number one story on msnbc.com, lenders now tightening up at the top of th show, what you're doing a wake. >> okay, willie, ben wright, way. to know if barn akle ever tripped willie when he runs from the green room to the studio. >> did you see this yesterday? you can roll it any time, just like we talked about. there i is. jb move. jets coach tripping a player on the other team. weak. what else? >> gabriel writes i had terrible

pain in my back. i was sleeping with my blackberry and my remote. i rolled over and there you were. >> "morning joe" starts right n now. >> the nature of compromise is -- >> understand that this is a compromise. compromise by its very nature is things that you don't necessarily like. the nature of compromise is you have to accept things that you don't like in order to get things that are very important. >> we have to govern. that's what we were elected to do. >> governing means compromising. >> it means working together. >> it means compromising. you're saying i want common ground but i want compromise. i don't understand that, i really don't. >> when you say compromise, a lot of americans look up and go,

oh, they're gong to sell me out. and so finding a common ground, i think, makes more sense. >> why won't you say -- you're afraid of the word. >> i reject the word. >> okay. good morning, everyone. hmm. you've got to see the part where he cries. we'll get to that, because there's several of them. it's monday, december 13. with us on set are the game-challenge boyce. senior political analyst mike halpern and national political writer for new york magazine mike heilmann. >> i reject the term. >> reject? >> by the way, mika, you were pretty moved. >> his story. >> he teared up a bit. i'm stopping. >> his story is amazing. >> it is an amazing story. also on the other side. you've about got david axelrod.

here you have -- it's like a two-year time lapse where barack obama has learn oefrd two years what we've been saying here for two years which is it's james madison's washington. how many times have i said that? >> it's james madison's washington where you've got to compromise. they've figured it out. john boehner is riding herd over 80-plus new members. can't run around saying compromise because they'll get skittish, won't they? >> so far they didn't have to. his word "common ground," that might be too generous, seriously. >> i'll tell you what. there is, of course, the conventional wisdom which is that republicans won overwhelmingly and they certainly did ideologically.

there is -- i oemt heard two people, myself and charles say, wait a second, republicans have sold out the very principles that got them elected. did you see the column on friday? this is like a stimulus package. $900 billion, we're borrowing from the chinese. this is like a disaster for the conservati conservatives. >> it's a good package for congress and politically. it has too be followed by deficit reduction in the longer term next year. >> that is funny. as we have pointed out here, mika, the debt commission comes out and there's fanfare, and they come out, and we -- they come down from the mountain. they figured out how to cut $4 trillion over the next generation and then they say,

ah, we can't do it. we can't do that. then in one weekend they cut -- >> it's another pile of garbage. >> it is another statement of garbage. >> the next election cycle they can call out the republicans complete hypocrites. he will win. >> no, he can't. he's the hypocrite himself. >> no, he's not. he's saying the americans were being held hostage by the republicans. >> suspect it funny, people like me criticize the republicans for eighth years and democrats join in, yes, isn't it terrible how they spend too much money. so barack obama has a $900 billion stimulus package two years ago which he says is not going to work. again he has another $900 billion stimulus package not paid for. it's give to rev up the economy, but, once again, it's going to -- you're going to --

>> it's going to rev it up? >> how will it affect us in the long run? it reminds me of what jeffrey sax -- and i will say it and i have been saying for two years. all washington's trying to do is recreate a bubble. and so even if these tax cuts were best-case scenario, it's going to get people back in the shopping malls. >> what? >> and it's going to put us deeper in debt. >> joe, they've been there all along. >> no. we've got 15% unemployment. >> yeah, and these tax cuts have been in place for quite some time. >> 15% unemployment. even if it gets down to 8% unemployment, we're not growing the economy. we're jamming it up. >> just stop. >> that's what a lot of people say. this is a sugar high but a sugar high we need to get the big picture. >> speaking of sugar high. >> i wonder how long the democrats like anthony on "meet the press," how long do they

hold out on this fight? if the senate gets behind it today, how much honker -- >> if i were a democrat in the house, i'd probably get it in a second. it's economics. you're right. economically it's going to give us a sugar high. long term it's going to give us a nightmare but just i ideological ideologically, i don't know how we'll live with the bush tax cuts that they have blamed on everything that's gone bad over the last eight year. how do you go from saying these are the worst tax cuts ever to suddenly saying this is our last best hope. >> oh, please. >> you have to get something done. >> but if you're a liberal -- >> i don't think liberals are opposed to the top rate staying the same. >> yes, they are. >> i think they're opposed to it because it's a just. >> an immoral. >> right. >> just like republicans think it's immoral and i think it's

immoral for the federal government to take too much money from america. >> in the next year, the republicans will have to write a budget and the president proposes aed by deficit rediction plan -- >> this is so confusing. people turn it on a dime, mika. there's no parallels to this. >> well, i can't think of one except perhaps friday afternoon. >> you guys heard from him directly. >> thank you. thank you very much, mr. president. >> the agreement taken as a whole is, i believe, the best bipartisan agreement we can reach to help the largest number of americans and to maximize the chances that the economic recovery will accelerate and create more jobs and minimize the chances that it will slip back. >> and then, of course, mika, right after that, just fascinating. right after that, they went shoe

shopping with dick morris. >> actually obama left the room and bill clinton went on and on and on and on. >> i love this. so much to say about this. >> i love it. >> you want to talk about a sugar high. seeing that on friday got me buzzed all weekend long. >> it was delicious. >> quick question. who was better? as mika says, i believe it's probably the first time ever in the history of the republic where the former president and the current president within were on the stage together and the current president walked out on the former president. >> hey, dude, this whole tax bill thing in the economy, it's bad, but -- >> clinton says, yeah, you'd better go. he says, yeah, you're right. >> i remember what this is like, let's go, baby. >> you know what?

it's like grandkids. all the fun, none of the responsibility. he just sits there. willie, seriously -- >> he got the two elbows down on the lectern, i thought he was going to be there for a half hour when he did that. >> it's like watching beatle mania. >> robert gibbs tried to cut it off. he didn't. he said this counts for monday's briefing. >> it was so good. so smart politically, seriously, to have him back and back this tax deal. >> interesting. not a scheduled thing. decision made on the fly, nearly made in the meeting. when they went down there, all the people at the press shop were at a christmas party. so they alerted nobody internally. give obama some political credit for deciding during the meeting let's go down and do this press.

>> man enough to know this would be good for him even though he's bringing someone in who loves the limelight so much he doesn't know how to see beyond himself. >> here's what happened. this is an internal year. for two year this man has isolated himself. he's been afraid to be overshadowed by others. i mean, yes, he has been a slow, slow learner politically on how to win in washington, d.c. mark halperin, do you have any reporting at all when the light switch went off because this -- this was not an evolution. this was a revolution. this happened overnight. he calls jamie dimon in. he calls bill clinton in. he's got the press conference with bill clinton. he's doing all the things he should have done over the past two years. what happened? >> this was a -- this thing was an audible done on the fly in the meeting. i believe the new chief of staff is washington's most meticulous

planners and is a great realistic -- great at being realistic. being realistic, the president needs to build some sort of coalition to govern and you're going to see this week and all the rest of the month you're going to see attempts to rebuild the presidency, which is in a recall stalled position. >> john, again, they just winged it. they just decided to go out there. >> it was good. >> not to make too many beatle analogies, this is paul and john, "saturday night live," trying to go downstairs, trying to get a cab because they wanted to play. but this time they actually went out and played. >> just to get to it, there's no demographics more popular than the liberals. he's the liberal democrat -- he's got a 90-plus percent approval rate. where the liberals are revolting over the tax bill, there was no

more powerful to be put on it than to have bill clinton put on it. everyone in the house are complaining about it. now they're complaining about the tax cut. >> by the way, bill martin has a great test, very serious, in a column. wept up on time at midnight, a great test for what works for barack obama, and that test is -- >> as in the case of the tax package, if nancy pelosi and sarah palin are against something, it's probably going to to do well with the public. nancy pelosi is against it, sarah palin is against it -- >> that actually 100% accurate. if you are making nancy pelosi and sarah palin angry, you are winning back those independents. >> it's a good sign. you know, michael bloomberg was on "meet the press" yesterday, and he said the president ought to deal with the angry liberal

base by saying, you know what? deal with it. you've gotten everything you've wanted so far. deal with it. david axelrod was also on and he was trying to the diffuse. listen. >> that was a part of the deal that we had to accept in order to get all the good things that come, along with that, the nature of compromise. i'm sure there will be some who will have a hard time getting over the hump. others will see this is extraordinarily important for our economy and people across the country that we not let this get to a washington-style standoff. >> you know, i've got to tell you. i still think it's immoral that multi millionaires are getting a tax cut. next election they can say you

guys held us hostage. now you have to try to own up to sticking with your mandate, which is not spend too much. and then you gave millionaires tax cuts. thanks a lot. good luck to you. good luck getting elected. >> they can do that in the house. this will be barack obama's tax plan. yes, it will. he's the president. he brokered the deal. he owns it too. here's the real danger. everybody politically saying what you're saying. tell your base, tough luck. bloomberg saying tell your pace, good luck. there are times, though, when a president gets in trouble, if his base isn't with him, everything goes down fast. george w. bush was a good example. but think about ronald reagan. he kept his base. his base stood by him. there was nowhere he was going. i think about bill clinton.

during impeachment, everybody thought he was gone. his base stood with him. especially, especially on -- hey, chris, i'm talking here, man? okay? you cannot see lullabies. i don't care if you had babies. i'm on an important talk. >> he was talking to me. you know what he was telling me? he said they're going to get this thing through. >> here's the thing. >> okay. i'm sorry. i'm fascinated. >> the point is pill clinton, his base stuck with him through all the horrible stories about women because he, the partial birth abortion, when that base stood up, he stayed with liberals and women's groups. that's the one danger of basically telling your base, don't need you. >> i don't think that's what he's doing. what he's doing is telling congressional democrats -- that's not his base. the congressional democrat leadership is not his base.

