wow. you have 258 hours. again, i'm counseling people with the weather outside, stay inside and order the book on amazon.com. >> ken says i'm up waiting the announcement that rahm is running for mayor of chicago and blago will become the new white house chief of staff. >> that is a brilliant idea. who brings people closer, who brings them together other than blago? the only reason they threw him out is because he wanted health care for his little children. let's give him a second chance and make him the white house chief of staff. "morning joe" back in new york starts right now. rahm emmanuel is such a big personality with strong opinions and aggressive nature and a profane vocabulary, i suspect that he's been really out of the mold as far as white house chiefs of staff are considered. could he find someone who could help carve a more conciliatory

path and a better working relationship with both democrats and republicans? i think the first and most important thing would be somebody who could help set a new tone inside the white house, more in keeping with the tone that the president promised in 2008. >> all right. i know some people said that the minute, actually the second rahm was chosen, and that the news broke. but he's stuck in traffic or actually flooding because of the wedding. >> the wedding? >> the weather. >> who is getting married? >> i had something else on my mind. because of the weather. >> paging dr. freud. >> hello. good morning everyone. welcome to "morning joe." it is friday. what's the date? october -- oh, my good. october. my book is due. i'm in trouble. good morning everyone. welcome to "morning joe." on the set we have the game-change boys. msnbc and "time" magazine senior political analyst mark halperin

and "new york magazine's" john heilemann. willie is with us from washington this morning. hello, willie. what are you doing in washington? >> i twoent a great event at the newseum. they had mayor bloomberg, arne duncan, tim geithner and for some reason me. it was a great event. >> were you bartending? >> passing hors devours, i'll have you no, smart guy. >> that's good. we'll get to you in just a moment. first we do have to get to the weather, not the wedding. flood watches and high wind warnings remain in effect for parts of the nation's northeast this morning after a monster storm moved from the carolinas all the way up to maine yesterday causing at least five deaths. the worst of the rain fell in north carolina where jacksonville picked up 12 inches in six hours. that sneerly a quarter of all of its hanl rainfall. let's go to meteorologist bill

karins for the latest on the storm. bill? >> good morning, mika. we know flash flood warnings for all five boroughs in new york city. a quick two inches fell in the last hour or two. the good news for d.c., baltimore and philadelphia is the worst of the rain is over with for you, just scattered showers this morning. your morning commute shouldn't too bad. the worst of it up here in new england. we're watching the heaviest band of rain now beginning to move through the new york city area and onto long island. this will move through long island and connecticut through the peak of the rush hour. as far as the rest of the area goes, not much rainfall around d.c. or baltimore anymore. boston hasn't gotten the rain yet. that will move in about mid morning for you and last into the afternoon. we could pick up an inch or two in boston. as far as the flooding rains go and the river warnings we're going to have over the next two days, it's really baltimore, philly, d.c. that's where we got five to six inches of rain. we got nailed in eastern pennsylvania. many of the small streams and

rivers are in flood stage. flash flootd warnings around syracuse, binghamton, around the scranton area. we have the areas of flooding in maryland from the heavy rain yesterday. today, d.c. looks to be okay. philly, showers early. new york city the rain should be over with by about noon today. the afternoon should be just fine. the heaviest rains will shift towards boston. as we mentioned, this is in and out today. by the weekend, everything will be all over with. we have to get through the morning commute. flash flood warning in new york city. if you don't have to be on the roads right now, try to sit home for an hour or two. long, long delays. >> so, as you know, i come at 2:30 every morning with al roker studying the maps and legends. >> he wakes up really early. >> because he's important and smart. i came in at 2:30. as i was going through the tunnel -- not the tunnel, but

the overpass, that thing on 66 you're going across the park. if i can finish. i'm not tired. i was tirpd when i got here at 2:30. al was studying the maps and legends at 2:30. i was a couple minutes late. but it's completely flooded underneath the overpass -- you know, 66 cut through. >> where those alligators are. >> they're there now. cars were stuck there. >> any trols? >> no trolls. really rough stuff. >> a deluge. >> this sounds like florida. it sounds like florida weather outside the window. >> joe, we're glad you made it in. >> al was glad, too, at 2:30. somebody needs to call chuck todd since new york is the center of the world. we need to talk about this rain shower for three hours. >> he won't care. we are going to talk about rahm coming up. i've asked alex to call -- chris

isn't in. we have the intern alex. he's 8. he's doing the show today. >> how do you qualify for that internship? >> if you are walking down the street -- >> i'll tell you later. her qualifications are different than mine. so rahm is gone, right? >> mayor emmanuel. >> i don't think it's going to be a cake walk, mika. >> no. it's interesting the craft between the person who was chosen and the person who is leaving. i asked alex to pull the tape of the day rahm was chosen because you literally -- i think you might have coughed your morning joe out of your mouth and said this isn't going to work. so there you go. >> what i said was, for a guy that promised to unite america, this was a very strange choice. >> i've never seen you more -- viscerally stunned at the moment. >> because rahm emmanuel for those who know him, he's a very

effective player in washington, d.c. but he's divisive and i know he works with republicans and democrats. i know progressives think he's too modest. but he's a divisive guy. you go back and look at what he said during his years in the house of representatives. he said unkind things about republicans, about general petraeus. for a guy talking about hope and change and bringing people together, it's unusual to have him as your chief of staff. >> what about this peter rouse? >> he's not rahm. he's a much different guy. he's close to the president which is clearly one of the reasons he was picked. as n inside player, he's very powerful on capitol hill. he was called the 101st senator when he worked for tom daschle. he could walk into a lot of washington restaurants and be

unrecognized. >> and john, it's not just rahm leaving. there's a couple of people who are leaving. it seems the white house is going through somewhat of a reset. >> that's a very common thing. think about bill clinton's administration to think of the most recent democratic administration. by this point in his administration you had changes. he was already heading towards his third chief of staff by the end of two years. he changed his head of his national economic council, his treasury secretary. a lot of things had changed at this point. this is a natural time for this to happen. the rouse thing is really fascinating for the reasons mark said. he's also a very skillful political guy. he was the guy that, when obama got to the senate, actually was the first person who sat down and drafted the plan for how obama would move from senator to a presidential candidate and ultimately to the white house. >> he's been very close to the president. >> as much a loyal obama insider

as there is in the obama universe. >> no two chiefs of staff do this job exactly the same way. there are parts of the job that rahm did that others have done that pete rouse isn't going to do. he's an extraordinarily skillful inside player and can channel the president and know what he's going to think. this isn't a guy who is going to be on the sunday shows or negotiating with foreign governments the way rahm did, not a guy who will be on the phone with reporters 50 times a day trying to shape the story line of the administration. >> that's really true. this is a guy who doesn't actually -- has very few real connections with the media, very press shy. i think people will spend a lot of time today and tomorrow trying to find any video of him ever having done public interview. i imagine there's very little video of pete rouse talking to the cameras ever in history. >> mika, as we move forward and the president does bring new people in, the thing i'll be looking for and others will be looking for is for the president

to actually get outside his comfort zone. i understand this election from what you guys are telling me. but wherever i go, i hear the same thing, from business leaders -- mainly democrats who were big supporters of the president and very concerned, they want him to get out of his comfort zone. they want an advisor that's not in a small, tight click that aren't -- that don't -- don't adore barack obama, the man, the president, the idea. they want a tough business leader that can go in there. they want somebody -- i was talking to a presidential historian a few weeks ago who said that looking back, not only at all the presidents during the historian's lifetime, but throughout history, that there may never have been a president as self-contained as this president without outside influence, without people being able to come in and really move

him, that he has surrounded himself with people that are constantly keeping him in his comfort zone. >> all right. one argument or debate against that would be -- and i agree with you -- i feel this president has put himself out there at least recently if not the whole time in front of the american people. that situation with the town hall with cnbc. >> i'm talking about advisors. >> my point is he's showing publicly he's letting people beat him up. >> i'm simply talking about -- i'm not talking about theater which is very important though. i'm talking about how the president makes decisions, just like how any ceo makes decisions. i'm just saying, please forgive me progressives or democrats or people who worship barack obama, historians will see these first two years as a disaster when it comes to presidential management. this will, as much as george w.

bush's first term, be seen as how not to run a white house, how not to run a cabinet room, how not to make big major decisions because think about this, mark halperin. it wasn't until bush got beaten up badly in '06 that he stopped letting dick cheney run foreign policy with don rumsfeld. what did he do? he brought in gates, a guy he didn't want to bring in, his daddy's guy. it irritated him to no end. he started listening to condoleezza rice who he ignored for the first six years. bill clinton, same thing happened with clinton in '95. did he want to bring in dick norris? no way. they hated each other. they got out of their comfort zone. the best example, and i'll stop here, ronald reagan picked the guy who tried to kill him in the republican primaries, james a. baker iii and said you did such

an amazing job with bush, i want you to run my white house. >> he picked not just somebody he wasn't close to, but a guy who ended up being the best chief of staff in our adulthood. the comparison to bush i think is totally apt which is to say bush and the obama and the left won't like when i say this probably, they're very similar. they want the people they already know. they don't want outsiders in the inner circles. when the washington chattering class, when the people gabbing say, you need to bring somebody in new for the symbolism. you need to widen your circle, their attitude is, no, i don't. i'm going to do this my way. i want people i already know and trust. bring in pete rouse, it's the opposite of changing the narrative in a dramatic way. the opposite of saying i need to go in a different direction. >> an interesting parallel to the campaign which actually relates to pete rouse. at a stage of obama's campaign when some people around him thought that pluf, axelrod, gibbs was too tight a sishlg, they said to obama you need to

widen the circle. his idea of widening the circle was to bring pete rouse from washington to chicago, to enhance valerie jarrett's role in the campaign and bring in anita dunn. those were people on the periphery compared to pluff, axelrod and gibbs. they were people one degree of separation further out. that was obama's idea of widening the circle, was just one level out and to widen that circle just that much. i think that's kind of the same sort of thing that's going on now. that's going to be his inclination going forward. i'd say finally about who might be the final next chief of staff, if pete rouse has a big voice with obama in making the choice for a permanent chief of staff, it will give tom daschle to whom rouse is very close and who rouse served as chief of staff for a long time. it will give tom daschle a real place of prominence in that next round of selections when obama decides to make this choice permanent. >> i think you're right. just closing on this thought, this is a sign of insecurity.

