de force that went long but not short on substance or style. more importantly it made the case as only bill clinton can do. >> we are here to nominate a president. i've got one in mind. i want to nominate a man who is cool on the outside. but who burns for america on the inside. and after last night i want a man who had the good sense to marry michelle obama. are we where we want to be today?

no. is the president's -- >> you got to explain it. >> following the bromance can president obama deliver tonight. exactly two months before election day. will the change to the smaller venue be a blessing in disguise and one of the tough challenges that president obama face in the night ahead. >> now the president can talk about the future, having cleared some of that under brush out of the way. we'll hear the president talk about where we need to go and the things we need to do. >> it was on night two we saw a powerhouse of women rolling recasting the choice ahead in this election. >> no governor romney, corporations are not people. people have parts. they have kids. they get jobs. they get sick. they drive. >> so, why are we having to fight in 2012 against

politicians who want to end access to birth control? it's like we woke up on a bad episode of "mad men." >> your new president could be a man who stands by when a public figure tries to silence a private citizen with hateful slurs. a man who won't stand up to those slurs or toni of the extreme bigoted voices in his own party. >> that speaker, sandra fluke will join me life this hour. t minus 11 hours and counting until president obama's big speech before the dnc and nbc news white house correspondent kristen walker joins me. good morning. >> reporter: campaign officials tell me president obama will spend his final day putting the finishing touches on his speeches but in the words of one campaign aide it is in very good

shape. he has spent the past several weeks working on this with his team of speech writers so they are ready for tonight. in terms of what we'll hear, you're likely hear president obama talk about some of the sim have themes that he's brought up on the campaign trail, namely the choice that voters have this election year. one of his big challenges, thomas i heard you talking about is he'll have to make the case he'll do a better job handling this economy in the next four years than mitt romney would do. in other words, he's going to have to pick up where former president bill clinton left off last night. you heard the former president make the case that we are, in fact, better off now than we were four years ago. president obama will have to look to the future and say why we'll be better off four years from now. busy day for the president in terms of the first lady, dr. jill biden, busy day for them. the obama girls are arriving today for tonight's big event so it will be a family affair. a lot of pressure, republicans

watching very closely, though thomas they think any bump the president might get from tonight will be muted once we get that all-important jobs report tomorrow. >> thank you. >> looked into that tv camera and attack president obama's medicare savings as quote the biggest, coldest power play. i don't know whether to laugh or cry. get one thing. takes some brass for attacking a guy for doing what you did. >> president clinton called out paul ryan. former president praised barack obama for appointing his wife hilary to the cabinet calling it a relationship of respect and partnership. we say good morning to our thursday political panel.

it's great to see all three of you. governor i want to start with you. in addition to talking about his wife last night the former president also spoke about the secretary in an interview with "nbc nightly news." i want to remind everybody. take a look. >> there's a column out there that says you could help two democrats tonight if you do well, president obama and hillary clinton in 2016. >> you know, we're not kids any more. i don't have any idea if she will ever run again. she says she won't. right now i want to help him because i think it will help my country. >> secretary clinton watched president clinton's speech online while in east timor. her office releasing this picture. some have said president clinton's real objective last night was hill lie 2016 not obama. did the former president dispel those questions or add to the speculation?

>> no, i think he dispelled those questions. our convention has been all about 2012 not 2016. you heard the republicans here, chris christie and marco rubio, auditioning for 2016. we're focused on one thing and that's re-electing barack obama and joe biden and moving this country forward. all that speculation there's plenty of time for that. the president did it because he's a true believer and he knocked it out of the park last night. >> let's keep the focus on 2012. much of president clinton's speech was in economic defense and endorsement of the president's policies over the last four years. now under the clinton administration, the labor market, it was strong with unemployment just under 4%. that being at the end of his term and economic growth was also strong with clinton averaging 3.8% growth in real gross domestic product. the obama campaign announced clinton will take that message on the road.

what happens to the republican economic message when clinton takes that defense to very important swing states? >> well, i think what we'll have is we're going highlight the difference between the clinton years and the obama years and that president clinton gave a fantastic speech last night. people from both sides of the aisle agree it was a very warm compassionate speech and very well received and especially him saying, you know, hats off to the first lady. but the truth is when he talks about the economic record during the clinton years we had times of economic prosperity and now we have terrible economic times and here we are looking at now $16 trillion debt, tomorrow we'll see unemployment above 8% for 43 months and we have housing prices dropping, foreclosures on the way up. we have terrible economic situation. gdp at 1.5%. the main difference in what we had with the clinton years and whain, in the real world you need cooperation. he worked across the aisle.

