all right. we asked you for some e-mails at the top of the show. what you're doing up at this hour. our producer john tower has a couple of answers. tower, what do you got? >> we have a barry saying waiting for "way too early" to start and deciding which book of the dalai lama's from audible.com. >> "destructive emotions," it's about inner personal conflict.

really good one. i've got a tweet i want to read to you from @karenbuckner. this may be spam. wanting to date hot russian women? sign up, it's free. "morning joe" starts right now. ♪ >> donald trump expected to make a major announcement hours from now in las vegas. >> what do you think it's going to be? i'm back in the race, what is he going to announce? that he's releasing the birther date his investigative squad found in hawaii, he's seceding? >> it's my honor, real honor and privilege to endorse mitt romney. i've gotten -- >> oh. that's it?

i mean, seriously, what do trump and romney have in common? what does trump see when he looks at romney? >> corporations are people, my friend. >> i like being able to fire people. >> i'm not concerned about the very poor. ♪ dream weaver >> all right. good morning. it's friday, february 3rd, it's friday. can you guys believe it? >> thank god it's friday. >> welcome to "morning joe." >> yes, thank god. we have with us along with me and joe, the executive editor at random house jon meacham. we also have financier and "morning joe" economic analyst steve rattner. and from washington, the co-founder of the group no labels wearing a scarf, of course. >> and a beard. >> oh. >> w. >> willie. >> looking good. >> oh, my goodness, let me take that in. >> very distinguished. >> i kind of like it. all right.

well, okay. contributor to "newsweek" and the daily beast mark mckinnen. great to have you along with willie, joe, and me here. joey -- your son, joe -- is he here too? >> he's sleeping. so, joe. donald trump -- >> hold on a second. we're thrown off enough by this mountain man beard. he goes out there, he puts on the headphones, listens to john denver around the clock, it's offputting. >> he does have a little john lennon -- >> you know what? the words rocky mountain high apply to this guy probably better than any other since the -- >> in more ways than one. >> well, actually, joe and mika, i just returned from antarctica, and the reason that i went to antarctica is my wife wanted to ensure i wouldn't run off and join one of these presidential campaigns, so in the height of

the primary, she dragged me to the south pole. >> i think he looks good -- >> well, you would know. >> i'm seeking gravitas. it's the senator coburn look. >> i love it. >> joe scarborough. >> he returns from antarctica, i'm sorry, and we'll finish with his beard now -- >> thank you. >> but where have you been? are you from colorado? no, i've just returned from antarctica. it sounds like the fourth verse of "you're so vain." >> i was going to raise the bar, but i'm going to go right into donald trump, and i love donald but i, you know, i'm just going to say. i'm wondering about the timing of this, joe. isn't mitt romney having trouble connecting and kind of being seen as sort of a mr. one percent? and isn't the timing a little off? >> it's unbelievable. no, listen, the guy has a huge win in florida couple nights ago. it's all everybody should be talking about.

he has another self-inflicted gun shot wound to his foot, and then he follows that up with an endorsement from a guy donald we know, donald, we love donald, but donald is a guy going around for the past 30 years basically in gold-plated suits with $1,000 bills talking about the glories of being fabulously wealthy and very proud of it. and you know what? i've got no problem with that. i've got no problem with mitt romney's money, no problem with anybody that makes money legally under this fantastic free enterprise system that we have in america. but the timing of it all, the pageantry of it all on the same day he's being land blasted for saying frankly he doesn't give a damn about the poor, sounding like marie antoinette, the timing couldn't be worse. and you wonder who's running that campaign right now day in and day out, they're having real problems. >> because he does execute well, mitt romney, we've seen him

perform great when he's well-prepared. i've been impressed at times, given it's not the party i support. but look at what the white house did and then tell me if this wasn't feeding right into the narrative that they need. if and when mitt romney becomes the nominee. they tweeted in case you missed it and then linked the video of the trump endorsement. >> my goodness. and mark mckinnen, you understand like i understand like i think 12 republicans left alive understand that you win presidential elections not in places like northwest florida or the panhandle of texas, you win elections in the i-4 corridor of florida, you win elections in bucks county, pennsylvania, the suburbs of philadelphia. you win elections in swing suburbs in detroit, outside of detroit, across michigan.

explain just how bad this past week has been for mitt romney. not winning the republican nomination because we've been told that's a republicans, as we republicans try to win independent voters in the fall? >> well, it's somewhat astonishing, joe, in what happened in the space of really 48 hours because mitt romney went from what should have been a huge opportunity to leverage what was a big win in florida and to -- and to get his message out about how he won, why he won, and -- and to -- and to send that message. and instead, we have this whole series of incidents, the first being talking about his view on the poor, which was only compounded by crawling over to las vegas into a casino hotel when he already has a problem in the last 24 hours with his perception about the poor.

and then he steps up and kisses the ring of a billionaire real estate mogul who is one of the richest people in the country. and so -- that's the narrative that the obama campaign is looking for. they're trying to establish mitt romney as a guy who is out of touch, elite. and this was an opportunity for -- i mean, one thing that the romney campaign could've done is done a bill clinton moment and said thank you very much, but no thanks, donald trump, we don't want your endorsement, don't need it. >> i wonder about that, mark. i have to tell you, in the past year, there's tape out there, we could show it, but we won't waste the time of donald trump slamming mitt romney, completely slamming him. so i have to tell you, to see them both on stage there in front of american flags all this pageantry as joe put it, it just simply doesn't look honest and we'll leave it there. >> yeah, and completely hypocritical. >> yeah. so willie, on to nevada. >> one other important thing

that needs to be said about donald trump. >> please. >> "celebrity apprentice" premieres february 19th in two weeks. >> greatest show ever. >> just ahead of the show -- >> you know, willie geist -- >> that's no knock on the show. it's going to be great. >> and also not to mention, he had a casino to promote. >> joe? >> yeah, a casino to promote. and as you and i always say if abraham lincoln were alive today and had to host one reality tv show, it would be "celebrity apprentice," this all makes perfect sense. >> let's put this all against that backdrop. "the apprentice" is premiering in two weeks. >> we do have news about israel and iran we want to get to this block, as well. take it. real quick here, republican contenders in this final push now before tomorrow's nevada caucuses, not a lot of drama in nevada. the las vegas review journal shows mitt romney with a 20-point lead getting 45% support, gingrich is at 25%. so a 20-point margin for romney

there. rick santorum and ron paul who bypassed florida campaign out west rounding out the list. the romney campaign hoping the numbers aren't hurt by romney's gaffe this week where he seemed to suggest a lack of concern for the very poor. a couple of days later, governor romney still talking about that comment. >> i misspoke. i wish i wouldn't have said it that way. i made the same thought part of my speeches over the last year or two, which is that i'm really concerned about middle-income americans, i want to help middle-income americans, i want to get people out of poverty into the middle-income category. i'm concerned and worried about all americans and i want to make sure our safety net is appropriately able to care for our poor. i'm concerned about all citizens, but now and then you misspeak, you have to acknowledge it, it was something i did not intend to say in the way it was said, but i recognize that's part of the political process. >> i really believe that we should care about the very poor,

unlike governor romney. but i believe we should care differently than barack obama. both governor romney and barack obama seem to believe that a "safety net" is all the poor need. i don't believe that. what the poor need is a trampoline so they can spring up and quit being poor. so i'm for replacing the safety net with a trampoline. >> and president obama weighed in in sort of a veiled way. speaking yesterday at the prayer breakfast, the national prayer breakfast. here's what the president had to say. >> it's also about the biblical call to care for the poor, for those of the margins of our society. to answer the responsibility we're given in proverbs to speak up for those who cannot speak

for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute. >> mitt romney's going to win nevada. so i don't think the very poor comment hits him immediately, but in the larger context of this narrative being built against him. does this all stick to him now? >> well, there's a cumulative effect. a choice between a republican with a mixed record and a republican nominee, probable nominee who seems out of touch because the enormity of his wealth is such that he cannot understand the concerns of middle-income and the poor. whether that's fair or not, i think is something people have to decide. but i do think this is going to be the choice. ritchie rich versus a president with a record he'd rather not talk about. >> there's an article that feeds into this narrative. of course, frank takes that, but it's interesting when you parallel the connection issues and the empathy issues with the

president. that's a conversation we can have later, but on this, steve rattner, you've been over the past couple of weeks fairly defensive about mitt romney's work at bain and how it's been characterized in the media, yet you do have a piece in "politico" where you talked about how he has to an extent pushed the envelope on his taxes given the different ways he's handled using the perks that come his way. >> it's really quite extraordinary when you dig into mitt romney's taxes as to what he's found to do. he's got more loopholes than a swiss cheese in there. he's found ways to save taxes than i think most of us know exist. his i.r.a. from $20 million to $100 million. >> willie's got one. >> oh, awkward. one. >> oh, awkward. >> when you're only allowed to give $10 million in your lifetime to your kids, how do you get $100 million to a trust for your kids so you don't pay

estate taxes? it's not just being the beneficiary of the 15% dividend tax rate, he's pushed the envelope out there as far as you can push it. and i think you'll hear more about his taxes. people will want to know, how has he done this stuff? what exactly has he done? how has he gotten to this place? and is it legal? >> historically we've had rich presidents. >> right. >> not a lot of poor folks get there. for all the obvious reasons. and we've had, you know, franklin roosevelt, understood and empathized. and toward the end of his term george herbert walker bush seemed disconnected from those concerns. so it can go either way. but it often depends not on the amount in his bank, but on how he handles it. >> how he handles it and also the times we live in, which is a generation that's first seeing, joe, real economic challenge, difficulty, lack of mobility, and even a sense that tomorrow doesn't look so good except for perhaps people who are very,

very rich. >> well, obviously, though, fdr was very, very rich in a time when america was in the great depression. and because he knew how to speak to those americans who were suffering like as i said like my parents and my grandparents and part of the country that was the hardest hit by the great depression, it was never -- it was never any issue. in this case, though, it has been an issue with mitt romney because, again, it feeds into stereotypes one gaffe after another after another. so we are looking at romney's 14.5% tax rate in a way the media never looked at john kerry's 13.1% effective tax rate. and here's the thing, though, it's not just mitt romney talking like a republican. it's mitt romney talking like as rush limbaugh said, the caricature of republican. i guarantee you if mitt romney were channelling jack kemp right

