>> wow, there's a lot going on in that e-mail, rob. if you remember the bay city rollers in '77 that means you're probably in your 50s our 60s and are excited about 16-year-old justin bieber's concert. what else? >> scott says, "i'm awake because some rogue missile landed my back yard. >> really. that one is coming out of connecticut. both coasts now, rogue missiles. >> drew said how else would i know that sesame street made its debut on this date at 1969 if i wasn't up. >> did you know this is the first episode -- oscar used to be orange. somehow that for useless trivia. the oscar i know is green. "morning joe" starts right now. >> what do you think? can obama pull a clinton? >> well, i think he can show clearly the leadership that the country expects from him in which he's providing.

>> your husband moved toward the middle. >> i think that's -- that's sort of the conventional wisdom. but i don't think that bill changed his principles or changed his objectives or reversed course in any way. i think what he did was take a very clear-eyed assessment of what was going to be possible with the congress after the election and moved on every front that he could to get things done. i think that's what you'll see president obama doing. >> interesting. good morning. it's wednesday, november 10th. welcome to "morning joe." 6:00 on the east coast. >> how comfortable do you think she was with that question? can obama pull a clinton? >> that is the key que. do you think he can? >> i don't know. nobody knows whether he has it in him. >> we shall see. something we'll be talking about with tina brown who is joining us this morning as well as msnbc contributor michael barnicle.

we'll be at the 92nd street y talking about tissue -- >> whether clinton has failed -- clinton. whether obama has failed or succeeded. >> very interesting. >> we also have harold ford with us. it's going torque quite a panel. >> that's going to be fun. we have talk of clinton and then you have nancy pelosi defending herself in the "usa today," mike barnicle. >> nancy pelosi -- >> is there a defense? >> yeah, i think there probably is. i don't understand why the democrats would keep her in the leadership after what just happened. that i don't understand. i understand where she's coming from. i like her very much. i understand how she stands on the issues and how she's fought for the issues that she believes in. but after what happened last week, you need a younger, fresher face, folks. >> but there is nobody tougher. >> that's probably why she's not walking away. when it's in you, how do you --

i mean, come on. i don't blame her. >> she's a bull in a china shop. >> oh, please. >> you say she's tough. if you just look, she was put in this place with all of this crystal all around her. >> how on earth would you know what a bull in a china shop is like? >> let me tell you why. you give me a 79d-vote majority and i don't blow it in two years. i guarantee you that. she was given an extraordinary position, speaker of the house and an unbelievable margin, a 79-vote margin. barack obama had a 71% approval rating. people were talking about republicans being shut out of the northeast and the midwest forever. two years later they lose over 60 seats in the house, the most since 1948? they lose over 550 state legislative races which i will guarantee you nancy pelosi's name was also tossed around

there. i'm not saying i don't like her. >> she's written a long essay on all of her accomplishments. >> i'm not demonizing her at all. some people just aren't -- their views are not mainstream enough. nancy pelosi's views are not mainstream enough. >> i think more than we realize or more than we allude to, her views. >> nancy pelosi's views are mainstream? >> i do admire how she doesn't back down. i thought the interview she had with diane sawyer where the two went man know a man know tried to extract that emotional moment and she wouldn't give it up. the two of them went at it in an incredible way. >> she's a very personable person. i like her an awful lot. but willie geist, if you're

vanderbilt kept losing football games year after year after year, things would change. >> i think she would say she had one blow-out loss and you don't fire her for that -- i'm using the vanderbilt standards. >> i'm going to give her side now. >> she's not quitting over one blow-out loss. >> let me say the best thing in the world that could happen for the republican party is for nancy pelosi to stay. that's the one thing i kept telling people. they said it's terrible, pushing newt out. i'd say it's not about newt. it's about the party. i feel sorry for newt personally. but this is about people that are going to be -- if you believe what you believe, newt is getting in the way of everything we're doing. and he was. and it's the same thing with nancy pelosi. again, i like her. it's not personal at all. but she's getting in the way of democrats winning elections. >> well, in her defense, in her own words in "usa today," she says president obama and this congress were job creators from day one saving the country from

the worst economic catastrophe since the great depression. as we go forward we welcome republican ideas about job creation. though they elected a new majority in congress americans did not vote for the special interests. they voted for jobs. democrats remain committed in fighting for the people's interests not the special interests. she talked about democrat's role in passing new wall street regulations, student loan program and health care. >> she is making a closing argument after the jury just came in and gave paul newman's client millions and millions of dollars. the jury has already returned his verdict on her argument. why is she still making the argument? newman is back in his office, mike barnicle, the phone is ringing. he ain't going to pick it up. >> nobody bought -- very few people bought that a week ago. fewer still will buy it today. the op ed pieces are so dearry.

>> people are going to get very tired of john boehner in the next couple years. >> that's the question. that's the question. the republicans have to deliver. it's on them to deliver. >> let me tell you, john boehner -- i'm serious here. you're going to hear it first. i'm going to tell you how he'll govern. john boehner, the new denny haster. he will give you nothing in "the daily beast" to write about. he's going to keep his head down, not make the stupid comments like newt made. john boehner is going to keep his head down. he's going to keep it in between the 40-yard lines. he is the new denny haster. >> oh, got. you won't have him to kick around. >> while we're on the issue of nancy pelosi, a senior democratic aide says puello see is trying to negotiate an end between hoyer and clyburn for

the number two leadership post. pelosi is reportedly under pressure to intervene in the contest because her decision to run for minority leader precip taelted the fight. clyburn says he has no interest in stepping down to a lower post, saying yesterday that, quote, this is not about playing the numbers game. despite that criticism both hoyer and clyburn's camps are dismissing the possibility of an emerging rift between the two democrats noting the cordial and competitive nature of the race so far. clyburn also received a boost from the congressional black caucus picking up its endorsement yesterday. >> that's a shock. >> come on. >> i'm just saying that's a shock. i thought they would be sit on the sidelines. >> don't they have anybody 40, 45 years of age in the house? come on. don't they have someone who has been there. >> the scene is so crusty that if you're 47 years old, you can still call yourself a young --

>> yesterday i was stunned that the president in a muslim country attacked israel. the second he did that, i said this isn't going to be really good for the peace talks. we're reading this morning that the peace talks are in jeopardy. >> president obama's latest comments about israel are putting peace talks in jeopardy, as joe said. the president and israel prime minister benjamin netanyahu are clashing over plans to build 1300 housing units in east jerusalem. in indonesia obama warned that construction could hurt the renewed effort to negotiate. >> this kind of activity is never helpful when it comes to peace negotiations. i'm concerned that we're not seeing each side make the extra effort involved to get a break

through. >> but netanyahu appears defiant, releasing this statement. jerusalem is not a settlement. jerusalem is the capital of the state of israel. and there we stand. >> the "wall street journal" editorializing today. all israel has done is insist jews have a right to live anywhere in their capital city, something that might be controversial in rah mall la, but ought not to be in washington. there's no doubt the president criticizing israel on a trip to a muslim country, he meant to send a signal to the muslim world, and he did. but he also sent a signal to israel. and there won't be peace any time soon. >> this just goes on and on. it's endless. >> it does. >> the internal politics of both countries, the united states and israel govern -- preside over a situation that is going to preclude any settlement from

ever occurring. >> also, the president should haven't taken the bait in a muslim country. his standing right now with israel peop israeli people is so low, to attack israel while in a muslim country about settlements is again -- i'm just talking the politics of it all. >> strange thing to do. >> it is a bar thing to do. >> in indonesia i thought it was the best speech he's had because in a way they say on the beast today it's a shame he didn't stop there in indonesia in a way -- a long time back. the fact is this is a cosmopolitan much more tolerant country. it would be a good place to start with his muslim outreach rather than starting with the arab world. i think it was a really very good speech he made. he came off as more confident and comfortable because he knows the place and was raise tld.

>> i think he's had a good trip. it was something he could have passed by. it's going to be impossible to unring the bell right now in jerusalem. >> pakistan's former president is criticizing president obama for not adding a visit to his country during the ten-day tour. he didn't come visit me. >> why should he when we give pakistan billions of dollars and they aid and ab bet the killing of americans? >> not all of pakistan. let's just clarify. >> no, not all of pakistan. >> important distinction to make. >> islamabad is closer to the area where osama bin laden has been hiding for the past decade than washington is to new york. i don't think they're working as hard as they should work for all the money we've given them. >> i love that moment with hillary clinton saying we'll take it back. it's no problem, really. >> seriously. i pray that we become a great ally with pakistan.

i pray that they start acting more responsibly. we have not been a good ally in the past, but they can't be pet tu lent every time we go to india. that's what's happening here. they're being pet lent. >> after being asked if the president made a mistake in deciding not to visit pakistan, pervez musharraf says this. >> certainly it has not been looked favorably again in pakistan. i wouldn't say it's a mistake. that is his decision. but yes, one would have preferred that he should have gone to pakistan to give importance to pakistan which is fighting terrorism and extremism, being a strategic partner with the united states on this issue. >> all right. by the way -- >> go ahead. >> i was going to talk about pickup trucks. >> musharraf went on -- i'm not exactly sure how this happened. he's talking about obama,

immediately turns to cam newton and talks about that controversy. apparently he's a big auburn fan. get us up to date on cam newton. >> we'll talk more about it in sports. new allegations coming from mississippi state recruiters who say cam newton and his father both asked directly for money. >> see, this isn't going to end well. this is not going to end well for cam. you remember cam said he was going to mississippi state and then his daddy comes out and says no, he's not. >> have you heard about the church repairs. >> yeah. his dad is a pastor. they had an old run-down church which isn't so old and rundown anymore. >> city was about to close it down. he goes to auburn. the repairs start being made. they asked the father. he says, i'm not going to get into that. >> you think it might affect the heisman vote? >> seriously on that front, also, the fact that the report

came out about the stolen computer in florida. do you know what it is? reggie bush syndrome is going to put a chill in a lot of those voters. because of what happened for reggie bush. >> on the front page of "usa today," an important article. if you have a heavy teen, chances are they will become severely obese by the time they're 30, meaning 8 to 10 pounds over a healthy weight. >> if your car breaks down in the desert -- >> you see what sarah palin did last night? >> a lot of fat to burn. >> she was visitsing a school where they're entertaining a sweets ban. she showed up with a couple batches of cookies which is terrible because they're bad for you. >> a big show this morning. we'll bring in former chief of staff for president george w. bush andy card as well as nora efron will be with us and jeff bridges. oh, yes. plus from here row to zero. why the midterm elections may have spelled doom for republican

scott brown. that story next -- what? >> this guy is resilient. >> i don't get it. the politico playbook, we'll hear that. first we'll go to bill karins with a check on the forecast. >> good morning everyone. new england, showers, cloudy, cool weather from boston to providence to hartford. today's forecast, temperatures just like yesterday, more clouds than we'd like. further west you go, the more sunshine you get. nice day in pittsburgh, not bad in d.c. the weather pattern around the country, cool in the east coast, cool in the rockies, warm in the middle. a great forecast from chicago to atlanta, dallas to nrns. enjoy what feels like the end of summer. you're watching "morning joe" brewed by starbucks.