george w. bush was insecure. he wanted people around him that made him comfortable. barack obama is insecure when it comes obviously to white house leadership. i say this because this is just basic management -- i don't know the man. this is basic management. if you're comfort nl in your knowledge, you bring in people who challenge you. in his inner circle, he doesn't have that. you need loyalists, no doubt about it. i think valerie jarrett needs to be there with him. he needs david axelrod, people there. he needs to become secure enough in himself as a president that he does bring in dissenting voices, people inside that can challenge him. he hasn't had that and has paid for that politically. >> i think there are dissenting voices. i think pete rouse and rom emanuel challenge the president internally. they don't present an outsider, either the public face or within

the administration. >> i talked to a clinton insider who told me yesterday that the same thing is happening in this white house that happened in the clinton white house in '93-'94. this is why i hope people are listening to what i'm saying. i'm saying this as an american. i want this president to succeed. i've said that from the first day. it become very evident when health care was going over a cliff, that all the congressional leaders knew it was dieing, but what they would do is they found out if they went into the white house and told the white house this was not going to pass and they needed to compromise with the republicans, they got on hillary's enemy list. their relationship suffered. so after they figured that out, the only person that kept telling the truth was bill bradley. he'd tell unions this, tell other people this. after the process was over, he said why did i tell the truth? you guys were lying, you knew it was going to fail, but this happens with a lot of new administrations. you learn, if you tell the

president the truth, if you confront him, an insecure president is going to knock you to to side. >> let's wait and see. it's possible pete may only be the interim chief of staff for a couple months. it could be december and obama is choosing someone. >> colin powell. let's try colin powell. >> ken uber teen. >> ed rendell. >> ed rendell. i love that, seriously. but that's the type of person that can say mr. president, you're great with all due respect. this is now how washington has ever worked. by the way, tons of news. tell us some of the huge stories. >> we'll give you the update on this crazy race for governor in new york. paladino versus cuomo. hello. also that awful story out of new york involving the rutgers student. we have an update on that and what's going to happen to the two students who were snooping on him. >> chris christie is getting involved.

>> the governor of new jersey spoke out on that as well. i commend him for that. >> coming up, why a democratic republican is waging war against a polling firm, calling their numbers impossible. also new drama. meg whitman offering to take a polygraph test to clear her name. find out which stories make the cut. we'll be right back. chloe is 9 months old. she is the greatest thing ever. one little smile, one little laugh. honey bunny. [ babbles ] [ laughs ] we would do anything for her.

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hey, obama can go casual. he can talk politics over

burgers and slaw. there's nothing necessarily unpresidential about spending time in people's back yards. >> we'd like to welcome you to our back yard. we appreciate you all being here. we tried to clean up everything. but just watch your step. you never know there could be a fresh one out there. >> i'm going to tell you the weirdest thing about that comment. the gentleman in the plaid shirt doesn't have any dogs. >> all right. 22 past the hour. let's take a look now at the morning papers. we'll start with the "los angeles times." pakistan close add key border crossing used by the u.s. and nato to bring supplies to allied forces in afghanistan. the move comes a day after a nato helicopter attack that mistakenly killed three pakistani soldiers on the same day that major border crossing was shut down, nearly 30 nato tankers carrying fuel were attacked and torched in southern

pakistan. >> the "wall street journal" front page photo shows the president of ecuador wearing a gas mask after being teargassed and trapped by police officers who were angry over a law that would cut their benefits. >> pensacola news journal, discussing the support for small business, republican senate candidate put on a green apron went behind the counter at the doghouse deli and made himself some lunch. >> keep that up for a while. >> the doghouse deli. i worked in my law firm and then i sometimes would just walk right down the street and have a hot dog. i know it won't surprise you. >> they're not good for you. >> they have the best hot dogs and the doghouse deli. >> should be the dog pound deli. but that's okay. >> what about "usa today." >> i'm still thinking about the hot dog ts. >> "usa today," rivalry weekend. newspapers are all about it.

number one alabama takes on seventh ranked florida gators headlining a slate of games that could shake up the polls this weekend, baby. let's go to the politico playbook. for that we turn to willie geist in washington covering all the political news there. >> you know me, mika. by the way, the other big game, the vanderbilt commodores playing at uconn. you don't go to stores on a saturday afternoon and expect to come out with a win. >> where is the uconn stores. >> stores, connecticut. >> i've been there many times. >> you can talk to any of the great sports writers and they'll tell you, when you rumble into stores, connecticut, on saturday night you better have your helmet buckled. >> i've been there verim times. >> intimidating lime green blazers. >> what's the toughest atmosphere, willie? you answer this.

some people say you go to clemson, death valley, it may be there. it may be lsu. always tough. baton rouge on a saturday night. >> have the vanderbilt commodores won a game this year. >> yes, they have. >> when things are going really bad for you, everybody rips off their argyle sweaters and start going like this. >> i covered all the games there as a reporter in connecticut. >> nobody cares. we're making a much bigger point here. i love connecticut. >> it was a frenzy. >> look at all the argyle sweaters. >> you know who i have right next door over here, i have john harris, the editor and chief of politico. >> do you know where he went to school? >> carlton college. >> a new member of the board of overseers or something. >> trustees. >> getting ready for our big

gridiron showdown. i think it's maybe against mccallister. i'm not sure. >> let me ask you about tom perriello, the incumbent in virginia, congressman, going after in kind of a strange move a polling company for misrepresenting his race down there. tell us about it. >> what they're doing is taking a behind the scenes battle that go on all the time. tom perriello is one of barack obama's favorite congressmen. in a conservative virginia district. it looks like he's going to pay for this with a very tough race. they're going over survey usa, frequently quoted polling firm. but its methodology regarded as controversial. the survey says perriello is down by 24, 26 points. the perriello team say, wait a minute, we're not losing that bad. they attacked survey usa directly. their own polling shows they're

behind only by a couple points. the race they say is still neck in neck. it's a behind the scenes battle going on in virginia. >> it may not be 24 points. the bottom line is perriello is in trouble because he walked the plank for the president. >> he did indeed. >> john harris, we'll check back with you later in the show. see you soon. >> bye-bye. >> what are they, are they like ppt? you get that look. you're skeptical, too. >> i'm skeptical of the technology. >> i'm telling you what. i've been following public policy polling, but man, they've nailed it. that's the same sort of methodology. i think that's the future of polling. it's getting the draw of the future and figuring out. i will tell you ppp messed up the special in upstate new york. but other than that, they did better in '08. they did better in the '09

election. do you agree with that? >> i agree they've had some success. i think i'd still want to see more about the methodology. but perriello is in big trouble in virginia. >> oh, yes. >> if it's not 20 points, it's 15 points. will a polygraph test clear up meg whitman's controversy involving a former housekeeper. after nearly coming to blows, hear what carl paladino has to say about his fiery exchange. we'll be right bakt. ♪

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i'm friend, secret-keeper and playmate. do you think i'd let osteoporosis slow me down? so i asked my doctor about reclast because i heard it's the only once-a-year iv osteoporosis treatment. he told me all about it and i said that's the one for nana. he said reclast can help restrengthen my bones to help make them resistant to fracture for twelve months. and reclast is approved to help protect from fracture in many places: hip, spine, even other bones. [ male announcer ] you should not take reclast if you're on zometa, have low blood calcium, kidney problems. or you're pregnant, plan to become pregnant or nursing. take calcium and vitamin d daily. tell your doctor if you develop severe muscle,

bone or joint pain, of if you have dental problems, as rarely jaw problems have been reported. the most common side effects include flu like symptoms, fever, muscle or joint pain and headache. share the world with the ones you love! and ask your doctor about reclast. or call 1-866-51-reclast. year-long protection for on-the-go women. live shot of the capitol this morning. welcome back to "morning joe." 32 past the hour. a quick look at the news. new york authorities are confirming that a body found in the hudson river earlier this week is that of the rutgers university student who committed suicide by jumping off the george washington bridge. this happened after his sexual encounter with another man was secretly streamed online. meanwhile, prosecutors in new jersey are considering whether to bring hate crime charges

against tyler clementi's roommate and another student who allegedly set it up. they have been charged with two counts each of invasion of privacy. both face a maximum five-year sentence if convicted. yesterday new jersey governor chris christie called the incident an unspeakable tragedy and says he can't imagine how the two students who filmed clen menity can sleep at night knowing that they contributed to driving that young plan to suicide. meg whitman's california republican candidate for governor is defending off new evidence that she knowingly employed an illegal immigrant housekeeper for a decade. at a second news conference, gloria allred unveiled a 2003 letter from the social security administration she claims is proof whitman and her husband are lying to the public. >> she's crying. it's got to be very moving for

her. >> gloria gets choked up all the time. >> her client is crying. it's horrible. >> it's kind of an 'em b embarrassing display of a lawyer out for her own betterment. >> what is the back of the letter show? >> a handwritten note saying please check on this. following the news conference whitman's husband says it could be his handwriting. >> they held a press conference for that? >> whitman also said she was willing to take a polygraph test to prove she only discovered her former employee's illegal status last year. the letter says you can't go after the employee. it's against the law. you're supposed to check on this. i'm sorry. >> there's nothing there. but do you have somebody say -- >> gloria does some great work with women and defending their

rights, but this is silly. >> stop picking on gloria. >> i'm not picking on gloria. i'm picking on the media preying upon -- >> should any politician ever say i will take a polygraph test? come on. for something this silly, too. >> i think it's absurd. first of all, there's a chance you won't pass it. second of all, it moves you into the realm of a criminal proceeding. i don't think it's a wise thing. >> again, if gloria allred is holding a press conference and she is, of course, the champion of women's rights, if she's holding a press conference and her big blowup is "please check on this" -- her client crying, this is so painful for me. >> by the way, she supported financially jerry brown, gloria allred, and also won't say how she got this client. please, please. >> i'm of two minds. on the one hand, what you're

saying, democrats in california have a history of this kind of stuff, of very cleverly executed high jinx to try to paint the republicans with hispanic voters in this way. republican suspicions i think are justified. on the other hand, whitman hasn't really answered this in a way that has put the story away. she's take aen pretty hard line position on illegal immigration. >> she did last year. >> she's saying i'll do a polygraph test. >> the facts still aren't entirely clear. so paladino, interesting stuff about paladino. i think the question around this table is why would paladino take on dicker of the "new york post." >> there are a lot of signs that paladino has at least one screw loose. >> you have to be cert find. >> to mess with fred dicker in

the "new york post," as mark halperin quoted jim croche. >> those are the rules. first let's go to sports with willie geist. >> the other part of that story, which i'm sure you'll get to. yesterday paladino said all that stuff about cuomo's affairs, i was just kidding. i can't wait to hear more about that. lebron james is back in the news. in an interview on wednesday, both james and his agent claim race played a factor in the negative press that followed his televised announcement to play for miami. here is what he said. >> do you think there's a role that race plays in this? >> i think so at times. there's always a race factor. >> definitely played a role in some of the stuff coming out of the media and things written for sure. >> you're kidding me, willie.

