do you have any spam e-mail? >> plenty. dave writes taser, a pocket taser understand gunn. stun gun. "morning joe" starts right now. president obama once said, he wants everybody in america to go to college. what a snob. [ laughter ] no, not! what a snob! well, look who is educating his children, woo woo. i guess someone is too good for not knowing things.

>> a lot of people in this country that have no desire or no aspiration to go to college. there are other places, technical schools, additional training, vocational training, there's skills and 'prentisship's, which is hardly barack nonbama's position. >> i ask every american to commit to one year of higher education. vocational training or apprenticeship. >> woo woo! woo woo woo. [ growning ] >> oh, my gosh. >> good morning, it is tuesday. february 28th. welcome to morning joe. >> things are set up for the

primaries. are you okay? >> it's a big day. >> a huge day. >> we have to change the furniture. >> how important is that? >> i'm opposed to this. >> you know what? >> can i go on the record. >> i feel like -- >> big, bold. >> it sends a message. >> there's no warmth there. >> welcome back. >> i don't like change. >> this is not change we can believe in? >> no. >> we have msnbc and "time" magazine senior political analyst, mark halperin. i'm told we don't need to yell. >> i said what? >> national affairs editor for new york magazine and msnbc political analyst, john heilemann. >> on the west coast today. different time zones. >> what's going on here?

i want to go home. >> i'm out here in the satellite zone. >> i can't really see you. >> what's going on with santorum, willie? you know, you were the guy that republicans always got to when they right the party, we got to go to geist. he's the guy they flew over to europe in '51 to talk to eisenhower. he's -- i mean you've done this for now 60 years. >> going on 69. >> what is up with all of these crazy things that rick santorum -- a guy i like. a guy who i may have even voted for. i'm not going to say. maybe i did, maybe i didn't. but what's up with this guy? why does he go down one stupid rabbit trail after another? >> the thing about him is -- maybe you'll agree. i think he really believes these things, he's not saying them because he thinks they'll win

him a particular pocket of votes. >> but unlike his opponent. i would say he's pandering to no one. >> he's got to -- >> here's the craziest thing about all this is that he may actually win michigan. so if you want crazy, there you go. >> i believe he's got an undergraduate degree, an mba and a jb. >> give me a break. >> the bottom line of this, he just said a lot of stupid things, i don't really care. he said a lot of stupid things you don't want to say on the political campaign trail. if you actually come from the wing of the republican party that likes winning, general elections. >> liking winning wing and yeah, things are going his way in michigan. he may pull this out. if he does -- chaos. >> i don't want to tamper with the preexisting expectations.

>> if you had said a month ago that rick santorum was going to come within five points of mitt romney in i hadmy, you would have said that's going to be a real blow for romney. i think you've got to win. he could win tonight. even if he doesn't. super tuesday sets up pretty well for him right now. even with a narrow loss tonight. these mistakes, the general filter in the media don't like him. a lot of people don't like them. and denounce them. but i'm not so sure that they are damaging in the current environment. >> now listen -- hey, christine o'donnell, one of the -- won the republican primary. we're talking about winning general elections. i don't think him saying all of these things that he's saying every three days could hurt him in the primary. >> i think it could hurt him in the primary in the sense that let's say he hasn't done these

things and he's just run on being the grandson of a coal miner the last couple of weeks and he won the michigan prime. a lot of people in the establishment or some would have moved to him and said, you know what, romney can't win in michigan. these things turn off bundlers and members of congress it makes it seem like how could you win a general election denouncing college. >> if you don't have the discipline just to keep some things to yourself. and john heilemann, if mitt romney loses michigan tonight -- we're not overstating the fact here, this entire race blows up. everything is new and there going to be some people thinking about jumping into this race. >> mitt romney has never, we talk about the two, the grassroots conservative who is don't like mitt romney and him being a candidate of the establishment. the republican establishment has never loved mitt romney. they've been with him because

they thought he was the most electable. they don't love him. over the course of the last month as they've seen him commit these unforced errors that hurt himself as a general election candidate. in the various ways we've discussed in this program, they are now ready to be done with him. one more big stumble -- >> you could not pick a bigger loss than in michigan. so if he loses to rick santorum, a guy who has the weaknesses we've been talking about, i think the one base of support that he has, which is the establishment support that's been the thing he's been leaning on, he's just going to crumble if he loses michigan. i talk to these guys, a cover story this week in the magazine, the lobbyists, fundraisers, elected officials, everyone who comprises the gop establishment will look at him saying, we think you might be mortally wounded already. if you lose to rick santorum in your home state, it's ludicrous for us to stay with you. >> if that happens tonight, can

you make one senior republican that would consider jumping into the race? or are we going to a situation where the republican party goes to him and grabs somebody and says you have no other choice at this point. they're going to approach somebody and say you have no other choice, you can't stand on the sidelines for the sake of the party and for the sake of this country, you have to get off the bench and get into this race. >> i think if he loses tonight, he's still the front-runners of the nomination. that is because no one is going to get in as long as he's in. i don't think he's going to -- >> romney? >> no one will get in while he's in, i don't think you'll see a made candidate enter this race, because he still has a lot of delegates, he still has an organization. danger for him, michigan would be a huge blow, the danger for him if he's blown out on super tuesday, then i think the party has to get him out of the race, because while he could win it, it would be too ugly. >> willie, it's hard to

comprehend how weak this field is. >> it's amazing, if they leave romney, they're not going to come around to santorum. which leaves us with whom? who are the two or three people who could actually get into the race? >> there's the fabulous four, there's four of them getting phone calls all the time now. chris christie. jeb bush, paul ryan. those people getting phone calls on almost a daily basis, asking them to consider getting in. if romney loses michigan and as mark said, super tuesday, if romney wins narrowly tonight, he's looking at ten states, there are five or six with evangelical portions of the electorates over 40%, he's going to have a hard time in a lot of those states, georgia, tennessee, oklahoma, alaska. >> he's going to get pounded. >> and the main states that he can win on super tuesday that are solid, in virginia, where no one else is on the ballot, apart from ron paul.

it's a, super tuesday is very ugly situation for him. those are the four, willie, they get phone calls every day. all four of them look at it as if it's a suicide mission, they all say i'm going to get in essentially at the convention i'm going to have to start from a standing start, raising money, all four of those guys think they could be president one day. they look at that and then they look at it and say, i have my career to think about, i don't want to go into that grim reaper. career, country, country, career, there's a hunger for news and that's why we've brought mika brzezinski in. >> i love hearing all you men talking. it's fascinating, brilliant. >> insightful there are some numbers to tell you, about a combined 59 delegates are up for grabs as voters in michigan and arizona head to the polls in the next big battle for the

republican presidential nomination. let's look at arizona, the latest arizona poll shows romney with a sizeable lead. but michigan appears to be a much tighter race, according to public policy polling. 56% of early voters in michigan are backing mitt romney, rick santorum comes in a difficultynd second. but the poll suggests more people who haven't yet cast their ballots are behind santorum. 40% of those heading to the polls today for the the former pennsylvania senator. looking at michigan, voters as a whole, rick santorum and rick santorum are in a statistical tie. ron paul and newt gingrich follow. and in a sign of just how close this race is, rick santorum is calling democrats to come out and vote for him in michigan open primary contest. >> if i'm a democrat, i'm thinking -- i'm not going to vote for this guy. this is what i'm thinking.

>> i'm thinking, this is crazy that he would think democrats would vote for him. he hopes it convinces members of the other party to against mitt romney. >> romney supported the bailouts for his wall street billionaire buddies, but opposed the auto bailouts, that was a slap in the face to every michigan worker and we're not going to let romney get away with it on tuesday, join democrats who are going to send a loud message to massachusetts mitt romney by voting for rick santorum for president. this call is supported by hard-working democratic men and women and paid for by rick santorum for pred. >> understand santorum did something today which i think is deceptive and a dirty trick, he's put an ad out there sounding like a labor ad, telling labor folks and democrats to vote against me and to vote for rick santorum and at the very end there's a trailer that he paid for this. but it's confusing people. it's a new low in this campaign.

