msnbc.com, a shocker. remember the story about the woman who said she was attacked with acid. police say she admitted doing it to herself. wow. that is bizarre. we asked you at the top of the show what you're doing awake at this hour. alex has one strong answer on friday. >> willie, ben says i was so inspired by mika's bipartisan fitness challenged that i want to get started on my bipartisan sweet roll and doughnut challenge this morning. >> that's what joe andry doing this morning. we have our own challenge up our sleeve for mika, and it starts right now. we had a different problem. at that time newt gingrich had come out with his contract on america or contract for america

he called it. we had a version of what he's facing now which is that we had done things that were bringing economy back but no one felt it yet. that's a combustible mix. it makes people angry and they ought to be angry. it may make some of your own strong supporters kind of apathetic about whether they should vote. i think he should go to the areas where he can help, and that's what he's doing and he should help them raise funds so they don't get blown away. >> good morning. it's friday. september 17. welcome to "morning joe." we're still in washington. you guys did well yesterday. thank you very much. thank you. >> good to be there. >> it was very, very nice of you. you did a great job. you brought out a great counted. thank you. >> it was good to be there. we had a big crowd, very big crowd. >> it was fun. >> these guys weren't there. >> pat buchanan was on the show. >> she was on the show. >> i was there. >> sam was there. >> i was waiting to race pat

buchanan, but he wouldn't race me. >> jonathan capehart came out dressed and i said, i can't handle that. >> i can't get over gene robinson's outfit. >> gene came out. willie in new york. >> thank you so much. >> it was a great crowd. capehart had the short shorts. i think they were shorter than mika's. they were impressive. >> i got a call saying get a blanket, girl. yeah, capehart was -- it was really fun. >> i've got to say, also, and i'm serious about this, about the young guns, those three republican guys that we made fun of unmercifully, and pat, dead serious here. you can always tell the guys that are going to stay around in washington for a while that get it. they take abuse, and it rolls right off their back and keep going. they came out. they were laughing at themselves. i've seen so many politicians, most of them short-timers. you punch them like that and

they take it personally, and i'm going to get you. those guys don't. those three guys yesterday just joking about it. >> i went and talked to all three of them. they were in good spirits. i tell you who else was there? john thune, the senator. >> impressive guy. >> very impressive guy. do you know who came running up, joe. mabel you were on the set. it was scott brown, rolling through doing his 26-mile run or something. >> that was the best. he came over and introduced himself. >> he made the mistake of turning by our set. >> look at willie. >> willie, i want to talk to you about that. the point was to walk. >> ezra klein didn't look like he exercised a whole lot. but very thin and healthy. that's good. halprin and barnicle, not the greatest figures. >> you brought the republicans and the democrats together. >> we brought them altogether. everybody talks about the

republican party and how they're not leaders. we named five people that have a pretty good future. paul ryan, eric cantor, kevin mccarthy. that's the first time i really talked to him. he was a very impressive guy. scott brown, whether sarah palin likes it or not, he's got a big future in the republican party. >> kingston was there. >> jack kingston. those are some -- >> i think those are the future leaders of the party. i really do. >> really good leaders. >> valerie jarrett, also. melanie barns, if surgeon general. >> it was perfect, exactly what we were looking for. >> no doubt about it. it was a good event. >> we're going to do it again. you think we should? >> yeah. let's jog this time. >> we weren't allowed to this time. >> we'll get it next time. let's get to the news. this morning's "washington post" reports a group of republican senators are krpg an alternative approach to the tax cut debate bitterly dividing congress.

currently senate minority leader mitch mcconnell and his house kounlt part john boehner are locked in a standoff with president obama and democrats over the fate of the bush tax cuts set to expire at the end of the year. democratic leaders are pushing to extend the cuts to the middle class but not to the nation's highest earners. republican leaders want all the cuts to be made permanent. but according to the post this morning, some republican senators argue a two-year extension of all the bush cuts would give the economy time to improve and give congress a time to the time to develop policies that restore the country's fiscal health. yesterday house speaker nancy pelosi got a letter from fraesh man democratic congressman from virginia who collected over 30 signatures from other moderate democrats who want to preserve -- >> that's congressman nye who is in a fight for his political life. >> i believe so, yes. trying to get him on the show. this is including the upper bracket earners included in

this. pelosi does not seem to be bundling on this, insisting the cuts should only remain for the middle class. >> it's fair to say you're not open for that one to two-year extension compromise? >> not for the wealthy, no. that's my position. again, we listen to our members. i think the president gave us exactly what we needed, clarity. and the public is with the president. >> all right. >> she can take that position if she wants, pat. but if you're congressman nye or pair ehlo or from the south tore midwest, you're a lot closer to peter orszag's position which is extend them for two years while the economy is bad. that's keynesian economics by the way and let them expire two years from now. >> and suppose she succeeds in having only extended for the

middle tax cuts and raises taxes for the other folks, these democrats go home to their districts and the people say, you guys did this to us, you can't handle pelosi? good-bye and good luck. i think in tennessee where, some are suggesting pelosi step down. >> sam, obviously nancy pelosi and progressives on both coasts would consider it a betrayal if tax cuts were extended for all americans. i tell you, she has a guy that's been out there running. it seems to me that tax cuts even on the top earners is seen as a drag on the economy. >> i don't know if they'd see it as a betrayal. i remember you talking to ezra yesterday. he said that people should be comfortable with the temporary extension -- >> got to pay for it. >> yeah. the issue here the what are we talking about in terms of deficit? we've spent the past two years, year and a half talking about ballooning deficits.

that's always been talked about as the major political issue of the day, the thing that tea parties were running on. now we have a very clear choice which is do you want to continue the tax cuts and risk ballooning the deficit by $700 trillion -- or is it a billion dollars. this is the choice here. it's funny for a lot of people to see that racks who have been arguing and barking about deficits for so long now don't really seem to be all that caring about it. >> i can say on the other side i find it quite humorous that democrats that have been saying we can't worry about the deficit, we've got to get the economy started again suddenly saying, oh, wet can't cut taxes because it will balloon the deficit. >> we need a new stimulus program which would balloon the deficit, but i tell you what, if you raise these, all these tax cuts lapsed on january 1. i think the stock market and the economy head right down. >> that's the albatross, right? everything is going to go back

to previous rates january 1st. they have to do something. there's no way obama is going to sit there and let someone get mid -- >> we brought a battle in the short term. these guys want to go home in two weeks. if this is kicked over into a lame duck session, a lot of democrats will come back and they will be out of a job, and obama will say you guys are out of a job. you want a job? you go vote this way. if you want to get a job. that's what you do. you hold it over them. >> i will tell you -- >> that's a form of stimulus, right? >> a lot of people talk theory. i can tell you in real life experience i obviously come from northwest florida, called the red-neck riviera. i campaigned there. there's a lot of blue collar voters there, and i can tell you that if washington raised any income taxes at this point when real unemployment was at 15%, i would spend the next two months -- they could bring up

the mosque, they could bring up abortion, they could bring up jobs, they could bring up deficits, i would talk about nothing but the stupidity of washington raising taxes in the middle of a great recession. i would use the word "stupidity." i tell you what, i would get votes as i did whenever i ran, not from the rich who always worry about regulatory reform. i would get votes from working class voters. i know time and time again you look at the cross tabs of the polls and it's the working class voters that understand intuitively what economic professors don't understand, that if you tax my boss, that's going to hurt me. >> i think it goes deeper than that, though. $250,000 over the course of the year is a lot of money. these people look at it and they say, i want to be making that much money. i don't want to be disincentivized. it's a simple but logical

explanation. i'm not saying it's good policy. >> can i stop you there? that is a key point, okay? my family grew up and we didn't have a lot of money, but my mom constantly was telling me, would always -- in meridian, mississippi, would drive down country club down going to first baptist church. how is that for a southern swing? but would look at these big houses and meridian country club which we were not allowed to step foot on, let alone golf on. and there was no resentment. my parents would say, see those houses, see those houses, if you work hard in school, if you work your entire life, one day you'll be able to live on this street and you can golf there any time you want to if that's what you want to do. and that -- i always remember that because that's -- when you start talking about tax cuts for the rich, middle class and working class people think i want to be that one day. i don't want -- >> rich is not necessarily --

>> well, $250,000 is what's defined as rich, and in new york city, i'm sorry. >> you cut it in half. >> they used to say no poor man ever gave me a job. i had a business guy over at my houseworking on a generator. he was sayi saying who do you think buys these generators? all these big ticket items, appliances and things, these are bought by the guys with a few bucks. two-thirds of small businesses run basically on the personal income tax rate. you're going to hammer these guys right when the economy is going like that? it makes no sense. >> most sober studies have looked at it and say 2% to 3% of small businesses will be hit. i think the psychological issue is what's going to run this debate, which is what you were talking about. >> sam, really quickly. i understand 2% to 3% gets s corporation or whatever. the fact of the matter is, let's

say you have your corporation and you make $251,000 and you know you're going to have 5% less, it doesn't matter how you file it. that's 5% less you're going to have to move over to your corporation to hire new people. again, i'm not arguing. i'm a deficit hog. i'm not arguing we extend these things out ten years. i'm not arguing that 39% tax rate which we had under clinton when the economy was incredible. i'm not arguing that that's socialism. it's not. when we're at 15% -- all i'm arguing is the rich people aren't going to be hurt when you raise their taxes. working class people will be hurt. >> that's why i think you'll end up with a compromise, either two-year temporary period the threshold being raced or what i think is the procedural compromise, to give these people cover. you vote first to have all the taxes stay in place for those under $250,000 with a vote

promised thereafter to keep it in place for the rich. these members can go home to district -- >> put the votes in a different order i would go for. >> you would do that? >> you remember bill clinton's luxury tax? they pass it in '93 -- >> this is a very good point. >> they pass a luxury tax because they said we're going to stick those guys that buy big yachts. the shipyards along the east coast shut down and bill had to get rid of it. just what your guy was saying. it hurts the blue collar workers. >> this big beautiful boat plant in georgia, he sold eight like this a month. he said i sell one now. they simply build them down in mexico and sail them up. it's all the jobs lost, all the business goes overseas. it was the dumbest tax you could ever think of. >> but it appealed to the sort of populous --

>> sol ol lynn ski. >> it's too early for that. >> oh, my god. >> again, sam, what i want to make sure because people will e-mail you why did you go along with them on tax cuts, but you're not going along with this. but it's interesting how this discussion has evolved. even barack obama said during the campaign, if the economy is bad, we may wait a couple of years to raise the tax. >> listen, i've written about this and has robert gibbs e mailing me saying we don't expect we'll have to issue a veto. we think we'll get our way. they're pretty confident in the white house. they think it's a winning issue. >> we'll see. the political playbook is up next including a look at what democrats really want the president to say on the campaign trail this fall. the new number of people living in poverty is out. it's a figure we haven't seen in over 50 years. later, if it's friday, it's time

for willie's week in review. which stories were unimportant enough to make the cut? that's a good question. i'm thinking lower left. first let's go to bill karins with a check on the forecast. bill? >> good morning everyone. we're watching a huge hurricane. we saw the horrible winds going through new york city yesterday. a lot of active weather this morning. the biggest was hurricane karl. this storm blew up in the gulf of mexico, still going to hit mexico later today. a category 4 hurricane, one of the strongest hurricanes to make landfall in a long time. just north of vera cruz, you can clearly see the eye of the storm. going into a rather rural area. one thing that is interesting is there's a nuclear reactor where the eye is supposed to come onshore. hopefully built to specifications. igor is still a category 3. this is going to hit bermuda this weekend. it's weakened down to a 3. it should continue to stay about a 3 or a 2 and it should hit bermuda sunday night. big waves on the east coast all

week end into the beginning of next week. how does the forecast look around here? early morning rain out of cape cod. forecast will get better during the day most of the country is looking at a really nice last weekend of summer. chicago is great, atlanta and dallas. quickly through the weekend, not many problems. very summer like in d.c. chicago, a little cooler than you'd like especially on sunday. as far as the tropics go, everything avoiding the united states. you're watching "morning joe" brewed by starbucks. good job, keep going !

you took my eggs ! it's an "egg management fee." what does that even mean ? egg management fee. even kids know it's wrong to take other people's stuff. that's why at ally bank we offer rates among the most competitive in the country that won't get eaten away by fees. it's just the right thing to do. ♪ every day, it's getting closer ♪ ♪ going faster than a roller coaster ♪ ♪ love like yours will surely come my way ♪ ♪ a-hey, a-hey-hey ♪ every day, it's getting faster ♪ [ male announcer ] at&t and blackberry have teamed up to evolve the smartphone. business, meet fun. fun, business.

at&t. rethink possible.

you're intrigued, but there is something still bothering you. as a reasonable busy person, i'd love to come john.