willie, are they just trying to make him an even more unpopular person. >> it was just a bad press conference and bad media event. and he was terrible on tv. >> and spitting on cleveland. willie -- >> you talk about having an insular white house. lebron james has the same problem. he has a bunch of his 24-year-old friends about him who don't know much about much. >> why did soledad o'brien ask that question? >> jesse jackson made some statement about plantation politics. >> bad media event, boring character. >> i'm sorry, willie. we're incensed by the race card being played. go ahead. lebron stood by the comments. after practice people followed up. he wouldn't go into detail. he said, yes, race played into this. as heilemann just mentioned, not the first time race has come into this conversation.

in july cleveland cavs owner dan gilbert responded. jesse jackson weighed in saying the cavs owner saw lebron as a, quote, runaway slave. >> worth $100 million by the time he was 19 years old. please, please, please, please. >> please. >> please. i'm not trying to validate anything. if you were soledad o'brien you might think there is some history here. let's try to make some news. >> are you having drinks with soledad. we're talking about lebron. you want to keep going back to soledad. >> she made some news. good journalism. another good one for you. chad ocho cinco, the cincinnati bengals wide receiver and reality star has cereal with his name on it. unfortunately being yank kd off the shelves because of an

embarrassing typo. the maker of ochocinco's miss taik enly printed the wrong number on the back of the box. the number sends callers and the young kids who buy the cereal to a phone sex line even though the typo is the fault of the cereal maker, ocho cinco apologized for the mistake. in an interview with the cincinnati inquirer he said, quote, it's a little negative but sheds a positive light on what i'm doing. they have to get the right number, 888, not 800. if you dial 800 you're on your own. >> he went on to blame it on -- blame this on race. the kreel maker was intentionally trying tomorrow bar ras him. jesse jackson immediately weighed in. >> what flavor is that cereal? >> you don't want to know. not even a legitimate kreel. one more thing for yankee

fans. a big round of applause for the kansas city royals, nothing to play for. they beat the tampa bay rays last night. the yankees and rays are tied for first going into the final three games of the season. >> what's next, willie? >> new york gubernatorial candidate carl paladino explaining his explosive confrontation with a reporter. also the must-read opinion pages. mika is cooking them up as we speak. we'll be right back. [ wind howling ] [ technician ] are you busy? management just sent over these new technical manuals. they need you to translate them into portuguese. by tomorrow. [ male announcer ] ducati knows it's better for xerox to manage their global publications.

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they were taking pictures in the window. they were taking pictures of their mail. anybody that puts my daughter in danger is going to -- obviously i'm going to be responsive to

them. i've been using that phrase since the beginning of the campaign. i said i'm going to take out the trash. i'm going to take out this government. i'm going to take out sheldon sober and likewise mr. dicker and anybody else in the press who seem to think that they can come out and bird dog for mr. cuomo. >> 45 past the hour. that was republican candidate for governor of new york carl paladino defending his anger after nearly coming to blows with "new york post" reporter fred dicker. in that interview with "new york one," paladino backed away from allegations that his democratic rival andrew cuomo had extramarital affairs in the past saying he only wanted cuomo's personal life to be under the same amount of scrutiny as his own. >> that explains it all. >> i take everything back i said about paladino having a screw loose. he's perfectly sane now.

>> fred dicker, a tough guy at the "new york post," a big fan of andrew cuomo's, right? >> until he turns on him. >> just not smart to go after fred dicker and not smart to say you're going to take out a reporter. >> i'll try to take the other side. i guess he was feeling defensive for his 10-year-old daughter. "the new york times" saying he refused to apologize and blamed this reporter for sending photographers to take pictures of the little girl at her home. >> i don't know that fred sends camera men to places. that would upset me. >> did you see what the editor of the "new york post" did to throw his own elbow back at mr. paladino? there's controversy over the fact that he's acknowledged having fathered a child out of wedlock with another woman. the editor of the post said, you know, we understand why paladino would mind the scrutinies of his families, plural. they throw elbows in new york down the street here.

>> an interesting story. his wife has done a series of interviews about this. and apparently they lost a child, a child died. and that week he told her, his wife, about this child that existed. and her response was at this point in their moment of incredible loss, every child is a gift and has embraced this little girl. something to say about her. okay. let's move on to must-read op eds. time to simplify financial regulation. this is by elizabeth warren who, of course, is newly appointed by the white house. she says this, some bankers have told me that a short, easy-to-read agreement is exactly what they want. many others have expressed their interest this working with the new agency to advance a robust market for consumer credit, one that produces real competition that benefits millions of americans. at the birth of this new agency, we have a remarkable opportunity

to put aside misconceptions and work together. anyone here at the table think she's going to be able to do what she wants to do to get the job done here? >> i think the tale will be told, as with so many things, based on the results of the midterm elections. if republicans move intima jort in congress, i think they'll work with wall street to rein in some of these protections. >> afghanistan on the mind of a lot of people, eugene robinson's op ed is on afghanistan, a war without end. he's on at 8:00. charles crowdhammer asking why is obama sending troops to afghanistan? david ignatius also talking about afghanistan, u.s. and pakistan, an alliance too crucial to fail. >> and peggy noonan, the "wall street journal" twister, ahead, peggy noonan. and when we come back, willie's

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extra help. extra control. you may be eligible to pay $10 a month with the onglyza value card program. oh, yes, please tell me it's time. >> it's time for a special friday edition of the news you can't use. that means it's time for the week in review. this is a very busy week, an

important week chock full of real meaningful news. you won't find one bit of it in the top three stories of the week. >> in all the weeks of work, long hours, the tears, it all comes down to this moment. >> at number three. the winner is not -- >> it's you, kelsey. >> the reality show "australia's next top model" which is the same as america's without the tyra crowned the winner this week, but not before crowning the loser. as the confetti fell, the tears of joy flowed and dreams of international modelling stardom danced in the winner's head, she was informed she was not, in fact, the winner. >> i'm so sorry about this. oh, my god. this is a complete accident. it's amanda. it's amanda. it was fed to me wrong. >> some accuse the show of a

publicity stunt. >> mike, you know i wouldn't do this if it wasn't big. florida goes for al gore. >> cnn announces that we call florida in the al gore column. >> as number twho, cheeto and pocho, a love story. cheeto is a 52-year-old coast rican fisherman with a big heart. together they're cheeto and pocho. cheeto rescued the injured crocodile 20 years ago, nursed him back to health. now the dear friends perform their forbidden dance for tourists who gather in the morbid hope that they'll witness a mauling on their sun-splashed coast that rican vacation. the number one story of the week. >> you're kind of getting over my head on these things here. >> one night after interviewing the vice president of the united states on the premier of his new show, lawrence o'donnell grilled another distinguished american political leader. >> what's your position on

global warming? would you support a moratorium on foreclosures? do you think the pakistani government is protecting al qaeda within its borders. >> like i said, i don't watch a whole lot of tv. >> lawrence revealed he employed a revolutionary new interviewing contact. he ripped off katie couric word for word. >> do you think the pakistani government is protecting al qaeda within its borders. >> meanwhile levi's ex-fiancee and mother of his child was tearing up the dance floor on "dancing with the stars." his baby grand mamma was front row cheering on her daughter and finding herself at the center of a fake controversy. >> there's booing in the ballroom. we don't know why. >> boogate became the lamest gate yet. when some say those assembled mustered the political activism

to boo sarah palin. >> they're great. you're doing great. >> with the long national nightmare behind us, the country turns to the next generation of leaders with a simple question. what is your vision for america? >> um, i don't really know how to answer that question. >> it's a tough one. it's a tough one. "wall street journal's" peggy nan noon and natural view's major garrett next on "morning joe." ♪

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they say that there is an enthusiasm gap, and that the same republicans and the same policies that left our economy in a shambles and the middle class struggling year after year, that those folks might go right back into power. that's the conventional wisdom in washington. we cannot let that happen. we cannot sit this out. we can't let this country fall backwards. the stakes are too high. somewhere to move this country

forward for you and your future. so there better not be an enthusiasm gap, people. >> top of the hour. welcome back to "morning joe." a rainy, rainy morning in new york city. a lot to talk about. >> look at that shot. >> incredible. >> p.j. obviously didn't get that shot. that's nice. we have the game-change boys with us, mark halperin and john heilemann. joining us the national journal's major garrett, his column today is "seizing the middle ground." we'll get to major and his column in just a moment. we've got a lot to talk about today. president obama is expected to announce today his chief of staff, rahm emanuel is resigning in order to run for mayor of chicago. >> that's fascinating stuff. >> can we talk for a second about the president's speech last night? mark halperin, i'll start with you. the president is leaning forward, very aggressive. did you see this "rolling stone"

interview? the president sounded -- it was interesting. this is what he said about the tea parties. he said they're the tool of very powerful special interest lobbies, except for tea partyers whose motivations are, quote, a little darker that have to do with anti immigration sentiment or are troubled by what i represent as the president. then he said, fox news was ultimately destructive for the long-term growth of our country. he went on to say that people -- progressives that didn't support his policies weren't serious to begin with. it was a surprising tone. >> on both his critique of the right and the tea party movement, we talked last week about the fact that bill clinton was finding a way to rhetorically reach out to the tea party movement and express sympathy with their desire. but this criticism of the left,

peggy noonan has something about it in her column today, scolding voters to try to get their support, does not usually work. >> he says, the idea that we've got this -- from the "rolling stone interview," the idea we have a lack of enthusiasm in the democratic base, that people are sitting on their hands complaining is just irresponsible. if people now want to take their ball and go home, that tells me the folks weren't serious in the first place. john, that's stunning, that thement says either agree with me, or if you're on the right, you're a racist. if you're on the left, you weren't serious in the first place. i don't know that i've ever heard a president sound that defensive since nixon. >> not only defensive, but deeply frustrated. we've known for the last 18 months that the president's frustration with all of these factors has been growing. it's not that often that he has not only betrayed it in a small

way. this is almost lashing out -- >> almost? almost? he says that democrats that supported him that aren't happy with everything that he's done, quote, weren't serious in the first place. >> i retract my "almost." >> what about this tea party thing? we were laughing this off a year ago, that he says that the tea partyers are, first of all, some of them have darker motivations and are anti immigrant, but they're also the, quote, tool of very powerful special interest lobbies does this guy not get out? does this guy believe -- >> sls some money. >> oh, come on. you think the people electing the nevada lady, sharron angle and christine o'donnell, do you think any smart money would work to elect those people? >> big money has gone into those races, at least in nevada. >> are you telling me you believe that the tea party -- this is a serious question.

