the big story today, job wars. good afternoon, i'm matt miller, in for dylan ratigan. more than 14 million americans still out of work, further complicating the drive for a long-term budget deal. can a deal on the debt quell the uncertainty some say hurts hiring or will new spending cuts, themselves, kill jobs and turn a bad economy worse? the labor department reports a net gain of only 18,000 jobs last month. just 18,000. that's even worse than may reese' vised 25,000. at this rate the economy needs to add nearly 14 million jobs in the next three years to get the rate down to 6%. that's 382,000 a month. and we've never seen that kind of growth ever. and don't forget, that 9.2% unemployment rate is deceiving when you add in the nearly 1 million this couraged workers who have given up hope and 8.6 million settling for part-time gigs, the rate balloons to more like 16%. republicans are already running with this report, heading into

sunday's do or die debt meeting at the white house. get a listen. >> the stimulus spending binge, excessive government regulations, and our overwhelming debt continue to hold back job creators around our country. tax hikes on families and job creators would only make things worse. i think the situation we face is pretty urgent. as a matter of fact, i think i would describe it as dire. >> president obama trying to spin the dismal report to further his push for reinvestments. >> with uncertainty over whether the debt limit here in the united states will be raised, it's also made businesses hesitant to invest more aggressively. we have to rein in our deficits and government live within its means while still making investments to put people to work. >> let's start with the white house and nbc's mike viqueira. we heard the spin. what's coming next? >> reporter: it's a dispiriting end heading into a critical

weekend with prospects of any agreement on the debt ceiling deal, matt. they're going to meet sunday. you know the story. the president met with the congressional leadership at the white house yesterday. he told the staff to get together, come back on sunday with their bottom line. we understand that meeting is not going to be taking place until 6:00 sunday night. and to a large extent here, today, matt, on both sides of pennsylvania avenue, tampering down expectations. the speaker, john boehner saying in the same press conference that nothing is imminent, a deal is not imminent. one thing that went on notice that john boehner said, he's buying into the august 2nd deadline. remember last week he said it was an artificial deadline put forward by the treasury department. the president looking at those terrible job numbers, by any estimation, matt, trying to put the onus back on congress saying he need more infrastructure spending on highways and the like, extend the payroll tax hike in place this year, he wants to extend it next year. remember, that was put in place in the controversial deal he made with mitch mcconnell and

senate republicans back in december. the president also wants trade agreements to move forward. all that is really a sideshow heading into the weekend with this debt deal now on the table. jay carney, the press secretary here, secretary saying this isn't necessarily a make or break deadline. there is no drop-dead date for an agreement. the clock is ticking and the weekend is vital to the prospects of an agreement. matt? >> thanks, mike havirginihav vi white house. luke russert, luke, republicans are cashing in. is this report exactly what they need to say to the democrats in the debt talks, come to pop pa? >> it's certainly something they feel is beneficial to them in terms of these negotiations, matt. there's three things speaker boehner said republicans had a problem with, rather the country has a problem with today. there's a debt problem, a jobs problem and spending problem. they're going to take this report as use it as a catalyst to try to get what they believe the best deal they can get in terms of a deficit reduction but

also that cuts spending. one thing that's interesting within this type of agreement we're talking about right now, they want to have comprehensive tax reform. when the president is saying things, we need to eliminate the economic uncertainty to have a better business environment, those are direct republican talking points. they really feel with this type of economic climate, any kind of thing they can do to get a done quicker would deal better with them in their favor. that being said, there's still discussions there's going to be a huge corporate comprehensive tax reform in this. possible lowering of corporate rates, possibly eliminating deductions to broaden the tax base. i spoke to one gop aide who said he's covering this right now, as you're thinking to linear. it needs to be outside of the box. any type of teal thdeal that co this weekend will be out of the box, unpopular on both sides but is going to have to garner 218