now and he was obsessing over how free markets and free enterprise have freed more people across the world from poverty than any other form of economic system, if he were obsessing on how we freed the very poor, the truly disadvantaged from their situation by using markets instead of big government, well, this wouldn't be an issue. but that is, i think -- i think here we have that old saying that mark knows very well in washington -- a gaffe in washington is when you accidentally say something that you mean. i really do think mitt romney is not focused on the very poor because he's been isolated from the very poor his entire life. and he doesn't understand what conservatives understood, which is you want to help the truly disadvantaged in the long run, then you support freedom, support free enterprise, you

support free trade. et cetera, et cetera -- but he doesn't talk this way because in the end he doesn't understand it, he doesn't believe it. as i was joking last night with larry kudlow, this guy probably thinks hayek is a field goal kicker for the new england patriots. he just doesn't get it. >> all right. really quick, jon meacham. >> just to go to a hero of joe's, a winning vocabulary for romney would be closer to eisenhower in the beginning of the greater middle class where you did have a government role, but the emphasis was on growth and jobs and a standard of living that rose at a level that the world really never knew. >> we're going to be talking about that with your charts a little later, steve rattner. we are talking so closely about looking -- putting the microscope on the choice of picking a president, and this next story which we're going to get to to round out the block really highlights why this is such an important choice. there are growing signs that israel is considering a military strike against iran's nuclear program even as the u.s. presses

for more time to let economic sanctions to take hold. just this morning, iran vowed it would not back down to international pressure. american officials are concerned an israeli attack could draw the united states into another conflict just as the pentagon works to bring the war in afghanistan to a close. although israel is still weighing its options, a story in the "washington post" suggests the pentagon is already preparing for the potential fallout. david ignatius writes in part, defense secretary leon panetta believes there's a strong likelihood that israel will strike iran in april, may, or june. before iran enters what israel has described as the zone of immunity to commence building a nuclear bomb. they fear the iranians will have stored enough to make a weapon and only the united states could stop them militarily. panetta declined to comment on the "post" story while attending

a nato event in brussels. up until this point, the obama administration has favored economic sanctions over military actions when dealing with iran. and before we go to a break, joe, our republican candidates have at times talked about this issue. have they talked about it enough? and are their positions ones you're comfortable with? >> well, you know, they have talked about it. we all should be talking about it. the one issue that keeps the president of the united states awake at night he admitted is pakistan. and that's because pakistan got a nuclear weapon back in the mid-1990s. there is not a greater threat, i think, to stability across the globe than iran. and that is not american militarism speaking, that's the opinion of arab states across the middle east. that's the opinion of european nations who are allies. the only question is whether they're going to sit back and

once again make the united states and israel basically take it on the chin internationally for doing what they all want done. this is -- we're entering a grave era here. and it is striking to me that four years ago this president was being condescending toward george w. bush for not engaging diplomatically with iran, for not being more open minded, for being too confrontational. we can see what's happened over the past 3, 3 1/2 years, and clearly we can see his approach didn't work any more than what george w. bush's did. this is a crisis and the president's going to have to make, perhaps the toughest decision of his administration over the next three to four months regarding iran. >> mika, there's a little update itted to give you from the "washington post." he was addressing western countries like the united states who have asked for patience, let

the sanctions work. he says whoever says later may find that later is too late. so it sounds like israel is in a different mind set. >> the feeling you get from panetta's comments and other comments made in other settings is they're laying pipe in a way, laying the ground work for this possibility. they understand this could really happen and they've got to prepare the american people for it. all right. a lot going on. when we come back, "politico" outlines a path for gingrich to bounce back in the race. also ahead, willie's "week in review." but first, the weekend forecast with bill karins. bill? >> well, good morning, mika. i actually get to talk about snow this morning and a lot of it in colorado. it is going to be a three-day weekend. almost all of the schools will be canceled in the front range. we're expecting 1 to 2 feet of snow. it's been snowing hard all night and continues this morning. this is where the colorado

rockies play, coors field in denver. it's going to get windier too. the snow will not end until saturday morning. the white on the map is the snow. it's coming down along i-25. that's pushing out into areas of nebraska. the biggest snowstorm of the season for areas of colorado and also nebraska. forecast wise, also have a tornado watch. some of those storms are strong, but they're just north of oklahoma city. so far, looks like all our friends there are safe. later today, we'll have strong storms from dallas, san antonio, houston, possibly memphis and new orleans. east coast, you're just fine today, west coast, you look great all weekend long. and speaking of the weekend forecast, that storm in colorado moves into kansas and st. louis, but it's too warm. just rain for you, by the time we get to super bowl sunday, just some wet weather and rain in the southeast. the rest of the country's actually looking really nice on sunday. and there's no really cold air out there. this is an isolated winter event in colorado, but they're going to be hit hard. you're watching "morning joe" brewed by starbucks.

mitt romney -- ♪ o beautiful for spacious skies -- ♪ >> plus a mustache equals robert goulet. ♪ god bless america >> i'm mitt romney, and i approve this message. >> 26 past the hour. time now to take a look at the morning papers. we'll start with the "new york times." attorney general eric holder testified for a sixth time over a failed operation fast and furious gun tracking operation. which ultimately allowed hundreds of weapons to flow from the u.s. to mexican drug cartels. holder told members of the house oversight and government reform committee that the justice department would not turn over

additional internal documents about problems that came to light with the operation. the committee's chair then threatened to hold the attorney general in contempt if he did not produce the congressional subpoenaed documents, willie? los angeles times says as romney heads into saturday's caucuses in nevada, his religion may work in his favor for the first time in this year's campaign, about 1/4 of the republican primary voters were mormons. they voted heavily for romney then and they are expected to do so this weekend. >> doesn't seem like it's been much of a problem at all? no? yes? >> no. >> and in the sunday "parade" magazine. "parade" goes inside the mind -- what's there to see? of a sports super fan. i'm confused. i don't know what's going on here. don't men just sit around the tv screen, spill food, get their bellies covered with beer and like food that they've dropped out of their mouth and then --

>> there's a connection between carbohydrates and -- >> brain deterioration? >> they're watching the game, but actually talking about deficit reduction. at least at my super bowl party. or is that just me? >> maybe we're talking about someone like, i don't know, patrick gavin? actually, no, he's holding -- >> it would not surprise you to know that i'm not the world's biggest football fan. >> really? you're not going to watch the super bowl? >> cat fans don't tend to be big -- i don't know. it's sunday night, i've got to get up early. >> oh, stop it. that's the lamest thing i've ever heard someone say. >> that's saying something. >> just for the ads, of course. >> yes, of course. >> let's talk a little business here, patrick. after his big loss to mitt romney in florida, you guys at "politico" are now trying somehow to find a way for newt gingrich to bounce back. how does he do it according to "politico?" >> it's obviously a long shot, i'll give you that. but the pundits have been wrong about that in the past.

it's certainly not over as newt gingrich will remind us, 46 states to go. but i think for him the next couple of weeks don't work in his favor. there is no debate for more than two weeks, arizona primaries and michigan primaries are more than a month away. the reality is he's gotten so much publicity out of these debates. if there's anything he can do, i think he's got to get very creative, and that can happen in two ways. number one, he's talked about alluding to doing this. he's got to get back into the contract with america mentality. there's one area he could use improvement, it's articulating what he wants to do, and not in a 59-point plan, but a contract with america. but he needs to stay away from ideas like, oh, we're going to go back to the moon or critiquing mitt romney's policy on kosher food. and then number two, newt says if he's the nominee he's going to follow barack obama around the country and demand debates. why not do that with mitt romney? the media would love that to say -- just to follow mitt

romney around and say why wouldn't you debate me? so i think he has to get create creative, but has to be disciplined. >> it's a tough road. as you said, the next debate not until february 22nd in arizona, about 2 1/2 weeks away. >> and willie, one more thing, by the way, how telling is it about this presidential election that when jon huntsman endorsed mitt romney, mitt romney did not go to that endorsement face-to-face, but when donald trump endorses him, mitt romney gets on a plane to go to nevada and make sure to -- that is, i think, about as much as you need to know about this primary season. >> little tone deaf. >> and every network cut to it immediately. >> i mean, we're part of it. we're absolutely right. just lapped up, lathered in it. >> enablers. >> what's the cat's name one more time? >> the cat's name. there's three of them, willie. duluth, shorty, and buzz.

>> you have three now? >> i hope the four of you have a wonderful super bowl party. >> we'll be watching the puppy bowl, of course. that's what we do. >> patrick, you're the best, man. have a great weekend. >> see you later. coming up later this morning, eugene robinson, david gregory, and chuck todd. the rest of the characters in indianapolis there for the super bowl growing less focused. jimmy fallon coaxes the great jerry rice into a women's wig to reenact the scene from "jerry maguire." the best part of any great meal? delicious gourmet gravy. and she agrees. with fancy feast gravy lovers, your cat can enjoy the delicious, satisfying taste of gourmet gravy every day.

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all right. we'll take a little break for some sports here because it is the friday before the super bowl. >> that's true. >> i know you're very excited about that. >> i can't wait. >> it is my duty, my obligation as a giants fan to point out that today marks the four-year anniversary of the giants' upset 17-14 super bowl win over the previously undefeated new england patriots. those two teams get together again on sunday in indianapolis for a rematch. now, you shouldn't gamble, jon meacham, right?

>> no. >> unless you like excitement and money. >> i'm against both of those. >> but if you must, there are weird ways to win a little cash on sunday. here's some of the year's best prop bets. the time it takes kelly clarkson to sing the anthem, 1 minute, 34 seconds. these are real bets. what color gatorade or liquid will be dumped on the coach's head. water and yellow are the favorites, blue is 10 to 1. what color will madonna's hair be during the super bowl halftime. blond is the favorite, 1 to 4, any other color you get 2 1/2 to 1. will al michaels and chris collins say tebowing once during the first quarter? some gambling sites say the favorite is no, but only by a small margin. super bowl coverage begins on nbc at 2:00 on sunday.

kickoff is at 6:00. yeah, they're starting a little late this year, kickoff is at 6:29 p.m., giants and patriots -- >> what happens between 2:00 and 6:00? >> talking about the game. matt lauer's going to interview the president of the united states, all kinds of good stuff. just turn it on. just do it. jimmy fallon is doing his show in indiana this week. last night he dipped into the suggestion box and answered a fan's request to get two nfl players to reenact a scene from "jerry maguire." he got jerry rice and tony gonzalez. watch this. >> oh, my. >> tonight your project, our company had a very big night. a very, very big night. but it wasn't complete. it wasn't nearly close to being in the same vicinity as

complete. because i couldn't share it with you. i love you. you complete me. >> and i'm just -- >> shut up. just shut up. you had me at hello. >> jerry rice and tony gonzalez. >> that is so stupid, i loved it. >> jimmy fallon, again. do you know about victor cruz, whenever he scores a touchdown, he's from patterson, new jersey, he does the salsa. >> i've seen that. that's cute. >> so madonna is doing the halftime show, out doing publicity, she broke into the victor cruz. let's see it. >> let's see. >> that's good. >> okay. >> that's good but i'll take victor cruz after he scores a

touchdown. >> what do you think? >> it's good. >> are you excited -- are you a madonna fan or not really? >> yeah. >> she's physically fit. >> i won't be watching. >> she eats well, does that help? she's catholic. >> can we move on? all of you just stop. coming up next, mika's must-read opinion pages and talk to mark mckinnen.