i don't have time to hand craft a message or signage. not to worry. that's where we come in. we're going to have signs for you down there if you don't have time. of course, you can bring your own. here is a quick one. i disagree with you but i'm pretty sure you're not hitler. >> man, i love that. >> it's a good sign. >> i think that's a sign for our times. that is -- of all the signs i've seen this year, if i had to pick one. all right. let's take a look at the morning papers. >> hitler signs and fascist charges. "st. petersburg times," one in seven americans living in poverty according to numbers released by the census bureau. 39.8 million americans lived in poverty last year. that's the most in the 51 years since the government has kept such numbers. the government defines the

poverty line as just under $22,000 a year for a family of four. >> let's keep that up for a second. pat buchanan, talk over that. a lot of people will want to blame barack obama if they're republicans or george w. bush if they're democrats. this is something coming for a quarter century. i went back and reread your book, one of your books, and, my god -- in fact, let's talk to pat here. pat, you've been warning about this for a quarter century. the manufacturing base collapses. working class americans lose their jobs. the unemployment rate, by the way -- talking to jeb bush the other day. he said unemployment rate for college students -- college-educated people, 4%. who is getting hurt? working class americans are getting killed by this recession. >> this is why i've got this 20-year quarrel with my republican party, free trade party. under george w. bush alone, 50,000 factories shut down,

almost six million manufacturing jobs, the best paying jobs for working folks in america vanished, disappeared. we're exporting our manufacturing base to china. that's not the kind of exports you're supposed to be doing. the reason you are is because all foreign goods can come into this country without any tariff. the american goods carry all these american taxes on them. you try to sell them abroad, you have guys who are economic nationalists. our guys, it's free trade, free trade. take a look at the consequences $6 trillion in deficits. >> if you look at the arc of this economy over the past quarter century, there is no arguing that the very concerns you expressed 25 years ago have all come about. >> i don't know how we stop it. we'll lose every manufacturing job we've got. >> you know how we stop it is, we -- call it economic

nationalism if you want to. we've got to get leaders that start worrying about american working class workers. because what's happened is -- i'll go to you in a second, sam. we've had presidents in both parties quite frankly that worry about wall street, that listen to wall street. when wall street tells them this is how you create jobs, sure we'll lose an entire class of workers but we'll have better jobs coming in. working class americans are the ones pounded for a quarter century. >> i'll go one step further, history will probably show this is the biggest misstep of the stimulus package, we were going to spend a huge chunk of change and we could have created a different manufacturing or industry base for this country. instead we disbursed it around. it could have been high-speed rail or something like that. we never did it. >> sam, though i'm a deficit hawk, go back and looked at the record, mika. i've said all along if this stimulus package had been something that invested in

manufacturing, that invested in high-speed rail, that invested in the future, hell, i would have said -- >> all for it. >> pay $2 trillion if it makes sense. we have one bite of the apple. if you're going to transform our economy, $2 trillion is not enough money. instead, it was a grab bag. it was a waste and we sit here without jobs. >> we'll get to more papers a little later. right now let's go to willie geist in new york who has politico. >> mika, joe, i think i speak for all the viewers, 6:25, we haven't heard your take on jimmy carter trashing ted kennedy. i want wait to hear what you have to say. >> don't worry. we'll spend the last 2 1/2 hours on that. we haven't talked about christine mcdonald. >> o'donnell. >> it's been an exciting 25 minutes for our viewers. that's going to get me out of bed, a debate on tax and trade

policy in the morning. >> good news is i caught a good power nap from the run yesterday. so now i'm well rested while you're talking taxes. let's go to patrick gavin with a look at the playbook. good to see you. >> good morning, willie. >> let's talk about president obama, what role he'll play in the midterm elections. some don't want him, some do. he's getting advice from fellow democrats on what he ought to be doing and saying this fall. >> his fate is very much tied into the candidate's fate and the democrat's fate this midterm election. my colleague interviewed 20 prominent democrats to give obama advice. some of the advice, real quickly, he has to stop sort of explaining all the bad economic numbers, stop saying that, in fact, the economy is going to turn around eventually. instead -- james carville says what he has to do is, a, take it to the republicans. make sure you focus on their track record and two, make the argument of how you're fighting for the common man. the other thing to do is

simplify, simplify, simplify. the obama administration didn't do a great job explaining health care reform. maybe be like ross per wrote and explain it in a good, simple way. >> a good quote from one democrat saying the party's fate is tied to obama's. 2010 and 2012 have now become the same year. patrick, thank you, we'll talk to you later in the show. >> jimmy carter resurrecting a 30-year-old vendetta trashing ted kennedy in a "60 minutes" interview. how does it feel to take a major league fastball in the face? one hitter found out last night. we'll be right back on "morning joe." here, kitty. here, kitty.

oh! just come snuggle with mama. [ male announcer ] missing something? like 2 pairs of glasses fo$99.99 at sears optical, with bifocal lenses for just $25 more per pair. hurry in to sears optical today and don miss a thing.

long summer days, and not enough sleep. what i wouldn't do for a do-over. [ female announcer ] neutrogena® clinical skincare, exclusive ion2 complex combined with activating cream helps restore collagen depleted skin. neutrogena clinical skincare is clinically tested to undo the look of a year's worth of skin aging in just 4 weeks. do-overs do exist. [ female announcer ] clinical skincare. neutrogena. #1 dermatologist recommended brand. [ female announcer ] clinical skincare.

words alone aren't enough. my job is to listen to the needs and frustrations of the shrimpers and fishermen, hotel or restaurant workers who lost their jobs to the spill. i'm iris cross. bp has taken full responsibility for the clean up in the gulf and that includes keeping you informed. our job is to listen and find ways to help. that means working with communities. restoring the jobs, tourist beaches, and businesses impacted by the spill. we've paid over $400 million in claims and set up a $20 billion independently-run claims fund to cover lost income until people impacted can get back to work. and our efforts aren't coming at tax-payer expense. i know people are wondering-- now that the well is capped, is bp gonna meet its commitments? i was born in new orleans. my family still lives here. i'm gonna be here until we make this right.

joe." let's get a quick look at what's making headlines this morning. a live look at the white house. the sun coming up over washington. former president jimmy carter

sharply criticizing the late senator ted kennedy saying americans could have had comprehensive health care coverage decades ago if kennedy hadn't blocked a plan that carter proposed. back then, the massachusetts senator unsuccessfully challenged carter for the 1980 democratic presidential nomination. carter then lost to republican ronald reagan. in an interview with "60 minutes," the former president revisits the decades-old spat and wrote about it in his latest book "white house diary." >> the fact is we would have had comprehensive health care now had it not been for ted kennedy deliberately blocking the legislation i proposed in 1978 and '79. >> you blame teddy for the failure? >> exactly. >> health care, his issue? >> exactly. it was his fault. ted kennedy killed the bill. >> just to spite you, that's the implication. >> that's the implication. he did not want to see me have a major success in that realm of

american life. >> wow. in his 2009 memoir, however, "true compass" kennedy himself wrote about the issue saying carter dragged his feet on health care and viewed his efforts as a platform to challenge his presidency. >> well, pat buchanan, you can talk to people that worked with jimmy carter. you can talk to presidents, and they will alltel you he's a bitter man. and this is not going to -- >> i wouldn't tell you that. >> -- poll lishl -- no. but you talk about speed doughs, and that's enough. >> stop, no. >> this is only going to reenforce the image of carter as a bitter man. >> let me ask you, mika, was that a gracious way for him to say it? could he not have said senator kennedy and i have disagreements

on what the bill should be. i'm sure he believed in this, but i do think if we had gotten together we could have gotten this through, rather than sort of -- >> leslie stahl would have said, you mean he killed it? and he would have said yes. >> who waits 30 years to dredge this up after a man dies, pat? you see the shot of jimmy carter with the living presidents and they don't even want to stand next to him. there's a shot before they walked out and barack obama was being inaugurated. he was off to the side. and there were reports of the other presidents who find him to be just an i'm bittered man. >> i think he feels he's unappreciated as a president. and quite frankly, a lot of things he's been very critical of the late ronald reagan over. the truth is, i remember we went down with reagan -- were you at

the dedication of the carter library? >> no. >> we worked on the speech down there. we said, for god's sake, if any word or suggestion or line out here, anybody could say something negative about carter? that's the way reagan was. he wanted to make it positive all the way. that's the way reagan was. a very big man, you know. i don't see largeness of soul in that episode we just saw. >> on this health care thing specifically, it just doesn't make sense. nixon could have cut a deal with ted kennedy. this whole -- >> he said he regretted it. >> that was the big regret of kennedy's life. carter wouldn't have had to deal with health care if nixon cut a deal with kennedy. i don't understand why he's sour grapes now. everyone has had their difficult time in office. no one is going up and talking about it 30 years after the fact saying, god damn ted kennedy. >> we'll continue this conversation. take a look at sports. >> willie, are you happy now?

that's an up lift or two? >> thanks, willie. >> you were more subdued than i thought you would be. maybe you're just tired from the walk. >> seriously, willie, it's kinds of depressing. >> it is. >> i'm just going to say i expect more of my presidents than that. i expect graciousness. there's just none of it here. >> he's not going to get past 1980 i'm afraid. we saw some of that yesterday. let's turn to sports. undefeated fighter boxer floyd "money" may weather, forbes racked him number two, made $65 million last year, biggest name in boxing is now in big trouble with the law. it began last week when he was arrested in vegas on a charge of theft. police accused him of taking an iphone from josie harris, his ex-girlfriend and mother of his three children. yesterday police upping the ante alleging may weather hit and threatened his ex-girlfriend and his children. police added seven more charges

to maywerth's felony theft charge bringing the total combined to eight. if found guilty, he could face up to 34 years in jail. he denies any wrongdoing. a little baseball for you last night. in a scary moment in the white sox game. this is in the first inning. paul konerko, the white sox big slugger takes an 89 mile-an-hour pitch in the mouth, direct shot to his face. trainers rush out to take a look at him. there it is. right in the chops. after a few minutes he comes to his senses, gets back on his feet. they want to yank him from the game. he insists on staying in the game though. look at this. two innings later, it's a home run. solo home run to left with those bloody swollen teeth. his 37th home run of the year. twins did win the game 8-5. that's significant because the twins now tied with the yankees and rays for the most wins in baseball at 88. twins might end up with the best

record in baseball. remember this incidents in houston last month. foul ball rocketing into the stands. the young man steps out of the way, lets the foul ball hit his girlfriend. they broke up if you'll remember. not a proud moment for men. unfortunately it happened again. on wednesday in tampa, curtis granderson hits a two-run home run to right. watch the guy in the front row. that's not his girlfriend. he steps out of the way and lets the ball hit a sweet lady who is sitting next to her. just drills her right in the ribs. catch the ball, step in front of the lady. he's not pleased. she's glaring at him. maybe sheavery is dead after all. >> what are we doing? bring the glove to the game and make the play on the ball. very simple. >> oh, my god. wow. >> so willie, you've brought our morning joe viewers down further with a story about an athlete

that steals and beats up and threatens his ex-wife and kids, a guy that is hit in the face with a baseball and a granny who takes it in the ribs, proving once and for all that is,hivalry is dead in america. >> that's not even news you can't use. >> we need the week in review to lift the spirits. that's coming up. we will. trust me. that's coming up. >> we're living under a black sun here. it is dark. >> up next, the debate gives delaware voters their first look at one of the nation's most talked about senate races. we get to watch christine o'donnell go toe to toe with her opponent for the first time. details next. mika's must-read opinion pages. you're watching "morning joe" approved by starbucks. hey what's going on? doing the shipping. man, it would be a lot easier if we didn't have to weigh 'em all.

if those boxes are under 70 lbs. you don't have to weigh 'em. with these priority mail flat rate boxes from the postal service, if it fits, it ships anywhere in the country for a low flat rate. no weigh? nope. no way. yeah. no weigh? sure. no way! uh-uh. no way. yes way, no weigh. priority mail flat rate box shipping starts at $4.95, only from the postal service. a simpler way to ship. we're with you when you're saving for your dreams. [ woman ] when you want a bank that travels with you. with you when you're ready for the next move. [ male announcer ] now that wells fargo and wachovia have come together, what's in it for you? unprecedented strength, the stability of the leading community bank in the nation and with 12,000 atms and thousands of branches, we're with you in more ways and places than ever before. with you when you want the most from your bank. [ male announcer ] wells fargo. together we'll go far.

