we asked at the top of the show what you're doing up this hour. our producer, rob gifford, has answers. rob? >> oaty says it was either you or infomercial reruns gwen. >> i'd go infomercial reruns. the consensus in this room, favorite infomercial, favorite hawaii chair? you can sit at work in the office and it works in sashlg for you, working in abs. >> i'm going to get one. emily says i had good intentions of getting up early to grade history exams, but was lured away by the horse in the car. >> here it is, the kansas family cruising down the family. look, there's a dog in the back of the car. that's a beautiful dog. oh, my god, it's a horse. "morning joe" starts right now.

good morning. good morning. it's wednesday, november 17, welcome to "morning joe." >> it's ridiculous. with us onset, mike barnicle and donny deutsch here. and what -- >> what is that? >> what's wrong with you? seriously. >> what do you mean? >> what do you mean? i don't know if that's going to work out well for that lady. >> i know. >> smart lady. >> is she? >> yeah. >> many times in business, very sharp. >> i wake up this morning to all these e-mails sending me the "huffinigton post" screaming headline about you and bloomberg. some were not very nice comments. >> we would like a formal response from you. >> you had "the new york times" calling you. >> no. >> i told you not to talk. >> i said no.

>> i told you not to talk because there's nothing to say. what's wrong with you? >> nothing wrong with me. >> donny, you will understand this. >> that doesn't make me feel better. >> you get the call list. i've got to go pick up kate at school. since it's against the law to talk and be on the phone, my wife is driving us, we're picking kate up at school. we have jack in the back seat. i got my call list. i have to call jim demint who i owe an apology to as well. >> yes, fred flintstone. >> i get this call. and chris interrupts and says howard feinman is calling and he wants you to call him back. he's breathless. >> you don't have to call him back. >> he's breathless. >> you can call him back but talk off the record. it's called the media. >> i'm saying howard is breathless. i'm thinking the new ipad is

out, right? >> beatles. >> or maybe jackie gleason box set. he says breathlessly. i hear you and bloomberg were talking about running for president. i said no. looking at the park. jack, shh. he asks again. no, no. i tell him no. >> uh-huh. >> we keep going and talking. like the song, right? >> why do you keep talking? why do you have to talk on the record? >> it's a professional courtesy. >> no. this is not a courtesy. >> i've known howard since like 1995. >> he's not being courteous. >> he's actually not being courteous. that's a whole other issue i'm not going to get into. the shag carpet is deep there. i say no, i'm not going to do it. what else can i say? >> how about off the record.

>> i do want to say something, there is in this piece that says -- has my quote, mike bloomberg and i have not talked directly about this. >> yeah. no filter. >> mike bloomberg and i have not talked about this directly or indirectly or super, super secret indirectly. chris just asked if i would not use sign language. it's not like "the sting," nothing like that can i just say no. >> now i'm putting on my pr marketing hat. joe, you and i have talked, i have kidded around and said, joe, you should run. >> donny. >> please bear with me. >> i said your positioning is the perfect candidate. where you stand on the issues. >> i'm on cable news. >> bloomberg i actually think will be the next president of the united states.

i gave a speech two days ago saying that. you and bloomberg as a ticket would be brilliant. i'm saying as a marketer. >> if you could help maybe be part of the solution and not the problem. >> i'm just saying as a marketer. give me toys to play with. >> look at me. >> you have no filter. >> i'm like mike barnicle, don't tuck in my shirt, don't wear socks, kind of sloppy. mike barnicle, can you imagine a worse vice president than me? >> no, actually no. >> that was my first reaction. >> could you see me sitting in my desk going, i wonder what -- >> if you need a vice president, call me. >> we joke about joe biden not being able to keep it between the lines. >> joe has had about 40 years to get ready for that, right? i would be the worst ever. there are two things that bother me about this story -- first of

all, i say no, but b, a source close to the mayor says joe is very interested is being vice president. first of all, the source must not be that close to the mayor because the mayor and i haven't talked about this. secondly, doesn't know me because i would be terrible. >> new rules here. new rules. >> you don't see that that is -- >> donny, shut up. >> i love taking shots and fighting with you. i call it as i see it. i actually this from a pure selling point of view that is an incredibly appealing ticket to a huge part of this -- >> great. >> historically disobedient. >> i would be the worst ever. can i just say, i would be the worst vice president ever. >> i would like -- >> andrew johnson was bad. he got impeached. i would be worse. >> enough, enough. >> i would like to be secretary of agriculture.

talk about misfit toys. >> next time howard calls you, just tell them to call me and you shut your pie hole. >> "new york times" called last week. no, right? ? bash wa walters asked on abc. said no. i'm not doing it. >> you don't talk to them. >> what should barnicle and i do with all the bumper stickers? they're handwritten. >> i do want to say there is one thing about this, only one thing that really bothers me about this article, and in it howard says -- we've known howard for a while. i don't know where this comes from -- actually i do. that's a lie. i do know where this comes from. >> where? >> there's a part of the story where he goes joe has succeeded by making new yorkers feel uncome forltable about not knowing real america. that's not the truth at all. i love new york. i love the city. i do. i love it. it's just i call out both sides if people start talking about

real america. when people say new york is not real america, i say, you know what? i live in real america. it's in new york city just like northwest florida is real america. >> take the subway. >> madison avenue. >> 78th street. this is the real america. >> i appreciate your transparency. >> it's transparency. this is real america. i love it here. >> i saw wheat growing on park avenue last week, by the way. that's how real new york city is. >> you're not helping my case. here is the deal. i won't say anything in the future. oh, but wait. also on the call list jim demint. i owe him an apology. demint made the comment that we aren't going to hurt seniors when they asked about reforming social security and i sort of went after him. saying you can't be a tea party small government guy if you're not going after social security. it ended up, he sponsored on the

senate side, he dropped the bill -- paul ryan's version which actually is very tough. sorry, jim. >> after the news can we put john kyle on that call list for apologies? he might require one in about 35 minutes. >> the liss is it really long. >> after we finish -- that and also, you know what? i guess i owe an apology to barack obama because i got after him for not sitting down with mitch mcconnell for 18 months. he invited him and mcconnell said no. are you serious? are you serious? >> we reported this on "way too early." i got an e-mail from mcconnell's office that said because politico is reporting that republicans were upset with obama and canceled on him. mcconnell's office says this was not a last-minute cancellations, the schedulers have been working on this for two weeks. the white house suggested a new date and the new meeting will now be on november 30th. >> the white house suggested it.

>> that comes from mcconnell's office. >> i was about to go off on republicans here. i believe when the president of the united states invites you, you go. >> absolutely, and he has before. >> you know what mitch mcconnell deserves right now? >> an apology? >> no, come on man! >> mcconnell is saying, though, that -- mcconnell is saying that the president's people suggested they reschedule -- >> quote, the white house suggested a new date and the new meeting will now be on november 30th. >> all right. >> that's not what politico is reporting. >> here it is. i like mike, go with joe. >> get him off the set. >> do you know how much i get paid for this kind of stuff? here it is right here for free. >> in pink. >> maybe that's what's wrong with america. maybe that's why our economy is tanking, you get paid -- >> you saw the career process unfold in the most organic --

you saw a movement start. you saw a captain of industry jump aboard and you saw the magic unfold. >> can i just ask one question of you guys seriously? who loves donny deutsch more than donny deutsch? >> nobody. nobody. >> i'm offering my services pro bono. >> take me down one more time. you will be seeing this across the country. >> now that you've canceled the campaign, will we still be paid for the polling we did in new hampshire and iowa? i want to clear that up now. >> i have to move it through a third party. pretty ugly push polling. >> thrust me, i know. i did it. >> can we keep the pac? >> yeah. those private jets don't fly themselves. >> why don't you go look at your call list and we'll decide who you call back. it will not be reporters.

>> no more professional courtesy. i said no. sherman or grant or whoever said it, no. all right. what's up? come on man! what's up? >> are you done? >> maybe. >> you don't take the calls. just don't talk. just shut your mouth. >> i'm leaving my and my wife said what's up? i said howard wrote a article and said me and bloomberg were going to run. >> on only of the newer phones they have caller id. >> he was breathless. >> what are you thinking? >> i got a better ones. >> mike and joe, way to go. they don't stop, guys. every 15 minutes throughout the three hours today i'm going to have a new campaign slogan. >> you're telling me you

actually get paid money to do that? >> obscene amounts of money. >> it is a great country. >> you owe me some shoes. >> also the headline is mitch mcconnell's office pushing back saying it was the white house that rescheduled. that's something. >> they'll meet and they have before. >> by the way, can we have an agreement right here that unless we're going to make fun of them, i'm like everybody else, we're not going to do the royal wedding here. >> thank you, thank you. >> you they're sending reporters out there. >> chris said why would we want ratings. if we have to get ratings that way, we don't need ratings. >> throughout time i just don't get it. >> in this country that's everything we revolted against. entitlement, people who don't deserve it. >> that being said, ann

hathaway, "princess bride." i've always had a soft spot for julie andrews. maybe that explains it. >> it could be. >> i love the artist formerly known as prince, but i mean -- >> by the way, we all agree on this, coming up an exclusive first look inside the politico playbook. also, can the dow rebound after yesterday's sell-off, your business on the go headlines are next. plus, back together, president bush and dick chain nay reunite in what was described as the only shovel-ready project in america. that's terrific. first, here is bill karins with a check on the forecast. bill? >> good morning everyone. we had thunderstorms roll through new jersey overnight with damaging winds. new york city is now in the clear, the same cannot be said for our friends up in hartford, providence, all of massachusetts, vermont, new hampshire and maine. that's where all the heavy rain is heading this morning. winds are also going to be picking up during the day today. even though the rain is over from d.c. to philly to new york,

the winds will increase during the afternoon. that could cause some airport delays. so the forecast again, your drive from new york southward. if you're in new england, you need the umbrella early today. the rest of the country, showers in kansas city. looking nice from california all the way to florida. cool in chicago. you're watching "morning joe" brewed by starbucks. this year chevrolet gave us legendary dependability, innovative technology, and inspired design. and now, they want to give as much as they can to as many as possible. your chevy dealer is giving back to the community. come see how chevy is giving more: right now, chevy's giving you no

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you've seen the record. $2 million already, and i've been advised that this hearing could cost me another million. >> pretty ballsy claiming poor house when all you've spent is

campaign money on your defense. there are other ways to pay for this. >> i have lawyers from washington, d.c. and new york willing to give me free counsel. they say if they do that, that's a gift and violates all the laws. >> you're upset that even your legal defense carries with it some ethical boundaries? can't i at least fight ethics charges unethically? >> all right. time to take a look at the morning papers. "anchorage daily news." the latest count in alaska shows lisa murkowski leading joe miller by more than 10,000 votes. miller's campaign says alaska's computer voting system is suspect and wants it all counted by hand. >> why don't you give it up, go home. "the l.a. times," publicist killing stuns hollywood.