actually among african-americans, among hispanic voters and liberal voters, he's still popular. he hasn't lost his base. what he's losing is his, quote, professional. according to the tax plan, as mark said earlier, what he needs to do to get past that and i think he will is now in the next six weeks push tax reform and come out of the tax reduction plan. that's the way out of the box. >> liberals are staying with him. >> they'll stay with him. >> but i think he can get the professionals, have the tax fight again next year with tax reform, a surcharge on millionaires. >> and the moral high ground. we'll argue more on that. we have a big show this morning. joe manchin, senator evan bayh, arianna huffington and tony dungy. first, bill karins with a check

on the forecast. bill. >> good morning, everyone. weather stole the headlines over the weekend and this video really summed it all up. coming from minneapolis where they had 20 inches of snow. that is the snow collapsing at the metrodome. look at the view of the roof ripping. the winds and the heavy snow, making it deflate. incredible pictures out there. that's why the game is going to be played in detroit, not minnesota. this blast is making its roy through. from kansas city to chicago to minneapolis, it's all heading to the east coast as we go throughout the morning. right now the windchill is 6 in atlanta. look at the conditions in minnesota, chicago, st. louis, just brutal this morning. there's still rain out there in boston. rain is changing over to snow for washington, d.c. be very careful, especially on the bridges and overpasses as there'll be icing up in a hurry. temperatures dropping in a big her from new york to boston.

tomorrow's going to be very cold for you. as far as for the rest of the area, watch florida tonight. tonight we're going to see one of the coldest nights we're going to see in orlando in a long time. the strawberries, the oranges, the economic hardship is going to be high for this. you're watching "morning joe" this morning brewed by starbucks. i'd like one of those desserts and some coffee. - sure, cake or pie? - pie. - apple or cherry? - cherry. oil or cream? oil or cream?

cream. some use hydrogenated oil. reddi-wip uses real dairy cream. nothing's more real than reddi-wip.

welcome to weekend update, paul. are you ready? >> i am. >> i'll be the voice of prince charles and you'll be camilla. >> great. >> can you do an english accent? >> i can try. >> okay. and action.

oh, no. >> oh, goodness me. >> oh, no. >> oh ruffians. >> oh, no. >> oh, charles do something. >> i love you. >> and i hover you. >> i love you. >> i love you. >> and -- scene. >> that was funny. 22 past the hour. let's take a look at the morning papers. "anchorage daily news," obama's plans to cut taxes for a year -- it could jeopardize the finances. >> and the. the st. petersburg times" six u.s. soldiers were killed sunday when a van filled with explos e explosives. >> "wall street journal," richard hole prook, the obama

administration's top envoy remains in critical condition after a tear in his aorta. he's hospitalized at the george washington university and we wish him and his family the best in getting through with this. >> certainly our thoughts and prayers for he and his family. "the new york times," ramie manuma the former white house chief of staff is trying to fend off dozens of rejections. mark, any chances that -- >> i think there's a little pit of a chance, but i think on the merits and politics, he'll muscle it through. e-mail going to say politics. what judge is going to keep a runner off the ball hoballot. >> he should. have rented his house. he rented his house to a guy who

won't move out. >> and he was very involved with the visit of the polish president to the united states and the white house this week. it's just very, very nice of him. >> rahm. >> he's typically known as a very nice guy. >> major polish population in chicago. >> we need to go to chicago. >> let's do the show there. we're going. february. axelrod's going to be on. >> check the train schedule. >> you should get a mani. >> time now for your business on the go. let's bring in nicole. a business day ahead for wall street. what's ahead. >> data reports on inflation, retail sales, unemployment coming out. it's also the biggest shipping day. 16 million packages will be september via fedex and they're calling this green monday. it's like cyber monday wasn't enough.

also in washington, by the way, larry summers is giving his final public address and don't forget president obama will be talking jobs and courting ceos. >> and also, another big story over the weekend. the oldest son of bernie madoff committing suicide. there are obviously lawsuits regarding his father's investment fraud. what impact does this have? >> it's not going to end the family's legal troubles. the trustee overseeing his bankruptcy, irving picard says the litigation is definitely going to take course. nothing has been filed against he or his brother who for a while have been considered the heroes who, as you know, guys, sought to stop their father from committing more fraud. but last week he and his three children adding to the suits. trying to seek chos to $200 million. >> nicole lapin, thanks very

much. we'll see you tomorrow. >> thank you, nicole. >> as she said, there were no charges filed against this guy and they've had a couple of years. a real tragedy. >> it is horrific all the way around. >> chief correspondent for politico mike. >> good morning, sunshines. >> numerous sunshines. >> michael steele expected to make some news. he's got an announcement about his future. what can you tell us? >> he's doing a conference call with members of the republican national committee at 7:30 this evening. now, michael steele doesn't do anything in a conventional way. he announced his conference call saturday night sending a g-mail to members of his committee. no one knows the topics. they expect michael steele to announce he will not seek re-election when the republicans choose a new republican in january, it will be someone

different. the big push has been for change. there's no particular person who has been out clearly in front. but people say that going into a presidential year, you can't waste a year, and the republican national committee needs to get back into the game of organizing, fund-raising. so the favorite so far is rance prievus. he's the wisconsin chairman and he has the best endorsement you can probably have. that's the nephew of haley barb barber, the mississippi governor who most think is the political vors in republican politics right now. that means he'll probably win. >> republicans just took pack the house, picked up a bunch of assets in the senate under michael steele's leadership. it seems counterintuitive that he would have to go. >> half of your statement is true. republicans had a great election. no evidence it's because of michael steele's leadership.

and it is ironic that he should be celebrating. if he positioned himself differently, and remember in january '09 and the great halo republicans got for picking the first republican black chairman but he proved to be not a good fund-raiser and that's why people are looking for a change. but michael steele will -- one of the reasons he's doing this call is to be able to make his case, make his pitch, and say, look, i helped you get where you are. >> he doesn't survive, does he? >> i don't believe he does. steele beat a group of strong candidates. really strong people. >> is haley the guy that's sort of the puppetmaster right now? >> he wanted steele out. >> and haley is still the king of republican politics, right, as far as the guy who knows how to -- who else knows how to work

washington, i guess? >> lyndon johnson. >> what's next. >> from taxes to tanning, john boehner sits down and answers all the questions we ask. like does he use a bropzer. a defin tish answer from the speaker to be. a bad game turns ugly between the jets and the dolphins when the coach on the sideline decides to play a little defense. sports is next. we'll be back. exchange traded funds. some firms offer them "commission free." problem is they limit the choice of etfs to what makes financial sense to them. td ameritrade doesn't limit you to one brand of etfs... they offer more than 100... each selected by investment experts at morningstar associates. only at the etf market center at td ameritrade. before investing, carefully consider the fund's investment

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he basically called you a hostage makeer. >> excuse me, mr. president. i thought the election was over. now it's time to govern. >> do you think that his tone will make it more difficult for you to come together as we move forward on issues, or are you just flicking it off? i -- listen. i've got thick skin and a lot of words get said in washington. yo u have to let it run off your back. the president was having a tough day. >> you're so understanding. >> i have a tough day from time to time myself. >> there have been moments of

disrespect shown to president obama. >> well, there was some disrespect, i would suggest, that was shown to me yesterday by the president. >> okay. live shot of capitol hill. 34 past the hour. welcome back to "morning joe." >> john boehner, let's talk. john boehner -- >> did a good job last night. >> i thought he did well. >> welcome to boehner america. he laid low. now he's stepping up. you know, he's not speaker yet, but come january he's laid out a biographical framework for people to get to know him. >> you really got to know him last night because it's an amazing story. it's a story that can bring a tear to your eye. let's just say it's an amazing story. it was america at its best, and there's no question. and he welled up a few times on "60 minutes" repetitively. take a look. >> making sure that these kids

have a shot at the american dream. it's important. >> you know what's happening over here. >> my nose is running. >> no, it's not. what set you off that time? because she's proud of you. he cries all the time? no, no. but he's going through an emotional period too. >> it happened several times during the piece that lesley stahl did. >> she's like, he cries all the time. he said, no. >> what set you off this time. >> you know what? his story is amazing. it will make you cry if you really think about it. >> do not underestimate this guy. he comes from a tough back grounld. he's tough. he's fought his way back. i tell you, the white house will be foolish to underestimate him. >> by the way, there's nothing wrong with the guy tearing up and crying. for a guy to -- he had like 11

brothers -- >> a huge family, small house, one bathroom, father owns a bar, and it looks like on a tough street in ohio. and they cleaned it up every saturday morning and worked together as a family. and you know what? to get where he is from there, amazing. >> unbelievable. >> he also wasn't holding back when the tears came. so let's not completely -- >> pitching himself. >> you know what? he's also been underestimated in washington. >> that's true. >> remember last year when i talked to all the house members and we're all saying this guy doesn't work hard enough, he's, you know, a good-time charlie, he looks going out, underestimated by his own caucus. willie? >> that's the last thing -- i think you introduced that angle. >> like i said, last year when we kept hearing the same thing on the hill and mika was there

too. they said, doesn't work hard enough. but he's been underestimated. >> you know what makes me want to cry? >> yeah. what's that? no. what happened. what set you off? the judge? >> an ugly game last night. i loved sanchez. >> is that the -- >> dreamy guy. >> okay. we'll get to that in a second. nbc's sunday night game, michael vick and the eagles taking on the cowboys in dallas. phillies looking to stay in the northeast. fourth quarter. a little out pattern, deshawn jackson and he's gone 91 yards. watch what he does at the end here. this is exciting for all you fans out there. >> oh, my gosh. >> watch it again and enjoy it.

>> oh, what a jerk. >> oh, i love it. >> he got a 15-yard penalty. he did not care one little bit. >> that is arrogance. >> eagles beat the cowboys. >> watch it again. eagles now, looking good. >> giants were sup employeesed to play yesterday in minneapolis as we showed in the video. check it out one more time. postponement due to snow and take a look at this. 20 inches on the roof of the metrodome. it's inflated. teflon-coated roof. it's essentially garbage bags propped up by blowing fans. >> that's what happens. >> all that snow. needless to say they're not playing there. the game was postponed. they're playing tonight. 7:20 tonight in detroit. they picked a neutral site. >> they need a sewer.

>> yeah, they have a seam stress. >> that's a tough place. >> it will be weird. small crowd. it will be a strange game. >> and giants will probably have more people cheering for them in detroit than minnesota. >> they will. >> a little snow will not let them get in the wi of the game. >> football. shores of lake michigan. second quarter, perfect strike. where's the defense? patriots beat the red-hot bears 36-7. the patriots look kind of unpetable right now. they're 11-2. they become the first team this season to clinch a spot in the nfl. they're up 36-0 beginning early in the second half. first team to clinch a playoff spot. >> i just love the snow games. it takes me back to -- >> old school. >> -- old school nfl films.

>> pack to florida, back in the snow days. >> we did have tv. >> we did have tv. not shoes but tv. >> yes, we had shoes and tv and nfl films. >> bears, #-4. the packers lost two so the bears stay in the lead. jets playing the dolphins. an embarrassing hoss. look at this. this is during a punt in the third quarter. looks like a jet sideline. -- he goes to the turf and injured. jets' guilty party strength and conditioning coach sal, delocey. he called it inexcusable and unsportsmanlike. the jets lost, 10-6. they looked absolutely awful. they scored a touchdown again.