welcome back to "morning joe." live look at washington, d.c. the sun has come up on another beautiful day. fresh off her upset victory in delaware's republican primary for u.s. senate, christine o'donnell will speak today at the values voters summit in washington, one of the nation's biggest gathering of conservative leaders. o'donnell will join a long list of republican stars including mitt romney, mike huckabee and newt gingrich. while in washington, o'donnell will also meet with national republican senatorial committee head john cornyn, despite polls suggesting o'donnell has a slim chance of beating democrat chris kuns this november. supporters are pouring money into her campaign. figures show before the primary chris kuhns raised over $944,000

compared to o'donnell's 20,000. but in the 24 hours after her win, o'donnell racked up $845,000 in donations while coons netted $125,000. on fox yesterday karl rove who made news for his criticism of o'donnell after her win on tuesday backed off a bit, even offering her advice on how to build up her campaign. >> she needs to do two things. she needs to in the seven weeks remaining make a passionate, articulate, credible, aggressive case on why obama is bad on spending, deficits, debt and health care and she needs to be able to answer these questions about her personal background. everybody in their life sometimes has difficulties. honesty and candor will be the best remedy. she can't get away by saying my answer is on my website or it's puzzling to me why the irs would feel a lien when i didn't pay my taxes in 2005. she has to be more honest than that. if she does, she's got a shot to

win. >> okay. >> le's right though. he is right. seriously, karl rove -- and i don't say this a whole lot since 2005, but karl rove is right. let's just stop playing games. this woman hasn't paid taxes. she's lied about what schools she's gone to. i'm sorry. it's a reality, and we said this yesterday, if she were a man, she would never have made it this far. there was a double standard, people saw her as being picked on by the press and by mike castle. >> do you think he backed off on his first statements? >> no. i don't think he backed off. he's a grown up. and charles crowdhammer is an adult in his op ed. he said, okay, sarah palin, if you think she can win go to

delaware now. go to delaware now. jim demint, a guy i like, go to delaware now. you put us in this position, now get us out of it. >> i think you're absolutely right. what's startling to me and you're hiting on, there's so much willful disacknowledgment of the truth. she does haven't a background that people would want in a politician. >> not only that, she lied about it for years. >> the republican party made such a big deal about geithner about not paying his taxes, about barack obama not being qualified, to turn around and say she's great, we love her. it's astonishing. >> let me tell you sarah palin will be in delaware, jim demint will be in delaware, i predict it. this is pour ten shows. look at these names, specter, crist, murkowski, bennett, mccaskill. tea parties went after them and

knocked him off. they say we pick our candidates, not you, even though all five sernl winners. you go to iowa, straw poll is august of next year. sarah palin walks in, she's got the christians, she's got the conservatives, she's got the tea party, she's got glenn beck out there trying to get 100,000 people. they may have to move that thing to soldier field. >> all right. let me show you something, pat -- >> there's a real possibility sarah palin could be the next republican nominee. >> maybe so. maybe so. >> she run it is party. no doubt about it. >> guess what? somebody needs to explain to sarah palin because she doesn't know and i don't blame her for not knowing, but delaware ain't utah. i'm not saying she's not smart. i'll let somebody else say that. sarah palin doesn't understand that all of america doesn't look like alaska. that's why the republican party today doesn't have -- the reason i'm so passionate about this and i recesent people that don't understand, we don't have a

single republican congressman in new england, not one. why? because for the past 10 to 15 years, the republican party has shrunk to the type of party that sarah palin wants it to be. now, politically, if you look at my ideology, i'm a lot closer to sarah palin than i am to mike castle. but i understand, and just like hailly barbour understands, if the republicans are to be a national party again, pat, they've got to allow people like mike castle and scott brown to run and win. >> mike castle was given the right to run. he had everything going for him. do these people have a right to put their candidates in? >> they do. >> and challenge the establishment candidate? >> yes. but is sarah palin more interested in the headline or is she more interested in a republican majority? >> she's interested in a republican majority that represents her views and values, not just power. >> guess what? guess what pat? people in massachusetts don't

think like people in alas kachlt people in utah don't think like people in delaware. sarah palin claims she loves the constitution and understands the constitution. well, her constitution was set up to understand the differences between states, between regions. >> we didn't oppose scott brown. we got behind him. >> now sarah palin is saying he doesn't understand the constitution. ahead on "morning joe," chris hayes will join us. the moment you've been waiting for all week -- >> hold on. we've got some sound bites from mcdonnell's debate. >> o'donnell. >> we'll continue our debate as well. i can't wait for the day that the next supreme court justice is sworn. you never take an upgrade for granted. and you rent from national. because only national lets you choose any car in the aisle. and go. you can even take a full-size or above.

and still pay the mid-size price. i deserve this. [ male announcer ] you do, business pro. you do. go national. go like a pro. ♪ [ male announcer ] every business day, bank of america lends billions of dollars, to individuals, institutions, schools, organizations and businesses. ♪ working to set opportunity in motion. bank of america.

hi, a number two please? would you like that to hurt now, or later? uh, what? sir, it's a simple question, do you want heartburn pain now or later? [ male announcer ] these heartburn medicines make you choose between hurting now, or later. pepcid® complete doesn't. it starts to neutralize acid in seconds and keeps it under control all day or all night.

sometimes you gotta make compromises, man. [ male announcer ] no you don't, man. pepcid® complete works now and works later. ♪ [ upbeat instrumental ] [ male announcer ] no you don't[ rattling ] [ gasps ] [ rattling ] [ laughing ] [ announcer ] close enough just isn't good enough. - if your car is in an accident, - [ laughing continues ] make sure it's repaired with the right replacement parts.

take the scary out of life with travelers. call or click now for an agent or quote. time for an inaccurate roundup of the top three stories of the week. >> you're going to australia. you and you and you are going to australia! >> at number three, oprah insights a riot. [ cheers and applause ] >> oprah winfrey kicked off her show's final season this week in hyper ventilating style, announcing she's taking her entire studio audience on a

little road trip, to australia. [ cheers and applause ] >> and no international vacation with 400 strangers is complete, of course, without an international movie star to fly the plane. >> your pilot! the travolta-induced screaming, crying and general chaos made for the craziest scene ever to take place in oprah's studio. second craziest. >> have you ever felt this way before. >> at number two, locker room talk. >> i was focused on my job. ines sainz visited the new york jets locker room this week and maepd quite an impression. >> the players are making comments, uncomfortable comments about myself. >> extensive google image research reveals that ms. sainz

is not bashful. some wondered whether her attire was appropriate for a locker room full of giant, naked men. >> sounds like she was a little too provocative. >> if you're in an nfl dressing room, you're asking for it. >> she even tweeted a photograph of what she was wearing in the locker room. she quickly became the number one trending topic on twitter. >> i dress like i feel is good. all women like to be attractive. >> she continued her defense by appearing on every national morning show where the hosts tried desperately to look only at her eyes. >> it's like, oh, my goodness, she's here, okay, i want to be mexican. >> the number one story of the week. >> you betcha! there's another woman i got to thank. you betcha. >> with a tea party inspired upset in delaware, christine o'donnell went from relative unknown to overnight political star. >> the palin is strong in this

one. my god, just give her bangs and a pair of rimmed glasses. she'd be a dead ringer. oh, my god! >> sarah palin led the cheers for her fellow grizzly. other republicans were lessen thus as tick about o'donnell's sudden rise. >> this is more about mike castle's voting record than the appeal of christine o'donnell. a lot of nutty things she was saying. >> democrats were not impressed either. >> i think in someone else's words, couldn't be a dog catcher. >> while they were digging big-haired clips of her saying wacky things back in the day, supporters were pouring money into her campaign to take biden's old senate seat. >> it's hung on a shingle, no moderates need apply. >> christine o'donnell has a good shot to shock the political world in november if this is any response. >> ladies and gentlemen, the people of delaware have spoken. no more toll ticks as usual.

you betcha! >> joe and mika, those were some excited voters there, huh? >> no doubt about it. willie from the christine mcdonald desk in d.c. >> o'donnell. >> sam stein, you have dug through the arrives. what did you find? >> well, it took a lot. but i went to lexus nexus search and found she did appearances on scar borrow. >> yes. i didn't remember that. what was she talking about. >> mostly cultural topics. i'll have to go back. it might have been "sex and the city." i'm not even sure. >> she has been on our show. i don't feel so bad now. >> sam, where did joe stand in these debates? >> he was more for the conversation -- >> chris hayes next. >> what's up, chris?

[ drums playing ] [ male announcer ] 306 horsepower. race-inspired paddle shifters. and f-sport-tuned suspension. all available on the new 2011 lexus is. it isn't real performance unless it's wielded with precision.

i'm a member of this hotel's loyalty program. well, how far away is it? okay, we take a train 40 miles to a dude ranch where we pick up a couple of horses that we ride to a nearby river. then we canoe upstream to a helicopter that takes us to the conference. or we could book with hotels.com and stay closer. see, with welcomerewards, no matter where you accumulate 10 nights, you get a free one. huh. smarter. [ male announcer ] accumulate 10 nights and get a night free. welcomerewards from hotels.com.

extreme for delaware. she's a creationist who believes in abstinence-only education. and she even opposes mass stur bags. chris coons is no extremist, he's a seasoned legislator with a proven record of partisanship, who loves to masterbates. he does it all the time, at home, in the office, one time

even in the bathroom of air force 1. he did right before taking this picture. chris coons, matterbaiting for delaware. [ laughter ]. >> that's too much. >> i'm not going to be able to do it. >> sam, can you start the show. >> why am i taking this show? >> that poor guy. that poor, poor guy. willie, you know, i knew politics in delaware was strange. this takes the cakes. >> the race could swing on that central issue, very important to delaware voters and voters, i dare say, across this great country. >> they had a debate there last night. i wonder if this topic came up. she is against that. she has said she's against that. sam stein who is digging up all

this information about -- >> give us the rundown on that. >> she was on "scarborough country." you also said it was announced in the newspaper that she was fencing. >> we haven't confirmed it. >> say it anyway. unconfirmed. at at some point in time there was a story in the paper that she was going to go on "politically incorrect" bill maher and fence al franken. i haven't seen the video yet. the "huffinigton post" traffic numbers are dieing for this video. we'll find it, i think, if it's there. >> recreate, the famous charles sumner movement. >> chris hayes has joined us for this very intelligent conversation. >> i want to read the opening line of charles crowdhammer -- i love charles crowdhammer. this makes me love him even more. i'll take my time, chris.

the buckley rule, charles crowdhammer in the washington posted, tuesday in delaware was a bad day not only for republicans, but conservatives. tea party christine o'donnell scored a stunning victory over establishment republican mike castle. the very people who most alerted the country to the perils of president obama's social democratic agenda have just made it impossible for republicans to retake the senate and stop that agenda. bill buckley, no mike castle. he had a rule, support the most conservative candidate who is electable. crowdhammer doesn't believe that happened obviously. i don't. i don't know a lot of people, chris hayes, who do. >> i would disagree with one thing n. the wonderful era -- i say wonderful sarcastically. in the era of the institutionalized filibuster, how big a difference? obviously the committee chairs make a difference. to stop an agenda, what's the difference between 52 and 53? honestly i think if i were sitting in pat's seat there with

his world view, i would look at the christine o'donnell race as sort of collateral damage in a larger battle. >> pat, chris hayes has just placed himself in your seat quite effectively. that's what you believe? >> i think that's right. buckley's rule is a knock off of gal breath's rule. buckley went for goldwater in '64. we knew by the time that came around we couldn't win. buckley ran himself 65 for mayor and got wiped out, got 13%. but i do agree with this general idea that you don't pick someone who is a sure loser. i don't think this gal is a sure loser. crowd hamer said last night on o'reilly, one in ten. i don't agree. i would give her a one in three chance of winning that seat, given the energy -- >> wow. really? >> she's going to raise $40 million. >> every tea party guy in america is headed for wilmington.

>> it doesn't work that way. delaware is a reliably democratic state. >> so is ms. massachusetts. >> chris coons is known -- been' healthed by two-thirds of the state for 20 years. a known figure in that state. >> he's got the ad. >> a great masterbation ad. >> fresh off her upset victory in delaware, republican in the primary for u.s. senate, christine o'donnell will speak today at the values voter's summit in washington. one of the nation's biggest gathering of conservative leaders. just last night she faced off against chris coons in her first debate. they faced off on the economy and health care. both used the opportunity to say they wanted to focus on their policies, not statements from their past. take a listen. >> you have taken a strong stance in the past about people's private sexual

behavior. what do you think the role of government is in regulating these matters. >> it's personal. >> i agree with you. it's personal. >> these questions come from statements i made over 15 years ago. i was in my 20s and very excited and passionate about my new-found faith. but i assure you my faith has matured and when i go to washington, d.c., it will be the constitution on which i base all of my decisions, not my personal beliefs. >> it's my hope that in the general election campaign, my opponent and i can focus on our policy proposals, on the constructive ideas that we've got for how to get this idea back on track, how to create jobs and how to manage federal spending and reduce our debt. those are the sorts of things i know delaware wants to hear. i don't think they're particularly interested in statements that either of us made 20 or 30 years ago. >> what do you think, mika? >> he's smart. >> what do you think? say it. >> no. >> can i make another point, i'm

go in whole hog. >> by the way, i'm just saying i've been knocking ms. mcdonald around. >> o'donnell. >> whatever. i thought that was a great answer. i really did. >> you get 24 hours of jokes out of it. obviously funny. two things. one is that the position that she took 20 years ago on this particular topic happens to be the official dogma of the faith in which i was raised. that is the official church teaching on this topic. the largest religion -- the largest church in the world. >> i'm glad i'm protestant. >> exactly. >> oh, god. >> part of this show is the whole reason that we have norms about what we keep out of political debate and what we put in. the whole reason the danger, when you enter religion in this way into the public debate is everybody else's views always seem crazy. of course they the. >> let's understand line what you said and underline what she said. again, something by which i'm

hopeful because i've been saying we need to focus and wrote a book about it, we need to focus on the economy, we need to focus on the dealt, we need to focus on lower taxes, focus on the constitution. pat, she may be going to this values summit today, but she's sounding like a lot of tea partiers which is let's not talk about the social issues, let's talk about less government. >> i think what she's doing is going to the values summit because you get that and put that in the bank and they're all behind you. then you go and add the economic issue. she doesn't need to talk about it. everybody in the country is talk gd about her. joe, just as a political horse flesh, if you will, sarah palin when she came out had a very tough time opening up in those interviews with katie couric. this gal has come out. she's gone on all these news show, had a debate. she seems to be a very mature, accomplished candidate. >> i will say this, she's more confident actually than sarah palin. >> she's been talking on tv for 20 years. what do you expect?

