website comes up and today it looks like this. i stand with cory. with cory booker. i don't think i need a spoiler alert here if i let you know this the republican party in reality is very unlikely to actually stand with cory booker. mr. booker is the democratic progressive fire brand mayor of newark, new jersey who supports president obama's re-election. the republican party is making a big show of saying they are standing with him because they say cory booker is a victim who needs people to stand up for him because he can't stand up for himself. because it's the republican party, the person that is victimizing cory booker is mathra, i mean godzilla. i mean president obama. it does do you know what obama does with people who stand up for job creators, he silences

them. they had pressured booker into taking back support of the free market. this is how far president obama has sunk running an all out assault on job creators and in his own democratic party anyone who dares to defend them must be silenced. if you agree sign our petition. i stand with cory booker. if you sign it you will give your e-mail address to the republican party which will make infinite use of your e-mail address from here to spamternity. he promptly followed up the

endorsement by saying there are he promptly followed up the endorsement by saying there are a lot of other people out there that some of us wish they had run for president, but they didn't. when tom davis endorsed mr. romney this way. >> he may not be mr. personality. this is the guy who gives the fire side chat and the fire goes out. >> off message like when jon huntsman endorsed mr. romney with this love song to the republican nominee. >> gone are the days when the

republican party used to put forward big, bold visionary stuff. we're going to have problems politically until we get some sort of third party movement or some alternative voice out there that can put forward new ideas. >> oh, and by the way vote for mitt romney. off message like when nevada congressman joe heck endorsed mitt romney by saying, quote, mitt romney and i don't agree on every issue and housing is one of them. off message like when michigan congressman fred upton said his candidate, mitt romney was wrong on the auto bailout. off message like when chris christie joined the democrats in demanding that his candidate, mitt romney release more of his tax returns. it should be note thad the platonic form of off message surrogate this year came in the form of chris christie as well. do you remember this one? >> in terms of me, i'll be much more ready for years from now than i am now.

>>stomping for the guy who is running right now, you're talking about how you will be ready to run in four years because your guy is going to lose this year and the republicans will have another shot or are you thinking he will win and you'll run against him after his first term? that's off message. off message happens. off message happens a lot. it's happened a whole heck of a lot with people acting as mitt romney's surrogates this year which democrats have attended to reacting to by softly chuckling about it but when off message happens on the democratic side, even when mayor cory booker clarifies his remarks and says he does not think that mitt romney's tenure at bain should be off limits and even when president obama expresses the say idea theying is a private equity is not bad, it's just not for running for president.

there's no mitigating factor that can distract from the feeding frenzy. democrats join right in with the attack. liberals join right in. the beltway media joins in with the attack in way they cannot control. the republicans not only attack but they have this democrat into a helpless victim as someone they want to rescue since he's not allowed to speak for himself. let's let him speak for himself. joining us now for his first interview since his meet the press interview is cory booker. >> thank you fr having me on. i appreciate this. i told you i was doing no interviews. it went until the gop went across that line that i said forget it. i've had all i can stand, and i can't stand no more. >> what is the line that they crossed that made you feel that way.

what is it about the way they have reacted to this that made you change your mind? >> anybody who watched the entire meet the press saw not only was i defending obama's position on numerous issues, but i talked about super pac money and the negative campaigning and my outrage and frustration was about the cynical, negative campaigning. the manipulating of the truth. here they are plucking sound bites out of that interview to manipulate them in a cynical manner and use them for their own purposes. that slogan had me and my entire staff really fit to be tied. in the beginning i think i used if metaphor my staff is going to have hold me back. to say i stand with cory booker i have not seen a republican be willing to stand with me in places like newark, new jersey, patterson, places they they seem want to imagine doesn't exist. what i really feel strongly is

anybody in the gop who wants to stand with me, please stand with me. stand with me for marriage equality as barack obama stands up for. stand with me for not turning the back, the clock on women in terms of medical issues and other things like barack obama is standing against. stand with me on making health care more accessible to all. stand with me for making college more affordable as president obama is doing. if anybody listens to the entire meet the press and they want to stand with me, they'll see i stand firmly with the president. what really has me frustrated is not only does the gop tend to overlook urban areas like the one i've been standing for and working in for my entire career but the one time they seem to pay attention to it, they want to exploit a mayor who has been standing for something different. i've been standing with barack obama before most people were standing with barack obama as one of his earliest supporters if not his first major political endorsement.