>> it's a have you positive robo call, talking about what we're doing to create jobs here in michigan, of course, it's interesting that we criticize me for attractsing democrats, one of the things that the governor romney says is he can't attract democrats, guess what, we'll wait and see, here's john heilemann in new york magazine, the lost party, only the most mindless of idealogues reject the criticism that served by two parties, a santorum nomination would be seen by many liberals as a scary and retro grade proposition and no doubt it would make for a wild ride with talk of satan and abortions and sweater vests to drive any man bonkers, but in the long run it might do a world of gud, compelling republicans to return to their senses and forge ahead to the 21st century. which is why all people of

common sense and good will might consider in the days ahead, adopting a slogan that they might consider odd or perverse, go, rick, go. >> i don't get that any more than i get the robo calls. >> well let's -- >> talk about, what do you say? >> in the past when republicans have had these kinds of big splits, that's true of the democratic party. when you've had big splits between the wings of the party and the ultimate winner of the nomination has gone on to a defeat in the general election, the next cycle, the matter goes the opposite way, after goldwater won, you had a more swing back to a more moderate richard nixon. after ford lost, had you a swing towards the more conservative ronald reagan. my proposition, i'm just kind of speculating on if romney or santorum won the nomination and lost to boobama. i think it strengthens the hands

of cultural warriors, populists, tea partiers. if santorum wins the race and then suffer as barry goldwater-style defeat to obama, it strengthens the hands of sane conservatives. it strengthens the hands of chris christie and some of the other people who we admire and jeb bush, who can come back and bring the party back to the winnable. the electable, not the center, but a more constructive, proactive conservatism. >> we're not talking about ideology. because jeb bush not a centrist, jeb bush is a conservative. chris christie is not a centrist, they're a conservative, but they're left of rick santorum. >> jeb bush would never in a million years vote for a $7 trillion medicare drug benefit without paying for it. >> they are people going to college. >> that's true, you got me there. i didn't know that was a right-left position, i didn't know if it was a 20th century

position versus a 19th century stay on the farm and help me with the crops position. and i am a snob, i know, i want kids to go to college. or training school. >> our nickname for you is poindexter. >> exactly. there's also the david brooks had a similar column today, talking about the possum republicans and listen, it's, i would say this is david brooks being david brooks and it's a manhattan republican, moderate republican. except for the fact that just about ofry major figure that we've talked to behind closed doors, i know all of us at this table. people that you hear all the time run, they're all saying, i'm not, this is not my party right now. i am not sticking my toe in that water. there are too many pirhanas and

i'm going to get eaten alive. like stalwart, hard-core, solid conservatives looking at the republican party saying i'm not going to do it. >> is it part of it because there's two races, one for the nomination and one for the general and it's almost like you have to be two people. >> that happens all the time. nixon famously said you go to the right during the prime and you move back toward the center for the general election. that happens all the time. in this case, a lot of the strong republican candidates that could win this thing is they want me to go, not even too far right, but as, as brooks talks about, they want me to be like going back, they want me to be angry, they want me to villify the other side. it's identity politics, that's one of my chief complaints over the past two, three years. about the republican party. it's not about ideology. it's not about small government.

>> good luck finding anybody that's governed in a way that is more fiscally conservative than jeb bush. yet, if jeb bush were running today, he would be called the rhino. he has been criticized because he won't call the president a marxist or a fascist. it goes on and on. you have glenn beck and sarah palin being the two major figures of the republican party over the conservative movement over the past two years. this concerns some people. >> it is a concern. we'll continue the conversation. coming up, new york times -- >> why don't we do predictions. who do you think is going to win tonight in michigan? >> i'll go with romney. >> what do you think? >> i think romney is going to pull it out for the american people.

>> what do you think? >> santorum. santorum. >> interesting. how many votes did he bank? did romney bank? that's a big question for me. >> some, but not enough to be determinative. >> i think santorum is going to win big today. >> with all of those democrats coming out. >> if mitt romney said that's the dirtiest, that's the low point of this campaign. >> urging democrats to vote. where are the tea and crumpets. >> coming up, "new york times" columnist bill keller will be here, nbc news political director, chuck todd, the "washington post's" eugene robinson. >> wait, wait, get to this -- william shatner. i saw him. >> is he good? >> amazing. >> i can't wait to see. >> after the break, politico's top stories of the morning, including which democrat is

silently preparing themselves for a 2016 presidential run. but first, bill karins with a check on the forecast. >> we're watching a major winter storm heading for michigan, thanks to it coming in later on tonight, here's a look at the watches and warnings that are up all of the northern plains will see a major winter storm develop this afternoon. it will head into michigan as we go throughout this evening. even blizzard conditions possible in the dakotas, at least six to 12 inches, a it looks like a lot of the big cities around the edge of that. minneapolis, it looks like you're going to be a messy, icy situation for you. green bay also, an ice storm for your forecast. eventually this will work to the northeast today is fine, but as we go to wednesday, that's when new england will get hit by a snowstorm, a messy scenario for southern new england. big snow, possibilities of six to 12 inches for many mountain areas, even those cities like automobily, schenectady, detroit, boston, burlington. we'll track this major winter

storm over the next couple of days. and arizona, the storm is moving out of there today. you're looking just fine, phoenix. new york city, beautiful sunrise, you're watching "morning joe," brewed by starbucks. ♪[music plays] ♪[music plays] ♪[music plays] purina one beyond. food for your cat or dog. i want to fix up old houses. ♪

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we're definitely gonna need another one. small businesses that want to grow use 4g lte technology from verizon. i wonder how she does it. that's why she's the boss. because the small business with the best technology rules. contact the verizon center for customers with disabilities at 1-800-974-6006. i drove a mustang and a chevy pickup truck. ann drives a couple of cadillacs, actually. >> that sounds bad. to be fair, to be fair, she drives them at the same time. i know how romney can fix this. elitist thing he's got going. to florida and the daytona 500. we love us some nascar, right, mitt? >> this combine as couple of

things i like best. cars and sports. >> all right. let me stop you right there. here in this human world we call things like nascar, sports. football, baseball, basketball, sport. sport, is slightly different thing that require as horse or a boat or an ascot. or all three of those things. >> 25 past the hour. time now to take a look -- >> sport. >> mitt had a tough trip down to daytona. >> what do you mean? >> i don't think he was well prepare for the trip. >> it wasn't a good connection. he knows the owners. >> bad. >> okay. from "the guardian" investigators said rupert murdoch paid thousands of pounds to officials for stories. one journalist at the top at the "sun" admits to taking more than

150,000 pounds over the years to pay sources. >> and the "wall street journal" while the fbi announced it's building cases on 120 people for alleged insider trading they've enlisted actor michael douglas in a public service announcement. take a look. >> the point is, ladies and gentlemen, greed for lack of a better word is good. greed is right. >> hello, i'm michael douglas, in the movie "wall street" i play gordon gecko, a greedy corporate executive who cheated for profits while innocent investors lost their savings. the movie was fiction, but the problem is real. our economy is increasingly dependant on the success and the integrity of the financial markets. if a deal looks too good to be true, it probably is. >> "washington post"? it's been a tough few months for cruise ships. this morning, the sister ship of

the "costa concordia" is without power and being towed in the indian ocean after a fire in the ship's generator. there are about 1,000 people on board. the "costa allegra." they're expected to reach the islands of seychelles tomorrow. >> speaking of ships and the death star, universal hates it on twitter. to a man, everybody hates it on twitter. >> what is this? >> it's all tj's fault. >> that's what it is, right? >> all right. let's check in with mike allen, he's even farther apart down in d.c., the chief white house correspondent with politico, with a look at the playbook. you guys have a big piece this morning on 2016, talking about new york's governor, andrew cuomo and his notable absence

from the national spotlight. what are you saying? >> you know, i love the national governors association, winter meeting, they were here this weekend. all the governor, tahoes and suburbans lined up with our exotic license plates next to the jw marriott hotel. who was missing? new york governor andrew cuomo. it turns out he's always missing from national events. he doesn't go to places where other governors are. and in his 420 days in office, hasn't done a single network television interview. it turns out this is a very specific strategy as he looks ahead to 2016, wants more than anyone to be at the top of the pack. to succeed barack obama. but his folks figure he should come off as a governor, not a politician. he knows that the media will come, so he's holding off for now. >> he's done no national tv interviews, turns down all the sunday shows, apparently wants to be viewed as a confident

governor of new york to launch himself in 2016. >> john heilemann, this guy has always stayed away from the media. he's been, he's acted like he's above the media in his campaign, i remember saying once he gets elected governor, he's not going to like it. but he's going to have to talk to the press, he doesn't. >> he doesn't. and you know, he has had a traditionally gone way back, he's had a media strategy. it's no the that he totally avoids the press, he tries to avoid being in public with the press, there's always been a certain tension there. this is not a bad strategy if you can get away with it. >> not talking to the press. >> the strategy of not being seen as being a national press whore. >> a press what? >> a press whore. i think that's, that's not a good, necessarily a good look and the notion that i think there's some sense to the notion that if he can be a successful governor of the state of new york, he's a cuomo. he's never going to have problems getting national

attention. >> can he be a national candidate? >> he can be. i've always said, you've got to think about people anew in politics not just lock in on initial impression. he's shown maturity in all aspects of the job and staying away from the press is smart, disciplined, he can keep it up as long as he wants. when he's ready for coverage, he'll have all he wants. >> mike allen where does he fall in the pack of potential democratic candidates for 20016? >> despite his greta garbo strategy, he's at the front of the pack. the people that you would look at right away are the maryland governor, martin o'malley who is not press-shy. and the virginia governor is right up there as well. >> for some reason mike allen not mentioning the most obvious and most delectable -- >> secretary hillary clinton -- >> i was on assignment in london

this past weekend, did i see something where hillary says she still has politics in her blood? in between having my ascot pressed and kind of like -- >> does anyone think that's a surprise? >> it's kind of like joe admitting he still has a taste for donuts. >> politics in her blood? come on. >> mike, mike, before we, before we go, big loss in the politico family. big, big loss, tell us about it. >> mike mcgraph, who was at the top of our business section, helped get politico launched as a business enterprise. but was someone who always had the soft touch. we heard yesterday from people who knew him as the disney on ice guy, he used to get there, tear their daughters to disney on ice, a young father, 41 years old, two young daughters, so

proud of his daughters, he used to always send me emails about what his princesses were up to corrine and rag wrn up to. he had cancer, we thought he had beaten it. came back, looked strong, worked to the very end. on thursday he was in here, working, even though his daughter was very short. his daughter, reagan is ten today. >> our thoughts and prayers are with the family and certainly his politico family, too. i've heard so many great things about him. >> very kind of him, mike mcgrath reminds us that life is fleeting and the personal relationships, the personal touch, knowing what people care about. knowing what's going on in their family, makes all the difference. >> no doubt. thank you, mike, so much. >> thank you all. coming up, a day and a half after relentless rain, they finally started their engines at the daytona under