>> i think this is very instructive, by the way. we made fun of her a couple days ago for being on every network but ours. and we thought it was the tim pawlenty thing because she knew if she came here, we were going to destroy her. pawlenty won't come on, the governor from louisiana is scared to come on our show, too. they don't want to come on the show. they actually called up later and said we'll come on any time you want us to come on. that's fine. >> o'donnell's people. >> yeah, mcdonald's people called and said that. so you see her the way she's handling herself. she's not afraid of any of the network networks. her initial strategy is stay off of fox and friends. it's really the opposite of sarah palin. they didn't want to go to the safe network, they wanted to go to all the other networks and also she did pretty darn well last night from what i've seen.

she's going to lose. >> she knows what her strengths are coming in. it's not policy. it's her presence and the fact she's been doing tv for 20 years. >> to your broader point about social issues, this is pervasive in the republican party. we were at a christian science monitor breakfast, barbour said it's all about jobs. cornyn said i see why they want to do this, but value voters thing seems like a cherry on top. she doesn't need it. >> do you know what joe miller won on the renal onsz up there? they had restrictions on abortions on that ballot and the right-to-life movement is enormously powerful. that's why i won alaska, all those folks endorsed me. i won by 100 votes over forbes. iowa, joe, 25% of those people -- if there's 30% of those people, if you're wrong on life, you're gone. >> there's no doubt. but then you have new hampshire.

>> new hampshire there's a right-to-life movement not as powerful, more libertarian. there are some folks even there -- >> can we also say it's the same move. in different clothing. it's not like -- >> no, no. tea party is by and large economic. >> no, tea party says it's economic. go look at the demographic, go look at church attendance, the views on abortion of the active tea party and they're ostensibly indistinguishab indistinguishable. >> i'm telling you -- >> gay rights they are not. >> on gay rights they are not. on abortion they are. >> in '94, the tea parties were called perot people. they didn't want to hear about abortion, they wanted to hear about guns. they didn't want to hear about gay marriage. they wanted to talk about the constitution, talk about limited federal government, less taxes and they wanted to talk about deficits. and keep your social issues away from us. if that -- if that's the case, if that's what fuels voters, that's actually a winning

proposition. >> i agree. >> if you stay away from some of the crazy stuff and try to keep the hitler signs to a minimum as jon stewart said, i may disagree with you but i don't think you're hitler, it's an economic message that wins. >> you go in there and they ask you and you say i'm pro life all the way, for traditional marriage. put that in the bank and then go after the key issues which they're jobs, the economy and what's happening and obama and all these other things. and then you go on those and you've got this in the bank, it's a winning combination. >> ironically maybe the democrats node to run on social issues, gay marriage. >> go ahead, make my day. 30 times you've lost on that. >> no, dadt -- as many people oppose dadt -- >> if you're a democrat, though,

i'd stay away from the gay marriage issue, and don't ask don't tell. if we're talking about winning votes and i would reach out to suburban women and make the argument that, if you elect these republicans then abortion is gone. you're one vote away. i tell republicans, i tell my own party, don't bring up that issue. >> motivate the progressive base. >> they're so depressed on the economics. and that may be all you can argue if you're democrats, right? >> an interesting proposition. i don't know if it will play out. something i've heard is looking at statewide initiatives, look at california, moated a huge amount of the base. >> let me ask you this. california knocked down affirmative action. the english language thing won 7-1 in missouri. if the republicans can get enough of these blazing issues on the state ballots and the key states in 2012, african-americans, 70% of african-americans voted for

proposition 8 in california. highest of any group in the country. mccain got 5% of them. >> pat -- >> once a lawyer, always a lawyer. >> pat, as i said, i love you. >> how many more different cultural fights can we pick? >> we actually went to ground zero, right? i've got to say really though -- >> no gay marriage at the ground zero mosque. it might be an issue. >> i really believe, pat, with all due respect, i'm with you on economic nationalism, but on these cultural issues, i think that train has moved on. i think it's about jobs, jobs, jobs. >> that's the answer to everything. chris hayes stay with us, ahead, president bill clinton stopped by the daily show last night. his words of advice for president obama on how to keep the democrats from getting, quote, blown away in the midterms. mod rateer of "meet the press"

david gregory and savannah guthrie join the conversation. little later, startling statistics about poverty in america. we'll get to these numbers, first let's go to bill karins with a check on the forecast. >> good morning, mika and joe. you missed it in new york city. what a rare event, 100-mile-per-hour winds blew through lower manhattan, queens, brooklyn and staten island. take a look at the pictures here. you see the impressive lightning strikes. there actually was video that shows a funnel cloud. that's the big shelf cloud, a rolling shelf cloud they call it with straight line winds that was swallowing up chunks of brooklyn there as it moved through. it was just a wall of wind and also rain. incredible stuff. that's new york city in the far right-hand corner. let me show you what's going on also, today. hurricanes are the big story. igor and karl. karl will take the headlines today, making landfall north awful vera cruz as a category 4 tropical storm today. this will do major destruction in mexico over the next two

days. one of the strongest storms we've watched in a while. igor should hit bermuda sunday night most likely as a category 2. a lot quieter today in new england. it will clear out this afternoon. weekend looks nice up and down the eastern seaboard. chicago beautiful al loong with atlanta. no troublesome weather. nice and slow weather pattern finally. you're watching "morning joe" brewed by starbucks. my name is vonetta, and i suffer from allergies. [ male announcer ] we asked zyrtec® users what they love about their allergy relief, and what it lets them do. the thing i love most about zyrtec® is that it allows me to be outside. [ male announcer ] we bet you'll love zyrtec®, too -- or it's free. [ vonetta ] it is countdown to marshmallow time. [ woman laughs ]

[ vonett- that's right,down cso we've got a list. of things you can do to get active. - like jumping jacks. - or how 'bout push-ups? - sit-ups? - uh, maybe jumping rope? - yeah. or jogging. - uh, how about like a wheelbarrow race? - oh, yeah, that's a great idea. - but imagine actually trying to use him as a wheelbarrow, like stacking bricks on him and doing, like, doo-doo-doo. you know what i mean? - or yoga. - which is actually peaceful and quiet and not a lot of talking, so... - exactly. is he still looking at me?

everyone knows a fee is a tax. you raised some taxes during that period, particularly the property tax as well as a lot of fee increases. as you know, there's a big difference between fees and taxes. but...they're the same. it's a tax. it's a tax. it's a tax. it's a tax. there's a big difference between fees and taxes. fees and taxes are one in the same. if it comes out of my pocket, it's a tax. now he says it isn't true. we didn't raise taxes. what? still doing the same thing, paying out more money. typical politician. definitely.

. we had a different problem. at that time newt gingrich had come out with his contract on america or contract for america he called it. we had a version of what he's facing now which is that we had done things that were bringing the economy back, but no one felt it yet. that's a combustible mix. it makes people angry and they ought to be angry. it may make some of your own strong supporters kind of

apathetic about whether they should vote. so i think that he should go to the areas where he can help. and that's what he's doing. he should help them raise enough funds so they don't get blown away. >> welcome back to "morning joe." live look at the white house this morning. joining us here in washington, the moderator of "meet the press" david gregory, and at the white house, nbc news white house correspondent savannah guthrie. thanks for being on the show this morning. >> david, you're going to be talking to bill clinton this weekend on "meet the press." >> we are, and former secretary of state collin powell. we've got the political earth quick and what it means for the republican party and the democrats. what's striking is we'll talk about where can the president do the most good and what does he want to emphasize. i go back to the press conference last friday. in his opening statement he didn't mention health care

reform, the signature achievement of this administration and they're not talking about it because it's not popular. they've got some real difficulties. >> that was the issue. >> it's much more difficult, with all due respect to president clinton, actually barack obama has a more difficult economic situation because actually the economy grew in the fourth quarter of 1992. by the time bill clinton got into office, the economy was ramping up. david, we're in a terrible hole. i think barack obama is more in jimmy carter's situation where he's facing the hangover of 30 years of a welfare state. here it's 30 years of economic decline that's landed right in barack obama's lap. >> i think that's the important part of this. i think psychologically as a country we're still reeling from this recession.

this is not an academic discussion. >> more than psychological. >> what i mean is, by that i mean the kind of -- the real pain of poverty, of families in homeless shelters, of groups that provide furniture and home furnishings for people who are homeless or who are just getting into an apartment, they're seeing quadruple, triple fold, people coming in. that's the backdrop president obama is facing. here is another thing i think is key, our polling shows that not only do people disapprove of how the president is handling the economy, they're not optimistic about the future. in a political environment, that's just -- >> chris? >> i agree completely. i think one of the statistics i think is the most important to understanding where we are right now is that the unemployment rate among college-educated people in this country is about 5%. there really are two americans right now, to borrow a phrase from a former candidate, but

there really are. >> former candidate who was right. >> i live in washington, one of the fastest growing metro areas in united states. my friends have college degrees and people go to restaurants. so things are trucking along in a certain part of elite america and things are an absolute blood bath in the rest of it. this disconnect i think is leading the the fact that there is no urgency around jobs. in washington, for all the lip service -- >> what is really most shocking is, yes, there are two americas. but in the america that's doing well, the thing that shocks us especially in new york is since september 15th, 2008 when the economy collapsed, the rich have not just gotten richer. it's gone into hyper drive -- i mean hyper overdrive. the rich have accumulated a fabulous amount of wealth as andrew ross orkin said, the biggest transfer of income ever from americans to wall street,

and wall street has gotten richer than ever. the super rich have gotten so much richer over the past 18 months. >> if you look at the front page of t"the washington post" and "the new york times," poverty numbers higher than ever before in the history of taking these numbers. savannah guthrie, how does the white house try to get a message through this reality? >> reporter: it's hard, and i think it's hard for this white house to trumpet its achievements because so many people are facing a reality on the ground that's totally inconsistent with that. that's the real challenge. this whole issue that joe brings up about -- it's not that this recession is so vicious and it has cut across -- you can talk people who lost their jobs who are college educated and went to law school. however, joe makes a good point. wall street's profits are great. but apparently corporations don't feel like they can hire. so those kinds of issues that i think makes the white house and democrats feel like they've got a solid argument on this whole

question of extending the bush tax cuts for the wealthiest americans. they think the facts are on their side. and one thing they really say is, look, how can republicans be talking about fiscal rectitude and worry about deficit spending when, to extent the bush tax cuts for those making over $250,000 would cost $700 billion which is about what the stimulus program they all hate costs. they they they've got a winning argument. >> here is the problem that democrats really recognize. you get into a fine point about the utility of government and the tax debate, most americans have changed how they lived. they've made changes in their lives to what they're spending. government hasn't. that's the reality of the obama administration. that's the disconnect. you can talk about the utility of stimulus. it's kind of funny, the "wall street journal" reporting about the stimulus effect in washington, d.c. this is a government town, a lot of government money flowing through here and keeping people at work. that's the point. people aren't feeling health

care reform yet. we're not feeling financial regulation even though that's a necessary prescription for the economy, and government doesn't seem to be changing. then you have a toxic environment where they can't seem to get along. >> so you have the rich getting richer and -- >> and the republican party wanting to cut their taxes in perpetuity. >> let me just say, if you wanted to debate tax policy for 45 minutes straight, you should have been here at 6:00 a.m. >> really good. >> i missed it. >> boost those ratings. >> i won't explain how i won the war again. anyway, but president obama has two real problems right now. the rich getting a lot richer over the past 18 months because of the wall street bailout and everything that's happened. i'll be honest, i really don't understand how wall street has done so extraordinary well over the past year, but they have. that's one. two, as david said, all of americans saying we're