this is a president that rejects so many of the things, the tired rhetoric, the distractions, the kind of things that get america not focused on the problems that we need to solve. today to the gop, i say i welcome you to stand with me. stand with me for moving america forward. don't stand with me for the kind of things that mitt romney is further advocating, they're going to close off our city, discriminate against gays and women and do the things that are sending america in the wrong direction. >> the republican party's hook pr for saying they stand with you is you've been a victim. you're not being allowed to say what you really say and you only issued that clarifying response after meet the press because of pressure from the obama campaign. what is your response to that and are you being pressured by anybody to say something that you don't believe or to take back something that you do believe? >> for anybody that knows me and really knows my career, i've

been an independent democrat for a long time and comfortable to say i disagree with the president before marriage equality and now he stands for that issue. the reality is that the barack obama team in the white house and their political team have been good to me for me years. i've worked with them early in the primaries in the last election. they have never pressured me to do anything. they have done nothing but encourage me. in this case i did talk with campaign officials, but they didn't force me to do anything. they had a good conversations with me. after having conversations with them especially after hearing the president's remarks on this issue where he was not condemning all of private equity. he was not condemning any particular firms. he was focusing in on a guy who is bragging about his job creation record. to me, i think that's fair game. all of those things made me say i need to clarify.

obviously, i did things in the meet the press interview that did not land the points and i think i con flated the attacks the republicans were making with jeremiah wright with the attacks on the left. those can't be equated. the attacks where you poll many people in the gop who believes he's a secret muslim, it's gotten so ridiculous. you can't equate the negtivity on negativity. i'm grateful to the president that came out today and said kind words to me. some cynical folks maybe have wanted the president to go on attack. i think his team heard me defend the president on health care and job creation. heard me defend him on doing tax reform that helped people in my community in newark, new jersey. it's a partnership i'm going to continue to have no matter what role they want me to play. i play it proactively, not reactively to them. >> when you say you heard the president's remarks today

talking about the substantive maert matter, the substantive matter that started all of this, when you heard him talking about private equity and you want it to be clear that talking about mitt romney's record as a job creator is on the table, what exactly are you saying ought to be part of the political discussion and what ought to be off the table? where is the line for you and what do you think is appropriate? >> this is my independence. i'm not going to shy away from those people that says i'm tired of presidential campaigns, the primary we just watched with republicans talking about all kinds of issues that don't make sense for my community who is struggling with foreclosures and things that romney's against helping or not in favor of giving tax breaks to middle class families in my community. i'm not going to remain silent when people try to bring up issues and negativity that distract from the core issues.

i'm not going to come back from that point. when it comes to what i think is appropriate questions, when mitt romney, himself, says i was a job creator, not a successful guy in private equity. i didn't return great investment for my people and my firm, but when he says i was a job creator, i think that's a characterization of his record that deserves inquiry. i think the way the president is talking about that is something i will defend. in fact, something i will echo. let's just be clear, in this election, and this is why i wish if romney wanted to pull my remarks from meet the press where i went after super pacs and the floods of tens if not hundreds of millions of dollars that will flow into this campaign. the majority will be negative, cynical attacks in distracting this country from dealing with the issues. i'm going to reject that every day.

i'm happy and proud to have been a friend of the president before he started talking about running for president. i'm hoping that both sides, my side of the aisle and their side that's bringing up to stuff to me that's the dirtiest aspect of politics. i'm a mayor of a city. i have to deal with urgencies every singling day. people looking for jobs and access to education, people looking for hope and right now from the cynical right and even this congress on the right, i see very little coming out that's going to help people in urban issues. if this is why they say i stand with booker, come stand with me in newark.