♪ where'd you learn to do that so well. ♪ ♪ where'd you learn to do that so well. ♪ the new cadillac srx. the cadillac of crossovers. cadillac. the new standard of the world.

i've been looking at the numbers, and i think our campus is spending too much money on printing. i'd like to put you in charge of cutting costs. calm down. i know that it is not your job. what i'm saying... excuse me? alright, fine. no, you don't have to do it. ok? [ male announcer ] notre dame knows it's better for xerox to control its printing costs. so they can focus on winning on and off the field. [ manager ] are you sure i can't talk -- ok, no, i get it. [ male announcer ] with xerox, you're ready for real business.

hastert. one side or the other had to yield principles they deemed dearer than life before it could brought to an end. >> mem oirs by truman. >> the japanese began the war from the air at pearl harbor. they have been repaid many fold. >> decision points by george w. bush. >> i'm drunk. >> this has been great moments in presidential memoirs. >> you know what i think i've discovered about him in this, is that he'll laugh at that joke,

too. yes, he will. let's take a look at the morning papers at 20 past the hour. "the miami herald," realizing ground conditions will likely prevent a july 2011 afghanistan withdrawal, the obama administration hopes to introduce a new timeline calling for a withdrawal of nato and u.s. troops by the year 2014. >> what a shock. we're going to be there for another decade. it's just sickening. the "san francisco chronicle," gay rights advocates shaking their heads is one of their top priorities. the rebeal of don't ask don't tell is coming to just before the end of the year holidays. after two years of democratic control of the white house and both chambers of congress. >> "usa today," the number of federal workers earning -- with earnings of $150,000 or more a year has soared tenfold in the past five years and doubled since president obama took office. some lawmakers are planning to

use the lame duck session that starts next week to challenge the president's plan to give a 1.4% across the board pay raise to over two million federal workers. >> look at that. 150,000 plus and the federal government going under. it's a problem in new jersey, in california, in washington. look at that headline. >> state pension plans are going to kill this country. >> and now look what's happening to federal government. people making over $150,000 in the federal government, numbers have doubled in the past two years. also in the "usa today," look for happy news in the "usa today," very excited about this. last night tina fey was honored with the 13th annual mark twain prize for american humor at washington's kennedy center at age 40. gosh, she is young. tina fey is the award's youngest winner to date. she follows in the footsteps of bill cosby, whoopi goldberg and bob newhart.

we couldn't be more excited. i'm a huge fan. >> all right, willie. with us chief white house correspondent from politico mr. mike allen with the politico playbook. help us through this first story. you guys are suggesting that scott brown, despite having rode the wave of republican unrest as you called it in the massachusetts senate seat back in january, the midterms may have been unhelpful to him. how do you figure? >> he's target number one for democrats. looking ahead to 2012 when 23 democratic senators have to defend their seats, only ten republicans. it's a chance for republicans to get a real majority. but democrats are all focused on brown. and when they looked at the midterm results, they gotten couragement. as we've seen here on "morning joe," the governor, deval patrick, was thought to be in patrick, wound up winning by six points. four statewide republicans went down. what scott brown has in his back pocket is a lot of celebrity, a

big campaign treasury and no single democrat in running against him. >> you know, mike, we're looking at some of these numbers. martha coakley actually won re-election by 26%. there are other republicans who are supposed to win. they did not win. mike barnicle, you're a massachusetts guy. bottom line right now, scott brown is the most popular politician in your state. >> yeah. any democrat who thinks they're going to happen tont ballot and beat scott brown in massachusetts, they're deluding themselv themselves. if he veers far right, he's going to have difficulty. right now the way he's playing it right down the middle, he's back in. >> mike allen, president obama has upset many supporters on the left by following through with many of president bush's policies on terror. how does the new republican majority in the house impact that? >> something we've chatted about

over the months are what can house republicans really do? you've still got a democratic white house, still have a democratic senate. this is an example of an area where the republican congress can really work its will. they can prevent anyone else from either being tried out of gitmo or maybe even being released from there. congress now has 45 days' notice they have to get of anybody to be released from guantanamo. that's a chance to slow it down perhaps by attaching funding restrictions. we've talked about these efforts to try a gitmo prisoner in the u.s. those are going nowhere. politico's josh gerstein talked with people who said because house republicans are certain to be so difficult on this, this may mean that the president himself with certain more auth thort, a bushian move. >> mike, you sent a public policy polling over to us

suggesting barack obama may have problems in states he won just two years ago. >> yeah. this is democratic polling firm. it points to the rough map that the president has ahead of him. every single indication from history is barack obama by far the favorite going into this race. he'll have more than a billion dollars. if you look at his map, what happened the other day, he's going to have to fight for north carolina, fight for virginia. florida you can talk to us about, pennsylvania, ohio turned totally read the other day, michigan, colorado, new mexico. all states the president won and all states that now he'll be on the defensive. and indiana, don't forget that. >> head-to-head contests with republicans in the states you say he's behind. >> yeah. on the republican side, mitt romney was a fairly wide leader. at this point you're sort of testing name recognition there. there's going to be a big field, joe, i know you agree with this, these republicans think this nomination is very worth having. this is not a sack facial lamb

going out there. they think the right message, the right messenger can beat barack obama. wheel have a bunch of them. they'll start jumping in quick. >> mike, thank you. >> republican governors. >> yeah. i think you're right. >> all dependent on the economy, too, isn't it? you could still turn this around for obama. >> no doubt about it. a major shakeup in the new york city school system whochlt is the new head. what happened there? we'll have to look into that. a new woman in charge in new york city. it's getting ugly for auburn. quarterback, heisman trophy front-runner, cam newton, auburn is fighting back hard against them. set your dvr or why not watch live like we do. >> this is huge. >> joe joins joy and the ladies of "the view." [ male announcer ] in the event of a collision,

the smartest thing you could do is cut the fuel supply, unlock the doors, and turn on the hazards. or get a car that does it for you. ♪

my friends at work think there's more than one "me." or get a car that does it for you. ...because on our trips, i always get there faster. see, expedia lets me mix and match airlines. so i can take one airline out... and another home. so with more flight options, i can find the combination that gets me there and back quickest. with a little help from expedia, my friends will think i can be everywhere at once. where you book matters. expedia.

but we've parted ways with our old airline credit card that promised flights for 25,000 miles. it was always... [ laughing ] that seat's not happening without a big miles upcharge. a miles upcharge wasn't part of the deal. was i supposed to go without my wife? [ elevator bell dings ] [ grunting ] haha, that was awkward. so we upgraded to the venture card from capital one. we've had it with the games. [ male announcer ] don't pay miles upcharges. don't play games. get the flight you want with the venture card at capitalone.com. what's in your wallet?

can your moisturizer do that? [ female announcer ] dermatologist recommended aveeno has an oat formula, now proven to build a moisture reserve, so skin can replenish itself. that's healthy skin for life. only from aveeno.

live look at the sun coming up over capitol hill. welcome back to "morning joe." 32 past the hour. a quick look at the news now. despite highly successful midterm elections for the gop, senior republican party officials are putting pressure on rnc chair michael steele not to seek re-election when his term ends in january. so far, the effort has reportedly been tentative with steele's opponents working behind the scenes to persuade an alternative to run against him. republican governors association chairman mississippi governor haley barber is leading the fight to replace him. after eight years on the job, new york city school chancellor joel klein is stepping down. his accomplishments include increasing the high school graduation rate to an all-time high of 62% last year is taking a position as executive vice president as news corps. mayor michael bloomberg offered his praises yesterday.

>> for some time now i have known that joel is ready to move on. he committed to staying on the job for two terms. we managed to get an extra ten months out of it. now sadly it is time for him to leave city government. i think it's fair to say that he leaves a legacy of achievement that makes him one of the most important and transformational ed carol leaders of our time. >> klein will be replaced by kathy black, chairwoman of hearst magazine who was largely selected for herman jeerl skills. she'll be the first woman to head the school system. google is dishing out holiday cheer. this is really nice. it's giving its more than 23,000 employees a 10% raise starting in january. workers are also getting a $1,000 cash bonus with google picking up the taxes on that. the news coming in an e-mail from google chief exec eric

schmidt. >> isn't that nice? >> trying to match what -- >> i know. but that's quite something. a new survey reveals that new yorkers are the most stressed out in the country, largely because of the state of the economy. 75% of those in the big apple said economic concerns are causing them stress, a figure which is 10% higher than the rest of the country. >> look he's got a tick he's so stressed out. >> i would argue the traffic. >> we're all falling into a depressed silence. >> no, i eat. >> you must be very stressed. >> it is a spiral of shame. >> you've been stressed for quite a while. situation getting darker for heisman trophy quarterback cam new ton. according to a new report out from espn, two recruiters from

mississippi state telling espn that cam new ton and his father cecil, a reverend, admitted to a pay for play scam during his recruitment. cecil newton said it would take, quote, more than a scholarship. another recruiter alleges that cam stated himself that his father had chosen auburn for him, quote, because the money was too much. repeatedly newton denied these allegations. yesterday auburn head coach and cam newton himself addressing the controversy in a press conference. >> he has done everything we have asked him to do since the day he stepped on campus at auburn. so here is what we're going to do. because this is pure garbage i'm going to move on and talk about georgia. >> it would be selfish of me to entertain anything that's been

said about me bays seoul focus is to win this football game on saturday. you can't control what another person says about you. you can only live your life and try to empower any person you come in contact with to make them a better person and yourself a better person. that's what i'm trying to do. >> these are pretty heavy allegation that is could impact his career. somewhere to remember you these are allegations. who are these two mississippi state recruiters, whatever that means. >> the thing is gene chizik had nothing to do with it. i can understand him being a little riltd up as a coach about the distraction. he's not going to be able to strike that pose. huge allegations. a lot of smoke around cam newton right now. i don't think many people on espn or in the sports world thinks this ends well. >> ncaa is looking into it. mississippi state told ncaa about these phone calls. >> this came out last night?