you're implying that the tea party is somehow the tool of k street lobbyists. >> the president's critique i think across the board is intellectually valid. as a matter of politics, saying this stuff to annoy both the left and the right is off key. >> you say it's intellectually valid for the president of the united states to tell his progressive base, if you don't agree what i've done and you weren't excited about everything evidence' done, then, quote, you weren't serious -- >> i think it's intellectually valid to say if you want to support your vision of the country in 2008, you need to vote in 2010. this fight isn't over. the way he said it and saying it all i think is bad politics. >> john, he somehow has made himself, once again, the issue, that if you don't -- if you were

not excited about barack obama and what barack obama has done, if you're on the right, you hate immigrants. if you're on the left, you weren't serious in the first place. that's a disturbing trait to me. >> again, i agree mostly with mark about this. i think it's not an effective strategy for him in terms of what he needs to get done between now and the midterm elections, in terms of his broader ambitions, in terms of his whole presidency, this isn't the barack obama that was so appealing to a lot of people back in 2008. it just doesn't seem to be the right way to motivate, even though his party's base, to get them out, scolding them, telling them they're not serious when they have tried to hold him to the highest standards in terms of what they're trying to achieve. that doesn't mean they're not serious. it means they're holding his feet to the fire which is what the bases of parties are supposed to do to their elected leaders. >> you know "rolling stone" is

doing great work. you look at the mcchrystal article. remember yan winter's article back in 2003, do you stand for anything and clinton getting angry. this "rolling stone" article hasn't gotten the attention it should get. it's a real window into the president's thinking. >> they've been on a roll for the last two years, just across the board. >> the cover of wheezer, too. >> wifrs cuomo, the guy doesn't get the credit he deserves. he got it back in 1995. major garrett, let's bring you in. you're talking about the president finding the middle ground. democrats finding the middle ground. it sounds like he's shooting both sides right now. >> joe, let me ask you to look closer at the headline. it's not middle ground. it's muddle ground. >> hold on one second.

>> i have to look closely. >> muddle ground. >> actually there's a typo on our sheet. >> that's the implied joke, folks. follow along if you can. the muddle ground. this goes to what you're talking about. the whole piece is about the way congressional democrats skulked out of washington very subdued this week, not talking about all the things they've been done and what can only be described, whether you like it or not, is a historic two years for a democratic congress and democratic president. what the president expresses his frustration with base voters of the democratic party, i think they have justification to be a little bit uncertain about this political climate because their congressional leaders don't even have the confidence or the wherewithal or the political guts to go out and say, you know what? we're proud of what we accomplished. >> major -- that is an ongoing frustration with the white house who can say we passed a stimulus package that saved the economy.

that's their position. the house can say we passed cap and trade, and we're moving in the right direction there. we passed historic health care. we've been fighting for it for 100 years. it got passed. we passed financial regulatory reform. we did all these things. you're right. it seems that despite that fact, democrats in the house and the senate are campaigning on the defensive. >> look at it this way. democrats leaving washington have no faith in campaigning on health care and they don't have the votes or the political wherewithal to vote on middle class tax cuts. think that is a very compact and compressed way of looking at that time political dilemma they face. everyone thought a year ago, let's hold the bush tax extender vote to the end of the year. that will be a great capper for the end of the session. that will launch us into the midterm campaign. they can't do it now because the economy has failed to recover. they can't vote on middle class tax cuts. they can't use that issue against republicans, though they started this congress with a net polling edge on taxes and the

economy. all that has drifted away from them. they thought when they passed health care, when we get that done, there's going to be a tremendous rallying of the party. we can carry that in the midterm. they can't do that either. structurally, all their assumptions about what they can do and what they can campaign on have slipped through their fingers. >> mika, isn't that fascinating that you look at some of these big achievements, legislative achievements that are passed and the democrats aren't really campaigning on those. they didn't vote on middle class tax cuts, to extend them. >> joe, it's interesting. there's one health care ad right now that i'm aware of that a house democrat is running. it's about not the obama-care, not about doing anything in this session. earl palm roy is running an add about medicare part d explaining how he can run with republicans like george w. bush. >> what's amazing as well, very few of them are run ong what

they say they'll do if you reelect them. >> what are they running on? >> attacking republicans and saying don't take us back to the bush years. >> that's what the president said last night. if they pass these historic things, why don't they campaign -- i could actually write some campaign lines for them. it's like pretty effective. >> i was going to answer your question with a question. do you think it's a mistake? do you think there's a way they can work with all these accomplishments that you could argue are historic and you could argue this president -- i think of a comment you were taking to a group of people yesterday where you say people who want to be successful in politics today need to say what they're going to do and do it. you could argue this president has. do you think they're making a mistake, candidates running for office across the country, not campaigning on the fact that he's accomplished a great deal? >> i keep going back to '92, '93, '94. the president made the same mistake bill clinton made. he was brought in as an agent of

change, as something new and fresh. and he immediately became seen by many americans as an old style, big spending democrat. john, it happened to bill clinton in '93 and '94. he readjusted in '95 and left with higher approval ratings than ronald reagan or just about any other president. it's happened with barack obama. >> it has to an extent. >> you look at the independents, it's happened. >> clearly. i'm not trying to dismiss that point. to mika's point, i findist incredible. the democrats are so gutless. they have for two years passed a huge stimulus bill, pass add historic health care bill, what they think of as historic regulatory bill to reregulate wall street. the polls tell them that many of those things are unpopular. the wall street reform is unpopular. the other two are unpopular. instead of standing up and

saying here is why things shouldn't be unpopular, this is why we're changing the country in the right way, they're running away from their own votes. i think your question is right on the money. i think they should be -- if you voted for these things, you passed these bills, go out and campaign on them because you told america this is how you were going to change the country and these were positive steps for the country going forward. stand up for what you voted for and make the argument. >> look at one focus group or poll and know if they did that, they would lose even more seats. >> i'm saying change public opinion. >> it's too late. >> that's the point. >> in '08 they were the agents of change. we're going into a new era of politics and two years later, following up on your point, they're exhausted now intellectually. they have nothing to tell voters according to what you just said other than go with the republicans, they're just like

bush. >> a long list of people who they alienated leaves them with very few allies. >> what happened? they got 53% of the vote. what happened? >> they have democrats on capitol hill. >> how? if you're the white house you're barack obama, you say i saved the economy with the stimulus package, took on financial regulatory reform, did what nobody else has done on health care reform, why is this guy falling? >> partly because of how high unemployment is. >> a policy judgment. if unemployment were 6%, this sky wouldn't be falling. that's the main thing. i think in addition they went about the politics of dealing with the center, the right and the left and the press in a way that's brought some of this on themselves and exacerbated -- >> major garrett, if unemployment were at 6% right now, would we be having this conversation.

>> no, we wouldn't be having all of this conversation. we'd be having some of it. if you look back, remember after health care passed, the hostility diminished a bit, the polling data began to look better just as the economy began to look a little better. in late spring people were thinking maybe 3%, 4% growth by the fourth quarter of this year and the health care numbers on the hostility front diminished and the popularity of it began to rise. and then what happened? the economy went down again. so did the health care numbers. everything on the big issues, the mega issues for this democratic president and his allies tracks perception of the economies. as perceptions worsen, everything else about the democratic agenda worsen end in the mind of the public. democrats are trying to protect majorities. right now they're using every tactic they can to project the majority. they decided not talking is better than talking. all their focus groups and internal polling analysis tells

them, if you go out and say what a great country we reviewed, independent voters will say i don't feel it. you' essentially lying to me. i'm not goings to listen to you anymore. they'll tailer things locally and try to hang on. >> boy, it is tough to run a campaign -- >> i go back to what i think is one of the more real moments on this show of late which is governor grand holm of michigan who said i'm so glad i'm not running. >> especially in michigan. >> yeah. the real deal. the national journal's major garrett, thank you so much. >> thank you. we'll read your headline correct next time. >> give it a try. >> when we come back, we'll bring in david gregory. savannah is a little busy, but maybe savannah guthrie. >> hello, mr. president. >> ray, rahm, talk to you later.

i'll be sucking up to you soon to get information. all right. >> what is rahm's departure. >> oh, right, i'm on the air. >> what does it mean for president obama and the midterm elections. also peggy noonan coming up. first bill karins. >> i know we wanted to sit and wait and see how long it will take. let's chat about the heavy rain in new york city. flash flood warning is in effect. the heaviest rain is moving out onto long island. flash flood warnings in hartford, connecticut. the new york state thruway from new york city north to albany, a lot of problems on that with the heavy rain from last night. boston, you'll have to wait another two or three hours. you will notice that d.c. and philadelphia, you're just fine. all the heavy rain has moved out of your region.

flash flood warnings, the areas in maroon, southern connecticut and a few spots near binghamton. two inches in new york city in the last two hours. now we'll watch the rainfall totals adding up in new england. it's new england eels problem during the day. we'll clear out in new york city as we go through out the afternoon. forecast for saturday looks perfect. even much of the country looks great today. only new england we have to wait another couple hours until the rain exits. again, flash flood warning for new york city. stay tuned. you're watching "morning joe" brewed by starbucks. sure i'd like to diversify my workforce,

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rahm emanuel is such a big personality with a strong opinion an aggressive nature and profane vocabulary that i suspect he's been really out of the mold as far as white house chiefs of staff are considered. could he find someone who could help carve a more conciliatory path and a better working relationship with both democrats and republicans? i think the first and most important thing would be somebody who could help set a new tone inside the white house more in keeping with the tone that the president promised in 2008. >> all right. welcome back. 22 past the hour. joining us now peggy noonan columnist from the "wall street journal." and from washington the moderator of "meet the press" david gregory and the co-host of daily rundown and nbc white house correspondent savannah guthrie. thank you for being with us as well as the game-change boys. november 6, 2008.