welcome back to "morning joe." time for sports, the rain finally gone, the lights were on. the daytona a 00 was supposed to be yesterday. it rained and rained. they ran it last night at 7:00. on lap two, once they started. elliott sadler gets into jimmie johnson, crashes him into the wall and sets off a chain reaction. danica patrick is in the green car in the middle of all of it. she spins out, heads to the pits for repairs. she did return and she finished 38th at daytona. this is how weird things were last night. race under caution, juan pablo montoya loses control of his car and slams into the back of a jet dryer truck. a truck that comes out to dry the track. he couldn't get out of the way. his car up in flames, the truck up in flames, the race stopped

there. >> wait, wait -- >> more than two hours -- >> they were under caution and he's still out? >> he ran right up the back of the jet dryer. >> is the guy drunk? >> they had to get the tide laundry detergent. two more hours of delay. what do you do if you're a driver during a two hour delay? you tweet. brad kozlowski, he kept tweeting while driving and picked up 100,000 followers in two hours. finally, mercifully, six hours after the race began, we had a winner, matt kenseth just beats dale junior to win the longest-ever daytona 500, what a way to start the nascar season. baseball, first game of spring training friday, mariners place the a's in phoenix. but somehow the red sox are the ones making headlines. remember last year boston

suffered an embarrassing collapse in the final month. >> historic. >> losing 20 games in september. missed the playoffs. >> the worst ever. >> claimed a lax clubhouse attitude after reports came out that josh beckett, lester, lackey would drink beer and eat fried chicken in the club house in games they didn't start. the new manager bobby valentine formally announced a ban on alcohol in the club house. where former manager terry francona spoke out about valentine's analyst. analysts talked about it on espn radio. >> i don't think it's a surprise they put this in effect or the fact that they announced it. it's probably more of a pr move just because the red sox took such a beating at the end of the year. >> i think it's a pr move. i think if a guy wants a beer he can probably get one. it's the old rule, if you're coach in football says no hard liquor on the plane. somebody is going to sneak

liquor on the plane. if you furnish a little bit. it almost keeps it to a minimum. >> i don't follow that. >> i don't follow that. >> new manager -- >> maybe that's why he's out. >> valentine was asked for a response, said of francona quote, remember you're getting paid over there at espn for saying stuff. you're getting paid over there for here for doing stuff. red sox play their first game send against minnesota. you love pete weber? >> of course i love pete weaponer. he's a legend. >> i've got a poster on my wall in my office. >> known for his reactions after he strikes, he goes nuts. even by his own standard, the one he did on sunday in jersey, remarkable. >> strike -- strike and he got it! that is why, are you kidding me!

that's right! who do you think you are? i am! get it right! >> who do you think you are? i am. i believe he was quoted as saying. he won his fifth straight u.s. open. you can understand why he was celebrating, maybe channeling a little bill murray from "king pin." ♪ [ cheers and applause ] >> i love this.

>> oh. >> ever seen woody harrelson, "game change"? >> this morning, the steve schmidt seat. >> get out. >> do you believe it? >> that's sports. and that's sports. >> up next, the editor in chief of "monocle" magazine joins us for the opinion pages. i love that my daughter's part fish.

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>> i would rather put a gun in my mouth. >> what do you -- don't feel like they're all mean. >> joining us is the eder to in chief of "monocle" magazine, tyler brulee, the magazine's fifth anniversary issue is on australia. >> as we look at the cover, tell us about the magazine. >> what do you want to know? >> i know what it is. and all the cool kids know what it is. but for -- >> very hip. >> you want to expand your readership. >> it's a global briefing, we look at world affairs, business, a bit of culture, a bit of design. >> a little bit of travel as well. but it's interesting because usa in five years has now become our biggest market for print edition both on newsstand and also subscriptions as well. >> love that. >> based out of london. new york bureau, we have a man in washington, tokyo and also hong kong. >> there's a hunger for a global

perspective. >> at a time when there's so much election coverage in this country, people still want a bit of international news. >> they want to know what's going on around the world, i love that. >> are you coming to the party? >> i rsvp, it's at the british consul general's residence. >> i'm going to bring my liverpool star. >>dy hear you say you were in london this weekend? >> yes. >> thanks for calling. >> were you there? >> where would he have been? >> wembley, watching liverpool win that match. great match, wasn't it? >> it was brilliant, magic. let's do the must-reads. >> act two, "new york times," frank bruiny and david brooks. it's a college, not a cloister. this might be a note to rick santorum. is it really good policy for santorum to fill young adults with suspicions about higher learning, which rightly exists to challenge in a healthy sense

of what parents and maybe pastors poured into them. if their beliefs survived that, then those beliefs can be generally earned. santorum went not only to college, but to two graduate schools. >> so you right, john heilemann, he actually went to, has more degrees than president obama. >> getting an mba from one, and a law degree from the other. but -- listen to him talk about universities is to get the sense that he doesn't trust others to emerge from such an obstacle course of unsavory influences as uncorrupted as he did. for safety's sake, he'll bless a little ignorance. >> unbelievable, right? and now on to david rose. >> the possum republicans, we were talking about this at the end of the hour. all across the nation there are mainstream republicans lamenting how the party has grown more and more insular, more and more rigid. this year they have an excellent chance to defeat president

obama. yet the wingers have trashed the party's reputation by swinging from one embarrassing and unelectable option to the other. batchman, trump, cain cane. where have all of the parties when all the forces were metastasizing, the wingers go from strength to strength under their influence we've had a primary campaign that isn't really a argument about issuings it's a series of heresy trials in which each of the candidates accuse the others of tribal impurity. >> mark halperin, where is the conservative party right now? you and heilemann are out every day. it's. >> the only thing i wish david brooks had done would be name names. the could be people he would nominate to say the party is off-track. it is, it is become a contest about purity. and not even a purity on issues,

purity on rhetoric and past votes and style. and they have a chance to win, they had a great chance to win the general election. now it's sub sanctionly reduced. >> i've been challenging -- mitt romney going back year and a half when glenn beck was calling the president a racist and a facist and a marxist. nothing to do with ideology, everything to do with the identity politics. i kept saying, when are the leaders speaking out against this insanity. they aren't doing it and they won't do it. >> you would have thought after 2008 when the party lost control of the white house, lost in the senate, lost in the house, you would have thought that the moment of we need to figure out what the new republican party looks like, that was the moment where it would have come. >> they had a massive window in 2010. my point in a way, after 2008, rather than doing that, the party focused for in a very

disciplined and political way on just opposing barack obama. as a political strategy that worked really well for them in 2010. it didn't help the party ultimately figure out what it's about. it deferred the question. we ended up, obama drove the republican party crazy. it got drunk on just opposing everything he does rather than thinking about what do we stand for. >> we all know here, we've been warning the republican party for some time. that wins you, that does not win you presidential elections, you actually have to have -- tyler over in britain this weekend it was fascinating to see that the british government is facing the exact same financial challenges that we are. and you have cameron and osbourne, the chancellor of the exchequer saying we're out of money. >> yes. >> in fact there's a remarkable note, i think the assistant treasury official gave to a member of the incoming cabinet. saying so sorry, there's no money left. have fun. >> absolutely. it's interesting as well because i think a lot of people are

saying you know, what type of battles and i mean that in sort of the biggest sense, do we want to fight? obviously we're looking at what afghanistan, where we have to be engaged and involved. this week will be the 80th anniversary of the bbc world service, one of the biggest soft power tools that the uk has, one would argue it's more effective than an aircraft carrier that's practically mothballed. there's no money for that either. >> how are the conservatives holding up over there? >> i think everyone is looking for a plan. and you know, they came to power on austerity that they were going to put the country in the right direction through cuts. but there's no marching orders for anyone. and that's the huge issue. >> isn't it fascinating, we're at this place where you, you both have the sagging economy and massive debt. and the united states, britain, across all of europe. don't you get the sense that on both sides of the atlantic, everybody is just whistling past graveyards. nobody knows nothing.

they have no idea what's going do get them out of this. >> it's interesting, we did this story, speak of the anglo-saxon world on australia. it's amazing to look at australia, when it comes to mining, resources, what's happening there. you need to be buying real estate there. >> where is this? >> australia. >> are we going to buy? >> tyler brulee. >> i would like to visit there, first. >> we'll have to take the "morning joe" jet there. >> tyler, thank you so much. >> we'll be right back. the party is tonight, six-year anniversary. ♪

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coming up -- >> we've got chuck todd. >> this is huge! >> and eugene robinson coming up as well. >> and also william shatner joins us here on set, keep it on "morning joe." i wouldn't do that. get married?

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i always mentioned growing up in western pennsylvania that if our nominee for president, can win in pennsylvania, which if you look at the front page of "u.s.a. today," we're running ahead of barack obama today. if he can win in ohio and we're doing the same thing there and can come to michigan and win -- you can go to bed at about 11:00 at night, because this election is over. and we will have been, we'll be the next president of the united states. >> i think the reason that i'm going to beat barack obama in michigan in the fall -- is because this going to be a

contest about who can strengthen the economy and we'll look at his record, and it's been a failure and we'll look at my record and the successes we've had in the private sector and in my state, and i'm going to be talking about the economy with credibility he doesn't have. for that reason i'm going to win in michigan and i'm going to win across the country. >> all right. welcome back to "morning joe." two minutes past the top of the hour. a live look at capitol hill on a beautiful tuesday morning in washington. mark halperin and john heilemann. and joining the table, nbc news chief political director chuck todd. and "washington post" editor eugene robinson. >> snob. >> not just snob. >> i hear he went to college.