tightening our belt at home. look what they're doing in washington. that's the message right there. >> i understand, and i understand the politics of that. but on the substance, this is what you need to do when demand flags, the demand of last resort is the government, is the public sector. >> so you're a keynesian. >> sure. not even a keynesian in any kind of -- >> you think tax cuts are good? >> not for the wealthy, right? the whole idea is how they get into the economy and stimulate demand. there's a huge difference, if you look at other people's numbers, about the bang for buck you get in terms of added demand for cutting taxes for people making $50,000, $60,000 and people making $2 million. >> i'm thinking ahead to the alabama-duke game this weekend. >> can i make one point? the populism on the left and right has a real negative effect on our economy and moving forward. we concentrate on the ultra rich

and all the rest. think about the republicans who want to take everyone to task for voting for t.a.r.p. you have republican and liberal economists who say but for t.a.r.p. there was a total financial collapse. we want the banks to be doing well. we're in a global marketplace. that's in part why they're doing well. >> they're not the oonl one sgls that's right. the path out is not that you bring more people down. that's a challenge for both parties. >> can they do something with that, savannah? >> the feds giving money for one quarter of 1% and they're loaning it out for 5% or 6%. >> they're not loaning on it. they're making bets. >> let's go to savannah. the white house's big gifted problem is that americans don't believe the stimulus worked. look at the polls. they don't believe health care reform is good for the economy. everything the obama administration is proud of passing, they're losing in the polls right now. >> no question about it. frankly, administration officials would acknowledge a

failure of communications, a failure of getting the message through, because what they don't acknowledge is that on substance they were wrong. in other words, they still believe the recovery act was the right thing to do. they believe health care reform was right to do. they think they're right on the merits. but they know that america doesn't get it. another thing about the stimulus plan that everybody forgets, the recovery act, it was one-third tax cuts. so it's one of those things, they haven't been able to penetrate with that message. i think a lot of people thought when they went along with initially supporting that stimulus, they thought they were going to get kind of a wpa post depression era roosevelt kind of infrastructure projects. nobody sees those kinds of significant investments for whatever reason. and i think that's part of the reason why it hasn't really resonated. people don't feel like they got for their buck something that was worth it. instead, maybe they got the yellow line repainted on their road. not worth it to them. >> a really nice sign on the

side of the road. thank you, savannah. savannah said something that i think is problematic because it's the white house's way of thinking right now, the president's way of thinking. she said they know, the white house knows that america doesn't get it. maybe america does get it. maybe it's the white house that's disconnected. >> i think what her point is, that they're not feeling the -- >> that's the feeling, though, inside the white house, we've done all these great things, why don't americans get it? >> why don't they feel it? >> why don't they feel it? yeah. >> david, we look forward to "meet the press" on sunday. >> seriously, it gets no better than that. >> we'll be watching that. david, thank you very much. some said the obama era was supposed to make jon stewart less relevant. but "new york magazine's" chris smith explains why the daily show is more important than ever. we'll be right back. playing )

♪ can't help it, can't help it ♪ ♪ can't help it, no no no... ♪ come on. ♪ can't help it, can't help it, no no no ♪ ♪ you drive me crazy ♪ and i just can't stop myself, uh! ♪ ♪ can't help it, can't help it, can't help it. ♪ is to reproduce every color in the world on tv. introducing quattron quadpixel technology, it adds a fourth color, yellow, to the standard rgb color system, creating a vast array of colors you can't see with your tv's 3 color technology. but, you can see this... wow! oh my. [ male announcer ] quattron from sharp. you have to see it, to see it. [ takei laughs ]

sadly, no. oh. but i did pick up your dry cleaning and had your shoes shined. well, i made you a reservation at the sushi place around the corner. well, in that case, i better get back to these invoices... which i'll do right after making your favorite pancakes. you know what? i'm going to tidy up your side of the office. i can't hear you because i'm also making you a smoothie. [ male announcer ] marriott hotels & resorts knows it's better for xerox to automate their global invoice process so they can focus on serving their customers. with xerox, you're ready for real business. it means getting everything you need to invest for yourself, not by yourself. it means choosing from stocks, bonds, mutual funds, and every etf sold. plus 5-star service and research designed to increase your intelligence, not insult it. so you can wave good riddance to some high-priced joker churning out cookie cutter portfolios. price is one thing. value is another. don't confuse the two. e-trade. investing unleashed.

welcome back to "morning joe." guys are chattering away about politics. after five long months crews are on the verge of permanently -- >> t.j., what is that? >> your director is confused. permanently plugging b.p's damaged well in the gulf of

mexico, government officials said a relief well intersected the damaged well. mud and cement will now be pumped in to permanently seal it, a process that completed by sunday. let's move on to pope benedict, beginning his four-day tour of britain by offering the sharpest critique yet of the child abuse scandal rocking the catholic church. speaking to reporters in edinburg, he expressed sadness that the church was not, quote, sufficiently swift and decisive in taking the necessary measures to prevent the crimes. benedict's trip is the first ever state visit by the pope to the uk. his meeting with the queen is symbolically significant because of the historic divide between the officially protestant nation and the catholic church. >> pat, it's important. it is so important for the catholic church to come to terms with their problems. it looks like pope benedict is doing just that. >> every time he goes to the country, and now this thing that hit us a number of years ago has hit various countries in europe. it's a real problem.

he's got problems with the anglican church because they feel he's poaching on their conservative wing and sort of inviting them over to reconciliation with catholicism. some of them are gone. >> i spent a weekend with the survivors network for abuse in the annual conference in chicago. for the book i'm writing, i'm eve doing research on this. it's clear they think this lands not just on his doorstep because he's the pope, on his actual doorstep when he was cardinal. there are smoking guns there about him actually and priests, and i think that's going to continue to play out. >> david, i'm very excited about "meet the press" this week end. general colin powell, secretary colin powell, a grownup in the republican party. are you going to be talking to him about what's happening to the party? >> absolutely. just over the past year and a half, he's had very public disagreements with dick cheney and rush limbaugh.

he talked about another version of the party emerging again. again, i don't think the tea party is what he had in mind. >> and concerns with barack obama now trying to do too much at once. he's issued warnings. i'm eve going to be intrigued to see what he has to say about barack obama. he's got to be disappointed. >> also afghanistan. i've been in my own research looking at his comments early on after 9/11 talking about how quickly troops would come out of afghanistan. i think thing have changed significantly. but really talk about the president's leadership and the future of the republican party at such a critical time. >> there's talk of him being chief of staff. >> david gregory, thanks very much. there might be a new party in the white house. "the daily show" is running short on material. "new york magazine's" chris smith joins us next. we'll be right back. [ woman ] nine iron, it's almost tee-time...

time to face the pollen that used to make me sneeze... my eyes water. but now zyrtec®, the fastest 24-hour allergy relief, comes in a liquid gel. zyrtec® liquid gels work fast, so i can love the air®. comes in a liquid gel. words alone aren't enough. our job is to listen and find ways to help workers who lost their jobs to the spill. i'm iris cross. we'll keep restoring the jobs, tourist beaches, and businesses impacted by the spill. we've paid over $400 million in claims and set up a $20 billion independently-run claims fund. i was born in new orleans. my family still lives here.

i'm gonna be here until we make this right. [ dog barking ] [ sniffing ] [ male announcer ] missing something? like 2 pairs of glasses for $99.99 at sears optical, with bifocal lenses for just $25 more per pair. hurry in to sears optical today and don't miss a thing.

you may be asking yourself right now sitting at home, am i the right type of person to go to this rally? the fact that you would even stop to ask yourself that question as opposed to just, let's say, jumping up, grabbing the nearest stack of burnable holy books, strapping on a diaper and just pointing your car towards d.c., that means i think you might just be right for it. >> i see you're intrigued but there's something still bothering, i'd love to come, jon, but i don't have time to hand craft a message or signage. not to worry. that's where we come in. we're going to have signs for you down there if you don't have

time. of course yourks can bring your own. here is a quick one. i disagree with you but i'm pretty sure you're not hitler. >> that was last night, "the daily show's" jon stewart announcing the rally to restore sanity, according to his website for people, quote, too busy to go to rallies and actually have lies. chris smith goes inside the daily show in this week's cover story. he writes in part, this about stewart. his comedy is counterprogramming, post modern entertainment but with a political purpose. he and "the daily show" have become an invaluable corrective. he's cronkite, the most trusted man in america. good to see you again. >> thanks for having me. >> jon stewart has become essential to our media culture. it's sbrinteresting to go back 12 years ago when he was overlooked. conan, kimmel, all those jobs,

he was seen as a contender for that. now frankly he's more relevant than any of those guys. >> a guy who had some success in stand-up comedy career, a short-lived talk show on mtv and thought he was going to get one of the big sort of conventional late night shows, didn't. and ends up having in manim ways a bigger more substantial career than some of the guys who theoretically won. >> it's so funny, you a great story in the piece about stephen colbert telling his wife their friend, jon stewart had been chosen to host "the daily show." >> she said, wait a minute, he was the quiet guy in the corner with the beard, not the funny one. what's he doing getting the show? stewart is a very smart guy. there's no magic formula as he says. he's worked hard at his humor, getting booed off stage in all the standard sort of start-up things. he lucked into a niche in some ways, "the daily show" existed

before he took over as house. it wasn't nearly as political, as topical. he knew he wanted to give it some weight. but some things that have happened in the real world, many of them not funny, have given him openings. and the polarization of media, cable channels, fox obviously the biggest culprit, has given stewart a middle to both poke fun at and sort of represent in some ways. it's going to be interesting, with this rally he talked about last night, he seeing it as a piece of theater, as another goof on glenn beck and everybody else. whether he can do that and not cross the line into sort of quasi demagoguery, we'll see. >> is he driven by anger? when you read the things he says about the meade yarks he holds the media in utter contempt almost across the board. that includes the right and the left. >> yeah. i mean anger and a faint naive

kind of hope for intelligence to rule the day. he still thinks there's some dream state, political discourse where we can be nicer to each other and have genuine arguments, but have them based in fact and not emotion. >> joe scarborough? >> it's interesting, watching him over the past year especially, we sort of poke fun at jon stewart after barack obama was elected because a lot of comedians had trouble sort of finding their feet in going after this new administration that so many people had put so much hope in. my gosh, over the past year, he's been every bit as tough on the obama administration as republicans on capitol hill, and he also has been tough on extremists on the left as well as extremists on the right. have you noted that in your

piece? have you talked about the fact that he goes after the left now as aggressively as the right in many cases. >> certainly. it's not out of any agenda, any big picture, attempt to be fair and balanced, to coin a phrase. but he's a comedy opportunist. where people do mockable things, left, right, in between, he's going to go for the punch line. dennis leery, his friend in my story, talks about how when john becomes self-important, he knows the funny is going to go away. he's been very careful about that. one of the interesting things is to be in the studio as they're taeching "the daily show." stewart will take good, funny jabs at obama, at the administration, and it doesn't go over in the same way with the studio audience. i don't know about the audience at home, of course. but it simply doesn't get the

laughs that shots at bush or glenn beck do. >> mika, you've always talked about his brilliance. hard work helps, john madden says in football, speed kills. in basketball you can't coach hype if you're born and grow up to be 7'4" you'll be a better center. jon stewart works hard. the guy, as you always say, he's brilliant. you think he's one of the smartest guys on tv. >> i think he has one of the unique ways to key into exactly what's happening, whether it's right or left causing it i don't think matters as much as being able to connect with people as to the ridiculousness of the situation. chris, i do think there's a tinge of anger in a lot of his anger. >> no question. that's what gives it weight and bite, and he admits to being angry every day and the show gives him the catharsis. it gives him the chance to point things out. it's not just anger for the sake of anger.

you know, he did something three, four weeks ago that maybe you guys covered. i certainly didn't. i don't know that the media got to it somewhere else, the street media before him. but pointing out that fox has been taking all these shots at the mosque and who is funding it, and then to go and do the homework to say, well, news corps second largest investor is a saudi prince. that's reporting as much as it is anger or humor. >> willie geist, we know one person that fuels his anger, right? >> joe scarborough perhaps? >> he don't like me at all. >> i think he'll evolve on you. >> i wouldn't take it personally. he's not a fan of a lot of people in the press. >> i don't take it too personally. i've got to say and we've said it here, the thing that shocks me about jon stewart is night after night after night after night he's funny.

and the only time he's not funny and you touched on this, the only times that we roll our eyes around here and say good god, don't take yourself too seriously is when he starts sounding like a journalism professor lecturing the world from mt. olympus, when he stays away from that, he's blisteringly funny every single night. i don't know how you do that. >> he's got a great staff. it's not purely a one-man show. he's the performer and he's the brains, but he has a lot of good people. >> the truth is he's initial ated some stories that the rest of the press has then attached themselves to. >> he's got an amazing staff patted buchanan wants to jump in. >> anger represents a core of beliefs. i would be interested to know what they are once you punch through. >> he's no george w. bush. >> obviously liberal. does he have people who are here

ohhic. a lot of folks loved bobby kennedy, for example. i'd be interested to know. >> thank you, chris smith. >> any time. thank you. maybe you want to provide meals for the needy. or maybe you want to help when the unexpected happens. whatever you want to do, members project from american express can help you take the first step. vote, volunteer, or donate for the causes you believe in at membersproject.com. take charge of making a difference. ♪ a day once dawned ♪ ♪ and it was beautiful ♪ ♪ so, look, see the sights ♪ that you learned [ male announcer ] at&t covers 97% of all americans. at&t. rethink possible.

buy a pantech messaging phone like the impact, and get a pantech messaging phone free after mail-in rebate. ♪ ♪ one, two, three, four ♪ want you and everything that you do...do ♪ ♪ it's obvious that i like you ♪ i'd go anywhere to be near you ♪ ♪ you say ♪ flip it over and replay ♪ we'll make everything okay ♪ walk together the right way ♪ do, do, do, do...