this is after you coughed your morning bun because you heard rahm had been chosen. you then said, if i were running the democratic party, take over the senate, take over the house, but he would be the last person i would name as my chief of staff. >> i think it follows up with what rove said, peggy. he promised change and promised to get people together. rahm emanuel, a very interesting choice for a guy that was going to bring republicans, democrats and independents together. two years later we're more divided than ever. >> one of the challenges i think in politics if you are on the left is to have a realistic view of what the left is and what the middle is and what the right is. just as if you're on the right, you don't always understand the middle and the left. i don't know about the inside story of who called what shots in the obama white house. but i always think that they,

and i suppose rahm, had some trouble judging what the center would like and what the right would accept. i think he was a very dramatic figure. i suppose he was also an energizing figure in that white house. he's very kinetic, very, go into the day, boom, boom, boom. i don't really know if -- to be fra frank, if his departure has much to do with anything beyond inside washington stuff. i can't imagine people in the middle of america saying honey, honey, wake up, rahm is leaving. >> i don't think that's going to happen. >> david gregory, that's, of course, how you woke up this morning, waking up actually your kids, oh, my god, rahm is leaving. >> rahm emanuel is out as chief of staff. >> what's the impact of his leaving and the new guy coming in? >> well, a couple points. first, i think you have to look

at emanuel as being more effective than peggy is giving him credit for in terms of what the president actually achieved. i think he had more of a triangulating approach to politics than maybe some others within the west wing and perhaps wanted to be a little more incremental in certain areas than others in the west wing wanted to be. and look, karl rove saying he had kind of an abrasive, aggressive hard-charging style. mr. rove certainly had that as well. that had its ups and downs. stylistically i think there was dysfunction in the west wing that had to be dealt with in terms of emanuel's personality and approach to issues. there was a lot that was accomplished. the difficulty is what was accomplished isn't necessarily popular. i think where you're going now with rouse, with some others from the campaign coming in, like a david plouffe, what's interesting is what does it all amount to? i think what you're seeing is more of a return to what was really effective about the architecture of the 2008 campaign and perhaps in pete

rouse where emanuel was not effective was confounding. how good was obama at confounding his republican yit ticks? not very good. maybe they have a cast now mo who might be better at that. it may be high time for that given the balance of power changing. >> david, a question for you on the subject of taking a long-term view and giving mr. emanuel the credit he deserves. in the past year and a half or so, there have been persistent leaks, i guess, to newspapers saying, hey, you don't understand. the administration may be making x, y or z mistake. but rahm emanuel was consistently a voice for moderation and for going slower or taking a different tact. as you look back on it, were those leaks correct? does that capture some of his approach? >> well, yes. we know -- i know in some cases they were. the decision about trying khalid shaikh mohammed in civilian court, for instance, is something he resisted.

he obviously butted heads internally with some people who were around the president. but let's remember why he was chosen in the first ple. president obama, more cool demeanor, comes into the white house and needs somebody who knows how to manage democrats who are in control on capitol hill. as a tactical and strategic manner, you can look at how the stimulus was put together and you can say that was a mistake because of how much control democrats had in writing that bill and whether that was an appropriate way to do that. these are policy judgments. nevertheless, that original decision was about somebody who had the sharp elbows to come in and not only run a staff, run a west wing staff, but deal with the hill. then you had other events including the trajectory downward of the economy that gets bigger than just the chief of staff. >> hey, savannah guthrie, what signals is the white house sending right now about what the future is going to be like over the next few years without rahm

emanuel? >> well, i think they're looking pretty realistically at a white house that is going to see a lot of turnover. this rahm departure is only the beginning of it. actually pete rouse has been working on this project for a while now, putting the pieces together, who should go where. he's got a reputation for being a pretty good recruiter. he's recruited big names in democratic politics going back to his daschle years. he's been working on that. a year from now, in many ways you won't recognize this west wing. so i think they recognize that's going to happen. rouse has been very much in charge of it. he's here on an interim basis. however, it's not like the nationwide search begins today or even tomorrow. he is the caretaker chief of staff. he'll be here a while. could be a few months. they'll be looking for somebody. i think the president is open to getting somebody from the outside. it's not at all clear that's what will happen in the end. but they're open to it. this is a west thing that's

going to see a lot of turnover. pete rouse is a calming influence. he's as low profile and low key as rahm emanuel was loud mouth and larger than life. it's a totally different approach. he's kind of a beloved figure in here. one thing people say he does very well is help people get along. the other interesting observation i'd make about this choice is everyone in here from bottom to top supports it. because pete rouse coming in being the caretaker chief of staff, it doesn't disturb any of the power centers that exist already within this white house. i think that's why you see a lot of people supporting this as well as their support for rouse. >> the shift in chiefs of staff may not wake people up, but the huge impact on how the white house is run. i think going from james a. baker, iii who as we said is probably the best chief of staff in our adult lifetime. >> he was the best at a lot of things. >> to don regan who was not the

best chief of staff for ronald reagan's interest. that white house stumbled terribly after james baker left, peggy. >> he was rahm emanuel in a gray wig. i think if pete rouse, by the way, as we just said is a peaceful force and will be a peaceful force in the white house and helps coordinate things, that's a wonderful thing and solves some of the immediate things. you should have him immediately as a guest on the show and bring peace here. >> david gregory -- we have peace with the white house. >> no, i mean among you, this table. >> i don't think he can help us out. he can stick to the white house. that will be easier. david gregory, talk about how you think this is going to change the white house moving forward? >> i go back to covering the bush years. at the height of the violence and the debate over the surge in iraq, you had a change when andy

card left and josh bolton came in. these were not household names. what it did signal was a big change in tone that came out of the white house in how they communicated to the rest of the country, how they defended the president and communicated policy. this is an inside washington process game. but those things matter. those ideas matter to everyone at a time that's important where you potentially have a change in the balance of power in washington. how will the white house change internally. how does the tone change? how do they communicate the economy and economic woes differently. how does the president position himself and how do they make that transition to 2012? how does the president respond to what could be a drubbing in november? how does he deal with the hill differently? does he look to triangulate like clinton did or dig in and fight harder and get more aggressive with republicans. it will be interesting to watch how it takes shape. >> john, mark and i were talking

during the break about the "rolling stone" interview which is, again, i think this is one of the most important interviews, one of the most important looks we've had -- peggy i think you agree, too. >> yeah, i do. >> this is an angry, defensive president who is striking out at all sides. i say that to say it doesn't matter who the chief of staff is if you have a president saying i'm right all the time and everybody else is wrong. >> i do think it matters who the chief of staff is. the strong chief of staff focused not running for mayor but helping the presidency is a big deal. you look at history of the last few presidents, when they've had a good chief of staff, they've done well. the other thing is, the person we haven't talked about is joe biden who is key right now. he is in there as an experienced calming force. the question is what is he going to do to change the direction. >> how does somebody -- you agree the "rolling stone" interview. >> totally revealing and revealing about obama's

frustration most of all. we have to keep in mind, the question of this pete rouse thing, very important in the moment. he may be gone three or four months from now. the signal is he may be an interim chief of staff and the big move will come after november when obama looks and sees what the landscape is and makes the bigger, longer term case to get him through 2012. >> savannah guthrie, thank you so much. >> thanks showing me on tv when i didn't know. that was awesome. >> savannah, i'm sorry. they didn't tell you? >> no. >> you looked very busy. they thought you were sucking up to pete rouse already. >> i may have been. >> does pete not like people on cell phones? is this the new white house? people on edge, jumpy? >> oh, come on. >> savannah, we love you. david gregory, this week en, the ryder cup is on. are you going to be for america?

>> yes. i will be. i will be. >> bold move, gregory. >> we'll be back next week. >> david, thank you very much. coming up "the washington post's" eugene robinson. what does evolution and punk music have in common? our next guest, the lead singer of bad religion explains. coming up. discover customersl are getting five percent cashback bonus at restaurants.

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is. live shot, top of the rock. my mom called and said it was a horrific storm in washington. welcome back to "morning joe." 36 past the hour. new york authorities are confirming that a body found in the hudson river earlier this week is that of the rutgers university student who committed suicide by jumping off the george washington bridge after his sexual encounter with another man was secretly streamed online. meanwhile prosecutors in new jersey are considering whether to bring hate crime charges against tyler clementi's roommate and another student who set up the recording. dharun ravi and molly wei have been charged with two counts each of invasion of privacy, both facing maximum five-year sentence if convicted. yesterday new jersey governor

chris christie called the incident an unspeakable tragedy and said he can't imagine how the students accused of filming clementi can sleep at night knowing they contributed to driving that young man to suicide. >> think about the parents involved in this case. >> all around. >> the absolute horror of the parents who lost this wonderful young man who from everything we've read was just a talented and gifted, sweet guy. and then the parents of the other two whose kids pull what they consider to be a prank, something that they might see on "jersey shore" or "real world" on mtv and they're facing five years in prison. they're going to take with them the rest of their lives that their actions contributed to the death of a young man. >> there's so many ways kids can get in trouble now because of technology and so many reasons why they might. they have no -- they don't have developed ethics and morals in their brains. remember when we were kids?

phony phone calls or something stupid like that? it's now -- you can do so much at the click of a button and destroy a lifetime or four life times. >> i know you and i have boys about the same age. i remember reading these circui an 18-year-old, 19-year-old's brain are far different than they are when they're 23, 24, 25. sometimes they do inexplicable stupid things. say they. i mean me as well. >> this is unusually destructive. we're losing a sense of privacy in america. these kids violated the privacy of another human being in a private moment and put it on the internet for all to see so that's he would be humiliated. it seems to me it's not only neurologically young people are popping in different ways, i think it's the story of the week

because it speaks, if the facts are as we think, of a level of unkindness and lack of ethical or moral development about your privacy and the privacy of others and what a violation it is, that it ought to start concerning us. >> the thing that's fascinating about this is this younger generation that's been raised on these technological platforms on facebook and twitter they have a different conception of privacy than we do. they share an enormous amount of stuff about their lives -- >> they don't have it. >> that's what i mean. they put forward the most intimate details of their lives. let me finish. they put forward the very intimate details of their lives. given the standards of privacy have changed, for people who are mel leave lent, this is where it leads. it's that in the neutral t positive and the negative sense, privacy standards are down and a lot of stuff like this is going to start to happen. >> i understand. >> i am stunned by what some of

my son's friends put on facebook, on twitter, the pictures, the personal, personal details. >> i have a 12-year-old. >> let me say i'm stunned by what some house wives put on twitter that my wife says can you believe this. i look and i'm like, ah! why are they doing that. >> everything you say is true. we can't go through life without a sense of privacy, without a sense of your own dignity and heart as a human person. they can't go through life the way they're living it right now. someone has to teach them. i think the grownups have to step in here. >> we have to somehow. we'll be right back. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 absolutely. i mean, these financial services companies