votes. there's still a long way to go on this, matt. >> luke russert dissecting the three dem mentiimensional hill. let's turn to chad bernstein and peter morici, former chief economist, he's now a professor at the university of maryland smith school of business. welcome, gentlemen. jared, let me start with you. you've been in the room. you were at the white house. this is a terrible, terrible report. i know you blogged on that today. don't jobs need to be the overwhelming priority. >> absolutely. i think one of the things i said is i think a lot of americans are probably looking at washington right now saying, glad you guys are really focused on something, but i'm not sure it's the right thing. obviously, we need to have a path to a sustainable, fiscal budget, but right now what looms so large for so many americans in the broad middle class is the jobs deficit. it's paychecks and it's jobs,

and so these guys really need to walk and chew gum right now. >> peter, i want to put up, we have got a quote from paul krugman, "the new york times" columnist and nobel prize winner who also blogged this today. the situation he said cries out aggressively expansionary monetary and fiscal policy. instead, however, the political push is in the opposite direction. to you agree with that, peter? >> i agree about the political push. we need to compliment greater fiscal discipline with addressing some structural problems that would give us the kind of stimulus we need. the huge trade deficit, for example, with china. the president talks about more trade agreements with korea. that may be nice, but that's not going to solve the problem. we already have a trade agreement with china. it's not working. we have to rebalance trade. on energy we need to develop domestic energy in addition to all teternative sources, we nee start drilling for oil and gas again so we're not importing so much. if we did those things we could reduce the deficit, increase employment and get out of this

mess. >> jared, i guess what worries me is all the emphasis seems to be on a blame game. the white house, you can hear it already. what the president came out and said today. chastising congress on not acting on things he say would make a difference. if they would, you have the republicans seizing on this in a way they know gives them an upper hand in 2012 and the near-term debt talks. what will it take to actually get some kind of common sense action on jobs in the near term as opposed to the rhetoric on either side? >> it's the critical question you're asking, matt. if it doesn't take two months of an american jobs machine that has shifted from, you know, maybe from first gear at best, not into second gear, but back into neutral, with an unemployment rate that was 8.7% back in march, so already too high, now has climbed to 9.2%. hard to imagine what it will take. now, there's been a lot of posturing going on in this town in the last few weeks around the debt ceiling. i do have some hope that this

jobs report in tandem with the last one, as you mentioned, was marked down from already bad to really lousy, will concentrate the minds. i actually thought some of the analysis i heard earlier on the intro didn't seem quite right. i may disagree a little with my friend, peter, on this. the idea of anything structural versus cyclical might not make a ton of sense. we have to think about short-term measures we can plug into the economy quickly. temporary, short term, so they don't have an impact on the debt. drilling for oil may be fine, but that's not going to help us in the short run. maybe fast working infrastructure, i have an idea around public school repair. some of those kinds of things might be helpful. i've tried to come up with things i think democrats and republicans may be able to agree on once they get their head screwed on a little straighter about this. >> peter, one of the problems i have, when you listen to the republicans, the logic of their economics doesn't make sense to

me. they keep talking about spending cuts being something that will boost the economy. do you believe that? >> no, i don't. unless it's complemented by other fundamental policies, to redress the trade policy with china. i disagree with china regard to oil and gas. build a road, build a road. you develop an oil well, you use the same stuff, concrete, steel and so forth, then you get some oil. i see them as complementary kinds of policies. my feeling is the republicans don't get it. cutting taxes, cutting spending, deregulation is not going to get it out of this mess. we need to do things more fundamental than they're willing to do. for example, they're not willing to take on china, either. >> jared, give us a second on your public school idea. is it a public school building idea? >> yeah. i call it f.a.s.t. fix america's schools today and do it fast. there are 100,000 school districts in this country. they have a deep backlog in need of repair, installlation, paint jobs, everything from boilers to

clean energy greening them up. this is something we've been thinking about for a while. we actually had something like this in the recovery bill, but it came out at the last minute. one of the senators objected to it. this is a good way. these jobs are labor intensive. these are labor intensive jobs that could get people back to work. the construction unemployment rate has hovered between 15% and 20%, plus if you're like me, you drive your kids often to public school in the morning. people will see this. it's in their neighborhoods. it has great optics, politics, great infrastructure. >> jared, you were in the white house in early 2009 when the recovery plan was being put together. could you and your colleagues ever have imagined as you were putting together the early stimulus ideas that we'd have 9.2% unemployment? you know, two years later? a year or so from an election? >> no. the -- especially when you think we were mistakenly talking about green chutes back in the spring of 2009.