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as experts warn the seasonal factors that drove december's data up may have less of an impact in january. the nation's unemployment rate is likely to stay steady at 8.5%. joe? >> yeah, you know, mark, we've been celebrating good news over the past two, three months, good monthly numbers have been coming in on unemployment and other areas, but there's always been a warning, especially from the fed this past week that this recession's with us for a long time, and the cbo suggesting that we may get close to 9% unemployment by the end of the year regardless of what mitt romney says or doesn't say in february. what really matters is going to be the unemployment rate and other economic factors this fall, right? >> absolutely true. and the key is not so much where the economy is right now, joe, but it's where people think it's going to be. and if they have any sense that things are not getting better, that's going to spell big trouble for president obama. and no matter what kind of

campaign republicans run. but, joe, i've got breaking news here if i can punch it in. >> sure. >> 3 out of 5 voters in florida said they wanted a different candidate. and the fact is that there's going to be more than just two choices. this week in the last 72 hours, the americans elect platform just opened up their drafting process and 52 candidates have been drafted, including chuck hagel, mike bloomberg, jon huntsman, condoleezza rice, and wait for it, joe scarborough. >> there you go. there you go. >> for what? >> and here you stay. >> my ear. >> thanks for that, mark. now back to jobs. very nice, though. the growth or lack thereof there, steve rattner. both parties are putting their spin on it. what's behind what we're seeing happening here including the slow job growth overall? >> so as you said, we're going to have a jobs number, probably going to show another modest

increase in jobs, but let's put a little bit of perspective with a couple of charts. this first one gives you the average over the last seven or eight months of what's been happening. the key point, we had jobs growth of about 137,000 a month, but we were losing, that's private sector jobs. we were losing government jobs at the rate of 24,000 a month. the government has been a drag on all of this. over the four months since then, we've had a bit of an uptick, 172,000 a month in the private sector, fewer lost in the public sector and now we come to this latest number, which as you said, is expected to be a little bit worse than last month, but still a positive number. don't know yet what the unemployment number's going to be. >> what does this all mean? what's it mean? >> what it means, it's a picture again of slow job growth, steady job growth, where the government sector is holding back job growth rather than adding to job

growth. >> all right. so then -- >> what's your next chart? >> well, there's a lot of talk about job creators, that line is used. >> so -- >> of course. >> right. so the whole issue of job creation and job destruction has been much in the air shall we say lately. and while i thought it would be interesting to do would be to show, in fact, how much job creation and how much job destruction actually goes on in this economy. if you look at 2006, there were 19 million jobs created, 15 million jobs destroyed, but we ended up when the dust settled with 4 million more jobs in the economy. you go to 2009, obviously a bad year, and the picture's almost exactly reversed. 14 1/2 million jobs created, 19 lost, and a net of 4.7 million lost jobs are being created and destroyed all the time. we have to accept that job destruction is a part of our economy. but the issue is getting that

green bar above zero and have it be a net positive when the dust settles. >> joe? >> and you know, steve, as thomas friedman wrote in a column last week, job destruction over the past decade in manufacturing is accelerated to such a degree that we lost more manufacturing jobs since 2000 than we gained over the past 50, 60, 70 years. our great challenge when you look at these charts are figuring out how to deal with a rising red bar that we're going to see probably over the next decade as well. >> look, manufacturing is a special challenge and one we should have a special conversation about. we are going to find it tougher and tougher to compete with manufacturing. the president is trying hard to come up with some initiatives to reverse that. but manufacturing is tough. but if we take another look at this issue of job destruction, job creation. this is actually a different look. this is people being hired

versus people being fired or leaving or quitting. and so you see back in the recession how much of a difference there was between this red line of people leaving and the blue bar of people being hired, and then you come all the way over to the right and you see finally the blue bar is above the red bar meaning that 4.1 million people in december were hired, 4 million left their jobs or were terminated and you had a net gain of roughly 100,000 jobs or so. but let's not leave the subject without talking about unemployment. because i deliberately didn't use that number at the beginning of my discussion because the unemployment number right now is a very squirrely number because people are leaving the labor union by being discouraged. and the unemployment rate, in fact, today would still be over 10% rather than the 8.5%. and there are other measures showing underemployment where you can get up to 15%. my point is that i think that the president's policies are right. joe and i can have a long

argument about this, i think they're working. >> not right now. >> i think they're working, if it weren't for that, it'd be 12% or 13%, but we have to recognize this headline number of 8.5% doesn't tell us everything of what's going on in the economy. >> a fine balance as they move ahead politically to make sure they don't sugar coat a bleak situation but take the credit for what they did. >> they deserve a lot of credit but they can't go out there and declare victory yet. >> we'll talk more about this next hour. we'll billion right back with willie's "week in review." whoa!

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is it time? please tell me it's time. it's friday and we need a break. >> is this the same week we were in florida? >> washington, florida, south carolina, iowa, l.a.? washington, philadelphia -- >> wow. >> it's only been a couple of weeks. >> i'm so jealous. >> what? what? >> that was a joke, mika. >> i'm glad to be home. >> here it is, the "week in review." ♪ for spacious skies for amber waves of grain ♪ >> mitt romney closed the show in florida this week with a big patriotic number. ♪ above the fruited plain >> it was then that everyone in the crowd at the villages pressed their life alert button

at the same time. >> romney's america the beautiful at a retirement community in central florida offered a jarring contrast to the president's al green at the apollo theater in harlem. ♪ i'm so in love with you >> the first lady politely reviewed romney's performance. >> it's beautiful. >> beautiful. >> after getting waxed in the florida primary perhaps by focusing on fringe issues. >> he eliminated serving kosher food for elderly jewish residents under medicare. >> newt gingrich declined to join the singing competition. >> mr. president, you cannot sing your way past a disaster of your presidency. >> reporter: as gingrich vowed this week to fight on with a little help from the hermanator, romney rained the very next morning on his own florida

victory parade. >> i'm not concerned about the very poor, we have a safety net there. if it needs a repair, i'll fix it. >> sure, there was more to the statement, but that very poor snippet was the latest track added to the obama campaign's ritchie rich romney underground mixed tape. >> corporations are people, my friend. >> i like being able to fire people. $10,000? $10,000 bet? >> the romney campaign went into crisis mode after the very poor line quickly instructing the candidate to get up on the stage in minnesota and do what he does best. ♪ america, america -- >> just when things were getting grim for romney, a white knight rode into las vegas to save the day. actually he was kind of an orangey looking knight. >> mitt is tough, he's smart, he's sharp, governor romney, go out and get 'em, you can do it. >> with that dramatic announcement at the trump international hotel, the number

one property in las vegas, by the way, featuring furnishings and luxurious marble baths, romney was back in business and warming up the pipes for a victory song in nevada. ♪ with brotherhood from sea to shining sea ♪ >> wow, wow, nicely done. >> i love the self-applause at the end. wow, wow, that was really strong. he's going to keep singing. we keep protesting, he's going to keep singing. >> is it patriotic karaoke? >> it is. coming up, bill press is in the building. >> come here, bill. good to see you. >> we'll be back in a moment. americans are always ready to work hard for a better future.

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mitt romney is a basically small business guy. if you really think about it. he was a hedge fund, he was a fund guy. he walked away with some money from a very good company that he didn't create. he worked there. he didn't create. >> didn't create companies? >> well, but look, by companies he'd close companies, get rid of jobs, okay. i built a great company. >> well, the thing with romney i wasn't in love with the job he did in massachusetts. he wasn't popular, he was a one-term governor, didn't have high approval ratings, i don't

like that. i like a guy running for president to be the most popular guy you can have. the romney care was obviously, you know, not a good situation. romney has been missing in action. he hasn't done a damn thing. >> it's my honor, real honor and privilege to endorse mitt romney. i've gotten -- mitt is tough, he's smart, he's sharp, he's not going to allow bad things to continue to happen. to this country that we all love. so governor romney, go out and get 'em, you can do it. >> well, he must have won him over because that's not what donald trump was saying last year. welcome back to "morning joe." jon meacham, steve rattner still with us, and joining the table the host of "the bill press show" and syndicated columnist bill press, the author of "the

obama hate machine." we will get to that in just a moment. also with us from washington, columnist and associate editor of the "washington post" and msnbc political analyst eugene robinson. so let's start with you, joe, on the trump endorsement. trump, a friend of the show, but this does not really feel real, does it? >> it doesn't feel organic, does it? i don't really know. i think -- i think the biggest concern for the republicans who are now trying to figure out who their nominee is going to be is the timing of the announcement. you've got to ask what mitt romney and his campaign staff was thinking about having donald trump, a guy who has wallowed in his personal fortune over the past 30 years, who has been very proud of it, who has branded himself in sort of this gold and green sort of image.

