case that this was not some taliban

central thing, that these were just like-minded individuals who encouraged him to do this. >> all right, pete, thanks. stick around. other news to cover, as well. cleanup crews battling the oil slick on the gulf coast are rushing to take advantage of calm seas this morning. strong winds hampered their effort, but yesterday workers were finally able to put out more containment equipment and repair damaged booms. later today the coast guard is hoping to carry out more controlled burns to reduce some of the slick. the white house said their focus is on plugging the leak and also working to raise the cap how much bp, the company that owns the well, will have to pay. right now they're liable for $75 million. but a new measure would raise the limit to $10 billion. >> there are failsafes built into that law that remove the cap based on conditions that cause the spill. and our administration will work with congress, democrats and republicans, to change that cap and insure as i've said and as

the president has said that bp is the responsible party that a cause of this bill and they'll pay for everything involved in this spill. >> all right. with us now from capitol hill, democrat from louisiana, senator mary landrieu. thanks very much for being with us this morning. >> you're welcome. >> is there any way to put a number or even to characterize the cost of this disaster? >> not yet. those calculations will be made. but what we have to keep our eye on is plugging this well. and the president is right to keep his team completely focused thoon effort. it's not just bp. it is a global effort now of other experts in the industry trying to figure out what so terribly wrong happened here because we have drilled 1,000 wells like this over the last decade, about 100 a year deep water in the gulf. we've never had anything like this happen. to put it in perspective, we've

only had about 7,000 barrels of oil or gallons spilled into the gulf in a decade. we're doing that in an hour and a half. so this is a terrible, terrible incident. >> and senator, is it right to put the responsibility squarely on bp and what do you expect of them beyond that $75 million? what do you hope they take on themselves? let alone raising the cap? >> you know, after every major accident we hope we learn the right lessons. and after the spill in valdez, we learned we have to hold oil companies responsible for their negligence or their acts or whatever this ends up being. so yes, bp needs to pay. they have said that from day one. they're willing if we have to raise the cap to make sewer that happens, then we will. i think the slaw pretty clear. it's bp and their contractors that are responsible. but right now, we jut want to get this well plugged. there's some new technologies being deployed, a second well is

being drilled. we may even have to drill a third. the third well, two safety wells to plug this in the gulf before it get any worse. >> senator landrieu, willie geist here. i was actually down there near venice in plaquemines parish a couple days ago. the fishermen are worried about not just their livelihood for this season but for decades even to come. what are you saying to those people down there right now? >> one thing we have done, which i'm very encouraged by, we've gotten bp to hire our own fishermen which was not done after katrina. to hire our own fishermen to help with the cleanup and it keeps money flowing to them because they've basically been put out of business. at least a temporary time. the other thing we're pressing the country to understand is what we've been saying now for

many years. it might be 100% of federal resources out in federal waters but the gulf coast states assume almost 100% of the risk. coastal states accept some of this risk. so the revenue sharing we've talked about, this industry pays billions of dollars to the federal government every year and we should get a portion of that to help our coast. our fishermen are doing what we can. we're going to help them as much as we can. >> jonathan capehart. >> hey, senator, from the "washington post" post". want to get something off the table. we always go and look to you know, who did the company give money to during an election cycle we found you received $16,200 in campaign contributions in your re-election effort in 2008. so why -- do you have any concerns that there appears to be a conflict of interest for you in this particular incident? >> no, absolutely not, jonathan.

i received money from oil companies, from environmental groups. i'm very proud to actually receive money from both sides of this debate because they, i believe, understand that i'm as honest a broker as i can be here. i am not a hand maiden to the oil industry but i will tell you this. this country uses 20 million barrels of oil a day. we produce here in the united states less than half. so our choice is either to increase, you know, our reliance on friends, you know, and i say that in quotes like venezuela, cuba and other places to get our oil or learn how to drill it safely here. again, you've got to the put this accident in perspective. the last thing we need to do is shut this oil and gas industry down. we need to fix it, hold bp and other oil companies accountable. make sure the right regulations are in place and continue to be the world leader in this technology as we move to alternative fuels. >> and certainly bp takes

responsibility for this. it's not like. >> absolutely, they have not walked away. >> not only you but barack obama, john mccain, they've taken campaign contributions, as well. i guess my question to you to follow up on jonathan capehart, are you going to be comfortab l calling on bp to help the businesses that could be decimated by this disaster? they are going to need help. and $75 million is not even going to begin to solve the problem. >> absolutely. i've been in touch with bp since the first notice of this accident holding them. bp might have given me $16,000, but the people of louisiana have given me tens of millions of votes over the year. my eyes are on the people i represent and this country. and the taxpayers and people who are concerned about this. so yes, i am pressing bp hard and as i continue to press them as the president has pressed