♪ i can't sleep ♪ do, do, do, do and the 60-day handshake lives on, that five-finger bond that communicates trust, honor, follow-through, and follow-up. it's a promise that says go ahead and buy a ram 1500 or a heavy duty without a payment for 60 days. and if it doesn't do everything you ask it to do... bring it back.

ram. is to reproduce every color in the world on tv. introducing quattron quadpixel technology, it adds a fourth color, yellow, to the standard rgb color system, creating a vast array of colors you can't see with your tv's 3 color technology. but, you can see this... wow! oh my. [ male announcer ] quattron from sharp. you have to see it, to see it. [ takei laughs ] so you remember that interview in february of 2009 where joaquin phoenix went on the letterman show with the beard, smacking gum and being all mumbly? >> you've got a nice beard going. >> oh, yeah, thank you.

>> how is that, the beard? >> in what way? >> well, is it comfortable, is it itchy, are you pleased with it? >> i think you're making me feel weird about it. >> in "walk the line" i said this guy is tremendous. he's singing and it sounded great. is that the kind of music you're interested in? >> no, no, i do more of hip-hop music. >> hip-hop music. >> is this a joke? >> joaquin, i'm sorry you couldn't be here tonight. >> a lot of people suspected after that appearance that it was all a big joke. it turns out it kind of was. casey affleck the director of the new movie starring joaquin phoenix telling "the new york times" this week that was all part of the character for the film. a lot of people suspected that going into it. said he wanted to get deep into it. said it was a terrific performance by joaquin phoenix. he spent basically a year

disintegrating as a celebrity. good news, he wasn't actually disintegrating, it was all for a role. coming up, eugene robinson. we'll be right back. [ female announcer ] stay once... stay twice... earn a free night! two separate stays at comfort inn or any of these choice hotels can earn you a free night -- only when you book at choicehotels.com. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 no more $2, $3 fees. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 no more paying to access your own money. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 it'd be like every atm in the world was your atm.

tdd# 1-800-345-2550 the schwab bank high yield investor checking(tm) account. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 zero atm fees. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 a great interest rate. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 no minimums. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 the biggest thing in checking since checks. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 open an account at 1-800-4schwab or schwab.com. long summer days, and not enough sleep. what i wouldn't do for a do-over. [ female announcer ] neutrogena® clinical skincare, exclusive ion2 complex combined with activating cream

helps restore collagen depleted skin. neutrogena clinical skincare is clinically tested to undo the look of a year's worth of skin aging in just 4 weeks. do-overs do exist. [ female announcer ] clinical skincare. neutrogena. #1 dermatologist recommended brand.

she needs to do two things. she needs to in the seven weeks remaining make a passionate articulate incredible aggressive case about why obama is bad on

spending deficits, debt and health care, and then she needs to also be able to answer these questions about her personal background. everybody in their life sometimes has difficulties and honesty and candor will be the best remedy. she can't simply say my answer is on my website or it's puzzling to me why the irs would file a lien for me when i didn't pay my taxes in 2005. she's got to be more honest than that. if she does, she's got a shot to win. >> karl rove there on fox talking about christine o'donnell. we'll talk about that more. welcome back to "morning joe." 8:00 on the east coast, top of the hour. we're here at the washington bureau. still with us, pat buchanan. joining us now, pulitzer prize-winning calm um nis, eugene robinson and his column in today's post is a note to democrats, tea party is not over till it's over. we'll get to that in a moment.

but willie geist, did you see eugene yesterday? >> handsome son of a gun. >> he had on his gym suit. where did you get that, eugene? >> well -- >> let me put it this way. how long have you had it? >> i've had it for a long time. let's be frank, it was an adidas track suit. however, if members only made a track suit, that's what it would be. it's been stuck back in the closet because those are not the clothes that i have in my gym bag, but i thought i should wear something appropriate for the walk. >> you looked great. thank you for coming. >> i can actually put a time frame on that when he bought it. i remember watching abba wear those track suits while they were on "american bandstand" back in 1976 and dancing queen. >> and you know i'm hugely down with abba. >> it was fun and you've lost ten pounds. >> have you really?

just since yesterday walking? >> yeah, that was a hell of a walk. mika just took us through the paces. >> joe, you were quite good with the young guns, those handsome little boys on the hill. >> will you stop calling them little boys. it's so demeaning the way you talk -- >> they call themselves the young guns. >> they're the leaders of the republican party. i do have great respect for eric candor in the middle for calling himself young when he's my age at 47. but you look at paul ryan, he is a young guy. but i will say, pat, i'll bring it up again, i was struck by the fact i think it was a good sign for them. we kicked them around a lot on this show, they came out yesterday joking about it. we've all been around washington long enough to know if politicians get on the wrong side, they become petulent but they just smiled and joked. >> as i said, everybody was

kidding around and laughing and they were having a good time. >> they wouldn't tell us the prep s preposition. they wouldn't tell us what the new plan was going to be. >> also if they picked one out. why would you put the ball in the air when you're two touchdowns ahead. >> all summer it was great. great that valerie was there from the white house, of course the president and the first lady obviously very interested in this issue as well. >> valerie jarrett came out, a lot of her friends from the white house. she has a great piece in the "washington post" this morning on equal pay for women and how important it is to get the act through. >> but she did a very good job. we were walking a pretty good pace. i was asking her about the economy, the ground zero situation, talking and walking just like harry truman. >> valerie was keeping up. and she kissed scott brown. it was awkward and we were pushing them together, but okay.

it happened. it was bipartisan. >> there was a special circumstance, though, in that he was sweaty. >> i was going to say i saw him kissing democrats and then i asked her, since it was a bipartisan fun run to kiss scott brown and she wouldn't do it. i said how partisan of her and when i looked at her, when she finally kissed she was like -- and i said that reminds me of my wife when i'm sweaty. women don't like to kiss sweat. >> he had run a few miles. >> he was in the middle of his daily 20-mile run or whatever he does. >> and i pulled him in for an interview. the guy will never be the same. let's talk really quickly, that's one of the lost joys of washington, d.c., and why we have the problems that we have. it's one of the reasons we wanted to do this. it used to be that politicians could fight like hell on the house floor, on the senate floor and in the white house and then they and their wives and their families would go out to dinner

on the weekends, or the guys would golf with each other, they'd see each other in church on sunday morning. if you're in a synagogue or if you're in church on sunday morning and you see families, it's harder to kick the hell out of them on monday. >> puts things in perspective. >> and i didn't realize that until i moved to washington. >> is there a thursday problem, joe? >> that is the problem. i can't underline how big of a problem that is, and i didn't realize it until i moved to washington with my family. >> right. >> back a couple years ago. we were here for a year. and i would see people that i was about to just take out the next day on the air, pick up their little girls at my girls' elementary school and you're like, okay, i better give him a call first before i knock his head off. >> let's just think about this and talk about it. >> yeah, but that is -- you guys are -- know washington.

>> there was a rough editorial writer in st. louis cutting people up left and right, 23 years old. i went out to a bar and this fella gave me a drink and he was the judge i'd ripped up and the guy was a nice guy. and you say once -- you get to be a worthless editorial writer the more you meet these guys because a lot of the toughness and the cuttingness, once you get to know them you can't do this stuff anymore. >> not in the same way, no. >> you focus, gene, don't you on politics and not personality. >> exactly. you can be tough, you can see this is wrong, this should happen, that should happen, but the viciousness, you can't do it when you've picked up the little kid. >> well, i'll be reading from your piece this morning, eugene, and we'll see if you stick to the rules here. >> well, he may not have met the person that he cut to little pieces. >> i've got it right here. > christine o'donnell will

speak today at the values voters summit in washington, one of the nation's biggest gathering of conservative leaders. o'donnell will join a long list of republican stars, including several presidential hopefuls, like mitt romney, mike huckabee newt gingrich. while in washington she'll also meet with john cornyn. despite polls suggesting that she has a slim chance of beating democrat chris koons this november supporters are still pouring money into her campaign. figures show before the primary coons had raised over $944,000 compared to o'donnell's 20 grand. but in the 24 hours after her win, 24 hours, o'donnell racked up$845,000 in donations while coons netted $125,000. last night o'donnell and coons faced off in their first debate where both said they wanted to focus on their policies, not statements from their past. >> you have taken a strong

stance in the past about people's private sexual behavior. what do you think is the role of government in regulating these matters? >> that's personal. >> i agree with you, it's personal. these questions come from statements i made over 15 years ago. i was in my 20s and very excited and passionate about my newfound faith. but i assure you, my faith has matured, and when i go to washington, d.c., it will be the constitution on which i base all of my decisions, not my personal beliefs. >> it's my hope that in the general election campaign, my opponent and i can focus on our policy proposals, on the constructive ideas we've got for how to get this economy back on track, how to create jobs and how to manage federal spending and reduce our debt. those are the sorts of things that i know delawareans want to hear. i don't think they're interested in statements that we made 20 or 30 years ago. >> so you're still thinking

about that ad, that jimmy kimmel ad we brought up. >> don't do that. that's terrible. >> i've got to say, pat and gene, there have been comparisons between mcdonnell and sarah palin. i've got to say first glimpse of that, mcdonnell is a lot better than palin. she's a lot more relaxed. her language seems to be fluent with the english language. >> it's o'donnell. >> she is better in front of cameras than even sarah palin. >> she's poised, she's fluid, but she has picked up that what i called in the column that sarah palin affect, the folksiness and the spunkiness and i spp -- >> you betcha. >> i suspect we'll see the occasional flash of bared fangs that palin does so well. >> but what about the answer to that question, that's personal. >> she seemed --

>> she's handling herself a lot better. >> there are democrats who have moved this definitively -- this race definitively to the democratic category and it's all over but the shouting are whistling past the graveyard if that's what they think. you know, they better pay attention to this race because there's going to be a lot of money coming in, as we've already seen, from tea party activists, from tea party express group and the other groups that are funding the tea party. there's going to be a lot of volunteers, and she's good. and so i think counting her out is a real mistake. >> and when we say she's good, she's better than sarah palin, who quite frankly has become less articulate as the months have rolled by, seems to have more problems expressing herself in an intelligent manner. this woman, pat buchanan, i still agree with charles and karl rove that mike castle would have won this race going away,

but looking at these debate clips, i think gene is right, this is not a gimme for democrats and you've been saying that all along but that's just because you blindly support them. >> that's just me and i'm in love again. >> just wear a red dress and talk about the constitution. >> here's what i do. i basically agree with gene. no doubt mike castle -- it was a gimme, it was gone. but i do think this, that she's going to go up but i think this fellow coons, i was impressed how he handled it. get that stuff out of here, because he's a popular guy, it's a big county that he's been heading, he's been elected and he's got a hope that the democratic administration will run an honorable race with him. but what's going to happen is the whole tea party has their neck out on the line because of the things you've said. it's not one out of ten, i bet it's three or four out of ten.