you just wonder why he has this endorsement the day that mitt romney's having to get away from all of these unfortunate statements about not being concerned about the very poor. the timing is suspect at best. >> it's suspect, and also plays into a narrative that certainly has taken center stage here on the show. i remember yesterday you asked bill clinton about whether or not, you know, different presidents had the ability to connect that real sense of empathy. and his answer, in fact, we'll roll it. he talks about how a lot of presidents have a history of being a little awkward. there is one dynamic that makes this a little different when it pertains to potentially this candidate. take a listen. >> you go back through the history of the country to be fair, though. we've had a number of presidents, some of whom did some remarkable things who cared about people in general but had a hard time relating to them in particular. programs like this, bring it all

home to people. it's harder to pull off. but we've had a lot of presidents that were awkward with people individually, but cared a great deal about what happened to the country. because of the immediacy of the modern media, we need to make sure we're raising people who do that. >> you know what's interesting, mika, when i was -- when i was talking about that, i was mentioning -- i was talking about mitt romney. i got a feeling that bill clinton was talking about barack obama. we have people on the national stage who aren't naturally comfortable with the very people they're going to be representing. >> which leads to what i want to read from new york magazine. frank rich writes about mitt romney, and i wonder if there are parallels if we do get to see him win the nomination with some of the issues that obama faced and still does face. but here's what frank writes. when forced to interact with actual people, he tries hard but

his small talk famously takes the form of guessing a voter's age or nationality incorrectly or offering a greeting of congratulations for no particular reason. richard nixon was awkward too, but he could pass as one of us. unlike that, romney's does not look lived in. his eyes don't show the mileage of a veteran fighter's journey through triumph, the profile that americans prefer to perfection. even at mitt's most human, he resembles george hamilton without the humor or the perma-tan. it's frank rich, but he is tapping into something that in a way you could be saying about another candidate or another sitting president depending on the vantage point you take. there is not that desire to jump

in there. having said that, i think obama's better at it. >> yeah, i think romney has a ken doll problem. >> ken doll problem. >> and he looks -- >> that's what i wanted from a pulitzer prize winning historian. >> you could put him on rushmore now. and the question is, will the reassurance he projects -- which is true, i don't think anybody's -- maybe i'm wrong here, but i don't think anybody thinks, boy, if you elect romney, he's going to go crazy in there. >> that's true. that's true. >> but that's different than inspiring passion. >> joe? >> but how fascinating, though, jon meacham just a few weeks ago you were talking about at the end of the day barack obama doesn't seem to genuinely like being around people. and you said that's certainly a fascinating characteristic for a guy that's running a nation of 300 million plus. you could now say the same thing

about mitt romney who seems stiff and awkward. we've got two possible major candidates who are awkward in a sort of nixonian way. i'm not talking about any ethics or values here. everyone needs to calm down on the internet right now. but as far as just to relating to people, they're both a bit awkward. >> i'm not sure that's fair. >> i think they're both -- obama is probably most comfortable lecturing at the kennedy school. romney is probably most comfortable offering a power point in a board room. and what you had with bill clinton whom you had on the show is a man who could do both. he could lecture and he could connect, and that's probably why he's the greatest living politician and neither one of these two guys is anywhere near that. >> is this the obama hate machine at work? did you hear them? they called him awkward. >> oh, whatever. i would never accuse joe scarborough as being part of the obama hate machine, no. but i think what you've all

missed in that endorsement of trump is the awkwardness of mitt romney and ann romney standing there watching donald trump perform. it was a very awkward moment. i have to come back to what you said. look, i see obama almost every day at the white house, he's not the most comfortable guy with reporters -- >> he's a serious person. >> but if you look at him in front of a crowd and look at him working a rope line, he's for real. i don't think mitt romney can do that. >> i agree. >> i agree with that. >> does he enjoy it? >> when you get out on the campaign trail and you see them together and obama's ability to electrify these crowds and also in the debates, i think you'll see a big difference between the two of them. >> joe, go ahead -- >> no, i was going to say, i was following up on what bill press said. there are some situations where the president, this president is not good, there are others where he is absolutely on fire. you get him on a lot of stages with a microphone where he's not speaking from prepared -- from a

prepared text, nobody is better at working the stage and moving around the audience and connecting with that audience than barack obama. you get him in informal settings, in the east room sometimes, one-on-ones, we saw this especially during the bp spill, he was just more awkward in that situation. you can say that about every president. jon meacham, you know, like george w. bush, you talk to anybody who dealt with that guy in a one-on-one, they'll tell you, the guy is great in small, informal settings, you put him, though, you put him in the east room at a press conference, deer in the headlights. there's strengths, all presidents have their weaknesses. >> that's true. but the key was authenticity. and that's the problem, i think, for mitt romney. i mean the problem there's a perception that mitt romney doesn't feel voters' pain, but the voters feel his bain --

>> oh, gosh. >> and that endorsement yesterday seemed so transactional. you don't get the sense that donald trump likes mitt romney and you don't get the sense that mitt romney wanted to endorse donald trump, but they did this transactional event for the sake of politics and came off just like that. it was just pure politics. >> okay. so i feel like we've launched heavily into eugene robinson style and not substance. having said that, how much does this matter? especially given the type of style we're talking about. above it all, rich, 1%, donald trump. this doesn't work when we look at the big picture and what this country and what people are looking for. correct? >> well, i think the timing of the trump endorsement was kind of awkward. i suspect it was because the reason the romney people decided to go ahead is that they were perhaps worried that trump might endorse newt gingrich. they didn't want that to happen. they'd rather take the endorsement and, you know, and the flak over the timing than

have him go with newt. but you know, romney is awkward, obama can be chilly in some settings and warm in others. i think the awkwardness, the personal awkwardness is less of an issue, i think, than the sense that -- or the question about romney and whether he's in touch with the reality of the country. when he says, well, i'm not concerned about the very poor, you know, they have a safety net. and indicates later in what he says that, oh, you know, 90% to 95% of americans are middle class and that's who i'm concerned about. it's as if he's not looked at the poverty figures, 15% under the poverty line, which is low, really 20% of the country, pretty poor. and not just struggling, but hurting. and you wonder if he knows that. if he sees that. >> well, i'm also wondering, eugene about the campaign.

because if they're worried about newt gingrich getting the trump endorsement, they're living in a tiny ecochamber. because look at what the white house did and actually bill press, a i'i'm going to get to in a second, but the white house tweeted the trump endorsement. that was good news for them. >> yeah, here's the one thing, though, that -- >> -- >> that the romney people will tell you. they'll tell you the one thing that mitt romney could not afford to have was to have people outside the republican establishment in washington start a cascade of endorsements. it starts with, let's say, donald trump, then goes to sarah palin, then goes to rush limbaugh. you can go on and on. bill press, that actually would be a bad scenario for mitt romney. so getting trump who is about as outside washington as you could get, to them, they go, at least we've stopped the avalanche of anti-washington endorsements for newt. >> i guess it plays in their

favor to that extent. but i think mitt's problem is this relatability. there's not just -- we know what he was trying to say but we know also what's going to be heard in the clips. i think it's like a stack of pancakes of statements that he's made like that from i like firing people to i made a little bit of money on speeches $375,000, it turned out to be, it wasn't that much. you can go on and on and on. if the issue in this campaign is the economy as steve was talking about, if it is people who are really hurting, who can relate to them and give them confidence they're going to fix this economy and bring it back? i think all of these statements add up to mitt, they say this guy has no idea what's going on in hour life. >> the money that gives him so many advantages is also an albatross around his neck. >> which leads us perfectly into yeugene robinson's column.

especially when there is such a glaring, growing disparity. which i don't think anyone here could deny. romney was clumsily trying to pledge, gene writes, feelty to the interests of the middle class. president obama in speech after speech has been doing the same, but there was something disturbing about the icy way in which romney even when trying to clarify his initial remark continued to insist that the poor received government help and therefore need not be a focus of his policies. even some conservative republicans were taken aback with senator jim demint saying romney should backtrack and make clear he does not want the poor to languish in government dependency programs. demint suggested earlier that romney take pains to show more empathy. i worry and the nation should worry that he can't show what he doesn't have. joe? >> well, and that really is a problem, gene robinson. there are some of us that actually believe in our hearts

and are conservatives because we believe the best way you -- you spread prosperity to all americans is by a free market, by all the things -- free enterprise, lower taxes, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. and i know that you disagreed with jack kemp vehemently on his policies regarding taxing and spending, but you knew when jack kemp spoke, he cared deeply about the poorest of americans because it's all he talked about. >> yeah. >> and conservatives were horrified yesterday that romney just doesn't get that because he doesn't believe it. >> exactly. that was what was so odd to me. and as i said earlier in the column, we can disagree about what to do about the very poor. the role of government versus the role of private sector, public schools versus charter schools. let's talk about that and figure

it out. let's demand that we do something. let's put it on the agenda and not just say, well, just let the safety net take care of it. that is neither a progressive nor a conservative position in my view. and jim demint and others agree. when you've got jim demint saying, by the way, you know, you need to be like bill clinton and more empathetic. you do have a problem. >> and mark, i hear some chuckles around the table, but i can tell you, george w. bush, and you know this better than anybody, george w. bush dropped to 30% and even lower after katrina. we were working with an outfit called christian ministries in pensacola, florida, driving relief over every day to mississippi and louisiana after hurricane katrina. and it was the evangelicals working with us through a church that started taking the bush bumper stickers off the back of their cars after two or three weeks because they were saying,

where is the presidents? where is the government? why are these poor people suffering the way they are? this cuts to romney's evangelical support, as well. there's something called matthew 25 that talks about caring for the poorest among us. and mitt seems to have a very blind spot there. >> well, that's exactly right. and one of the messages that then candidate bush was communicating that really attracted a lot of people like me and a lot of evangelicals, of course, was his notion of compassionate conservatism. and that was a very profound idea that have a lot of attraction for voters across the demographics, and so that's a real problem for mitt romney. now, at the end of the day, it may come down -- the economic fundamentals may be so problematic that people may say that mitt romney may be out of touch, but he does know how to move this economy and create jobs. but it's clear this is going to

end up being a jump ball race now. >> that will be the equation in the end, who can pick up the economy. >> president obama gave a speech using matthew 25 yesterday. >> really? >> and is talking about it now the conservative media that bill's been writing about is pretending that let us pay taxes and all that. i think that's missing the point here. obama is talking about our obligation, a moral obligation to the least of these. and that's going to appeal -- not only is it the right thing to do, but since we're speaking tactically, it's going to appeal to independents. >> joe, round out the block. >> see, that is -- i'm glad you brought that up, jon meacham, that is the debate. you can have a progressive argue matthew 25 theology and say the government should be actively involved. you can have conservatives like me saying, you know what? if a huge, centralized state providing welfare benefits for a generation would free the poor and further jesus' vision, then we'd support that.

but there are those of us that believe that's not the best way to do it. let's have that debate, but that's a debate, unfortunately, that mitt romney can't have because it's very apparent. he doesn't believe it. he doesn't -- he doesn't believe what many conservatives believe that the most humane thing to do is to try to push the federal government out of the way. but anyway. it's a fascinating debate. unfortunately, i don't think we're going to have it this presidential election. >> the debate goes on right here. eugene robinson, thank you, we can read your column at the washingtonpost.com. mark mckinnen, thank you very much, as well. also david gregory and chuck todd join us as the republican race heads west. you're watching "morning joe" brewed by starbucks. ♪ it's nice to be here