>> yeah. the espn report about the phone calls was last night. newton, as i said, considered to be the front-runner for the heisman trophy, led auburn to a 10-0 ranking and number two standing in the bcs. >> how many more careers can blow up? >> as long as they don't around this set, we're fine. >> mike barnicle is excited about this story. the great derek jeter, one of the great short stops. the american league gold glove winners were announced yesterda yesterday,. among the winners, ichiro won his tenth straight. the most controversial pick, nan keys shortstop derek jeter, who i love, worship and who is not a good shortstop. fifth time winning the award. >> willie, why do they give it to him? >> it's like a career achievement award. >> is it sort of like middle

age, fat -- >> these are actually managers. these aren't writers. these are managers from inside baseball. >> so they're being nice. >> this is being panned across baseball. the site baseballreference.com says jeter's defensive skills are rated dead last among all short stops and he got the gold glove. >> it's a lifetime achievement award. >> he deserves that. >> i was going to say i don't begrudge derek jeter. >> he'll be back with more range next year, looking for number six. newt gingrich gives his ranking of the republican front runners for 2012. the question is where does he list himself? also, a big "morning joe" fan on tomorrow, jeff goldbluchl will be with us tomorrow on "morning joe." you're watching "morning joe," brewed by starbucks. [ woman ] you know, as a mom,

i worry about my son playing football. which is why i'm really excited. because toyota developed this software that can simulate head injuries and helps make people safer. then they shared this technology with researchers at wake forest to help reduce head injuries on the football field. so, you know, i can feel a bit better about my son playing football. [ male announcer ] how would you use toyota technology to make a better world? learn how to share your ideas at toyota.com/ideasforgood. one month, five years after you do retire? ♪ client comes in and they have a box. and inside that box is their financial life. people wake up and realize i better start doing something. we open up that box. we organize it.

and we make decisions. we really are here to help you. they look back and think, "wow. i never thought i could do this." but we've actually done it. [ male announcer ] visit ameriprise.com and put a confident retirement more within reach.

you think governor palin has sort of got a raw deal. >> oh, sure. >> so you feel that she is presidential material? >> she's as much presidential material as biden is. i think the front-runners right now are clearly governor palin and governor romney and governor huckabee. >> what about you? >> i'm probably fourth. >> all right. tomorrow, you'll see our own joe

scarborough joining the ladies of "the view." that's tomorrow, tune in for that. that will be fun. are you nervous? >> no. should i be? >> yeah, actually. and be smart actually. >> they're nice. >> they're very nice. and very smart. i think you should be nervous. >> okay. we have must-read op eds. did you want to do the "wall street journal"? >> whatever you want to do. >> we won't do the poll that donald trump has in it. >> we'll save that for later. >> trump and obama in a statistical dead heat if he were to run for president, the abraham lincoln of our time. >> let the story speak for itself. >> he has great ties -- let me ask you, willie geist, what position would you like in the trump administration. >> press secretary. it would be an easy record to defend. everything he does is classy. >> you look at pictures, even of

some of the contestants that go a little wild. >> exactly. they're quite lovely. >> all right. >> yes, we can, yes, we can. >> we'll talk more about that later and see what the basis of that poll is. >> the trump monument. i bet they'll put it up ten years after his second term. >> they put a massive american flag on the potomac river. >> of course he did. he loves america. >> he wraps himself in that flag. >> he says i should have a book signing below the flag. >> donald trump loving america. >> on those 18 acres at the white house, there's still a lot of space where you could put condos, fitness clubs. >> yes. >> seriously a condo with a view of the jefferson memorial overlooking the potomac. i'd buy one. i'd buy one.

we could bring down the national debt. he doesn't tllike the chinese. he calls them bad names. >> very introspective comments on china. we'll have him back on. you are being ridiculous. americans aren't buying the gop agenda. >> they're not? >> i'm sorry. >> these are katrina's words. >> it's hard to imagine a greater conservative nightmare, an industrial strategy with five-year plans, buy american, spending, trade wars. yet 80% of conservative voters yearning for the creativity of the market society's spontaneous order approved of the plan. so suffer george will his adam smith tie pin, but ignore his advice. let boehner maintain his perpetual tan. if democrats want to listen to voters, they'd be well advised

to push harder on a boulder program to rebuild america and put people back to work. >> i'm a bit confused. >> i just want some specifics. >> time is so over it seems to me for this kind of a manifesto i have to say. i really feel everybody is yearning for specifics. i hope we keep pushing republicans to come up item by item. >> she's talking about five-year plans. come on. somebody else tried that. it didn't work too well. about 30 million russians. again, it's like nancy pelosi is writing an op ed saying americans, they love what we did, and katrina is saying we've got to go left. on a serious note, mike barnicle, the reason why scott brown won in massachusetts is because people believe democrats lost touch with the center, they went too far left. so they selected scott brown.

this is the recipe for republicans winning. the democratic party with a 20% -- with 20% of americans being liberal goes too far left and republicans clean up. >> people also believe, rightly so, that nothing ever gets done in washington because people are busy writing op eds with five-year plans and we need jobs for the american people. no kidding we need jobs for the american people. how are you going to do it? let's take the mortgage mess. we have president of the united states, he's been president for two years. how about calling in five or six of the big banks, sitting them down in a room saying let's solve this thing. you guys get two days. we'll whack you. >> they can't do that. barack obama doesn't trust or understand people who work in the private sector. >> i felt there was something almost tragic about the press conference he gave last week. he felt like a president who really had been sort of polaxed by this utter onslaught of the

intractable process that he knew he hadn't figured out how to get his hands around that. i think this trip he's taken is very important for him psychologically. i think when you go abroad and experience yourself, people have criticized this timing of him going. i think it's been important for him psychologically. on that press conference i felt it was absolutely blitzed out and was showing his exhaustion. i think it was frustration at the fact that he's tried to do things but hasn't figured out a way to wrestle with this process. >> i agree with you. i think this trip has been very good for him. i think he made a bad mistake talking about israel the way he did yesterday. i think it's been a great trip for him. i agree with you, i think he's finally figured out two years into his presidency what a lot of people in washington, including the most powerful democratic senators have known

for a year and a half, that in terms of dealing with washington he's in way over his head. >> that's the way it came across. >> and he's finally figured that out. he needs a colin powell or somebody that knows how to work the city. colin powell, that guy will kill you bureaucrat cli without even telling you. colin powell knows how to get it done. barack obama still doesn't have a clue on how to win in washington. >> but in that sense, hillary clinton was right. you could argue her 3:00 a.m. ad was right. >> are you talking about a team? we'll talk more about this. willie, though -- >> watch the bird. >> i don't see a bird. >> mika, you're going to love this story. sarah palin shows up at a pennsylvania school where they're considering banning sweets with a giant tray of cookies. we'll show you when we come back. when it comes to investing,

no one person has all the answers. so td ameritrade doesn't give me just one person. questions about retirement? i talk to their retirement account specialists. bonds? grab the phone. fixed-income specialist. td ameritrade knows investors sometimes need real, live help. not just one broker... a whole team there to help... to help me decide what's right for me. people with answers at td ameritrade. get up to $500 when you open an account.

to bring you a low-price medicare prescription drug plan that has the lowest national premium in the country of only $14.80 per month. so you can focus on the things that really matter. go to walmart.com for details. that really matter. [in hindi]

and it's like, girlfriend... if you're gonna go with sanjay, what's the problem? i'm okay with it. [in hindi] [crowd cheering] if you're really serious about entertainment... conan, you're on. [whispering] conan. every detail counts. [crowd cheering]

oh, yes, please tell me it's time. >> time indeed. sarah palin yesterday making an appearance at a school in pennsylvania, the plumstead christian school founders forum with a group of conservatives speaking there, maybe tipped her plans for 2012. she watched a young man singing "god bless america." she was so impressed by him, here is what she said.

>> daniel, that singing, absolutely beautiful. daniel would you like to sing at an inauguration, not necessarily mine! he should though, at somebody's, right? >> maybe hers. who knows. mika, here is the part you're really going to like. not this school, not even the district, but the state of pennsylvania has floated the idea that maybe perhaps they shouldn't serve sweets at school parties. sarah palin was furious, she tweeted out that pennsylvania is a nanny state run amuck. she showed up at the school event last night with a giant tray of cookies. >> had to shake it up a little bit. i heard there's a debate going on in pennsylvania over whether public schools are going to ban sweets. so i had to bring to the private school students to show them how privileged they are, i brought

dozens and dozenses of cookies to these stew dechblts had to shake it up you guys, the press. who should be making decision opinions what you eat, school choice? should it be government or the parents? it should be the parents. >> it should be. but guess what? it's not. there's nothing good out there. >> a spokesman for the pennsylvania school says her characterization of a cookie ban is dead wrong. they're just looking at ways to serve more nutricius foods in schools. mika, you know joe and i are behind your school. >> i'm always on a diet. but they give you that cookie, that warm cookie. i got the take it. >> you just don't need that. >> would you like another one? damn straight. >> i know you like twinkies here. a professor of human nutrition, kansas state university for ten weeks went on a twinkie diet.

he ate one of these sugary snacks every three hours instead of meals for ten weeks. the results? he lost 27 pounds. >> boom! i love it! >> this is a professor. his point is pure calorie counting is more than the t nutritional value of foods. >> i knew my diet would come along some day. >> is it called the diabetes diet. >> that's the problem with you liberals. >> why are you rejecting science? >> i'm not rejecting science. >> you want to take us to the dark ages. do you not believe in darwin either? seriously. >> we just need some discipline

and then you wouldn't need what i want our government to do. take a look in the mirror. >> tina brown, we'll see you tonight. >> see you tonight at the y. knock them dead to night. former chief of staff to george w. bush andy card joins the conversation when "morning joe" comes right back. trust me. trust me. ya i like that. trust me.

bankers are known to be a little bit in love with themselves. are we going up? we can get the next one. i'd like to get your advice on hedging - risk... exposure. what makes us different? for 300 years we've chosen to focus on our clients. what a novel idea. the smartest thing you could do is cut the fuel supply, unlock the doors, and turn on the hazards. or get a car that does it for you. ♪ to cover up flaws and make skin look pretty but there's one that's so clever, it makes your skin look better even after you take it off. neutrogena healthy skin liquid makeup. 98% of women saw improvement in their skin's natural texture, tone, or clarity.

does your makeup do that? neutrogena® cosmetics recommended most by dermatologists.

i was anxious to get this book out. i know full well it's going to come as a shock to some people. a lot of people didn't think i could read, much less write. >> all right. top of the hour. >> look at that angle of new york city with the george washington bridge off in the distance. thanks, chopper 4. welcome back to "morning joe." mike barnicle still with us. joining the table, former white house chief of staff for president george w. bush, andy card back with us. >> top of the morning to you. >> top of the morning. mike allen last hour was talking about how scott brown was going to be in trouble. and i tell you what, i've got one massachusetts native that disagrees with that, mike barnicle. and we've got another massachusetts guy here -- everything scott brown has been doing up there, pretty darn smart. he stayed away from the extremists on the right. he's not -- sarah palin is questioning his love or understanding of the

constitution as read by somebody that lives in alaska. >> and quit. >> and he's represented massachusetts pretty darn well. >> scott is being a very good leader in massachusetts. he's listening to the people. he's not just marching in lockstep with any one group. not only that, he's a very popular political figure in massachusetts. >> you don't think he's in trouble? >> i think a republican is always in trouble in massachusetts. he's got the right kind of momentum. i think he's going to do pretty well. >> the right republican for massachusetts. >> we have a lot to talk about, including your former boss on oprah and out on the book tour. >> we would like to hear your reflections on that. we'll get to that in a moment. should we ask him now. >> go ahead. hillary clinton may be offering a little advice to president obama on how to handle the larger republican press since in congress next year. in a joint interview with defense secretary robert gates,

this suggested that the president should take a page from her husband's playbook. >> what do you think? can obama pull a clinton? >> i think he can show clearly the leadership that the country expects from him and which he's providing. >> your husband moved toward the middle. >> i think that's sort of the conventional wisdom. but i don't think that bill changed his principles or changed his objectives or reversed course in any way. i think what he did was take a very clear-eyed assessment of what was going to be possible with the congress after the election and moved on every front that he could to get things done. and i think that's what you'll see president obama doing. >> he brought in dick morris by the way. >> is it conventional wisdom? >> i don't know if he's capable of doing what bill clinton was capable of doing. bill clinton, from arkansas,