them, as other people have pressed them, they're going to step up and pay the full cost of this. and if it exceeds their liability, then we'll have to raise it. but they have given no indication to pea they're not willing to do that. but what i'm concerned about now is not so much lawsuits and who's going to pay for what. i'm interested in getting that well closed. that's what we need to do. >> senator, yesterday we had david vitter on the show. he said now is no time to retreat when it comes to offshore oil drilling. he said we have to do it more safely. do you agree with senator vitter? >> actually, i think that was a line i used. but yes, we along the gulf coast have known this industry for a long time and seen it progress over the years. it's obviously something terrible went wrong here. so the yellow lights have to flash, caution. we have to stop and look and research but move on. the example of three mile island was the opposite. it was a scary accident. people panicked and we shut down

the nuclear industry. we have paid a heavy price for that in this country now lagging behind other countries, 30 years behind in our technology. after the challenger blew up, we didn't say noxd more space race no more put our shuttles on the ground. we investigated, we explored and went on. that's what we have to do here. >> senator, for the record, do you not agree with david vitter, david vitter agrees with you? >> thank you, yes, that would be it. thank you. >> she's good. >> exactly. >> thank you, senator, so much. >> thank you. >> good luck. >> always great talking to you. >> coming up next, could the controversial immigration law in arizona actually help republicans in the midterms? it's one of the top stories next in the politico playbook. also, will the debt crisis greece undermine a global economic recovery? renewed fears sent wall street stocks tumbling on tuesday. we're going to go live to cnbc's erin burnett at the new york stock exchange.

first here's bill karins with a quick check on the forecast. >> good morning, everyone. take a look at the latest. thankfully the last week or so the winds have died off and the oil hasn't spread much further than it had. a few sflots at the very tip of the mississippi delta. that forecast is supposed to disperse more in the days ahead. talking about the airports, flights should be just fine till later on this afternoon. great conditions this morning. look at this forecast. as good as it gets. low 80s, low humidity and a light breeze. going to be fantastic from pittsburgh to boston, d.c. and everywhere in between. later this afternoon, showers and storms will pop up over detroit, toledo, cleveland, indianapolis. we've got minor problems. everywhere else looks really good today. the northwest maybe a shower in seattle. that's about it. have a fantastic wednesday. you're watching "morning joe" brewed by starbucks. national car rental?

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shahzad did make a last second phone call on the plane and the fbi has just released the audio. ji jim? >> thank you for calling the taliban in pakistan. we can't come to the phone right now. we're burning down a girls school. if you will leave a message at the -- >> hello, my brother.

it's faisal shahzad, although now call me faisal shazam, because poof, i am gone. look, the inflight mean is "the blind side." i'm going to cry. >> ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain speaking. we'll be return together gate momentarily. >> oh [ bleep ]. >> wow. okay. that was -- let's take a look at the. >> kind of rough on the clips this morning, mika. >> i am. i didn't like some of them. i didn't think one of them was funny. >> you didn't get the diehard two with a vengeance reference. >> i got it. i just don't think it's funny. all right. sorry. i'm just a bore. 0 past the hour. the morning papers. >> all right. >> you don't need to say anything. "new york times," the headline of the morning, terrorism suspect charged. admits role in bomb plot. >> "the wall street journal,"

bailout fails to calm europe. investorses are worried spain and portugal may need bailouts as the euro has fallen to its lowest point against the dollar in a year. >> miami herald shows governor crist surveying the oil spill bob the coast of louisiana. and the pensacola jus journal, florida soon will receive $25 million from bp to help the state prepare for possible effects to its beaches and its waters and the headline the news journal we have gift of time. let's hope that gift is enough to keep those white beaches very white. >> we used to this college go down to destin. big beaches, they're beautiful. >> let's hope they can keep the oil away. >> here with us now, the executive editor of politico jim vandehei. >> how are you guys? >> doing great.