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listen, bill, you're free to believe what you want to believe.

if you want to believe a little meteorite crashed into the earth and bill maher emerged from some swamp. you and richard dawkins and all your crew, you can't explain -- >> you think that's what we believe? >> you can't explain how the earth got here. you can't. >> right. nobody can explain it. but it doesn't mean we should make up stories like children to explain it. there's a great quote from thomas jefferson about how ridicule is the only appropriate way to handle such fantasy. >> wow. okay. 46 past. welcome back. that was bill maher and bill o'reilly duking it out last night over religion. joining us with his own take, the lead singer of the punk rock band bad religion. he's also a u krfrnlthszla professor, greg graffin. in his new book, anarchy evolution, faith, signs and bad religion in a world without god. good to have you on the show this morning. >> thanks for having me. i'd like to say i planned that debate to coincide with my

appearance. >> it's worked very well for us. >> both of them did a great job. thanks, guys. >> tell us about "anarchy evolution." >> it's a momentous year for my band, bad religion. we're celebrating 30 years of punk rock which is something we never dreamed would happen. and throughout those 30 years -- >> by the way, you're still alive, and that ain't nothing. >> that's true. sadly, we can't say that for a lot of punk rockers unfortunately. alongside my singing in bad religion, i also took a different tact which was studying academic science. a lot of people don't see how can someone be an entertainer and a punk rocker and do science at the same time and have any kind of a coherent world view? what i've done in this book, hopefully, is woven those two elements together. >> how did you do it? >> there's not a simple formula. the problem is that most people

can't conceive of elements in science being at all related to punk rock. and what i do in the book is point out there's actually a lot of similarity in the sense that both of them challenge authority. and that's one thread that runs through punk music, and i think it's made it a mainstay in american culture. and it's the one thing that threads through science as well. >> and explain that, because you talk about anarchy, of course. whenever i hear the word i think of anarchy in the uk and cop cars being turned upside down on fire. you talk about a different type of anarchy. an anarchy in science. >> the sense that, if we want -- as scientists to believe that the world is an ordered place and that it's governed by natural law, it's kind of the opposite idea that any kind of lawlessness or anarchy could be

present. but evolution is actually a science that was unified, so to speak, or so many people thought by natural selection. but the truth is that natural selection is falling out of favor with a lot of evolutionists as being the overriding, over arching law-like giver to evolution. >> you're saying it's not neatly ordered. >> i want to make it very clear, though, because we're on dangerous waters here. i don't believe that bill o'reilly said one bit when he said nobody knows how the earth got here. for some reason bill maher let him off the hook and said, okay -- >> help me out. how did the earth get here? >> you can't answer it in two seconds. >> i'll give you five. go. >> you know as well as i, you can pick up many books and read about the incremental

development of the universe. >> this is a fascinating concept, peggy. everybody concept, pegly, because people they say believe in evolution like to think there's a nice, neat formula. it is also messy, there is no -- you know, there is no formula here. >> i'll just blurt. i believe in god, and i think science is to be lauded and used and investigated and taken so seriously, because at the end of the day, with all your scientific knowledge, you'll get to god. >> that's a perfectly valid belief. i don't think anyone should criticize you for it. >> thank you. i'm so grateful. >> so answer, christine o'donnell's questions.

why aren't aprils -- i'm just joking. that was painful. should we ask about the mice with fully functioning human brains? >> i don't think so. so tell me, what was over the past 30 years, if you don't mind asking me about music, what are the most proud of 30 years later? >> i've been saying this a lot this year. it's really not a celebration of us. you have to be careful when you celebrate numbers when you're a pump rock band, because it could be a bad thing, and if you stick around too long you become a heritage act, where you end up playing the state fair. nothing wrong with the state fair, i enjoy going, but i don't want to play it. thanks. coming up, eugene robinson and familiar faces make a cameo appearance on "30 rock. " or, maybe you want to help improve our schools?

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welcome back to -- if you watched "3 rock" you noticed the real surprise, the pleasant surprise was nbc chief foreign affairs correspondent, andrea mitchell. in the context, an editor at nbc news was spreading the rumor around the building he had been sleeping with tina faye's character. andrea mitchell, i'm surprised at your language. >> we have this just into us,

ricci and liz spotted in tree. eyewitnesses report k-i-s-s-i-n-g for more let's go to andrea mitchell? >> thank you, brinen. slut. >> joe, how about andrea mitchell now? dropping a little bomb on everybody. >> i'm very impressed. now, you saw it, peggy. you were very impressed. i laughed out loud. very funny. >> how many people have a one-word line. >> how many have won both a news emmy and show emmy? >> she deserves both. eugene robinson and michael crowley is next on "morning joe."

president obama is traveling around, going door to door, and he says, can i have a press conference if your backyard? he's had two of them now. they're very successful. people say, give me a second, they straighten up the backyard and they have a press conference. they're crazy successful. it's a connection. here's our president in the backyard. did you see the one in iowa? look at what happened to the one in iowa. it's comical. watch. >> obviously we were confronted with a historic crisis, the

worst financial crisis since the great depression. we had lost 4 million jobs in the last six months. top of the hour. welcome back to "morning joe." the sun is coming up after a big storm that's now in new york. also with us, pulitzer price winning columnist from "the washington post" eugene robinson. >> we have a lot to talk about, but take us through the news first. >> the white house is trying to reenergize the youth vote that was so crucial to president obama's election two years ago. last night the president addressed supporters at a hip-hop concert and rally in washington. it featured -- >> that will pull the independents right in. that's a sweet spot. >> yes. gosh. it featured -- performing for a sold-out crowd of 3,000,

expected it raise three quarters of a million dollars. >> they say there's an enthusiasm gap, and that the same republicans and the same policies that left our economy in a shambles and the middle class struggling year after year, that those folks might all ride back into power. that's the conventional wisdom in washington. we request not let that happen. we cannot sit this out. we can't let this country fall backwards. the stakes are too high. we have to move this country forward for you and your future. so there had better not be an enthusiasm gap, people. president obama is expected to announce today that his chief of staff rahm emanuel is resigning in order to run for the mayor of chicago position. people close to emanuel says he starts to campaign as early as this monday.

pete rouse is expected to take over the chief of staff position. that's quite a big change in the white house, one i think you predicted. >> i think i predicted that it won't bring america together. peggy, you talk in your op-ed that tornadoes are tearing apart the political landscape. there's one line in here, you say there's a war beginning of the democratic party and the president has lost control of his base. this is what the president is saying in "rolling stone" this week about his base -- the idea that we have a lack of enthusiasm in the democratic base, that people are sitting on their hands just complaining is irresponsible. if people now want to take their ball and go home, that tells me these folks weren't serious in the first place. >> there's war in the republican party, but right now there's war with the president and his base. >> i think we pay so much attention to the republican

party, we don't know what's going on with the democrats. look, the president had that interview in "rolling stone" we all agree that's kind of a historical moment, the window on his mind that was opened up there. but when he made his charges against people who had voted for him in '08 who aren't showing up for and perhaps now, he was not answered with a quiet on the left among those who had been his great supporters in '08. they shut back so hard at him. we know there's a leftist blogosphere, even as there is a right one. firedoglake, run by jane hampshire, she wrote a piece that said, hey, buddy, you are building up a narrative so that when you lose in november, it will be blamed on us hippy slacker folk. it was something -- i mean, this was not -- she was not losing, and he the president was not

using the language of typical disagreements between politicians and the base. this was the language of alienation and estrangement. >> and john, that is happening across the left. i heard it on tv, somebody else saying how could he set up the democratic base for failure? that's what he's doing. we're hearing that in the blogosphere. we're hearing that the president is going in "rolling stone" saying they're a bunch of whiners that want to go home. it's striking. >> it started a while ago. what they see, when robert gibbs preferred to the professional left and joe biden said that the people should stop whining, the president saying this stuff in "rolling stone" they see a concerted strategy, as peggy said, of hippy punching, trying to blame this segment of the base if they don't do well. and i think they quite reasonably see those things as a part of a pattern, that this is not an isolated incident.

this is what the white house has decided to do, and they are angry about that, because they believe, you know, that their job. we have to make some distinctions about what we're talking about. the president's base, to the extent that the democratic party has a base, labor unions, the african-american vote, hispanic voters, that's not what this is about. this is a very small sliver that as a large megaphone that is the activist base of the party, primarily on the internet, but those people, their view is we are about principle, and you have betrayed your art, the principles that we are in favor of. we thought you represented, and our job isn't to support you just because you're some culted personality. our job is to fight for these principles and you've walked away from them. that's their view. >> mark halperin, are you surprised at the president striking out at the left? >> i am. i think his analysis might have some intellectual accuracy, but as a matter of politics, as a

time when their only hope of salvaging the mid terms is to get the base energized, to go after him like that, again i've never seen a politicians win votes by criticizing people and scolding them. >> gene, i'll ask the same question. the president last night telling the crowd you need to get energized, but earlier this week telling jan winter at "rolling stone" there are democrats who are whiners, they want to take their ball and go home, and if they are not supporting me now, they were never serious in the first place. >> yeah, i basically think that heilman is right, joe, you have to extinguish between the activist blogosphere base and the broader base of the democratic party. to the extent that there is any such organized thing. and i don't think he necessarily hurts himself with those larger traditional democratic

constituencies. maybe he does light a fire until some of those first-time obama voters to whom he's trying to speak directly. those people came out for the first time in 2008 to vote for him. he's trying to get them out. and i think, you know, if the cost of that from their point of view is ticking off jane hampshire, then i think they'll make that trade. >> but here you have the president and, peggy, you have this quote in your article this week, the twist of of 2010, he aimed fire at those abandoning him, quote, it is unexcusable for any democrat or progressive right now to stand on the sidelines in this midterm election. peggy, i've just -- listen, we've got to talk about who the president of the united states is. i've never heard a president

somehow believe that he embodied righteousness and goodness and all that a party or movement stood for more than barack obama. he has somehow -- he believed, and this is very dangerous, he believed the hype in 2008. and now if you are against him, his words, you are irresponsible, you are petty, you want to take your ball and go home. who -- who thinks this way? who believes if you don't agree with me 100% of the time that you're just wrong? >> i don't know. i think there's something to what you say, and to your questions, but let me ask another question. one of the things that confuses me about mr. obama at this point is he's in a tough election, we're in the final days of it. he's got nothing to lose, the polls are so bad, why isn't he being a happy warrior? why is he scowl at people? why isn't he making them laugh?