i mean, part of this, let's not forget, this is a terrible jobs report, but back in january of 2009, we lost 780,000 jobs. 780,000. so the stall of the jobs machine is a bad thing, but where we were was catcataclysmic. i do think the administration should get a lot of credit for pulling that back from the cliff. >> peter, just got a second left. what's your best guess of what unemployment's going to be on the eve of the 2012 election? >> either we're going to start to grow again and get down to 8.5% or the economy will fall off the cliff and we'll be at 13%. we simply cannot continue at 2% growth. it's like an airplane flying 100 feet off the ground. the slightest disruption makes it crash and burn. >> gentlemen, we're going to hope we keep that airplane aloft as opposed to the alternative. thank you, peter morici, jared bernstein for your economic insights. >> thank you. still ahead on this summer friday, the ufo truth tellers.

what's so special about this date when it comes to revealing what else and who else might be out there? also coming up, the mission that ends an era in american exceptionalism. we're at cape canaveral with the man who's witnessed each and every shuttle launch. plus, guns, gadgets and a whole lot of girls. meet the author carrying on the legacy of the most successful franchise in history. a vacation on a budget with expedia. make it work. booking a flight by itself is an uh-oh. see if we can "stitch" together a better deal. that's a hint, antoine. ooh! see what anandra did? booking your flight and hotel at the same time gets you prices hotels and airlines won't let expedia show separately. book it. major wow factor! whe you book matters. expedia.

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elected officials who are running for office next year

will have to answer the question, what did they do to make things better? >> 14 million americans out of work, another million have given up hope. does it matter who's on the republican ticket next fall if unemployment doesn't come down significantly by election day? our friday mega panel is here with definitive answers. democratic strategist crystal ball. "the nation's" ari, and msnbc contributor tere. welcome, guys. ari, let me start with you. everyone looks springy and fresh on a friday afternoon. this is a mess. politically. right? this jobs report is both substantively grim for so many americans and also a disaster. the president. >> it's a disaster for the american public, and as you say, a political disaster for this -- who has been snookered along into acting like the long-term 30 or 40-year deficit, which is an issue, but the 30-year deficit is the number one issue. that's not true for people, the one out of ten americans who are out of work.

it's not true for congress that has to make short-term decisions about what they're going to spend any money to get the job market going again. so i think -- i think as you say, and as paul krugman said in the column you quoted earlier, this shows a type of rightward drifting confused thinking by the obama administration that i think is problematic in prioritizing the deficit. >> crystal, i want to put up a couple quotes we had. the republican candidate pouncing on this today. i want to throw this into the mix. we had mitt romney, my favorite sound bite for the day. with their cavalier attitude about the economy, the white house has turned the audacity of hope into the audacity of indifference. jon huntsman, the american people have been extraordinarily patient in waiting for the better and brighter times promised to them by this administration. pawlenty, president obama is out of answers and running out of time. his policies are not creating the necessary jobs and he has no

plan to do it. they sound kind of right. >> we have been duped into going down this track. the republicans have manufactured a crisis, a debt ceiling crisis when we have a very real crisis in the unemployment crisis. you know, hey, mitt romney knows all about unemployment, right? because he's unemployed, guys. honestly, audacity, the republicans, all of a sudden, it's like they're licking their chops that the jobs numbers are this bad. they almost seem delighted. it's disgusting. what they have done? we have republicans in control of congress. what have they done? not a single thing. they're going to pounce on the president and say it's his policies. >> are we headed into a blame game over this, the total politicking advantage? >> that's been pretty typical for washington throughout all of american history. it's always a blame -- in a debate context and a campaign context with balobama and say,

