number one story on msnbc.com. passengers on nightmare cruise get full refund. i should hope so. it's the very least they could do. we asked you at the top of the show what you're doing up at this hour. our producer rob has a couple answers. >> michael writes, up because i want to call dibs on scarlet johansson. >> yeah. did you hear about that? scar jo, like to call her scar jo, the coffee bean in l.a., that's a couple of good of good looking entities right there. i think they'll be fine. one more. >> sarah writes she started baking at 2:00 a.m. and got a little carried away. >> you started baking at 2:00 a.m. i think that's when you got a little carried away, sarah. "morning joe" starts right now. i guess my biggest failure was not getting re-elected. i learned two things. one is that you ought not to

ever let american hostages be held for 444 days in a foreign country without extracting them. and i think another lesson i learned is i should have paid more attention to the organization of the democratic party. i was not only the leader of our nation, but i was also the leader of the democratic party and i think i failed in that respect to keep the party united. it was divided in my re-election campaign between me and people who were loyal to ted kennedy. that cost me a lot of votes. so those were the two things that i believe that could have been done better. >> all right. welcome to "morning joe." this is how we're going to start today? >> they were not laughing at the former president, but the production value. willie wanted to know whether he had taken a flip cam to his bathroom with the white linoleum background.

>> it's only wednesday, december 15th. good times. with us onset on "morning joe," msnbc contributor mike barnicle, and director of the earth institute at columbia university dr. jeffrey sachsachs. >> willie geist also with us. dr. sachs, congratulations. we have been here for two years criticizing washington for being fiscally irresponsible. >> i think we finally made it. >> i think we made it. we found a republican party who is working with a democratic president, and together it's just two great tastes that taste great together. a trillion dollars added to the national debt in the blink of an eye. >> just like that. >> they've done it -- they are doing it right now without the slightest trace of shame. >> $3,000 of debt for every single american without any

discussion at all. >> no discussion -- >> no discussion with the american public. >> no offsets. >> and off all the months of that commission and what are we going to do? how are we going to get things under control. >> they adjourned, and that week they added another trillion -- okay. they're gone. are simpson and bowles out of town? yeah. let's add another trillion dollars to the debt. >> it's out of control. >> dr. sachs, do you think it was necessary, adds the as the president has argued and others, that we could not allow those tax cuts to expire, something had to be done, as the president said? >> they were delight washington, d.c. this deal, both sides. the president thinks he's got his stimulus, as if we need stimulus of this kind. and the republicans have their eye on one thing. it's not the deficit. it's the tax cuts. so both sides are actually delighted, the white house and the republican leadership. it's only all of us, the rest of

us that are wondering what just happened. >> you know, the largest tax increase, mike barnicle, it's a tax increase that we americans haven't seen in a long time, and our politicians and our economists and academics are so arrogant, we believe we're immune to this, it's inflation. you keep spending money like this, at some point inflation explodes and that acts as the biggest tax increase on the american people. this is mind blowing to me, that the republican party who has been talking about fiscal responsibility and the president who has been promising us along with mark halperin, that he's going to get serious about the deficit for the past two years, just blindly throwing another trillion dollars in chinese money into the system. >> it's actually kind of depressing. >> yes, it is. not kind of. >> they're not serious people.

this bill is nearly 2,000 pages in length. it puts $1.1 trillion more onto the bill. either they are completely ignorant of reality or none of them come from a family where you have to figure out your monthly, your weekly budget and you know what you can and cannot spend even with the holidays approaching. you know what you can and cannot charge to pay off in january or february. it's depressing to think about their behavior. they consistently do this. >> all right. we were going to get to afghanistan first. that was going to be our lead. we'll start with taxes now and get through this since we've already set the scene. the senate is set to finally vote on the tax package bill this afternoon after postponing it yesterday. despite the delay, the measure to extend all the bush tax cuts are expected to sail through the chamber with strong support. senate passage will send the bill to the house where in a meeting last night democrats discussed a plan to discuss an alternative to the estate tax

provisions, many of them in the chamber oppose that. they want to set the rate at 45% rather than the 35% demanded by republicans, and agreed to by president obama. if amendments were adopted in the house, it would have to go back to the senate for further action. after yesterday's meeting democratic congressman elijah cummings said he was confident they'd move forward with the tax package this week. >> right now is a question of how much can be changed without ruining the president's efforts to get this thing through. i think everybody is kind of sensitive to that. i said before i think the package will pass because i believe republicans love this package. so i think they'll get significant republican votes, and i think that it will probably get quite a few democratic votes, not necessarily a majority. >> lawrence o'donnell said yesterday that all of these

people that came out on the democratic side opposing this bill were having to slowly roll it back, and that they were going to support this bill. and you can say the same thing on the republican side as well. the house leadership, and we've talked to quite a few members over the past week that have been very offended by the fact that the leaders did a deal with the president and then said you're going to vote on this. a trillion dollars, a trillion dollars added to the national debt with this scam bill, this stimulus package. dr. sachs and i have been saying for two years, all they're trying to do is rebuild the bubble, get people back into shopping malls. >> both parties appear to be doing that. >> they are. >> absolutely. >> both parties are doing it. >> they had an opportunity to not look so hypocritical, dr. sachs, osh not? couldn't they have come forward with a little bit of a better deal here for america and its future in terms of its fiscal health? >> of course. >> but they don't want to?

>> neither side wants to. this is more spending, more tax cuts until the next election. then they'll run 2012 on who is going to make these cuts permanent. we're back to we've accomplished nothing except another trillion dollars of debt. >> it's gotten worse. >> joe, what's amazing is at the white house they were not unhappy that they were being pulled into this. they were delighted they got their stimulus. that's the amazing thing. one side cares only about getting the tax cuts. doesn't care about nickels. they don't look ahead. nobody does any arithmetic. the other side, the white house likes deficits actually. this is larry summers' exit, his last trillion dollars for the american people because he wants the deficit right now because he thinks that's good for the economy. so you have these two sides in

this joint agreement that makes absolutely zero sense. >> no sense. mika, even if this stimulus plan works -- and how funny that the republicans after attacking obama's first stimulus plan. it's going to kill us. he's a socialist, he's a marxist. our children are going to be slaves to china. hey, guys, q i have another trillion dollars? sure. >> exactly. >> now the republicans are engaging in a second stimulus package of barack obama's that will get us deeper in dead than nancy pelosi's. hers only cost $800 billion. this cost $955 billion. here is the bitter joke on us, the taxpayers. even if this works, it's a sugar high that gets people back intimals for maybe half a year. >> to do what we do in america, to continue our sort of downward spiral which is just spend wildly money that we don't have.

get fat and put it off for the next generation. >> well, there's nothing wrong with that. >> i'm just saying. who cares about getting into malls? that's what we were going to start with today. this is interesting. obviously -- the other big thing going on is the president is having ceos, reaching out to business today. but there's a report in this morning's "new york times" that is offering a dim view about the war in afghanistan. sources in the intelligence community are reportedly giving a very bleak assessment of the situation there, arguing that large swaths of the country remain at risk of falling to the taliban and that neighboring pakistan is still supporting insurgents. it comes as the white house is planning to unveil a report tomorrow that press secretary robert gibbs says will affirm the president's timetable to begin withdrawing some u.s. forces next july. >> i doubt there will be, in all honesty, a lot of surprise at what the review lays out.

there has been some important progress in halting the momentum of the taliban in afghanistan. we have seen through counterterrorism success at degrading senior al qaeda leaders, and we've seen greater cooperation over the course of the past 18 months with the pakistani government. >> president obama is expected to speak about the assessment tomorrow. and ahead of the release, he met for nearly two hours yesterday with secretary of state hillary clinton, defense secretary robert gates and other top military national security advisors to go over the review. this should be interesting over the next 24 hours, to watch it unfold. we were at the council on foreign relations last night. and obviously afghanistan was a big issue and a big question. you were asking richard haass, is there anybody, anybody in a policy making, in a real position of power who has a clear answer as to why we should be gunning ahead there. >> i actually -- richard asked

us the question about afghanistan. he's been very critical of afghanistan and the troop surge there. why? i turned the question on him, mike. i said we sit around this table every day and we have top foreign policy advisors every day and we keep asking, what's the end game? why are we there? i asked richard the question. i said let me turn it back on you. i said have you heard one foreign policy expert explain why we're wasting $2 billion a week in afghanistan and getting 19-year-old kids shot in the back of the head to justify that? richard said no, there's no justification. it's karzai. >> they know it like so many other policies. they know completely this is vac ous. this is, again, push it forward, push it forward. this is the change. all we're doing is going down exactly the same rut on every one of these policies. no change at all. and they know that this one is

failing, absolutely. you read any discussion of these inside -- look at woodward's book which details -- day today they didn't have a plan, no clue, no strategy. >> no plan, no clue. >> all they'll do is kick it forward. >> we had richard holbrooke come on the show doing what richard had to do because it was his job, defending afghanistan, saying just wait -- and then the next week the woodward book came out saying richard was against it, the vice president is against it. mike, they know afghanistan is a failed war. they cannot win. but barack obama does not want to be slammed by republicans before the 2012 election as being weak on defense. they know it's failing. >> it's called lack of leadership and lack of courage. you want to reduce the deficit at a practical level, start eliminating 100,000 troops in afghanistan. that's one small step. >> $100 billion a year for nothing.

>> for nothing. >> the other thing they ought to think perhaps of doing, members of congress, house and senate, and the president of the united states himself. i realize he does some of this privately. last friday more than 2,000 people stood in line in a small town, sudbury, massachusetts, to attend the wake of a 23-year-old marine lieutenant scott miller killed in afghanistan. go stand in line on a cold winter day for a 23-year-old who was killed in afghanistan and ask yourself is that young man and his family's ultimate sacrifice, is that going to change the way afghanistan is five years from now, seven years from now? no, it's not. >> you know his name, but most of the people in washington don't. we had a question from the audience where somebody was offended that i said that there aren't elites that we know, that we work with, that are our friends, either in the media world or the political world in

washington, d.c. who have sons or daughters fighting and dieing. it's not -- it was for joe biden. it is for doris kearns goodwin. but it's something that washington just doesn't have to think about. let's stay another year or two because we don't want to be blamed for losing a war -- >> it's a line item, joe, a line item in the budget for people voting in the house and senate. for hundreds of thousands of americans, not a whole lot, it's a family member. it's a line item. >> one of the most depressing parts about that report in "the new york times," something we already knew but pointed to in the intelligence report which is we can't do anything without the help of pakistan which we don't have. you stay in afghanistan for years and years and decades to come. unless you can get the help of pakistan, nothing happens. >> who were our two partners in this war without end? pakistan and karzai. let's think about that again. who are our two allies? pakistan and karzai.