there's no motives or suspects after ronni chasen was shot multiple times in her car when leaving the premier of a new movie. "wall street journal." the fdic is conducting about 50 criminal investigations of former execsives and employees at u.s. banks that have failed since the start of the financial crisis. "the miami herald." today the fda is expected to ban a group of alcohol energy drinks growing in popularity. one of the drinks has the nickname blackout in a can. willie? >> wow. >> it's equivalent to drinking one cup of coffee and four beers. >> what? are you kidding me. >> that's breakfast for me. >> that is breakfast, baby. i love that. the daily telegraph. one story on front of every british newspaper. prince william proposes to kate middleton. time now for your business on

the grow. let's bring in cnbc's nicole lapin. a steep selloff for the markets. >> the dow was off 178 points. big concern, not about that royal wedding, but other news out of europe. specifically that ireland could be going by the way of greece. that's been a big driveer for the selloff. we did come off our lows. i will say that. we're still above the 11,000 mark. we've rallied 15% since august. this correction yesterday and last week that we were off 2% seems natural. futures are higher this morning. giving you guys perspective. keeping it real. >> we've had to do it already this morning, keeping it real. >> there you go. >> pat buchanan, he invested a lot of money in gm. >> yeah. >> a lot of money. it didn't turn out so well. >> yeah, so did you guys. i'm glad i'm seeing you this morning. i wanted to congratulate you. how does it feel? it's not every day that a

company you own goes public. so mozatof. >> on track to be the biggest ever ipo. remember the government still owns 60% of gm after the bailout. the government will still own 25%. it will take a couple of years to get the government out of gm's hair. it's been a backlash for people like you and i who aren't included. gm is different. mika, joe, donny, chris in the control room, the rest in the control room, i, we all own a little bit of gm. >> there you go. >> in case there are any tea partiers watching and too much government, to me that's an example of just the right amount of government in this case. otherwise you'd have all those gm people out of work right now. can we give a little kudos to the guys. >> nicole, we've got to go.

before we leave, at 8:30 every morning we have erin burnett comes on and she makes up an excuse for being in another exotic low kacale. >> cpi comes out at 8:30 as the broadest measure of inflakes, expected to show dangerously low levels of inflation. investors are concerned about two different types of inflation issues. low inflation in the short term and runaway inflation in the long term. that's doing funky things to the bond market. >> before we go, a segment called erin burnett, who she going to date, tom brady or donald trump. >> is harry still single? >> mika has taught me you don't have to answer every question. nicole, thank you for being with us. we greatly appreciate it. >> nicole lapin, thanks very much. >> you are a pig. what's wrong with you? you don't ask that question of

men. >> we'll get some clarification on the white house republican meeting. white house correspondent for politico mr. mike allen has got a look at the morning playbook. hey, mike? >> good morning, willie. as we start out, we have to give a shout out to mark brzezinski who was appointed yesterday to the fulbright scholars board. >> what a friend that is. >> you've got to story up on politico making waves in washington, suggesting that republicans cancel this planned meeting with president obama and the white house. senator mitch mcconnell's office pushing back on that saying actually now clarifying that this date was never set in stone. they now have a date. they say there was no conflict, nothing got ugly. they couldn't get a date. now they have one they can set in stone. what are you reporting this morning? >> whatever they say, this could not be more remarkable. the president went out in front of cameras and said tomorrow he

was going to have this summit with house republican and senate democratic leaders, having them over to dinner. right away the house republicans started to complain. they said they had a conflict. the whout says, come on, the president is inviting you to talk about jobs and the lame duck session. can't you make time? they were like, no. at first the white house said, well, maybe we'll do the meeting tomorrow and do the dinner later. but the senate also pushed back about it. they complained about the fabt that the president had not consulted their calendar before he announced it. and they said that this just wasn't a convenient time. the white house yesterday was still pushing for it. they finally had to pull the plug. now they have to move it until after the president's europe trip. it was going to be november 18. now november 30. >> are you saying the white house unilaterally scheduled a dinner and get together without consulting republicans first? >> that's what the republicans

say. >> they say he announced it on tv before they had a date. >> they have not yet said what it is that they're doing that's so important that they can't make it to the white house to meet with the president. >> they need to go to the white house. another good story. new cover story for "new york times" magazine revealing that sarah palin may, in fact, be running for president. what's the new information here? >> this is a remarkable story about robert draper who penetrated palin world in a way no one else has since the presidential election. it's called the palin network. he talked to tons of people around her and two days after the election talked to governor palin herself for an hour on the telephone. he asked her, are you already considering running for president? she said i am, i'm doing the internal deliberations that you have to do. i'm talking to my family which will be the most important consideration. in this interview she shows some real self-awareness. she says she realizes she would

have to change the team around her which has been pretty secretive. hasn't -- doesn't have a lot of connections to the traditional political apparatus. she says she would need to bring in people she can trust, contrast to '08. she says she knows she'll have a real hurdle out there trying to defend her record against what she once again called the lame stream media. >> we'll be led difficult that story closely. thanks so much. up next, a sudden resignation. the political director for the rnc quits and delivers a letter blasting michael steele. that story is ahead. >> that's interesting. on buchanan, talking about gm, i've got to clean that up, too. buchanan was start. he stayed in the bank stock. remember, pat, everything went down. pat said hold on. >> he's cagey. >> pat rides it out.

he's doing all right. he's cagey. he's a is that right guy. the vote heard round the world. bristol palin, did she survive another round on "dancing with the stars" despite another week of low scores? the conspiracy theories are blowing up the internet this morning. >> we'll be right back. >> fascinating. so, during sign then drive i can get a cc for just my signature? that's right, right now you can take home a volkswagen for just your signature, like the cc or the tiguan. huh. yeah, plus every vw includes scheduled carefree maintenance. really? that's great. there you go. that guy's pretty good too. yeah, he's ok. [ male announcer ] it's amazing what you can do with a pen. sign then drive is back. for a limited time get any 2011 volkswagen for practically just your signature.

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welcome back to "morning joe." live shot from the top of the rock for you as the sun comes up over new york city. 32 past the hour. >> donny, have you lived in new york your whole life? >> grew up in queens since college. i love it. >> you went to college? >> believe it or not, i went to wharton school of university of pennsylvania. >> that's a lie. >> absolute truth. stunningly amazing. today if i would apply, they would send out a hit man. grew up in the mean streets of queens and chris is yelling in my ear shut up, donny. >> that's usually what i do. i was listening. >> chris, joe is the host, and i

was very re responding to his query. >> you don't have to respond to everything. >> the boroughs are great. a little news. the republican national committee's political director has resigned with a scathing indictment of chairman michael steele. gentry collins wrote in a five-page letter obtained by politico that steele spent too much, raised too many little. it reads in part, in the previous two nonpresidential cycles the rnc carried over $4.8 million and $3.1 respectively in cash reserve balances into the presidential cycles. in stark contrast, we enter the 2012 presidential cycle with 100% of the rnc's $15 million and lines of credit tapped out and unpaid billings likely to add millions to that debt. steele who has not decided to run for a second term did not directly respond to a letter. a statement from the rnc say it is committee contributed to,

quote, the most successful elections for the republican party in modern times. >> let me just say, i don't know how you judge these things. >> i was going to move on. >> it was a most successful midterms in modern history. say what you want about michael steele. barnicle it's like dice k when he was 18-4 last year and you kept saying he sucks. >> the record is misleading. but 80 to 84 new members of congress, republican members of congress. that would be deemed a success i would think. >> 550 state pickups in state legislature. historical by all measures. >> they're saying he didn't get the senate. >> this is behind the scenes play, somebody must have gone to this guy and said we need to push him out. new york governor david paterson is set to kind off to an indian casino in the

catskills. >> willie, you and i are headed for the catskills. >> boy, does that sound depressing, a casino in the catskills. >> the pending agreement with the mohican tribe traces its roots to new york. the facility would be 90 miles northwest -- >> a very tight nexus. >> great governor paterson story. i was having dinner with future governor cuomo. he says, as the governor eject, i would like to introduce the governor elect. >> what is that hotel? >> the days. 94th and broadway. >> stop it. what are you guys doing? >> wisconsin tribe. the nexus is tight. they were in new york in the

1500s. now they work at a beer -- >> the milwaukee braves. >> what are you talking about? >> i'm sorry, mika. >> let's drive away from this wreck quick. >> i'm kind of enjoying watching you guys crash and burn. >> the dice k analogy. parts of los angeles county have joined others in banning stores from providing single use plastic bags. supervisors approved the measure yesterday in hopes of preventing billions of bags from polluting neighborhoods and waterways. the ordinance goes into effect next july -- >> what have we got next? sports? >> seems a little silly -- >> start the music. >> go, go. a little baseball real quick. roy halladay, was there any question he was going to win the cy young award, he was named a

unanimous decision, every single one of the first place votes, 32 of them. last season he led the season, nine complete games. the only pitcher ever to throw a perfect game and a no-hitter in the same season. his second cy young. the first came over the american league with the jays in 2003. women's college basketball. remember you con is on the winning streak. a close call last night. number two baylor visiting hartford, connecticut, that shot at the buzzer would have beaten you con and ended the 79-game win streak. it fell short. the lady huskies overcome a late-point deficit to win 65-64. that streak now stands at an incredible 80 games. they're within eight games of ucla's streak of 88 set by john wooden's great teams of the 1970s. if they keep winning like this, i think they'll tie the record on december 21st. they were down eight points with

7 1/2 minutes left. >> the best sports team in this country, college, men's, women's, over the last few years. >> let's go from connecticut to china? we don't do enough chin sneeze sports. >> quarter final match. use beck stan's, an easy goal, this is going to win the whole darn thing. an easy goal. >> what are you doing? walk it in. >> hits the post. cutter lost the match 1-0. that would have been the tieing goal. instead they lose the match. >> holy -- seriously? >> just drop it in there. >> dude. walk it in. >> something going on there? >> something going on there. when you come from a poor country like dubai, you're more susceptible -- >> what's coming up next?