actually hung out with conservatives and republicans growing up. he knew how to deal with them. and, mike, we've been hearing about barack obama's varied background before. >> he's had this varied background. he's gone to prep school in hawaii, the most exclusive. he went to a lot of ivy league schools. if you want to strike a budget deal in indonesia, he's there. he's got that type of varied background. i just don't know if he's got what bill clinton had, that ability to work with the other side. >> well, bill clinton came from a world where he was down there in little rock, arkansas and he would have to sit down with republicans to discuss how to get a curb cut on a highway for a gas station. he knew how to do it because he spent years doing it in two terms as governor of arkansas. barack obama never had that executive experience, never had the experience of sitting down with republicans and working things through. >> who in the white house does? >> that raises an interesting

point. we were just talking off air about a point you raised, joe, with andy card, chief of staff for the white house, i'm a great admirer having nothing to do with ideology of jim baker, former secretary of state, who was chief of staff to president george h.w. bush. where is there a democratic jim baker to move in? >> there is no adult who has kind of the maturity of washington around president obama right now, to help him find a path to success. >> let's underline that. of washington. that understands washington. >> that understands washington. jim baker is one of my heroes. he was a master at understanding the president. article ii in the constitution of the presidency, and also working with congress and having government work. and president obama doesn't have an adult like that around him right now. >> we've been talking about somebody like colin powell who understands washington -- the

idea that you can bring a group of people to washington, d.c. that have contempt for washington, that will tell you in every interview they have contempt for washington, that don't understand washington, and that somehow they're going to change washington is like opening up somebody's head and saying, okay, operate on the brain. well, i don't do brains, but okay. you can't do it. >> the message that was delivered on election day still has not been received by president obama to the point that he understands it. >> you don't think so? >> no. i don't think so. he says it's my communications problem. he doesn't really talk about how to get government to work. the republicans that came into congress right now, that are going to be there to help run government, i hope that they work to run government, that they'll be part of the solution, not just part of the problem. >> what about a guy like tom daschle, for instance. here is a guy from a red state. we may disagree with him ideologically on a lot of issues. he's a grown up.

i say grown up in the ways of washington. i will not mention the guy's name, but one guy was a front-runner for president in 2008, a republican, and he responded so badly to a personal slight that it got back to me and i thought he'll never -- those guys don't ever make it in washington. a guy like daschle understands. >> senator daschle would be good. and pete rousch who is the current chief of staff worked closely with tom daschle. i think there's a synergy right there. >> do they think rahm was that person? >> he just wasn't. nothing against rahm. i say this as a former house member. it's one thing to get a guy from the house trying to run washington, d.c. it's another thing when you have

a guy -- he came straight from the house -- a guy from the senate like tom daschle. >> that's exactly right. >> in that chief of staff position, you've got to have somebody that understands where the game ends. >> so funny. we had lawrence o'donnell on here during the health care deal. he predicted everything. a year out people were screaming, we need this, we need that. he said it's going to end up in the fans committee. lawrence knew all along. >> that's how it works. that's how i had to work it as chief of staff. i had to work with the chairman and the ranking member on the conference committee to settle the differences between the house and the senate. >> the thing is, you knew that before the entire process began. >> doesn't he, andy, have to work with republicans. he doesn't have a choice in the house. he can't go in his bunker for two years and hope things will get better. >> not only does he have to work with them, he has to want to work with them. he has to ghon street that he is going to be at the table with

good faith. >> andy, does the same apply to republicans though? >> yes, absolutely. remember, the house is an entity unto itself. the senate is where the real solutions come from. because the senate has to build a compromise that makes a difference for the overall congress that the president can accept. >> what was your reaction as a former chief of staff from the white house to the news, the revolution that mitch mcconnell, republican leader in the senate, the first time he had been invited to the white house for a one-on-one sitdown with the president was, what, last july? >> 18 months. this past august, he did not have a one-on-one with mcconnell in the white house for 18 months. that's staggering. >> part of the job of the president is to respect the other branches and the people who are in the other branches even if you don't like them, respect them. president obama does have to -- he has to take the first step now. it's not people coming to him. he's got to go to them and say i

want to work with you. even though i don't like you and disagree with you on a lot of things frngs i want government to work. >> there are a lot of people who say that andy card worked for george w. bush. and george w bush is inherently evil so why are we listening to andy card who worked for george w. bush who destroyed america? >> right, right. i'm being sarcastic. >> i'm just saying people are saying that. yet if you're a democrat and you want an example of somebody that knew how to work washington, d.c., this would be the person you would listen to because it stunned me what george w. bush was able to get from speaker nancy pelosi and majority leader harry reid. the surge? 79% of mary cans were against the surge according to an l.a. times poll. nancy pelosi, harry reid, they all said no, hell no. you guys still got everything you want friday the democratic

congress. i would suggest a president with 79-vote majority in the house and a 59-41 split in the nat would look at what you guys did with a minority in congress and figure how to -- how did you guy does that. >> president george w. bush got his tax cuts through, the bush tax through with a democratic controlled senate. >> how? >> we worked the process. we invited people in and said let's be part of the solution. we compromised. >> by the way, let's go into the iraq war. you guys got more democrats supporting the second iraq war than 41 got supporting the first iraq war. let me say that again. you guys got more people supporting the 2003 invasion of iraq, democrats than 41 got with the largest coalition on the planet. that doesn't just magically

happen, does it andy? >> it does not magically happen. >> why? >> it's the president. the president has to say i want to work with you to be part of the solution. >> you pull people in. i wish i could give their names because a lot of skeptics out there would understand how washington -- democrats in washington have been horrified by this president's handling of things for a year and a half now. look at the chart. the top democrats in the united states senate have all told me individually this guy has no idea what he's doing. you pull people in. these democratic chairmen of the senate were saying they've got to get us all in the room, they've got to get the republicans in here, you lock arms before you do these things. they said the -- mike, they said the president just wouldn't do it. >> it's not like republicans have never been to the white house. they have been invited there. >> come on, mika. seriously? >> are you going to tell me that

no republicans have ever been invited to the white house? that is what you're saying. >> no, that's not what i'm saying. that's what the top democratic senators are saying. the people -- you know damn well which powerful senators that run the united states senate have been saying about barack obama for the past two years. so don't play this game like, okay, this is just such a shock and i'm going to be down the middle. >> don't say republicans have never been invited to the white house. >> "the new york times" said for 18 months mitch mcconnell, the most powerful republican in the u.s. senate did not have a one-on-one with barack obama. that is inexcusable on all levels. and democrat i believe senators will be the first to tell you that, and they have told you that. >> let me introduce another element into this discussion i think that plays a part in what has happened, especially over

the last year, and that's the importance and the absence of ted kennedy in the senate and the importance and the absence of ted kennedy in his relationship with president obama. >> senator kennedy was a good legislator. he wld keep his word. i didn't agree with his word all the time, but he would keep it. if he said he was going to screw me, he would screw me. also, if he said he was going to help me, he would help me. he would work to get things done. yes, we miss kind of the maturity of the senate finding solutions, finding common ground. there are lots of opportunities to divide. where are the opportunities to come together? >> mike, just so i'm not exposed here. mika can't say it because she's talked to the same democratic senators. how many democratic senators running the u.s. senate over the past two engineers told you that they could pull their hair out because of the way the white house was handling the situation? >> i was mentally going through a card check. >> it's huge.

>> i was up to seven as you were going back and forth. seven different individual senators have said exactly that. >> by the way, it's not a leading question. i sometimes will be sitting at home. the phone will ring and i'll pick it up and it's a democratic chairman saying kubel what he is doing today? >> you know, one of the things -- again, to reference ted kennedy, there's no way the health care debate would have dragged out over the course of 15 or 16 months in the united states senate if ted kennedy has been there to resteer max baucus and go down to 1600 pennsylvania avenue and tell the president, here is what we're going to do, we're going to take pre-existing condition and portability. we're going to cut our losses and declare victory right now. >> you know, a john brough, he was someone who helped find solutions. >> again, a lot of progressives would be angry when you bring up his name.

oh, he's in bed with the oil industrial, whatever they'd say about john brough. but it's not about ideology. we're not talking about ideology here. we're talking about looking at the best baseball manager. if you're playing baseball in the major leagues, you don't want a professor that reads about it in books. you want a guy -- you don't want bill james. you want sparky anderson. >> somebody who knows it and has been there. >> didn't we see him on the train? i think we did. it was brough. i remember that. i have an interesting story about that i'll tell you on the break. >> you saw him on the train with trent lott. okay. read the tease. we won't tell the rest of the story. go. up next, will they stay or will they go? with congress heading back to washington, what becomes of the tax cuts.

nora efron shares her wisdom on everything she hasn't yet forgotten. and also charles blow. first let's go to bill karins with a check of the forecast. >> as far as rain showers go, we'll see them move into eastern massachusetts. that's about it. everybody else should be dry as we go through out the day today. it's going to be cloudy and cool. the winds are gusting in boston and hartford. still breezing, even by new york city down to philadelphia. today's forecast, a little shower activity from the cape to hartford to boston. new york city southwards, you're dry today. temperatures will be on the cool side f. you want beautiful weather, you live in florida, southeast, dallas, up through the midwest, it's going to be gorgeous from chicago to minneapolis. even the west coast, a little cool on the west side. you're watching "morning joe" brewed by starbucks.

♪ where'd you learn to do that so well. ♪ ♪ where'd you learn to do that so well. ♪ the new cadillac srx. the cadillac of crossovers. cadillac. the new standard of the world.

unfortunately the president is going to have to leave indonesia earlier than expect ld which means he wouldn't get to visit the friends who said he was chubby and runs like a duck. he also won't be able to visit this kid. that's the famous indonesian smoking baby. he's chubby and runs like a duck, too. we could be looking at our future president right there. >> that's just terrible. 21 past the hour. live picture in seoul, south korea. the president is headed there today ahead of this week's g-20 summit. welcome back to "morning joe." 21 past the hour. joining us now, the founder, chairman and ceo of mdc partners

incorporated miles nadal, here to talk about how the business community is reacting the temperature's realities. and columnist from "the new york times" charles blow is here. andy card still with us. >> charles, let's continue a conversation we had, talking about how the president needs somebody that knows washington, in and out, to help him. it's not a knock on valerie or axelrod. all presidents need people around them they trust. doesn't he need a daschle or a colin powell or somebody that can say, okay, this is how you get around the republicans and actually pass this bill. >> i think there's a lot of merit to that. i was listening to your conversation before. part of it is that you need that player. the other part is you also have to recognize is a fundamental difference in republican and democrat i believe strategies. we were talking before about

democrats siding on a lot of things that bush wanted to get through. that's a fundamental difference in the way democrats approach washington and the way republicans have of late approached washington which is more obstructionist strategy. >> charles, if you don't talk to me, i have no reason to work with you. why would mitch mcconnell say, i'm going to bend over wards and piss off a lot of people in kentucky where rand paul just won, i'm going to take a chance and meet barack obama halfway. oh, wait, he hasn't had me over for the first 18 months of his presidency to talk about me. >> this is the same mitch mcconnell who told the heritage foundation last week -- >> after 18 months, i'm not listening. i have not been defending mitch mcconnell here. i'm just saying -- doesn't colin powell or tom daschle or somebody need to say, i know they're jerks and i know they've been obstructing you, but this is what you do with somebody that's trying to obstruct you,