young american men and women are dieing all the time, six died this week in one attack, to prop up karzai and to somehow stabilize pakistan. >> joe, you look at the people around the stable in the situation room, not one of them really knows about afghanistan. that's the other amazing thing. where is anybody that really understands the country? we don't even have that. we don't even have that minimum step. it's all to push it forward. >> it is -- it is depressing. joe biden knows we need to get out of afghanistan. >> i mean someone that really knows why -- what's happening in that country, what's happening in the society. nobody knows. this is generals and -- >> they're all going to push it forward, push it forward for political reasons. the generals are going to push it forward because they want to win the war.

that's their job. at some point the president of the united states, the commander in chief needs to step up and say, we've been there for a decade, no closer to victory today than a decade ago. while blaming george bush helped me get elected. the fact is george bush could have sent 500,000 troops into afghanistan and it still wouldn't be tamed. guess what? when we leave, it will still be what it was after the soviets left, after the british left, after alexander the great left. this is not new. >> we will have moved them into the 12th century. >> i would not be that optimistic. obviously we need more time coming up. we'll take it. it's a three-hour shore. senator sherrod brown, archie manning and digger phelps. politico has more on a major shakeup at the white house. first bill karins with a check on the forecast. >> good wednesday morning everyone. we're still at the heart of this arctic outbreak on the eastern

seaboard. the winds are gusting. we had a little light snow in boston last night. the roads and sidewalks probably have a little coating. be careful. the windchill is the story. minus one in albany. hartford to boston, your windchill is down in the single digits, two exactly. the big cities is 13. you get the gist of it. just like yesterday, dress as warmly as possible. highs today only around the 20s and maybe if you're lucky, the 30s. the cold air down to florida once again today and even chicago and minneapolis. get ready for light snow later on tonight. the forecast around the country, we warm it up in texas, still very cold this morning in florida. i any this is it from here on out, we're slowly going to warm it up. you're watching "morning joe" brewed by starbucks.

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i'm going to let him speak very briefly. i've actually got to go over and do just one more christmas party. >> you're going to leave that guy, the michael jordan of press briefings in charge while you go to a christmas party? remember wally pitt, mr. president. of course, you don't. he sat down for a day and let lou gehrig take a couple cuts. >> it's funny, but actually i thought it was very confident of president obama and smart. it was funny, don't you think? >> i don't think in the middle of an economic crisis where i had a former president i'd leave for a christmas party. i sure wouldn't announce it.

i would say i've got really important president stuff to do. >> he probably had work to do and somebody was -- i'm with the press. he wanted to let him have his moment. >> what did he just say? bill clinton, i'm loving it. keep it between the lines. let's take a look at morning papers. "the boston globe," senator job kerry and other democrats say they have secured enough bipartisan backing to ratd phi the s.t.a.r.t. nuclear arms treaty with russia, a vote that would be a substantial foreign policy victory for the president. >> "new york times," the air force is banning its personnel from using work computers to view the website of a "new york times" and dozens of other news organization that is have posted classified information obtained by wikileaks. the army, navy and marines have not done the same. the financial times, silvio berlusconi's coalition held on to power again by its fingertips after surviving a vote of no

confidence in parliament. the sense of a government under siege was reinforced by rioting in rome. interestingly enough, 17-year-old girls remain silent. >> strange. they didn't say a thing. >> "wall street journal," new retail numbers show consumers went on the biggest shopping spree in november since before the recession. the surge pushed stocks to a new two-year high. time for business on the go. let's bring in nicole lapin at cnbc headquarters. >> a big meeting between president obama and ceos today. who will be there and why? >> 20 ceos hanging out with the president. among those is sysco's john chambers, shin know from am ex-the heading of boeing, google's eric schmidt, so a wide variety of sectors represented at the blair house. it's supposed to last until 2:00 p.m. this is no photo op.

they're billing as much more than a fancy meet and greet and kissing babies type of thing. they have a lot to talk about. my invitation got lost in the mail. i venture to say jobs will be pretty high on the list. talk about what a difference a year makes. last year they were scolding wall street. this year it's meeting at the blair house. >> the president is really reaching out. >> yeah. a lot of people say that he needed to do that. >> he also met with jamie diamond last week. this is part of a bigger effort, right? >> he met privately. the tax deal, south korea trade. this meeting, it's also the idea they can reach some sort of kumbaya here. >> mike barnicle, how is that going to work out? >> it's going to be swell. everything will be find in the end. the problem is the end is coming too quickly. >> willie, as chairman may says and my mandarin is rusty right now, it's always darkest right before the leads go completely

out. >> they're about to go out. let's go to politico, shall we? the chief white house correspondent mike allen with a look at the playbook. >> good morning, willie. it's always sunny at politico. >> especially when mike is there. you're a sunny guy. >> big changes coming at the white house after the new year. who are we going to see leave? who is sticking ar sflound give us some insight. >> it's been put off a little bit robert gibbs said he expected some changes before the president went to hawaii for christmas vacation. now it looks like it will happen pretty early in the year, perhaps starting the first week of the new year when david plouffe, the president's campaign manager, will come into the white house as part of a big reorganization. robert gibbs in a strategic group with david axelrod, jim ma cena, now deputy white house chief of staff, they'll set up, organize the obama re-election campaign. gibbs also could go to a senior

adviser role. he almost certainly will be stepping away from the podium. possibly stepping in, bill burton, familiar to us, his deputy, jay carney, "time" magazine, well known to "morning joe" viewers, who has been a communications director to the president. >> jay f you know your "morning joe" history is the one that goded me out. >> he's behind the f bomb. >> a special place in our history. >> we don't want him. mike, i saw in the graphic, tom perriello, he walked the plank with president obama and then loss in virginia. is president obama going to reach out and bring him along? >> the president instructed his advisors to look at possible jobs for some of the people who lost in the last election. so as they look at what new faces they might bring in, those

include congressman perriello of virginia, a couple congressmen from ohio. another place we'll see a new face, at the national security council replacing mcdonough, the chief of staff. he moved up. >> mike, thanks so much. we'll talk to you later the show. >> great. have a good day. up next, former nfl legend and the dad of peyton and eli, archie manning joins us next on "morning joe." ♪ [ ted ] for years, i was just a brewer. until one of the guys brought in some fresh bread that he'd made from our pale ale. and from that first bite, i knew my business would never be the same.

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plus get up to $500 when you open an account. some people on saturday night -- what's the stadium called. >> dudley field. >> you get 24,000 peak screaming on historic night, baby you know. it's like christians in the colise coliseum. the lions will be released. >> they keep the gpa up in the s.e.c. >> this is huge for me. >> the guys are so excited now. >> i always talk about paul mccartney, but for me growing up it was hank aaron. i was born and raised in the south and hank was the only person to cheer for. bob horner, i'm sorry.

archie manning, archie manning seriously was elvis. my dad moved us to mississippi to work for lockheed in '69. seriously, talking about a burger chef opening, it was the beatles, mississippi version of the beatles. >> let's introduce him now, legendary former quarterback, better known these days as peyton and eli's dad, archie manning. great to have you with us. >> thanks form having me this morning. >> can i say one more beatles thing here? introducing him as peyton and eli's dad is like talking about paul mccartney playing for wings. >> oh, no. i think it's one more thing on his res play to be proud of. >> i don't have any problem with it. >> let's talk a little bit about first, you're following college football closely this year working with cbs. a big game, auburn-oregon. let's talk about what happened last saturday, cam newton winning the heisman.

any reservations from you about him? >> no. i don't have a heisman vote. if i did, i would have voted for cam newton. there were mighty good players, might beity good quarterbacks throughout the country this year. everybody is throwing the ball. these college quarterbacks are doing such a great job. what he did, kind of unknown to start the season and take that team in the southeastern conference to an undefeated season and they have a rematch. that's always hard. they knock off south carolina. he's had an unbelievable year in college football. >> can i ask you, working for cbs, how tough is it dealing with gary danielson every week. >> he is the sweetest guy. i like him. >> do you have to actually make contact with him? >> i talk to him usually during the week. we're back and forth a little bit. i'm in the studio. i don't have a say there. i work with tim brando. he does all the talking. i don't have to say anything. gary is so good at what he does. >> we love gary. we just kind of have been poking him since tim tebow was sainted

every saturday afternoon. >> we've got a national championship game where the over-under will be about a hundred points. >> i think they'll score. people say, well, auburn's defense hasn't been that great. whose defense is great these days? everybody is throwing the football around. it's hard to stop people. this oregon bunch, they fast break. it's the fastest team. they play so fast and oregon, we talked about gus running the offense that they do at auburn. i think it will be a lot of points. >> who do you like? i'm an old southeastern conference guy. >> there you go. >> chip kelly at oregon is a good friend of mine. i'm really impressed at what they've done out there. the way they built their program. they're going to be around a long time. anything can happen in a national championship. >> oregon's offense is was going so fast, the other team started to fake injuries on the field to give themselves a breather and get new people on the field.

>> it always happens with the pac 10 that they would have lost to somebody. >> a penalty on the kicker he moved. that's a tough place to win. >> let's talk about another place, new orleans saints. it looks like the saints are sneaking up on the falcons. >> they're playing real good. falcons are playing great. they're so good at home. the saints are on a six-game winning streak. their offense is back scoring a lot of points. i don't think it will bother them going on the road, too, if they have to. they're a seasoned team. sean payton and drew brees, they do a grade job. >> what about matt ryan? >> he's a great young quarterback, an outstanding young man. he's going to be around a long time. he's going to be a great player in this league. the cope has done is a great job in atlanta. that team, they run the ball. they do a great job running the ball. >> who would have believed, i've suffered with the falcons for years, who would have believed that after michael vick got thrown in jail that ryan would come along and the falcons would

actually do even better? >> it was a great pick. he was five years at boston college. he stayed. we had him down to new orleans, he and his dad came down and we got to know him. he's such a mature young man. he wants to be a great player. eli and he are good friends. peyton had him up to chattanooga to play golf. just impressed with him. like i said, he's a great leader. >> more shocking, barnicle is he's from boston. >> i think it's new jersey. >> i think he's a philadelphia kid. >> is he really? >> let's talk about your boys. we'll start in new york because that's my team. eli and the giants tied with teagueless for first place. how is eli feeling? >> he's had some people hurt. i think -- what a bizarre weekend they went through going into detroit and beating minnesota. i think they're glad to get that win. always tough on the road.

now they match up -- i always told my kids, you kind of live to play in big games. that's not always necessarily a play-off game or necessary a super bowl, but during the course of a season, whether high school, college or what, you're going to have big games. that's what this is. this nfc east, the rivalries in that division i think are better than any in football. whoever is playing, if it's the cowboys-eagles, redskins-giants, whoever it is, it's huge. with both these teams 9-4, the eagles are playing very well. >> peyton looks like he's back on track, was throwing more interceptions than he usually has. last couple games, looks like he's got it back together. >> turned around a little bit. they've just struggled. they've had more people hurt than they ever had. they hang in there. the colts have a winning atmosphere there. so we'll see what happens. >> let's talk about the libl berity mutual coach of the year. it's not just xs and os, it takes more to win this award. >> they really try to throw out

there integrity and sportsmanship, kind of look at a coach and his program, what his kids are doing ak dem click, what his kids are doing in their community. they ask fans to vote for the coach of the year. now, the coaches that win -- it's about winning, too, so they're usually out there. liberty mutual has been doing this five years. it's been very successful. now they've got it down to 25 coaches. >> let's take a look at the standings. we've got to top five, i think. willie, you want to walk us through this? >> sure. looks like mike sherman, gene chizik, dan tonio at michigan state. doug gunity and doug marrone at syracuse. >> there's ten in the bowl subdivision oovps and there's five each in all the other divisions. liberty mutual picks four winners from four different divisions. the fans with go to coachoftheyear.com to vote, one vote a day.