>> so i guess nfl takes him off the sidelines for his career? >> they may fire him. we'll see what happens. >> they may fire him. >> they can't do that. a lot of helmet-to-helmet blows yesterday, no penalty. cris collinsworth. speaking out on it. he's one of the only ones. i wonder what the nfl is doing. >> they got one on vick last night. he got a double whammy, two helmets from each side. they flagged him. redskins fans. this is what they do. nine seconds left. a touchdown ties the game. get the extra point and go to overtime. >> bad one. pandemonium. a hero perhaps. hecht's line up and take the extra point. we'll go to overtime, fred. let's do this thing. >> oh, no. goes right through the hands of the holder.

drops the cover with eight seconds left. >> at least they weren't playing in washington. >> gee. a couple other games. falcons win, saints win, looking good in the south. 11-2. saints, 10-3. >> that's my guy. >> still ahead, arianna huffington and also mayor bloomberg on "meet the press" with some new comments about the relentless, relentless question of whether or not he will run in 2012. plus, mika's must-read opinion pages. keep it on "morning joe." [ j. weissman ] it was 1975. my professor at berkeley asked me if i wanted to change the world. i said "sure."

"well, let's grow some algae." and that's what started it. exxonmobil and synthetic genomics have built a new facility to identify the most productive strains of algae. algae are amazing little critters. they secrete oil, which we could turn into biofuels. they also absorb co2. we're hoping to supplement the fuels that we use in our vehicles, and to do this at a large enough scale to someday help meet the world's energy demands.

if he came to cow and said, you know, mr. mayor, we took a

hard look at this. it's not just a vanity thing. you could actually win this thing. would you change your mind? >> no. >> no way, no how. >> no. >> i don't think most of them do create this buzz. yes, they should cease and desist, but most of this is just because the press wants to have something to write about, but the bottom line is i've got a great job. i want to go out being the -- having a reputation as a very good, maybe the greatest mayor ever. >> 47 past the hour. welcome back to "morning joe." that was mayor bloomberg on "meet the press" saying he's not running. >> whatever. >> i think he may be the best mayor if he does say so. >> yes, of course, this is just the press that wants to write this. it's not the may dwror who gave that speech last week denouncing both national parties and inviting everyone to come and listen to it. >> stop being cynical.

>> that's so cynical. >> just spitting out this story. >> okay. we've got good must-reads. we'll start with charles crab hammer. stimulus. if obama had asked for a second stimulus directly, he would have been laughed out of town. stimulus was so reviled that the democrats banished the word from their lexicon throughout throughout the 2010 cam paper. very week post-election happened. obama got the republicans to offer to increase spending and cut taxes by 990 billion dollars over two years. two thirds of that is above and beyond extension of the bush tax cuts but includes your jemt national necessities such as windmill subsidies. >> the tax cuts have so cluttered this debate that the democrats have overlooked the fact that they've got a trillion dollar in a second stimulus plan, and republicans, they're out of their minds too. they go, we win, we win, we win,

but this is all, as we've been saying for a week, been funded by china. it's a nightmare for fiscal conservatives. >> the question is whether the president will lay out -- we have a short-term stimulus -- >> he will, he will, he will. >> i don't believe he will. >> let's guest past it. >> i disagree. >> he's going to get past it. >> i disagree. >> how could he not do it? >> how could this president and republica republic republicans who want to run it how could -- >> the congress is in danger of stalling. >> oh, really. have i heard that before? >> yes, we heard that. we heard it two years ago. >> oh. >> we'd better hurry up and rush in to iraq because they're going to nuke us. >> exactly. let's add afghanistan too. >> when germans are faced with these decisions they actually get fiscally disciplined and

their economy grows. when the british are faced with this decision, they get fiscally disciplined and their economy f grows. when we do this it's going to e be -- obama sup parters can just be quiet. in criticizing george bush for -- >> i actually completely disagree. the democrats hate this. the president says he doesn't like facets of this. it's what are the republicans going to say in two years when they think that they are fiscal conservatives and they have this incredible mandate? they're hypocrites. this will hurt them. >> the democrats are hypocrites if -- >> why? they don't like it. >> guess what? he's president of the united states. >> his argument is they have to get the deal through. >> let me tell you this. any president who gave a damn

about the deficit would not have added a trillion dollars to the national debt. he doesn't give a dam about it. he never has. george w. bush. he never did. the republicans don't care about it. the democrats don't karen it. because if they did we wouldn't be going from $5 trillion to 16 in the next couple of years. >> i want chris to save the tape so the day after the state of the union -- >> they all talk. and bill clinton says big government is over. republicans talk about it. they don't mean anything. nancy pelosi in 2006 talked about i. she didn't mean anything. oh, we're going to pass pay-go and they break it. they're a couple of tea partiers that actually care about this issue and nobody else does. rand paul does and -- nobody in washington cares about this. >> the good news is you only have to wait four months to see

if you were right or not. >> really? let's see the cuts. >> they're coming. >> you told me that last year. quit sucking up to the president. you'll get your interview but you don't have to lie about it. you said it was coming in december. >> and they got 11 votes. >> and guess what? we added a trillion dollars to our national debt. what's next? >> nothing, after that. >> vladimir putin. copd doesn't just make it hard to breathe... it makes it hard to do a lot of things. and i'm a guy who likes to go exploring ...

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oh, yes. it's time. >> we showed you some portions of the john boehner interview on "60 minutes" last night. now the tan. lesley stahl did ask him about the tan, once again putting to rest the speculation about the source of his orange hue. >> listen. i've never been in a tanning salon in high life. i never used a tanning product in my life. >> to you believe him? >> i do. >> we could find out. >> it depends on the definition of tan. >> he was born tan. >> bronzer. is that a tanning product? >> that's a product. >> leave him alone. >> just leave him alone. >> i like despite the speculation, i doemgt use product either. >> i do. >> are you serious? >> i don't. >> vladimir putin was in the

other day at a fund-raising deal in st. petersburg. >> who is that? >> so putin steps up, plays a few bars, don't mind if i do. then he got up on the mike and sang fats domino's "blueberry hill." ♪ on blueberry hill ♪ on blueberry hill ♪ a sweet melody ♪ >> yes, that was goldie hawn and

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whose brilliant idea was it to drive up the national debt, ask our kids to may higher taxes to pay off the debt in order to give tax breaks to people who don't need it? whose idea was it? i don't think -- and the irony here, i think, there are millionaires out there who say thank you, i don't need it. warren buffett has said. that's what bill gates has said. ben cohen of ben & jerry's has said it. we have given some of these guys something they don't want. they don't want an individual worker, somebody who may be hearing this on the tvo radio saying, it's my fault. there's smog wrong with me because i can't go out and get a job. well, you're not alone. >> and that wept on for how many hours? >> about nine.

that was senator sanders. he did become a twitter sensation because of that speech. welcome to jj jj. joe heilmann joining us. from "the washington post" arianna huffington. good to have you back. >> thank you. >> senator sanders made his point. >> he made a very good opponent. you actually have senator sanders who may be teaming up with jim demint. i know rand paul says he'll oppose this. but there are a lot of republicans, and we even ebb had a lot of them on our show, that come on and just after calling barack obama a socialist who's bankrupting this nation for the past two years, another pass in as charles crowdhammer says, another stimulus package. >> this is another steaming pile of garbage. i'm serious. >> i think this steaming pile of garbage will actually get people

back into the malls because you know why? >> why? >> because this goes to the people instead of the bureaucracy. >> okay, okay. >> they're both funded by the chinese, therefore a nightmare to the country. >> this is not something that's new being introduced. if it were somehow still mulats wouldn't have we know that? >> she's so right. the tax cuts are in existence right now. the majority of this package is already in existence. why hasn't it stimulated the economy already? >> well, the fear is, of course, on the other side of it is if you raise taxes during a recession, things are going to get much worse. but i would say nothing is worse right now for this country in the long term than going another trillion dollars in debt.

these tax cuts and everything that we're doing, the unemployment benefits, they're all being paid for by the chinese. >> that's terrific. >> john boehner said last night when he cried on "60 minutes," and he said he wants to make sure that kids today get the same chance at the american dream that he got and there's nothing that makes that more likely, and that's what the debate should be about. >> that's what we were saying last hour. even if people start working again, this does what jeffrey sax has been talks about, recreates another bubble. sure, people flood into the mal malls, unemployment drops a little bit. but this is us chasing our tail again as we've been doing for a quarter of the century. >> what a lot of economists would say is there's this fear of recovery with it petering out and this will keep it from happening. it will help the jump-start and concacaf us more in a

self-sustaining cycle of growth going forward. joe, i think what we all agree on at a minimum is the only way it makes sense if it makes any sense, and i think it does, is if you couple the short-term stimulus boost immediately following a plan agreed by both parties to cope with the immediate term and the long term coming out of the white house that the president plans to take on. >> i've been hearing it for two years. >> i get it. >> it's nothing but words. >> okay. >> i've heard it from republicans for a decade. >> exactly. >> and the bush people that mean it. the republicans on capitol hill that mean it. nancy pelosi told us in 2006 that she was going to. she oversaw the greatest deficit and increase than any speaker in u.s. people. barack obama's people have been saying if she really cares about the deficit, joe, just wait. mark halperin says wait till the election and he's going to take care of the deficit in december.

we added a trillion dollars. let me say that again. >> you think that's going tochanged in two years in an election cycle? >> i think the -- >> this goes to mika's point earlier trd. i think the president might have started to tackle the deficit right away if the republicans weren't holding the economy hostage by saying if you don't raise the upper fk -- continue the bush tax cuts -- >> you're adopting the hostage-taking garbage too? barack obama didn't even fight. he didn't even fight. i mean arianna, seriously, i saw bill clinton beaten and battered politically for six months. he was lost, and we were savaging him. he never gave in. he never gave in for a year. we shut the government down. he never gave in. we finally had to meet him on his terms, and he met us on our terms in the middle. here barack obama says bush tax cuts, good thing.