you bring them in and let them know that the vote is going down and that you're going to give them a deal they can't refuse. if they refuse it, they're screwed. that happens in politics. you set people up. >> i understand that, joe. there's a point at which these guys have basically said we're not playing ball. and the further barack obama went -- he did make some steps. maybe he should have invited mitch mcconnell over to the white house. he did make some steps. every step he made made him look weaker to his base and got him nowhere with the republicans. so he is in a lose-lose situation on that front. and he lost. >> charles, you're never in a lose-lose situation. >> give me a break. >> i heard people say there was no way that bill clinton would ever get newt gingrich who said horrible things before going into office about bill clinton. and he is still saying awful --

in fact, he's saying worse things now than he did. you know what? bill clinton being the master he was, he set us republicans up for a fall. we were contemptuous of him. we said this guy is out in '96, and he figured out a way. because guess what? he had people inside there that knew how to work it. bill clinton figured out a way to bury us and he did every time. >> he had been a governor. he worked hard to find solutions in a state. president obama really has never been part of any solution. >> he had been a state senator. >> he wasn't part of a solution. >> the second you get into the u.s. senate, the second he got into the u.s. senate he decided he was running for president. >> or they decided for him. >> or they decided for him. like harry reid said, you don't like it here. >> miles -- there's another part

of it, miles, the business commune think ti has been very skeptical of the president. what does a president do to reach out to the business community and let him know that he gets it? >> first of all, he's got to believe that it's important to embrace business. first of all, one of the things he said is we don't want to grow the pie, we just want to slice it differently and reallocate it. you can't cut your way to success. he's got to grow the economy. >> can you believe he said that? >> that's the problem. he's in denial. the business leaders that i speak to, they feel he's hostile toward them. he feels they're all fat cats and that they're not doing their share. >> by the way, and i don't quote republican business leaders when i say this. democratic ceos that run the biggest companies in the country that were totally in the tank for him love him, they're now saying you don't get it. >> someone said if you created a website called obamaremorse.com, it would be the largest and most

popular website in america today. >> at least among ceos. what does he do now? we've seen what's happened. going forward, what's the first thing the president can do to let business leaders know i get it, now start investing in the economy. >> let me give you an idea. there are $3 trillion of excess cash in the balance sheets of american corporations. $1 trillion resides outside the country. people won't repatriate that back to the country because there's a tax problem. give them a tax holiday, let them bring it back in return for job stimulation. there's no opportunity cost for them. it will enable them -- and so no one has ever brought that forward. $1 trillion. >> there's another thing you said that's important. $3 trillion on the sidelines. mika, every ceo we talked to, we said the same thing. there's enough money on the sidelines. i've been saying this for a year now. enough money on the sidelines to revive this economy, get unemployment down to 7% or so. to kick start it. businesses aren't reinvesting.

so i guess the greatest challenge is how do businesses get excited to get back -- >> and to hire again. >> the president wants to need to want to embrace business. >> what do you mean when you say that? you talk about this hostility they're feeling. a lot of americans feel a little hostile, too, to these fat cats that you put in quotes. a lot of people feel they were royally screwed by big business and that they went home with their money and their bonuses and they were leapt by nothing. >> but the overhang of regulation, the overhang of tax uncertainty is causing people to keep their resources on the sidelines. >> do you really think financial reform has -- >> financial reform, health care and epa regulations are huge -- >> there is no confidence right now because there's no certainty. you can't have a stimulated economy, job creation -- >> by the way, here is the great news, okay, charles, certainty has been established.

there's uncertainty. we don't know how far left nancy pelosi and the democratic congress will pull this president. but now they're -- i'm not going to say gridlock, you have divided government, checks and balances. that's good news in and of itself. i'm optimistic. i think the economy is going to grow now. >> first of all, the economy is growing at a slow pace, but it is growing. you do see signs that -- among small businesses that they're willing to hire and they're beginning to hire. i think in this discussion we have to talk about big business, you have to -- there's a fuzzy phrase because the people who make the decisions are the people who are in the upper income brackets. they make decisions based on their own personal lives and their own personal politics. so when obama is talking about business, he may be on the side of workers, but the people who make the decisions are not necessarily the people who respond. >> and therein is the problem that actually the workers

understand, if you go after the people that create the jobs, you're not helping the working class people. >> small business is a great opportunity. >> it is. >> we have not focused on that. that is the opportunity for job creation. >> i have three dates in which republicans were at the white house, invited there. we'll talk about it more later. >> who sent it to you? >> hold on a second. the white house christmas party does not count. come on. you guys at the white house can do better than that. seriously, the second one, the easter egg roll. >> do you know how to use google? >> thank you so much. and more coming. andy card, thank you so much. miles, great to see you. >> nice to be here, thank you. charles stick around. up next. it's a bird, a plane, a missile. what exactly was going on in the california skies earlier this

week? a quick reminder, tomorrow joe joins the ladies of "the view." don't forget to tune in. we'll be right back.

hey, babe. oh, hi, honey! so i went to the doctor today, then picked up a few extra things for the baby. oh, boy... i used our slate card with blueprint. we can design our own plan to avoid interest by paying off diapers and things each month. and for the bigger stuff, we can pay down our balance faster to save money on interest. bigger? bigger. slate from chase gives you extraordinary control over how you pay for life's surprises. trip...lets... slate customers pay down their balances twice as fast with blueprint.

[ indistinct shouting ] ♪ another day ♪ another dollar ♪ daylight comes [ dogs barking ] ♪ i'm on my way ♪ another day ♪ another dollar ♪ working my whole life away ♪ another day ♪ another dollar [ ted ] for years, i was just a brewer. until one of the guys brought in some fresh bread that he'd made from our pale ale. and from that first bite, i knew my business would never be the same. [ male announcer ] when businesses see an opportunity to grow,

the hartford is there. protecting their property and helping them plan their employees' retirement. ♪ beer or bread? [ male announcer ] see how the hartford helps businesses at achievewhatsahead.com.

live shot of the white house. welcome back to "morning joe." quick look at the news. republicans are stepping up their threats against president obama's health care legislation. the a.p. reports house and senate republicans will use the investigative powers of congress to pull apart the law. i'm tired. doesn't that make you tired? >> i'm tired. >> come january, they will focus on what the new legislation will mean for medicare and employer health plans adding they're eager to question medicare add stater that was appointed without senate confirmation. somebody needs to say that we just want to hear about jobs. republican joe miller is gaining ground in the alaska senate race cutting into the lead for write-in candidate lisa murkowski. miller now trails murkowski by just over 11,000 votes. that's interesting. election officials will begin to open the more than 92,000 write-in ballots today. miller and murkowski have hired

attorneys for their legal efforts during the count which could take weeks. you may have heard reports of a mysterious missile launch this week. the pentagon, faa and norad are reporting the unidentified object was a missile. one military expert suggests it was an optical illusion. >> whatever. it's a ufo. >> apparently this could have been caused by an airplane's condensation trail that was illuminated by the setting stun. alexander stanley, you know this headline, the beard is a change but the self pity is not. >> really? >> even this early? >> so you haven't seen it yet? >> only clips. >> i heard last night still feeling sorry for himself. >> i also heard he's back to

sort of his 12:35 forum which is looser and more in his wheel house. up next, writer, producer, director nora efron is going to be here. we're excited. keep it right here on "morning joe." [ 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. and inside that box is their financial life. people wake up and realize i better start doing something. we open up that box. we organize it. and we make decisions. we really are here to help you. they look back and think, "wow. i never thought i could do this." but we've actually done it. [ male announcer ] visit ameriprise.com and put a confident retirement more within reach.

so i've come up with some mnemonic devices to help me learn your names. hello, a "penny" saved is a "penny" earned. oh, that's 'cause fedex ground helps you save money. that's right, penny. do you know ours? heavens to betsy. dwayne the bathtub. magic wanda. yeah! what's mine? uh, you're a dan fool. oh. it's just a device, dan. you can't take it personally. yeah, i suppose. [ male announcer ] we understand. you need a partner who helps you save. fedex ground.

♪ love and marriage >> i know everyone is great. everyone is happy. everyone is in love. that's wonderful. you've got to know sooner or later you're going to be screaming at each other about who is going to get this dish. this $8.00 dish will cost you $1

million dollars. >> harry. >> do me a favor, for your own good, put your name in your books right now before they get mixed up. some day, believe it or not, you'll go 15 rounds over who is going to get this coffee stable, this stupid rag gone wheel, roy rogers coffee table. oh, my gosh, that was a scene from "when harry met sally" written by nora efron, also the director of such hits as "julie and julia." here with us now, nora ephron. >> you have the one that my wife comes in and says "my god, not again." i always tear up when she's dancing -- i wanted -- and when she's dancing with the mom, i tear up every time. my wife is like, you have seen

this on hbo 78 times. >> i don't know how many people know this about you, but i do. it has altered everything. >> it really is -- >> nora also writes about, quote, the d word and life issues in her new book "i remember nothing and other reflections." the d. word. >> the d word -- >> not about everything. why did you write the book. >> the book is just another book about getting older. one of those things that is on my mind. i wrote "i feel bad about my neck" a few years ago. >> by the way, it's a beautiful scarf. >> it's good it's winter now. >> and i just thought i would write my memoirs now that i have forgotten everything. we were talking during the break about former marriages and how they're just gone. there is a piece in here about divorce. and we are doing a vertical on

"huffinigton post" about divorce. >> there's a new section in "the post" and you're editor of it? >> i'm something of it. i have no idea what i am. i did say to arianna one day, you know, marriages come and go but divorce is forever. and the next thing i knew, she hired a group of people to an mate this idea. but there are a lot of divorced people out there and they're dealing with divorce all the time. and there's a lot to deal with, and there are a lot of famous people getting divorced and providing a huge excitement for us all. it's true. >> makes you feel better about yourself. >> you know we don't know anything about anybody's marriages, including our own. we certainly don't know why people get divorced. yet, when famous people get divorced, we love to figure out why. >> i think the section in the "huffinigton post" is very

timely. and it's great to have an honest conversation about it. i guess a portion of your book is the debut piece on the "huffinigton post" which is what i read. >> actually, it's genius. >> it's genius. >> it's genius my earpiece just fell out. >> you don't need it. you're fine. you can hear us, right? we don't listen to chris either. why should you? >> in the book "feeling badly about your neck," i read that, too. >> what i remember about my first marriage, ricearoni. it was not bad. i have to say that. but it is amazing to me that i was married for almost seven years to someone and they're just like little bits -- >> just remember the san francisco treat and that's it. >> that's it. >> so in your last book you took us on a tour of your life off and on.

and i remember you talking about throwing all these dinner parties. what are we going to learn about you in this one? >> that although i look like a normal person, my brain is completely blank. >> yeah, that's great. you fill up how many pages of remembering nothing? 145 pages. >> that's right, yes. >> help me out, nora. >> some of it is about my life. some of it is about my parents. some of it is about journalism and how much in love with it i once was. >> why not anymore? >> you could never be a real reporter at "newsweek." >> i couldn't be a real reporter at "newsweek" because there were no women reporters at "newsweek" and they told you that flat out. how long ago was it? it was so long ago that when they hired you they said, but women aren't writers. the weird thing is there were women writers there. it was empirically false.