it's pretty neat. liberty mutual is giving out over a million dollars. the winning coaches in each division get $50,000 to g the alumni association. we'll name the winner the morning of the bcs championship. >> how important is the graduation rate? >> fans vote and then there's a model from the national football association. we pay attention to it. they're publishing these graduation rates. it's important. >> gundy is in the top five. >> oklahoma state. >> does he get docked if he has a press conference? >> he was sticking up for his guys. one more question, archie, can i interest you in a coaching job in nashville? >> yeah, baby! >> they'll come up with a good coach. we love having vanderbilt in the southeastern conference. >> raises the gpa and the number of wins. >> they'll come up with a good coach. they had a good coach.

he retired. >> yeah, they did. archie, thanks so much. >> thanks for having me. >> great to meet you. >> still ahead, running for mayor of chicago. first, rahm emanuel grilled about whether or not he should be able to run because he doesn't quite live there. >> technical problem. >> was he able to resist a snarky comment when confronted. also mika's must-read op pages. keep it on "morning joe." >> he's so warm and fuzzy. what's around the corner is one of life's great questions.

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right in the middle of every legislative debate we've had since i've been in this position. he's never disappointed. he's been instrumental. he's been an indispensable member of the team. when he walks out of this chamber for the last time he'd leave an enormous void and write the next chapter -- next chapter in his life. >> okay. going around. 45 past the hour. >> who was he talking about? >> that was senator mitch mcconnell yesterday saying good-bye to retiring republican senator judd gregg, getting a bit teary. >> great senator, judd gregg. >> absolutely.

>> dr. jeffrey sachs back at the table. >> enough with the crying now. time for the must-read op eds. >> boehner, mcconnell. >> we're sensitive. we're not ashamed to admit we're sensitive. we like little puppies and daffod daffodils, the end of "pretty woman." that always would make me cry. you never think richard gere is going to go back when make julia roberts an honest woman. "you've got mail," i cry in that all the time. >> when the dog shows up at the park. >> oh, my god, i was hoping it was you. we played that in the republican house. not a dry eye in the place. >> "new york times," maureen dowd. i'm going to read half of this. usurper in chief. with the last three presidents there's been an attempt to go beyond presidency to

delegitization, to paint them as not just wrong, but sharl tans with no right to the job. >> mike barnicle, i used to be, it's always tough. for the last three presidents, it's something that we've said all the time, clinton, bush, obama, it's not enough to oppose them, you have to delegitimize them from day one. that has been the political blood support that has unfortunately corrupted our politics. >> all of our politics, not just with presidents, joe. i would submit that now for the vast majority of people who run for office or who defend their office once in office, it's not enough to defeat your opponent, you have to demonize your opponent at the same time. it's very ugly, very ugly. >> one more. i hope we get to my third. but here we go -- >> stay focus sgld focus, focus. sorry. this is chris van hole land, he's written in "the washington post." first, fix the estate tax give

away. house democrats think this tradeoff should be debated and voted on in the light of day. with washington republicans sharpening their budget knives to cut spending on national priorities such as education, border security and public safety, it's hard to believe they think it's wise to give a windfall to heirs such as pair liss hilton. let's find out if republicans want to jeopardize tax relief every day. >> come on. boo. >> for every american in order to provide a budget-busting bonanza to the country's richest estates. >> give me a break. >> why don't you let me finish it. >> because he praut up pair liss hilton. why doesn't he talk about sons an daughters of kansas whose parents work their entire lich. they build up their farm and have equipment that goes beyond that limit. >> that's not who he's talking about. >> he's talking about anybody that has worked their entire

life and has a great business. there are a lot of democrats that think the government deserves 50% of estates. that's very offensive to a lot of us. >> when you work your whole life -- >> is it offensive to you. >> you work your whole life, pay taxes your whole life, work hard your whole life so you can leave something to your daughters, and after paying 50% taxes because you live in new york state and new york city, you then at the end of all of that, after 50 years of working, then turn around and give 50% of everything you've earned over your life to the federal government again after you've already been taxed time and time again? that's why this paris hilton argument is specious. is that the right word, doctor? >> is it specious, dr. sachs? >> i don't think so. because one thing that has happened in this country that i don't think people fully understand is the concentration of wealth at the top of the top of the top is beyond imagining. the top 1% of wealth holders

have more net worth than the bottom 90% of the population. more and more this country -- >> what's cause thad? i just made an ideological argument about wri i find it offensive that the government can take 50%. i understand the need for taxes he here. what has caused the rich to get richer and the poor to get poorer over the past 30 years? >> first of all t rich took over the political system so you have unbelievable abuses like this hedge fund deal where they get taxed at 15% where the rest of us pay taxes and you can't even change that for the very richest people in this country because it's all scam. and basically we got a scam going on in washington. both parties are accessories to it. and all that's happened is the income and the wealth at the top is going up and up and up. >> why don't we end this nonsense and have someone propose a one-line bill, a 1% tax on everybody who makes over

$1 million a year in this country. >> chuck schumer was going after that, and the white house took it down. >> by the way, i find that stunning, that the white house would not try to push a tax, a higher tax rate on millionaires. >> news you can't use is straight ahead on "morning joe." 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.

time for some news you can't use. this is somewhat useful but we put it here. rahm emanuel running for mayor of chicago: new poll out, "chicago tribune" shows him as the front-runner, 32%. but there's a group of challengers who say you shouldn't be running in this race, rahm ae manuemanuel. the rules say you have to live in chicago for a full year leading up to your mayoral run. rahm emanuel maintains he still owned his home, but just rented it out. there was a hearing in a basement, an odd scene yesterday. people showed up barking at him, lobbing questions at him. one of the attorneys for this group of challengers took rahm through slides of the home to try to make the argument it was empty and he doesn't live here. let's listen. >> mr. emanuel, i want to show you petition's exhibit 2 which

is document six, and this is the listing from the multiple listing for the rental of the property. that's your home, correct? >> correct. >> and it is -- >> in the left corner is the back of the house. main shot is the front of the house. >> of course that, room is the kitchen. >> yes. very good, mr. earlson, yes. u.s. history for $200. >> very good, he says to the attorney. you're a brilliant man. you can identify a kitchen when you see it. well done. i think rahm is going to make him through this. >> that's ridiculous. >> putting him through the paces. >> okay. >> securitiwise, they don't know -- >> one more for you. remember we had the horse in the car. >> right. that was good. >> one better. >> you can't do better than that. >> i got you a bison in a

convertible. that's a 1600 pound male named bailey. and he rides shotgun with his owner. the owner tricked out the car, took off the roof, the seats, the windshield so bailey could ride along. apparently in the canadian town where he lives this is well within the law. >> question, where are they going? >> funny you should ask. they're going to a contest at a bar. he's got mount tld as you can see the little bowl where he's his grain and what have you. >> well, dr. sachs, with that we thank you. >> seen it all. >> we're sorry about the way we ended your hour there. that's really weird. >> i always have to apologize to someone at the table at the end of this segment. today it's you, sir. >> thank you, dr. sachs. ahead, carl bernstein, senator sherrod brown and digger phelps. we'll be right back.

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written without a hearing, written without scrutiny, written without the input of the majority of the members of this body, written by handful of senators who happen to be members of the appropriations committee. and the american people said just 42 days ago, enough.

are we tone deaf? are we stricken with amnesia? what is going on here? >> a good question. welcome back to "morning joe." top of the hour. mike barnicle is still with us, and joining the table, award winning journalist and author carl bernstein. carl, welcome back to "morning joe." a lot going on. the senate will vote today after postponing late yesterday on the tax plan -- >> on the tax plan. they've got this 1.1 -- what is it? trillion, trillion dollar spending spree. it is surreal. >> outrage this morning after senate democrats unveiled a $1.1 trillion spending bill to finance the government, filling more than 1,9 0 pages, it cuts from the president's budget request. they'll oppose it for approving hundreds of earmarks. among the flash points is the

inclusion of about $450 million to continue a second alternative engine for the f-35 joint strike fighter. defense secretary robert bates has repeatedly said the engine is not a necessity and the president should veto any bill that includes money for it. as you've just heard, senator mccain is very upset about those earmarks. his staff pointed to a few examples. among them, $208,000 for beaver management in north carolina. >> that's important. >> nobody is going to talk about that. >> $235,000 for toxic weed management in nevada. >> really get a hold of that in college. you need to manage toxic weed. >> $413,000 for peanut research in alabama. and $247,000 for virus-free wine grapes in washington state. >> can we say for one moment that every appropriations bill is loaded with this crap. >> why? >> because the system is

terrible. because as dr. sachs said, we have been bought and sold by special interests, rich al gar i can which has bought politics at the state legislature level and the congress of the united states. it's a disgrace. i determines who we are as a country. until we have some kind of public financing of campaigns, it's not going to end. >> harry reid defended the bill saying it's a better option than using a stop-gap spending bill that passed the house last week. >> mike barnicle, here you have a trillion dollar budget, a boondoggle for many, and then you have a stril i don't know dollar stichl lus plan that republicans signed off with the president, not paid for. going through $2 trillion very quickly in washington, d.c. >> this is like watching thelma and louise drive off the cliff. it really is. it's depressing, unrealistic. again off what carl was alluding

to, the idea that a democratic president or any president -- can't say one of the ways to figure this thing out, a 1% tax on everybody who makes over $1 million a year, put it right on the table, vote it up or down. yes or no. >> what about on the other side? with spending cuts where you have and have had for some time congressmen and senators shoving through weapons programs for the pentagon that the pentagon repeatedly says they don't want. they don't want, they don't need. farm subsidies where you're paying people not to plant crops. it is insanity. >> couldn't some of those cuts pay for some of the things we have on the table with the tax bill? or does it have to be emergency spending and crisis management? i don't know. >> whatever happened to just omnibus spending bills, to just continuing resolutions. >> whatever happened to pay-go? we'll pay as we go. republicans have passed it and

ignored it. democrats passed it and ignored it. nobody is serious about saving this country economically, nobody. >> this is not a serious institution. this is not an institution dealing with the problems of the country. it hasn't for 35 years. and there are no signs that it's about to. but you've been there. and you know -- you give the example of the pentagon spending, that the secretaries of defense don't want. this goes back to the eisenhower years this has been going on because congressmen respond to the needs of their districts and jobs, not to the national interest. >> what's the president's responsibility here? >> the president's responsibility is to go to his party and say we have got to stop this and take the lead on this. >> do you think he will? >> i think he'll try. he won't have a line item veto. sure, he'll try. >> should he follow gates's advice and veto this bill? >> i don't think you can veto a whole -- first of all, that bill is not going to make it.