>> are you educated? my goodness, apparently that's a bad thing. >> i bet he encouraged his kids to go to school, too. >> i don't get it, he blames the recession on gas prices. he thinks the president is a snob for wanting kids to go to college. so we need to go down the list of why rick santorum is spinning out. >> jfk makes him throw up? where did he come from? >> jfk, him saying that makes him want to throw up. can you imagine a democrat -- the right wing blogosphere, can you imagine if a democrat, chuck todd, said ronald reagan makes me want to throw up? there would be such a hue and cry. this is just, this is just not how you appeal to voters that help you win presidential elections in the fall. >> especially because the reagan

democrats, the kennedy catholics? this is the same voting group. it's the same group of older, of older, sometimes democratic voting catholics. >> i think this is what drives him. you see the, he gets animated this is, this is his passion. i think in the same way mitt romney would get passionate about power point presentations, the same way that rick santorum gets fired up talking about religion. >> tonight, michigan, obviously the big prize mitt romney's home state who wins? >> i think, i wouldn't put a lot of money on either one of them. i think it's a coin-flip, i think the democratic vote is a wild card, it's been sitting out there. if it's a two or three-point race among all other voters, the

democratic votes. they've done it before. michigan is just known for its great upsets. george wallace over in '72. ted kennedy defeating carter here. jesse jackson win a primary here. upsetting dukakis, mccain beating bush. it happens more in michigan. >> it will hurt nobody that you just mentioned there. nobody will be hurt more than mitt romney. if romney loses, is it devastating? and is the republican party establishment go into full-scale panic mode trying to find an alternati alternative? >> this thing would trigary bunch of events, mitt romney is having a small money problem. we know this, this becomes then a bigger money problem, number one. number two, i think that the donors will be angry at him, his donors. they'll have to speed them ahead. they'll have to speed them -- somebody has to get demoted or fired. that will cause more anxiety,

more shake-up. the problem for republicans is who. who comes in and does this. and the person i keep hearing the moment, the only person that can do this is chris christie. who is behind romney. >> it's devastating, because if you take a closer look at who might beat him, i think that's what people find really troubling. >> romney loses after the six days santorum has had? >> it's bad enough to lose michigan a week ago. when santorum was performing well as a candidate. now he's performing -- horribly as a candidate. and if he loses -- >> performing horribly as a candidate, and gene robinson, i underline this. as i said last week when we were talking about santorum's problems. he's not just defending left-wingers in manhattan and georgetown, he's offending conservative right-wing women that have never voted for democrats in their life. and i'm dead serious.

and it ain't just my wife and her friends. i'm hearing this from across america, people, women who have never voted for a democrat in their life saying -- what is wrong with rick santorum? and they all, everywhere i go, my friends that i've accumulated over 30, 40 years, every time i talk to them. they go, joe, what's up with our party? what's wrong with our party. >> these are people that would vote for their dog over barack obama and yet, they're having trouble seeing clear to vote for santorum, romney, gingrich -- appalled. >> the dog probably is more moderate on social issues than rick santorum. this is part of the problem. he has this thing about religion in the public square. this thing about women and reproduction and apparently he has a thing about college. which is just, just crazy.

so now you're not only offending women, who are a majority of advocate e voters, you're also offending blue collar voters who want their children to go to college. who don't think it's snobbish to want their children to go to college. >> nobody has talked more about how in the worlds of william rehnquist, the phrase, separation of church and state has been wrenched from its proper context, i've been talking about that for 20 years straight. i've obsessed over it. i talk about it on the house floor, i've written columns about it how the left wing has wrenched separation of church and said from its proper context and gone far, far left. i know that jfk said some things as democratic president that would make the left wing today completely melt down. jfk wasn't some left wing radical on this issue. i guess again, santorum he makes me want to vomit, he makes me

want to throw up. he doesn't get it even in the right context. the way i understood that speech, i think the way most people understood that speech was about religious pluralism in the united states. you have catholics and you have protestants, a lot of people of faith who decide to be you know, that faith is not a qualification for office. and that's what our constitution says. that's very different from saying, no people of faith can participate in government which is the way santorum seems to interpret it. it is out there, the way he looks at this stuff. and it must have hurt him. nonetheless, i was in michigan last week. this is before the latest gasp, i was out there last week and talked to lot of people in politics. they didn't know what was going to happen. he were not sure, including republicans, were not sure that romney was going to pull this

out. and everybody thought it was really close. >> i think what happened when he sort of began to get the spotlight, i don't know about you guys. i respected his opinion on birth control. i respected his religion and his views on that. but you get a sense, though, as you look closer at rick santorum, that he does not respect others' opinions. and that's a problem. and you see it even from his criticism of the president on the apology. all the way down the line to the social issues. eugene, i'm going to read from your piece. you say rick santorum's rhetoric goes to the extremes. for all his supposed authenticity, rick santorum is not what he seems. the sweater vest beats the heart of an increasingly desperate politician, who has gone beyond pandering to shameless demagoguery. the uncharitable take on santorum's incendiary rhetoric

is he believes this stuff. it's time for republican voters to end this electoral adventure and send him back to the life of a washington influence peddler. progressive interests shouldn't hope for santorum. he would be the most extreme candidate since barry goldwater and would suffer the same fate. if mitt romney loses to rick santorum, it really truly is devastating. >> the only thing in there i would single out for disagreement is he's a desperate candidate. a lot of these issues, talking about the liberal university community does, we're talking about individual choice and religious liberty and contraception. there are things that santorum could be saying that would appeal to the base and put mitt romney on the offensive. because he can't follow him or attack him from the left. but he's not done it skillfully.

he's cultural warrior, speaking from his heart and there's a lot of arguments he's not disciplined enough to make every day. talking about this and not talking about the economy is a mixed bag for him. he's got a stronger economic message for many of the voters that romney does. i think he would have a strong chance of winning the election packaged this way. if he wins michigan tonight, super tuesday can be very good for him and it's going to be, illinois, march 20th, before romney has a state if a that he could win if he loses tonight. >> john heilemann, maybe the problem here, he's just an amateur, he's just not that good, he's not that good of a political athlete. because i've mocked and ridiculed liberals on the campaign trail on the separation of church and state. >> and i've had liberals laughing with me. there's a way to frame debates

where you can win the day. he goes, jfk, he makes me want to throw up. it's just -- crude. >> it's a bad mix. the thing we saw in the debate which is his tendency to be bob dole like senatorial. on one side, on the cultural issues to have these tourette's like outbursts of sincerity that are very undisciplined. we're a combination of too much of a washington insider and too undisciplined and so humorless. this goes to mika's thing about not respecting other people's opinion. there's no sense of human tolerance around him. when people disagree with him -- they're wrong. and that kind of, that kind of bullheadedness and bloody-mindedness is a bad thing. the amazing thing is that even with all of those things, he's still neck and neck with mitt romney in michigan.

if he was a little better candidate, he would be ahead by ten points. >> well i just think it underscores romney's weakness that he couldn't jump on the education comment. that he was so afraid, he is so afraid of rilg up any form of, this has been, this is you know, if there is a political obituary for mitt romney before tampa, right? if this thing all comes apart. i think one of the first, long paragraph will be about his cautiousness. and his fear fearing, riling up the conservative base. so he can't even come out, i was talking with brokaw yesterday. he can't even come out and attack rick santorum over michiganders not wanting to send their kids to the university of michigan or michigan state. it's amazing that mitt romney had the guts to hit him on that. >> what's the point he's making about college? i don't get it. >> i understand the threat he's

making. that academia is too liberal. but that, that's the cultural warrior on this. you don't sit there and say it's an indoctrination program. you don't play to the glenn beck paradigm. >> you can talk about how colleges have been extraordinarily closed -- there's a great irony that the most liberal institutions in america, i think we would all agree with this, you look at their professors and you look at who gets tenured, they're incredibly closed-minded. they are 90% in the humanities and in political -- they're liberals. and you can say that. that is an objective fact. but to say it's part of some indoctrination program? that's ridiculous. >> can we -- rutgers? >> my sense of the dynamic is, he says this stuff and then he knows the liberal media goes crazy on it. and he's got a huge chip on his

shoulder about the liberal media, he will not back off. a smarter politician would find a way to get out of it and say, maybe i mischose my words. he keeps going because he doesn't want to show any weakness to the liberal media. >> people sitting on this set, there's only one person that votes in a republican primary, i would guess that's probably safe to say. so he doesn't care, he doesn't care -- i'm just assuming, he doesn't care -- >> there's no party registration in virginia, buddy. >> so he doesn't care what, what we think. and gene robinson right now, you look at what he says about a lot of these social issues, you look at his poll numbers in michigan. he's probably thinking -- i'm being rewarded for saying inflammatory things that offend the mainstream media. and this is the age of glenn be beck. i'm going to keep on keeping on and drive the numbers up.