>> no money there. >> when they get together, you throw the records out. no love lost. >> any given tuesday when those two guys place. >> uzbekistan and cutter. >> there's something going on. seriously, still ahead, senator barbara boxer and congressman elijah cummings. something you don't see every day unless you live an exotic life, a horse riding in the back seat of a car. >> we'll tell you what's going on coming up. ♪ ♪

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a lot of people are upset about -- because the holidays are coming up. they have to travel and they're upset about the new airport screening techniques. some people are criticizing -- you probably read about this, the new high-tech security cameras because they're worried that pictures of their genitals could end up on the internet. somebody has told them without pictures of genitals, there would be no internet. >> welcome back to "morning joe." 43 past the hour. donny deutsch is still with us, along with mike barnicle. >> that's a revealing comment as dwight goes online. >> i'm not touching it. >> thank you. that would be the use of a good filter. watch what donny does.

>> i'm going to be glued to the tv. i'm going to send lewis to cover it. what is it that anybody with a brain -- >> chris always wants to put trash on tv. >> are the other networks talking about this? >> yeah. >> are they really? 75%. yeah, right now. >> chris, you are an executive producer extraordinary. what is the appeal? all kidding aside? >> i just think it's interesting. >> what's interesting about it? >> because america doesn't have royalty. >> you know, i also liked "roman holiday." that was great. is it okay for me to still be in love with audrey hepburn. >> what about debra carr?

>> warren buffett has a great piece in "the new york times," pretty good for government work. we love him. it's interesting. i wonder what he's wearing as he's writing these op eds. >> when the bubbles pop they can generate waves of trouble that hit shores from their origin. this bubble was a doozy. its pop was felt round the world. uncle sam, thanks to you and your aides, often you are wasteful and sometimes you are bullying. in this extraordinary emergency you came through and the world would look far different now if you had not. donny? >> absolutely. you can say what you want about government intervention, too much government. had the government not stepped in and saved the banks, we would have headed into armageddon. it's black and white. >> when history is written, hank paulson and ben bernanke will go down as legitimate icons of the

age. >> you have to put george bush in there, too. >> he signed off on it against all of his principles. >> speaking of george bush, ruth marcus writes in "the washington post" in memoir bush spins fiscal fiction. in short, bush ib r inherited a budget in healthy shape. the faltering economy played a supporting role. his tax cuts, wars, prescription drug bill. without these the country would have been running surpluses. the wars will wind down. the price of the tax cuts and prescription drug bill will climb higher over the next decade. >> i think bush has been treated unfairly in a few categories. not in this one. he should have said i took my eye off the ball. he didn't and he made a mistake. >> we got an erks mail from bill burton at the white house. >> yes, about the meeting -- >> they're having this back and forth in case you missed the top of the show when all we were talking about was me, but at the

top of the show, somewhere in this was this back and forth. mitch mcconnell, i guess his office e-mailed you and said it was the white house that rescheduled this meeting when they were supposed to get together. >> mcconnell's office initially said that and then heard our discussion. they didn't want to leave the impression that either side canceled. it was that president obama put this out in the atmosphere without solid date. >> to be clear, we wanted to meet and they couldn't. we have been flexible through the whole process and will continue to work in good faith. i believe that. >> this is one more example how, and i'm still criticizing, he's allowed the office of the presidency to be diminished, to be taken off the pedestal. >> he needs to start to defend that office, beyond just his own brand. one more example. it's ridiculous. >> i'm surprised the republicans

didn't jump at the offer. there's a story in politico that they were afraid they got set up last time. but i just want 80, 85 seats mike. >> if the president invites you, go to the white house and tell him all the great ideas this you say he's been ignore for the past two years. >> no doubt that's what you do if you have a sense of what your beliefs are once you arrive at the bhous. could it be there's so much internal dissension between the newly elected republicans and incumbent republicans, they can't figure out which pitch. >> isn't this an opportunity for the obama administration to say come on over, what are your idea tsz, here we go? let's roll up their sleeves, what you got? >> i would lean in hard if i were the obama administration. i will say in defense of the house at least -- i can't speak to the senate -- there's a lot of turmoil going on in that caucus. when you have mitch mcconnell coming out yesterday talking about an earmark ban. that means he's heard from the

conservatives in the caucus, the jim demints in the caucus saying it's not business as usual. this not going to look like the bush years. then you've got 80, 85 new freshmen in the house. that's chaos. so mib they're trying to get their own house in order. i tell you, the worst thing that ever happened to gingrich was he went over to the white house and made a deal. no, you're not taking tax cuts off the table. we're not going to spend that much money. so maybe they've got to get their act together. but i would have at least sent over boehner and mcconnell. >> no one gave the white house a chance to get their act together. >> what does that mean? >> oh, please. >> what does that mean? >> republicans have had two years to come up with ideas and now they can't even make a meeting happen. >> you feel compelled to defend the white house. >> absolutely, i feel compelled to defend the white house. >> that was one of the worst defenses i've ever seen in my life. i would suggest you follow your

own advice to me, sometimes it's best to keep your mouth shut. >> it really is. it really is. you should try and do that once in a while. >> i thought mika's reference was just and i thought rather pithy. >> they need to get their act together. >> are you kidding me? >> i'm sorry. >> this is an opportunity for president obama to call them out. it's about the country, not about politics. i'm reaching across the table. >> i'd lean in. willie, you're next. i'm excited. 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.

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if once-daily spiriva is right for you. oh, yes. it fees like it's already been time. but i guess it's time now. >> we begin with important news. there may be an injustice last night on reality television in the united states of america. bristol palin has been getting low scores on "dancing with the stars." this is her a couple nights ago. so a lot of people thought she might have been gone weeks ago. but the american people keep her around. >> she's america's royalty. >> well said, joe. last night it was pretty much -- people were assuming she was going to go. it came down to her and the singer brandi. everyone assumed brandi would be the winner. watch what happened. >> brandi and max.

which means kyle and lacey and jennifer and derrick will face off against bristol and mark for the trophy. >> astute observation by mike barnicle. boos in the ballroom. >> all kidding aside, this season i was invited to be on. but i thought maybe with that jacket, i should we think it. >> everyone is conveniently saying this is a tea party issue, the tea partiers are keeping her on the show. stop analyzing. >> she is no doubt -- the brits have their royalty. she is america's princess. >> she's ours. >> apparently she is, right, donny? >> so ends our coverage of "dancing with the stars." a little more bristol palin though. >> okay. >> she and the situation. this is not a joke, a real psa apparently, getting together to do a public service announcement about safe sex.

>> no, you're kidding me. please tell me this is not happening. >> i hope you're as committed to safe sex as you are those abs. >> i know you're all about that abstinence thing. but come on, palin, are you serious? you're not going to hook up before you're married, for real? >> for real. >> for real? >> for real, for real, for real. >> in case you do get into a situation, i want to make sure you're situated. if you do get into a situation, you may end up with a situation and you may not like that situation. >> trust me. i'm not getting myself into another situation. >> oh, my god, our country. >> she's saying she learned from her mistakes, mike. >> that's like saying she wouldn't want to have that child. i'm serious. >> no. she loves her child. >> let's just move on. this is a little awkward. let's break the ice with a story of a horse, you got one? >> horse in the back of a car,

sitting in the car. >> what? >> you know how dogs like to put their heads out and ears flapping. >> what in the sam hill -- >> mike barnicle's prom date. this is i-75 in kansas between osage city and topeka. >> it's a shetland. is that a corolla? >> that's a 15--year-old horse, a trick horse billed as the smartest horse in the world. the owner travels all over the place. >> he can use the commuter lane that way. >> that's right. hov. >> did i mention to you guys i was almost on "dancing with the stars?" >> yeah. is there anything else you want to share about yourself, i'm giving joe some advice on whatnot to do in terms of filtering. >> i like you a lot.

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i've been doing these interviews trying to peddle my

book. i'm asked about dick cheney. here is what i say. dick cheney was the right pick in the year 2000. and as i stand here, there is no doubt in my mind he was the right pick then. he was a great vice president of the united states, and i'm proud to call him friend. >> of course, the george w. bush presidential center isn't much to look at just yet, but the workers are ready, construction will move fast after today's groundbreaking. this may be the only shovel-ready project in america. >> at two past the hour, for the first time since leaving office, former president george w. bush and vice president dick chain nay shared the stage together yesterday, reuniting for the groundbreaking of the bush presidential library. there you go, welcome back to "morning joe."

>> the big "huffinigton post" story that is suggesting that -- it's got to be talked about. it's news. that mike bloomberg and joe scarborough, rumored running mates in 2012. i have come up with a slogan. >> in the last hour we described why i might be the worst vice president in the history of mankind. mike barnicle, can you imagine anything worse? >> historically disobedient vice president. >> you would president would impeach you at 5:00 p.m. >> no kidding aside, forget our relationship, as a pure marketer that ticket is -- i'm not being funny or glib, without question a great ticket. >> there's only two problems with it. mike bloomberg is not running for anything in 2012. >> i think he will. >> i'm not running for anything in 2012. i would be a historically horrific vice president. >> why? >> the only thing we've learned

about this is you shouldn't be running your mouth for reporters. i said no. >> you don't talk to people on the phone when they call you. >> what do you mean i don't talk to people on the phone? you can't control me that much? >> obviously you need to be. seriously. >> mike, what did i do wrong? i've known howard since 1993. >> you still have that huge phone that looks like a satellite phone. >> from '69. >> have howard call me next time. >> if he said no, what else do you say? >> then he kaept talking and was nice. stop. you don't need to talk to everybody. be quiet. be quiet. >> isn't there a professional courtesy with former msnbc colleagues. if chris matthews called me -- >> chris was on my call list, too. i'm going to pick up kate -- >> because you have apologies to make. >> i have jack in the back seat.

>> i've got this call list. demint was one of them. i had apologized to him. >> it ends up he actually put a bill on the floor in the senate that would have gone after social security's explosive growth. similar, i'm really sorry. chris matthews called, too. he was on that call list along with howard fineman. chris told me a fascinating story. in this politico column yesterday -- >> it was a good column. >> i tell ever yone to bring their families to washington. none of us did. bad things happened to a lot of us. chris told me, tip o'neill near the end of his career, every time a new congressman came in, he brought them to the office and said don't repeat my mistake, bring your family to washington, d.c., keep them close to you because what's going to happen is bad things

will happen at home. bad things will happen to your children. keep your family close. tip would be the first to say i made this terrible mistake. ray lahood, i don't think ray would mind me calling -- >> secretary of transportation called yesterday as well. he was on the list. and ray said the same thing. he said, joe, that was the biggest mistake we made. newt came in and said stay in the districts, don't bring your families um here because that will get you home more and you'll get re-elected more. >> but tip o'neill, by the end of his life, he regretted not doing that himself. >> huge regrets over not being able to be there and seeing his family grow up. huge regret. >> i've seen so much response to that column, people calling and twittering and absolutely connecting. >> i'm telling you new members, we'll go to news. but new members listen to me, read the column.

bring your family toed t washin, d.c. with you if you're going to be there, don't be away from home 200 nights a year unless you're like elijah cummings. stay humble. you have to reason to be cocky. stay humble. >> a lot of people will tell you you're great. >> you're not great. >> you know everything. >> you don't. >> you're awesome. >> you're not. stay home. that's coming from me. >> women will flock around. >> that didn't happen to me. go ahead. what's up? >> joining us from washington right now, ezra klein from "the washington post" and democratic congressman from maryland elijah cummings. >> how long is your commute to capitol hill? >> it all depends.