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♪ newt gingrich is clearly the underdog, which means he might be able to hitch a ride to nevada strapped to the roof of mitt's car. but now, newt is facing a surprising attack from the past. >> newt gingrich is being sued for unauthorized use of the song "eye of the tiger." gingrich's campaign plays the song at his rallies. it was a big hit for the group survivor back in 1982. >> as much as i love newt, he violated something i love even more copyright law. and he should be more sensitive because as survivor guitarist and co-author of the song "frank sullivan" points out in his complaint, newt is the author or co-author of over four

copyrighted works. and that doesn't even include newtinany. welcome back to "morning joe." a beautiful shot of the nation's capitol. from the capitol down to the lincoln memorial. great to have you with us. let's go to david gregory and chuck todd in washington. and david, my gosh, we were just about ready to bring the fat lady out and let her sing after florida. and now this. this is a race that doesn't look like it's going to end until we get to tampa. >> well, i think, you know, we've been talking about the donald trump endorsement this morning. i don't think it was helpful when romney turns to trump and says, you know, donald, i've been successful, not quite as successful as you. i don't know that was the best moment of that endorsement in terms of the down with the people campaign. but i do say this, joe. if you think back to past cycles. i was thinking just yesterday to george w. bush. he was already in the general election, but there was a lot of

hand wringing stories at one point among establishment republicans about how he was running the race and whether he was more vulnerable. and there's certainly a feeling like that within the romney campaign that he is, you know, he's running stronger than he's given credit for, that he's in a position now to close this thing in february and march, and sort of squeeze off the oxygen to newt gingrich who you have to admit has a more difficult path if he's going to try to pull something together. >> chuck todd, do you see any way forward for newt gingrich where he could seriously challenge mitt romney's supremacy in this cycle? or is this game just about over after four states? >> well, i think let's see what happens. i'm curious to see, you know, santorum's messing around in those tuesday caucus states. does he overperform in one of those, maybe even beat romney in

the beauty contest in missouri where santorum has decided his super pac put up advertising just to sort of question things. i think what gingrich is trying to get to march and i think in this case the best he can hope for is that somehow ron paul and santorum just deny romney some victories. you know, deny him wins in say half of the caucus states and then he can somehow focus on the southern states and create this uncertainty. that's a triple shot if you will. and the fact that gingrich is contesting nevada, he's there a lot this week, but he doesn't seem as engaged in the contest as he was in florida. he's not quite sure how to attack romney right now. i think they are a total regrouping mode, spending more time raising money, hoping to hoard some resources. we'll see, but it does feel like we're at the beginning of the end.

but this is newt gingrich, and the guys like the terminator, you know, right? he just sort of keeps showing up. and they made four movies? he's risen three times. so "terminator 4" is coming out at some point. >> jon? >> i have a question for david. what do you think we've learned about romney in the past six weeks? >> well, i think he's become a stronger candidate. i think we've learned that he is willing to get ugly when he has to, to tear down an opponent that he can change his style, he can change a tone of the campaign. and that he can become a little bit more disciplined, but that he still has these blind spots. and i've heard joe talk this morning about this is, you know, revealing about who the guy really is and whether he's more out of touch. but i think those blind spots about mistakes he makes, things that feed his narrative, that's somebody that's going to keep bumping along as he goes forward. >> the trump endorsement was indicative of one new wrinkle of

strategy, which is, you know, they do think trump's got some tea party support, he can help them with fund raising, and i think you should look for romney over the next several weeks to work conservatives a little harder, whether it's michele bachmann, mike huckabee, a cpak group of conservatives. i think he's going to spend less time trying to get the senator endorsements from swing states and focus more on conservative leaders to coalesce around him and hope that conservative problem resolves itself just over a matter of sheer time. >> all right. bill press, jump in, i want to ask you about your book at some point. >> we'll do that. it seems to me that newt has really run out of gas. he's got no resource, no operation, it's not an organization. the stories this morning about yesterday, he's got a meeting set up with the governor of nevada. maybe pick up his endorsement, and newt doesn't even show up? this is not a serious campaign. so i think a lot of this,

frankly, is on the part of the media. they really want to keep it going -- >> they want -- >> as long as they can. >> they want it. >> maybe santorum, maybe ron paul, and it's not going to happen. i think it's romney's the nominee and get behind him -- >> joe then steve. joe? >> but see, bill, i do understand what you're saying about the press. obviously the media wants that narrative, they want a fight, a battle back and forth. but i think the bigger problem right now for mitt romney is not the mainstream media, it's the conservative base, the conservative base that keeps trying to move forward and put their arms around mitt romney and every time they say, ah damn, it's inevitable, we're going to have to figure out how to fall in love with this guy, he goes out and talks about the very poor and he has another gaffe and then suddenly the very thing that makes the conservative base start to move toward him that he may be able to beat barack obama is blown up by romney's own mistakes. >> joe, i think --

>> trust me, the conservative base doesn't want this race over. >> right, but to that exact point, the problem is, they don't have any place to go. and gingrich, one other small kind of technical problem that gingrich has, he doesn't have any money to travel. he's got all this pac money to advertise, but no money to go anywhere. he's $1.2 million in debt. >> come on, chuck todd? >> you know, there were times it's always felt like a book tour or that movie promotional campaign, you know, for his businesses. but they have been trying to make it more of a real campaign and that concerted effort began in about mid-december. and so it had some structure. it had some ability to try to, you know, they got on some ballots, frankly, that i was surprised they got on. >> those -- >> they were more difficult. yes, they didn't get on virginia, but what they did in ohio, doing other things in some states. there's been sort of a slow

build of organization. it's more of a campaign than rick santorum. and i think we'd all say that rick santorum's being a serious candidate. >> i would say to bring up a point you made, joe, real quick, and then we'll get to bill. it's the peaks we've seen there have more to do with mitt than that do to a serious campaign. >> this entire campaign and, david gregory, this entire campaign has not been about sarah palin rising or michele bachmann rising or rick perry rising or you name it, herman cain, we can go through the whole list. newt gingrich, it's been about the conservative base refusing to embrace mitt romney for over a year and a half now. >> yeah, and as long as there's that void, then somebody like a gingrich or santorum in iowa's going to step into it. the question is, is that a winning strategy? does some of that base get peeled off the more they focus on beating obama? >> thank you very much. your guests this sunday are newt

gingrich -- tell him i say hi. also, governor duvall patrick, mayor michael bloomberg, governor mitch daniels. >> you got the super bowl theme there? >> oh, yes. that i will be watching. i will get my wings and popcorn. >> who does david think is going to win? >> david? >> i think the giants are going to win. i'm going with -- my oldest son is with the giants and i'm going with him. >> and chuck, a prognostication from you. who do you think is going to win? >> i want both fan bases to be extremely disappointed. i hope it's one of the worst-played super bowls played ever. >> sort of like the presidential candidates. >> how about the rest of america, new york, boston feeding media frenzy. >> chuck has been negative the whole time. >> you know what? i like eli, i'm rooting for eli. >> i like chuck's populist view from washington. >> yeah. exactly.

>> -- tom brady and the patriots here. >> no. no, i'll probably be the only woman on the face of the earth to say that. i'm sorry. we'll be right back. we're going to talk about bill press's new book "the obama hate machine" when we come back. ♪ [ male announcer ] from our nation's networks...

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oh, gosh. all right. we're back on the air, meacham. >> sorry. >> 36 past the hour. let's talk about bill's book. i've been waiting, it's called "the obama hate machine." out this week. >> i'm still a little smarting from chuck todd's comment about book tours. >> yeah. that was rough. >> are you announcing your candidacy? >> you know, just a couple of things. first of all, when i try four quick things here. one is introduce the americans to the koch brothers. we know warren buffett, bill gates, the third and fourth richest people in this country, and the biggest political donors of all, far surpass george soros or anybody else. second, i look at the attacks against this president. really when you look at -- it's much more than disagreeing with his policy, it's really ugly, personal, i think the worst since any -- that any president

has received since abraham lincoln. he's been called a marxist, communist, traitor, a terrorist, a nazi, go down the list. i also look at the media and talk about what i think the media -- where the media's not doing its job by sometimes -- >> what are we not doing? >> sometimes repeating these lies rather than questioning them. and challenging them and saying, hey, that's not right. instead, i just see too many people take one side -- on both sides, by the way. >> -- an echo chamber of slog s slogans. >> yeah, that's another way they do it. and finally i end by -- which will probably never be heard by anybody, a plea for a return to more civility in political debate which i always think is healthy and gets us farther down the road than -- >> but returning to what point? i mean you open the book with adams and jefferson. >> well, i don't think we have to go that far back, but you know, it's like cross-fire, i

did the show cross-fire for six years, we had a good, healthy debate. i remember twice in six years it ever got personal. otherwise, it was always a good debate. joe scarborough was one of our favorite guests. we had good, hot heated debates, always at the policy level not personal. you can agree to disagree. >> we try to do that here. >> it's the spirit of the show. >> sometimes we disagree. >> i don't think that's right. >> really? i disagree. the book is the "obama hate machine." bill press, congratulations, good luck with the book tour. coming up next, from google executive to revolutionary, how social media has sparked the uprising in egypt. "morning joe" will be right back.