showing spirit? cracking them up? making them applaud? in that speech we ran a piece of, and people started to go boo, to boo the thing he was criticizing. well, heck, we've got three weeks to the election. don't get them booing, get them laughing, get them marching, enspirited. i don't understand -- >> like he did in 2008, mika. >> some version of it. but politics is fun and exciting. >> but peggy, i can hear you, and all of you, possibly even eugene, criticizing him if he was too joyful -- >> no. >> hold on, because these are hard times, and he needs to connect. i see him doing that, one on one with the american people. i see him really trying. it doesn't look like it's natural for him. having said that, his own party isn't even running on, in the midterm elections the things

that he's done. can't he be a little frustrated? >> but, gene, that's the problem. if you don't have a single democrat in your parties running on what you did for two years, maybe you should look in the mirror, because maybe you have miscalculated like no president in modern american history has miscalculated where the middle of america is. seriously, not a single democrat from coast to coast campaigning on his agenda, other than russ feingold in wisconsin? go ahead. >> well, no, and i think the white house understands that. i think the white house sees that, and i assume the president sees that. i don't think that's what he's trying to do -- what he was trying to do with that speech, though. i think what he was trying to do very specifically is speak to the people who came out to vote for barack obama in 2008, because he was barack obama. people who hadn't voted before,

people who probably weren't going to vote this time, because they're younger, or they're occasional voters or first-time voters in 2008. i think, you know, i think he believes that's the way in which his kind of nationalizing the election, and speaking in his broad terms, and speaking about his agenda could potential help democrats. i think there's an understanding in the white house that democratic candidates, especially those in dicey districts are not going to run on his record. >> what should that tell the president? what should that tell the white house? what should it tell them? it's almost a rhetorical question. >> no, it is a rhetorical question. >> the guy they have right now is feeling like the whole world misunderstands him. could it not be that he misunderstands the whole political world?

>> yes, yes, absolutely. it can be that they -- look. did the white house misread public sentiment at x number of points in the past 20 months? yes, it did. and if it hadn't, maybe the democrats wouldn't be in the pickle they're in right now. but i think what they're trying to do is salvage as much of november 2nd as they can. >> i guess that's the big question here. what's the best way for them to do it? john, what's the best way for them to do it? >> i don't know the answer, but you had that good interview with bill clinton, and the president said a bunch of things that were smart. he also said this thing about how the democrats needed to nationalize the election. i couldn't help but remember that is what bill clinton tried to do after newt gingrich put forward the contract with america, bill clinton did

something very similar to what democrats are trying to do right now, target the contract, nationalize the election. it just didn't work. so the parallel is sort of eerie. i think the only thing that will get barack obama to where you want him to be, recognizing his agenda has alienated big parts of the country, is the results in the november elections. if democrats get their clocks cleaned it will force the recalibration, bus his righteousness will be reinforced. >> again, peggy, it's not what i want to see. i think we need a president who is self-aware, who knows where middle america is. i'm stunned that scott brown's shocking election in january of last year wasn't that wake-up call. >> that it didn't sober everybody up. >> we just lost in massachusetts. we lost in new jersey.

we lost by 15, 16 points in virginia. these are states we won going away two years ago, one year ago. why didn't that wake them up? >> it is my impression that the president in his thinking tends to think of himself as a long game player. he tends to see setbacks as moment tear, we will get past them, long term i am doing the right thing. i do think that is how he is thinking. so setbacks that my starting and force change in other politicians doesn't work in forcing change for this president. >> does barack obama have a point? he's where ronald reagan was in 1982? >> i think politicians have to say, you know what, everybody? i may have been a big wrong about something. i'm going to recalibrate it and take another look. i've been wondering what would happen if the president -- no, i think he's doing the opposite.

>> i'd like you to look at what -- his entire economic team is leaving. >> and it's their fault. he's firing other people, because it's their fault. we may have a george w. bush issue here. >> i understand what mika is saying. i asked president bush asked have you done anything wrong? and he said no. i about fell off my chair. >> he's going to spend a lot of christmas and new year's about what he wants to do in the state of union address. he must. >> gee, did he ever say, i navy gotten that one wrong? because george w. bush -- >> that is a great question, does the president sit back and -- have you ever heard as great reporters that he has doubts, that he's anguishing about certain decisions, and he's thinking, i may have gone

down the wrong path. do you ever hear that? >> the president is not a man plagued by a lot of self-doubt, and neither was george w. bush. >> to speak to your example, look at the way scott brown -- it could have been a wake-up call. what barack obama did, when everyone was saying scale back, his attitude was no, i'm going to stay the course, this is important, we pursued this strategy, and what happened? he won. in his mind, in terms of a legislative victory, he actually passed the health care bill. he didn't get the sense -- >> just like the 2008 election. gene, is this a president -- have you ever heard any examples of the president saying i was wrong, i messed up? >> you know, not a lot. certainly never heard any anguish, self-doubt. maybe a --

>> nobody wants a president who's plagued with self-doubt. >> listen, mika -- >> it's unbelievable. what did you say when george bush said he never made a mistake. you should have been horrified. were you horrified, so now because he's a democrat, you want him to thing he's perfect? >> i didn't say that. >> you're saying that. >> i'm saying he's firing his economic team and chief of staff, because it's all their fault. >> there's some issues in terms of his managing and -- >> have you made a mistake? >> yes, absolutely, many. >> and people know you've had made mistakes. >> sure. >> what is it about these presidents we're electing that -- >> why don't you ask him? i'm sure he would have the same answer as well. >> they fear to reflect sometimes, because if they come forward, people like us will

feast on it for the next three days. >> people like you would say, good job. >> yeah, that's true. >> arms for hostages, big mistake. >> big mistake. >> going back to 1986 for that one. >> is that the last time an american president said i blew it? that's almost scary. >> no, but that was a clear-cut one. >> but his "i blew it" was also clear-cut. >> gene, why don't you wrap it up here, buddy. >> well, i think what the democrats are trying to pursue is a two-tiered strategy. the president is trying to reach these new voters, and democrats are fighting block by block in urban warfare, and it would be a mistake, i think, for congressional candidates on a democratic side to nationalize the election, to say the least. they need to localize it and remind people of the new sewer lines and recreation centers that they've brought. >> gene, thank you so much. mika, watch this, watch this. hey, mika, you know what?

a couple minutes ago, i raised my voice, and i got a little more upset than i should, but i always say keep calm and carry on, but i got, i got excited, i made a mistyke and i'm sorry. >> that's all right. >> you're plagued by self-doubt, joe. that's not the quality we want in our leaders. >> or our anchors. >> i am not plagued by self-doubt, but i know i screw up a lot, and we all are in a constant journey where we must self-correct every 15 minutes. >> you are like the buddha. >> or jimmy swaggart. coming up, clash of the titans. details where they are scheduled to collide on the campaign trail. also ahead, don't miss, weekend review tr a train wreck to levi johnston, find out which memorable moments will make the

cuts. bill. good friday morning, the heavy rain is exiting new york city, but it left its mark here. three-hour arrival delays at laguardia. a lot of flights were able to get out, but if you have a connecting flight, it will be a long day. the heavy stuff over long island, all of connecticut and western portions of massachusetts are see the heavy stuff. the storm is moving a little faster, so the flooding won't be as bad as yesterday. impressive rain totals, new york city three inches, but nothing compared to philly and d.c. balance more. you picked up half a foot of rain from this storm. today's forecast, the rain moves out in new york, you're dry in philly and d.c., boston will be wet pretty much all day long. the storm is gone for tomorrow. in fact for the rest of the weekend the forecast looks nice, a quiet weather pattern. we deserve it after this rainy mess.

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live shot of capitol hill. sun's up after a big storm in d.c. joining us on set, michael crowley, senior correspondent for "time" and with us editor in chief of politico, john harris, here with the morning playbook. so bill clinton, sarah palin will be crossing paths in the next two weeks, both campaigning

in orange county, california, in the same two-day stretch. any expectations of political fireworks? >> it's a showdown in the o.c., and a gifts that somehow the heavens give to cable tv producers and editors of political web sites. it's really nothing more than a coincidence, it's not by design. there's no larger significance other than everyone will descend on orange county when both those guys will be out there. bill clinton is returning a favor. lo receipta sanchez was behind hillary clinton in a big way in 2008, so he's out there repaying those old 2008 favors with a fund-rais fund-raiser, an she's in a tough race. orange county historically republican area, becoming more democratic due to the influx of immigrants. then the next day sarah palin will be in town in anaheim raising money for the rnc.

we'll see two of these personalities side by side. >> bill clinton is doing a lot of favors lately. is he tap a little specially more than usual or just being a nice guy? >> he likes doing it. he insists he wants to get away from politics he told me in the interview, but still he has a gift for it and loves it. he also said, look, hillary clinton because of the job she's in, she can't personally repay these favors, so he feels he's got to do it, repay these debts. >> john harris, thank you. we want to remind our viewers of something really special here. today is the last day of this week's "education nation" our week-long conversation about how to fix education in america. as this great week comes to a close, we have a reminder of american express's role in this initiative. amex will pledge a million to

the education charity donors' choice and its various school causes, but only if 100,000 people will pledge their time to education. just time, not money. pledges need to be received today. you can go to members project.com/pledge. that's membersproject.com/pledge. also can go to our web side for information. pledge your time and amex will return the favor with a huge donation. business before the bell with erin burnett, next on "morning joe." maybe you want school kids to have more exposure to the arts. 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