fascinating new polling we were talking about a couple of hours ago. counter intuitive polling perhaps about the arizona immigration law and the impact it might have on the fall elections. tell us about it. >> for those of us living in washington where the entire debate has been this arizona law that was enacted a few weeks back that, it was really bad politics for the republican party. that seems to be the conventional wisdom in washington. but two new polls have come out over the last week, one by gallup and one by "new york times." they show the exact same thing. a majority of voters support what happened in arizona and that an overwhelming majority of white voters support what happened in arizona. i think if you take -- we asked "the new york times" for their cross tabs to figure out what's happening regionally. if you look in the south and midwest, those numbers are even more strongly in favor of what's happening in arizona. that's where a lot of the battleground districts are in the upcoming election. it might be politics long-term but short term i don't think it

is. >> let's keep these two numbers up right now. a lot times we'll focus on president obama's approval ratings nationwide. that's just not relevant in this off year election. what is relevant is what's happening in the south and the midwest because that's where democrats will either hold onto the house of amore or lose it. right? >> it's definitely true. in most of the competitive house races have overwhelming lima jort white populations. if you look at the polling numbers, most white voters support what's happening in arizona. so immigration is an issue that might be popular for some democrats to tackle in washington, but there's a lot of democrats in places like indiana that are on the phone calling washington saying, this is a last thing that we want to deal with. we do not want to have to run on health care reform or big government and immigration. those are two issues difficult for us. with independent voters and with conservative democrats.

so it will be interesting in the weeks ahead to see if democrats continue to try to push for a bipartisan deal. if you continue to have democrats talking about the arizona law because i do think there's a lot of democrats out there that would prefer not to. on top of that, if you look what happened empty results last night there weren't any big surprises in some of the primary races we saw in north carolina and elsewhere. but the one thing that stood out is incumbents across the board are underperforming. even popular incumbents are underperforming which just amplifies what we're seeing in every single race the last couple months. this is a terrible, terrible atmosphere for any incumbent politici politician. republican or democrat. >> the immigration law only hurts moderate democrats telling me off the record they want the white house and harry reid to stay away from this. >> you're talking about the anti-government sentiment in an article up on politico today. explaining why americans are more cynical than they usually

are about politicians. tell bus it. >> it's a fun piece that john harris and another colleague put together looking at charlie crist and politicians and making the argument a lot of people think they're weasels who can't be trusted because sometimes they are weasels who can't be trusted and how crist said he'll never leave the party. he left the republican party. we saw this with arlen specter. no way i'm going to switch parties. he switches parties. another had run on this platform saying there's no way i'm going to seb more than three terms. guess what he does? >> he breaks a pledge and wants to run again. i think this feeds into the cynicism that a lot of people have about politicians doing whatever it takes to win, which is what they often do and often have to do if they want to have the power that was accrued. >> coming up next, a check on market futures with erin burnett

back in new york and live at the stock exchange. don't forget, "morning joe" is now live on satellite radio, tune into sirius 90, xm 120. "morning joe" to go. we'll be right back. resilience. elasticity.

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welcome back to "morning joe." let's get a check on business before the bell and cnbc's international superstar erin burnett back from louisiana. what can you tell us? >> joe, you -- sometime you're going to go down there soon. i haven't been down there in awhile. it was pretty neat to see it again. i hope your shore stays safe. pensacola. today, joe, we're going to have another lower open. obviously yesterday a rough day. yesterday obviously part of it was fear related to greece and also the packet that it turned out there was a potential taliban/al qaeda involvement in the times square event. interesting though, joe, i think

on monday a lot of people said why didn't the market react to that to begin with? even though it failed and it was rather crude, why was there no reaction. maybe monday was the anomaly. we'll be down a little bit today at least at the open. >> let's talk about greece, of course. we see the protesters there. greece is out of money. people still protesting. i read a piece in "the wall street journal" yesterday talking about spain. also in big trouble. but the spanish government hasn't taken the steps necessary to avoid a crisis there. it seems like people are not waking up. they are sleeping through the economic crisis of their time. they still don't get it. >> no. a couple comments here as you look at the pictures of what's going on greece. yes, there's violence going on. but it is -- i don't want to make light of it, but greece does this a lot. i was there 15 years ago and they were mad about something, they're out in the streets.