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the military rule is doing the same thing as mubarak. nothing is changing. >> we achieved nothing to our evolution goal. more than 1,000 people died and many thousand maybe they get injured and not achievement -- >> this has been the worse rule than even the time of mubarak. it was a small prison during the time of mubarak, now it is a bigger prison. >> you're looking at live pictures outside the interior ministry. this is in downtown cairo. and it is an ongoing story of not only the arab awakening but the problems that still persist and perhaps even fester. what is happening there and across the middle east. in the fall of 2010, he anonymously launched a facebook page to protest the death of one

egyptian man at the hands of security forces. that page was the -- he is now the author of the memoir "revolution 2.0," the power of the people is greater than the people in power. and it is quite an honor to have you on the show this morning. we're going to watch these live pictures of unrest ensuing before our eyes. and you know the value of social media probably more than anybody on the face of the earth. fair enough to say? >> well -- i actually think that i'm just a very ordinary person and away from all this hype, i believe that i went through a very ordinary experience. and the reason i wrote the book was to basically tell that story and hoping that by sharing this experience others would look at it and -- and benefit from it. >> but you know, i -- that's

what i was saying, actually. it's the power of social media now to take an ordinary person, their feelings, their passions and to turn them into movements. tell us first of all, what message you wanted to send in this book and if you disagree with my assessment about the power of social media. >> the main reason i wrote the book was that to help people understand that they can do things more than they can think of. and the same experience have happened to me, actually. i believe that it is about time now with all -- with all what we have now in terms of tools where mainstream media is becoming decentralized, any individual can reach hundreds, thousands -- hundreds of thousands and sometimes millions of people and telling them, you know, there is something wrong going on and this is the right way to fix it, which is pretty much what happened with me. i think that we should not

overestimate the power of social media as in the power of people. the people are the ones powerful. it's always, you know, across history if you look back, people try and find the best way to reach to the masses, whether it be mosques, churches, or radios, tv stations, phones, and this is pretty much what happened in the egyptian revolution. >> and now, willie geist, the people have a voice that can ricochet around the world in a second. >> no question. wael, talk about the inspiration for the facebook page. why did you decide in that moment after 30 years of hosni mubarak that enough was enough? what were they seeing that decided it was time for a change? >> so egypt was going through 30 years of dictatorship, and people were not happy, very frustrated, yet they were scared. that was, you know, the most obvious thing. the regime used fear in order to keep going. and egyptians were, you know --

especially the young generation where more outspoken, they were not happy, they were basically going online and saying what they feel. internet helped a lot and basically getting all these people together and help collaborate. when -- i never thought of this going to happen. on the 13th of january addressed his people saying i am sorry, i was wrong, that was an oh my god moment for a lot of egyptians because we have never seen since i was born, i've never seen an arab dictator actually telling his people that i did a mistake. and on the 14th when he left tunisia, a lot of egyptians were saying, listen, you know, we have a much worse situation. this has got to stop, we have to do the same thing. so i wrote a very simple status message to the 360,000 members

of the page. today's january 14th, in ten days, january 25th is coming, which is the police day, if 100,000 of us in the street, no one is going to stop us. i started reading the comments, which is another great thing about the internet. you get instantaneous feedback. so i created an event on the facebook page calling, you know, for revolution, which was pretty funny because people were saying, wow, a pre-announced revolution. you say the date, the time, and the location. how can this happen? >> that's amazing. >> it did happen not because of internet, but because the people on the street. >> how do you think about -- this year? >> so there are two sides of the story. one probably, you know, just i've seen the bit of the interviews where people saying nothing of change, i completely disagree. i think we have achieved in the last 12 months enough things

that would, you know, no one would have imagined. if i go back 13 months ago, hosni mubarak is going to be out of power, his son is going to be in the prison, his government is no longer there, his party's going to be dissolved. 27 million egyptians are going to take to the street and vote for, you know, who truly represent them, you know, probably if you tell me that, i'll say, you need to check a psychiatrist because you're not good. yet, i have to say that the pace, we're not as many egyptians we're not happy with the pace of change. and the most critical part of change that we all are looking for is not -- haven't happened yet, which is the complete transition of power from the military rule which has been there for 60 years in this country to a civilian, you know, civilian government. and we're working now on calling for electing a president as soon as possible, whomever this president is, this country is not going to, you know, have

suffered from dictatorship, from those who think they are in the right position to make decisions on behalf of 85 million, and it's about time we change that, it's about time the egyptian people, you know, select whomever they want and bear the consequences. >> i'm going to embarrass you and say consequences. >> i'm going to embarrass you. not only have you got the john f. kennedy award but named as time magazine's most influential in 2011, nominated for the nobel peace prize. this is, again, through the power of social media, a life that has turned and really for the sake of the future of a lot of people in just a heartbeat. >> that goes without saying took a lot of courage to stand up to a dictator who had been there for 30 years. you were thrown in prison for a period of time. did you fear for your life? >> absolutely. you know, during the -- when i got kidnapped, of course, i worried about what was going to

happen. that was the hardest thing. you don't know. when are you going to go out, and you don't know what's happening outside because i was blindfolded and handcuffed which is something i detailed. i talked about it a lot during that experience. you go through an emotional roller coaster. sometimes you feel it must be -- you know, everything must be okay. that's why they keep me inside. that's why they don't want me out. or on the other hand, i say, it looks like it's over, i was kidnapped at night, no one knows where i am. it was pretty hard. i have to say, to be very honest, i don't think of myself as brave. there have been a lot of people on the front line. there is a guy in egypt. he went on the 28th of january. he lost his left eye. he kept protesting. and in november he lost his right eye and now he cannot see. i think that is the brave guy. i was mainly behind the keyboard.

it doesn't take that much courage to tweet and write behind the keyboard. >> it takes more than you say. >> actually -- it's very good to meet you. thank you for coming on the show. the book is "revolution 2.0." thank you for writing it. violent demonstrations are breaking out for a third straight day. "morning joe" will be right back. americans believe they should be in charge of their own future.

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i was just wondering if you could do more push-ups than i can do. >> you know, it depends on how your back is. i know you get these back issues. >> are you ready? >> yep. >> all right. >> one, two, three, four -- 50, 60, 70, 80 -- >> that was amazing. how many was that for her?

>> 25. >> i just stopped. >> and i thought it wouldn't be good to show off the first lady, so i stopped. >> that was the first lady with ellen. >> i tell you what, they were both pretty good. >> i'm impressed. >> i don't want to speak for you, jon. >> don't speak for me. >> would you like to speak? >> willie is speaking for the vanderbi vanderbilts. >> jon was doing the one arm, had a couple of cheerleaders on his back. >> okay. >> she's pretty good. still ahead, mitt romney spends another day walking back his comment about the very poor taking a break, only to accept the endorsement of a guy who's not very poor, donald trump. we'll talk about it next. i love that my daughter's part fish.

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privilege to endorse mitt rom y romney. >> oh. that's it? seriously, what do trump and romney have in common? what does trump see when he looks at romney? >> corporations are people, my friend. >> i like being able to fire people. >> i'm not concerned about the very poor. >> good friday morning. it is 8:00 on the east coast as you take a live look at manhattan. back with us on the set along with willie, joy, and me we have jon meacham, steve rattner, and mark mckinnon. i'm going go right to donald trump. i love donald, but, you know, e-ma i'm just going to say, i wonder

about the timing. isn't the timing just a little off let alone -- >> it's unbelievable. now, listen. the guy has a huge win in florida a couple nights ago. it's all everybody should be talking about. he has another self-inflicted gunshot wound to his foot. and then he follows that up with an endorsement from a guy, donald we know, donald we love, but donald is a guy that's been going around for the last 30 years in basically gold plated suits with,000-dollar bills talking about the wealthy. >> proud of it. >> very proud of it. i've got no problem with it, i've about got no problem with mitt romney's money as long as they make it legally with the fantastic enterprises we have in america. but the timing of it all, the pageantry of it all, on the same day he's being lambasted for

saying that. you wonder who's running that campaign right now day in and day out because they're having some real problems. >> because he does execute well, mitt romney. we've seen him perform great when he's well prepared. i don't know. i've been impressed at times, given that it's a party i don't even support. but look at what the white house did, and tell me if this wasn't feeding right into the narrative they need if and when mitt romney becomes the nominee. they tweeted, in case you missed it, and then linked the video of the trump endorsement. >> my goodness. mark mckinnon, you understand like i understand like i think 12 republicans left alive understand that you win presidential elections not in places like northwest florida or the panhandle of texas. you win elections in the i-4

corridor of florida, you win elections in bucks county, pennsylvania, the suburbs of philadelphia, you win elections in swing suburbs in detroit, outside of detroit, across michigan. explain just how bad this past week has been for mitt romney. not winning the republican nomination because we've been told that's a foregone conclusion even after four states. but in november, how bad is all of this as republicans, we republicans try to win independent voters in the fall? >> well, it's somewhat astonishing joe. and what happened in the space of really about 48 hours because mitt romney went from what should have been a huge opportunity to leverage what was a big win in florida and to get his message about how he won, why he won, and to -- and to send that message. and instead we have this whole

series of incidents, the first talking about his view on the poor, which was only compounded by, you know, crawling over to las vegas into a casino hotel when he already has a problem in the last 24 hours with his perception about the poor, and then he steps up and kisses the ring of a billionaire real estate mogul who's one of the richest people in the country. and so -- and that's the narrative that the obama campaign is looking for. they're trying to establish mitt romney as a guy who's out of touch, elite. this is an opportunity for -- one thing the romney campaign could have done is done a bill clinton sister soldier moment and said thank you very much, but no thanks, donald trump. we don't want your endorsement. >> i wonder about that, mark mckinnon. i wonder. in the past year there's tape out there. we won't waste the time of donald trump slamming mitt

romney, completely slamming him. so i have to tell you, to see them both on stage there in front of american flags, all this pageantry as joe put it, it just simply doesn't look honest, and we'll leave it there. >> and completely hypocritical. >> so, willie, on to nevada. >> one more thing that needs to be said about donald trump. >> please. >> "celebrity apprentice" premieres february 19, just ahead of the show. that's no knock on the show. that's going to be great. arsenio hall is going to be on the show. >> joe? >> he's got a casino to promote. and, willie geist, as you and i always say, if abraham lincoln were alive today and had to host one tv show, it would be "celebrity apprentice." this all makes perfect sense. >> let's put this all against that backdrop.