45 minutes. >> that's not fair. >> if it's 6:00 in morning. hour and a half, if it's 6:00 in the evening. >> that's not fair. i had to make two connections on commuter planes and the pony express would take me the rest of the way home. >> the problem is that my constituents expect me to be there for early meetings and late night meetings. that's the difference. >> you've got to educate them, elijah. >> i like the short smut. commute. i got to tell you. >> for the first time, president obama's post election summit with congressional leaders tomorrow has been postponed until november 30 pth. we've been updating this over the past hour. in a statement, the white house said that mitch mcconnell and john boehner requested the delay because of, quote, scheduling conflicts. are you serious? mcconnell and the white house -- >> is that in the script? >> seriously, what is wrong with them? -- now also pushing back on a report in politico that claims that republican aides say a distrust of president obama's

invitations led to the schedule change. let's just stop there. >> elijah, i have always said, and i have always believed when the president of the united states invites a member of congress over to the white house, the member of congress goes. >> that's exactly right if the president invites you, you postpone everything else and you get there. the thing that's so interesting about this is that these are the folks, joe, who have been saying the president would not work with them, would cooperate with them. they are the ones who i think, just listening to everything you've said and the things i've read, they're the ones who have postponed this meeting. the president is read difficult to go. he knows we have the urgency now, 15 million people unemployed, legislation to pass, the republicans have been banging on him and complaining about him and spending millions of dollars in commercials on

him. now he's ready to sit down. what do they say? uh-oh, let's delay this for a little while. we don't have time for delay. >> ezra, we've been hearing for two years that the president doesn't listen to republicans. they've got a chance and don't go. how does the white house exploit this? >> i think they're a little shocked. the line you keep hearing is boehner and mcconnell can't make it because they need to spend more time with their freshmen. what everyone is trying to figure out is why. most people don't think at the moment they can buck the tea party. so in the first couple days of -- after this' lurks, you've seen mcconnell buckle on earmarks which i think on the policy grounds is right but shows where the balance of power lies up there. now you're seeing this move to not come and negotiate with the president before they feel they've really got their new members on board. it's not just what happens at this meeting but going forward, who do you negotiate with in this party if the leaders can't lead in that way?

who do you call when you need to get something done? >> it's fascinating, and i talked about 1994 a lot, leading up to this. the parallels were striking. they're striking now. there came a point when newt gingrich went to bill clinton, and i think both of these guys have written aboutist during the budget negotiation and said i can't control my own caucus anymore. so i'm of no use to you, the negotiations break down. ironically that's when they finally came together and started striking budget deals. but in this case, ezra brings up a great point. who is in charge in the republican caucus? i would suggest mike barnicle, if you've got 85 freshmen, 84 freshmen, it's the 84 freshmen of the house who are in charge. >> isn't that the biggest reason, don't you think, why they won't go down to the white house to meet because they don't know what they've got under them, they don't know where it's going. >> i understand that, mike. if i'm boehner or mcconnell, i say, listen, guys, i understand, we've got to figure stuff out

internally here, but we can't say no to the white house. that's going to make us look bad. >> we have to stay up all night now till thursday to figure out what we're going to do, we'll do that. >> mike brought up a great point a few minutes ago, this is a great opportunity for obama to land a punch. >> yes. >> not only illuminate the fact that the republican party is in such array and has an identity crisis. you criticized i did not reach across the aisle. here i am. what's going on. >> this is a time you don't go like this. you go pow. >> elijah, wouldn't have at love democrats see the president lean forward and go after republicans for standing him up in this meeting? ? >> i think a lot of democrats would love that, we also try to keep in mind that the public is concerned, i don't think there's any message that came out of this election. it's that they want us to work together to resolve their

problems. the people in my district are losing their houses and jobs, they don't want to hear a lot of emotional and no results. they want results and they want them immediately because they're suffering so this delay does not sit well with me, with democrats. by the way, should not sit well with republicans and independents. >> to add to that point, joe, couldn't there delay be construed by the democrats and the white house as an insult to the american people because we need to move on and talk about jobs. >> 15% of americans unemployed, real unemployment willie. i don't know how it's republicans defend this. >> the meeting needs to happen. republican leadership arguing this morning this is a nonstory, that they've been negotiating in good faith with the white house and they just now agreed on the date. thaefs what they're saying. >> ezra, one of the key players when you talk about budget

negotiations is the budget chairman in the senate, kent conrad. you sat down and talked with him. what's his take? >> his take struck me as almost depressed. i don't know he has seen democrats quite so inexplicably in disarray on this. this expiration has been in law for a very, very long time. they have no idea what their strategy is on this. kent conrad has come forward and said we can do a short-term extension tied to tax reform. other voices in the party want to get rid of tax cuts for the risch, others want to tie it to unemployment insurance or a rise in the debt ceiling. that don't want republicans hammering them on the debt ceiling. kent conrad couldn't tell me what the democrats will do. nor could anyone else. the degree to which democrats haven't been able to pull together a strategy given the amount of time they had to do so is absolutely appalling. >> speaking of disarray, elijah, we talked about it on the willing side. let's talk about it on the democratic side. nancy pelosi has decided to

remain the top democrat in the house caucus. that elbows our good friend jim clyburn out of the way. i know they're trying to strike some sort of deal that would -- >> create a position which actually i think is sort of insulting to similar. but what's your take? do you think nancy should be the minority leader? >> i think nancy pelosi should be the minority leader. joe, a lot of people about nancy pelosi. special interest in republican candidates spent over $16 million saying she was just a horrible person. well, that's simply not true. i think if there's anybody who can bring our caucus together and accomplish the things we need to accomplish and get us back in control of the congress, it's going to be nancy pelosi. nobody else that i know of could have pulled off health care

reform, could have pulled off the number of things that she did. i know that you're going to get the complaints. but i think that -- >> elijah, republicans picked up 60-plus seats, 80-plus new freshmen. >> i understand that. >> i like nancy a lot. but she's at the top of a party that just collapsed a few weeks ago. >> joe, keep in mind, we had 49 -- you said it on this show many times, we had 49 seats, democratic seats that were mccain districts. these were places where mccain had won. we have a tough economic situation in our country. so she came through in a difficult circumstance and pulled us out of a real mess. we're moving forward. i'm telling you. that's why i'm a little bit perturb $with the republicans and mr. mcconnell and boehner for not meeting with the president. i was looking forward to hearing about that meeting.

it's time for them to begin to gove govern. they have said over and over again no, no, no, no, no. now it's time to govern. >> ezra, what's your prediction, how does that end up? >> short-term extension, one to three years, probably one to two years actually. democrats continue get anything -- >> for everything? >> everything, tax cuts for the rich, for the middle class. short-term extension does less to the deficit. it's a way of kicking the can down the road a bit. i don't think they've got enough internal cohesiveness to do anything different. republicans don't have the power to force them into a permanent extension. we just do the easiest thing and make sure there's no tax increase next year. >> donny deutsch? >> i think basically if you're obama, you're not losing your base. they're not going anywhere. i think it's the right move for the economy. i think juan or two-year extension keeps things where they are. it's the right move. >> elijah, is that going to happen? >> unfortunately i think so. i think there's going to be some kind of compromise. i'd rather not see the rich get

extension of tax cuts, but i think we may be -- that's probably about the only thing we will be able to do. >> donny deutsch resents that because the 25 people on his yacht -- >> they get paid handsomely. by the way, you and that speed dough this summer in barcelona, the country needs to see that. >> i think i just threw up in my mouth. >> elijah cummings, thank you very much. >> what is wrong with you today? >> you guys can dish it out. >> chris, do we have any e-mails in there? >> yes. a new slogan, dump deutsche. >> that's not nice. >> that's pretty early. up next we'll check in with chuck todd. later -- >> i don't know what happened

there. >> environmentalists call clean coal an oxymoron. but is the only solution to global warming? we'll talk about that, too. it's green week here. i'm excited about it. excited about going to bill karins with a check on the forecast. my wife and a lot of other women are upset though. they love donny. let's talk about the forecast out there. heavy rain from boston north wards up into portland. so far, so good at the airport. that's where we're doing all right. partly cloudy skies right now, breaking out in new york and philadelphia. the rain is pretty much over with there. d.c., you llgs look windy. an improving forecast. the reflt of the country -- the west coast anyone traveling to the north coast. you're watching "morning joe" brewed by starbucks. [ male announcer ] at&t introduces a new windows phone... [ exclaims ]

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the political risk is all on

the republican side in that it's a fine line between being tough, showing you're going to stand up to the president and then looking a little arrogant and a little cocky, and i think that that's the line that they've got to be careful with. it is what i understand on the reporting part, in that nobody was happy with the timing of this meeting on capitol hill. congressional democrats weren't crazy about it either because this is organization week. but on policy grounds the reason why republicans balked from all the reporting i've done overnight is boehner and mcconnell want to go to this meeting with no space in between them. they weren't ready to have that yet. there's been discussion about this already this morning on this show. it has to do with not everybody is on the same page on these caucuses. what kind of line in the sand are they willing to draw? remember boehner and republican don't have the same power, so

they can't necessarily promises the same things at the same time. right now politically there can't be any space, as we saw why mcconnell had to flip on earmarks. "the l.a. times" this morning as well said, it's amazing after a change election, the same six or seven people running congress on both sides of the aisle are running congress on both sides of the aisle. so i think mcconnell and boehner are very aware of that. if they don't look like they're responsive to the election, and they don't look like they're on the same page, that will be exploited and one of them will be in trouble quickly. >> chuck, yesterday, in addition to the dinner invitation flap with republicans, you had senator john kyle in the senate indicate that the start treaty that the obama administration has invested so much time and energy into is going to be put off till next year basically blowing off the white house. my question to you according to

your reporting, is there just no sense of fear among republicans toward the white house, toward this president? >> let's specifically zero in between the relationship between the president and john kyle. it probably is as bad as any relationship between a member of lead ship and the republican side and the president. remember they had a back and forth over an anonymous quote that john kyle basically incorrect lid quoted the president having to do with immigration and the border fence, and that blew up. and kyle never -- he brought back the comments, backtracked them. admitted it was taken out of context. there is no trust, there is no trust between these two. >> it goes back, chuck, actually to one of the president's first days in the white house negotiating the stimulus package. kyle got really angry because they were going back and forth. the president said, well, i won the election. and then the white house leaked that out. that was like two or three days

in. so these two guys, no love lost for a very long time. >> that's right. let me get to s.t.a.r.t. a minute. the idea that the white house would let kyle dictate the terms on this would be politically dumb on this. there's 58 democratic senators until the end of the year. 53 when the new congress starts. you need 67 to ratify this treaty. it has got a ton of bipartisan sort of foreign policy support from the george schultzes of the world, things like that. from 58 to 67 when you start with lugar and can go with a couple of retiring senators like voinovich, while kyle is trying to say this isn't going to happen this year, it's negotiating ploy. the white house isn't going to give up on this. john carrie and lugar, the republican leader on this, they're holding a press conference on it today. i can tell you talking to some russian experts on this, there

is real fear that if the united states senate cannot ratify this treaty, that it will render medvedev over there weakr in er the eyes of the government over there and strength thin putin. this treaty is a way to weaken putin potentially if the united states handles this right. >> ezra, obviously even though cluck is right, we have the same five or six congressional leaders negotiating everything, the world has changed dramatically for temperature. progressives were frustrated with him before the election. how does the president keep his progressive base together moving toward 2012? >> i wouldn't be shocked if it gets easier. what's always frustrating for a base is passing a bill.