>> what actually happened wasn't that. he gave in, he capitulated, he wanted something that he -- he proposed and accepted something that he's been opposing for years, and then in the press conference he actually talked about fighting, and this is a pattern. >> he does that. >> he sort of basically -- it happened with financial reform. he basically did a lot of what wall street wanted and them he gave a speech, calling them fat cats and attacking them. >> the politics, though, john, of this are very, very good. economically it will destroy us. i mean it will eat the flesh off all of our bones. i'm looking forward to that. yes, look at me. i think the president is -- in that -- positioned himself in the course of last week as being the last adult in the room, and that's where he wants to be. he needs to -- he needs to divorce himself. he needs to divorce himself.

we said for two years that he wedded himself too slongly to congressional leadership. for two solid years. last week he said i'm no longer going to be the legislative leader. i'm now going to be the president. >> all right. >> i think that's the right place for him to be. >> i laughed there, mika. i know we need to let you do your news story. i laughed when you said last adult in the room. that is, if you define an adult by somebody that goes in and puts duct tape over the child's mouth and then steals their biggy bank. >> now, stop >> let's argue this. >> what's adult about stealing a trillion dollars from the next generation? >> mortgage whip dick durbin says it will. take a listen. >> we're counting the votes in the senate. harry reid and i have been on the phone over the weekend. i can say we have a good section of the democratic caucus from

left to right who are prepared to accept this. most of us believe that as painful as it is, it's absolutely essential so our economy doesn't slump and we provide the kind of benefits that unemployed people and the middle-class folks need across america. >> and he supports it. >> then it goes to the house this week and chris says they won't lock it. >> we're not going to hold this thing up at the end of the day, but we do think that simple question should be put to the test. nobody can argue that that $25 billion -- >> the question is the estate tax. >> simple question -- >> you're saying we're not going to hold this up at the end of the day. so you're saying at the end of the day, you may want to vote on this, but at the end of the day, you're not going to held this deal up over the difference on the estate tax. >> e we're going to make sure the question is put to the test. we're going to ask republicans and others are they going to mock this entire deal in order to protect, you know, $25 billion. >> okay.

it is ultimately, though, a moral issue, and the democrats at least have the high ground because they don't have the power, but yet they don't like it. >> hold on, hold on, hold on, time out. this is surreal. this is surreal. for all democrats -- for all democrats that are trying to blame this on the republican party -- >> i am. >> -- let me remind you and everybody over the next two years is the president is going to try to get out from underneath this responsibly. it's all his fault. democrats have the president. they've got a 78% vote in the house that george w. bush never had, something i never had. they've got an 18-vote majority in the united states senate. they are the most powerful caucus on capitol hill probably in the past 20, 30 years. they have no excuse. they have a monopoly on washington, d.c. >> joe, joe, here's what's

happening. here's the problem. the problem is the president has been saying for months now that jobs is the house priority and the whole debate has gone completely away from jobs. nobody can tell you this is really substantially going to grow the economy, produce innovation, make us more competitive -- >> what are the democrats supporting? >> they're not supporting it. they begrudgedly -- >> mika, in all of washington -- you know, for the past eight years i have been hearing people talk about the bush tax cuts being the end, causing the end of the world to come to us, destroying the economy, running the deficit deepener the ground. i will repeat it again. democrats own the white house. democrats own the senate by 18 votes. democrats own the house by 17 votes-plus, and yet they're trying to blame the republicans for this? it's just like trying to blame the republicans for health care. they own it. >> that's why i agreed with you that this is going to have

consequences in 2012. i don't agree with john that this is going to be politically advantageous. it's not going to be. because in the end what's going to make a difference is what's happening to the economy. there's no question that the unemployment will remain unsepably high in 2012 and that's what's going to determine the fate of the elections. nothing else. >> let me ask yu, arianna. s who fault is it? the democrats or the republicans? >> absolutely the democrats' fault. there's no question -- >> who owns the house of representatives by 70-plus votes? >> i will say, joe, two things. >> no, no. answer my question. democrats -- >> i will agree with you but they don't have 60 votes in the senate. you can talk about it. you need 60 votes to get this done. so, in fact, they don't own that body. >> but guess what? if they don't want to pass the bush tax cuts, they don't have to. >> however, i'll tell you where the real fault in all of this lies is many people on the left.

democrats had a year and three quarters, all of 2009, three quarters of 2010, where they could have done this easily, and all of them went and begged to not have to take a tough tax vote in september and october. they could have dealt with this earlier. instead of taking the courageous tax vote, they said, no, we don't want to do it in an election season, and now they're blaming the white house for having to make a deal that is really a circumstance of their own making. >> let me bring in willie. willie, i just had the best -- the funniest vision. george bush, dallas, texas, watching sportscenter, eating pretzels and going like this. you know why? because the bush tax cuts that were supposed to be in the world are now the panacia. george bush has won. he has beaten them.

>> he made the argument implicitly that tax cuts are the answer. >> no, no. but he's absolutely right. they have allowed the narrative to become a completely republican narrative. the debate has shrunk down to what's happening around main street, what's happening to middle americans, what's happening to work people. whether they will continue, that's the question. are they going to fight, or are they going to surrender? >> progressives have been obviously furious about this. what outcome would they have liked to have seen? let them all expire even for the middle class? >> first of all, i totally agree with john. remember john boehner believed -- remember one of the sunday shows he said i'm willing to basically let the tax cuts expire.

>> they fought it. >> they could have fought it then. they didn't. >> still ahead this hour -- >> it's confusing being a democrat. >> no, actually, it's confusing being a republican, especially a fiscal conservative. they'll pay for that in two years. still ahead this hour. >> despite the fact that my -- >> they are shams. they are shams. >> democrats own washington, and they're passing push tax cuts. >> you know what? i actually think the president's going to come out very well on this politically. i don't agree with it, and i think it's completely immoral that all these millionaires are getting these huge tax cuts. they shouldn't, it's disgusting. >> blame the democrats and the democratic president. would them, they would expire. go, team. >> we're going to break. doimgt vo time to respond but i will. still ahead, senator evan

bayh -- >> you've got an hour and a half. >> i sure do. >> this show lasts forever. >> yes. i will take my time. i won't be rushed. chuck todd, plus former bush adviser mark mackinnon. first bill karins. >> it's been a nasty weekend. we're continuing this morning. the concern is the area starting to freeze over. if you're in washington, d.c., or baltimore, you now have light snow breaking out. 34 degrees. that temperature is dropping. be very careful driving today, especially on any elevated surfaces. new york city, your temperatures will plunge with snow showers breaking out. cleveland's going to get a snowstorm. the other big story, a cold bhaft from minnesota to florida. some of the coldest weather we've seen in years. you're watching "morning joe" brewed by starbucks.

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did you guys hear about this -- timothy geithner, treasury secretary, he had to go to the hospital today because of a kidney stone. yeah, on the bright side the stone was the first thing passed by a member of the obama administration. >> democrats this week rejected obama's compromise plan and the white house took a page from the music industry. if you're not selling like you used to, break out the greatest hits. >> all right. welcome back to "morning joe." look at that beautiful shot of the white house as the sun comes up over washington. joining us now former adviser to president george w. bush and contributor to "the daily beast," mark mackinnon. he's also the founder of no labels, putting labels aside to do what's best for america. also joining us, nbc white house

correspondent and political adviser and co-host, chuck todd. >> good morning. >> welcome to the show. >> we're just sitting here -- >> look how cool he looks. >> lovely in leather. >> we're sitting here laughing about george bush's tax cuts. >> well, i wasn't laughing. >> being called the scourge of humanity by democrats for eight years. >> it's still going on. >> now a democratically dem crated house, a democratic white house. >> there's a touch of irony there, a touch of irony. i will tell you one thing. people talk about this sort of trap that the president set on the tax cuts. i think that what's going to be interesting in two years from now, this is going to be in reverse. if the economy is in any kind of good shape the republicans are going to have to deal with the high tax cut extensions. >> talk about interesting, blast from the past, bill clinton -- >> no, smart move.

>> back in the oval office. as we said, for him, it's the best of all worlds. it's like having grandkids. you get the fun without the responsibility. you get to sit up there and talk. >> it's a great way of putting it. he was having a blast. he spejt more than 30 minutes in there. he would have gone another 30. gibbs yelled last question, i think, four times. and, you know, basically president clinton heard last question whelp he wanted to hear last question. i think on that point. you know, it had to be a scary moment, though, for some veteran liberal members of the house on the democratic side because seeing the ease with which clinton and obama are both sort of bonding, frankly, over how to deal and how to work with a divided government, i think the left knows what that means, and it's -- you know, some of their priorities and every once in a while politically they may be

used in a way to help the white house -- people want to call it three angulation, whatever you want to call it. it is their priorities. they just had two years to do what they could do. they're not going to have another two years to do that in the obama presidency. >> okay, mark mackinnon, who gets hurt by this more politically down the line in the next election, democrats or republicans. >> two years down the line if the economy is improving the government is gong to have to defend the high tax bracket extensions. >> i think so. you blame the democrats and you think, arianna, they'll be hurt by this, no? >> here's why they will be hurt. the economy is not covered for 2012. hecht's talk substance. there's nothing in this base that will substantially improve the economy and reduce the unemployment. the democrats are going to

suffer in 2020, including the president. >> chuck, let me ask you. if you're a progressive right now, why do you stay involved in politics? the bush tax cuts are extended by this president you got elected. he's tripled the number of troops in afghanistan. gitmo is staying open for the foreseeable future. not only are they not going to try khalid shaikh mohammed in new york city, they're not going to try him. on tom of that, nsa wiretapping, all the thanks they said they cared about, out the whip dough. they're not going to spend any more money. what's a base to do? where do they go? republican i think in many ways they need to stay invested in the presidency aspect of this thing because let's not forget. there's a lot of laws that the prokbresives in the white house got passed in the last two years. the next year is about

impleamenting. while congress isn't going to be where the action is, if they are invested in some of these issues, they need to get reinvested in the executive branch, in the administration when it comes to health care, how the law gets interpreted. financial reform, it's, again, how the law gets interpreted. they sort of write this off and they say not forget actually what they got done over the last couple of years. >> mark, i can't think of a conservative parallel to a democratically dominated washington, d.c., clinging to bush tax cuts. i guess it would be republicans passing socialized health care. >> yeah. my view is if the base ain't parking, you're not stepping hard enough. that's what presidents do. you've fobt to lead. if you're not getting it from the extremes, then you're n

leading. >> this is what's happening in the country. we're living in a split-screen reality. the debate we're having here has to do with people's lives. you have 27 million people -- >> 67% of americans. >> 27 million people out of work or unemployed. >> and multimillionaires doing better than ever. >> it's not progressives, the base. all this conversation is really utterly -- >> no, it's not, arianna. hecht me tell you something. the fact is that 67% of the americans support this deal just like 67% of the americans always support tax cuts and increase in entitlement spending. you know what? americans are to blame as much as anything because no tough choices are ever made in washington thamd tell pollsters, yes, please, cut our taxes, triple the number of troops in

afghanistan, spend more money than ever before. it happened with the bush administration. at some point americans are going to have to grow up and say if we don't watch out we're going to start going bankrupt. >> that's a great point. hold on. we even got to go. stand by. tell us about the chivana awards? >> best candidate today, the best candidate of 2010, the worst candidate of 2010. we'll be doing it every day. we've got a new category every day. you know, it will be -- it's a lot of fun. >> i like it. >> it's a good way to sum up the year. >> chuck todd, thank you so much. coming up, the "morning joe," fwr gridiron report with tony dungy. and there's senator evan bayh standing by. ♪