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what type of mammal is the famous shamu? >> she is an orca, benjamin. fyi, they're very difficult to keep in ra home aquarium. >> right again. >> the lazy susan was invented by thomas jefferson. i know. i'm a descendant of thomas jefferson and lazy susan herself. bub dhabi, if i go back there, i'll be executed. tracy, you made it. >> tracy, hero, husband,

diabetic/alcoholic. yes! >> hold on, let me unlock it for you. >> am i pulling it right? >> just let go of the handle. >> it's not opening. you keep saying pulling it. >> tracy, if you're pulling white i hit the button, it won't unlock. stop pulling. >> i need to get out! >> my gosh, they rock. also feature brian williams and our own andrea mitchell. >> yes, in a starring role. >> hysterical. very funny. i love that show. >> predicting an emmy. >> you are? >> yes. >> for andrea? >> yes. >> thank you, brian. slut. >> i never knew she had it in her. let's go to erin burnett. >> some headlines just crossing from fed governor dudley. these are important. as we know, the fed is debating whether it needs to do more to stimulate the economy, and from his words, they definitely looking at it. further fedex is likely, and he

goes so far to say what that would mean, buying more treasuries and mortgages. what's interesting, guys, he for the first time tried to put some real numbers around what all of that would do to the cost of borrowing. he's saying if we buy 500 billion of these things, it's the same thing as if we cut interest rates between half and three quards of 1%. we'll see if that will help. obviously as we all know, the cost of credit is not the problem. money is essentially free in this country, but he's indicating that the current soft patch is worrisome and the fed will need to do more. on that news. it doubled the premarket gains. we'll see if it holds. >> that says a lot about how weak this market is. it's so fascinating that greenspan was knocked around for years for being such as activist fed chairman, yet they're doing the same thing. money is free. the fed doubling down here. >> yep. >> where does it lead us? >> well no one knows, because

this is unprecedented. i guess at this point they feel they need to do whatever it takes to make sure the economy gets growing and we don't go into a deflationary spiral. that that would be the worst possible outcome. they're willing to take the risk that you end up with way too much money in the economy, inflation that's out of control, dollar that's a lot less valuable. they're willing to take that risk to make sure the economy grows. no one knows. will they get it right or now? let's pray to whatever god you believe it? >> as we wrap this up, let's talk about the auto industry. steve ratner was on earlier this week. >> yes, all the auto sales today. chrysler, which very few people thinks will ever pay taxpayers back, will have its initial public offering second half next year. gm going ahead with its offering, will also have the auto sales today, but they are giving a big bird to the g.

they're going ahead with the new maidover large suvs, and will accelerate the launch, which is sort of funny. this government has made it clear that they want gm to go if the direction of the volt and efficient cars, and they say, we're buying a subprime lender and getting into large suvs? >> will they make a new version of the tahoe? >> i was trying to find out. >> i won't like. they're great. >> and one good news on the economy, if you look at the high end, bmw out with its numbers. they say they're upbeat on the full-year forecast. they think they'll meet them. so that's all on pace. gold, you have seen ads on any television channel you happen to stumble across, buy gold, and a lot of people have. it's up 20% this year, it's done very well. two things to keep in mind, 125 stocks out of the 5 hubz in the s&p 500 have done better than gold, so stocks have not been

pretty much nothing asset so far this year. joe, to get back too where we were in 1980 gh gold hit an all-time real high, it would have to go up 76%. when we talk about a record, that's phenomenal. >> gold has gone up 20% this year, but we have another 76% to go. when you look at it as an inflation hedge over the past 30 years, no. so be careful. maybe gold goes up and all those ads are right, but be careful. >> glenn beck may have been right, buy gold, 20% gain. >> that is not a sentence i will ever speak. >> that ain't nothing. >> she's saying there's a lot of stocks that would have done as well. >> but glenn beck didn't tell me to buy stocks, so why would i buy stocks? >> i'm joking. i kid, because i love. >> erin, thank you very much. weren't people knocking him around for saying buy gold? >> if you had sponsorships. >> i'm just saying, people made money. >> there you go. i knock him all the time.

>> oh, my lord. >> he got the investment right. i'd take 20% a year, wouldn't you, crowley? >> the claim that the supplier he's promoting is not giving you the best possible deal. >> so maybe we should invest in the survival seeds, because the bomb is coming. >> guns and ammo myself. cashback bonus at restaurants. it pays to switch, it pays to discover.

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the chances of these two leaders setting aside their own political challenges to find a lasting peace seems slim. this is a cease-fire west bank style, but the worst does appear to be over. hamas refuses to talk peace, and today swore to attack israelis everywhere. everything points to a conflict that's growing in bitterness with no end in sight. welcome back. after covering the middle east turbulent times for more than 30 years, nbc's special correspondent martin fletcher went on his own journey and

walked along israel's 110-mile coastline. he writes about it in his new book "walking israel." martin joins us on the set this morning. good to have you here. >> thank you. >> talking about the soul of israel, what did you find? >> well, you know, i found pretty much what i expected, which is the way we put the media focus on israel, as a country of conflict. 70% of the people live along the coast. we never really hear about them. >> you also obviously have been reporting on conflict and war fare, but the overwhelming majority of israelis are untouched by that, aren't they? >> it's not that they're untouched. every israeli has a soldier or two in the army. you loose -- i look at the united states, and a couple wars, iraq, afghanistan, but most people in america don't

know many soldiers. in israel, every family has one or two soldiers, so they're very touched by it, but it's not -- you're always hearing about obviously what they're trying to -- whatever all sides are trying to figure out, but there's so much beauty and so many other sides of the people there. is that what you wanted to cover? what did you want to accomplish with this book? >> i really wanted to show in a sense that israel gets a recall deal seen only as a country in conflict, which it is. but as i said, 70% of the people live along the coast basically untouched on a daily basis by the conflict. it's an amazing place. people are always calling me up, saying, martin, it safe for visit? sure, come visit. a week later they say it's a great place, i had no idea. so i wanted to write a book about that great place.

>> there were two strains i found on my visit. there were fatalists, and then people who kind of whistled past the graveyard and carry on, overall, did you take away one impress or another as far as their strategic situation? >> people just have to live like this, of course we know that israel has amazing achievements. so it's always there. you can't ignore t but there are wonderful other parts of the country that i wanted to show. what i realized was we look at the west bavg, you see the settlements, the bombings, the soldiers. only 30 miles to the west, walk the coast, then look that way, you see a different place.

>> so you've always believed that peace is possible, that -- did your adjourn make you more or less optimistic? >> it didn't make me more optimistic. i always believed this is the peace process, and i want to be there for the peace, and i've always been wrong. it looks like we're in that same place again right now. it didn't make my more optimistic, but how urgent it is to help the people alone. alone i don't think they'll solve it. >> israelis are hard to impress, you say. what do you mean? >> when i walk the coast, my friends say, that's amazing, as your age? all my israeli friends say, what's the big deal? we watch 60 miles in 18 hours with a backpack. you're 18, i'm 63. so they're hard to impress. >> are the israelis tougher? because -- well, because of how they have to live, but also every 18-year-old goes into the military, talking about

character, comparing the character of an israeli to an american 20-year-old. >> it's interesting. i have one son who's in that pratt institute in new york, and he's a bit older than his fellow students, and -- i mean, i hope i'm not putting him on the spot, but there's a world of difference from a guy who spent three years in the army and had a position of responsibility, and you grow in that way. you know, you're put in positions that you don't want your kid to be put in when he's in the army, but that's the reality of life. you grow from those reality, and i think the israelis are more mature, and you see them in the start-up companies. i think like 50% of high tech startups in american affairs are actually from israel. most of them started by young guys from the army. where young people are partying, having a great time, these guys have do three years in the army and in a hurry to get on with their lives. i like the city of akko,

israelis and jews living together. it's an indicator of the way things can go forward. it's possible to make peace, if only they would do it. there's a great hummus place there. i recommend it highly. >> "walking israel" a personal search for the soul of a nation. thank you very much. we'll by right back with willy's weekend review. it's work through the grime and the muck, month. tow and pull without getting stuck month. sweat every day to make an honest buck...month. and if you're gonna try and do

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the flintstones was the first successful animated program in primetime, and i have to say, looking back at it now, i haven't seen it in probably 15 years or something, you can see the influence it had on today's popular shows. in a lot of ways "the flintstones" was far ahead of its time. >> call me a [ bleep ]. >> you are a [ bleep ] your sister like that? >> you shut your mouth, you dir dirty hamster. >> get out of my face. i didn't have sex with vinnie and jose. >> you look like popeye on crack. you're good at being a [ bleep ]. >> you're [ bleep ], because you're disgusting. >> fred flint does that stones sound suspiciously like "the situation" in a clip. it's been a wild week full of important news that shaped the country and indeed the world. we're going to push that aside for our top three stories.

>> in all those weeks of work, the long hours, the tears, it all comes down to this moment. >> at number three, the winner is not -- >> it's you, kelsey. >> the reality show instrumentalacy next top modding, which is america's next top model without the tyra crowned its winner this weeks, but not without crowning its loser. as the confetti fell, the dreams flowed and dreams of stardom danced if the winner's head, she was informed she was not in fact the winner. >> i'm so sorry about this. oh, my god. this is a complete accident, i'm so sorry. it's amanda, i'm so sorry. it was fed to me wrong. >> some accused the show of pulling a ratings stunt, much as american networks did teniers by announcing the winner. >> you know i wouldn't do this if it we aren't being.

>> at number two. cheato and poacho. cheato is a 52-year-old costa rican fisherman. and a thousand-pound killing machine. together they're cheato and p poacho. he injured the -- nursed hypothetical back to health and now the dear friends perform their forbidden dance to tourists who gather in the morbid hope thee witness a mauling on their vacation. and the number one story of the week -- >> you're kind of getting over my head on these things. >> one night after interviewing the vice president on the premiere of his new show, lawrence o'donnell grilled another distinguished leader. what's your position on global warm snug would you support a moratorium on foreclosures? do you think the pakistani government is protecting al qaeda within its borders?

>> like i said, i don't watch a lot of tv. >> lawrence it said later he -- he ripped off katie couric word for word. >> do you think that -- meanwhile, levi's ex-fiancee and mother of his chilled was tearing up the dance floor on "dancing with the stars." his baby grandmama was cheering on her daughter and finding herself at the center of a fake controversy. >> there's booing in the ballroom. we don't know why? >> boo-gate became our country's lamest gate yet when some chargesed that the audience, a group assembled to watch competitive dancing mustered the political activism to boo sarah palin. with ba-gate behind us, the country turns to the next generation of leaders with a

simple question -- what is your vision for america? >> um, yeah, i don't know how to answer that question. that's the interview that will change the mayoral race in wasilla, alaska. up next, what have we learned today? [ advisor 1 ] what do you see yourself doing one week, one month, five years after you do retire? ♪ client comes in and they have a box.

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welcome back, kids. it's time to talk about what we learned today. >> i learned on monday valerie jarrett will be on the show, and we're going to the white house for a forum. >> how about a party at the white house? >> council on women and girls about women and small businesses and access to capital. >> very important. >> awesome. >> what did you learn? >> profile writers are obsessed with his love of cats. >> that's disappointing. >> he's a politico guy? patrick gavin, he likes cats, too. >> he likes kitty cats. >> very disturbing trait in a man. >> i learned that andrea mitchell is also a master thespian. >> and a potty mouth. >> willie, what did you learn? >> i learned that one week she can interview mahmud ahmadinejad and then can star on "30 rock." in the business we call that range, and andrea mitchell has