you've got to give away things that progressives want. if you can't get that legislation, if you just sort of end up fighting for the right thing and having to compromise to get the thing you can get, i think it may be a bit easier to keep your people on your side. bill clinton was more popular with the liberals late in his presidency than he was early when he was passing deficit reduction bills. >> he had newt to play off of, right? >> right. chuck todd, thank you very much. you can catch chuck on "the daily rundown" at 9:00 eastern on msnbc. ezra klein, thank you as well. up next, charlie rangel wasn't there for the verdict but is weighing in on his conviction. that story is next. don't forget to sign up for the morning minutes newsletter, go to joe.msnbc.com. at northern trust, we understand...

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they got back together. then they almost broke again because there were rumors that will was cheating, but he would never hurt her like that. now they're engaged. not that there haven't been problems. the british media has hounded ms. middleton because she calls from new money calling her kate middle class and mocking her moth for chewing gum and using inappropriate language for the clean. such as saying "march done" when she should have said "i beg your pardon" and "toilet" when she should have said "i beg your toilet." >> i realize i must be an old bitter woman because i just -- i'm bored stiff with that. >> it's celebrity. >> let's talk about new york royalty, front page of the "new york post." >> that's our kind of royalty. >> that's a little tough.

>> "the post" is enjoying it. >> he served the country pretty well, but made some mistakes. >> she should have taken the deal. >> why didn't he? >> i don't know. >> the arrogance of it. >> that's what it was, it was arrogance and the thought that he must think he's invincible. >> these senior house members on both sides through the years, you've seen it time and time again, you don't take a stripper if you're the ways and means chairman, his predecessor, and swim in fountains in washington. >> everybody was yelling at luke russert. i don't want to make an ageist statement. at a certain age you think you're above it, beyond the entitlement that's been there. >> all right. let's see what happens. speaking of lou, millie has that sandwich shop in nantucket. that is great.

>> who would know better than you? you take any of the poor kids there? >> i put them in a line. >> have we learned anything today. >> when you look at a poor kid and he asks you for the deluxe lobster roll. >> see the sauce dripping. >> here is what happened on capitol hill -- >> i wonder if that's open? we're going up there. outgoing speaker nancy pelosi is expected to lock in her spot as the top house democrat. >> good afternoon. >> reporter: and quiet steady grumbling that unhappy democrats would rather see another change election with pelosi out. >> she has to step aside. >> reporter: no drama for republican whose will vote to make john boehner the next speaker. his team could add christy nome and south carolina's tim scott, both tea party favorites. baugh very different kind of house vote tuesday. >> we found a violation by clear and convincing evidence. >> reporter: in the twilight of

a career, a vote to convict 80-year-old charlie rangel of ethics violations, guilty on 11 counts that include failing to pay taxes and report income like rent from this vacation villa, misusing his office and staff to solicit millions in charitable donations for a harlem college center bearing his name. the committee found rangel asked for donations from companies seeking tax breaks from congress. >> we have tried to act with fairness, led only by the facts and the law. >> reporter: rangel, who was not there for the serkt and did not offer a defense, says he's been treated unfairly. >> so as it relates to due process, i am really disappointed. >> reporter: the strain weighed on both democrats and republicans who found that rangel brought discred to it the house. >> none of the members of this committee are volunteers. >> sitting in judgment of a fellow member, a colleague is a

very difficult task. >> that was kelly o'donnell reporting. >> that is tough. people generally like charlie. he's a nice guy. a good guy. >> a very good guy. >> made some mistakes and should have owned up to them and taken the deal. up next, one of the world's dirtiest energy sources, but is coal the key to clean energy? we'll be right back. [ male announcer ] humana and walmart are teaming up

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mike, one of the problems with these kids in nantucket, the economy has changed. there's been displacement, right? it used to be when this entire

economy of ours was fueled by coal, good old-fashioned coal, dug deep from god's green earth, these kids had things to do. i mean chimney sweeping. that was big in nantucket, big in the northeast, and now, oh, clean environment, now there's no chimney sweepers. they got nothing to do. i have to go up, willie, you and i have to do all these relief funds, me in nantucket, you in vegas for these kids. >> few things instilled more discipline than shoveling the ashes. >> what does it teach them? hard work and values. all these politically -- see mary poppins? those were the good old days. coal is bad.

cigarettes bad. why do they keep moving the lines on us, mika? >> i need duct tape. >> have you ever seen the face of a 7-year-old when they're eating a big mac and the special sauce, just over here? >> yes. >> then you have these crazy people wanting to deprive our children of that. >> it is like looking into the eyes of an angel. what do we have here? wault street journal, bring on the fat, bring on the taste. oh, yeah. right there. look at that. >> i would like the three of you, donny, you don't apply. donny and joe, show your guts to america. that's the results -- you don't want to do that. >> look at that, right there, baby. >> try and breathe while you're sucking it in. >> an off-handed compliment. >> that was needy to try to get me to say it again. let's talk about coal

because i think that's the future. >> it is the future. >> why the future of clean energy is dirty coal? a provocative argument being made by the new issue of "the atlantic" in their cover story. they write, for the coal industry, the term "clean coal" is an advertising slogan for many in the environment movement. it's an insulting oxymoron. but two ideas that underlie the term are taken with complete seriousness. one is that coal can be used in less damaging, more sustainable ways than it is now. the other is that it must be used in those ways because there is no plausible other way to meet what will be the world's unavoidable energy demands. joining us from washington to continue our power in progress series, the editor and chief of "the atlantic" james bennet. >> james, as you know, i am -- i'm a simple cave man lawyer. i don't know the ways of your world with "the atlantic." it seems to me that clean coal is an oxymoron.

complain. >> it is. the writer jim fouler set out months ago to look at the emerging technologies in energy to figure out what's going to be the key to unlocking our clean energy future and dealing with the climate problem. he kept running up against a stubborn fact which is that as we made progress over the last 1 10 or 15 years, the fact is our reliance on coal has only grown. we get 46% of our electricity from coal. china gets 70% of its electricity from coal. every american uses electricity from about 7500 pounds of coal a year. so we can talk about all these other sources of energy and we should and we can explore them and we should, and in the future they're going to be the keys to combating climate change. but for the coming decades, if we don't do something about coal, we're not going to really tackle this problem. >> you're telling me that coal fuels almost half of our

economy? that's shocking. >> 46%. and it's growing. >> i'm not good at math. >> joe, for the world it's about half, too. the largest supplies of coal are in the u.s., russia, china and india, countries that are obviously going to exploit those supplies for their own energy needs for the foreseeable future. now, that's the problem. the good news, the better news is there's actually progress, real progress being made dealing with it. they're quietly a consortium of american businessmen, academics and scientists working with counterparts in china to develop approaches to dealing with this problem. and the most promising technologies are -- involve capturing the carbon dioxide as it leaves the smokestack or actually gas phiing the coal underground, e tracting the good stuff, leaving the bad stuff

behind. there's a plant being built right now in texas that does exactly this and leaves 90% of the carbon dioxide under ground. >> let me ask you a question about the plant being build in texas, it would seem from reading the piece one of the big obstacles is the time involved in building these plants. in china, it points out they build them in 21 months. here it would take 21 years just to get permitting. >> that's exactly right. this is a very important part of this piece. more than -- i'm not an alarmest about american decline or the rise of china, but more than anything i've read, i think this piece shows how the strategic advantage is shifting to china really across the board, particularly economically. they're billing these plants hand over fist right now. they're going to add in the next 15 years electrical power -- electrical capacity equal to our entire electrical supply. it took us 120 years to build

that system. what's happening is that american businesses are going to china now and treating it as their laboratory for testing out these new ideas because you can get the plants built faster. then they're hoping to bring the technology back here. they're also going to the chinese for money to bring the technology back here. so the next generation of people that are going to be spreading these ideas around the world are going to be chinese engineers. while we continue having a silly ideological debate here about the sources of climate change, they're moving rapidly forward in experimenting with different solutions to the problem. >> you look at this technology, you look at what they're doing with high-speed rail, you look at the cash they have to invest in these technologies, we really -- >> joe, it's chimney sweeps in nan tukts, but lots of other jobs. it's building the plants, all the jobs that go with creating a clean technology future.

we're not investing in creating those jobs here. >> james bennet, thank you very much. look forward to reading that. we'll continue the power in progress discussion next hour with senator barbara boxer, senate chair on the environment. >> i think you can have a smokestack in nantucket? >> no. >> they have chimneys for sweeping. a complete uninformed discussion about the royal wedding. we want to hear your e-mails why, if you do, you care about this we're trying to dig into that. >> educate us. >> we don't understand. help us understand. until one day, my daughter showed me a designer handbag. and like that, we had a new side to our business. [ male announcer ] when businesses see an opportunity, the hartford is there. protecting their employees and property and helping them prepare for the future. nice boots. nice bag.