can do better. i don't see any individual in this race who can convincingly make a case that i can do better and i have done better in the past. >> you don't think romney has a credibility -- >> no. >> i'm not making the case for him. he looks like a central -- >> when we finally get down to it, this is a finance guy who created, what was it, 40 jobs in his company? >> democrats will run ads about the lbos and firings that took place. >> exactly. he looks like the guy that fired you rather than guy you work with. so that's going to work. and i found it curious there was no quote from the actual number two in the gop race, michele bachmann, who cannot stand on the stage with obama and say, i can do better on these economic issues. none of these people can. how does this turn into something good for them? >> i wonder, ari, there's going to be a choice between two folks at some point. you do have -- 9.2%, if

unemployment is still 8.5% when we head into the election, people have models who say the elections sort of turns totally on that. we're a bunch of progressives here. why can't obama do something to try and get traction on this before he sort of faces the music? >> i have two thoughts. one the political scientist determinist view. that works off history. history only tells you what's happened. it doesn't ultimately tell you what's going to happen. if you look at administrations where you had high unemployment and an excellent commander in chief who killed osama bin laden, right, history is not a good guy. you don't have that in any other time. we're going to have to see how obama's different strengths played out. he has things to sell. domestic spending to get the job market going again is not one of them. your other question, your other thought, he's not surrounding himself right now with a serious set of replacements for an economic team that's been widely derided for being more concerned

about wall street than main street. >> nate silver did an analysis between the president's re-election chances and he found no correlation. it does matter. let's not play it up more than it is. what's more important is the trend. do people feel like things are getting better? people don't feel like things are getting better but worse. >> if the debate feels other worldly in washington, there's a ufo story in the news. it's ufo annual world dislow su sure day. this led by a group of ufo truthers who want governments worldwide to say what they know or what they're hiding, this group claims, about extra t terrestrial visits. are there bigger concerns we ought to have? >> you're a ufo specialist.

you're a ufo specialist. >> yes, there are at least 1 million bigger concerns. i mean, i can't even take seriously the concept that there are people on other planets who look like us, can talk to us and have visited this planet and -- >> that's why we went to the moon. >> i've had this marked on my calendar for months. i couldn't be more excited. me and dennis kucinich are going to celebrate it together. >> is he a ufo -- >> he is. actually thanks to him we actually have president obama on the record talking about ufos. he says, you know, something to the effect of, i don't know, but we have people on earth. >> redistricted out because of the redistricting in ohio. is he counting on sort of extra terrestrial voters to come into washington state? >> should we also talk about paranormals and ghosts and when we can disclose what we know about them, too? >> i have a serious answer to the people who think this is always this endless government conspiracy. that is different from past periods. and that is wikileaks. right?

there are people in government now who have more access to anonymously push out information than they ever had before and we've seen all kinds of such come to light. if you're sitting at home, it's a conspiracy, the media, the government is in on it. is wikileaks in on it, too? if you have a document, i think it will come hosomehow leak. >> ari, if you look at what comes out sometimes. there may be hope for lower unemployment, there may be hope we'll learn more -- i don't know where i'm going with that. stick around, guys. panel is sticking around. up next, sunday prayers. can a rare weekend debt meeting at the white house produce any real solutions? we'll ask colorado senator michael bennett. he's our specialist. that's next. @ó@ó@ó@

there is no agreement in private or in public, and as the president said yesterday, we are this far apart. >> it's a gloomy day in washington with a bad jobs report out and speaker boehner denying any deal on the debt ceiling. both sides agree we need far reaching spendi ining cuts but disagree when it comes to reven revenues. the president said both sides should be ready to show their demands when they come to the table on sunday. with us to push the whole debate forward, our specialist, colorado senator michael bennett. welcome, senator. >> thanks, matt. it's great to be with you. >> great to have you. you're a fresh face in washington, which is a welcomed thing. only been there a couple of years. just off your first big actual election victory. where are we in this? we have the, you know, this whole mess heading toward what could be something that triggers a real economic meltdown. what's the way out of this at this point, do you think?