protesting is not uncommon. we need to keep that as way of thinking about this. they're in a really tough spot. first of all, look, they spent half of their entire existence as an independent country in modern times in default. they don't have a good record on this. they're part of the euro. if they are to leave the euro, just get out of the euro, the problem is they've been borrowing money in euros. if you leave and all of a sudden have you democratic maz again, the value of your debt won't change but the value of your economy is going to shrink dramatically. leaving the euro is not a solution that's easy at all. you raise the fair point that when you start pointing in italy and spain, those are much more significant economies. spain alone is 12.5% of the eurozone's economy. so are you going to have broader questions how long the euro can really last. there's going to be two important tests on that this weekend in the financial markets. perhaps the most important is

tomorrow when spain is going to be issuing debt. we'll see if anybody shows up to buy it. maybe we'll have that information by tomorrow morning. europe's in a tough spot. every year they're adding new countries in. and it was fine when everybody was willing to lend money to everybody and look the other way when they were lying on their balance sheets but now. >> maybe we can send them california. california and new york could deal with the legislature in albany. does this mean when mika goes to europe this summer, the dollar will be stronger? >> it probably does. the dollar is still weaker against the euro than it was when the euro started. which is an irony. greece is starting to take out advertisements on tv and all the magazines are running greek covers. maybe a good time 0 go to greece. right now the airport is closed and olympic airlines goes on strike a lot. you might want to find another way in. >> i was thinking more krakow

anyway. >> south of france, greek islands. >> greece is lovely. >> willie and i do charity work if the summer, you're all galavanting around. >> if you knew the truth about. >> don't have time for vacations. >> -- our vacations. his versus mine. >> us kids. >> he spent 25 years making people laugh as a syndicated newspaper columnist. dave barry will join us. >> he'd better be damned funny. >> if he comes up here and sucks, i'm going to be really disappointed. >> i'd better be laughing his particularly. up next our political round table with richard wolffe. keep it right here on "morning joe" brewed by starbucks. (announcer) roundup extended control does two jobs... at once.

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♪ who are you who who who who >> he saw an opportunity to say look how bad oil and gas drilling is. look at all this harm it's causing. >> offshore oil drilling. >> there was nothing new in what he announced. >> don't you know what you're saying to a third party, not somebody like myself or like yourself listening to you thinks that you're sounding insane. are you suggesting he somehow knew this would happen and that's why he came out for offshore drilling? it sounds like that's what you're saying and it sounds crazy. >> the way you just put it, chris, it sounds crazy to me too. >> i don't know how you can accuse this president of such powers as knowing this catastrophe was coming down the line. >> i don't think he anticipate this had catastrophe at all. i think they took advantage of it. take advantage of a crisis.

>> all right. wow. when you get called crazy. >> there you go. >> heck ever a job, brownie. look who we have with us. >> senior white house correspondent for "newsweek" and political analyst richard wolffe, the author of "the new york times" best seller "renegade, the making of a president," now out in paper book. good to have you back on the show. >> a renegade move by the president a couple weeks ago when he actually talked about reaching out to both parties, giving democrats what they wap on the energy bill but also talk about nuclear and offshore drilling for the benefit of the republicans. do you think the white house is regretting that now? >> well, just one thing. first of all, i left news week some time ago. do i think they're regretting it? i was perplexed by the way they gave up their concessions on nuclear and offshore drilling before they got into the negotiation. it's a weird negotiating thing to give up stuff and hope you're bringing other people on board.

energy and climate is still their big hope for getting another big piece of legislation through before the mid terms. so you know, the difficult thing is here is are they really going to go through with offshore drilling to you after everything they've seen? i don't think so. >> this is what made president obama different on the campaign trail though. the belief coreach out to both sides. i think it's ironic that in one of the first real moves where he aggressively like you say puts all of his cards on the table with this energy bill he gets burned by it. i suspect you're right. i suspect they're going to have to figure out a way to get the genie back into the bottle as far as offshore drilling goes. >> the nuclear piece of it is still an unconventional thing. and you know, whether he can keep the two pieces of it together to deal with these new energy ideas, get extra on shore and offshore production going and still deal with the carbon tax, what they want to get into

it is restricting carbon emissions. it's never been done. that's what the environmentalists will back off for. but again, can you pull off another big gamble in a year when you already pulled off this historic thing with health care. it's really going to be hard to do. >> richard, it's willie geist. good to see you again. >> good morning. >> let's take a step back and think big picture because you spent so much time around the president and within his administration writing your book "renegade." how do they feel their run has gone so far? in other words, the moment they were sworn into office, they clearly had plain. they got through health care. it took them perhaps longer than they wanted. where are they now as compared to where they thought they might be? >> i think they're feeling bruised, exhausted. took them way longer than they ever thought. it was relatively easy in the first six months to do all the change stuff. they spent two years coming up with this agenda, all the things