i don't think you can veto a whole spending bill. this is the problem. the congress holds the president hostage. am i right? you've been there. >> he can veto it. >> but then you have to fund the government through special spending. >> isn't that what he was talking about, holding middle class hostage? >> if the president wants -- carl and i have been studying congressmen for some time. this sounds infantile. but it's true f. you want to force a crisis and if you want to force these people to get serious about deficit spending, and i'm not just saying this, you cut into their christmas vacation. you say i'm going to keep vetoing these bills, and the government will shut down until you get serious and keep vetoing it. the closer you get to christmas, the more they come to you. i remember 1997 gingrich wanted to spend a lot more -- i forget what the bill was, on an appropriations bill that went against every promise we ever made. so there are were 11 of us right

before the easter recess of '97, we'll vote against the rule, kill the bill. >> as it is you only work monday through thursday. >> no, you're not. everybody had, they're getting off for easter. it was spring recess. >> laud lauderdale. >> a lot of trips overseas, and we steer we stared them down. we kept voting no. >> good for you. >> they could not believe we would actually get in the way of vacation. >> it's not just about deficit spending. it is about irresponsibility in all kinds of items. whether it's in good times where you don't have a deficit or in bad times, spending priority goes back to the narrow interest of individual districts and senators, not to the national interest, and we're screwed because of that. >> nobody will make tough

choices. >> that's it. >> when we talk about the debt and deficit, we talk about making tough decisions, en titlements, e defense spending. >> gates himself said we don't need it. we don't want it. because they're speaking to constituencies. it's about jobs. >> they're going to keep it. >> isn't that the problem. everyone has a constituency. we have no national constituency anymore in the congress of the united states. we have narrow interests. >> one of the problems is at the end of the day, unlike heads of households, unlike mayors, governors, this thing is so big, the package is so big in washington they're not accountable. they are unaccountable. we have to be accountable for everything we do in our personal lives mostly. mayors have to be accountable form decisions that they make. governors have to be accountable for daily decisionless they make. in washington it's also so huge they don't have to be

accountable. and they're not accountable. >> state legislatures, too. the problem is compounded. it's not just washington. dr. sachs had it right. there is now an ol gar i can in this country determining what our politics is through regulatory stuff, loopholes and these kind of budgets. >> it's much easier to pass deaf sis, borrow money from china than to be responsible. >> so who missed the bigger opportunity? the republicans or democrats? >> democrats. >> i'd say republicans. >> i'd say republicans because they inherited a surplus. >> i say democrats because if you represent the party that is historically supposed to have stood for helping the middle class and for helping the poor, the lame, for lifting people um and you've had majorities in the senate and the house for two years and a democratic president

and you never stood up and said -- like the 1% extra tax on millionaires to pay for this thing f you never stood up and said, okay, the extension of the bush tax cuts, we're going to do it for people up to $250,000. over $250,000, no, make them vote yes or no. they never did it. >> which boehner said back in the fall he would vote for. >> and so did dave camp, incoming ways and means committee chairman. >> why do you say republicans? >> republicans because they had an opportunity to set the tone and say we'll extend unemployment benefits if they're paid for and we'll extend the tax cuts if they're paid for. if they're not paid for, we're not going to do it. listen, at some point washington is going to get to a crisis moment, that thelma and louise moment where they're all going to have to say, if we pass it, we've got to pay for it. if we can't pay for it we can't pass it. >> when is that going to come and why? >> unfortunately it's going to

come when global markets rebel and say no more, just like they did with greece, with ireland. unfortunately unlike ireland we don't have the eu to bail us out. it's going to take a global crisis. >> we have to be truly broke before we solve the crisis? >> people in washington, d.c. right now are so shortsighted and they have been for the past decade and politically immature that it is going to require a global crisis. >> i think where you're right, among other things, is that you've got to go back. it's not the last two years, not this congress. when president clinton left office there was a budget surplus. >> $155 surplus. >> by the time president bush was finished we were in familiar situation the likes of which we've never seen and nobody has been willing to deal with it in a mature way. >> the problem is bush -- these are rough numbers, but doubled

the national debt to $11 trillion. obama f you take out his budget, doubles from $11 trillion to $23 trillion. it's unbelievable, staggering, which we actually projected. bill clinton and the republican congress actually projected back by 2000 that we could have the national debt paid down by 2010, by 2011, if we continued on the trajectory of the type of responsible leadership we had back in the 1990s with republicans in congress and bill clinton in the white house. >> you couldn't do it after you voted for that war. for some reason the extent of how ludicrous they are in washington never really hit home to me until the alan simpson, erskine bowles deficit commission issued their findings. well before they asked for a vote on it. included in the report, as you remember, was the idea that we were going to raise the retirement age to help save

social security to the age of 69 in the year 2075. 2075. and you had nancy pelosi and richard trumka going on tv saying this is an assault on the middle class. the year 2075. >> it's all pie in the sky. >> 65 years from now. >> this is juggling. >> richard, and god bless him, i love him, nancy pelosi were all angry because my son jack who is 2 years old would get social security when he was 69 years old. whereas a 10 or 11-year-old would still be getting it -- these people are not serious. >> no, they're not. >> they're actually trying to scare senior citizens and saying they're coming after your social security. let me tell you something, if somebody sal live 60 years from now that's 70, 80 years old, they probably will have saved up enough money. it's just ridiculous.

>> that's what we're talking about, speaking the a constituency and they have to say the right thing and not make a tough choice. >> the political system is broken and there's no fixing it ahead. >> three other things going on in washington. the president is meeting with ceos, reaching out to businesses. there's a report coming out on afghanistan and the white house is going to address that tomorrow. then the s.t.a.r.t. treaty. >> let's hope that the president gets a better working relationship with businesses, because that does mean jobs. afghanistan, just a nightmare. it's a nightmare. it's a war without end. and i think as we brought up last hour, we're propping up karzai and pakistan. americans are dieing for that? and the s.t.a.r.t. treaty. >> looks like it will go forward. >> we have much more this morning including senator sherrod brown, digger phelps and bravo's andy cohen will be here.

first we go to bill karins with a check on the forecast. >> mika, we're getting done with all our cold temperatures. today is probably the last bitterly cold day for the east coast. then snow in places like north carolina, virginia and tennessee. the windchill is minus three in albany, very cold windchills all through the mid atlantic and the great lakes, too. today will be chilly, not much snow out there, just a little bit around buffalo and the great lakes. overall, we have winter storm warnings in place in kentucky, tennessee. winter weather advisories from indianapolis down through memphis and nashville. here comes our next storm system, not a lot of snow with it. chicago will get a little tonight. areas of virginia and north carolina tomorrow -- into tomorrow night, could pick up a couple inches of snow. looks like our winter weather active pattern still continues. still a chance for an east coast storm. more on that ahead. you're watching "morning joe" brewed by starbucks.

vrnlths yesterday in washington, d.c. president obama signed the healthy hunger-free kids act. this is to fight childhood obesity by making school lunches healthier. i don't know. i'm going to miss the fat kids. i really am. the president signed the bill at a local school surrounded by kids and teachers and traditionally when the president signs a bill, he uses several pens to give away as souvenirs. but -- >> what is that? >> chief white house correspondent -- >> were you all the mean boys in school? >> no, i was very nice. >> co-host of "the daily rundown" -- kids did pick on me

a lot. chuck todd, sitting and listening to the show for the last couple hours, it's been very depressing. the white house strikes this deal. yet on the front page of the paper, of course, bad news out of the afghanistan, bigger deficits, bigger debts. i've just -- just stepping back, this white house always seems to have incoming -- it's constant -- >> a good way of putting it. >> even after striking what they consider to be a great, great bill, a great deal, they get a deal with afghanistan and deficit. it's not getting easier, is it? >> reporter: no. not to give away the store, we've got the nbc/"wall street journal" poll coming out tonight. we'll delve into the numbers a lot tomorrow. i'll say this, you do get the sense in reading a lot of these polls, the public gets that there's a ton of incoming, and they get that. but they still don't have a

handle on how the president is going to deal with that stuff. they expect to deal with a lot of the incoming but not giving clues about which way to deal with it. they don't like any way he deals wit. if he tries to go left, he gets hit in public opinion. if he goes right, he gets hit sometimes in public opinion. so you do get the sense the public gets that. this is just -- we're at a moment in history, a good way of putting it, it's nothing but incoming. >> it's been constant from the day they walked through the front door. >> crisis management almost since day one. that is tough to be a president -- one of the things i've noticed is the public is questioning sometimes his leadership skills. i think when you're in the middle of a crisis, the public doesn't get to see whether you're being a leered, they see you looking like you're plugging

holes. >> let me ask you about the president i'm self. of course you can't give away the store on this nbc news/"wall street journal" poll. i was surprised when he struck the deal with republicans, a deal that a lot of conservatives believe was a great deal for the president politically. other polls showed him going down. again, without asking you to give away the headline here, is the president facing more problems following this deal? >> well, it's not him. it's washington. and look, let's remember what happened ten days ago. a terrible jobs number. a lot of questioning about the economy, and what i've seen across the polling is you see the pessimism back again. it's as if -- every time it looks like a jobs number will be in the six figures in gains, stock market will go up, something positive will happen and then, bang, something happens with the economy that

just shakes it back to its core, depresses the public. and i'll just say this, joe, that's what i'm sensing when you look at it through that prism because it's negative, not just about him, but negative across the board. >> everybody. >> carl, has there ever been a presidency where it isn't crisis -- >> very few presidents have come into office inheriting what president obama has taken on. you'd have to go back to the '30s to have a comparable situation. plus he had two wars, and when the economy collapses, when you have two wars going on, you've got a unique situation. and that's what he's been trying to deal with, and he's been trying to deal with it with a republican opposition that has said no to everything and a political system we keep going back to it that simply is not functional or concerned with the national good. >> chuck, i was in westin,

pennsylvania, a couple days ago. i realize that's not exactly president obama's strongest base, but it got me thinking with all the people leaving the white house for the re-election campaign, david axelrod and perhaps some others, what is the electoral map that they're looking at? because you just get a sense that a state like pennsylvania is going to be very difficult for him. are they looking at a different electoral map than they did two years ago? >> not really. one of the -- i'll say this. one of the undercovered stories of 2010 was the remarkable strength of democrats west of the mississippi and in the southwest and in the rocky mountain region. michael bennet survived, harry reid survived, the pacific coast. for instance, some of those states, particularly let's single out colorado and nevada here, two states that the president brought back into the democratic column after years in the republican column look like even in a bad democratic year,