talk about issues that effect people. that's what i want to continue to talk about in this campaign. i'm upset. this is why i'm on your show. if there's any honor in what they were saying, mitt romney would say citizens united decision will hurt our democracy. the negativity on our side has got to stop. if he wanted to stand with me, he'd say i stand can cory booker. let's talk about the issues. i'll meet with president obama to talk about it. for him to use that slogan in a way that manipulates my record and my entire professional career working in the street offense my community with good people trying to make newark better better, i'm sorry. it's something i'm not going to sit still for. >> as a practical matter, it's sort of weird because the idea of collateral damage is it's unintentional. i think you are intentional collateral damage.

the attack is directed at the president by using you as a weapon. you are supposed to be silenced in this debate. you were effectively supposed to be rendered inoperable as a campaign surrogate. has that aspect worked? do you feel like you have to sit out national campaigning for now or for the long run because of this incident? are you just going to keep doing what you've been doing? >> i'm going to serve the president and what his team thinks is the best use for me. two is every opportunity i have in my city as i've done consistently for a long time as well as for the president and his campaign. i'm going to continue every single day to pour my heart and soul into making sure that he gets re-elected because i've seen what happens under

republican president. i've seen what happened under george bush within my city. i've seen the challenges of money pouring into a war we shouldn't have been in. i've seen this in middle class job creation. that's something i can't sit still for. it hurts me. i feel disappointed. i'm going to work harder. if anything they have turned me on even to work harder the next six months from fund raising to whatever need be to ensure our president gets re-elected. i'm not going to be quiet on my disappointment with the nature of campaigns. we need to start looking at the things to do to get all this money out of politics and focus

on what we can do to ensure our democracy. as far as where my heart is right now, i'm very upset that i'm being used by the gop this way. i thought i was going to be quiet but you're going to hear a lot from me to the extent that president obama and his campaign want to hear from me. >> mayor cory booker of the great city of newark, new jersey. i know it was a hard decision to talk publicly today as you just described. i appreciate you're willing to talk with me here. good luck. >> thank you. all right. we got a big show tonight. stay with us. first of all, i think cory booker is an outstanding mayor. he's doing great work in newark you know who you are. you can part a crowd, without saying a word. you have yet to master the quiet sneeze. you stash tissues like a squirrel stashes nuts. well, muddlers, muddle no more. try zyrtec®. it gives you powerful allergy relief. and zyrtec® is different than claritin®

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first of all, i think cory booker is an outstanding mayor. he's doing great work in newark and helping to turn the city around. i think it's important to recognize that this issue is not a quote distraction. this is part of the debate that we're going to be having in this election campaign about how do we create an economy where everybody from top to bottom, folks on wall street and folks on main street have a shot at success, and if they're working hard and acting responsibly, that they're able to live out the american dream. now, i think my view of the private equity is that it is, it is set up to maximize profits. that's a healthy part of the free market. that's part of the role of a lot of business people. that's not unique to private

equity. as i think my representatives have said repeatedly, and i will say today, i think there are folk who is do good work in that area, and there are times where they identify the capacity for the economy to create new jobs or new industries. understand that their priority is to maximize profits. that's not always going to be good for communities or businesses or workers. the reason this is relevant to the campaign is because my opponent, governor romney, his main calling card for why he thinks he should be president is his business experience. he's not going out there touting his experience in massachusetts. that's not always going to be good for communities or businesses or workers. the reason this is relevant to the campaign is because my opponent, governor romney, his

main calling card for why he thinks he should be president is his business experience. he's not going out there touting his experience in massachusetts. he's saying i'm a business guy, and i know how to fix it, and this is his business. when you're president, as opposed to the head of a private equity firm, then your job is not simply to maximize profits. your job is to figure out how everybody in the country has a fair shot. and, so, if your main argument for how to grow the economy is, i knew how to make a lot of money for investors, then you're missing what this job is about. it doesn't, it doesn't mean you weren't good at private equity. that's not what my job is as president. my job is to take into account everybody, not just some.