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>> he would not get off the field. a sad ending. a sad season for washington redskins. the former head coach of the indianapolis colts and analyst, tony dungy. coach, great to see you again. >> good to see you, guys. i remember my first year in tampa and it seem loadic we had those moments every week. sometimes you have to grow through them. >> redskins looked terrible yesterday. the game of the day, what was supposed to be the game of the day, patriots, bears, in chicago. th th they've got the home field, the snow. they were blown out of their building. what happened? >> they're playing so well. they've got focus, offense, defense. tom brady, i think, is cranking up. >> seriously, the past two weeks, it has been surreal. >> i think they're playing the best right now, and they're --

as i say, the focus and keeping the pedal to the metal. people were saying why does he still have brady in there when it's 33 to -- he's sending a message. he's saying, hey, we're serious, we're playing good football and -- >> he's never been known to take his foot off the pedal. >> i can't say that. >> it's like the tax cuts. the rich keep getting richer and the poor keep getting poorer. do you believe sanchez yesterday? i love the guy, but he's had a rough two weeks. >> the jets losing to the dolphins, 10-6 in the rain yesterday. what's up? no touchdowns in the last two games. >> they're not running the ball as well as they did earlier. their defense is off balance. now without him it's all in the past. sanchez, i think, maybe feeling like he's got to do too much. >> what do you think of rex ryan talking? it's like he's bringing up mark

p brunell. i love mark brunell, but -- >> he's a master motivator. that was a calculated thing. that didn't just slip out. he's trying to light a fire under mark sanchez. >> he seems like a great guy p. it's not like he's not focused enough. why do you want to make a young quarterback even more insecure? >> i think he might be just saying, hey, i'm putting blame on the quarterback to get the other people to rally, the other players to say, no, it's not mark's fault, we geesht to play better, we've got to support him. there's something to it. with rex, it's not always what you see. >> mika always threatens to fire us. >> well, i'm not threatening. >> you're not threatening today. >> i asked about the play, the strength and conditioning coach who trips -- what do you as a head coach do with a guy like that? >> we were talking about that

last night on our show "football show in america," you have to send a message. >> do you fire him? >> i don't think you fire him but i think the jets have to send a message and suspend him for a good portion of the season. >> can i ask something quickly cris collinsworth with "the new york times," it was something we've been complaining about an awful lot. i played football growing up, big guy. i love playing football. the tougher the hit, the better. but, man, this helmet to helmet from guys who are 260 who can run a 4 240, when are they going to crack down? >> they have. they've tried to take as many out of the game as they can. some of it's unvoidable. i this tharng i ooher trying to reduce it. i know they're working with the

helmet manufacturers to see if we can device safer helmets. a lot of different things. but they are doing a lot. >> but if players get suspended going helmet to helmet -- they were taught this at an early age. i saw it yesterday. you know what? he hammered him here, which is perfect. i mean you break a couple of ribs, i'm going to say, that's fine. if you're playing football, that's going to happen. >> the league has really done that with the players, emphasized the strike zone is below the shoulders. >> so the giants' fame with the vikings because of this scene at the metrodome, so the roof caves in. they obviously can't play there. the game moved tonight to detroit. who does that favor? >> well, it really helps the giants. any time you can get away from the home field of the opponents it helps you. it ooh foings to be a surreal atmosphere. fans from detroit, who do do they root for?

how many are there? >> they're not rooting for the vikings. >> probably not. probably more people rooting for the giants. >> and the vikings coaches were frustrated by this obviously. >> they would love to have them there. feefb the play was outside the university of minnesota, it would have been great for them. they'll make it work. coaches are used to adjusting. >> tell us, tony, what's the latest with your charity "al "all prodad." with chunky soup. at least one day a week getting together with your darksd hopefully with chunky soup and at least once a week do something to be active with your kids outdoors. so physical fitness, health, and eating right. >> dinner together. >> dinner together. >> i've seen so many studies out that show that kids that do better -- and we all are so busy, we all fail to do this, but kids who succeed and kids

who stay away from drugs and kids who are national merit scholars, they eat dinner with their parents and also here's another interesting one. they go on vacation hike for a week. >> they spend time together. >> they spend time together. it makes all the difference in the world. and we haven't done a study on churchy soup, but we will. >> it makes you a better dad. >> you f -- if you're by yourself as a dad, you can make that dinner easily. >> i like new orleans right now. >> new orleans and the pats for the super bowl? >> that would be a good one. >> big win for the colt this week against them. >> very nice to meet you. >> thanks so much. great to see you. >> great to see you again. >> coming up next, govern of

indiana, senator evan bayh. tomorrow, former prime minister gordon brown. ah, it's stinging a little bit more than usual! yeah, you'll get used to it. the longer you keep your high mileage car, the more it pays you back. get castrol gtx high mileage. it helps engines last longer by fighting the main causes of engine failure. i think a dime went up my nose. yeah, it happens. don't change your car. change your oil to castrol gtx high mileage. its more than just oil. it's liquid engineering.

i don't think he's going to face an opponent. the history of people running against presidents in their own party is the challenger loses and the president is weakened. he's done things that i think are terrific. this is not one of them but i think he will not get an opponent. >> all right. 43 past the hour. welcome back to "morning joe." joining us now, democratic senator from i. senator evan bayh. mark mckinnon is back at the table along with arianna huffington. there's an event we should talk about.

mark mckinnon, you're involved. senator bayh, you're on the panel. no labels. >> we've got a thousand citizens from across the country who have paid to be here. they feel the people in washington don't represent them that. i don't feel like they have a voice anymore because they look at washington and they see good people like senator bayh getting out because the process has gotten so harsh and so difficult to work across the aisle with one another. the way the system works now is people get punished if they try to work across the aisle. >> okay. so we can apply this today. senator bayh, first of all, you're on the pam today about hyp hyper-partisanship. >> be careful yochl u're the moderator. >> i'm the moderator. you have your hands full today. >> it's going to be tough. >> listen. mika and i have been debating who's to blame on the tax cuts.

>> i think -- >> it's okay. every time i say keep calm and carry on, you talk about no labels, people don't understand we're not talking about meeting in the mushy middle. we're talking about having -- >> -- a real conversation. >> -- a real conversation but being sishl about it, not making it personal. >> i think that's right, joe. what we're talking about is not talking about the least of the common denominator or as you say the mushy middle. i'm from the middle of the country and we're talking about practical results. what does it take to create job, promote investment, to make health care more afford aboutable, to improve the quality of education for kids. regardless whether you're a republican, democrat, liberal, or conservative, what does it take to move the country forward and talk the food fight that too often characterize as what goes on in washington. >> when did you get to washington? >> '99.

>> january of '99. literally my first day in the united states senator i was sworn in as a juror in the impeachment of a president. and believe it or not, i thinks have kind of gotten worse since then. >> mark, you've been a democrat, you've been a republican. it is interesting that we look back in the '90s which were pretty rush and tumble and clinton survivors, and we talk, hey, we got things done back then. i remember being shocked hearing tom brokaw and pat buchanan saying things were nastier now than in 1968 when cities were on fire. >> that's right. >> how can that be? >> we can talk about how we got there. there's a lot of reasons. recreating districts where you have people from the far left and the far right who don't represent america. that's a big part of the problem. we're going to be talking about election reforms that have no labels. the primary system is partly to blame. i like what california did, opening up that process. we'll be talking about that as

well. we can talk about that. there's no question that the way things are today are radically difference than they have ever been in our history. you look at reagan and tip o'neill. they don't meet with members of the other party. >> senator, remember, '90-'94 when newt gingrich took the job as speaker, he talked about the moral impairty of fighting poverty being more important than balancing the budget. he talked about fdr. he had a sense urgency about what was happening in the lives of working people. that was newt gingrich. and now we have barack obama defending tax cuts for the wealthiest americans. something has happened to our conversation. the shrinking of public debate, the shrinking of concerns. mika talked about injecting more reality into this obama debate. >> there's none in this deal. >> what's happening to our children, graduating from college, not being able to get

jobs. this's nothing in this deal. please tell me there's anything in this deal to mack it easier for college kids to get jobs. >> stimulative, put it that way. >> there are some progressive things in this deal, for exam example, extension of unemployment compensation. >> isn't that something everybody should have approved of right away? >> arianna, it's something yu and i would agree on right away but believe it or not there are some on the other side of the aisle who would say, no, not until it's paid for. so you and i could agree on it but there's another side to it that you've got to get some cooperation from or it's not going to get passed. there were some tax cuts targeted at the working people, the itc, some of those things that are in there that are progressive. so, look. i'll take a moment to defend the president. there are some things if he could have his way he would not have supported. in a way we were talking unemployment. at a time when ben bernanke was working about the fragile state

of the economy and resulting to extraordinary measures and trying to get it going, practically begging for more stimulus, we really need to focus on what does it take to get the economy moving. there are some very stimulative things in this. the payroll tax cut for example that's more progressive in nature. we can come back once the economy is growing and have this robust debate about this fair ps. >> we're going to be talking about hyperpartisanship. what are we talking? >> joe manchin, senator bayh and gergen. >> what do you think -- is it media-driven. >> no question they're complicit. they like to encourage conflict, and it's about ratings, but it's also, as i mentioned before, it's about redistributing. we're going to see more of that

because it's a redistricting year. the no-labels folks are going to be very active. they're going to be monitoring. >> mayor bloomberg is going to be there today. >> mayor bloomberg is -- >> even though he denied he's going to run for president do, you believe him? ? he's going to talk about redistricting. >> i take him at his word. >> i wouldn't have. >> stop it. >> here's what i will tell you. from hearing from all the people out there, they're not happy with the system the way it is. i'm telling disruptive. and i'm telling you, one way or the other, there may be a different alternative in 2012 because people are not happy in america. >> can i make one point? in my 12 years in the senate, i can recall three times when people genuinely came together. first, following impeachment, second, following 9/11, third, following the financial panic, to really try to rescue the country. the point is, it shouldn't take a crisis to cause us to do that. because the gathering challenges that we face will only get worse and compound over time.

so we have to find a way to have these robust debates, to disagree, but at the end of the day to make the progress that we can because the country deserves it. >> amen. >> agreed. >> all right. join the no-labels movement at nolabels.org. that's nolabels.org. that will be fun today. senator bayh, look forward to seeing you there. >> and it will be live streamed at nolabels.org. >> oh, great! >> when's our panel? late this morning. you're going to need to regroup, fashion wise. up next, kate gosselin gets a lesson on the great outdoors from sarah palin. >> i'm going to have to miss that. >> the cooler's next. see ya. [ male announcer ] at&t introduces a new windows phone... [ exclaims ] ...with...stage presence.