>> well, one of the tragic things that i've come to understand about washington in the last 2 1/2 years is that nothing ever gets done until it has to get done. and i'd say we are right at that point in terms of this debt ceiling. if we accidentally trip over this and we see the result in increased interest rates for our government but also for everybody across the country, that economic downturn is going to be catastrophic. we will have only ourselves to blame. that is the members of congress. people in colorado -- i'm standing in front of colorado springs. this is a republican cath ounty our state. what they're saying is the same thing as what democrats are saying. they want to see a plan that materially addresses the problem. $4.5 trillion sounds right to them. we're in it together. everybody has a role to play. wanted to be bipartisan. neither parties go it alone approach. i would only add we need to

reassure the capital markets that their paper is worth as much as we paid for it. >> we have our panel here. crystal ball has a question for you. >> big fan of your work, your work on education reform. we saw the jobs number today. 39,000 public sector jobs lost. 500,000 local government jobs lost since the peak in 2008. is there hope of getting anymore aid to state and local governments? is that something you would support? >> i think that's going to be a real challenge when we have already a $1.5 trillion annual deficit and $15 trillion debt, but i do think one of the conversations we should be having, it shouldn't be too complicated for washington, although sometimes it seems that it is, is whether we have a tax policy in this country, a regulatory policy in this country that's actually driving job growth here in the united states, driving innovation here in the united states, or whether we have something that's

encrusted by a bunch of special interests that may have been creating jobs in the middle of the 20th century but are not going to be the job creators in the 21st century. i hope that we do have a chance to have a conversation about comprehensive tax reform in that context because i think that will be the way we're going to put the people that are structurally unemployed in this economy back to work. >> before i get ari melber, in, the weather seems to be changing as we speak, senator, like you're going from kind of brightness to shadow. it's a -- this is like a charleston heston moment in the ten commandments. ari -- >> that's what they -- >> go ahead. >> that's what they say about colorado. if you don't like the weather, wait 15 minutes. >> i was hoping you were summ summoning divine intervention on the debt ceiling. >> thanks for being with us and rotating with the weather and our different panelists. the question i have is about what you co-sponsored, deficit reduction act, which of course you know would set the united states on a statutory target of only have a certain percent of

gdp in the deficit. i think all the way down to 3% by the end of it. and to some people, you know, the question is, is that a bad idea? because we don't know when we're going to have one war or three wars. we don't know when we're going to have a jobs crisis like the one we have that some people think would require more deficit spending. how to you see that in light of those criticisms? do you think that kind of proposal, what you've introduced, is similar to what the republicans are doing on the entire fight over the debt? >> excellent question. and i really appreciate the chance to talk with you about it. what i proposed was a bill, as you described, that thinks about the size of our deficit and size of our debt as a ratio of those things to our gdp. it also takes into account something that these cap plans don't take into account which there's a difference between a rising economy and falling economy. in a falling economy, by definition, the percentage of your government, as a percentage

of gdp, will rise. that's exactly the last time you want to be making cuts because it will only create more economic hardship for people and slow the recovery. so what i've said is rather than thinking about the size of government as a percentage of gdp, let's think about our deficit and debt as a percentage so we remind ourselves in the good times that it's not okay to pay taxes -- or to cut taxes and not pay for it. it's not okay to go to war and not pay for it, but we have to manage our resources for the benefit of our kids and grandkids. i actually think those disciplines -- the discipline that i described would be helpful because i think there's a lot of evidence that in the ordinary course of legislative business people in washington are unwilling to make those kinds of choices and they kind of throw our kids under the bus as a result of that. >> senator, hi, it's tore. i want to talk a little bit more emotionally about you discovering the culture of washington and seeing that a lot of times the needs of people are