mr. romney is responsible for the proposal's he's putting forward for how he says he's going to fix the economy and if the main basis for him suggesting he can do a better job is his track record as the head of a private equity firm, then both the upsides and the downsides are worth examining. >> that was president obama speaking in chicago today after he was asked a question at the nato summit there about domestic politics, about his campaign focusing on mitt romney's tenure as a businessman working in private equity. he was asked about that because of criticism of that focus from his campaign which republicans have made so much hay about. a criticism of that focus of cory booker who we just spoke to. joining us is nbc news chief foreign affairs and host of andrea mitchell reports.

thanks for being with us. >> nobody else could have gotten cory booker to come in. that was an incredible interview. well done. >> thank you. thank you for saying so. it's high praise coming from you. i want to ask you about the point that i tried to make in the introduction to that interview, which i'm not sure has been made elsewhere, which is the idea of the wayward surrogate, the off message surrogate, which is something that is happened a lot on the

mitt romney side of the campaign to almost no political impact whatsoever. it's happened with mayor booker on the democratic side to massive political impact. why has there been such a difference? >> the romney people have been very adept at really jumping and they have a lot of democratic allies in this who jump any time there's a missed message. this was, with all due respect, to mayor booker, there was a missed message. he did conflat the attacks on bain and on private equity with the jeremiah wright issue because that's what they upset

the obama game. they do not see that at all as analogous. we believe we'll probably rear its ugly head at some point during the campaign by one of the surrogates or super pacs. to use that and try to compare that with the essential outlines of this campaign as the president and as mayor booker in his interview outlined it, which is private equity has its role, but if your whole premise of running for president as the obama campaign claims is you're a business person and you can fix what's wrong and your experience defines your qualifications to be president, as president obama said, that just is not what a president is supposed to do. he's supposed to represent all of the people, not just the people who can benefit by being the investors who will do well if a company that bain capital has turned around does well or does not. making money is not the business of the president of the united states. that's the way president obama framed it. that's the message they believe is resonating in the key battleground states across the midwest and that's what they believe was badly damaged by cory booker as their eventual

endorsement of gay marriage was damaged by joe biden, also on meet the press. it's surrogates speaking honestly, speaking from the heart and saying what they really believe. that's a problem for this campaign. there's just sort of shaking their heads but they were deeply upset. >> i should say i think we made news tonight with cory booker saying that that conflaiion is something he did not intend and something he believes. one of the things that's so fascinating is the issue of the mitt romney's tenure in the private sector as opposed to his time of massachusetts has been made central by both the democrats and the republicans. the republicans want to run on that, and the democrats want mitt romney to run on that. i wonder if this whole curfuffle be an inflection point. are either going to change their

focus on that issue because of what's just happened? >> not the obama campaign. they believe that the bain capital record is their best argument against mitt romney. they point out very happily and willingly that he does not run on his record as massachusetts governor because he's had to pivot on so many issues from that record. what you pointed out in your opening opening segment and the lead in to the cory booker interview is the media not dwelled on how many of these republicans are not endorsing mitt romney in a very, how would you describe the way they been endorsing mitt romney, an elevator closing. >> not unequivocal.

>> andrea, i know you've had an incredible day including covering everything in chicago and traveling and being with us and the reporting from both the campaigns. >> andrea, i know you've had an incredible day including covering everything in chicago and traveling and being with us and the reporting from both the campaigns. >> you had the interview. well done. the president of the naacp is talking about a major shift in the politics around a great big civil rights issue in this country right now.

he's making very big news, and he will be here in just a couple of minutes. i told you it's a big show.