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♪ a phone that gets you to the stuff you love faster. only from at&t. rethink possible. all right. >> no, we're not. it's not true. >> yeah, explain to me. >> there's a castle. >> tell me i'm a mean, old, bitter hag -- >> oh, that's not a castle. >> that is tired of this coverage. >> that is paid for by british taxpayers. they not only accept it, but they celebrate it, that they have to pay for these people's lives. there's a big wedding coming up. gary -- >> gary's getting married finally. >> finally. >> i thought gary -- >> we thought the day would never come. legion hall in paramus, new

jersey. >> where? >> atlantic city. >> has there been any one royal guy who's not -- >> i like harry. harry's cool. >> harry's cool. we have an e-mail, we've been asking why people are interested. chris has an e-mail. >> clark in allentown says, i'd like you to talk about the royal engagement that if for no other reason, it will limit donny's talking. >> that was great! >> now i get it. >> i'll protect you on that. that was mean. anything else, chris. >> it's all throughout the country. it's an epidemic. >> even in your hometown. >> so they're getting married. >> ah. >> next year. >> actually, the way you did that face to the camera, you deserve it. >> she's cute though. >> she seems lovely. >> let's do a -- let's take the -- >> show me something that will make me smile. >> sleazy tabloid. people don't watch us for this kind of garbage. they want to see something -- >> they want to see news.

>> -- intelligent. >> they want us to take into the back rooms of washington -- or backseat of cars. let's go to topeka. i-75. >> that corolla has 300,000 miles on it and the dog in the back just gets some hair. >> and wouldn't you know it, there's a horse in the back of a car. there's an explanation, that is a famous horse that travels around, they call him the smartest horse in the world. his owner takes him around, takes him to show. but this was a very surprised family riding around with a video camera when they saw a horse. >> the most creative way i've ever seen of getting into an hov lane. all right, so coming up, we've got a lot to talk about in the next hour. and we're also going to talk about this white house dustup. who disinvited whom.

are the republicans going? are they staying? we've had a flurry of e-mails from different sources. willie, mcconnell's people saying the white house people put it off. mika, the white house e-mailing you saying -- >> they're wide open for a meeting. >> a meeting anytime. we'll talk about that. also, these tax cuts. i am really surprised, but it sounds like the tax cuts are going to be extended for everybody over next two or three years. and we'll be talking to senator barbara boxer as well coming up next on "morning joe." okay, now here's our holiday gift list. aww, not the mall. well, i'll do the shopping... if you do the shipping. shipping's a hassle. i'll go to the mall. hey. hi. you know, holiday shipping's easy with priority mail flat rate boxes from the postal service. if it fits, it ships anywhere in the country for a low flat rate.

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you've seen the record. $2 million already, and i've been advised that this trial could cost me another $1 million. >> pretty ballsy. there are other ways for you to pay for this stuff. >> i have lawyers from washington, d.c., and new york willing to give me free counsel, and yet they say that if they do that, it's a gift and violates all of the laws. >> you're upset that even your legal defense carries with it some ethical boundaries? can't i at least fight ethics charges unethically? >> all right. welcome back to "morning joe."

a live look at times square. another rainy morning in new york city. there's donny. why don't you give a little kissy to the camera. that works -- oh, god. >> why are you so hateful to him? >> he just did it. >> why are you so mean. let me try this, our dear friend, donny deutsch is with us, along with mike barnicle, and of course, the great willie geist, "new york times" best-selling author. >> you'll always be the great willie geist, i think. >> by the way, you've got to go -- to have a joint book signing. >> let's do it, in new york. >> where we don't have to fly anywhere. >> i hear your book signing gets gaggles of teenage girls. >> it's bieber-esque. >> it's like the beatles, 1964. >> we also have with us senator barbara boxer, she's the chair of the senate committee on environment and public works. and it's a good day to have her on, given the topic we have chosen this week. senator, good to have you. good morning. >> hi, mika.

>> so we'll get back -- we'll get to the senator in just a moment. do you want to touch on news and we'll talk about energy. >> sure. >> just released quinnipiac university national poll shows voters are down on president obama and democrats and republicans. here are the numbers on obama's job as president. 44% approve and 49% disapprove. republicans' job in congress, 27% approve and 63% disapprove. and the democrats, a 27% approval rating and a 66% disapproval rating. yikes! >> let's just stop there. donny deutsch, you do brands. the republican brand, the democratic brand, severely damaged. >> yeah. >> but i still can't get past the fact republicans have a 27% approval rating and yet they made historic gains in the off year election. >> yeah, those disapproval ratings you can straight line

back to unemployment. it's that simple. but the interesting thing what we've been talking about and the senator's going to talking about, as far as mcconnell and boehner saying, we're not ready to come talk -- the american public is, wait a second. wait a second. and you want approval ratings to go further, continue that behavior, something we've talked about a lot, an opportunity for obama to step forward and say, hey, the insanity's got to stop. this has got to happen. >> senator boxer, how is it that the republicans have a 27% disapproval rating, still do, and yet they made such gains in the house and the senate? >> well, i could tell you about my race. it was predicted that i wouldn't be back -- well, i might have been back, but not as a senator. and i faced a very similar environment, even in california. we had a real fight, which turned out fine for me. and i'm very grateful about it, to the people of california. but it's a tough time right now and people are judging whoever's

here. and you have to say that considering everything, the president has got twice as good an approval rating as anybody else. but times have to improve. and that's why i'm glad you're talking about the energy issue. because i think with we have an enormous opportunity to turn this economy around if we do what the world is waiting for, step out and lead on clean energy. and that's what i think we need to do. and stop looking at the approvals. we just to turn this economy around and create the jobs and step up to the plate. >> senator, it's donny deutsch. i need to ask you a question, because we talk about energy jobs as the solution, which long-term, is. having said that. we are a short-term country. we are a month-to-month country. people don't have jobs. how do we draw the line to say, oh, guess what. by going after clean energy, the jobs are going to happen tomorrow or the next day or the next day.

somehow, the world puts energy out here as future, but we need solutions today. how do we start to bring those the lines together? >> well, first of all, i don't buy into this argument that it's all about tomorrow. it certainly is about today and tomorrow. >> but do you draw the line, because that's the misperception. so clear that up. >> yes, i will. i will clear it up. clearly, there are an enormous number of jobs that are already being created in clean energy. for example, in our state -- and i'll use california, because california -- i don't know if you're aware of this, you probably are -- beat back huge texas oil companies who tried to get us to repeal our clean energy law. and we stepped up to the plate, republicans, democrats, independents and said -- it was a huge victory for us -- we said, no, we're not going to do it. and one of the reasons is, we already have seen 10,000 new businesses, 125,000 new jobs right now because we are moving

towards solar, wind. we're moving toward alternative fuels. and all of this is generating a tremendous amount of economic activity right now. now, i'm not saying this is the only area we have to move in. small business across the board needs access to capital. there are many other things, repatriation of foreign sales earnings, that are sitting offshore. we need to bring those back. that's $1 trillion right there. so there's lots of other things that we can do. but anyone who's read thomas friedman's book, for example, "hot, flat, and crowded," you know, he's very, very smart on this point, that the whole world is going green. that's just the fact. and if america sits back and lets china take the lead or germany take the lead, we're going to lose the jobs. >> senator, in terms of letting china take the lead, there's probably a school offing thought that would indicate that china already has the lead. and it's probably rooted in the fact that china, we just had jim

bennett on from "the atlantic" magazine, talking about china can build coal-powered facilities in 21 months. it would take us 21 years here to get a permanent for a nuclear-powered facility or coal-powered facilities. what do we do about cutting through the red tape to get these plants built so we can emerge more quickly into an energy future? >> well, building coal is not an energy future. and i know there's a lot of debate about it. my colleagues from west virginia wouldn't agree with me, but if we build coal, it's got to be clean coal. we've got to sequester the carbon. but the point is, of course we should streamline what we do. but if you turn to clean energy, these are terrific technologies that don't cause environmental problems. so you shouldn't have to take a long time. and i could show you what's happening in california, in community after community, where solar panels aring beie inine i

homes as we speak. and those jobs cannot be contracted out. and china does the not have the lead in terms of energy. at the rate we're going now, they're going to get the lead. that's why right now the focus has shifted to the states, because the republicans are dead set against cleat energy. so what we feneed to do is prott the rights of the states and protect the epa's ability so they can keep cleaning up the air. all goods. let's talk about the right things that are going, because it seems we can't even get a meeting to be agreed on when it comes to republicans in the white house. senator, let's look at these anymores. the question being asked in this poll, should obama change course due to the midterm elections. 59% of those asked say yes. what does this president need to do to follow through on the great ideas and pronouncements that you're making right now about jobs and clean energy?

>> well, i'm not making any pronouncements. i am just stating that the venture capitalists of this country has stated that they are ready to pour twice as much money as they did into high-tech and biotech into clean energy. it's not at pronouncement, it's an absolute fact. and i think this president gets it. he's very bright. he's very smart. and he needs to communicate that better. he's got to communicate better. he said it himself. we got a lot accomplished and we're going to have to be able to look at the american people and say, do you really want to go back to the health care system you had before? because that's what the republicans are now saying today. you know, we have 66% of all bankruptcies are connected directly to a health care crisis, and republicans say, we have the best system in the world. well, maybe you did if you didn't get sick and your insurance company didn't turn you away and you weren't a woman who had domestic violence in your background and you were considered someone with a

pre-existing condition. but these are the things, we need to talk straight to the people. and having just come through this election, where more outside money in the chamber of commerce was spent against me than anyone in the country, i won that race by almost ten points for one reason. i spoke the truth to the people and they listened. and i was very fortunate, but i know that this president has the ability to do it far better than i can. >> senator boxer, thank you so much for being on the show this morning. >> and congratulations! >> thank you. >> i want to go back to these numbers. the quinnipiac numbers. look at the approval rating. we'll start with the house republicans -- or not the house republicans, it's the republicans in congress, house and senate. 27% approval rating for republicans and a 27% approval ra rating for democrats. that's extremely low. donny, their brands are both savaged. that suggests that there's going

to be an independent candidacy. i think somebody's going to run and win. i won't. by the way, i got a text from my wife. i'm starting to get a little irritated. she said, you are as unequivocal as you can be. >> she was in the car. >> in the car listening to me. she said, who the hell is the source, put it in quote marks, saying, i don't think there's a better source, saying no. >> joe is talking about, "the huffington post" ran a story that bloomberg and you were going to run as running mates. >> i am starting to get a little irrita irritated, because i said, we haven't talked directly about this, indirectly about this, there is nothing to this. and then they said somebody very close to the mayor says, i want to be vice president. that's a joke! nobody that has worked with me is a lawyer, nobody that's worked with me in media -- >> that would not be a good fit. >> -- nobody that's worked with me in congress would ever say, you know who would make a great

vice president? joe scarborough. seriously?! that's like saying joe namath is going to be a third string -- i'm not comparing myself to joe namath, although i do like drinking once in a while, but i am saying this, i could not have been more unequivocal, and yet it runs anyway. >> having said this, you and bloomberg would make an unbeatable ticket. and what would make it unbeatable is, the country is fed up with this two-party system in its current form that's going to continue to go like this. the right independent candidate with the right $3 billion budget will win this thing, because it's not about, well, this country is not ready for an independent, this country is not ready for a jew, it's about five or six states being ready for it. and you and bloomberg who are just right of center is where this country lives. and that's what this country is going to go for. and that 27% approval rating is

this country saying, we don't like the way it's set up anymore. it's wrong. >> okay. well, bloomberg may do it, he said no. i don't know how many times he can say no. i certainly, again -- >> why won't you do it? >> i'm dead serious. >> hold on! hold on! hold on! if he were to do something like that, it wouldn't be howard fineman -- >> but that's besides the point. >> let's take fineman out of the -- >> i am! sorry. >> you're somebody that has your hand on the pulse of the people. as i said, you're positioning as somebody who is a fiscal conservative, you know, moderate on a lot of other issues. you're not the status quo, but you relate to a lot of people. bloomberg, i think, has been a brilliant leader. this is what we need, great business minds. why aren't you? >> oh, please. the article is not correct. >> i can see this playing out. >> do you believe this? >> if this ever occurred -- >> it's not going to!