they would undo. then things pushed them out of their strategy, their tra trajectory. and they've been beaten around for so long now. yes, they feel like they got some momentum back. obviously, health care was a huge win for them. it showed if they were morre robust about defining differences about speaking up for themselves, baby they had a chance. you come up with this week and two big things way out of their control. i think a lot of them are feeling crushed by two years of campaign ang 18 months of an extended campaign through the presidency. >> i think they're just physically exhausted. jonathan, they've got to be exhausted. >> yeah. it has been a grind since they came into office. richard, i have a question for you. coming to the times square bombing incident. the president's under fire from some on the right including senator mccain for shehzad having his miranda rights read.

we just had governor pataki beak playing politics with the times square bombing. do you think these folks are playing politics? am i being fair to describe it this way. >> everyone is playing politics with it. if you heard the president yesterday talking just before his businessra, he said we should not live in fear of what's going on. one of the interesting contrasts he wants to draw with the bush years was not engaging with the politics of fear. that's a political move, of course to, say i'm not going to go out there talking about threat levels and how the terrorists are all out to get us. that is itself a political signal. whether or not it can work, whether or not you know, being cool and calm and following the rule of law is going to be successful politically at a time when your opponents are accusing you of being weak, that's another question. they're all playing politics around this even as the president is trying to tone it down and say i'm the anti-bush, that's in itself a political

move. >> you made the assumption that george pataki was playing politics with the time squares bombing. what specifically did he say? >> when he beak said that the policies of this administration have made us less safe, have not made us safer. when you hear that, to me, the dog whistle is they're playing politics, trying to -- they meaning republicans, national republicans trying to use this incident as you know, one more in a series of things to say that the obama administration is making us less safe. i say that also because he didn't just stick to the times square bombing. he threw in ft. hood, the new shoe bomber person, abdulmutallab, and other incidents. that's why. >> just wanted you to explain yourself because i'm sure a lot of people wanted to hear the specifics. i agree with richard though. everybody plays politics with this, unfortunately. but when you have politicians running our national policy,

you're going to have politics play with this stuff. thank you so much. quick prediction, who's going to be running great britain in a couple of days? >> conservatives win. don't get an overall majority. it's open season. we'll have a lot to talk about after thursday. parliament, well hung as they say. >> you say that. and maybe dave barry would say that. >> did he say that? >> it's british humor. >> that is british humor. he said it with an can sent. coming up next a guy that -- is this a miami accent? >> richard's book "renegade" out in paper back, yes. >> the pressure is on for dave barry. when we saw him, willie geist says make me laugh, clown. >> i never said that. >> we shall see. one of my favorites, dave barry, good to see you. thanks for coming. >> nice to see you. hey can i play with the toys ?

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for mayor bloomberg. when he heard about the bottom scare he had to rush back from the kentucky derby. here he is. there's mayor bloomberg. >> now, now. >> that's terrible. here with us now, pulitzer price winning humorist dave barry, the author of "i'll mature when i'm dead." dave, welcome to the show. >> thank you, nice to be here. >> do you find if i start with something on the back which made me laugh out loud? you're talking to first time fathers about right after the baby's born, the couple months your sex life after that, you say you will be as welcome in her private region as german troops in paris. >> basically you have the same sex life as a waffle iron for a period of time. >> tell us about the book. what were you going for with this one? >> i was hoping to sell it in exchange for money. no, it's a collection of essays. i stopped writing my weekly humor column awhile back.

after awhile, had i all these ideas bubbling around and ended up writing a book. >> you're an artist. you won a pulitzer prize and you're thinking as he's hanging out, whatever you artists do, you're thinking great thoughts must be bubbling up in his mind. >> it's more like jokes. >> you took my line, jokes about boogers. >> listen, you're the woman who said tool earlier. >> that's because the guy that i was talking about is a tool. >> anyway. >> i know, but i was a little stunned that you said that. >> why? is it a bad word? >> i thought it was. >> who knew? i didn't know that. >> i don't want to keep bringing it up you said tool on television a lot. maybe like ten times while i was watching. technology, tool, tool, tool. >> it must be okay now, the bar is lowered. >> i asked several experts. i was told it was not a bad word. >> they lied to you. >> it's on the level of like

doodie. >> wait a minute. >> it's not terrible. >> duty? >> no, seriously -- >> have we lowered the -- >> discourse on this show. >> back to the booger jokes. why did you decide it was necessary to write booger jokes? >> i wrote them before i won the pulitzer prize. i was stunned i won. here's a little hint. a little tip to would be journalists out there. you don't really have to win the pulitzer prize, you can just say you won it and nobody ever checks. >> look, i've got evidence. >> let me see it. >> i could have just said it. >> it's true. nobody checks that. >> you also say something, too, which is the truth. once you have a child, over the next 20 years, you'll hear about 45 minutes worth of songs that you actually like and 150,000 hours worth of songs about what the horn on the bus sounds like. >> it is the truth. you lose your time.