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welcome back to "morning joe." live pictures of chicago. had some snowy weather out there and it looks windy. they ought to coin that somehow. >> city of big shoulders. >> that's what it is. time for the cooler. some things you and yours might be talking about around the water cooler. did you see "sarah palin's alaska" last night? >> yes! no. >> she had kate gosselin and the eight kids on the show last night. they all went out camping. >> want to kill? >> well, not so much.

kate turned out, not a big fan of camping and she let that be known. >> this is just ridiculous. why would you pretend to be homeless. i don't get the concept. there's no paper towels. how do you make sandwiches for eight kids on your arm? i don't see a table, i don't see utensils, i don't see hand cleansing materials. this is not ideal conditions. i am freezing to the bone. i have 19 layers on. my hands are frigid. i held it together as long as i could and i'm done now. i'm hungry! >> kate having a little breakdown there. >> she's on a reality show set and she's comparing that to being homeless. that's awesome. >> her description of camping, kate gosselin, "why would you pretend to be homeless?" yale university out with its

annual list of most notable quotes of 2010. anyone want to venture a guess? for the first time ever, we have a tie at number one. the first one, "i'm not a wit , witch," christine o'donnell, tied with "i'd like my life back," tony hayward. and number three, "if you touch my junk, i'm gonna have you arrested." john tyner. the chilean miners' chant comes in at number five. and miami heat's lebron james who says, "i'm going to take my talents to south beach." >> i would have put the junk one in the top spot. >> instead of christine o'donnell qup. >> anything about touching junk. >> nothing can beat "i'm not a witch," especially when you put it in a commercial. >> you say it without irony. you actually have to declare to

the voters that you are not a witch. >> arianna, thanks so much. great to see. still ahead, senator joe manchin of west virginia joins the conversation. we'll be right back.

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the nature of compromise is that you have to accept some things that you don't like in order to get the things that you do. we had to make a compromise to get to where we are.

understand that this is a compromise. compromise by its very nature includes things that you don't necessarily like. the nature of compromise is that you have to accept things that you don't like in order to get things that are very important. >> we have to govern. that's what we were elected to do. >> but governing means compromising. >> it means working together. >> it also meaning compromising. >> it means finding common ground. >> you say you want common ground, but i'm not going to compromise. i don't understand that. >> when you say the word "compromise," a lot of americans look up and go, oh, they're going to sell me out. so finding common ground, i think, makes more sense. >> why won't you say -- you're afraid of the word! >> i reject the word. >> okay. good morning, everyone. hmm, you've got to see the part where he cries. we'll get to that, because there's several of them. it's monday, december 13th. with us set on "morning joe" are the "game change" boys.

mark halperin and national political writer for "new york" magazine, john heilemann. >> i reject the term. i don't know what term i'm rejecting, but i reject it. >> by the way, mika, you were very moved, not only by john boehner's story, but last night he looked pretty solid. he teared up a bit. we'll talk about that. >> oh, stop it. >> his story's amazing. >> it is an amazing story. and you kn, also on the other side, how fascinating, you've got david axelrod, compromise, compromise, compromise, yeah. here you have. it's like a two-year time lapse where barack obama has learned over two years what we've been saying here for two years, which is, it's james madison's washington. how many times have i said that? it's james madison's washington where you've got to compromise. they've figured it out. john boehner right now is running herd over 62 -- well,

80, 80 plus new members. and he can't run around saying the word "compromise," because they'll get skittish, won't they, john heilemann? >> they'll start tearing him from limb to limb. >> well, so far, they didn't have to on this. so his word "common ground," that might be too generous. seriously. >> well, i'll tell you what,s there, of course, the conventional wisdom, which is that republicans won overwhelmingly. and they certainly did ideologically. but there is, at least on the conservative side, i've only heard two people, myself and charles krouthammer say, wait a second, how many republicans have sold out the very principles that got them elected? did you see krouthammer's column on friday, when i think it was, that this was like a stimulus package. $900 billion. we're borrowing the money from the chinese. this is a disaster for conservatives. .

>> well, it's a good package for the economy and it's a good package for the president politically. i'm still not quite sure why democrats are so down on it. it has to be followed by deficit reduction in the longer term next year. >> that is funny! as we have pointed out here, mika, the debt commission comes out and there's fanfare and they come out, we have -- they come down from the mountain, they figured out how to cut $4 trillion over the next generation. everybody's like, ah, we can't do it, we can't do it. and then, that weekend they cut a deal to add an additional $1 trillion to the national debt. >> it's another steaming pile of garbage. >> it is another steaming pile of garbage. >> it is. >> in the short-term, it's what the economy needs. >> i disagree. >> and next election cycle, the president can call out republicans for being complete hypocrites. so he will win. >> no, he won't.

>> he's the hypocrite himself. >> isn't it funny that the republicans, people like me criticize the republicans for eight years and democrats joined in. yes, isn't it terrible how they spent too much money? and so barack obama has a $900 billion stimulus package two years ago. which, of course, we say is not going to work. and mow he has another $900 billion stimulus package. again, not paid for. and this one actually will get the economy revved up, but what's it going to do? willie geist, it's going to create -- and you're the economist. anytime anyone has a question, how will keynesian economics affect us in the long run. they go to willie geist, it reminds me of what jeffrey sachs, and i will just say it, and i have been saying for two years. all washington's trying to do is recreate a bubble. and so even if these tax cuts were best-case scenario, it's going to get people back into shopping malls and put us deeper

in debt. >> what?! joe, they've been there all along. >> no, we've got 15% real unemployment. >> yeah. and these tax cuts have been in place for quite some time. >> we've got 15% unemployment. even if it gets down to 8% real unemployment, we're not growing the economy. we're just ginning it up and just stopping -- >> that's what a lot of people are saying, a sugar high, but a sugar high we need in the short-term. >> oh, speaking of a sugar high. >> i wonder, joe, how long, though, do the democrats, like we saw anthony weiner on "meet the press," how long do they hold out on this fight. if the senate gets behind it today -- >> if i were a democrat in the house, i would vote against this in a second. i don't know -- because we can talk economics. and economically it's going to give us a sugar high, a jolt to the economy, long-term it's going to be a nightmare. but ideologically, i don't know how a liberal extends bush tax cuts that they have blamed on

everything that's gone bad over the past eight years. how do you go, mark halperin, from saying, these are the worst tax cuts ever to suddenly saying, this is our last best hope. >> oh, please. >> because it's on odd circumstance. you have to get something done before the new year. >> but if you're a liberal democrat, you can't vote for this. >> i don't think liberals are opposed to it because it's bad economics, they're opposed to it because it's unjust. >> and immoral. >> just like republicans think it's immoral and i think it's immoral for the federal government to take too much money from americans. >> so next year, in just a few months, when house republicans have to write ai inbudget, they be able to have a version of this fight again. >> this is so confusing, people just turn it on a dime, mika. there's no parallels to this. >> well, i can think of one, except, perhaps, friday afternoon. >> the agreement taken as a

whole is, i believe, the best bipartisan agreement we can reach to help the largest number of americans and to maximize the chances that the economic recovery will accelerate and create more jobs and to minimize the chances that it will slip back. >> and then, of course, mika, right after that, just fascinating. right after that they went out shoe shopping with dick morris. it's just like the more things change, the more they stay the same. >> actually, obama left the room and bill clinton went on and on and on and on. >> i love it! loved it! >> so much to say about this. but you want to talk about a sugar high. seeing that on friday kept me bused all weekend long. >> exactly! it was delicious. >> quick question, who was bigger? new pornographers at terminal five or bill clinton? >> way better! this is probably the first time in the history of the public where a current president and a

former president were on stage in a public setting and the current president walked out. >> and he said, dude, this whole tax thing -- >> and clinton says, yeah, you better go. you're right. >> and takes 20 minutes of question! i like this lectern. i remember what this is like. let's go, baby. >> and you know what, it's like grandkids, right? all the fun, none of the responsibility. he doesn't have to answer any questions. he just sits there. >> he really dug in when he got the two elbows down on the lectern. knew he was going to be there for a while. >> it's like watching beatle mania. >> and robert gibbs tried to cut it off, couldn't. and then at the end said, this counts for monday's briefing. >> no, so good. it was so smart, politically. seriously, to bring that guy back and have him back this tax deal. >> and i have to say,

interesting about it, not a scheduled thing. a decision made on the fly, literally, in the meeting with obama and clinton. and when they went down there, all the people from the press shop were at a christmas shop. so they had alerted nobody internally. i think obama decided -- give some obama some political credit for deciding, literally in the meeting, hey, let's go down and get this the press conference. >> and being man enough to know this would be good for him, even though he's bringing someone in who loves the limelight so much and does not really know how to see beyond himself. >> okay, what's happened? this is an internal thing. because for two years, for two years this man has isolated himself, he has been afraid to be overshadowed by others. he has. he has been a slow, slow learner, politically on how to win in washington, d.c. mark halperin, do you have any reporting at all on when the light switch within the off? because this was not an

evolution. this was a revolution. this happened overnight. he calls jamie dimon in, he calls bill clinton in, he's got the press conference with bill clinton. he's doing all the things he should have done over the past two years. what happened? >> well, this was a bit of -- this particular thing was an audible done on the fly in the meeting. i think that pete rastin, the new chief of staff, is one of with washington's most meticulous planners and great at being realistic. and being realistic, the president, as we've talked about before, he needs to build some coalition to govern. and you're going to see this week and all through the rest of this month, you're going to see attempts to rebuild a presidency that's in a real stalled position. >> but they just winged it. they just decide to go out there. and not to make too many beatle analogies, but this is paul and john sitting in the dakota watching "saturday night live" and going downstairs, trying to

get a cab because they wanted to play. except this time, they actually went out and played. >> just to focus on the politics of it. there's no democrat in the country more popular with liberals than bill clinton. you know, liberal democrats, he's the -- among democrats generally, but he's got a 90 plus percent approval rating. and the situation where the liberals in the house are revolting over this tax bill, there was no more powerful that could be put on it than having bill clinton come out. put nancy pelosi and harry reid in a terrible situation and made every house democrat complaining about it. now they're complaining against bill clinton's tax cuts. >> by the way, halperin has a great task, in a column you released at midnight. went up on time at midnight, a great test for what works for barack obama. and that test is? >> if, in the case of the tax package, if nancy pelosi and sarah palin are both against something, it's probably going to do pretty well with the public and the way obama's going to have to govern.