they were able to hold there. that tells you those states are hanging in there. i do think the industrial midwest is going to be a unique challenge to the president, one that a democratic president hasn't had to deal with in a while that. is western pennsylvania, but i have to say, i think at the entd of t end of the day, it's fools gold. western pennsylvania is ohio, is michigan, is wisconsin. i think those three are back in play, wisconsin and michigan which really haven't been in the narrow battleground a long time. you've got virginia, north carolina and florida. so i would say this, i put it down to about six states i think at the end of the day we'll be talking about, florida, north carolina, virginia, ohio and wisconsin, possibly michigan and possibly iowa, though i'm a little skeptical that iowa will end up in the pure battleground at the end of the day. >> i've got to say, also, it's

interesting chuck yourks look at the good news from the election for the 2010 democrats. the democrats did much better west of the mif than they should have in this type of election season. also look at new england. look at new york state. i think a lot of people thought more congressional districts would swing republican than did in new york state. connecticut, still completely blue. you go up and down. it seems like the base held on the coast, carl, for the most part. >> chuck, one question. isn't there a kind of trend in the polls there, only a snapshot, though, that shows that for the president there's kind of a surprising amount of understanding of his problems and that there's -- the numbers will show that people like him a little more than they like what's been thrown at him? >> well, i'll say this. it's a number that's been consistent in the nbc/"wall

street journal" poll when we started which is more people like him than like his policies. this is always the comparison to reagan. frankly it was similar with bush. people liked bush personally in many ways more so than his policies. clinton was the very verse of course at the end, but that was other reasons there. what it is for the president, it's an opening, an opportunity. but he's got to take it. >> chuck real quick before we go, this meeting with the ceos today, symbolic or what do both sides want out of it? >> the president is going to speak before it because he's trying to bring more attention to it. it's about jobs. it's about getting that money that everybody talked about that corporate america is basically sitting on and says come on, invest in america, what are we going to do? these meetings have been cite sized blindly by the business community in the past because they've like one-on-one meetings

with the president. they're not always craze zbt about these 15, 20 ceo meetings in here where they're all sort of treated just like another constituency group. as you know, fortune 500 guys have a big ego, too. >> ego day at the white house. chuck todd, thank you very much. you can catch chuck and savannah on "the daily rundown.." >> unlike people in the media. if they could only be as humble. >> or in the world of public policy. remember to tune in all this week -- >> better than the golden globes. i've been watching this week. >> coming up democratic senator from ohio, senator sherrod brown. keep it right here on "morning joe."

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♪ call humana to take advantage of the medicare prescription drug plan with the lowest national premium in the country. go to walmart.com for more details. ♪ chuvannah. okay. welcome back. we've been talking about how to handle this story out of panama city, florida. and it's a tough one because this guy walks into a school board meeting and he ultimately takes his own life. it's all caught on videotape. it's incredibly shocking, and it's very engaging to watch.

our initial thought when joe and i were putting the show together was this was shock video. it's not us. we've been watching it. there are two incredible stories that come out of this tragedy, and that is that when this gunman walks into the school board, and we can put the b roll of that, he's holding a loaded weapon. he is threatening them. he's making it very clear he's going to kill them. he put a big v on the wall in spray paint. he had these people completely hostage, and he's rambling on and on and pointing this loaded weapon at them. the superintendent of schools, and i think we can role this sound bite, alex -- >> he does not get harmed. >> nobody gets hurt. you'll see the weapon, he'll fire it. he misses. but the superintendent literally tries to talk him out of killing everyone and says just kill me. take a listen.

>> i don't want to die like anybody else doesn't. i don't remember and i don't know who she is. but let them go. i'm the one that did it. i mean they don't sign the papers. i'm the only one that signs them. will you let them go? i've got a feeling that what you want is the cops to come in and kill you because you're mad. you said you're going to die today. why? this isn't worth it. this is -- >> please don't. please don't. please. >> he does not kill anyone when that happens. he does not kill anyone. he misses. that superintendent was trying to say i did it because the guy was accusing the school board of firing his wife. it turns out there's no record of his wife working for the school system in any way as far as we know now. that guy, incredible, incredible, trying to get everybody out of that room and offering his life in exchange for that. there's another incredible story out of this. there is a woman who comes into

the room and tries to take the guy down with her purse. >> ginger, ginger, no. >> okay. he doesn't hurt her either. >> it's an awful story. >> it's an awful story. we weren't going to do it at all. >> very interesting and shocking video. it's a tough call for the network. this is one of the cases where it's good to have the web where people can decide if they want to see it. >> we sort of backed away from it because it wasn't us. but we keep coming back and reading about it. you know what? there's an incredible story of heroism and bravery in there that's worth telling and saluting them. >> whatout don't want to do in a situation like that, that guy decided he was going to clear the room and take a bullet for everyone else in the room. >> the other thing, he was

showing great calm. that's the real thing. that's a strategy in itself in that kind of situation. >> well, there we go. >> the woman, ginger, clearly ginger coming out and trying to knock the gun out of the gunman's hand with her hand bag. that's a pretty brave thing to do. >> ultimately the whole thing ended with no one in that meeting getting hurt, but he, the gunman, took his life. we'll be right back with senator sherrod brown. "morning joe" when we return.

it's easy to stand on the sidelines an criticize this proposal and perhaps politically expedient to stand on the sidelines d criticize this proposal. but let me make one thing very clear, mr. president. advocating against this tax proposal is to advocate for a tax increase. >> all right.

that's senator john thune talking about the tax deal bill that will be probably pass ntd the senate today. joining us from capitol hill, democrat from ohio, senator sherrod brown. thanks very much for being on the show. >> good to be with you. thanks. >> we'll talk about the tax deal in a second. i'm trying to get my brain around this other bill, the democrats rolling out this 1900-page document, proposal, $1.1 trillion in spending for things like beaver management, weed management, peanut research and virus-free wine grapes. please help me understand this. what's your take on this other spending bill that's now being tossed around in washington? >> the other spending bill is to keep the government running. much of it is bipartisan. much of it is input from republicans and democrats alike. there are very few earmarks in this. it's doing the right things,

funding parts of government that need to be funded. you can always pick apart a multi billion dollar, hundreds of billion dollar budget and find some research project you don't like. this government is invested in a lot of research which has led to a lot of important developments in agriculture, in space travel, in medical research. i don't know specifically the ones you mentioned, but most of the time they make sense. most of the time. >> senator, let me ask you a question that has to do with the tax bill that's going to come up for a vote i guess later today. and it is this. you've had majorities, democratic majorities in the house and senate. you have a democratic president. it's a party that traditionally stood for people, the middle class and the poor, people quite vul nernlt to the exigencies of life. why has there not been an effort to propose an additional 1% tax or whatever percent tax on people who make over $1 million a year in this country given the

huge disparate between the wealthy and the rest of us? >> good question. the senate, as you know, now operates, nothing happens unless there's a 60-vote supermajority. 42 republicans did something i've never seen before, signed a letter basically calling for work stoppage. senators aren't allowed to go on strike. they said basically we're going to stop working, we or not voting for anything until you give tax cuts to millionaires and billionaires. they were basically holding hostage unemployment benefits, the middle class tax cut, help for working, low-income workers, the earned income tax credit, the child tax credit. all those things were held hostage. we've never seen that kind of a work stoppage where these senators said -- think of the moral outrageousness of that, that these 42 senators, the whole minority party said we're not going to do anything. we're basically going to do a work stoppage until you give us the tax cuts for the rich, let

alone a 1% addition for millionaires. >> okay. let's back up and go to the beginning of your answer. you're a baseball fan. i've sorry about the cleveland indians. when you keep score, one team gets eight, one gets nine. the nine team wins. when did we get to the point where 51 doesn't win? >> long ago. >> we got to that point because the filibuster, the threat of filibuster, you need 60 to do anything, a three-fifths majority to do anything, wasn't used very often until 2007 when the democrats came in. that's why we have so many judges we can't get confirmed. they were always confirmed with a republican president and a democratic senate like in 2007 and '08. we can't get people appointed in the obama administration and can't pass a lot of these things. that's why the six -- when we had 60 democrats, we had more things done. when 42 republicans, enough to stop 60 people from getting --

enough to stop us from getting 60 votes, when they for all intents and purposes engage in a work stoppage, what are you going to do? that's why basically -- some people use the term legislative extortion, taking hostages, whatever term you want to use, but we couldn't even extend unemployment benefits because they said we're not doing it until millionaires get a tax cut. we couldn't extend the tax cuts for middle class which all of us wanted to do. we tried on two different votes, even giving tax cuts up to people making a million a year in the 42 republicans said no, we're not working today. that's pretty morally reprehensible, that a legislative minority to my mind has never done anything quite like that. >> during the civil rights bills, long ago, you would have filibusters. the question is would the democrats change the rules in the senate so an absolute majority could govern? >> i think you're going to see attempts to do that. >> but could you get all of the

democrats to support it? >> i don't know. senator tom udall is leading the charge on that. he's working hard on how to do that. we still want to protect the rights of the minority in the senate. that's fine. that's been a tradition. when it's so overused and abused, it was abused by southern democrats in 1950s and '60s. it was only used occasionally in a very, very important issue to the country's detriment. but now used as a matter of course. it's used on food safety, used on motor coach safety. legislation i'm working with kay bailey hutchison from texas on has been blocked the same way. issue after issue, the 60 sloet supermajority has meant when you've got 42 that want to engage in a work stoppage, it means it's awfully hard to get anything done, even extend unemployment benefits which we've always done bipartisanly in this country in terms of economic distress.