lost or forgotten in battles over politics. and how do you feel about finding that situation where you're not really helping people, you're kind of battling against republicans then battling against democrats? >> well, as was said earlier, you know, i had never run for office before i ran for this office, and i spent half my life in the private sector and half in local government. most recently as the superintendent of schools. and the difference is just staggering. i mean, i have -- look, if i had to pick out one economic fact i'm most worried about, the fact median family income declined in the country and my state in the last decade. in the first time in the country's history, we have no working theory about how we're going to change that trajectory. what that means to the lives of the people come to my town halls, they're making less money at the end of the decade than at the beginning. their cost of health insurance has gone up 100%. their cost of higher ed has gone

up 60% that. they're saying to me, michael, we can't send our kid to the best school they got into. our sent our first kid to the fancy school but didn't send our second kid there. those are the real choices people are having to grapple with not to mention the people that are unemployed live lg ing our country. we're willing in washington to actually have a conversation to lead us over tripping over this debt ceiling. there's no mayor in my state, no government official in my state, that would ever, ever jeopardize the credit rating of their community for some ideological reason. >> senator michael bennet, a fresh voice in washington. if you develop the power in d.c. you have over the weather in colorado, people better watch out. thanks very much for taking the time to share your thoughts and insights tonight. >> thanks for having me. great to be with you. have a great weekend. >> thanks to our panel, tore, ari, crystal ball for setting us off on a good friday for the weekend. amid some grim job news. up next, blasting off into

the history books. a look back at nasa's incredible 40-year journey and what's next in the space race. ♪ meet me in outer space >> america will continue the dream. ♪ i will hold you close if you're afraid of heights ♪ [ male announcer ] this is larry... whose long day starts with arthritis pain... and a choice. take tylenol arthritis and maybe up to six in a day... or choose aleve and two pills for a day free of pain.

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launch? >> reporter: well, you know, matt, it really didn't feel much different than before because actually i won't feel the finality to it until they come back and land 12 days or 13 days if they can extend the mission. then when that "atlantis" touches down on the runway and it rolls to a stop, then you will believe that the program, i guess, is over. but it was an exciting day with having to dodge the weather, but they made it into orbit. they've been up there now five hours and ten minutes and all is going well. they should be docking with the station on sunday. >> you know, jay, i feel a little wistful when you look at this because it's always been one of those touchstones for american leadership and innovation. does this mean if this program is behind us that something important is ending for country? >> yes, there's something important ending for the country. we've been learning how to live in space. we, being the human race.

the international space station is the size of two football fields, matt, and it's taken them over ten years to build it, and this is the biggest item they had of the shuttle. of course, they put the hubbell space telescope up there. it has rewritten the history of the universe and so many other things to the planets. but, anyway, before that, of course, we had "apollo." we had "gemini" and "mercury." "mercury" started 50 years ago with the launch of alan shepard. before that, they were putting up satellites, of course. the first one went up in '57, that was sputnik by the soviet union. finally america got a satellite in space 31st of january 1958. a couple months later i came here and was fortunate to get a job with a great company like nbc news and so i've been here ever since and i've been fortunate to not being sick

during one of the astronaut launches. today was number 166. frankly, it will be at least four years before we have another space launch from cape canaveral with astronauts, possibly five. i hope to be here for number 167, matt. >> we hope so, too, jay. thanks for all your years of bringing this to the country and to nbc's and msnbc's viewers. coming up, license to thrill. we're talking to the author behind the latest book in the bond franchise and finding out what the world's most famous spy is drinking these days. here's a hint. it's not shaken or stirred. ♪