if nancy pelosi is against this, sarah palin is against it, obama and clinton are for it, a good place for him to be politically. >> that is actually 100% accurate. if you are making nancy pelosi and sarah palin angry, you are winning back those independents that barack obama -- >> it's a good sign. you know, michael bloomberg was on "meet the press" yesterday and he said the president ought to deal with the angry liberal base by just saying, you know what, deal with it. you've gotten everything you wanted so far. deal with it. david axelrod also appeared on the sunday shows and he was trying to diffuse some of the anger from the left. take a listen. >> i respect people who are unhappy. we share their view on tupper income tax cuts, on the estate tax. that was a part of the deal, odious that it may be, that we had to accept in order to get all the good things that come along with that. that's the nature of compromise. i'm sure there will be some who will have a hard time getting

over that hump. others will see that this is extraordinarily important for our economy and for people across this country that we not let this get to it as a washington-style standoff. >> you know, with i've got to tell you, i still think it's immoral that multimillionaires are getting a tax cut. and i guess, politically, joe, the next election cycle the democrats can say, you guys held us hostage and got what you wanted. now you have to own up sticking to your mandate, which is not to spend too much, and then you gave millionaires tax cuts. thanks a lot. good luck to you. good luck getting elected. >> they can do that in the house. barack obama -- this will be barack obama's tax plan. it will be barack obama's tax cuts for millionaires. it will be. he's the president, he brokered the deal, he owns it too. here's the real danger. everybody politically saying what you're saying, and i think it does make good political sense. tell your base, tough luck. bloomberg saying, tell your base tough luck.

there are times, though, where when a president gets in trouble, if his base isn't with him, everything goes down fast. george w. bush was a good example. but think about ronald reagan. he kept his base. iran contra came, his base stood by him, there was no way he was going anywhere. he rode out the storm. think about bill clinton, during impeachment, everybody thought he was gone, his base stood with him. especially, especially on -- hey, chris, i'm talking here, man. you cannot sing lullabies. i don't care if you have a new baby or not. i was in the middle of important talk and he was going, la, la, la. >> he was talking to me and he said that chris van hollen says they're going to get this thing true. >> here's my point. >> okay, i'm sorry, i'm fascinated. >> the point was, bill clinton, his base stuck with him.

women stuck with him through all of the horrible stories about women, because he -- the partial birth abortion, when that debate came up, he stayed with liberals, he stayed with women's groups. that's the one danger of basically telling your base, don't need ya. >> but i don't think that's what he's doing. he's telling congressional democrats, that's not his base. and right now among african-americans and hispanic voters, among even a lot of liberal voters, barack obama's still really popular. he hasn't lost his base. what he's losing is the "professional left." and to the point about the tax plan, as mark said earlier, what he needs to do to get past that, and i think he will do, he needs to now in the next six weeks push tax reform and come out with a big definicit reduction plan. >> so liberals are staying with him? >> they will stay with him, but i think he can get the professional left, have the tax fight again next year which is a

tax reform with a surcharge on millionaires. >> and the moral high ground. still ahead, senator joe manchin of west virginia will be here. and up next, the top stories in the "politico playbook." but first, a check on the forecast with bill karins. >> the weather a big story this morning. now we're seeing the cold air reaching the big cities on the east coast. baltimore's now dropped down to 32 degrees along with d.c. we have a lot of rain in this area, and now we have light snow that's covering i-95 from baltimore up towards philadelphia. be very careful. these roads will get icy in a hurry. still have rain up in boston, but by this time tomorrow, that cold air will work your way. the forecast today, temperatures dropping, snow showers drop rg out, even new york city could see snow showers later this evening. the windchill, this is the big story. look at atlanta. you don't see a windchill in atlanta of 3 that often, but that's the case. minus 11 in chicago, minus 20 in minneapolis. a bitterly, bitterly cold air

mass. today's high temperatures not even getting to 32 in atlanta. and the other huge story which will be tonight and tomorrow morning, look at orlando, florida, a low of 23. that will be a devastating freeze. that will probably raise the price of your orange juice and your oranges and your strawberries, because they're going to see some crop losses with lows like that. you're watching "morning joe," brewed by starbucks.

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there's some things that are very difficult to talk about.

family, kids. i can't get to a school anymore. i used to go to a lot of schools. i used to see all these little kids running around. can't talk about it. >> why? >> making sure that these kids have a shot at the american dream like i did. it's important. >> 23 past the hour. welcome back the "morning joe." time now to take a look at the morning papers. "new york times," this week, rahm emanuel faces perhaps his most significant challenge to his effort to become mayor of chicago. proving he actually lives there. the former white house chief of staff is trying to fend off dozens of objections that he hasn't maintained legal residency in chicago long enough to run for mayor. >> "wall street journal," richard holbrooke. the obama administration's top envoy to afghanistan and pakistan remains in critical condition after suffering a tear

in his aoreta. he's hospitalized at george washington university. a good friend of this show. we're certainly thinking of him this morning. >> praying for him. minnesota "star tribune," down it came. the weight of snow made the roof collapse on the metrodome. and the chief correspondent at politico is mike allen and he's got a look at the playbook. >> hey, guys, i promise not to choke up. >> go ahead. it's in vogue. >> keep it together as you bring us up to speed on the harry reid online gambling story. you guys reported to us last week that senator reid tried to tuck a bill to legalize online gambling into the tax cut bill. what's the update? >> this is a tear jerker, especially if you're indian tribes, which say this would hurt them. senator reid is looking for new ways to attach this. and we found out before from bill frist who was then the

senate majority leader and got this original ban in. if the senate majority leader wants something bad enough, he has ways of making it happen. there's a couple of more bills still coming up in this unusually dramatic lame-duck session, when this could get tacked on. now, nbc's mike isikoff points out this would benefit the casinos first, so state lottery directors, indian tribes are against this. >> and why was this so controversial to begin with, what was the problem here? >> republicans say that this legalized online gambling made it easier for people to fall into -- they looked at it almost as a moralistic issue. but if you're from nevada, it's very much an economic issue. casinos were heavy supporters of leader reid in his re-election, and whether coincidence or not, he's really jamming his foot on the gas for this measure. >> let's talk michelle obama, the first lady and the president

of the united states, making a rare joint appearance today at an elementary school in washington. what are they going to be talking about? >> willie, the president today is going to be signing the childhood nutrition act, and mrs. obama will speak as well. and she's going to make the point that childhood obesity, which has been her big issue, one of her big issues, is not only a health issue, not only an economic issue, but also a national security issue. she has a number of retired generals who have come out. people in the army now, who say that when they go to recruit, the biggest health issue, the biggest mental issue that keeps people from joining the army is that they're fatties! >> unbelievable. >> so mika, who has been a leader in this issue, we're finding that educators, physicians, now the military all coming together to put a spotlight on this shall. >> that's great. we need that. we really do. i really applaud the first lady. >> i agree, who wouldn't. mika, when you say "leader," you mean tyrant. she's been a leader on this

story. mike allen, thanks so much. business before the bell with erin next on "morning joe." holy sci-fi. steve. no, i know. it's great, right? but, dude, i've been thinking like, this is such a great opportunity for us to write at least an hour to two every single day. you can see this? of course i can see you. but, steve, i'm thinking-- it's like you're standing-- it's like you're standing right there. it's like i'm touching you. yeah. introducing cisco umi, together we are the human network. cisco. it's like i'm talking to you from the future.

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♪ >> you've been listening to the smooth sounds of vladimir putin

at his fund-raiser in russia where he was singing and doing it well. he says he knows lyrics to that song. that was one of the ways to learn english. the cutaway's the best part of it. goldie hawn was in there somewhere. there was a sharon stone coming up. this is "snl" sketch stuff. >> the only thing that would have made it better if he would have done it with his shirt off. >> there's costner. >> willie, i need more information. i don't get it. >> i don't think you do. just drink it in. >> it's surreal. >> they're all there honoring vladimir putin, because you know how much costner loves -- >> that's true. >> let's get a check on business

before the belle with cnbc's erin burnett. she is an international superstar. surprised she was not invited to that gala. >> i know you have to smile and be happy when he does that, because you don't want to know what the alternative might be after the party. >> everybody in the room knew the alternative, so they were having a good time. >> wow, all right. okay, so here we go. let's get to business before the bell. higher open and the reason is in part due to china. china did not raise interest rates, which, you know, everyone says, that's good. that means they'll keep buying things and growing and the engine of the world economy keeps chugging. the problem is, china has a really big problem. we made a full screen just to show everybody how big the problem is. and you see these numbers? okay? all these numbers are up. and you're like, what is up? the whole point is, it doesn't matter. this is intentionally confusing. this is prices for eggs, food, edible oils, you know, soy oil

and all that kind of stuff. real estate prices, you name it. those are one-month increases, guys. can you imagine if things were going up that much here? and wages, by the way, are not going up anywhere near as the cost of eating and shelter over there. so they've got a really big problem. and that's rights a lot because, a, they're going to have to raise interest rates. and b, their problem is our problem in a very direct way. they're driving the price of commodities around the world. so when you see their prices go up, it hurts up. oil is a great example. right now i'm looking at $90 a barrel. oil prices have been up over the past three months. we'll have gasoline at the pump at $3, most likely, this christmas. i believe we're at $2.97 right now, for the first time ever. and we haven't had gasoline prices this high since right before the crisis. and the reason that's important is nothing else in people's lives is back to where it was before the crisis. their incomes aren't, their spending isn't, and certainly their home prices aren't, right?

but we all have to pay for gasoline and energy and those prices are up. so that's a big issue and it's sort of hanging out there. it's not insignificant and assist big problem for ben bernanke, because you've got a tax on consumers coming from all these commodity prices right as he's trying to keep interest rates low. and he'll be meeting tomorrow to the talk about -- well, i don't know what he's going to the talk about, because he's not going to raise interest rates, nor is he going to change this quantitative easing process. but every word he says will be parsed incredibly carefully. so those are the big headlines. but right now companies continuing, okay, hunky dory, we're not going to cry with what's going on in china. and they're doing a bunch of deals, our parent doing a deal in the oil service industry, getting in on that train, there's about $6, $7 billion of deals being done this morning. so all-in, optimism rules, but there's some clouds out there. >> president obama invited about 20 ceos to the white house this week.

google, facebook, ibm, a bunch of different companies. what does the business community want to hear from president obama? that's a really tough question. the president has got a lot of a beating on wall street for not being pro-business. it's unclear how much of the hating business is rhetoric and how much of it is reality. but certainly he's trying to make a big public push. and what they'd like to hear, they'd like to hear that their statutory tax rate's going to go down. that's what they'd like to hear. they're not going to hear that, but that's what they want. >> all right. erin, thanks so much. love the graphic. just a bunch of numbers. >> that was the point, throw them out there, they're all terrible. >> what are these numbers? it just duroesn't matter. >> thanks, erin, so much. standing by in the green room, senator joe manchin of

west virginia. and up next, the "morning joe" football frenzy with roger bennetts next on "morning joe."