>> mike bloomberg would say i do at noon. at 3:00 p.m. that same afternoon, he would turn to joe and say, i did what?! >> i would just say, this isn't working out. this isn't going to work out. you know, i would say, it's not you, it's me. seriously, it's not you. but, no, no, think about it, donny, that's like you saying, this is just preposterous, but that's like me asking you, would you go into a new business where somebody else was going to call all the shots and you were going to -- you know what, if somebody died in another company, you'd go to their funeral -- seriously! there are some people who are disciplined enough to be vice president. but maybe there are others who are not. >> maybe we need a little undisciplined -- i guess the point is, we see the office as a certain thing, but maybe it's time for a new definition of the office. >> here's what people will read into what you just said. you don't want to be vice

president, you want to be president. you'd be open for running for president. that's what they'll think. >> stop! let me just say, this is how wrong the story is to start with this vice presidential thing. but when you say, you know, you're not interested in running for any office next year, i mean, i don't know how many different ways you can say it. bloomberg said it, no, no. i've said it, no, no. bloomberg's a great mayor. he's got $20 billion, right? i'm a tv host. i got enough money for a 1,200 square foot apartment in new york city. that's just the reality. >> we'll, it'll cost you a billion. it's an incredibly market -- i don't have bloomberg money. i don't even have donny money. i don't even have barnicle money. >> and that's where the conversation stops. >> and that's where it ends. >> there may be some equity here. >> mika and i bringing up the rear. >> seriously, though, i guess i

wish bloomberg would consider running. >> i think he will. >> i think he will -- i guarantee it. >> i think he's going to be pushed. >> donny, you haven't been helpful. >> no. >> anyway, my wife's irritated about this article and so am i. that's all i'm going to say. >> really? that's all you're going to say? what about the past six minutes? seriously, get a filter and use it. >> up next -- >> what do we do with political sickness. >> why is mika so angry? >> because you just -- you shouldn't have engaged in the confers. >> because mika is -- howard ca called you and you should have not taken the call. >> you could be secretary of stuff -- >> interior design. >> oh, wow! i'm not even touching. >> i'm sorry, sometimes joe makes sexist comments. he loves you, he doesn't mean to. >> no, that was not a sexist comment. that was not named at all women, that was just aimed at mika.

>> fbi. >> seriously, anyone that knows mika knows that she runs the place. >> indeed, she does. >> okay, i'll be quiet now. look at that. she's -- don't leer at me. i did not make the interior design -- i had you up for something in more defense. >> you brought this up again for the third straight hour because i think it's a fascinating story. obviously, you said no, it's not in your plans right now. i'm just saying that ticket, you say to me, donny, go sell something, i could sell it. >> you're a marketer, we're allowed to talk off the air too. you don't have to bring this up, so now mika is -- >> why are you upset about that, though? don't you think that would be a great thing? >> am i missing something? >> in charge of interior design? >> i didn't say that. >> thanks for joining us, donny. >> i can't be here just to chat. up next, politico takes us inside the democratic power struggle as nancy pelosi seeks

re-election in the house minority today. plus, big economic numbers due out in just a few minutes. erin burnett will join us live. but first, bill karins with a quick check on the forecast. >> i'm glad donny's here. usually i'm the one that has all these awkward pauses and interrupted conversations. let's talk about the rain. philly and d.c. overnight, bad storms, that has cleared out and now it's only boston that has to deal with those heavy rains. winds will be gusty today. right now, 28 in pittsburgh. 18 in new york. they'll increase this afternoon. airports, amazingly, are doing just fine. logan right now, only airport with any minor delays. your forecast, the rain is exiting. you're not going to need the umbrella coming home. as far as the rest of the country goes, showers in the midwest. the pacific northwest, that's the next storm we'll deal with over the next two to three days. you're watching "morning joe" on this wednesday morning, brewed by starbucks. ♪

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best of all, palin's alaska shows us how we can be responsible stewards of nature. while the palins hunt, and fish and log, they don't harm one of alaska's indigenous tlc cameramen. but as critics feared, there is an overt political message. that george w. bush is a lilac-scented nancy boy. i mean, look how he clears

brush. now look at sarah palin clears brush. suck it, tree! oh, she's going to turn you into death paneling. >> 22 past the hour. let's take a look at the morning -- >> i think, actually, i've been thinking about this. i think, seriously, because -- >> no. >> no, no, you are one of the most connected people anywhere. doesn't everybody love mika, i think she should be ambassador -- >> no, i'm actually harsh and sharp today. >> a -- >> court of st. james. >> yes, court of st. james. i think you'd be great there. you speak french. you could be the ambassador to france for bloomberg. there are a lot of great things you could do. >> but that wasn't the first thing that came to any of your minds. >> mika, we make the joke on the air, we make it off the air, oh, i'm so hurt. >> actually, i didn't look hurt or victimized, i looked like i

might punch donny's face in. >> he said it! time out, he said this thing -- >> do it! >> don't accuse me of playing the victim. >> i need you. >> i defended your honor. >> i was talking to you. >> if you could just follow me around, because i say something insulting and clumsy and she's going to punch you in the face. >> i'm the one who called it out and said, wait a second, why interior of secretary design, and you're going to punch me in the face. >> i've already punched him in the face. >> i come in your damsel in distress, come to your defense, and why are you going to punch me in the face now? >> i can. my on the is, don't accuse me of playing the victim, because i don't do that. okay. you want to look at the papers? >> what are they saying up in

anchorage? >> anchora"anchorage daily new, latest count in alaska shows lisa murkowski leading joe miller by more than 10,000 votes, but joe miller says alaska's computer voting system is suspect and wants the entire election recounted by hand. >> come on! why don't you go handcuff somebody, you loser! chuck berris just came out, he rang the gong! don't make us get the hook. go offstage, joe miller, you suck. "the wall street journal," the fdic is reporting -- he handcuffs people with private security guards. who would endorse this guy for anything. >> was it him who said interior design. >> yes! oh, duh! >> i'm sorry. >> former executives and employees at u.s. banks sense a failed start of the financial crisis. >> "miami herald," today the fda is expected to ban a group of alcoholic energy drinks.

>> i don't get this one. >> that are growing in popularity. one of the drinks targeted has a nickname, blackout in a can, and is equivalent to drinking one cup of coffee and four beers! >> that's what they called willie at vanderbilt. >> what the hell! i mean, seriously. >> that was blackout in the can. let's get it right. "the daily telegraph," just one story on the front of everybody's newspaper. i don't know. let's go to politico. >> mike allen has got a look at the playbook. >> i'm thinking of mika for secretary of defense, attorney general. >> she's tough! >> got the guns. >> everyone's just mocking me. >> mike, you guys are making an interesting case, you and jim vandehei, making nancy pelosi minority leader. a lot of people are saying she shouldn't be after the midterm elections. you guys lay it out. tell us about it. >> at 10:00 today, speaker pelosi is going to get

re-elected, even though a lot of people are worried about it, and in this people by my brother, jonathan allen and john harris, they explain that the big three reasons are obama, fear, and math. obama, by re-electing speaker pelosi, the progressives are able to say to president obama, look, we got her back. we wish that you were more like her. math, speaker pelosi has california, she has women, she has progressives. she's going to win overwhelmingly, whatever the chatter might be. and fear, she's going to be the leader, like it or not. she'll have committee assignments. space, a lot less of it, but style still, she'll be in charge of a staff. and another big factor is tout. and we've been talking about this from day one. the people who are behind speaker pelosi say there's no one better to keep the caucus together in tough times, to raise money when they're not going to have the advantage of the majority, and to basically be their secretary of defense, their attorney general. >> and mike, are republicans

still thrilled about this idea they have her as villain for another two years? >> i don't know if you want to say -- i wouldn't agree with the villain point, but i would say that republicans are thrilled and here's why. that they are not the optics of change. that it contributes to the idea that democrats don't get it. there was this huge change election and yet you have the same -- you have harry reid, you have nancy pelosi, you have barack obama. that helps republicans. the white house says she has nothing to do with our re-election. they are not worried. >> willie, think about this. so you've got nancy pelosi, harry reid, barack obama, john boehner, mitch mcconnell, republicans with a 27% approval rating, democrats with a 27% approval rating. >> that's a great point. >> seriously, this does scream for an independent candidate out there. i'm not going back to that, trust me, but i'm just saying, the tables are being set by republicans and democrats who are not getting the change message. they didn't in '08. they haven't this year. these parties, jon meacham is

right. these two parties are going to blow apart. >> this was a revolutionary, historic election. doesn't look like it right now. >> nothing's changed. >> mike, thanks so much. talk to you later. we've got breaking economic numbers next with erin burnett. [scraping] [horns honking] with deposits in your engine, it can feel like something's holding your car back. let me guess, 16. [laughing] yeeah. that's why there's castrol gtx... with our most powerful deposit fighting ingredient ever. castrol gtx exceeds the toughest new industry standard. don't let deposits hold your car back. get castrol gtx. it's more than just oil. it's liquid engineering. >> ( creatreature inhalihaling ) >> (>> ( branches hes breaking ) > ( horse hse hoofs beatieat) >> ( horseorse nickeringring ) >> ( trainrain whistle ble blow) > ( engine ine revving )g )er