>> and you're driving -- you were driving a nice car and now a car called the nissan capacity and it has like 300 cup holders and juice boxes all over. your life changes not necessarily romantically. >> how many kids do you have? >> two, one is 10 and one just got married. he's almost 30. but because we were involved with this wedding in the sense of having to pay for it, i discovered the wedding industrial complex, which is very powerful in this country now and it has three bake tenants. >> ike was right by the way. >> they're the most powerful. >> and the three principles that every young woman learns from the bride magazines is one that your wedding is the most important day of your life and has to be perfect, two, it doesn't have to cost a lot of money, three, if it doesn't, it will suck. yeah. so you end up being. >> dave, i'm not good in math but i think you got it about right. you have a child that's 30, a child that's 10.

it usually does take about 20 years after the first child to have sex again. for the wife to get back into the mood, right? >> you're obsessed with this sex thing. >> no, i'm not the one. should we go to your va sectomy jokes. you're writing about it. let's go to your va sectomy jokes. hold up. there's nothing wrong with having a va sec top, except what? >> the part where they cut a hole in your -- they cut a hole in your scrotum. >> not yours. mika. you've got nothing to worry about here if i know anything about anatomy. i think i do. >> that's going to mess up your week. >> got any more booger jokes? >> is the hole -- >> no, no. >> it's not a good question. >> wait a minute. he wrote about it. crossed the line. >> they give you a bag of frozen peas and a jock strap. >> i'm not kidding. right up there.

>> no, no. there actually is a parallel between your book and mika's book. >> what? no. >> she talked about how when you become a mother, you've got to fight to maintain your individualism and your personality. it's sort of the same thing you're writing about here, as you grow older, you've got to fight to find that inner self. >> that's exactly right. >> i'm a uniter, not a divider. >> exactly. >> about finding your inner -- >> knowing yourself. >> mika has a few less booger jokes in hers. >> you had a good experience in miami, right? >> it was lovely. >> you didn't get shot in any way. >> no, it was lovely. >> we weren't shooting at you. >> i love miami. >> all right. are you okay? >> i think we covered a lot of ground. >> we educated americans.

>> "i'll mature when i'm dead," dave barry's amazing tales from adulthood. up next, what, if anything, did we learn today that we can say on the air? we'll be right back. smart...you're staying at this resort for free? how?

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welcome back here. it's time to talk about what we learned today. >> willie, what did you learn. >> i'd repair not say. >> i'd rather not say. >> we need to move gulf of

mexico. it's nothing but trouble. put it near another country. >> what did you learn? >> tool is bade word. >> she just said it again. we're still going to call lewis that because is he a tool. >> tool. >> yep. >> that's it. we're done. >> very good. if it's way too early, what time is it? >> time for "morning joe" right now it's time for "the daily rundown" with savannah guthrie. >> he's talking. faisal shehzad, an american citizen with a past officials call unremarkable. now freely admitting he tried to bomb times square. today a daily rundown exclusive. general michael hayden on the intelligence trail. plus on the no fly list and on the plane? how did that happen? the government is already changing some rules today. good morning. it's may 5th, 2010. chuck is off today. let's get to the rundown. the big question today, did the suspect act alone? let's get right to justice correspondent pete williams in new york city with us this

morning. so pete, what is this suspect telling investigators? >> he's claiming he did act alone and according to officials i've talked to this morning, there is no indication so far to indicate any reason not to believe him. now, they're not taking him at his word. there's still a lot of investigating done to see if there were others he might have worked with here. and they're interested in trying to find out who it was in pakistan that gave him the bomb training. he has said he received training there. presumably he will say something about that. as for how he was able to board the flight to dubai, it was not the no fly list it turns out that stopped him because the airline is only required, we since learned, to update its database every 24 hours. and it had received a notice earlier in the day on monday to add him to the no fly list. now the government is going to require airlines to update their lists every two hours. it was yet another database that caused the