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fifa, the world soccer organization, says that brazil is way behind in making preparations for the world cup. will the country be ready? >> translator: look, first, we need to be careful about europe european perfectionism, because everything that happens here in the south, they think they know better than us. well, the europeans may put their minds at ease, because we will organize the most extraordinary world cup ever.

>> whatever! with the billions of dollars of bribes they got, they should. with us now, espn soccer analyst, roger bennett, he's the author of "everything you need to know is pong," a book that has literally changed the way we live and the way our children process information. their minds completely rewired. >> it's like google. so west ham and man city, how did that good? >> the big news out of man city is that mika's favorite player, captain of the team, slapped in the transfer request. >> he wants to leave! >> two children, one of whom has just been born, homesick for argentina. willing to give up the 2,000 pounds a week he earns -- >> they call him the labradoodle? >> they do. so is he the parent of the year -- >> look at these. they go from having the ugliest -- see that baby blue

jersey, to those very cool shirts with the stripe across them. >> peru in 1978. >> i want that shirt. >> they showed yesterday they don't real need him. they can bang in the the goals without him. west ham ron run by a former pornograp pornographer and a chain of sex shops. >> buy me those jerseys. >> what in the hell -- >> let's talk about it. >> -- has happened to chelsea? this is a team that was unbeatable. now they've gone five premiere games without a victory. >> the free fall continues. they're in the london darby here against -- they've been playing above the rim all season. look at this. looks a little bit like cameron diaz, but he can bang them in. this is cameron, they can't score, but this is how they

score. a man who can pull off it one minute and likely to throw the ball in the back of his neck. >> flattens and makes a brazilian pancake out of ramirez. >> no! >> is it a bird, is it a plane? it's gomez mucking around. this time he saves the game. >> how did that happen? >> are chelsea back? i don't think so. they claim they are, but in the next two weeks, they're playing stern tests ahead. >> it has been the grimmest of seasons for liverpool. >> he's upset. he's crying. it's going around. >> they play such a grim round of football. >> they have two problems. one of them is attack, the other is defense. here they're playing newcastle, a team -- it makes manchester city look normal. a great time for liverpool to play them, but not today.

liverpool players who bang them in from all angles. the first was kevin mingel, the third was the tartanesque -- >> the one that does the hitler salutes? >> he does prefer the hitler salu salutes. he wrote about the trade to the red sox. he got a liverpool fan to say it. if liverpool had 42 million, never mind $142 million in the transfer to spend, they'll be very happy. >> they're going to have to spend that money. liverpool looks just bleak. they look old, tired. >> if you saw roy on the sideline, this is you rubbing your eyes earlier, this is roy -- i don't know if you can show that again. >> very much like you. >> as mika said, it is contagious. >> and what's the question he asks himself as he stands in front of the mirror? >> every morning in his

underpants, he looks in the mirror to psych himself up with, who's the governor, i'm the governor! >> he's not going to survive, is he? >> the clock is ticking. >> he's got to go. the last english gentleman. >> we'll have to dial up mike barnicle, get henry on the case and i think a new manager. >> they need new players too. >> they need a healthy couple of strike, your man looks like he wants to get away from there. i think the second half of the season we'll be rebuilding. governor joe manchin next, senator joe manchin now. can you come back tomorrow? s >> whenever you want me. >> it's perplexing to watch you. i don't know what to say. [ female announcer ] imagine the possibilities with stelara®.

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until one of the guys brought in some fresh bread that he'd made from our pale ale. and from that first bite, i knew my business would never be the same. [ male announcer ] when businesses see an opportunity to grow, the hartford is there. protecting their property and helping them plan their employees' retirement. ♪ beer or bread? [ male announcer ] see how the hartford helps businesses at achievewhatsahead.com. the republican blackmail here, they're really saying that a bunch of gangsters, that's a nice middle class tax cut over there, pity if anything would happen to, and unless you give the millionaires and billionaires their tax cut, we're not going to allow the

middle class to continue getting their tax cut. but the millionaires and billionaire's tax cut will cost $700 billion added to the deficit over the next four years. >> it's a bitter pill to swallow the high-end tax cuts. but what the president was able to get, that is substantially bigger than that and important for the economy, whether it's incentives for investment for firms, whether it's a payroll tax cut for 155 million workers, money for college education, et cetera, is really important and we can't let that go away. >> welcome back to "morning joe." 49 past the hour. >> you know what else we got? >> what else we got? >> $1 trillion from china. >> o.k. and how much, by the way -- >> $1 trillion from economy. >> that's good. we'll just continue as we've been continuing for the past ten years at least. >> this is stimulus two, just like stimulus one, we got $1 trillion from the chinese.

>> i'm glad you see the parallels with stimulus. >> charles krauhammer said, barack obama will get a second stimulus package from republicans. >> and republicans put away what they believe in to make sure it happens. joining us now, democratic senator from west virginia, senator joe manchin. thanks for coming on the show. >> thanks for having me. >> we're very excited to have you here. very excited about you going to no labels. >> he'll be on the panel today. >> back in west virginia, you had something called vision shared where you brought everybody together before decisions were made. >> vision shared is something we started a while ago. i said, we need to bring everybody together and keep them together making decisions. >> so this would include business and labor all in the same room before you made decisions. >> they knew exactly what we were going to do. and not everybody agreed on it,

but they walked out saying, you know when, i understand where we're going. >> and you ended up being endorsed by the afl-cio and -- >> the u.s. chamber. >> unbelievable. it's radical, isn't it? if instead of separating you bring people together, it's very simple. and it's not like you changed your basic values. >> no. >> you just listened. >> you'd be surprised that the people really want to come together. they want to work together, they just think they're supposed to be apart. i've been here three weeks in washington. i've been labeled a conservative and a liberal. >> that's a good day. >> welcome to my world, baby. >> you know what i noticed when i went to washington, i know you've noticed the same thing. you walk in -- at least i did in the house -- and both sides separate. when you're in committees, they separate. when you're on the house floor, they separate. and if you walk over to the other side and sit, and my god, have a conversation with democrats, you're -- >> i've reached out, i've been there a very short period of time, i've the new guy on the

block, if you will, and i've reached out to both sides. i'm walking and talking, trying to go to their offices and meet with them. you've got to build that report. and when i went to the committee meeting, i know the floor's separated, but in committees back home in west virginia, we sat together, talked together, we built friendships. we knew each other and we could talk through things. we don't even have a chance to do that in washington because we're separated on both sides. and basically, i would love to sit over and talk to some of the people i don't get to talk to on the floor. and we're so busy in our own lives during the day. i think that's a perfect time. at least committees should be interacting. >> i was on the education committee, early on. harold ford had just gotten in. and i saw him welcoming and i went over and sat down next to him. young guy, there weren't a lot of us under 35. so i was sitting there, talking for about ten minutes. i was like, basically, where do you school? who's going to win the nca this year. and then i walk back to my chair

and get a staff member pulling me out going, what did you say to him? what were you talking about. >> it's like you and maxine. >> it's amazing. >> but on a leadership level. wouldn't you argue that what the president did is exactly what everybody has been complaining about for a year, which is reach out to the other side and actually practice bipartisanship. >> you've got to talk to the other side. >> when i ran this past time, i'd never seen anything like it in my life. >> against a guy, by the way. let me just say, if you're running in west virginia, you want to run against a guy whose family lives in palm beach, florida. that's good, senator. go ahead. >> it helped a little bit. but in running, i never saw the situation. and we're talking about different things that need to be done, how we're going to fix the problems and on and on and on. trying to bring people together. we bit the bullet about six

years ago we didn't do anything we couldn't sustain. didn't start any new programs, used attrition to downsize and tried to get our house in order. so i said, i'm going to go to washington and basically did the same thing we did in charleston, get our financial house in order. if you really want to be strong and help people, you better get your finances in order. that's what scaring me right now. so we're voting on continuing tax cuts and this and that. the middle class does need help and we need to keep it going, but there are some things that are very comfortable, why are you piling on, why are you adding more than we really have to. i'm not going to second-guess, but a lot of the democrats upset right now because they said they weren't involved in that process. i don't know. i can't tell you. i'm on the outside looking in, but we've got to do something to move this ball forward. >> senator, you're put together an excellent staff, i understand, having taken away -- >> what are you talking about? >> having stolen an msnbc

contributor to be your chief of staff. i'm sure what he's told you already is that you know, in the senate, you'll have to focus on a couple of issues. what are the two things you're going to focus on? >> finances. >> finance? >> finances right now. i can tell you, and basically, i've said this when i was running to. if it's going to be bought in america, the policy should be, made in america by americans. and looking afor a, there's too much that goes offshore and sold back to america because of our consuming markets and they want to make americans understand, how are we going to buy it if we can't make it and can't earn the jobs to do it. so jobs and finances. >> senator, you took a lot of heat last week for your vote on don't ask, don't tell. the only testimony to vote against repeal. explain the vote. >> i was there for three weeks. it is something that probably

needs to be repealed and it will be repealed. but i was voting on basically a timeliness. i heard absolutely at the end of the day, i heard both of them telling me that it should be on our time tooitableimetable, not legislative timetable. >> who told you that? >> joint chiefs of staff. >> that's always been my test. if the generals are out there saying, this isn't going to cause a problem like it doesn't cause a problem in israel -- >> i'm fine with that. but what they were saying is, we've got fronts, we've got a war in afghanistan going on, 50% of our troops deployed. can you not wait until we get out -- >> senator mannix, bring up the know labels live shot. you, david gergen, joe, and senator evan bayh on a panel this morning. you can see on nolabels.org streamed live. up next, what have we learned?

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