but the woman writer was left over from world war ii when they had to use women like rosie the riveter. and they just said it to you. it was kind of wild. >> what do you remember about your parents? you write about your parents in this book. tell us about it. >> well, my parents both started out kind of fabulous and normal. they were very powerful screen writers. my mother was -- my mother was a great powerful person who taught me everything, who just kept saying constantly everything is copy, everything is material. some day this will be a funny story. she never said, oh, honey, that's so bad. the way you're supposed to say to the kids, you're supposed to say i'm so sympathetic to you. no, no, no. get over it. move on. this will be a story some day. you know? it's not the worst thing in the world. >> best advice she ever gave you. >> it's not the worst thing.

it's completely counterintuitive when you're a parent. i'm amazed, i want to call her up and say but why didn't you ever say that's too bad? but no, she taught us all how to do it. she has four daughters who are all writers. we all learned to do that thing where you feel bad about your neck and then you make a joke about it. >> i love it. >> nora, i have to ask you the same question i plan to ask keith richards if he comes to talk about his book, how can you write a memoir about a life you don't recall? your reasons for not recalling are different than keith's. >> or not. >> one would hope. >> well, i remember a few things. but it's interesting to me how you remember such weird little -- not the main things. you remember the heel on your shoe broke, but you don't really remember cary grant who was in

the room at the time. you're kind of embarrassed oovps that so many of the memories -- there's a thing in my book that i went to meet eleanor roosevelt which was a giant deal for me because we had grown up with a picture of her in the bar, like many families in america. >> let's see. no, not mine. >> democratic jewish family, she was a real icon. and i drove up to meet her, and i remember drapes. drapes. there were drapes in the room and the car. i got lost on the taconic. this is what you're stuck with years later and you're thinking, i should have written everything down and kept a diary. >> i feel better now, mentioning the train right. >> don't you feel on the show that sometimes you see names coming at you and you're going what is the name of the movie

with jeremy irons about -- >> you should get one of these. >> you have your build-in recall, unlike the rest of us. >> i remember interviewing my grandma for a journalism project in school. she was born in 1903. i would ask her all these questions. she had a remarkable life, 1903. i'm interviewing her in the early '80s. i was like tell me what was it like when did you first figure it out. >> she said, well, bill was trying to get into high school. it was all of these things, and my husband was working down at the corner store. >> we've all done that thing, sitting down with our grandparents and asking about their trip to america which is what i asked my grandmother about. and hoping that they'll turn out

to be kind of well-written paragraphs that will come forth from our mouths. of course, we never sit down with them until they've forgotten it, too. >> nora ephron, we love seeing the world through your ice. thank you very much. the book is "i remember nothing and other "i remember nothing and other reflections." >> by the way, i'm going to read this and cry in this one too. >> i think you might. >> i'm a sensitive guy. >> susan's very nervous. >> i bet she is. president bush offers up a new response to kanye west. >> enough with the kanyes. . >> don't forget to sign up for the morning minutes newsletter. guest interviews and the big story of the day. [ woman ] you know, as a mom,

i worry about my son playing football. which is why i'm really excited. because toyota developed this software that can simulate head injuries and helps make people safer. then they shared this technology with researchers at wake forest to help reduce head injuries on the football field. so, you know, i can feel a bit better about my son playing football. [ male announcer ] how would you use toyota technology to make a better world? learn how to share your ideas at toyota.com/ideasforgood.

but i wasn't winning any ribbons managing my diabetes. it was so complicated. there was a lot of information out there. but it was frustrating trying to get the answers i needed. then my company partnered with unitedhealthcare. they provided onsite screenings, healthy cooking tips. that's a recipe i'm keeping. ( announcer ) turning complex data into easy tools. we're 78,000 people looking out for 70 million americans. that's health in numbers. unitedhealthcare.

i would tell george bush in my moment of frustration i didn't have the grounds to call him a racist. but i believe that in a situation of high emotion like that, we as human beings don't always choose the right words. that's why i'm here -- >> he seems to have regret. what's your reaction?

>> i appreciate that. >> does your faith allow you to forgive kanye? >> of course it does. i'm not a hater. i didn't hate kanye west. i was talking about an environment in which people were willing to say things that hurt. and nobody wants to be called a ra racist. if your heart you believe in equality of race. >> wow, okay. >> that was them together. angle that was kanye west agizing to president bush. and then president bush. >> poor kanye west. first, taylor. >> kanye is always the winner. >> taylor became a blow-out star after that. >> kanye's got an album out now, incidentally.

it works out great. >> wow. >> i'll show you a clip, nora. they've got on the the set if you look in the background, a city scape. they've got the pacific ocean with the moon hanging low over it. that became the focus of last night's interview with tom hanks. >> the whales are breaching. >> they're not breaching. they're lunging. if they were to breach, 40% of them would come out of the water. >> you know what, it's dumb but it's funny. that's what we like. >> by the way -- >> i hope it's not his own suit. >> i guess that was good. >> you didn't like that? >> it was. i -- >> you don't really like conan? >> it's basic cable. you got me as a viewer. seriously, that's what i like.

keep expectations low. don't have to take over the world. >> what's wrong with the world? >> get your niche. >> make 19-year-old boys laugh. you know what i miss, nora? >> because we don't want to get our hair wet or clothes. i think it's the is sex-link thing. but it was funny. >> do you miss johnny carson? i miss johnny carson. >> oh, i don't -- >> you don't remember him? >> of course. i wrote a book about johnny carson. it's little known. you can buy it on ebay for about 32 cents. >> what was your takeaway? >> it was amazing. guess what it was called -- and now, here's johnny. >> i saw that one coming. >> thank you very much. >> thank you so much. >> i'm going to ebay. >> what does president bush

think about the tax cuts? we'll talk about that. [ male announcer ] in the event of a collision, the smartest thing you could do is cut the fuel supply, unlock the doors, and turn on the hazards. or get a car that does it for you. ♪

first of all, it's too pad they call them the bush tax cuts. they might have a better chance of being extended if they were the lauer tax cuts. >> probably not going to happen. >> welcome back to "morning joe." live look at the white house. top of the hour. mike barnicle still with us. and political director and

co-host of the "daily rundown" chuck todd with us. hello, chuck todd. >> hello. >> how long is george bush going to be on? he's selling a lot of books. >> a lot of books. >> it's a two-week rollout, huh? >> he and jerry lewis. >> it's nonstop. >> i bet his amazon number is really strong right now. >> how about his approval ratings? >> we have approval ratings for george w. bush? >> a new gallup poll, up to 44%. >> one of the most meaningless polls i've ever seen. we've got a lot to talk about today. nancy pelosi defending herself in the usa today. and you still have the fight going on among democrats about who's going to be the number two there.

hillary clinton, mika, talking about how barack obama could follow her husband's example. >> yes. i think also we should point t out, if i may, that there have been meetings it at the white house, even one with mitch mcconnell. and upper making some very, very strong statements about this president not reaching out. i don't think it's fair. >> let me just say, mika, i am a reporter, as you know. i went to columbia school of journalism in 1947. i have ink on my fingers permanently. you keep brushing away reality. the reality is that i am merely quoting democratic senators, democratic chairmen who for a year have been saying this president doesn't know how to run washington. >> you know what, i'm not -- i don't argue the contention that there may be a real disconnect

in terms of being able to get the two sides to come together. >> will you acknowledge that you too have heard from powerful democratic senators as mike has,ive and, that this president doesn't know how to work washington? >> yes. but you can't say he's never had republicans over to the white house. even mitch mcconnell. we were acting like it never happened and it has. >> it happened in august. >> it does take two to tango. >> chuck todd. it is so good to have you with us it today, chuck. >> don't make me play mediator here. >> we're good. chuck, there is an ongoing debate looking back on what went wrong and trying to figure out how to improve things moving forward. do you get a sense -- because i know you heard it more than us from democrats skeptical of the

president over the last year. do democrats who have been so critical of this white house, to they have confidence moving forward that he gets it and he's going to change his act? >> look, i don't know if these same skeptical democrats yet have confidence or not have confidence. you think they're waiting to see who is going to be the new -- you know, what kind of senior west wing, is it a shake-up, new people they bring in. i've talked to some congressional democrats withholding judgment. it's a circular firing squad among democrats. you have a group of democrats upset that nancy pelosi is running for leader again. another group of democrats that say if she wasn't running -- you think it's bad now, imagine if there were a vacuum there, the progressives in the caucus would not be rallying around steny

hoyer right now. it would be more open war far in the democratic party. i think a big question is going to be, the first two years of this presidency, you'd hear the president lay out some principles on an issue. he'd say, let congress do the details. this time with congress being divided, right? with essentially the republicans running the house. no governing majority in the senate. the republicans are in control more of the floor. that's about it. and some committee work. is the white house going to say, here's our proposal. guess what, we want to do tax reform. are they going to be the ones that say, here's our plan. you guys work from this blueprint. or are hay going to say, you come to us with a plan and let's see if that's a framework we can

even do. i'll tell you what i hear from democrats outside the white house. they want the white houseactive their agenda and getting more involved in the details early on. >> let me ask you about the president's reaction on "60 minutes." people trying to read into whether he gets it or not. does he? >> depends on what you mean by gets it. i think there's a lot of overreaction happening right now. i think it's easy to say that he's out of touch. i'm not exactly sure how much of that is true actually. >> you have written columns that said he is not connecting to americans like he should. >> there's a communication issue there. are all his problems related to that communication issue su? that's not the case. a lot of what happened -- there was a poll not too long ago

about republican people voting for republican candidates. 40% said they want people who will not compromise with anybody. democrats, the majority of them said they wanted somebody who would compromise with people who they disagree with. it's a fundamental gap in the way people see the representatives they want representing them. they take it to washington. there's a part of it, democrats want to see him bend. and on the opposite, people he needs to be bending and talking to, their constituents don't want to see them bendinga the all. it comes to a friction point where you can't say all of it's him. part of it is inability to say, we made incredible investments in detroit and they're going to pay off and we're going to make a profit. we made an incredible investment in aig. we're going to make a profit on that deal. if you can't make those selling

points, then that is a little bit of a failure of communication. but it's not all that. >> mike, what's so interesting is that washington is more divided than ever. you look at the house, the democratic caucus, more liberal than before. the republican caucus, more conservative before. democrats got the same percentage of votes in 2010 as in 2006. it's the independents, these extremes just don't get. democrats won independents by 18 percentage points in 2006 and lost them by 18 percentage points in 2010. it's these independents that both extremes seem to lose every two years. >> they're not appealing to either. >> they left the democratic side of the aisle in the past election because of their perception there's an inability to govern in washington. washington is led by the democrats, democratic senate, democratic president. there's also a sense among a lot of people that there is a

political/intellectual arrogance to this administration. it might be wrong, but i think there's a sense that it prohibits everyone working together. there's an idea in the white house, look, we won the presidency. we're smarter than you. please, we know what we're doing. >> by the way, chuck todd -- >> i'm not sure that's fair. >> that infects every new white house. >> sure, they're all geniuses. >> they're all geniuses for two years. it happens to every administration. let's talk about the group you've written a book about. i think the most fascinating part of the story is not the south. we know how the south was going to go and the west was going to go. but matthew said those white blue collar voters that voted for hillary that wouldn't turn the democratic nomination over to obama for a long time from scranton to oshkosh, they all