t "apprenti "apprentice" is premiering february 19. republican contenders in the final push before tomorrow's nevada caucuses. not a lot of drama. the las vegas review journal shows mitt romney with a 20-point lead at 45%. newt gingrich is 25%. rick santorum, ron paul, they're out of the list. the romney campaign hoping those numbers richardsonlet hurt by romney's gaffe this week, the one where he seemed to suggest the lack of concern for the very poor. a couple of days later, romney's still talking about that comment. >> i misspoke. i wish i wouldn't have said it that way. i've made the same thought part of my speeches over the last year or two, which is i'm really concerned about middle income americans. i want to help middle income americans. i want to help get people out of poverty. i'm concerned about all americans and i want to make

sure our safety net is appropriately able to care for the poor. i'm concerned about all citizens. now and then you misspeak, you have to acknowledge it. it was not something i intended to say as it was said but i believe it's part of the political process. >> i really believe we should care about the very poor, unlike governor romney, but i believe we should care differently than barack obama. both governor romney and president obama seem to think, quote, a safety net is all the poor need. i don't believe that. what the poor need is a trampoline so they can spring up and quit being poor. so i'm for replacing the safety net with a trampoline. >> and president obama weighed in in sort of a veiled way, speaking at the prayer breakfast, the national prayer breakfast. here's what the president had to say. >> it's also about the biblical

call to care for the least of these, for the poor, for those of the margins of our society. to answer the responsibility we're given in proverbs to speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute. >> all right, jon meacham. mitt romney is going win nevada. in the larger context of this narrative that's being built against him, does this all stick to him now? >> it's a cumulative effect that it t choice is between a president with a mixle record on the economy and a governor, probable nominee, who seems -- the phrase we were using, who seems out of touch because the enormity of his wealth is such that he cannot understand the concerns of middle income and the poor. whether that's fair or not, i think that's something people

will have to decide. >> we are talking so closely about putting microscope on the choice. even as the u.s. presses for more time to let economic sanctions take hold. just this morning iran vowed it would not back down to international pressure. american officials are concerned an israeli attack could draw the united states into another conflict just as the pentagon works to bring the war in afghanistan to a close. although israel is still weighing its options, a story in "the washington post" suggests the pentagon is already preparing for the potential fallout. david ignacius writes in part, quote, defense secretary leon panetta believes there is a strong likelihood that israel will strike iran in april, may,

or june, before iran enters what israelis described as a zone of immunity to commence building a nuclear bob. very soon the israelis fear the iranians will have stored enough enriched uranium in deep understood zbrounds facilities to make a weapon, and only the united states could then stop them mel tearily. up to this point the obama administration has favored diplomatic pressure and economic sanctions over military actions when dealing with iran. and before we go to a break, joe, our republican candidates have at times talked about this issue. have they talked about it enough, and are their positions ones that you're comfortable with? >> well, they have talked about it. we all should be talking about it. the one that keeps the president awake at night, he admitted, is pakistan, and that's because pakistan got a nuclear weapon back in the mid-1990s. there is not greater threat, i

think, to stability across the globe than iran, and that is -- that is not american militaryism speak. that's the opinion of arab states across the middle east. that's the opinion of european nations who are allies. the only question is whether they're going to sit back and once again make the[vwuq" ui?cfi it on the chin internationally for doing whatr> they all want done. this is -- this is -- we're entering a gray area here, and it is striking to me that four years ago this president was being condescending toward george w. bush for not engaging diplomatically with iran, for not being more open-minded, for being too confrontational. we can see what's happened over the last three, three and a half years. clearly we can see his approach didn't work any more than george

w. bush's did. this is a crisis, and the president's going to have to make, i think, perhaps the toughest decision of his administration over the next three to four months regarding iran. >> there's a little update i wanted to give you from "the washington post." the defense minister was just speaking in jerusalem, and he was addressing western countries like the united states who have asked for patience, let the sanctions work. he says whoever says later may find later is too late. so it sounds like israel is in a different mindset than the west. >> you get a feeling from the comments is that they're laying pipe in a way, laying the groundwork for this possibility. they understand this could really happen and they've got to prepare the american people for it. >> coming up, we're just minutes away from the january jobs report. also our "fate on friday" series. will the rise of mitt romney put new focus on his religion? a timely new book explores the history of mormonism. also it's friday.

it's time for willie's weekend review. i can't wait to see that. >> it will be great. >> joe, do we bother with bill? >> oh, gosh. i think it's sponsored, so we have to. >> all right. he's there, right? we're paying him. bill karins, what does it look like? >> every time the alarm goes off, i say, not enough, definitely not enough. we're watching a very potent storm system in the middle of the country. finally a winter forecast. a lot of heavy snow in colorado. the front range they call this region. denver could see one to two feet of snow. as far as the forecast totals go, we'll also see that snow extending into nebraska later on today and tonight. and areas from north platte and lincoln and omaha, you'll have to shovel come saturday morning. as far as the forecast goes for the weekend, today we'll see thunderstorms. oklahoma into texas. then as we go through your weekend, that wet weather will move into the middle of the country. it's not snow because it's just too warm.

areas like st. louis and kansas city, just rain for you. on super bowl sunday, rain down for you in the southeast. overall the west looks fantastic, probably the best weekend you've about seen of the winter. talk about indianapolis, football game's indoors, of course, but indianapolis should soo gorgeous weather too until the super bowl. you're watching "morning joe" brewed by starbucks.

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may increase as the dose increases. patients may experience loss of appetite or weight. patients who weigh less than 110 pounds may experience more side effects. people at risk for stomach ulcers who take certain other medicines should talk to their doctor because serious stomach problems such as bleeding may worsen. people with certain heart conditions may experience slow heart rate. [ woman ] whenever i needed her, she was there for me. now i'm here for her. [ female announcer ] ask the doctor about your loved one trying the exelon patch. visit exelonpatch.com to learn more. what was it like being a mormon missionary overseas for two years?

>> it was a great shift from what i'd known. i'd been in america. i spent five months in a city in france, five months there. i think the population was about a quarter of a million people. in five months we knocked on doors from morning until late evening. we didn't convert one person in five months. if you understand rejection, you know that's a pretty high level of rejection and you get used to it. you say, okay, what do i believe, what's important to me, and you don't measure yourself and your success by how other people react but instead by how you're doing and how you feel about the things you care about. >> that was mitt romney on our show in december talking about his mormon beliefs. and joining us now, matthew bowman, author of the timely new book "the mormon people: the making of an american faith." it's very good to have you on the show. >> wonderful to be here. >> first you look at the number and rise on the religion. 14 million mormons in the world,

yet so many misconceptions. what do you think the leading one or two are? >> you know, a lot of people use the word "cult" to describe mormonism, and that's really a misnomer. it's really a pejorative. it's a political rather than a social logical or academic word. mormonism simply is a new religion. like catholicism, 1,500 years ago, it has a lot of suspicion. >> what about when it concerns multiple marriages when it comes to polygamy? >> it's kind of a radical practice and it's rooted in how mormons understand the notions of community. mormons believe you can be married for eternity, that heaven is great network of families. and polygamy is no different than other radical marital practices or reformation during

early christianity or other christian movements. >> it's not always said explicitly but you can hear it in conversations when people talk about mitt romney or jon huntsman, that there's something weird or odd about mormonism. >> yes, exactly. >> there's a huge undercurrent of that whenever people talk about mormonism. from what you know from all your studies, is it really any more weirder than any other major religion? >> it's not weirder. it's simply newer. people have accused catholicism of being a cult, people have accused judaism of being a cult. these are words that were attached to religions that are really in the mainstream of american life today for hundreds of years in the united states. and mormonism, i think, is about 70 years behind catholicism. >> where do you think that "weird" label, which is probably unfair, where does that come from? is it the polygamy first? >> it could be the polygamy. many accusations thrown at mormonism are quite similar to

those thrown at catholicism. they have a hierarchy. there's a spiritual leader that tells them what to do. they obey it. they have odd rituals. strength ideologies. these are all things they said about catholics. >> that sounds like every other religion i know, john meech am. . >> how did mathew do? >> he did very well. handsome book. >> deck a religious. >> a pretty important one given the conversations of our time and some of barriers we broke in our last election. in this one we had two mormons in the republican field. >> absolutely. and one of -- the impetus behind it, and we'd love to hear you talk more about this, it is a native-american faith, and what does mormonism tell us about the country and what do you think the fact that mitt romney and huntsman were in the race and one is doing quite well and the other one did not but had

nothing to do with his faith. >> yeah, yeah. >> what is particularly american about mormonism? >> mormonism expresses a lot of what americans like to believe about themselves. mormonism was an amateur religion. it was a religion founded by people who had no training in a religious theology or organization or anything like that. mormonism is a religion that's still very legal therrien. it's a religion that's very optimistic about human potential and possibility. all of these are things that really express what americans like to believe about themselves. at the same time, however, mormonism has a lot of characteristics that americans are wary of and leery of like this issue of hierarchy, like violations of traditional marriage or practices. >> secrecy. >> secrecy as well, yeah. you cannot be a secretive faith and be in the american public spear. the americans will just not tolerate that. >> what is all the pop culture of mormonism over the last year

tell you. >> and the broadway play. >> right. >> big love. >> i think it was -- yeah. it was "newsweek" that had a cover that said "the mormon moment." it talked about mitt romney and the book of mormon and big love and a book on tlc as well. is that helpful to the mormon faith or just make a character tur out of it? >> it's nothing new. this has been around for a long time. the writers of "the purple sage" a hundred years ago, depicted this historical leader. the very first sherlock holmes story had the same thing, mormons were a secretive faith, governing utah through fear and intimidation. john crack kaur's book "under the descender of heaven" is a direct de-senn accident of this. it's really rubbed that fear off. the musical does not think mormons are threatening. it does not present mormons as a

danger to americans, but it still does have the sense that mormons are naive and strange and very happy and very, very nice, but still not a group to be taken seriously, not a group of people who can actually look and say, yes, this is somebody i might want to elect president. >> where does that come from? that perception? >> the niceness? >> yeah. and the naivety. >> mormons since the middle of the century have really absorbed a lot. in the '50s they did this very intentionally. they looked at american corporations as a way to organize themselves and integrate. they did a very good job at it. white shirts, clean-cut haircuts, no drinking, clean living. all of this really made mormons fit in very well in the '50s, but not so much today. >> was it weird to be writing about such a great group of people with clean living and

then working with meacham? i'm just wondering, you know. we've had like a contrast. >> he would actually make an excellent mormon. >> that is high -- take that. that's a high compliment. i appreciate that enormously. do you have church mormons? >> yes. >> as long as there's incense. >> this is absolutely fascinating. this is matt bowman. thank you very much for coming on the show. great job. when we come back, the january jobs report. keep it right here on "morning joe." [ female announcer ] this is not a prescription.