if you have grown up laughing to the jokes of particular comedian, if they have a distinctive voice, it can be hard to hear that voice. to hear that comedian saying something and not automatically

register in your brain that something is about to be funny. when the great chris rock was asked about president obama endorsing equal marriage rights for same sex couples, hearing him answer that question was to experience the expectation of laughter. even though he didn't say anything funny in his answer. from watching this happen, i learned that frankly, chris rock could read me the phone book and subconsciously, i would believe it was funny. >> i just think, you know, when you have kids you can't lie to your kids. he said, i read today, his kids have friends that have same-sex parents. i just took my daughter to a party the other day, two guys, same sex parents. he couldn't sit there as the most powerful man in the world and say these people deserve to be discriminated against because of his little girls. i think, i thank the children more than anything.

the children will make you find who you truly are and make you honest. i think that's what happened. this shows you how screwed up the world is. a man goes, hey, i think gay people should be treated like everyone else. controversy. what kind of world is this? it's so horrible. >> that was a few days ago. chris rock on the graham norton show talking about sex-sex marriage rights. a couple of days after that, the great jay-z expressed much the same sentiments. >> what people do in their own homes is their business and who you choose to love whoever you love. it's no different than discriminating against blacks. it's discrimination. i think it's the right thing to do so whether it costs him votes or not, it's not about votes.

it's about people. whether it costs him votes or not, i think it's the right thing to do as a human being. >> it is no different than discriminating against blacks. it's discrimination plain and simple. jay-z equating same-sex marriage rights as the struggle for civil rights. that's an assessment that the oldest organization has just weighed in on the head o.naacp joins us live. that's next. [ groans ] pssst! don't go in there! it's your surprise party and we want this hair color to be party ready. let's get some dimensional color. now!? what if it comes out wrong?

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this naacp is 103 years old, the nation's oldest civil rights organization. they announced they are endorsing equal marriage rights for same-sex couples. like president obama, the naacp has recently taken the position in favor of same-sex marriage. before this vote by their board, before this 62-2 vote by their national board, they had not taken a national position on

this issue in general. it's a big deal for a few reasons. first, because support for same-sex marriage has been softer among african-americans. there's been talk on the anti-gay right to use the issue to turn gay people and black people against each other for political purposes. then, i guess gay black people get divided personally. there's also been concern in the democratic party if elements of the african-american community disagree with the president's position in favor of gay rights maybe that could soften his rock solid support among african-american voters. the naacp taking this stand is therefore a big deal. the other reason this is a big deal is emotional. it's personal. something kind of remarkable happened when the group's national president made this announcement about his organization today. watch what happened.

he just made the announcement about the naacp endorsement and he's been asked a question about whether he's worried about a backlash against the decision from naacp members who dissent from that position for religious reasons. this is his response. >> i'd like to point out that many of us are religiously based, the bishop, chairman who will is an ordained reverend. we do this work because of our faith, not in spite of it. with that said our calling as an organization is to defend the u.s. constitution. we are hear to speak to matters of civil law and matters of civil rights. i've spoken to many clergy who feel differently, different sides, different doctrines, all are very clear that if this is a difference, it's a difference,

not a division. it's not a conflict. to one they understand they are well-excuse me. to a one, i'm a bit moved. my parents own marriage was against the law at the time and they had to return to baltimore after getting married in washington, d.c. the procession back was mistaken for a funeral procession because they were having to go from one city all the way to the next just so they could have a party after they got married in their own home. it's an important day. >> this is an important day. joining us now for the interview is the president of the naacp, ben jealous. thank you so much for being here tonight. it's good to see you. thank you.

>> thanks, rachel. >> i just asked you -- go ahead. >> no, you kind of choked me up there. one of the reasons this is so important is this is an issue of civil law. it's a civil rights issue. this thing called civil marriage and what our government does. when we get it wrong it gives permission for people to bully kids and make their parents out costs and that's why i'm so proud of what our board did. they real discerned. they debated and came down very firmly that this is an issue of our constitution is a matter of our laws and a question about how our government treats its citizens and whether we will let states codify discrimination into their state constitutions