deserted the democratic party. what happened? and how do democrats reconnect? >> look, that's going to be the challenge. i think that's the work this white house has to do in order to win re-election. you look at the map here. if wisconsin is brought into play, it's a real toss-up. this is a state that a republican hasn't carried since ronald reagan if 1984. if wisconsin is in play and michigan as well and a pennsylvania, then they've got to work a lot harder on this blue collar white vote that, yes, in the democratic primaries, there was a lack of connection. frankly, it's no different than president bill bradley would have had this same problem. president ted kennedy might have had this same problem back in the 1980s. there's had this group of voters

that has always sort of not been crazy about the ivy league deems, right? they're old-fashioned democrats. they've always repelled at the end of the day against the ivy league democrats in some form or another at some point in time. now, they want to be democrats. they believe in the social safety net, right? they believe in social security. they believe in medicare. so he certainly has an opening. he hasn't lost an opportunity to commute with these democrats. but right now, there is a little bit of frustration building with this group of voters. >> there's also a danger in not drilling down a little bit into the numbers when you talk about independents. there are very few true independents in this country. people lean left or right. the composition of independents who vote in the midterm are very different than the composition of independents who vote in the presidential election. it is very easy to overstate

what has changed among independents because you're comparing -- you know, if you compare this election to the last election or whatever. if you compare it for 2006 and 2010, it's a fairer comparison. >> that's a 36% vote swing for democrats. >> what part of that swing is based on people in office? this is a fickle group that swing all the time. >> in a bad economy. >> it's very likely you'll get some swing the other direction. there are republicans who won this cycle who should not have won in a district they won. and in 2006 there were democrats who won in districts they should not have won. >> you would admit the president's biggest problem with the electorate comes from these voters, right? these independents, people that didn't it want to elect barack obama? >> that's part of had his problem. when you -- you know, his problem is different than the

senate's problem. his problem, he elected the electoral college. he's looking state by state. it would be -- i would find it hard to believe that a republican could walk into michigan and have the president the walk in two years from now with gm going gang busters and all of what he has invested in that state and have somebody take it from him. that one news to me. >> chuck, before we leave, we want to talk to you about the story of huge importance. i didn't want to bring it up. >> i know where you're going. i know where you're going. >> if i bring it up, i may tear up. why don't you bring it up. cam newton. >> potentially the final thing that governor charlie crist does in the state of florida? >> oh, no, no, no. i thought you were going there about jim morrison. >> not the jim morrison flashing incident.

jim morrison was brett favre before there was a brett favre. >> i understand that your dad was at the miami concert. >> i know if he was. there was always a little bit of a legend. supposedly he was there. he was a concert promoter back in the '60. he may have been there and not remembered. it was the '60, man. it was crazy, man. >> the jim morrison rooster flashing nilincident. >> why don't you tell us about the cam newton incident? we think where there's smoke, there's fire. >> wow, s.e.c. coaches. is there a bigger group of whiny, tattle tales than the entire s.e.c.? don't they always rat on each other? phil fulmer versus steve spurrier or urban meyer versus nick saban or lane kiffin.

the s.e.c.? is there a whinier group of 12 teams? they always complain the other is the cheating more than the next. i don't have any sympathy. magically cam newton is the best player in college football. all of a sudden he's cheating. florida is complaining. they're 6-4. >> let's go to the breaking news desk. >> i agree where there's smoke there's fire, but let's go to any team in the s.e.c. only vanderbilt probably doesn't cheat. and we know what that's got them. >> we've set up on "morning joe" a cam newton breaking news desk. willie geist is standing by. >> where's the banner? >> chuck can add mississippi state to the list of whiners. the espn report that came out last night. two mississippi state recruiters -- we don't know what that means. only coaches can recruit. that doesn't mean anything. they say they had direct phone calls from cam newton and his

father suggesting that a little cash might sweeten the odds of cam newton going to mississippi state. >> and also cam saying he couldn't go to mississippi state by the end because auburn offered too much money. >> mississippi state is a school spurnd by mississippi state. they're probably feeling a little bitter. >> maybe his dad got the 100,000. >> the church looks good. >> all s.e.c. coaches should remember the immortal words of earl weaver. walks the based loaded. comes of the dugout and says, kid, if you know how to cheat, do it now. >> that's a great story. chuck, thank you. >> thank you, chuck. >> coming up on the politico playbook, what a difference two years make. new polls have the president losing battle ground states. and oscar-winning actor jeff

bridges joins us. we need directions to go to... pearblossom highway? it's just outside of lancaster. sure, i can download directions for you now. we got it. thank you very much! check it out. i can like, see everything that's going on with the car. here's the gas level. i can check on the oil. i can unlock it from anywhere. i've received a signal there was a crash. some guy just cut me off. i'll get an ambulance to you right away. safely connecting you in ways you never thought possible. onstar. live on.

duare almost inseparable. she lifts her calf to its firstr breath of air, then protects it on the long journey to their feeding grounds. one of the most important things you can do is help the next generation. at pacific life, we offer financial solutions to accomplish just that. ask a financial professional about pacific life. the power to help you succeed. to cover up flaws and make skin look pretty but there's one that's so clever, it makes your skin look better even after you take it off.

neutrogena healthy skin liquid makeup. 98% of women saw improvement in their skin's natural texture, tone, or clarity. does your makeup do that? neutrogena® cosmetics recommended most by dermatologists.

personal memoirs by ulysses s. grant. >> one side or the other had to yield principles they deemed dear iter than life before it

could be brought to an end. >> the japanese began the war from the air at pearl harbor. they had been repaid many fold. >> decision points by george w. bush. >> i'm drunk at the dinner table. >> this has been great moments in presidential lives. >> terrible. not nice. >> out of context. it they ripped it out of context. >> we all have those moments, right? >> really, gracious. >> chief white house correspondent for politico, mike amen with a look at the playbook. good morning. >> good morning, guys. >> you have an interesting poll. public policy polling released from states that president obama won in 2008 matching him up against a generic republican candidate november colorado, obama trails the generic republican by five points. new hampshire, obama trails by 14 points.

pennsylvania, obama trails the generic republican by ten points. illinois, he's close to within the margin of error right there. what do those polls mean? >> this shows the president has real trouble in purple states going into 2012. this is where he rewrote the map for democrats in 2008. these states that we looked at, the president in 2008 beat john mccain by an average of 17 points in those states. they were real honey pots for him. now he's behind by an average of two. the pollsters caution he'll be running against a guy, whether it's mitt romney or tim pawlenty or whatever it is. it's not a generic republican. when you ask former supporters, they have questions about him and would be willing to consider someone else. that's the real headline from this. >> charms, you're a numbers cruncher. what do you see in these polls? >> part of it is a midterm dip.

presidents have those. the other thing is what mike said earlier, which is that -- and mike gave the more attractive republican possibilities. he's going to be running against someone specific. when you line him up against real people, he tends to do a little bit better, particularly of the people considered to be front-runners now. take these midterm numbers and say, that's interesting. i wouldn't take it into 2012. >> i have seen the appearance he made in new hampshire. >> all beige, beige suit. >> which of these potential republican candidates should the obama camp fear most, if any of them? >> i can tell you that they dream of running against sarah palin -- >> yes, we know that. >> who looks more likely to run.

they we david plouffe saying, i don't think we'll get that lucky. other candidates they have their eye on. mitt romney. the president mentioned him specifically in that "60 minutes" interview. he referred to the former governor of massachusetts in the context of health care. what they need to worry about are people who can unite the fiscal and social parts of the republican party. we mentioned mike pence of indiana. john thune of south dakota. tim pawlenty of minnesota gets out of office january 3rd. he has a book coming out right then conveniently. newt gingrich almost certainly running. there will be a couple. but the person who can merge the fiscal and conservative lane.

>> but the money is on mitt romney? >> people say he is the person to beat because he was the top front-runner last year. i can tell you the obama white house has been most focused on him. the democratic national committee starting to hit all of them. they love it when the dnc hit them because it means they're paying attention. >> remember rudy giuliani was the shoe-in two years before that. >> rudy versus hillary. >> mike, thanks. great stuff. >> coming up if accident, a look at the remarkable comeback of ford motors with cnbc's "king of cars." the great phil lebeau will be with us. [ male announcer ] in the event of a collision,

the smartest thing you could do is cut the fuel supply, unlock the doors, and turn on the hazards.

or get a car that does it for you. ♪ but basically, i'm a runner. last year. (oof).

i had a bum knee that needed surgery. but it got complicated, because i had an old injury. so i wanted a doctor who had done this before. and unitedhealthcare's database helped me find a surgeon. you know you can't have great legs, if you don't have good knees. we're 78,000 people looking out for 70 million americans. that's health in numbers. unitedhealthcare.

♪ when the two men finally connected, they clicked immediately. but inside ford headquarters, not everyone was sold on mulally. >> the very first meeting somebody said, i didn't understand you have an interesting background but this is a difficult business and i don't think you have a sense of how complex it is. alan said you make a vehicle that has 3,000 moving parts. i make one that has 30,000 moving parts and has to stay in

the air. >> that would crystallize things. that was from the documentary "ford." here with us now, cnbc's phil lebeau, who have went behind the scenes of the ford motor company to look into this. good to have you. >> let's give credit -- obviously, alan mulally has done an incredible job there. but detroit is so insulated. let's give credit to ford who actually took a chance to sort of turn the tables over. >> remember, bill ford, who's the chairman of the company, he was ceo. he admitted, i'm not doing the job. i'm not turning this thing around here. i need somebody else to come in. that takes a lot of guts to say, it's my company, my great grandfather's company and i'm not doing the job. kudos to him for doing that. >> there are a lot of lessons to be learned, mike, to the only business, but in politics. >> absolutely. i was going to ask him about

that. bill ford, just the sheer ego involved. his name, that's the company, bill ford. he did it and gets this guy, alan mulally. great story for the country, great story for the company. how does he do it? >> two things. one is at the end of the day, he's an engineer. he's a manufacturing guy and understands global manufacturing. we don't get real wonky in the documentary tonight. more than anything, he got everybody to buy into the idea that ford needed to look in the mirror and say, what are we doing wrong. everybody who looked into the mirror and saw what they were doing wrong, they changed their act. they started marching in step with alan mulally. not easy to do with any company. >> the gms and other car companies, have they watched this? are they going to use the ford model now as a way ford? >> look at what general motors did in bankruptcy. stripped down from eight brands to four brands. who did that before general

motors? ford. must have lally said why do we have jaguar and aston martin? think about that, the absurdity of aston martin being part of the ford family. do onening and do it well. you see others focusing in on one thing. >> an amazing meeting with consumer reports. >> probably my favorite part of the report. consumer reports always have executives come to them. it's a lot like when you go to a midterm exam and you talk to the teacher and they say, this is what you're doing wrong. and they say, you don't understand. the executives at ford started saying to consumer reports, you don't understand. this is the way it is. alan stopped them and said, no, no. we're hear to learn what we're doing wrong. write down what he tells us that we're doing wrong and let's fix it. >> had that ever happened

before? >> consumer reports had never had that before. >> they had executives say, we think you're right. but there were some that say, we don't understand you understand. but alan said, their job is to tell us what's wrong and our job is to fix it. at the beginning of alan mulally, the bottom of almost every list. now they're at the top. >> that's an incredible story and one to watch. phil, thank you very much. >> 9:00. >> roll-up wind in the ford 150. >> mika wants one. >> i have one. i don't neend one. >> occasionally i bring one home and my daughter is like, what is this? >> phil, thank you very much. we'll be looking for that tonight at 9:00 eastern time on cnbc. new jobless claim numbers out, down to the lowest level since

july to 435,000. phil, once again, thaunk you. up next, oscar award winner jeff bridges coming up. 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. so they can focus on building amazing bikes. with xerox, you're ready for real business.

but the financial landscape isg still full of uncertainty. in times like these, you need an experienced partner to look out for you. heads up! and after 300 years we have gotten pretty good at that.