>> my question is when the democrats had a 60-vote majority in the senate, why didn't they do something about the filibuster rule? >> maybe we could have. we were working on other things. we were working on recovery act and s-chip and equal pay for women, working on health care and wall street reform. perhaps we should have looked at the rules then in a way that could have made some intelligent changes about it. the right wing media would have squawked about it's a power grab by the democrats to do that. i always thought majority ruled in this country. we need to look seriously at it. >> senator brown, willie geist here. you voted monday against the tax package. you were vocal in our opposition to it. now you said you will voted for it and swallow the bitter pill. what changed between monday and now? >> i voted against clothe tour. i held out hope against hope that we can change it. we pretty clearly can at this point. we're going to try some

amendments. i will likely vote for it because i want to see unemployment extended, middle class tax cuts and the economic development that comes with it. i still don't like the package. i don't know like it was done. i don't like how we got here. i'm not going to look an unemployed worker in the eye and say i'm voting against your benefits as a matter of principle. >> senator, cling to this thought today, cliff lee is going to the phillies and not the yankees. >> thank you. >> senator sherrod brown. thank you very much. up next, digger phelps with an update on the progress being made at john mcdonough high school in new orleans. you're watching "morning joe" brewed by starbucks. [ male announcer ] at&t introduces a new windows phone

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and still pay the mid-size price. now this...will work. [ male announcer ] just like you, business pro. just like you. go national. go like a pro. how about a floor. >> this has got waves in it. this is like christmas at syracuse back when they had that old fieldhouse -- somebody's in this country has got to build a court, a floor so these kids can play the game. that was our man, espn basketball analyst, digger phelps, pleading for a company to step up and build a basketball court. just over a year ago, he made that plea. he got that job done. a new basketball floor was donated generously in october. today, digger joining us from that same high school gym in new orleans with the deputy superintendent of louisiana recovery school district, kevin

but buteras. digger, great to see you. and you have another new announcement. what have you got? >> when we got down here and got the court done by robin sports surface in cincinnati and starbucks gave us $125,000 to fix the auditorium roof, we now take the next step. john mcdunna high school is now going to become a culinary high school. and it's because of what you did and how you got this program going, and we got the players here today to tell you how we're going to do it and why we're going to do it, but basically it comes down to this. these kids in new orleans know what restaurants are, they know what chefs are. they've got choices in the game of life. you can either be a corpse or be a chef. we feel that this city as the most powerful entity going with the assets at the table to make this become a culinary high school. so what are we doing? let me introduce you to some of the players. from the louisiana restaurant

association, jane, tommy, linda costas from south bend. and as i said, we had a team put it together. pam, james, they're michael jordans. the guy in the back, ron taylor, he's a scotty pippin, because he's the principal of john mcdunna, but i'm going to give you now the phil jackson. tommy in the background, he was the cartwright on that team. but phil jackson is going to tell you how we're going to make this a reality. >> well, thank you, "morning joe," and thank you, coach, to bringing the assets and resources to this school and our city. it's a great story and great to be standing here on the court. but i want to make sure we talk about our team members. because we've got a significant group of individuals assembled here to move forward in an opportunity where we can create management and ownership opportunities for kids in the culinary industry here in new orleans. i want to start by beginning

with wanda and sundee from the recovery school district, as well as don and nicole from our louisiana department of education. that's a significant partnership between the local district and the state, but also, where we're branching into higher ed, we've got folks from the community college here, who are here to support. and that support is in our main player, and that's coach, our main guy back here. ron taylor, the principal of the school. >> well, willie, as you know, we're still not done with this and as i gave a shout-out for the court, i'm giving a shout-out now, we're going to take the cafeteria and make it a commercial kitchen and there's a company out there that's listening to the show that's going to step up and give us a commercial state of the art kitchen so john mcdunna culinary high school becomes the number one culinary high school in the

world. mika, you're still homecoming queen. >> i never was, but okay. >> digger gets the job done again. digger, by the way, on that bull's team, dennis, of course, dennis rodman, barely holding it together. kind of a madman. digger, talk about what this means for the kids. how will john mcdunna high school be deferent under this program than it is today. >> well, this location is a prime location. john mcdunna has a great tradition. what we haven't done yet is take the assets in this country and make a culinary high school so at least kids can go on, not just become an employee, but become the employer, to own a restaurant. to work and own a hotel. and i think, kevin, give the priorities and how we're going to make these steps starting with cafe reconcile once we get the first kids lined up. >> we've got a continuum that we've created that allows kids

not only being inducted into the program, but that's the first step. let your kids understand what you're getting into, buy it, and thrust into a curriculum that creates an opportunity for them to move into higher ed, for them to gain dual credits when they're in high school, so when they leave, they're actually on their way to their associate's degree. >> that's the next step, higher education. it's a continuation. whether you go to culinary institute of poughkeepsie, this is the beginning of a great future for these kids in new orleans to know they have a life after high school. >> awesome. >> digger never stops working theres in new orleans. >> great work, digger, and kevin, for putting this together. and if you're watching and you want to help out, help them put in that new kitchen -- >> somebody's out there. get it, willie. >> digger, kevin, thanks so much. >> carl, thank you. >> good to be here. coming up, big announcement. who is "time" magazine's person of the year? >> digger phelps.

>> it will be revealed here in just a minute. you're watching "morning joe" brewed by starbucks. at northern trust, we understand...

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i guess my biggest regret is not getting re-elected. i learned two things. one is you ought never let american hostages be held for 444 days in a foreign country without extracting them. and i think another lesson i learned is i should have paid more attention to the organization of the democratic

party. i was not only the leader of our nation, but i was also the leader of the democratic party. and i think i failed in that respect, to keep the party united. it was divided in my re-election campaign between my and people who were loyal to senator ted kennedy, so that cost me a lot of votes. those are the two things i believe could have been done better. >> all right. welcome to "morning joe." all right, this is how we're going to start today? that's terrific. >> they were not laughing at the former president, they were laughing at the production value. willie wanted to know whether it was a flip cam in his bathroom with the white linoleum background. >> good morning, everyone. it's wednesday. it's only wednesday, december 15th. with us on set, msnbc contributor, mike barnicle, and director of the earth institute at columbia university, dr. jeffrey sachs to bring some

sanity to the conversation this morning. >> i bet that's the best introduction you've got. >> willie also with us. dr. sachs, congratulations. you know, we have been here for two years, criticizing washington for being fiscally irresponsible. >> i think we finally made it. >> i think we made it. we found a republican party whose working with a democratic president and together it's just two great tastes that taste great together. $1 trillion added to the national debt in the blink of an eye. >> just like that. >> and they are doing it right now without the slightest trace of shame. >> $3,000 of debt for every single american without any discussion at all. i mean, no discussion with the american public. >> no offsets. >> and after all the months of that commission and what are we going to do, how are we going to get things under control, and

then -- >> they adjourned -- they adjourned that week and then they added another $1 trillion -- okay, they're gone. are simpson and bowles out of town? okay, let's add another $1 trillion to the debt. >> it is pretty weird. this country is out of control. >> dr. sachs, do you think it was necessary, though, as the president has argued and others, that we needed -- we could not allow those tax cuts to expire? something had to be done, as the president said? >> they were delighted with this deal, both sides. the president thinks he's got his stimulus, as if we need stimulus of this kind. and the republicans have their eye on one thing, it's not the deficit, it's the tax cuts. so both sides are actually delighted, the white house and the republican leadership. and it's only all of us, the rest of us that are wondering, what just happened? >> well, you know, the largest tax increase, mike barnicle, and it's a tax increase that we americans haven't seen in a long time. and our politicians and our

economists and our academics are so arrogant that we believe we're immune to this, is inflation. and you keep spending money like this, at some point, inflation explodes, and that acts as the biggest tax increase on the american people -- this is mind blowing to me, that the republican party, who's been talking about fiscal responsibility, and the president, who's been promising us, along with mark halperin, that he's going to get serious about the deficit for the past two years, they just blindly throwing another $1 trillion in chinese money into the system. >> you know, it's actually kind of depressing. >> yes, it is. >> because it's clearly -- >> not "kind of." >> no. their not serious people. this bill is nearly 2,000 pages in length. it puts $1.1 trillion more on to the bill. now, either they are completely ignorant of reality, or none of them come from a family, where you have to figure out your

monthly, your weekly budget, and you know what you can and cannot spend, even with the holidays approaching. you know what you can and cannot charge to pay off in january or february. it's depressing to think about their behavior. and they consistently do this! >> all right. we were going to get to afghanistan first. that was going to be our lead, but we'll start with taxes now, and get through this, since we've already set the scene. the senate is now set to finally vote on the tax package bill this afternoon after postponing it yesterday. despite the delay, that the measure to extend all the bush tax cut is expected to sail through the chamber with strong support. senate passage will send the bill to the house, where in a meeting last night, democrats discussed a plan to vote on an alternative to the state tax provisions. many oppose that, want to set the rate at 45%, rather than the 35% demanded by republicans. if any amendments were adopted in the house, the package would have to go back to the senate

for further action. still, after yesterday's meeting, democratic congressman elijah cummings said he was confident that they would move forward with the vote on the tax passage this week. >> right now it's a question of how much can be changed without ruining the president's efforts to get this thing through. and i think everybody's kind of sensitive to that. i said it before, that i think the package would pass, because i really kind of believe that republicans love this package. so i think there'll be significant republican votes, and i think that it will probably get quite a few democratic votes. not necessarily a majority. >> you know, lawrence o'donnell said yesterday that all of these people that came out on the democratic side opposing this bill were having to slowly roll it back. and that they were going to support this bill. and you could say the same thing on the republican side as well. the house leadership, and we've

talked to quite a few members over the past week, that have been very offended by the fact that the leaders did a deal with the president and then said, you're going to vote on this. $1 trillion. $1 trillion added to the national debt with this scam bill, this stimulus package, and dr. sachs and i have been saying for two years, all they're trying to do is rebuild the bubble. get people back into shopping modes. >> well, both parties appear to be doing that. >> they are, absolutely. >> republicans had an opportunity to not to look so hypocritical, dr. sachs, or not? couldn't they have come forward with a little bit of a better deal for america and its future in terms of its fiscal health. >> of course. >> but they don't want to. >> neither side wants to. this is just more spending, more tax cuts until the next election. then they're going to run in 2012 on who's going to make these cuts permanent. >> exactly. >> we're back to, we've accomplished nothing, except

another $1 trillion of debt. >> it's got worse. >> joe, what's amazing is, at the white house, they were not, you know, unhappy that they're being pulled into this what other way, they were delighted that they got their stimulus. and that's the amazing thing. one side cares only about gets the tax cuts -- doesn't care about anything else, actually. they don't look ahead, nobody does any arithmetic. the other side, the white house likes deficits, actually. this is larry summers' exit, it's his last $1 trillion for the american people, because he wants the deficit right now, because he thinks that's good for the economy. and so you have these two sides in this joint agreement that makes absolutely zero -- >> no sense. and mika, even if this stimulus plan works, and how funny that the republicans, after attacking obama's first stimulus plan --

porkulous, here's a marxist, our kids are going to be slaves to china -- hey, guys, can i have another $1 trillion? sure. now the republicans are engaging a second stimulus package of barack obama's that will get us deeper in debt than nancy pelosi's, because her only cost us there are $900 billion. here is the bitter joke on us, the taxpayers. even if this works, it's a sugar high that gets people back into malls for maybe half a year. >> to do what we do in america, to continue our sort of downward spiral, which is just spend wildly, money that we don't have, get fat, and put it off for the next year. >> well, there's nothing wrong with that. >> i'm just saying. >> let's talk about something happy. >> well, it's not so happy. >> this is interesting, because, obviously, the other big thing going on is the president's

having c os reaching out to business today. but there's a report in this morning's "new york times" that is offering a dim view about the war in afghanistan. sources in the intelligence community are reportedly giving a very bleak assessment of the situation there, arguing that large swaths of the country remain at risk of falling to the taliban, and that neighbors pakistan is still supporting insurgents. it comes as the white house is planning to unveil a report tomorrow that press secretary robert gibbs says will affirm the president's timetable to begin withdrawing some u.s. forces next july. >> i doubt there will be, in all honesty, a lot of surprise at what the review lays out. there has been some important progress in halting the momentum of the taliban in afghanistan. we have seen through counterterrorism success at degrading senior al qaeda

leaders. and we've seen greater cooperation over the course of the past 18 months with the pakistani government. >> president obama is expected to speak about the assessment tomorrow. and ahead of the release, he met for nearly two hours in the sit room yesterday with secretary of state hillary clinton, defense secretary robert gates, and other top military and national security advisers to go over the review. this should be interesting, over the next 24 hours, to watch it unfold. we were at the council on foreign relations last night, and obviously, afghanistan was a big issue and a big question, and you were asking richard haas, is there anybody, anybody in a policy making, in a role position of power who has a clear answer as to why we should be gunning ahead there. >> actually, richard asked us the question about afghanistan. said he's been very critical of afghanistan and the troop surge strategy, why? i just turned the question on him, mike. i said, we sit around this table

every day and have top foreign policy advisers every day and say, what's the end game? i asked the richard the question. i said, have you heard one foreign policy expert explain why we're wasting $2 billion a week in afghanistan and getting 19-year-old kids shot in the back of the head, to justify that? and richard said, no, there's no justification. it's karzai. >> they know it, like so many other policies, they know completely this is vasculcuous. all we're doing is going down exactly the same rut, with on every one of these policies. no change at all. and they know that this one's failing. absolutely. you read any discussion of these inside -- look at woodward's book which detailed day to day, they didn't have a clue. they didn't have a plan, didn't have a clue, didn't have a strategy. >> no plan, no clue.