>> i guess he's got to look at the poll numbers. and he's running against a week candidate, mitt romney. and he's doing better than he really ought to be doing. if he thinks that he'll do this well, with this rhetoric in a general election, i think you and i would agree, he's crazy. it's not going to work. you can't offend three-quarters of the country and expect to be elected president. in a republican primary against a candidate who the party doesn't like. because remember, not mitt romney beats mitt romney in just about every primary. this is kind of a special case. rick santorum. not himny. you're exactly right. we've said it for a year and a half. this is not about santorum any more than it was about bachmann or trump, any more than it was about herman cain or sarah palin or rick perry or newt gingrich.

this is about mitt romney. republicans do not want to nominate mitt romney. >> they've been screaming it from the mountaintops for fully a year now. there's not enthusiasm for him, just not there. >> not mitt romney. >> a bunch of democrats who wonder why, who have looked at all the battleground state polling, saying you know what, if we were them, we'd be looking for another candidate. >> you cannot move him out unless he quits. >> he's not going anywhere. >> no, he's not. >> he will write a check as early as march 1st, so it doesn't show up in the april report, he'll write a check if he has to. >> he's not going to have another chance at it and then he's got -- he's got enough money to keep going. >> the second time around, you would think he would be a little better at it. would you say, chuck? a little bit. >> i want to say quickly just to be fair, i'm talking about glenn

beck, the badge in the hot seat. the fact of the matter beck, i haven't heard him in six months. the clips i do see, though, he goes after rick santorum. because he, it's a great irony. santorum is not a small government conservative. glenn beck will say, why did you vote for this? why do you vote for that? again i'm not suggesting that there's any alliance there. i think beck is pretty much offended by some of his big government votes. >> we've had with the republican party for too long. it's the worst of both world, they're not really ideologically conservative. >> not really electable. >> you would prefer your republican candidate to this is how they win, to be like ronald reagan? conservative ideologically, and

moderate tempermentally. and all of the candidates have this backwards. >> none of them are conservative with a smile. >> eugene robinson, thank you very much. still ahead, a new book examines president obama's struggle to revive the economy and what the author calls a bungled response by the white house. plus, william shatner stops by to promote his one-man show on broadway. up next, "new york times" columnist bill keller joins us on the show. >> he's a rick santorum guy. we'll get him to defend rick santorum. x i'm jennifer hudson, and i believe. i was strong before weight watchers, but i'm stronger with it. i believe because it works. ♪ if you want it, you got it join for free. weight watchers points plus 2012. because it works.

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rick santorum says that the devil is attacking the united states. i believe him. i'm right there. >> yeah, you do. >> did you see there was a response to this people said are you kidding me? rick santorum is talking about satan? did you see the sort of the backlash on that? here, we got it.

>> rick santorum believes that satan is attacking the united states. >> hey, rick, leave me out of this. >> a message from satan. >> oh, my god. 24 past the hour. >> that's great. >> here with us now, "new york times" op-ed columnist bill keller, good to have you on the show. looking ahead to tomorrow, what does the republican field look like. does romney pull this out? and if he doesn't, how devastating do you think it will be? >> you know, it's -- it's a disaster either way for the republican party, because everybody is beating everybody else up so badly that -- the gender gap has gone from like this to this. largely thanks to rick santorum. but i think romney inherits that because he's not going after santorum on issues that women care about. so however it comes out. they're both -- looking worse for this race. >> why wouldn't he go after him?

these are so easy? >> he's scared. >> it's too easy. >> he's scared. he's calculated. everything is calculated. he is not agile. on the campaign trail at all. >> no, he's not, he's not i find the whole thing, the whole campaign has been like one of those little cars that come out in the circus, one clown gets out and another clown gets out, you can't believe any more clowns could get out and they keep coming. and again -- chuck todd, you're not just hearing this from "new york times" writers. >> no, you're hearing this again -- life-long republican friends, who i will say never voted for a democrat in their life. have been disappointed with barack obama from day one. saying who are these clowns -- >> the jub bush quote says it all, he said i thought i was a

conservative then i started watching these debates. is there a more damning thing that any republican has said in the last weeks, than when jeb bush said it. what you guys are talking about is way off the reservation. i mean that was the message that jeb was sending. it is, it is stunning and it goes back, with the weakness of mitt romney. the fear factor in him. of not jumping on this. what bill just mentioned like -- >> the kennedy -- >> romney may exactly the same speech. he can say look, i ran against the kennedy, i'm no kennedy politically. but this ridiculous, he could have stuck up for kennedy and done himself some good with moderates. >> by the way, there are again, because this is an issue i've talked a good bit about. there are jfk quotes on how people of faith should be

involved in politics, that would offend modern liberals, modern liberalism. so for santorum, he doesn't even have it right. attacking john kennedy for giving a speech saying, let's allow catholics and let's allow presbyterians and mormons -- you know i would have found the good john kennedy quote and said, he's on our side on this. i would have gone after teddy kennedy who used mitt romney's mormonism in the '94 race in a way that many people were offended by. but i don't think he's got the work knowledge to do that, bill. >> or the courage, really. that's -- >> there are all these missed opportunities that he's just passing up. i mean the snobbery comment. he should have been all over that. i mean rick santorum has three college degrees himself. more than mitt romney. to follow up on what jeb bush

said. look at this rick santorum quote. attacking the president, for the life of me, again, eye been a warrior on these issues for 20 years, on making sure that separation of church and state is under. >> listen to what the president says, and not the first lady, but secretary of state says. when they talk about the freedom of religion, they don't use that term all the time. they use a different term. freedom of worship. we're here to hall for saint mary. can you go to the hall over there, you can go to the sanctuary and you can talk all you want. you can have your religious faith. but if you come here and try to practice your faith, no, then the government is going to tell you what to do. is that how you interpret the first amendment? freedom of worship is not just

what you do within the sanctuary. it's how you practice your faith outside the sanctuary and at least in america that i grew up in, that used to be around, that was freedom of religion. >> what is he talking about? >> i have no idea. >> remember earlier in the campaign when newt gingrich was worrying everybody about sharia law, the muslims were going to impose sharia law in america? sometimes it sounds like santorum is creeping up on sharia law. >> he's trying to scare the people that are listening to him. here's the reality. on this contraceptive debate, as we know, the president started with an hhs decision, that offended a lot of people in middle america. when when you have the "u.s.a. today" editorial page saying that president obama quote trampled on religious freedoms, i look at that and i go, this never held, fine. he's a president, not going to

be able to trample on first amendment rights. yet rick santorum is going out and telling people that we live in this brave new world where the freedom of religion is going to be challenged because -- i'm laughing, the term freedom of worship. what the hell is he talking about? we got 15% real unemployment. we've got a stagnant economy, real wages have been down since 1973 and he's playen semantic games that have no application to people, working-class americans' day-to-day lives. >> the thing you can say in defense of rick santorum, he actually means it i think what john heilemann referred earlier to tourette's moments of candor, that's exactly right. he's saying what he really feels. if nothing else, that differentiates -- >> there are people who believe that antichrist is going to use the commission chuck todd to

lead us all to revelation. it's crazy. >> we've allowed 20% of our party to control it let's let the 20% have the nomination. the worst possible world now will be mitt romney with the nomination. because if he loses to obama, the conservatives will say, another moderate and the same ideological fight to take the party off the cliff for the next four years. rather than you know what, let the 20% have it let them have the nomination then we can rid the party of that 20%. we'll see if they're right about that. >> mark halperin or chuck, you guys follow these events closely. is there something we're missing? is he being asked about these things? and put in bad position? or is he going ahead on these issues on his own? >> he says it often enough that the press stays on it and the press is obsessed by these things. it's more skillful candidate wouldn't say these things initially and if they occasionally did, they would fix it. george bush circa 1999, if he

had the president's record to deal with and the conservative wing of his party to play off of, to look more centrist, this is a great situation for a strong candidate. >> it is unbelievable, you look, chuck todd, at what republicans have to work with i go back to what peggy noonan said six months ago, the president inherited a bad situation, he made things worse. if you believe like i believe in smaller government, you talk about four years of trillion-dollar deficits. you talk about the 8% promise, where you pass our stimulus package and we'll keep unemployment below 8%. now democrats will say, well, the economy was -- let them have to explain that. >> make them defend it. make them explain it. make them explain a health care reform package that took up 15, 18 months of debate. and really, at the end, didn't do anything to curb costs over the next 20, 30 years.

let them defend a bloated entitlement system. hell, i'm crazy? i would even bring up the president tripling the number of troops in afghanistan and ask, why are the troops in afghanistan? bring them home. why are we spending $2 billion a week rebuilding afghanistan instead of our country? there are so many lines of attacks against this administration. >> it sounds like a platform, joe. >> but are we -- please, all right? actually, no. >> people wanting to go to college being snobs? >> i guess they should have been talking about a why they should have allowed the auto industry to go bankrupt. >> i can't believe their party is going down this road in this way. given the political environment that was within their grasp.

>> chuck, like you said, it's jeb bush, that is the quote of this election year. >> it sort of defines -- i thought i was a conservative. jeb bush -- he was really conservative just ask the editorial pages of the st. petersburg "times." he's now too far to the center? >> there's still people looking to him to be the guy who parachutes in at the convention. you know there's not any remote chance of that happening. >> any chance, chuck? >> i think somebody will try it, i don't think it will be jeb. jeb would have run if, i think there are personal reasons he made a decision not to run. >> if romney loses -- there is a path, somebody will try. i think somebody will at least, it will be at least a week or two story if they don't, somebody will try it to me it's only paul ryan, mitch daniels, christie or jeb that could

galvinize enough donors and conservatives. >> mika, you need to call your friend, chris christie? >> why? >> tell him to jump in. >> oh, no, he's taking his time. >> he gets to run in texas, california and new jersey at this point. california and new jersey -- >> he could do it. chuck todd, thank you very much. coming up, a new report this morning says israel has notified the white house it will go alone, if necessary, in taking out iran's nuclear facilities, those details are next on "morning joe." [ male announcer ] this is lawn ranger -- eden prairie, minnesota.