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let's get a check on business before the bell with cnbc's international superstar,

erin burnett. she's live from cnbc headquarters. >> where'd she go? >> we just lost the shot. is she in dubai again? >> is it like the football game, the lights went out. >> put the camera on t.j. what did you do wrong this time, son. >> i didn't do anything. she's back. >> we got her from dubai. >> there she is. >> hello, hello? am i here? >> tell us what's going on today, erin. >> i'm sorry, your audio is so quiet, that's why i'm pushing my ear in. here's what's going on today. you're right, it was a lot easier from dubai. the gm ipo, that's the big story. we'll learn how much it costs per share after the market closes today and we're pretty sure it's going to be around $32.50 per share. there's 478 million shares, potentially, being offered. so this could be and is on track to be the biggest ipo in american history. i've got to tell you, sources had told me at the u.s. treasury over the past month or so, they didn't want to do the biggest

ipo, the wanted to keep a little bit of a stake so if the market could go up, they could get a bit more for taxpayers. but it could be 22.4 million higher than visa's, the current record holder back in 2008. so once you get these investors in, are they going to want to hold it? and here is gm's fundamental problem. they still have a huge labor issue. they have 531,000 retirees at general motors, all of whom have been promised things when it comes to pensions and health care benefits. they have 85,000 current workers to support the 531,000 retirees. we don't all need to be math geniuses to realize there's a being issue there. that's the big longer term issue for general motors. it hasn't gone away. they have nearly $30 billion of unfunded pensions alone. that is a big issue and that's going to be the thing that determines whether investors want to hold this over the longer term. but keep in mind, we put $50

billion into gm. so there you have it. it's a big ipo for today, but anyone's guess where it's going to go over the next year or so. that's the big market story. >> how was dubai? you have fun over there? i'll take that as a yes. >> dubai? how was dubai. it was easier to talk to you in dubai. >> it was an amazing time to be there, because it was eid, they basically get five weeks off, and spend it all shopping, because they exchange gifts. basically like christmas. the formula one grand prix was there, so anybody who was anybody was there. there's still a debt issue, but the whole world was there and it was spending money. so it's hard to say that you don't have a lot of spending going on in that part of the world. that's for sure. >> good job with the technical problems. >> we've got to go. erin, thank you for being with us. >> she looks great. a new look. >> erin burnett, international

superstar. >> go off. take her off. >> she looks great. >> are you such -- >> an idiot. >> a sexist idiot. >> she looks beautiful today. >> you know what i was thinking when i was looking at erin burnett -- >> she has a beautiful complexion. >> i was thinking, she is such a great talent. >> a sick man. >> he is a sick man. >> what do we have next, mika? >> i'm just comfortable enough to say it. >> i'm so sorry. he is a sick man. he's a pig. trust me. trust me. ya i like that. trust me. bankers are known to be a little bit in love with themselves.

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i am what is known as a fiery redhead. now, i hate to make this much of appearance and go all womanly on you, but they have it, and me standing up like this is just in fact a redheaded fieriness leaping to the fore. credence! i will give credence to their cause. my god! their cause already has credence. it is equal pay, equal pay is common justice and if you two weren't such a pair of egotistical cho egotistic egotistical chauvinistic bigoted, you would realize that. >> that was oscar-nominated actress miranda richardson in the new film based on the true

story of women in england striking for equal pay back in the 1960s. and with us now, miranda richardson. very good to have you on the -- >> good to be here. >> roger, you grew up with this story. >> i did -- >> a remarkable character. >> watching that clip was like watching my childhood, boiled down to about three or four seconds. you could describe barbara castle to the american viewing public. >> she was what she said in the clip there, she was a fiery redhead. she was known for this -- her image. the beacon traveling down the corridors of power. but what she was was so much more than an image. she was a genuine, humane, wonderful collaborative, politician. go getting. and she was at the top of her tree at the time we her. >> barbara is a iconic figure in england, because it was the

press giving her a hard time. how did it feel to mutate into barbara castle on a regular basis? >> thank god it was only for about ten days. no, no, she was hard. deferent definitions, perhaps, and that's not what we're concentrating on, but everybody, you know, was very, very kind of different around her. it was quite a responsibility, i have to say, to play this woman, because she is iconic and means so much to so many people, but, yeah, it was fun. >> fighting for equal pay, mika, that's a pretty radical concept. wouldn't you think that conce concept -- when do you think that's going to come to america? you may be the next barbara castle. >> now, you know, we're apparently -- there's apparently an equal pay act that's just sort of hanging around in congress and we'll see how it goes. but it's an issue that i'm extremely interested in and

writing about. i have a book coming out in the spring on one part of this issue here in this country. >> continually updating it, then, as you go. >> oh, yeah. yes. and it's necessary to do that for a lot of reasons. but set up this story. because this is about female workers at a ford plant. >> that's correct. the female machinists are working at a huge ford motor plant, so they're working alongside the guys and their job was to work out -- they have no patent, work out how to put the seat covers together, the upholstery for inside the cars. they argued at first this was at least semi skilled labor, they were being paid a certain rate. so the battle started out about being paid for skilled work, but then it rapidly became about equal pay, and they realized that they were being penalized simply for being women.

so their rates of pay were not, you know, equal at the time. and nowhere near -- >> and that has an impact, though, eventually, not only on ford plants in england, but ford plants in america. >> yes, exactly. >> and plants across the world. >> and they were about to bring the country to its knees. and barbara castle, who knows what would have happened if she wouldn't have been secretary for employment then, but she had the bright idea of bringing the women into to talk to her. >> so where did you find sort of your center in terms of developing your character. and are there any parallels -- >> it's usually the shoes. >> yes, the shoes always help, for sure. i'll start with that. but did you find any -- are there any parallels in your world, in your industry? >> well, i have to say, i've never felt penalized or constrained for gender reasons, funnily enough in this profession. i feel neither male nor female in my profession. i just think, i should be able

to do that. that's a legacy that we now have because of women like the ladies who went on strike. >> you talk about her attending ralls th her father. talk a little more about her background before this moment. >> working class -- so she's, shall we say, handicapped on three points. she's a woman, she's from the north of england, and -- what was the third thing? she's working class. >> i love the way you talk about the working class, the north, the women issues. still very alive. i'm two out of three of those things. what was the reception of this thing in england when it came out? >> it was really good. and what's very gratifying is that although it's a totally accessible and populist movie and idea, the issues behind it are serious. and those are the things that people are addressing and wanting to talk about. and largely because they are still relevant. so as i say, that's very gratifying. and also, the fact that a lot of

the women are still around, they still live in daganum, they went back to their lives, their families. even members of their family didn't know this had happened. you think, how can that be? but now they're getting, they're being cheered, literally, in rome. there was a standing ovation that just went on and on and on because two of the women came with us and we have two more with us in the states here and it's just like, about time! about time. >> absolutely. you are right. miranda richardson, thank you so much. the film, "made in dagenham," in theaters this friday. we'll be right back with more "morning joe". # ng, ng, 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.

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[ exclaims ] ...with...stage presence. ♪ a new phone with dolby surround sound speakers. only from at&t. rethink possible. oh, look at the pretty shot of the mountains of las vegas. welcome back to "morning joe." as part of green is universal week, msnbc.com is featuring a web series on environmental entrepreneurs, people turning innovative, eco-friendly ideas into businesses. joining us now to discuss it, host of msnbc's "your business," jj ramberg. ed good to have you on. >> i just found out stunning about jj. >> yes, so cool.

>> this is not so eco, but go ahead. >> you've been doing your show for five years, which is stunning. i remember when you started. >> i was just a kid then. >> it was supposed to be a six-month run. and you've been doing this for five years. you've done something else pretty incredible as well. >> five years, three kids. >> 2 1/2 years, three kids. >> 1, 2, and 3. >> anyone welcome to come to my house at any time. it's so fun. >> oh, my lord. i spaced my kids out over decades. what are you doing, man?! come on! >> -- we knew what we were doing. >> apparently not! >> i'm sure you're using cloth diapers, right. >> yeah, let's move on from that. we are unfortunately filling landfill after landfill. >> good, all right. so tell us about the environmental entrepreneurs you're looking at. >> this is the neatest series that msnbc.com has gone.

basically, we've gotten to go around the country and talk to all of these people who are doing really neat things for the environment and also starting businesses. so what i always say is, look to where the venture capital money is going, and that's where at least a lot of smart people think there's a future in this. so we have gone out and found all these entrepreneurs. one of them, verdant power, we did a piece on. have you ever heard of title turbines. >> 20 minutes ago, we were talking about those. >> that's what we all talk about, tidal turbines. >> here's one right now. i had done this rendering last night. >> there's a hotter and cart in the back of that field. >> we're used to seeing wind turbines, these are turbines underneath the water. in the east river, there are turbines under the water generating energy. and they're powering -- it's just a test right now, the verdant power is the company, and they're powering a garage and a supermarket, just as a test. what's very cool about this, the

wind, you have to wait for the wind to blow, these are the tides, which are very consistent, going in and going out. >> that's a great idea. currents will always be there, consistently. >> exactly. >> which is why i put this model up. that actually is hopeful. what else? >> algae-based fuels. >> algae? >> it's a company we profiled, they're basically turning algae into energy. and what's neat about this is that the navy has said that they want to consume half of its energy from renewable sources by 2020. so they're looking at companyincompanying like solazyme. and solazyme has partnered with chevron, they've got big money and partners behind them, and the navy's already been testing it. so hopefully, people say this is going to work, not work, five,

ten years, we'll see, but there's money being put behind this and people are testing it out. >> but there are also a lot of obstacles, aren't there. what are the obstacles facing a company as they try to get into green energy? >> lots of obstacles. for the tidal turbines, engineering. how do you get this in the water? it's all in the testing phase. in the algae, it's contamination. they have to test to make sure stuff doesn't get contaminated. we have another on people using solar energies to power concerts. their challenge is battery. they have get this power, but then they have to store it. >> is the government encouraging this type of technology? >> there are grants out there. yeah, the government's doing some stuff. >> not a lot? >> they're doing some stuff. but private investors are doing a lot of stuff, because, again, they think there's money in this. so these venture capitalists and these entrepreneurs want to put

their money and put thieir wallets on this stuff. >> your brother, a big "morning joe" fan. for the holiday season, for the christmas season, this is a great time for people to learn about this site he has. what's it called? >> goodsearch.com. >> what do they do? >> it's a search engine powered by yahoo! but every time you search, a penny goes to your favorite charity. so you don't spend any money, but you're helping your money. >> love it. >> yeah, it's neat. >> jj ramberg, thank you so much. >> and congratulations, i heard you're getting renewed. another five years. >> and let's not do three more in three years. >> no, i'm done. any had one more, i might not have a husband. >> all right. up next, what, if anything, did we learn today? ♪

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let's talk about what we've learned today. what'd you learn? >> i learned that america is tired of hearing about trivial things, like british weddings. they want to know about horses in the backseat of cars.