>> it's good to be with you now. of course, at my age, you could be anywhere. 3, four. ♪

>> that was jeff bridges, oscar-winning turning as bad blake in "crazy heart." today, jeff is taking on a different role. he's in washington to unveil the share our strengths, no kid hungry campaign. he joins us from washington along with the founder of the program, billy shore. thanks for being on the program this morning. >> thanks for having us. good morning. >> jeff, first of all, tell us about the campaign and why you're involved with it. >> this no kid hungry campaign is so exciting. according to the department of agriculture, we currently have 17 million of our kids who live in food insecure households, meaning they don't get enough nutrition to lead healthy, active lives. that's 1 in 4 of our kids. and the problem is not that there aren't programs that deal beautifully with this problem.

programs like snap program, the former food stamp program. afterschool meals and the wic programs. they're not reaching enough kids. we've created this campaign to work with governors and mayors to take advantage of over a billion dollars that is available to them to end hunger in their communities and also is stimulate their economies. >> billy shore, looking at these numbers, how will you make that happen such how will you get beyond the governors and the politicians and utilize them to actually get the food and the money to the children who need it? >> yeah. i think that's what the no kid hungry campaign is really all about. as jeff said can of we have the resources in this country. we have 20 million kids who get a free or reduced price school lunch. only 10 million get school break

fasts. what the no kid hungry campaign is the creating public/private partnerships and working with business to enroll these kids in programs. about a billion dollars is at stake, already allocated. bipartisan support. i think what the no kid campaign brings to it is a voice. a voice as powerful and a authentic as jeff bringing this charge. >> this is disorienting for me. i'm about to ask him a question. i think he's going to say, shut up, johnny. part of the problem it would seem toll anyone who has spent six minutes on a sidewalk early in the morning is not the lack of food, it's sometimes the the kinds of foods kids eat on the

way to school from poor households. what do we do about the delivery system of food in this country? >> by delivery system you mean -- >> getting the right kinds to the kids who feed the food? >> exactly. you know, obesity is just the flip side of this hunger issue. you know, it's part of the -- dealing with the problem is finding out how to get the most nutritious food and to educate ourselves about that. >> billy shore, mika talks about this. we gave her grief about it. she's quite serious working with schools to improve the food. what are you all to go in that respect? why is there resistance to an idea that seems so obvious to most of us, that kids need to eat better and not pizza and chip wiches?

>> we visited a school yesterday. the school was founded with a chef from the beginning who has fresh ingredients. that's paid for with the school lunch program. instead of using a food service program. they've got a chef who buys groceries and fresh food. we walked in. it smelled delicious and we had lunch with the kids. they're actually saving pennsylvania. >> that's what is amazing. this charter school is saving money by doing much more nutritious food. >> we think the no kid hungry campaign can help expand that type of program. it includes our cooking matters, nutrition education program. schools are a key delivery system. that's why we visited yesterday? >> jeff, have you ever made a movie -- i'm talking about "the big lebowski" where people see it for the eighth time and still see something new?

>> i don't think i have. i'm one of the clicker guys. i watch tv and spin it. but if i -- if "the godfather" comes on, i'll watch a few scenes and get hooked. the same thing happens with lebowski. i'll say i'll wait till turturro licks the ball and move on. >> we had nora efron on and her book is called "i remember nothing." you may not remember, this was 1978, the summer of love and all that, you did a documentary onna abc called "heroes on of rock and roll" which remains today, 25, 30 years later, the best television documentary on rock and roll i've ever seen. >> good, man. i'm glad you think that.

>> do you remember that? >> i surely do. that was a good one. >> abc needs to update it and get judge ef. thank you so much for doing this. it remains so many ironies. the richest nation in the history of the world having hungry kids. also, some of our poorest kids suffering obesity. i mean, there is so much that has to be sorted out. thank you, jeff. >> i'd like to encourage all of our viewers to go to nokidhungry.org to find out what they can do personally to get on board and help end hunger in our country. take the no kid hungry pledge, which is, i believe, no child should be hungry in america. by taking this pledge, i'm adding my voice to the national movement of people committed to end hunger in our country by 2015. >> all right. jeff, thank you so much. we greatly appreciate it. billy, we thank you for doing this.

>> thanks a lot. >> and trying to bring -- because there are so many opportunities where the government's trying to reach out on a lot of different levels to these kids. there's literally money sitting on the sidelines. you need this public/private partnership. >> up next, senator mike warner. why he's done, quote, biting his tongue. ware that can simulate head injuries and helps make people safer. then they shared this technology with researchers at wake forest to help reduce head injuries on the football field. so, you know, i can feel a bit better about my son playing football. [ male announcer ] how would you use toyota technology to make a better world? learn how to share your ideas at toyota.com/ideasforgood.

♪ [ upbeat instrumental ] learn how to sh[ rattling ]as [ gasps ] [ rattling ] [ laughing ] [ announcer ] close enough just isn't good enough. - if your car is in an accident, - [ laughing continues ] make sure it's repaired with the right replacement parts. take the scary out of life with travelers. call or click now for an agent or quote.

copd doesn't just make it hard to breathe... it makes it hard to do a lot of things. and i'm a guy who likes to go exploring ... get my hands dirty... and try new things. so i asked my doctor if spiriva could help me breathe better. spiriva is the only once-daily inhaled maintenance treatment for both forms of copd... which includes chronic bronchitis and emphysema. spiriva keeps my airways open... to help me breathe better for a full 24 hours. and it's not a steroid. spiriva does not replace fast acting inhalers for sudden symptoms. stop taking spiriva and call your doctor right away if your breathing suddenly worsens, your throat or tongue swells, you get hives,

have vision changes or eye pain... or have problems passing urine. tell your doctor if you have glaucoma, problems passing urine or an enlarged prostate... as these may worsen with spiriva. also discuss the medicines you take... even eye drops. side effects include dry mouth, constipation and trouble passing urine. i'm glad i'm taking spiriva everyday because breathing better is just better. ask your doctor if once-daily spiriva is right for you. i was living on welfare and supporting a family of four. after i got the job at walmart, things started changing immediately. then i wrote a letter to the food stamp office. "thank you very much, i don't need your help any more." you know now, i can actually say i bought my home. i knew that the more i dedicated... the harder i worked, the more it was going to benefit my family. this my son, mario and he now works at walmart. i believe mario is following in my footsteps. my name is noemi, and i work at walmart. ♪

that pretty shot of capitol hill. welcome back to "morning joe." joining from us capitol hill, democratic senator from virginia, senator mark warner, who is participating in this year's veterans day initiative, mission served. it's good to see you. >> thanks, joe and mika. >> you're finished biting your tongue. tell us what went wrong in the elections of 2010. >> listen, i think -- i'll leave the prognostication and the analysis to you guys. the political landscape may have changed but the problems our country has faced have not changed. i think one message from the election is folks wanted us to work together to find some common ground. i got experience doing that when i was a democratic governor with a 2 to 1 republican legislature. we reformed our tax code and got

named the best-madding stanaged the country. one thing that's come out of the election, both parties have to own the problems and the solutions. >> what does the president do to reach out to republicans? what's a good starting point for him? >> i think he's already reached out and indicated before we took off on this foreign trip he was willing to reach common ground with the republicans on some of these issues around tax cuts. i'm going to have a proposal out in the next few days that would say, let's let the top end expire. use that revenue for business tax cuts to try to get part of the $2 trillion sitting in cash on balance sheets back invested in the american economy. the government used our tools in government stimulus. we have to get the $2 trillion in cash reinvested. i think there's a lot of ideas out there. we've got to be willing to have both sides listen perform. >> senator, i'm reading that

you're done biting your tongue when it comes dealing with the other side. what were you biting your tongue about? >> the first year as someone who had been a ceo in business and ceo as governor, it was a little bit of an experience getting used to be a legislator. there were times when i wish maybe i would have spoken up more. i think i have -- i tend to speak up more as we got a host of issues going forward. >> like, what, senator? >> i think there were a whole series of times over on the last couple of years where we could have done more to find common partners. i've been on this show with bob corker where we tried to do financial reform. we formed a great partnership. it was disappointing that went off the tracks late in the game. i think there will be a whole slew of chances to build up those chances.

saxbc chambliss. i think trying to get our national balance sheet in order is not only a critical fiscal order, but if we leave our kids the balance sheet we have, that's a crisis. >> what about washington, the last few years or even decades suggest to those american people who voted that way, that there's any reason you will start to work together? why now, why all of a sudden? >> listen, i think that's going to be our challenge. the transition from being a business guy and governor to being here, it's been kind of rocky. there are a lot of times i scratched my head at some of the rules and protocols of the senate and unwillingness to have folks find common ground. i think you're going to see and those of us who are political

legal more in the middle, we have to be willing to step up more. i hope others on both sides of the aisle will join me. >> tomorrow is veterans day. you representative the state that is steeped in service. but we live in a country where very few, very few have been touched by two wars. one in iraq, one in afghanistan. what can we do in this country it -- what can be done in the institutions of the senate and the house to make sure more veterans are serviced on things like ptsd and honored more so than they are now? >> this is not just an issue for me that comes around veterans tape. i mean, we've got the highest concentration of veterans of any state in the country. i was at the veterans office in roanoke yesterday looking at processing claims. i offered an amendment to focus or female veterans. tomorrow i'll be with an organization called mission serve, the whole purpose to get

communities involved and volunteers involved in helping service active duty veterans, retired veterans and those veterans who are deployed. we'll be dog ing an event. volunteers coming together. what we'll be doing in norfolk is providesing care packages for veterans who have been deployed. this is an organization i would welcome others to get involved in. easy to check out, missionserve.org. it is part of something that in the overall serve america act, where we've nut place something called veterans corps where people can get involved in serving veterans across the country. >> senator mark warner, thank you very much for that. take care. >> thank you, mark. always great talking to you. up next, what, if anything, did we learn today? we'll be right back. ♪

[ male announcer ] in the event of a collision,

the smartest thing you could do is cut the fuel supply... ♪ ...unlock the doors, and turn on the hazard lights. ♪ or better yet, get a car that automatically does it for you. ♪ right now, during the sign and drive event, get the all-new 2011 jetta for practically just your signature. ♪ gecko: yeady for r get the all-new 2011 jetta boss: just going over how geico helps people save in even more talkways... ...with good driver discounts, multi-car discounts, defensive driver discounts... woman: you! oh, don't act like you don't recognize me! toledo, '03? gecko: no, it's...i... woman: it's too late stanley. gecko: actually, miss, my name's not stanley. woman: oh...oh, i am so sorry! from behind you look just like him. i'm just.... gecko: well...i'd hate to be stanley. geico. 15 minutes could save you 15 percent.

welcome back. let's talk about what we learned today. willie, what have you learned. >> i learned from nora ephron, these are her words, it's okay to write a memoir, even at the don'