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bond. james bond. >> by the way, we haven't been properly introduced, molina. my name is bond, james bond. >> the name's bond, james bond. >> the name's bond, james bond. >> miller, matt miller. if that way of introducing yourself rings an immediate bell, then like me you're one of the millions of james bond devoeties across the world. the debonair british spy with a license to kill has captured the imagination of generations of readers and filmgoers since 1953. bond's women, cars, drinks and gadgets always enjoyed or deployed, as he somehow stayed in the world, have made his character a cultural icon and

most successful commercial franchise in film history. some say it takes an author as bold as bond, himself, to keep this story alive. the latest military installment "carte blanche" is a bestseller. it features an updated bond who's seen action in afghanistan, chasing criminal masterminds from dubai to capetown in a frantic five-day race to, you guessed it, save off disaster. i read the book on vacation last week. i'm here to tell bond fans it's a great beach read and worthy new edition to the genre. joining me, the latest keeper of the bond legacy. the author of "carte blanche" jeffrey deaver. >> how are you doing today? >> great. i have to start with one of the things bond lovers love, bond always has drinks and cars and various things. you created a new drink i want to hold up for your james bond. i have to tell you, at the hotel i'm staying at last night, i actually took the book on kindle, brought it to the

bartender and had them make this. we have the recipe, i think, we can put up also. it's crown royal. a double, double -- two shots. >> it's james bond. it has to be a double, of course. >> has to be a double. over ice with a half measure of triple sec for sweetness and a slice of orange peel. and a couple dashes of bitters. you made this drink up. here's to you. >> thank you, matt. i'll try to be articulate after sipping a bit. >> they're very good. i have to tell you. i won't say how many i had last night. how did you get involved -- the bond franchise, obviously a very big thing. you're already one of the most established bestselling, mystery writer in the genre. how did you get involved with bond? >> a book of mine called "garden of beasts" won the award by the crime writers association in england. in accepting the award in london, i said, gosh, this means so much to me.

i started reading bond when i was 8 years old. he was an influence on me when i was a young writer. i thought, zbogosh, if i could write stories like this, tell adventure stories, that would be a great thing. the estate was in the audience. they heard me make those comments. they just -- let's check out jeff's other books. i pareapparently passed the fir hurdle. they called me up, would you be interesting in writing the new bond novel? i said, i'm your man. >> that's a foundation controlled by the family? >> your families may not -- ian fleming passed away at a young age in the mid 1960s. even by then, bond was such an iconic character. beloved around the world. john kennedy really put him on the map in america by saying fleming was such a great writer. and, you know, he became so popular. i think the fleming estate, and i've met them, it's not just about the money. it's about continuing this character, this hero, really a

hero for all times, for the people around the world who love him. >> what's different for a novelist like you taking on a character like this? >> well, it's terrifying, for one thing. i had two goals when i sat down to write "carte blanch." one, i have millions of fans around the world who expect a jeffrey deaver book. you might know that from the, say, "the bone collector," the denzel washington film. it's a fast-paced story. moves very quickly. lots of twists and turns. a big surprise ending followed by a big surprise ending foll followed, guess what, by a big surprise ending. i like twists and turns. i had to make sure my fans got that book. i heard one-fifth of the world's population has seen a bond film or read a bond book. i had those people -- >> that's over a billion people. >> imagine that. all of a sudden i'm struck with this burden. it was a challenge. i've written 30 novels. it was an extra challenge. i had a real sense of responsibility. don't mess up bond, make sure

the people get what they want. >> i tell you, as a reader, i found it -- an updatie ind bond worked for me. ian fleming started the use of brands. bond would use various brands in the book. he's wearing a rolex watch. he's driving a bentley continental gt -- >> exactly. >> we may have some of this we're showing people. or we can put up on the screen. i also -- i notice that when you wanted to say he was wearing a gaudy watch, he wear a brightling. >> i call my assistant back at home. neither a bentley nor rolex have shown up. i do say it keeps good time, though, if that helps. >> it's funny. that's right. i did wonder if they were going to be hitting you. bond's women always an interesting thing. one thing i thought was interesting in this novel, bond had a kind of more compassionate side than maybe -- maybe that's not the right word. he actually gave up the

opportunity to go to bed with one of the characters. >> we can use the word sensitive. >> sensitive bond. >> i'll tell you very briefly about this scene which has had maybe more response than anything else. bond is with someone who has broken up recently with their fiance and they're both single, liaison could occur, but he notices her rubbing the finger where her ring had been. he says, now is not the time, and i was kind of worried about that scene. it goes against the stereotypical bond. i can't tell you the very positive response i've had. it made him a real human being and people like that. >> it did. even though some might say it was a little out of character from the classic bond who would bed women then they died the next day. i found it appealing in the modern kind of spy trade craft. the new emotional trade craft. >> exactly right. part of any thriller is engaging the readers emotionally, and that requires creating living, breathing characters. even the bad guys have to be living, breathing characters. >> we have to run.