>> and we had richard holbrooke come on the show doing what richard had to do, because it was his job, saying, defending afghanistan, just wait. and then the next book, the w d woodward book came out saying richard's against it, the vice president's against it. they know afghanistan is a failed war, they cannot win, but barack obama does not want to be slammed by republicans before the 2012 election as being weak on defense. >> it's called lack of leadership and lack of courage. you want to reduce the deficit on a practical level? start eliminating 100,000 troops in aviation. >> $100 a billion a year, for nothing. >> for nothing. >> the other thing they ought to think, perhaps, of doing, members of congress, house, and senate, and the president of the united states himself, i realize he does some of this privately. last friday more than 2,000 people stood in line in a small

town, sudden bubury, massachuseo stand in line for ar 23-year-old soldier who was killed in afghanistan. go stand in line and ask yourself, is that young man and his ultimate sacrifice, is that going to change the way afghanistan is five years from now, seven years from now? no, it's not. >> and you know his name. >> yes. >> but most of the people in washington don't. and that was -- we had a question from the audience, where somebody was offended that i say that there aren't elites, that we know, that we work with, that are our friends, either in the media world or in the political d.c., who have sons or daughters fighting and dying. i mean, it's not personally -- it is for joe biden, it is for doris kearns goodwin, but it's something that washington just don't have to think about. you know, let's just stay another year or two, because we

don't want to be blamed for losing a war -- >> it's a line item, joe, a line item in the budget. and for hundreds of thousands of americans, not a whole lot, it's a family member. >> one of the most depressing parts about that report in "the new york times" is something we already knew, but is pointed to in the intelligence report, which is that we can't do anything without the help of pakistan, which we don't have. you can stay in afghanistan all day long, for years and years and decades to come, and unless you can get the help of pakistan, nothing happens. >> who were our two partners in this war without end? pakistan and karzai. >> right. >> let's think about that again. who are our two allies? pakistan and karzai. young american men and women are dying all the time, six died this week, in one attack, to prop up karzai and to somehow stabilize pakistan? >> and joe, you look at the

people around that table in the situation room, not one of them really knows about afghanistan. that's the other amazing thing. where is anybody that really understands the country? we don't even have that. we don't even have that minimum step. it's all to push it forward. >> yeah, it is -- it is depressing -- >> i think biden is -- >> it is depressing and offensive -- well, joe biden knows we need to get out of afghanistan. >> well, i mean someone that really knows why -- what's happening in that country. what's happening in the society. what's -- nobody knows. this is generals and -- >> all right. obviously, we -- >> and they're going to all push it forward. they're going to push it forward for political reasons. the generals are going to push it forward, because they want to win the war. that's their job. but at some point, the president of the united states, the commander in chief needs to step up and say, we've been there for a decade. we're no closer to victory today than we are a decade ago.

the truth is, george bush could have sent 500,000 troops into afghanistan and it still wouldn't be tamed. because when we leave, it will still be what it was after the soviets left, after the british left, after alexander the great left. this is not new. >> we will have moved them into the 12th century. >> i would not be that optimistic. >> all right. coming up next, from world leaders to chilean miners, there's been a lot of speculation about who will be named "time" magazine's person of the year. we'll reveal who it is next on "morning joe." but first, a quick check of the forecast with bill karins. >> good morning, everyone. florida, the sun is up, and finally, you're starting to warm it up. temperatures now going above freezing in orlando. looks like the oranges and strawberry crops did a little better this morning than they did yesterday. when this is all done, tonight will not be below freezing. windchills are still brutal from charleston to raleigh. minneapolis at minus 2. a little light snow into areas

of mississippi. an accident from freezing rain in northern mississippi. we have winter storm warnings in kentucky for tonight and winter weather advisories for much of the tennessee valley as ice and sleet and snow will move your way later on today and tonight. temperatures cold today in new england, but no snow. we are going to watch snow late tonight, after midnight in chicago. tomorrow morning, could have a couple fluffy inches on the ground. otherwise, a big warm-up in the deep south. you're watching "morning joe" brewed by starbucks.

look at this guy. it's like he never left. he's doing the crinkly smile. doing a little knuckle point. a little lip biting. what the [ bleep ] was that?! he's introduced a tongue swirl. the guy's got moves we've never even seen before. it's a performance. >> anything else that can be done, in your opinion? >> the comfort lane. oh, the precious, it's mine, the precious, it's mine. you can't have it back, nasty obama says. >> oh, my. you could -- that's good material. you could go a long way with that. >> the comfort lean. >> you know you do it, once in a while. >> the bill clinton. >> it's a good move. >> i love it here, mika. >> here with us now, managing

editor of "time" magazine, rick stengel who will reveal the "time" person -- >> this is huge. >> -- of the year. >> the "time" person of the year. >> never, by the way, comes to "morning joe" first. >> nobody knows. >> right. >> nobody in america -- >> right here. >> -- knows this. >> unless you watched the "today" show 30 minutes ago. >> who is it? >> the "time" person of the year for 2010 is mark zuckerberg, the founder and ceo of facebook, which is transforming the planet, transforming the way we relate to each other. it is now the third biggest country in the world. it has almost 600 million users. it is not just a transformational technology, i think it's changing the way people relate to each other. >> so, rick, the "time" person of the year always goes to a person who's changed the world for better or for worse. is this for better or for worse?

>> it's a good question. i think it's mostly for better, but in some cases, people think it's for worse. i think he's changing -- facebook is changing the way we perceive privacy and even the way we relate to each other. and some people think that's a negative thing, and some people think that's a positive thing. if you look -- and the story shows him a way you've never seen him, and he also talks about the future. the future for them, for facebook is that, on the web, you carry the identity wherever you go. when you log into a site, they have all this information about you and the web knows you. that's a transformational idea. and what he's betting on is the way human beings will behave in the world in the future has to do more with how they relate to each other rather than how they relate to institutions or countries -- >> relate to people they don't even though. that's a shocking thing. it's already changed the way our children behave, by having a false intimacy, where, mike, they just throw up all information on these facebook

pages. >> pictures. >> and not only children, i mean, my wife has some friends and acquaintances on facebook -- she does it, i hate it, i don't. the things that people say on facebook to strangers about marital problems, about personal problems -- >> it created a verb, didn't it? friending? >> horrible. >> and that's the idea. >> about the price of green beans in upstate new york, i don't care. >> why should we not be concerned that facebook might be just a huge, huge reincarnation, an electronic reincarnation of the worse of talk radio. this anonymity to it. >> in fact, mike, the fact is it's not anonymous. the fantastic story about when the web started growing, and people started going on, people said, you can be anonymous on it, can take multiple identities, be whoever you want to be. but facebook's bet, you want to

be yourself. you want people to know as much about you than they've ever known in history. and you carry your identity with you whatever you go. it's like a passport now. so, in fact, he would say it's much more honest and much more open and transparent than -- it's like eric schmidt said, if you're doing something you don't want people to know about, maybe you shouldn't be doing it. >> i understand that. but call me naive or elderly, when you're concocting who you are on your facebook profile, you can in your mind create who you want to be rather than who you are? >> how is that different from real life? isn't that what we do? >> willie, though, look at what happened with the rutgers kid that was outed for being gay. and he ended up tragically killing himself. i'm sorry, those two kids that got that information and spread it around, they are members of

facebook nation. that is a direct result from this technology. and i've seen it in my own children's lives. the hurtful -- >> me too. >> -- garbage that is spread around by this site is unhealthy. >> well, that goes to parental responsibility too. now parents have something entirely new to contend with. what's the next step for facebook? what is zuckerberg look to? how do we get beyond, great, i saw your rehearsal bit or pictures, how do we make this a more useful tool? >> if you've noticed, have you been to a site anytime in the last six months that doesn't have one of those facebook like buttons on it? >> no. >> 10,000 new sites a day are corresponding with facebook and putting those buttons on. basically, the idea is that it's taken itself out of its own site and migrated -- it's like spliced off a gene of dna and going out on the web. so now you can vote on everything you like and dislike. you can vote on ads. >> oh, my god, it's a marketing

bonanza. and they can know everything about you so they can market directly to you. we can go a little negative on this segment. between the "60 minutes" piece and everything else, it's been a facebook lovefest. so let's look at the dark side, because there's a huge one. >> there's definitely dangers. they say they protect your information, but everybody's been wondering about what is the future of advertising? the future of advertising is that joe scarborough says, he likes steely dan and fleeces, and it's like, okay, i can now sell him a at least that has -- and a steely dan album. before, you could never target people the way you can target them now. >> i feel much better now. steely dan-approve ed fleece. let's talk about the other finalists and hopefully we'll find some more positive characters. >> oh, who's number two? the tea party. talk about that. >> again, it was another huge change election. i think the change spirit in

america is still very strong. one of the things that the tea party, zuckerberg, and assange all have in common is a kind of distrust or mistrust of authority. a decentralizing of power. that pervades their success this past year. so the tea party, i don't know what would happen to it, but they were a huge force this past year. and they're actually a force right now. the tea party is actually standing up and objecting to the republican establishment's deal on these tax cuts with the president. saying, you know, we promised to balance a budget. and this is going in the opposite direction. julian assange, would he have been on this list if wikileaks had broken in january and february? >> i think he still would be on the list. obviously, a huge amount has happened with assange in the last month or so, and as you know, because i was here, i talked to him a couple of weeks ago. one of the things that if you look at assange and zuckerberg, they are, in a sense, they're reverse sides of the same coin. they both say, hey, we want transparency and openness. but what assange is doing, he

wants transparency to bring down institutions, to bring down governments, to level them. zuckerberg wants openness and transparency to bring people together. it's two deferent visions. zuckerberg is a more positive one. >> finally, we've got to go, but finally the man young americans are dying for, hamid karzai. >> a great piece by joe klein. joe was just in afghanistan. a very mixed figure. he's on the list because that is, in some ways, and in many ways, the most important foreign policy issue of our time, and he is a very lackluster character. >> yeah, he is. >> rick stengel, thank you. mark zuckerberg is "time" magazine's -- >> you great with zuckerberg? >> i think history will judge whether it's a good choice. right now it's a good choice. >> i think so. all right, thank you, rick! >> erin burnett, next. for three hours a week, i'm a coach.