>> her chances of winning? >> yeah. >> is that what they said on bill o'reilly last night? >> he was trying to defend himself because he's been hammered for what he said. >> got hammered for telling the truth? >> he attacked palin as capricious and irresponsible when they endorsed her, so he's backing off that. but i think that the people have got to go in, see, all these guys' necks are on the line, demint, sarah palin, they have got to go in and help her, raise money for her, because if they lose the seat, just what you say is going to happen. you guys blew it. you may have cost us the senate. so they're going to go in and go all out for her. that's why i tend to agree with gene. this thing is no -- this is no automatic win. >> we're talking about charles krautheimer who writes for the "washington post." bill buckley always said you go

for the most conservative person who is electable. >> exactly, who can win. he says this violates the buckley rule, that she's not electable. again, if you look at her past and look at the things that she's said and done, you know, you can easily come to the conclusion that she's unelectable, but this is a very strange year. all the enthusiasm and energy that is bubbling up on the right, especially in that sort of whole tea party sphere, you know, i don't know that the definition of unelectable in a normal year -- >> 2010. >> -- is the same definition in 2010. >> these are difficult times for people too, which makes them -- maybe vulnerable is not the word but open, susceptible to different ideas and to being galvanized. >> and to making a protest vote. and so one of my questions is whether in delaware and elsewhere the democrats are

going to be able to get their base sufficiently fired up, just to turn out at the polls. if they do that in delaware, she loses. if they come out, she loses. >> and i apologize again for bringing up 1994, the year i got elected, but the parallels are just so striking. i've said my entire life, i ran against a very tough, competent republican, legislator in 1994 and i've always said if i ran against her in 1992 i would have lost. if i ran against her in 1996, i would have lost. she would have blown me away both years, would have won in a landslide. but in 1994 there was that window and i won. it was a wave election. gene, you may be right, this may be that year for candidates that would never win in other years. >> it could be, and i think, you know, the odds that this is a wave year dramatically increase

every -- as every week goes by that we don't see the -- you know, any sort of excitement or fire building on the democratic side, or even, or even naked fear, you know. naked fear would be -- seriously. but something to get people really animated. i haven't seen that animation out there. >> instead you see headlines in the "washington post" that talk about poverty at all-time record levels since they have been taking these statistics, one in seven americans under the poverty line. that promotes fear, but the wrong kind of fear. >> anxiety and vulnerability. >> african-americans, their figures are a lot higher than one in seven. while they were remaining loyal to obama, it's hard to think they're going to get excited in this election on behalf of other democrats. >> it might help to ask them to. >> eugene robinson, your piece, we'll try to get to it on the round table.

but note to democrats, tea party is not over until it's over. take a look at it in the "washington post". coming up could a loss in this week's election be a win for adrian fenty. that's ahead in the political playbook. plus republican congressman joe ann emerson of missouri takes us inside her re-election bid. and a little later bill mccullum takes aim at president obama's health care law. but first bill karins with a check on the forecast. >> we keep getting more and more pictures in from the amazing storm that hit new york city last night. actually i took this one last night. that's my subway stop there, a lot of debris. that's one of the areas where a possible tornado hit in brooklyn. we'll show you the pictures from yesterday. these were taken yesterday afternoon. the evening rush ahour was a nightmare. watch the winds as they continue to gust, trees went down. a lot were straight-line winds but we also did see a couple of funnel clouds reported in the area. the national weather service is out to tell us whether or not it's a tornado or not.

we'll probably know that by probably noon today. let's talk about the hurricanes now because karl is about to make landfall. this is now a category 3 storm bordering on a category 4 hurricane. the eye is 53 miles off the coast of mexico. luckily it's a pretty rural area, but vera cruz will be hit pretty hard. it will be gone by tomorrow. also hurricane igor hitting bermuda sunday night as a category 2 or 3. as far as your forecast goes, it's a nice day today. the rain will exit boston during the day, tonight will be beautiful. chicago looks great. as we go through the weekend, the heat is the big story. this is our last summer weekend, temperatures in the 90s from texas to florida and a rather nice saturday and sunday in most locations on the eastern seaboard. you're watching "morning joe" brewed by starbucks. [ animals calling ] ♪ [ pop ]

[ man ] ♪ well, we get along ♪ yeah, we really do - ♪ and there's nothing wrong - [ bird squawks ] ♪ with what i feel for you ♪ i could hang around till the leaves are brown and the summer's gone ♪ [ announcer ] when you're not worried about potential dangers, the world can be a far less threatening place. take the scary out of life with travelers insurance... and see the world in a different light. ♪ now the healing power of touch just got more powerful. introducing precise from the makers of tylenol.

precise pain relieving heat patch activates sensory receptors. it helps block pain signals for deep penetrating relief you can feel precisely where you need it most. precise. only from the makers of tylenol. vestors are demanding more for their money. good. this time, i'm watching fees like a hawk. i hate hidden fees. why should i have to pay for something that i shouldn't have to pay for? td ameritrade's pricing is clear and it's straightforward... it's spelled out upfront. no hidden fees... no bait and switch. no gotchas. and there's one flat rate for online equity trades... for big accounts... or small ones. that's the way it ought to be. time for fresh thinking. time for td ameritrade.

welcome back to "morning joe." it's time for a look at the political playbook. for that we turn to patrick gavin back down in washington, d.c. help me through this story, adrian fenty, the headline screams, wins question mark. we know he lost the primary but he might still have life. explain this one. >> the d.c. republican party, which is a very small party in a district as blue as ours, he actually won to be the republican candidate. he obviously didn't run for it. he won because he got around 800

write-in votes. since there wasn't a declared candidate for the republican party for the mayoral spot here, he got it. now, this is going to lead to a lot of speculation about whether or not he actually is going to go against vincent gray come november. i don't think that's going to happen for a couple of reasons. he said he scent plan on running as a republican, as an independent. his chances wouldn't necessarily be that good. this is an overwhelmingly democratic area that almost instinctively votes democrat, almost not looking at the republican side of things. so there's that. he only has until 4:45 this afternoon to make a decision. so while this will certainly cause d.c. political types who talk a lot and speculate today, i think the odds-on bet are that in fact he probably won't do this. >> he got 822 votes, as you said -- >> yes. >> in the republican primary. but the bottom line is it's not going to happen, it's just a fantasy at this point? >> it's the fantasy of a lot of fenty supporters. a lot of his supporters are rich, wealthy, live up in the

northwest quadrant. they're very happy with a lot of stuff he and michelle rhee have done in education so a lot of powerful people are backing him which is why you'll hear a lot of buzz about this but fenty has made it pretty clear he doesn't plan to run on the republican ticket. >> i saw you yesterday not dressed in your workout clothes, you were hanging out by the side taking it all in. little did i know you had a huge workout ahead of you. >> i had already worked out. >> our drill sergeant mika brzezinski. >> with mika. >> we're looking at it right here. tell me what's going on here? >> right now we have mika and i ran up the exorcist steps in georgetown. she knows very well having been a georgetown student it's very tough. as usual, she kicked the crap out of me. >> and there's kind of a disturbing image here. you're working out and she's putting something in your mouth. please explain something quickly. >> apparently it's called broccoli and, you know, i'm used

to twinkies and doughnuts. so she used that to motivate me at the pullup bar. they actually taste okay. i may try eating some of those. >> patrick, this is a pathetic display of physical challenge. mika, you buried that poor guy. >> you can find this very strange, disturbing video on politico. >> for people that know washington, d.c., mika runs the exorcist steps, which goes straight up a very long way, ten times. >> i'm a little sore. >> patrick, that's stunning, isn't it? >> well, flex magazine has already asked me to be on the october cover, so i think this is actually the beginning of something quite great. and i hear that if i continue the exercise regimen mika put me on, eugene robinson will let me wear his exercise outfits. >> well, yes, yes. if you give me some of that broccoli. >> that's pretty amazing stuff,

though. >> those steps. >> that's like running up the washington monument. that is steep as it can be. >> yeah. i did it before. joe and lewis sat at the bottom on the phone and i did the steps ten times. they may as well have had a beer on their belly. >> you didn't run up it. >> of course i didn't run up it. >> did you walk of it? >> no, why would i walk up it? i had a driver. he could take me around. >> there should be some sort of cable car. turning now to the congressional race in rush limbaugh's home district, the eighth district of missouri, joining us now republican incumbent congresswoman jo ann emerson. nice to have you in. >> thank you, mika. everything is looking really good, we're working really hard. the latest poll that we got back wednesday, show us consistently three to one over our opposition. but people are just mad and frustrated out there right now. 50% of the democrats in my district think we're on the

wrong track, interestingly enough, and they're concerned just like you hear across the board about how is health care going to impact me, how is higher energy taxes through cap in trade, all this tax uncertainty. and i've got small businesses -- i probably went to about 40 small businesses over the break in addition to meeting with hundreds of other people. all of whom are just edgy and they're frustrated. i think ultimately they're optimistic but they're still frustrated. >> are you surprised that somebody like ike, ike skeleton, chairman of the armed services committee, he's no liberal, but ike skelton even in trouble this year. >> well, he's got a very energetic conservative who is running against him. i think people were upset with his vote on cap in trade to be honest with you, because he voted against health care. and i believe he may have voted against the stimulus, but nonetheless people are just upset and frustrated with the direction of the government, too much government, and then

terrible overregulation that threaten to strangle a lot of our businesses. even the epa wants to tell dairy farmers they have to have oil spill prevention plans. when you think about that, it's just too much government. >> let me ask you this, your opponent is a guy that we know through jack jacobs, i taught his class up at west point, great guy. so the question is how are you avoiding the pitfalls of this anti-incumbent fever that's everywhere? >> well, you know, i've always been real straight with my constituents. i don't spin, i don't know how to spin, i wouldn't remember how i spun the next day anyway. i just tell it like it is. i'm very direct. i'm very accessible. i'm home every weekend. i'm home on the breaks. >> you go home every weekend. >> i am always there. people at schnuck's stop me, it takes 45 minutes to get through the vegetable section, but be that as it may, i'm there and

i'm accessible and i think they consider me one of them. and i feel very blessed. but i listen and i listen to everybody. i don't know what party most people belong, to i never would ask them what party they belong to. i think people have that comfort level because we have great constituent service but i'm also, you know, always there and just very direct. >> gene, it's very interesting, that sounds the opposite of we were talking about mayor fenty who a lot of people felt became disconnected. >> yeah, yeah. >> from the voters. that's why he lost. >> yeah, he did become disconnected from the voters. a very interesting phenomenon because we compare the "washington post" poll showing people thought things were getting better in the city. it's equivalent to the right track/wrong track question that is so determinative in presidential elections. so people thought he was doing a pretty good job in terms of how the city was getting better, but constituents, many, many

constituents, you know, felt that he had become disconnected, that he was aloof, that he was arrogant, that he was not listening to what they had to say. >> talking about constituent services, pat buchanan, i came in '94, i was highly ideological, i wanted to abolish agencies, balance the budget, scared people up here, but i'd always go home and talk to my constituent services people and say they're not listening to me on c-span. i get re-elected if you help them out. if they're getting jerked around by the irs or if their social security check is late or if the government is giving them a bum rap or if they're got netting the veterans benefits they deserve. you people get me re-elected, i don't, and that's the key in a lot of these places. >> fenty lost touch with his base just like mike castle did in delaware. it used to be east of the

anacostia river, working class went 85 to 15 against him, whereas in northwest d.c. and georgetown, fenty ran a three to one margin. >> jo ann let me ask you, if the republicans, one of my chief complaints during the bush years was that the republican party forgot who they were on spending. if republicans take control, if john boehner is speaker, will they remember what we did, you and i, back in the 1990s and start fighting to balance the budget? >> yeah, i think so, joe, particularly because if you look at the budget today, it has all of the stimulus spending now folded into the baseline. so we can easily go back to 2008 numbers, which won't have tremendous impact on programs necessarily but it will cut a trillion dollars out of the budget automatically, just starting right there. and then through the appropriations process, you just funding certain programs. i mean there are so many small bureaus in the agencies and agencies that they can go and

they're not going to hurt anybody. >> okay, jo ann, thank you for coming in. >> jo ann emerson, thanks. aaron burnett next. ♪ [ mom ] game time is all about the traditions. it's all about the tackles and the touchdowns... and watching my boys do what they do. but for me, it's even more than that. game time is about our time. together. [ female announcer ] get low prices on all your favorites for the game. save money. live better. walmart. i but i justve my 5 ] gemploycan't afford it.ance, favorites for the game. i have diabetes. i didn't miss a premium payment for 10 years. and i'm worried if i lose my job, i won't be able to afford insurance. when i graduated from college, i lost my health insurance. the minute i got sick, i lost my insurance. not anymore. not anymore. not anymore. america's healthcare reforms change lives for the better. to find out how it can help you, visit us at

americasfairhealthcare.org it's not just fair, it's the law.

style that lasts a lifetime. what do you say we get the look we want, the softness we need, and an unbeatable lifetime stain warranty for whatever life throws at it. then let's save big on the installation. ♪ we're lowering the cost of going barefoot. more saving. more doing. that's the power of the home depot. get exclusive martha stewart living and platinum plus installed in your whole house for only 37 bucks.

it's time to get a check on business before the bell with cnbc's international superstar erin burnett live at the new york stock exchange. what are you looking at today. >> reporter: we're going to have a bit of a higher open. we just got crucial numbers on prices.

we talk about inflation. today is the big number that we find out whether we have a problem and we don't have a problem, joe. in fact if you compare prices to -- well, there's no change at all. if you take out fuel where we did see an increase in gas line because you saw oil prices go up, really no increase at all in prices. weekly earnings for average americans did not change at all last month. obviously you don't want to see a lot of inflation, you don't want to see deflation but you'd like to see a little inflation on wages, so in other words we don't have any of that. what that means is that when the fed meets next week, they really -- they have carte blanche to do what they need to do. at this point that can't be cutting interest rates, but if they need to go out and do anything else, buying more mortgages, you name it, there's no pressure at all on inflation. that's really the takeaway here. >> that's a good thing. >> the bond market, interest rates are falling because yet again people are putting their money in u.s. treasuries. >> and why are they doing that, vote of confidence? >> well, you know, this goes to

a huge debate, right. everyone says america is toast and we can't borrow more money and we're going down the tubes. but the problem is every single day, everyone around the world continues to put their money in treasuries and buy america's debt. china just bought more -- >> pretty safe bet, aren't we, erin, pretty safe bet. >> yes, we are. in the longer term certainly there's a really fair argument to be made there, but right now people put their money in the united states. so we may have a lot of problems, but one way you could look at that, well, our problems aren't as bad as anyone else's or when things are bad people still want to put their money in the u.s. >> there are people also, erin, that have longer memories than the last five years. i understand china is the rising global power. >> reporter: right. >> just like japan was in '85, '86, '87, '88. we heard japan was going to overtake us, that america was going to be japan's granary until they weren't. >> reporter: right.