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31 past the hour. the new monthly jobs report is out seconds ago. let's go straight to cnbc's tyler mathisen with the latest numbers. tyler. >> that's how i would characterize it. 243,000 new non-foreign payroll jobs added in the month of january. that compares with a consensus estimate of just 150,000 jobs. the total number in the private sector added in the most recent month, 257,000 jobs compared

with a consensus number of 170,000 jobs. the unemployment rate, down as you see there, to 8.3% from 8.5%. now, this still keeps us behind where the total number of employed americans were back before the recession started. we're still down about 6 million jobs from that, but no one can look at those numbers and not say that the economy is improving. and in this month, at least, faster than most people expected. you would think that a lot of people having seasonal jobs aet the christmas holidays might be laid off in january, but here we're seeing some strength. i can peek down into the numbers a little bit more later. manufacturing jobs and growth there, fairly strong. stronger than they have been in many years. the 8.3% rate is the lowest since february 2009. so, again, characterizing those job numbers, mika, a blowout number, i would call it. nearly 250,000 jobs. there was a loss of jobs in the

government sector down by about 14,000, but the total private sector, private sector job growth, 257,000. >> tyler, we were talking to steve rattner earlier and looking at the charts and kind of digging into the jobs situation. there are people who have given up. there are still major kind of challenges for this economy. but you're saying on the face of it, this is, bottom line, across the board, no different dynamics or level to it, good news. >> this -- i can't see. i'll peek into the numbers a little bit more because they're just out as we came back, but i can't see anything here that is really a disturbing number at all. you know, we've had a lot of numbers that have come short of the consensus, but this is almost 100,000 above the consensus number that i had been looking for. >> hey, tyler, this is willie. help me out. we get these reports as we did this week from the co that says unemployment is going to go up next year back to over 9%, and today we get this number. what's the middle in these two?

what are we missing? we're hearing the economy is going to be worse and then you see a blowout jobs number. what's going on? >> you can look ahead and say maybe there's a lot of headwinds in the economy. there's still a lot of unsettled greek things in the situation. a lot of people are still looking for jobs who can't find them. some people have given up. the sort of structural unemployment in this country is clearly going to be higher than it has been over the years. when i say structural, we're not going go back to 5% unemployment rates any time soon. there's a big transition going on obviously as we move from sort of the manufacturing world that some of us grew up in to facebook world where different skills are needed. >> long way to go. tyler mathisen, thanks for being on the show this morning. >> thanks for having me. >> we'll be right back.

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imagine for a moment, here was a young girl who was just becoming aware of our democracy, just beginning to understand the obligations of citizenship, just starting to glimpse the fact that some day she, too, might play a part in shaping her nation's future. she had been elected to her student council. she saw public service as something exciting and hopeful. i want to live up to her expectations. i want our democracy to be as good as christina imagined it. i want america to be as good as

she imagined it. >> that was president obama speaking about christina taylor-green, the 9-year-old girl who lost her life last year in the arizona shooting that also critically injured then congresswoman gabriella giffords. joining us now, christina's mom, roxanna green and the author who wrote the book "as good as she imagined." roxan roxanna, it's good to have you come in. i want to start with you. you said you're nervous. there's no reason to be. i saw you on television and heard your words just days after the shooting and was so moved by what you said and your ability to function and be come posed and bring some sense and some peace to what had happened. tell me, first of all, what it's like to hear president obama talk about you daughter like that. >> well, it's very little swe .

bittersweet. my family is a big supporter of president obama but we wish he didn't have to come to tucson to make such a speech, but obviously we're very honored and thought it was one of his best speeches ever. we were very pleased that he mentioned our daughter. >> the title of the book comes from president obama's speech at the memorial service. he talks about how he wants our democracy to be as good as christina had imagined it. where do you think we are now when you watch everything pass by our eyes on television, the conversations in washington, the process. have we gotten anywhere? >> i think we've -- you know, it's going to take a while, but i think she'd be proud of president obama and all his work and the first lady. and things are just -- the best is yet to come. i think we have a lot of work to do, but i think, you know, we're doing a great job. >> roxanna, all of us at this

table have little girls, we have daughters, and think in the moments after the shooting, we realized in the totality it was a horrific event. then when we heard that a 9-year-old girl had been killed, it was crushing. it was devastating. to people who didn't even know her. in the days after that, we got to know her a little bit. we felt like we heard her story. but i'd love to hear you talk about christina. what was she like? who was she? >> she was fearless, she was intelligent, she was a leader, she was tenacious, she was a fierce competitor, and she was an exceptional child. we all thing our children are special and exceptional, but in the days and weeks and months after she passed away, we received e-mails and phone calls and letters and cards from all over the country, and various people told us about these extraordinary, you know, acts of kindness that she had done in her 9 years, and we knew she was a great child and she was a special little girl, but we had

no idea of all the acts of kindness and the special things she had done on her travels throughout the united states. so we're very proud as parents. and then we just thought we'd make an inspirational book of hope and include some of those stories. >> so we're sitting here all on the verge of tears actually listening and i just wonder, jerry, how -- was it -- i guess there's some healing in writing this book together with roxanna, but it must have been really tough. >> it was heart-wrenchinheart-w. i come in it as a grandfather. i never met christina taylor but i know her through her family. when i was asked to come alongside, it's a great honor, but, boy, it's a tough story. yu even got a little girl -- i would feerl i would fall into

haigiography. what can you say about a 9-year-old girl. when i got her story, i got to realize what a special little girl she was. she wasn't a cute 9-year-old. she wanted to be president of the united states, wanted to be a big leaguer. whenever she threw herself into it, she threw herself into it totally. it was a tough story, tough thing to write. but i think there's hope in this book. it's not just, you know, a sad story of a girl who was here one minute and gone the next. she really did have hopes and dreams. >> you sat with michelle obama during the state of the union, i think it was a year ago. >> yes. >> i actually was about 25 rows from you. you, your husband, and your son. and i was transfixed, just wondering how you were doing and how incredible you had communicated with america in light of what had happened. how's your son doing? >> my son is doing well, thank you for asking. he's really stepped up to the

plate, so to speak, and matured a lot in the last year. and he's really comforted my husband and i so much. we thought we would be doing that 100%, but it ends up that it's 50/50, and we're really proud of him. >> meacham? >> i think when people look at something so tragic, the question of how important faith is and how does faith help you get past what has to be the inevitable question of why, why did this happen to christina taylor. can you talk a little bit about how you all have worked through that in terms of how you see god and the redemption that clearly the book is about? >> well, i'm a type of person that sees the glass half full, not half empty. i don't ever question why, why, why. it's like why not. it's life. unfortunate things happen. i don't concentrate on how it

happened or the tragedy itself. i concentrat on, you know, fulfilling my daughter's dreams through the christina taylor-green memorial foundation, and i know that i'm going to see her again some day, and i believe that my mom's taking care of her. so our deep faith has gotten us through and will get us through. >> i thinking as a person who shares the faith of john and roxanna and dallas green, i was struck by the fact that they're looking ahead and they have that blessed hope that the bible talks about that they'll see their daughter again. it doesn't make it any easier. some people see roxanna with such composure and they say, you know, she's so strong. there are dark nights of the soul. you can imagine what it's like for a parent to lose a child like that. but faith is the rock for them. >> roxanna, how can people help out with the christina taylor-green foundation? what are you all doing there and how can people get involved if they're watching it this morning? >> they can visit

christinataylorgreen.org and our website which is constantly being updated. we have a lot going on, a celebrity golf gala going on. so far we've given away thousands of dollars to schools in tucson to help support the arts, obviously academics and athletic programs for youth. >> the website is on the bottom of our screen right now. you f you want to get involved you can go to christina-taylorgreen.org. we're so impressed by you. your daughter would be very proud to watch the way you're conducting yourself over the last year. so thank you so much for being here. >> thank you. >> thank you both for being on the show. the book is "as good as she imagined" roxanna green and jerry jenkins. thank you. we'll be right back. [ male announcer ] to the 5:00 a.m. scholar.

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skies ♪ >> plus a mush tack equals robert goulet. >> it's time for the week in review. ♪ for spacious skies for amber waves of grain ♪ mitt romney closed the show in florida this week with a big patriotic number. ♪ above the fruited plain >> it was then that everyone in the crowd in the villages pushed their life alert button at the same time. >> he offered a jarring contrast to the president's al green at the apollo theater in harlem. ♪ i'm so in love with you >> the first lady politely

reviewed romney's performance. >> it's -- beautiful. >> beautiful. >> after getting waxed in the florida primary perhaps by focusing on some fringe issues. >> he's eliminated serving kosher food for elderly jewish residents under medicare. >> newt gingrich declined to join the singing competition. >> mr. president, you cannot sing away past the disaster of your presidency. >> as gingrich vowed this week to fight on with a little help from the hermaniator. romney rained on his own florida victory parade. >> i'm not concerned about the poor. we have a safety net there. if there's a hole, we'll repair it. >> richie rich romney, underground mixed tape. >> corporations are people, my friend. >> like to be able to fire people. >> 10,000 bucks?

>> the romney campaign went into crisis mode after the very poor line quickly instructed the candidate to get on the stage and do what he does best. ♪ america america >> just when things were getting grim for romney, a white knight rode into las vegas to save the day. actually he was an orangey looking knight. >> he's swift, he's smart, he's tough. go out and do it. >> with that dramatic announcement at the trump hotel, the number one hotel in las vegas featuring sumptuous baths, romney went back to warming up the crowd. ♪ with brotherhood from sea to shining sea ♪ wow, wow. nicely done. >> wow, wow, nicely done.

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that's how it is with alzheimer's disease. she needs help from me. and her medication. the exelon patch -- it releases medication continuously for twenty-four hours. she uses one exelon patch daily for the treatment of mild to moderate alzheimer's symptoms.

[ female announcer ] it cannot change the course of the disease. hospitalization and rarely death have been reported in patients who wore more than one patch at a time. the most common side effects of exelon patch are nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea. the likelihood and severity of these side effects may increase as the dose increases. patients may experience loss of appetite or weight. patients who weigh less than 110 pounds may experience more side effects. people at risk for stomach ulcers who take certain other medicines should talk to their doctor because serious stomach problems such as bleeding may worsen. people with certain heart conditions may experience slow heart rate. [ woman ] whenever i needed her, she was there for me. now i'm here for her. [ female announcer ] ask the doctor about your loved one trying the exelon patch. visit exelonpatch.com to learn more. visit exelonpatch.com don't our dogs deserve to eat fresher less processed foods

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hello. tonight our project, our company had a very big night. a very, very big night. but it wasn't complete, and it wasn't nearly close to being in the same vicinity as complete. because i couldn't share it with you. i love you. you complete me. and i'm just -- >> shut up. just shut up. you had me at hello. >> just so well done. time now to talk about what we

learned -- what is that, willie? >> that's lucas oil stadium, site of the super bowl. >> that's what i learned today. >> you can watch it right here on nbc. >> that's what i learned too. what did you learn, willie? >> i learned a couple of things. number one, the indoctrination of my children has begun. i'm told my 2-year-old is wear i eli manning jersey to school today. >> sweet. >> there's something more interesting to raise. ian brzezinski. >> yes, my big brother. >> here with sophie and will. >> i've been instructed, they asked me how mika did on her s.a.t. >> oh, come on, now. >> what did she get on her s.a.t., ian? >> she has a record-setting level for college. >> we're not talking high. >> lower end of the spectrum. >> especially in the brzezinski family. sorry, mika. i was put up to it. >> i'd like to make one point. it's clearly affected mika's success in time. it shows