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it's time to get a look at business before the bell with cnbc's own international superstar, erin burnett. she's live at the new york stock exchange and she has breaking news on inflation. >> i do. first, i've got good news, actually -- well, let's go with the good news first. first, inflation is not feeding through to the consumers. we keep hearing about commodity prices.

yes, when you fill up at the gas pump, you are paying for that right now. in terms of all the commodity prices that you see at the grocery store, et cetera, we're not seeing that feed all the way through, as of yet. companies are getting hit, but not consumers. that's good for consumers, but not so much a great thing with commodity prices going up so much. if they can't pass it along, more and more money from companies is going to deal with that input cost. so it's unclear that's where it's going to go, but that's the concern. all--i all-in, not bad numbers. >> let me ask you about the white house's charm offensive to wall street. jamie dimon in last week, which i think was a very smart move. and he's going to have some more ceos in today. >> he is going to have more ceos in today. i actually have the agenda of what is happening today, guys. this is really, really important, okay. they're going to talk about a road map for growth. innovation, entrepreneurship. okay, so, look, it's one of

those things that's a little bit more of a dog and pony show than anything else. but the fact that they're getting together is a success. one thing they're going to talk about in the late morning this morning, according to the agenda, that i have around 11:30 about encouraging investment in the united states that's going to be very important. that's where they're going to talk about taxes and things like that. there'll be about 20 ceos there, including our current boss and our likely soon to be boss. so jeff immelt and brian roberts will both be there, joe. >> both, by the way, very, very good-looking men. >> yes, and i won't make you choose which is more until the deal closes. >> stunningly striking, both of them. >> i want to note one thing that y'all will find interesting in light of this debate over taxes. and obviously, we're supposed to get the senate to pass the compromise bill today. the roundtable survey came out with a survey that was conducted before the compromise was announced. and in this, 45% of them said

they were going to increase hiring next year in a significant way. in the third quarter when they were surveyed, only 31% of them said that. my point is that tax policy did not have anything to do with hiring. hiring comes from demand and the economy. and that's not driven by tax policy. >> all right. >> erin, thank you. >> good to know. >> good to see you. >> erin, thank you for being with us. >> great to see you guys. bravo's andy cohen is next on "morning joe". >> this is huge! >> he's adorable! come over here! hey, guys. printer's out of ink. just shake it. [ rattling ]

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♪ watch andy cohen's because he's got the 411 ♪ >> welcome back to "morning joe." this is just a very exciting

time. >> i know. i love this. >> because we have the newly promoted -- >> he's minted. newly minted. >> executive vice president -- >> oh, powerful. >> of original programming. >> oh, my god. >> and development. and the host of "watch what happens live," andy cohen. andy, this is huge! >> good morning, everybody. >> promoted the same week your talk show went live five nights ago. >> that's true! >> as my grandmother would say in the south, that is gracious plenty. >> that is gracious plenty. that's true. your grandmother was not jewish, i assume, because that's not a very -- >> no, no. >> that's not a very jewish saying. >> not at all. >> it is a gracious and plentiful week. >> so what's the political story of the week. because i know, we -- i'm going to go down to washington and i'd walk on the house floor an awful lot. >> yes. >> people would come up to me and say, joe, what's the big

story. i would say, well, with i was just talking to andy earlier -- >> the big story in the bravo clubhouse this week is, actually, michelle obama, a rare misstep. love her! she's just a great fashion icon. she wore some boots the other day -- >> why would you do this, andy. >> -- that we were not feeling in the bravo clubhouse. >> is he lashing out at obama -- >> no, not lashing out. i'm saying she had one fashion misstep in the last two years. this was something that was lighting up the lines in the clubhouse. >> what's the problem with the boots? >> i think the color is not great. i mean, anyone else? am i just on an island here? >> no, i -- >> keep going. >> am i on an island?! >> i love it that this is the controversy that i --

>> you know -- >> everybody's looking at me as if -- >> they don't get it at all. i'm here commiserating, because it's so hard to dress. >> that's what i'm saying, as our first lady, she's had 2 1/2 years of impeccableability, if that's a word, so she had one moment that was -- >> it's a compliment. >> it is a compliment, willie, thank you! >> and willie was just talking about going to the white house, and you said, i think your exact words were, she was a perfect example of luminosity. >> i felt the first lady, everything she does is a very good-looking woman, especially in person. let's talk about your show, which is fantastic, "watch what happens live." >> it's changing america. >> i just read something, correct me if i'm wrong about this. you know chelsea handler, she's famous -- >> i think i know someone. >> yeah, we know chelsea. >> andy cohen beats the tar out

of her show each and every night. is that true? >> it happens a lot. >> she's like the big famous one, but you beat her. true? >> that happens. >> it happens. >> little-known fact. i wouldn't say each and every night. i don't want to -- but it happens -- >> most. >> it's a good thing. >> can i just say, by this point, you're bored. >> you need to move on. >> no, it's so fun. you know what's cool about it, one of the same things that's cool about this show, is it is very live and anything can happen. and that's what i love about this show and that's what i love about my show, because there's nothing live on late-night at 11:00, what's live? nothing. >> there needs to be. >> let me tell you something. >> for years i've been watching dick clark's new year's rocking eve, because it's changed my life, it's changed the world. but -- >> we love mark adleman -- >> we're going to have a split screen this year, because you, my man, are hosting new

year's -- >> i'm going to have the new year's bravo. here's the thing i feel. times square, new year's eve, there's nowhere to pee, you can't drink out of open containers, i would not want to be anywhere near times square on new year's eve. you know what's fun on new year's eve? a really fun house party. i'm throwing one live on new year's eve, we're going to have a wig drop, we'll be drinking, we have a full bar. it's going to be nuts on bravo from 10:30 to 12:30. it's either going to be the best thing ever or -- >> suck really bad. >> it's not going to suck, joe. >> she'll write the review and either say, this is a transformative show that will forever change the way new year's eve is reported on or it sucks powerful hard.

>> by the way, i would actually be -- i would be kind of psyched to get a horrible review from alsandra. i would be flattered. >> let me ask this question, mike barnicle. a great injustice has occurred. we just had rick stengel here -- andy, person of the year? >> oh, who -- >> no, you instead of zuckerberg. >> should we take him with us? >> the day is young. >> i'll have what you're having, whatever it is. >> you will? >> yes! all right, andy cohen, bravo, thank you very much. >> we love you, andy. >> thank. >> can't wait for new year's eve. >> i know you can't. [ female announcer ] imagine the possibilities with stelara®.

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look ahead with us at northerntrust.com. thnchts this agreement is not subject to being reopen. in other words, we have an understanding. i think the senate is going to pass this measure ensuring that no one's taxes go up by very significant margin and i hope that our friends in the house will understand that that's the best way to go forward, pass the senate bill, get it down to a

president who supports the understanding. >> with us now from capitol hill, democratic senator from north carolina, senator kay hagan. senator, thank you so much for being with us. >> good morning. >> so there are a lot of good things in this bill. as a conservative, i like tax cuts. progressives like the extension of unemployment benefits. it will be good for the economy. the payroll taxes, businesses will like that. but we can't afford it. it's $1 trillion. are you going to vote for this bill and then go back to north carolina voters and say, hey, i just added $1 trillion to the national debt. >> you know, that debt, that bill funds the country for the rest of next year. but there are two things in it. one, there's a freeze on nondefense discretionary spending and an additional $29 billion are being cut. but, you know, we have got to take this seriously. i am so concerned about the debt and the deficit in this country, and that's why i voted against this tax bill. >> so you voted against the tax

bill. do you have a problem going back to north carolina and justifying that "no" vote? because, actually, i think since it's not paid for, that's the right vote to take. >> i think it is the right vote to take. we've got to take this seriously. we cannot continue adding to our national regard with no long-term solutions. >> so why are you one of the few senators that had the courage to stand up and vote no, despite the fact that we're $14 trillion in debt, and this additional $1 trillion just comes from china. >> we've got to quit borrowing from china. i served for ten years in the state senate in north carolina. co-chaired the budget. we project our income and then we balance our budget and set our budget accordingly. we've got to take that kind of policy up to washington and really be serious about this. yesterday on the senate floor, 11 democrats and republicans got together and we spoke about the dire need in this country that we've got to come together to

help solve this fiscal crisis. >> senator, are your colleagues, your democratic colleagues not serious about this crisis? and is this an example of it? >> i think this is an example of washington as usual. it's another two-year extension with no long-term plan for the future. that's what we've got to be focused on. >> senator, we just talked to your colleague, senator sherrod brown of ohio a few minutes ago. he also voted no on monday, but said he couldn't go back over the holidays and look you be employed folks in the eye and say, i voted against a package that would give you unemployment benefits. do you feel that same way? >> you know, the way i look at it right now, the unemployment is necessary and we do need it. we've got over 400,000 people unemployed in north carolina, but we've also got to take seriously tax policy. and i was in support of doing tax cuts for anybody making $1 million and less in income. that's what we should have done and that's what i would have supported. >> you know, there you go. that makes a lot of sense. i'm sorry, mike barnicle.

sherrod brown, barack obama, everybody going, oh, our hands were tied. we couldn't have stared down the tax cuts for millionaires, they weren't telling the truth. >> no, they had majority. senator, let me ask you, one one element of the bill -- not the tax bill, the appropriations bill -- involves defense items. defense is a huge component of the budget and thus the deficit. everyone from sergeant billco to secretary gates have said a couple of things in there ought not to happen. how can that bill go forward with stuff like that happening? >> well, i think, obviously, national security is one of the most important things we need to be focused on. and i think we need to listen to secretary gates. he's obviously on the forefront. he sees it day-in and day-out, and i do think we need to pay attention to what he says. >> all right. senator, thank you for being with us. we've already said around this table, there are two things we need to do to save this country. one, stop spending our future generations into debt. and two, watch andy cohen on new year's eve on bravo.

>> exactly! >> right? >> that's right! >> so you're 50% of the way there, senator. i'm sorry. i'm a bizarre man. when it comes to investing, no one person has all the answers. so td ameritrade doesn't give me just one person. questions about retirement? i talk to their retirement account specialists. bonds? grab the phone. fixed-income specialist. td ameritrade knows investors sometimes need real, live help. not just one broker... a whole team there to help... to help me decide what's right for me. people with answers at td ameritrade. get up to $500 when you open an account. [ male announcer ] you know her. we know diamonds. together we'll make her holiday. that's why only zales is the diamond store.

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welcome back. it's time to talk about what we learned today. i'll tell you what i learned today. despite protests, it ain't tough dressing. barnicle, show them. seriously? >>