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welcome back at 39 past the hour. israeli officials say their military could strike iran's nuclear program without warning the united states ahead of time, the "associated press" says the message has been passed to the white house and the pentagon. israel says there's less chance the u.s. would be blamed for failing to stop an attack if american officials don't know it's going to happen. still, the warning underscore as sharp divide between the two allies over the best way to rein

in iran's nuclear ambitions. israeli prime minister, benjamin netanyahu arrives in washington next week with talks with president obama who favors economic sanctions over military intervention. >> i would like to add that that's fascinating. are we going to be hearing about this between now and november? >> yes. >> i think we're going to be hearing a lot about it. >> it could change the equation. >> if they do something or even if they just continue talking about it in this way, it's hard to tell what israel is doing, if it's a bluff. but if it's a bluff, it's a 0 bluff that's got everybody's attention in iran and in the u.s. and in the region. it's got to make the obama administration mighty nervous. >> these are the things that could change the equation. >> quickly, craig shirley emailed me, fascinating bit of information. ronald reagan lost michigan in '76, gerald ford trashed him, thrashed him by 20 points. but reagan also lost in 1980,

lost michigan in 1980 to george h.w. bush, aided in part by mitt romney's father. >> and you know, what craig would be the first to say? mitt romney is no ronald reagan. coming up, china, energy and education reform. author breaks down the biggest threats to america's future. keep it here on "morning joe." ♪ under blue moon i saw you

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44 past the hour, joining us, former senior partner at goldman sachs and chairman of a foundation, peter kieranen. the author of a new book with a provocative title.

becoming china's blank. we must avoid. people can read right now. a manifesto for the radical center. >> so peter, let me challenge your assertion ha we're going to become china's whatever we're going to become. that china is going to rule our destiny. we heard the same thing in 1988, 1999 that america was going to be japan's granary by the middle of the 21st century. do we have a lot to fear from china's rise? >> i was living in japan at the time all of this was going on. and japan obviously didn't fulfill their promise. i think this is different. we are in a co-dependency with china. we need them. there's, our fates are going to be tied forever. >> they need us. >> as a co-dependency. it's an export for finance deal. we buy a lot of their cheap goods and they provide us with a lot of lending. we need to borrow about 42% of our budget every year and so far, china has been very willing

to provide it. >> being co-dependant is not bad. at times it's good. >> actually i do love you, but those things don't last forever. the problem is that co-dependencies change. let's suppose that china turned its export machinery, the export monster to feed a growing middle class, a growing local market. they might not need us quite so much. they might need to lend to us quite so much. >> you're a money guy, right? you know what if i call you up and say, i got a billion dollars lying around the house and i want to short china. i think they're poor. i think they're desperate to keep growth at 7%, 9%, i think it's all a mirage right now. i think the bubble is going to burst in the next five years. what would you tell me to do with my $1 billion? >> i would tell you to begin to invest it all around the world. because everybody else in the world recognizes that china is

going to be the leading economy. >> is it possible that there's going to be a coming bubble? >> if they do it, they'll make it with the worst pollution, the most elderly, they've got a lot of anchors holding them back. gm struggled back to be the number one car producer in the world. and they went from way back to nine million autos, great for the usa. of those nine million, two and a half million were sold in china, it's a co-dependency, it's a dance, it's a tango. the only way to work it is 0 to fully engage. fully understand china the way we understand, the way they understand us. >> i want to look at some of the things that you address in this book. you say u.s. forward momentum is slipping because, and you have a list here that we'll put up. some of the things that you talk b. polarizing media. want to hear about that. let me go through this. unbridled lobbyist.

well-funded think tanks, mix-ups with religion and the constitution. and the two-party system. where do we want to begin. >> well you know, we're frozen like an almond in a piece of toffee. and time after time i hear people say it's the democrats' fault, it's the republicans' fault. we've been divided in the past. we've created a multibillion-dollar architectural divide. and until we understand it, there's no way we can thaw out. it's not simply the politicians on the right and the left are process la advertising and throwing us, we have think tanks with endowments bigger than some colleges and i think we've basically allowed this architecture to build up. and we need to understand it better and resist it. >> joe made reference to the economic bubble, the potential of a bubble in china. you've got to, when you look at what's happened in the arab world, there are flickers of unrest in russia, is it silly to ask whether there's a potential

political bubble in china as well? >> i don't think it's silly at all. you can't airbrush the photo shop of russia out of the china story. i've been going there since the '70s. the dilemma is up until 2008, who can be more arrogant than a wall street guy. we were so arrogant about the mysterious capital markets and all of these issues. then in 2008 we had our own trials and tribulations, we went to china on bended knee. something changed there, something profound. so when you go and talk to the 40-something leaders there on the business side, they think something very unusual. they think they understand the capitalism better than we do. they think their managed, controlled, planned economy is a better way to go after the capitalist opportunity. than our negotiated, sort of semi-frozen approach. there's no chance that china will grow straight. they have a huge bubble building in real estate. they have massive infrastructure issues to deal with the world

bank came to them and said you have to deal with these giant t have to deal with. >> you know, it's fascinating. . they never demagogue the issue. i said, what is the motivation of china? what are the leading and motivating them more than anything else? it's very simple. all you need to understand is this. the economy has to keep growing at 7%, 8%, 9%. they're interested for one reason only. that's keeping up with old communist system. they know if it goes down, these threats that bill is talking about, he says that's the entire focus of motivation. everything can be explained in that one area.

>> you any bt it. in our youth. we have the greatest minds of our generation. we have george f. kennedy in washington. who is doing that there are far greater opportunities and a far greater threat. look at the iran situation. they are basically buying 20% of iran's oil. china is going to be a major player. >> look at syria. we can't get a resolution through. you look at the past weekend where the syrians had just a sham election. you have the chinese saying it's a legitimate step forward. isn't that one of the greatest

challenges? even you look at allies that we've had for 25, 30 years. look at egypt. egypt doesn't need the $3 billion anymore. china will write them a check tomorrow. >> that's a question that will be asked more and more. what's up with chooi sna why can't they let us put the sanctions through? we have to move from being the super power to a super power. and that requires a very different way of thinking about how the u.s. interacts with china and other great nations of the world. >> where is america's leverage with china? >> the best way is we are fully engaged in the codependency. >> i have to say, it's outside a lot of people's comfort zones.

we're frozen in the ice. >> we need to save the title. this is an important book. >> and nine more catastrophes. >> again, real concerns. you look at a lot of things in the book. >> yes. you have to prioritize. those are the ones to fight for. >> thank you so much for coming on this morning. bill, thank you as well. very good to have you back on. still ahead from the stages of broadway to the final frontier. william shatner stops by to talk about his legendary career. you're watching "morning joe." brewed by starbucks. have to s

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mitt romney is in michigan. now that's his home state. and he's trying to win that primary. it's tough because he was in favor of letting the auto companies go brupt. so it's pretty hard to laugh that off when you're in michigan. here we have footage of mitt romney addressing the workers at the automobile factory in detroit.

take a look. what we have to do is recognize that bankruptcy was a reorganization process for banks and other institutions that allow them to get rid of excess costs, to reestablish a sound foundation and build it stronger. >> normally they get that. >> tomorrow on "morning joe", we'll break down all the results from the key michigan and arizona primaries. up next, a poll put out in michigan. >> all right. >> a game changer for us. stay with us.

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president obama once said he wants everybody in america to go to college. what a snob. what a snob! look who is educating the children. i guess someone's too good for not knowing things. >> there's a lot of people that have no desire, nos a place to go to college. there's additional training.

there's skills and apprenticeship. >> which is hardly barack's decision. >> it can be a community college or a four-year school. vocational training or an apprenticeship. [ imitating crying ] [ laughter ] >> good tuesday morning to you. welcome back to "morning joe." it's 8:00 tochb east coast. >> look at that. >> yeah. >> no, noah's ark. this is huge. >> back with us on what we call the set. more like a big boat.

or a spaceship. mark -- >> hi, guys. >> hay, over there. i do understand where he's far away. >> wast going on? you know, you are the guy that republicans always go to. we got to go to geist. he's the guy that flew to europe in '51 to talk to eisenhower. you've done this for 60 years. >> going on 60. >> what's up with all these crazy things with rick santorum? i guy a like. maybe i even voted for. i'm not going to say. maybe i did. maybe i didn't. what's up with this guy. why does he go down one stupid rabbit trail after another snun. >> the thing about him is, i think he really believes these

things. i'm not saying he should. but unlike his opponent. i would say he's pandering to no one. # the craziest thing is he may win began. >> i believe he's got more degrees than barack obama. an undergraduate, an mba and a jb. give me a break. >> he says a lot of stupid things. he said a lot of stupid things you don't want to say on the campaign trail. if you come through the wings of the republican party alikes winning the general election. >> liking winning. >> the liking winning winning. and yeah, things are going his way in michigan. he may pull this out. and if he does, chaos.