jeffrey deaver. author of "carte blanch." congratulations on this book. just with a nano second, is there going to be a name for this drink? >> we're going to call it the carte blanch. >> there you have it. jeffrey drooeaver, author of th new bond book. thanks for having a drink, happy hour on the dylan ratigan show. "hardball," charging toward 2012 in a sputtering economy. first, the james bond of our time. international man of mystery, tore, up next with his daily rant. well-being. we're all striving for it. purina cat chow helps you nurture it in your cat with a full family of excellent nutrition and helpful resources. purina cat chow. share a better life.

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time now for our daily rant. on friday that means it's tore's turn.

over to you. >> thanks, matt. you know that old phrase, a funny thing happened on the way to the coronation? well, casey anthony gives us a funny thing happened on the way to the execution. most of america was virtually surrounding the courthouse holding pitchforks and nooses eager to take her straight from the holding cell to the electric chair so they could fry this supposed symbol of all that's gone wrong with the young generation that's so hot to live bella vita and so clueless about raising kids. the jury agreed in its heart casey a probably the reason why caylee died, but they knew they didn't hear anywhere near enough evidence to convict. they came back quickly because they didn't have much to argue about. it wasn't even close. so they acquitted her as they vomited about it. they're an exemplary jury and proof of the system working. you cannot convict because you feel someone's done wrong. you must have the evidence.

we have plenty of examples of the system not working, like a police officer in san francisco being found guilty of involuntary manslaughter after shooting oscar grant while he lay on the ground in handcuffs and then doing just eight months for it. but the casey anthony jury cannot be used as an example of the system failing. they decided on evidence and not on feelings. that's all i'd ask for if i was on trial for my life. so now what for young casey? her national status remains unchanged by the verdict. the court of public opinion has convicted her and she is america's big villain. maybe she'll get a million from a network interview, but she's probably not going to get a big book deal because she's too radioactive for a major publisher. but eventually our scott and freuda will be -- seeing bad things happen to people we don't like. as a nation we watched casey's

trial so closely because we wanted that joy so badly. we missed out on it this time, but you know the embattled ship of casey anthony's life will founder again. this story is not over. she's a troubled person and karma will catch up with her. many link her to o.j. simpson who, like her, might have gotten away with murder, but he ended up in prison anyway. karma is a dogged beast with an elephant's memory. so casey, watch out. >> tore, well done as always. and you used a fancy word i've never known how to pronounce. scottenfreude. joy in other people's misery. i'm surprised you came down where leading legal scholars seem to be, this shows the system does work, as frustrating as it may be, to millions of americans. >> look, if you're watching this every day as some of america's televised legal scholars were, and you didn't realize the prosecution is not making their

case, they're not providing evidence, they don't have a way of killing, they don't have a cause of death, they don't have all the things that you basically need to convict somebody, they should have been throwing up their hands saying the prosecution is not doing their job, they're not giving us murder one, this is not going to be a conviction. they all went with their hearts and they said, she's a horrible person, she's going down. they hashould have told us, she not going down. the evidence is not there. >> what does it say, 15, 20 seconds, our media culture, the fact there's talk about movie, interview payments. someone goes through this and she's going to end up with potentially a big payday? are we sick in that way? >> you know, i don't think that there's necessarily anything wrong with her having the right to tell her story, right? i don't -- i'm not mad at that. although the road ahead for her is much harder than it seems. >> toure, a pleasure as always. great insight. that does it for us this week. i'm matt miller. it's been a thrill to be with you. dylan is back on monday.