and make it the law of their land. i'm proud of the naacp and the stand up we've taken. >> the naacp had taken a stand on this issue with some state chapters chapters. it wassage whomming vote. it was the vote of your national board. do you think the timing was driven by the personal issues that you raised that drove that emotion and announcement. people personally coming to this issue because of personal reasons. is this a political decision or some sort of melting of the two? >> what happened was that we saw this great battle in north carolina and realized as that was going on it was no longer

sufficient to decide it state by state. we fought it in california. i signed off and joining a lawsuit to help invalidate prop 8. we fought it in north carolina most recently. in the midst of that it became clear we may be facing a tidal wave ov states seeking to codify discrimination into their state laws. we decided it was important. the board decided it was important to come out clearly for the entire country and make it clear we will fight these efforts where ever they pop up. we cannot stand by and watch one group be targeted for discrimination. this is no different. the reality is that the right wing in this country is seeking

to really so hatred into state constitutions. we can't stand by no matter who the group is. again, we had taken a noble stand in several states, but it was time to take it for the country. >> the anti-gay right wing to try to divide gay americans and black americans as if there's no overlap between the two groups but the strategic purpose of getting what they want done, to you feel like their strategy is naive naive? do you feel like it could success or they are barking up the wrong tree in trying to pursue that?

>> they are truly barking up the wrong tree. of course, they will be able to find some black person that wants to make this their issue. the reality is folks know when they are being played. they know when there's a group that's anti-civil rights to their core. who is trying to dupe them into following down the wrong road. people may have a difference on this issue, but we're not going to be divided on so many other things. the naacp will not lose significant membership for taking this stand. the reality is people expect to see the naacp stand up for the constitution and stand up for equality. stand up for continuing the tradition and one that we only found in recent decades but stand up for the tradition of using institutions to expand rates rather than contract them.

that's something that's gone on since the 1950s. now, we're going back to these dark days where folks want to use constitutions to restrict rights. that's something we'll stand against each and every time like we stood up to help defend the personhood referendum in mississippi. the whole purpose of a constitution in this country is to expand rights. >> they as a national organization support equality in marriage rights. congratulations on this big step. i know it was a big step for you. it had been a goal of yours for your organization. thank you for being here tonight. >> thank you, rachel. >> we will be right back. )90%3g

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. >> we will be right back. >>in case you missed it tonight, we broadcast the first exclusive interview with new york mayor corey booker which set the political world on fire all day yesterday and today. bipartisan reactions to his remarks have ranged from interesting to frankly idiotic. he made some real news here tonight about what he said on "meet the press," about what he meant when he said those things and how he is responding now to the way he sees himself being

used by the republican party. we will recap that news in just a moment.

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thanks to the energizing support and cushioning of dr. scholl's massaging gel insoles, your feet will feel so good you'll want to get up and go. >> the big news tonight was made on this show. on meet the press yesterday, newark mayor criticized negative cam paping. he said he found it nauseating. he said that even though the president's reelection campaign had criticized mitt romney's tenure and he did not say that private equity is not always bad. the republican party pounced on that. they responded with a new ad and a new slogan. their new slogan is we stand with corey. the republican party now claiming that mayor booker is a victim. that he is being silenced by the obama campaign. that he is not being allowed to say wh he actually believes.

he was here tonight to say what he actually believes. it was that republican party response which made him break his own on air silence. >> with what made your change your mind about talking to the issue. >> anybody who watched the entire "meet the press," not only was i defending obama, but i also talked about super pac money and really my frustration was about the cynical negative campaigning. the manipulating of the truth. here they are plucking sound bites out of the interview to manipulate them, to use them for manipulate them, to use them for their own purposes.

and that slogan is really what had me and my entire staff really fit to be tied. as far as where my heart is right now, i am very upset that i am being used this way. and it's -- while i thought today i was going to be quiet, i have been pushed so far that you will hear a lot from me and to the extent that president obama and his campaign want to hear from me. >> stay tuned. more to surely come. one year later president obama praises grads in joplin, missouri, for their remarkable rebuilding spirit. new frontier. for the very first time a commercially built rocket heads to the international space station. and double take. an iconic beatles photo takes a new direction at auction.