>> if you said a month ago mitt romney was going to come within five months of romney in michigan, people would say, wow, that's going to be a really blow for romney. in these expectations, you no longer win by coming close. super tuesday sets up pretty well for him right now. even with a narrow loss tonight. the general filter guys in the media don't like them. a lot of people on the right don't like them. i'm no sure they're so damaging in the environment. we're talking about winning general elections. i don't think saying all these things that he's saying every three days is going to hurt him in the primary. >> i think it could hurt him in

the primary in the sense, let's say he hadn't done these things. he just went on being a coal miner. and he won michigan primaries. a lot of people in the establishment, or some, would have moved to him. these turn off bund lers and members of congress. it makes it seem like how could you win a general election denouncing college? >> if mitt romney loses michigan tonight -- >> yeah. >> -- we're not overstating the fact here. this entire race floats up. everything is new. and there's going to be some people thinking about jumping into this race. >> mitt romney has never -- you know, we talk about the grass roots conservatives who don't like mitt romney. and him being a candidate via establishment. the republican establishment has never loved mitt romney. they've been with him because

they thought he was the most electable. they don't love him. and over the court of the last month as they've seen him commit these unforced errors and hurt himself as a general election candidate. they are now ready to be done with him. if one more big stumble, and this would be the biggest stumble. >> you would not think of a bigger loss than in michigan. >> if he loses to rick santorum, a guy with the weaknesses that we were talking about, i think the one base of support that he has, which is the establishment support that he's been leaning on, he's just going to crumble. the lobbyist fund-raisers, elected officials, everyone in the establishment looking at him saying we think you may be morally wounded already. if you lose in the home state, it becomes ludicrous for us to stay with you. >> if that happens tonight, can

you maim one senior republican that would consider jumping in the race, or do we have a situation where he says, you have no other choice. you can't stand on the sidelines for the sake of the party and for the sake of this country, you have to get off the bempnch and get into this race. >> i think if he loses he's still the front-runner for the nomination. no one is going to get in as long as he is in. >> romney? >> no one will get in. i don't think a major candidate will enter the race. he still has delegates. michigan would be a huge blow. if he's blown out on super tuesday, which he could be. then i think the party has to get him out of the race. while he could win it, it would

be too ugly. >> it's hard to comprehend how week this field is. >> they're not going to come around to santorum. who could get into the race sf. >> there's the fabulous four. chris christie, mish daniel, jeb bush and -- ryan. they are getting calls on a daily basis asking them to get in if romney loses michigan, probably. if romney wins narrowly tonight, you're looking at ten states or five or six with e van janua evangelical electorates. those are states that will be hard for romney to win. the main states that he can win, virginia, where no one else is on the ballot, apart from ron paul.

and massachusetts, which means, you know what. so super tuesday is a very ugly situation for him. but those are the four. they get phone calls every day. all four of it look at it like a suicide mission. all say i'm going to get in essentially at the convention and have 67 days to run against barack obama and his billion dollars. raising money, building the organization. are you crazy? all four guys think they could be president one day. they look at that. i think i've got a career to think about. career, country. country, career. i'm telling you there's a hunger out there. a hunger for news. >> thank you so much. i love hearing all you men talk. it's fascinating. brilliant. a combined 59 delegates are up for grabs as voters in michigan and arizona head to the polls

for the republican presidential nomination. let look at arizona. the latest arizona polls show romney with a sizable lead. but michigan appears to be much tighter right there. rick santorum comes in a distant second with 29% support. newt gingrich and ron pall are polling in single digits. but the poll suggests more people who haven't yet cast their ballots are behind santorum. 33% are supporting mitt romney. and looking at michigan, voters as a hole, rick santorum and mitt romney are in the statistic call tile there. ron paul and newt gingrich follow. over 20 points behind the top two candidates. in a sip of how close this race is, rick santorum is calling democrats to come out and vote for him in the michigan primary contest. >> if i'm a democrat i'm

thinking -- i need to. >> he's craze if he thinks democrats would vote for him. the campaign hopes this message convinces members of the other party to unite against mitt romney. >> romney supported the bailouts for his wall street billionaire buddies but opposed the auto bailouts. that was a slap in the face to every michigan worker. we're not going to bet romney get away with it. on tuesday join democrats who will send a lout message to mitt romney by voting for rick santorum for president. this is supported by hard working democratic men and women. >> instruction did something today which i think is deceptive and a dirty trick. which is he put an ark d tout there sounding like a labor ad, telling them to vote against me and to vote for rick santorum at the very end is a little trailer that he paid for this. it's confusing people.

it's a new low in the campaign. >> talking about what we're doing to create jobs here in michigan. it's interesting he criticized me for attracting democrats. one thing is he came and tracked democrats. guess what, we'll wait and see. you say america would be best served by the presidents of two credible governing parties, instead of the situation that's currently obtained. a santorum nomination would be seen by many liberals as a scary and retrograde proposition. it would make for a wild ride with enough sweater vests to drive any man bonkers. it will compel them to forge ahead into the 21st century.

all people of common sense and good will may consider in the days ahead adopting a slogan that may strike them as odd, perverse or demented, go, rick, go. >> i don't get that. >> well, let's -- >> talk about it. what are you saying? ha is he saying here? >> in the past when republicans have had these big splits, and the democratic party, too. when you have big splits between two wings of the party and then the ultimate winner of the nomination has gone onto a defeated general election, the next cycle the party goes the opposite way. after goldwater one, you had a swing back to a more moderate nixon. after ford lost, you had a swing to the more conservative ronald reagan. more proposition, i'm speculating on what would happen if either won the nomination and lost to obama. if romney wins the nomination and loses to obama, it

strengthens the hand of cultural warriors, pop list tea partiers. if santorum loses the race to obama, it strengthens the hands of conservatives. it strengthens the hands of chris christie and jeb bush who can come back and bring the party back to the winnable, not the center. >> and we're not talking ideology. jeb bush is not a centrist. jeb bush is a conservative. chris jentry is a conservative. >> but they're left of rick santorum. >> jeb bush would never vote for $7 million drug benefit plan without paying for it. i know jeb bush. i didn't know that was the right/left position. i thought it was more of a 20th century position versus a 19th

century stay on the farm and help me position. >> coming next, the early days of the presidency. a new book looks at the players involved in crafting the $800 billion stimulus plan and ask whether the team fumbled the economic recovery. also william shatner joins us to talk about his broadway show, his legacy and what it's like being killed off in a priceline commercial. oh, that would be good. he could get swept up in faunl cloud and taken away. >> that's pretty good. not bad. mika had references. a funnel cloud. we are watching two major winter storms. one coming into the west coast. another one is going to move across the country. we haven't had a winter pattern like this in a while.

the new storm is forming here north of texas. it's going to head up to the area of minnesota today. that will be a blizzard lei from the dakotas to minnesota. and the other just on the screen in the west coast. forecast today, no problems in new england. tomorrow is when the winter weather will arrive for you. new england, you look like you could get hit by the storm. this is showing us storm totals that are impressive for northern new england. i any the problem is it will be more two to four inches. regardless, i think you'll do shoveling come thursday morning in the area. as far as the northern plains go, you're moving in later today. the west coast storm moves in later tonight. minneapolis, only two to four inches. by the way, of course we have the primaries today in michigan and also arizona. both forecasts look just fine in the daytime hours. [ male announcer ] this is lawn ranger -- eden prairie, minnesota.

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i knew it'd be tough on our retirement savings, especially in this economy. but with three kids, being home more really helped. man: so we went to fidelity. we talked about where we were and what we could do. we changed our plan and did something about our economy. now we know where to go for help if things change again. call or come in today to take control of your personal economy. get free one-on-one help from america's retirement leader.

manufacturers are hiring for the first time since the 1990s. the auto industry is back. our recovery is gaining speed and the the economy getting stronger. we have to do everything we can to make sure we sustain this progres progress. >> that was president obama yesterday talking about the gains in the u.s. he was pulled back from recent highs. also contracts for home sales shot up 2% in january. the s&p 500 opens this morning at itsz highest level since 2000. >> turn the music back up.

that might be the first time bad company has been played on "morning joe." >> it's not too often i hear a band i've never heard on a play list. it's like virgin territory. >> i didn't know. wurp born in like 1979. >> i was 23 years old. all right. can we move on now? senior editor for the new republic. author of the new book, "the escape artist." how obama's team fumbled the recovery. minor note, the president sounded like he doesn't feel like he fumbled the recovery. how do you think he did? >> well, let me just say there. there's no question that things have looked up recently. and if you've been covering economics and the economic policy of this administration since the beginning like i have,

you can't but be encouraged by the recent news. i think it could have happened a year or two earlier. i think there are really three. the first initially was too small. a couple hundred dollars too small. the second was a period between the end of the summer of 2009 through the spring of 2010. really deadlock ed within the administration. but on the one hand they wanted a lot more stimulus. we're in this bitter internal stalemate, who want to focus on deficit reduction. the third thing was going down a long dead end in 2011. they tried to get a bargain with republicans on the deficit. and it just didn't happen.

people from the right say he's a socialist. people from the left say he's timid. you said he should have been more aggressive. could there be an argument that the president set up his administration pretty darn well so you would have these competing sides that can balance each other well? >> well, i think there might be a decent argument for that, but the result for a long time with paralysis. even the president was very frustrated by this. i report in the book about this period really in the fall of 2009 where the two camps would go around and around in circles. and the president just got completely frustrated by this. the president starts poking holes in it.

orszag says, other, you're right. we haven't done enough. larry summers says we haven't done enough for stimulus. the president walked out of the meeting. >> do you have any sense? do you draw a conclusion in the bo bo book? >> i think the president is natural. i report on the one scene in the book. nst in november of 2009. orszag has an idea for basically ending the bush tax cuts. not just for the very wealthy, but for people making under $250,000, which would be a major campaign promise reversal for the president. the president is very intrigued by this idea. it would make them alive. >> what a dramatic impact that would have. >> the heroine of the book is christina romer.