>> we don't know what happens in china five to ten years from now. we know what happens in america, though. >> reporter: that's right. the china story, if you just look at the pure demographics, it's hard to imagine they don't pass. but five to ten years, no, it isn't going to happen then. just because someone else rises doesn't mean you have to fall. just make the pie bigger. >> erin burnett, thank you. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 what if every atm was free? tdd# 1-800-345-2550 no more $2, $3 fees. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 no more paying to access your own money. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 it'd be like every atm in the world was your atm. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 the schwab bank high yield investor checking(tm) account. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 zero atm fees. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 a great interest rate. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 no minimums. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 the biggest thing in checking since checks. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 open an account at 1-800-4schwab or schwab.com. lord of the carry-on. sovereign of the security line.

you never take an upgrade for granted. and you rent from national. because only national lets you choose any car in the aisle. and go. you can even take a full-size or above. and still pay the mid-size price. i deserve this. [ male announcer ] you do, business pro. you do. go national. go like a pro. [ monkey cheeps ] [ male announcer ] a bath becomes even more pleasurable when you know that your water is being heated

in an environmentally- conscious way while saving you hundreds of dollars on your water-heating energy bill. the geospring water heater from ge with advanced hybrid technology. heating the water in your home any other way is just going to seem primitive. [ monkey cheeps ] ♪ maryland residents can save up to $780 while funds last.

with us now from orlando, let's bring in attorney general for the state of florida and a good friend of mine, bill mccullum. bill, thanks for being with us. >> it's great to be with you. it's a real pleasure. >> well, you are actually in the middle right now of -- you're one of 20 attorney generals that are challenging obamacare.

tell us how that's progressing. >> well, it's progressing rather well right now. we're in the northern district of florida's federal court in pensacola, your hometown. we had a hearing this week on a motion to dismiss by the justice department. judge vincent will make a decision within the next 30 days but has already indicated that we will pass muster at least on one of the six counts that we have in the lawsuit and he set a time for hearing motions for summary judgment on december 16th. so what i think is really important here, joe, is this is a critical question of constitutional law and the rights of the individual and the rights of the federal government versus the states. i don't think there will be a case that goes to the united states supreme court in my lifetime or has been one more important to those questions than this case, and it will go ultimately to the united states supreme court. it's a question of like, as you know, the individual mandate involved in this says that if you're sitting in front of your television set and not doing anything, you have to buy a health insurance policy under this new health law or you have

to pay a penalty to the federal government. there's just nothing in the enumerated powers of the united states constitution in the opinion of my office or that of any number of others attorneys general and governors that say that you can do that. there's nothing in there that says that you can do it. >> bill, as attorney general of the state of florida, you're saying to the federal government that the federal government does not have the right to compel individuals in the state of florida to buy health care insurance or be penalized? >> that's exactly right. and we're joined by the national federation of independent business and individual plaintiffs in this case in saying, look, if the choice of an individual is we don't want to buy this policy, we don't have to do that. the argument by the justice department is that the commerce clause is so broad that it covers all of this, that even though it's passive and you're not doing anything, you're somehow affecting other people in the fact that they don't -- if you don't buy insurance, you're affecting their cost of health care. that's a really big stretch.

it could be -- if you did that, you could take it to credit cards and say there's cost shifting in credit cards like there's cost shifting in health care. businesses make decisions every day in this country that they're going to charge you and be a little bit more because somebody else doesn't pay. this is an infringement, goes far beyond the constitutional powers that are there. we also have an argument in this case involving the powers of federal government to tell states what to do. 27% of florida's budget goes to medicaid. that's a huge portion of our budget. >> let me bring in gene robinson. >> i just had one question, attorney general. i agree it is a really important constitutional question. i'm just wondering how it can be brought right now, since no one's rights have yet been infringed. you know, the question of how -- i'm wondering how anyone has standing to challenge, you know, this infringement of liberty when in fact that part of the law hasn't taken effect yet?

>> well, that portion of the individual mandate is in effect because it's the heart of the bill. without it the rest of it doesn't stand. and the entire law is going into effect in pieces, some of which is already there affecting my state right now. we're having to set up the mechanisms to deal with all of this, the coming insurance exchanges that we're required to do under this law, and the fact is nothing is going to change either between now and 2014. the individual mandate is going to take affect, the individuals are going to be affected by it. decisions are having to be made at the present time. yes, that's the justice department's argument, that we don't have standing, but i believe we will have it. in the virginia case that was heard a few weeks ago, the stand-alone case the state of virginia brought, the court there found that standing exists and thiebl court will find that too. we have the right to be there in court today, we need to go forward on this. it's not the only count in here. there's six counts we're arguing. >> pat buchanan.

>> congressman, if you can get the individual mandate basically invalidated as unconstitutional, does obamacare unravel? >> yes, it does. the fact is there's no what's called a severability clause. there's no severability clause in this law. so under the way our laws work, if any one provision is declared unconstitutional, the entire legislation goes down as unconstitutional plus the mandate is viewed as the linchpin. everybody says without it this legislation doesn't work. you have to go back to a different model of how you solve the health care model and that's what i personally think they should be doing. in our case, our state simply can't afford this. >> bill mccullum, it's always great talking to you and i'm sure we'll have you back as judge vincent reviews this case further. >> i look forward to it. thank you so much. appreciate it. >> all right, take care. >> by the way, roger vincent is a -- for some reason he's been hit by people on both sides. he's a great judge. reagan appointee, a solid, solid

character. it's going to be very interesting. i have no idea, knowing him for a long time, how he's going to come down on this case. he's go to be very thoughtful, though. let's talk about gene's call sglum before we wrap up, i'm going to read from your column. note to democrats, tea party is not over till it's over. tuesday was the best day democrats have had in a long time, but only in relative terms. republicans invited the tea party into the gop tent and now have to worry about being devoured. but at least the party is full of passion, energy and resolve. if the democrats can't generate some real enthusiasm among the base, and fast, the word "unelectable" may cease to have meaning, counting on the republicans to self-immolate the democrats' hope, but it's not a plan. >> very good argument. you've been making the argument about delaware this morning. >> yeah. you know, i just think that democrats who think this is over, we've got the senate all wrapped up, they're -- you know, they're going to be sorry if

they go into the election with that attitude. they'd better get some excitement out there. >> where do you get that excitement? >> i know where you t it. >> the fear of death is not moving them. what's going to move them? >> i don't know, pat. can i borrow your pitchfork? >> i know. it will be willie's week in review. which stories made the cut next. when i use expedia, my friends at work think there's more than one "me." ...because on our trips, i always get there faster. see, expedia lets me mix and match airlines.

so i can take one airline out... and another home. so with more flight options, i can find the combination that gets me there and back quickest. with a little help from expedia, my friends will think i can be everywhere at once. where you book matters. expedia. stay twice... earn a free night! two separate stays at comfort inn or any of these choice hotels can earn you a free night --

only when you book at choicehotels.com. with professional-grade research. and some of the most powerful, yet easy to use trading tools on the planet. it's investing with intelligence and cold hard conviction. e-trade. investing unleashed. look at all this stuff for coffee. oh there's tons. french presses, expresso tampers, filters. it can get really complicated. not nearly as complicated as shipping it, though. i mean shipping is a hassle. not with priority mail flat rate boxes from the postal service. if it fits it ships anywhere in the country for a low flat rate. that is easy. best news i've heard all day! i'm soooo amped! i mean not amped. excited. well, sort of amped. really kind of in between. have you ever thought about decaf? do you think that would help? yeah. priority mail flat rate box shipping starts at $4.95, only from the postal service. a simpler way to ship.

words alone aren't enough. our job is to listen and find ways to help workers who lost their jobs to the spill. i'm iris cross. we'll keep restoring the jobs, tourist beaches, and businesses impacted by the spill. we've paid over $400 million in claims and set up a $20 billion independently-run claims fund. i was born in new orleans. my family still lives here. i'm gonna be here until we make this right.

our research and development team has been locked in the war room for the last 24 hours evaluating all the week's news and boiling it down to the top three. >> we're going to australia! you and you and you are going to australia! >> at number three, oprah incites a riot. oprah winfrey kicked off her show's final season this week in hyperventilating style, announcing that she's taking her entire studio audience on a little road trip, to australia. and no international vacation with 400 strangers is complete, of course, without an international movie star to fly

the plane. >> to the pilot. >> the travolta-induced screaming, crying and chaos made for the craziest scene ever to take place in oprah's studio. well, second craziest. >> have you ever felt this way before. at number two, locker room talk. >> i want my interview with mark sanchez. >> ines sainz visited the new york jets locker room this week and made quite an impression. extensive google image research reveals that ms. sainz is not bashful. some wondered whether her attire was appropriate for a locker room full of giant, naked men. >> absolutely unnecessary. >> sounds like she was a little too provocative. >> sainz defended her modest outfit, even tweeting a photograph of what she was wearing in the locker room that way.

she quickly became the number one trending topic on twitter. >> all the womens like to be attractive. >> she continued her defense by appearing on every national morning show where the hosts tried desperately to look only at her eyes. >> i was like, oh, my goodness, she's here, okay, i want to be mexican. >> and the number one story of the week. >> you betcha. >> with the tea party inspired upset in delaware, christine o'donnell went from relative unknown to overnight political star. >> the palin is strong in this one. my god, just give her bangs and a pair of rimmed glasses and she'd be a dead ringer -- oh, my god! >> sarah palin led the cheers for her fellow mama grizzly but other republicans were less enthusiastic about o'donnell's sudden rise. >> i mean there's just a lot of nutty things she's been saying. >> democrats were not so impressed either. >> couldn't be elected dog catcher. >> while opponents were mocking o'donnell and digging up grainy big-haired clips of her saying wacky things back in the day,

supporters were pouring money into her campaign to take joe biden's old senate seat. >> just kind of hung out a shingle, no moderates need apply. >> christine o'donnell has a good shot to shock the political world in november if this response is any indication. >> ladies and gentlemen, the people of delaware have spoken. no more politics as usual. you betcha. >> wow, she really did fire up the base, didn't she? coming up next, what, if anything, did we learn today.

investors are demanding more for their money. good.

this time, i'm watching fees like a hawk. i hate hidden fees. why should i have to pay for something that i shouldn't have to pay for? td ameritrade's pricing is clear and it's straightforward... it's spelled out upfront. no hidden fees... no bait and switch. no gotchas. and there's one flat rate for online equity trades... for big accounts... or small ones. that's the way it ought to be. time for fresh thinking. time for td ameritrade.

christine o'donnell is too extreme for delaware. she's a creationist who believes in abstinence-only education and she even opposes masturbation. chris coons has a seasoned record of bipartisanship. he masturbates all the time. at home, in the office, one time even in the bathroom of air force one. he did right before taking this picture. >> oh, that is awful!

gene, what are you learning today other than delaware is going to be an interesting race? >> i'm not going to talk about delaware. i'm just going to say i'm not going anywhere near the exorcist steps, the georgetown steps with you. >> i'll see you there, gene. >> pat, what have you learned? >> there's something from 2003 that suggests maybe you launched this candidacy in delaware. >> number one in primetime. >> the number one show of all time. christine o'donnell talking about god knows what. >> i think since she's been a guest on her show, it's high time you learned her name. christine o'donnell. o'donnell. >> that's what i said. >> you always have mcdonald's on the brain, but we're going for o'donnell this time. >> my apologies to christine o'donnell and all of her supporters. willie, if it's way too early, what time is it? >> it's morning, joe. stay tuned right now for "the daily rundown."