>> in a lot of ways she is. she was one of the only members of the team. the only senior member of the team who hadn't been at the highest level of the administration beforehand. he wasn't training to gain things fantastically. he just kind of put it out there and said this is what it's going to take to fix this thing. that's for the economic truth here. too many of the other advisers were too obsessed with what's going to fly on the hill. what's david axelrod going to think? what's rahm emanuel going to think? >> you can see that there is a turn in the economy right now. a positive one in terms of jobs and housing and other leading indicator

indicators. >> there's no problem. the thing i would caution is we had a moment in early 2010 where things looked like they were going well. we've been down this road before. the administration is actually playing it very well. they're fot getting too excited. you hear a lot of journalists. a lot of commentators saying the white house must be popping the champagne bottles. i think they've been very restrained. >> the white house has been criticized for spending too much time and energy on health care right out of the box. they had high approval rating, so much capital and spent 14 or 16 months on that instead of focusing squarely on jobs. can you talk about the decision that went into that, saying we oo need to live up to the campaign promise on health care first and foremost? >> i read about this quite a bit

in the book. you know, i think it's pretty clear that almost all of baumz's politicaled a virzs. many economiced a virzers wanted him to set aside his health care for the moment and just focus on the economy. it was still more than he had been campaigning on since early 2007. he wasn't about to do this. and so they kind of held their nose and decided, okay, well, if the president wants to do it, we're going to do it. rahm emanuel devised a plan. the plan was essentially try to get this done by july of 2009. by september of 2009 when congress m cos back, everybody comes back to washington, we're going to turn back the economy. maybe get more stimulus. unfortunately they got bob down in a health care quagmire. they sucked up not just only the rest. >> so peter or zag supported this? >> he was the only one among the seniored a virzs.

he did it not out of ha motion that every american should have health care but he thought it was keep to getting them under control. >> he's going to be on the show next week. >> the book is really great. congratulations for doing it. i know from the time i spent in the treasury department. you spent a lot of time over there. talk about tim geithner. it became very close. talk about the personal relationship and then gatt r this evidence. how much is tim geithner responsible for having sold out to the banks in the view of a lot of people on the left. >> the personal relationship is very interesting. if you talk the white house folks, they'll tell you in the

darkest days for tim dpooiter in, when he was getting hammered on his taxes. he was seen as in over his head. he had a terrible speech on february 10th of 2009. the markets with plummeting. one of the biggest reasons is this, thyme geithner goes in a room with a president. tim geithner doesn't say anything unless the president asks for his opinion. thin he gives a very thought through response. he's a classic, no drama kind of guy. very effective. doesn't need a lot of hand holding. that from the very beginning. geithner and obama had this sensibility in common. on financial reform yonk tim

geithner is corrupt. i think he's done heroic things for country. particularly in the fall of 2008 when the whole system came apart. i had a very interesting conversation with him. i said wouldn't it be great to strengthen the economy's dependence on wall street? he said, no. i think wall street is a key part of keeping us competitive in the global economy. he comes at it differently. >> the book is "the escape art kw artist." still ahead, william shatner joins us onset. plus, who could have predicted this? partnership, kid rock opens up a rally for mitt romney. i'm still trying to figure out how that happened. i look at her, and i just want to give her everything.

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hey, welcome back. last minute. mitt romney, the final campaign rally in royal oak michigan, before the voting. after his speech he welcomed a

special guest. yeah. also a detroit native, a michigan guy. >> bad company? >> romney introduced his guests. >> first of all, he said, mitt, if you're elected president, will you help me help the state of michigan? i said i would. he said, if you're collected president, would you help me help the city of detroit? and i said i would. and then i turned to him, and i said, by the way, give tennessee fact i'm willing to do those things, could you come here and perform a concert for my friends, and he said, he would. so i'm happy to introduce a son of detroit, a friend, a guy who makes great music who introduced me by dvd everywhere i go. kid rock! ♪ >> wow. >> how about that? kid rock closing for mitt romney

last night. you may say that's a little odd. but kid rock is a republican. supported george w. bush. did support president obama in 2008. played one song and one song only, born free, and then he left. it was part of the deal. >> you notice how he holds the microphone? >> it's a low pinch. >> continue your story. >> he said you going to take care of michigan? >> yes. >> you going to take care of detroit? >> yes. okay, i'll play one song and go. >> who did the motor city madman support? ron paul probably. newt or ron paul. >> natural police. >> you really need the eminem

vote. >> hey, do you have any video? >> i'm so glad you asked. >> haven't seen that in a while. so this is a waiter -- oh, serving a table. >> oh, i hate it when that happened. a guy walks up, he says he was nudged in the back. >> right behind him. the woman behind him a little shove in the small of his back. >> she's miles behind him. >> that's just bad waiterring. >> yeah, that's just bad waiterring. >> that's horrible. >> i'm glad you brought that up. roll the tape. >> i love that guy! >> she's constantly getting it

from behind. >> she's getting that thing. >> i love to keep going. we have shatner. >> she actually reacted, i think, worse to bush. >> much worse. he just got it. lifts the air. she's fine. >> that was done on purpose. >> you think he did? >> can we do the countdown clock to shatner? the employee of the month isss...

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>> now time. out quick. you can choose from thousands of sales every day. >> it's what i would have wanted. >> that was the final ad as william shatner has the price squn line negotiator. his 14-year stint recently ended. you do everything. >> it's horrible. >> i don't know. >> what's up with that?

>> they've got other things. they've got prices that you can get that are better. >> what are we talking about? >> are they still pay sng. >> they don't pay me to say priceline.com. >> they should. >> do you get stock in it? >> no. >> then we're never going to say it again. ka boon, it's over. calm. what's he doing here? william shatner here to talk about his one man show. >> number one. citizen cane number two. that was a great move. you should come to the show. you'll love it. i've obsessed over it for a

year. trying to figure out how to do it. i toured australia and canada with it. i was dreading -- i was terri terrified, if you want to know, about the opening. all of my anxiety fell away. and here we are. >> how many trepidation was there internally from doing the live, on stage thing? >> it's not the trepidation of appearing in public. a do a lot of entertaining in front of people and talking like this. but how will it be received? is the material good enough? will the sophisticated audience of new york take what i had in mind and go with it? absorb and understand it.

that's the trepidation. how will they react? >> did you sense the feedback during the show? >> yes. at the end of every performance in australia, canada, and now here they rise in unison with a roar. and i stand and applaud. it's overwhelming. and i'm brought to tears, which i have to fight because the emotions are so overwhelming. >> so you've had such success in your life. and this is not just your words that you put on paper, but also it's your life story. i don't know of anymore of a risk that someone would take. why would you do it? >> it's the highest hurdle to do a one man show about yourself on broad way.

exactly. and why? part of the fi of the show i tried to project is accept the challenge of what's going to happen. and the challenges, the saying yes to the opportunity of life is part of what i project in the show. that's why i do it. >> a great actor at one point, he said with all the gret roles that he did, if he could be remembered for doing one role at the end of his life. the role he did with you on star trek would be fine with him. make him happy. that was a breakthrough moment for you. wasn't it? i'm glad you say that. i have it as an epiphany for me.

>> why for you? >> because i had held up my hands in defense. and yet star trek, and i go into this, is a cultural phenomenon. not only was it a cultural phenomenon, but it also in a small way aided in the space program. because when our ratings went up, congress voted more money for the space program. >> did they? >> is there a time where you wish you had taken your father's offer of going back and working in the clothing store? >> i examined a few sentences. the mystery of death. and one of them, because in most cases your father and maur -- i exam their death. and what he taught me when they

died. even as a small businessman in montreal. what he taught. and i say in the show, no, i don't regret. i just regret that he died before i could say, see, dad, now i never became a hanger-on. >> no doubt about it. this well, thank you so much for being with us. >> thank you for coming. >> i promise you that you will have a grand time. please come and see the show. >> okay. >> and it's at the reunion theater in new york. >> in 15 cities across the united states in the next month. >> fantastic. william shatner, thank you very much. >> nice to have you. >> very exciting. [ woman ] dear cat, gentle cat,

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i drive a mustang and a chevy pickup truck. ann drives a couple of cadillacs. >> all right. that sounds bad. to be fair, to be fair. she drives them at the same time. i know how romney can fix this

elitist thing he's got going. the florida and the daytona 500. you love nascar? >> this combines a couple thing i like best, cars and sports. >> let me stop you right there. we call things sports. football, baseball, basketball sports. that's a slight sli different think. something that requires a boat of a cadillac. or all three of those things. my job is to find the next big sound. they sound awesome tonight. and when i do find it, i share it with the world. you landed the u.s. tour ? done. this is fantastic ! music is my life and i want to make the most of it without missing a beat.

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welcome back, kids. >> i think the viewers absolutely hate us. >> we have to watch america morning. nobody can tell. >> mitt romney holds it like an ice cream cone. i don't get it. who have you learned today? >> i learned you have until march 4th to see