he met with republicans and got republicans and democrats together to make things work. we don't have that with the current president. he hasn't worked with his own party to get things changed in this economy. >> how can you say that when you have republicans like michele bachmann and mitch mcconnell and paul ryans of the world, the people in the minutes basically that the president was sworn in that their goal the office make him a one term president. they never had any intention of working with president obama on anything. so how can you say that he needs be the one to walk across the aisle when they are the ones going out on talk shows saying we need to make him a one term president, we'll do everything to stand in his way. >> we had republicans in the past four wears to do everything they can which is rein in the size of the market and allow free market principles work. >> how do you defend the statements from someone like michele bachmann who you worked for during this year, how do you

defend a statement when she said she wanted to make him a one term president and would do everything to make that happen? >> well, what every republican in congress wants to do is to make policies that will instill confidence in the economy and create jobs for this country, no matter what that takes. and growing the size of government and putting more emphasis on government instead of the free market that's not the way to do it. anyone with fiscal common sense will tell you the obama plan and policies have not worked. >> simpson-bowles would be a good thing? >> what we need to do in this country is rein in the size of government and need to encourage free market principles and allow free markets to work. >> guys, let me let jonathan get in here. we should mention there's this positive economic out there ahead of tomorrow's august report, the jobless cim fell 12,000 from last week. the nation's home builders are breaking ground so fast that there aren't enough workers.

right now we're seeing the dow jones up by 228 points today on news out of europe about a good turn around there. what does the president need to say on the economy tonight? obviously this is a relay race of speeches leading up to the president this evening and handing him a layered mountain top to talk to america. >> i think he needs to then continue the conversation started by president clinton last night which was the president has laid the foundation for the economic recovery for more americans to feel coming down the road. he said the nation is better off than it was four years ago. it's just that a lot of people have not felt it yet. so you need to give the president -- the president has to say give me another four years to bring this thing home. and to talk about something that was talked about before and continuing your line of argument, it's not just that you had republicans on television saying that they wanted to make the president and ensure he was a one term president they were

actually meeting -- there are two books out that show that republican leadership was meeting even after the president was elected and on the night of his inauguration meeting to device a plan, craft a plan of obstruction against the president no matter what he wanted to do, no matter what he was trying to do to help pull the country out of economic down spin, tailspin that it was in, they were going to pose him and we've seen it time and again over the last three years. so it's a little something else if you listen to republicans say that the president hasn't done enough to reach across the aisle, hasn't done enough, to you know, work with us when that's all the president has been trying to dean finally after 2 1/2 years the president just decided you know what? i'm going my own way. >> we're looking at a live shot of time warner cable as they prep for tonight. thank you for joining me.

now, we remind you to tune in tonight at nbc's "nightly news" for an interview with the first lady, michelle obama. >> all those delegates in favor say aye. >> aye. >> all those delegates opposed, say no. >> no. >> in the opinion -- let meadow that again. >> all right so democrats make this last minute change to their party platform to add the words god and jerusalem back in. now as you watch there, there was some confusion on the floor, and a direct order from the president made this all move forward. the reverend al sharpton will join me to weigh in on that. later this hour we're psyched about this one, comedian wanda sykes joins me life in suddeno. we're talking about everything in this election including how much talk the dnc has done about marriage equality. and what would you like to ask wanda? tweet me at thomas a. roberts

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there it is the front page of the "huffington post" saying it all," bill kills." he used plain spoken language to kill off arguments that romney would be better to revive our troubled economy. >> republican argument against the president re-election was actually pretty simple. pretty snappy. it went something like this.

we left him a total mess. he hadn't cleaned it up fast enough so fire him and put us back in. he inherited a deeply damaged economy. he put a floor under the crash. he began the long hard road to recovery. >> joining me now is the ref represented al sharpton host of msnbc's "politics nation." great to see enthusiast morning. bill clinton defend president obama in the third longest speech of his career. the president literally rearranging his own schedule so he can embrace bill clinton on the stage that all-important moment at the end where they hugged. how far have they come since 2008 and how badly did president obama need moderate americans to hear bill clinton last night? >> i think they've come a long way and i think that's good not only for the party, i think it's good for the country because you are seeing the last president that governed during prosperity

explaining the recovery, explaining how you cannot expect as deep a recession as we had gone through to recover within four years. so i thought it was very good. and i think it was important, not for the president personally or even politically, i think it was important because it set the context of what we're going to go through the next few weeks in the campaign. so i don't think it's whether president obama needed clinton or clinton needed him for a legacy, i think it was that things have become so distorted, thomas, and we heard so many lies that bill clinton unquivocally but the contest how to judge this race. >> last night clinton praised bush and other republican presidents while lashing out at other republicans at their refusal as president obama legitimate. take a listen. >> though i often disagree with republicans, i actually never learned to hate them the way the

far right now controls their party seems to hate our president. and a lot of other democrats. >> reverend, given where bill clinton and barack obama were back in '08 in that racially tinged primary how effective was it that president clinton brought that up? >> very effective. i was very critical of mr. clinton in '08 even though i've worked with him and known his wife for a long time. by him saying that it really showed that here's a guy who has gone through some of the fire himself. i said last night on this station he didn't drop down from heaven to do this, he came up from hell and he's done this and he's done it in a way that i think will be very helpful. >> reverend, one important thing i want to get to. there was this debacle of the stripping of the language, the word god and also language concerning jerusalem out of the platform. the president, though, insisted it go back in. republicans quickly seized on that.

i want to tell everybody the platform consistently used the word faith and respect for faith over and over again, but is that a mission misstep for what has been an effortless and successful convention? >> you know, they are going to look for anything. you can have, thomas, the best, most well tailored suit and they are going to look for a piece of lint on the hem of your pants. when you have a document that talks about faith through it you're playing all kind of games but did you say god? i mean i think that it showed how they are reaching for straws and rather than creating a issue out of a non-issue, the president said put god in it and clearly faith is referring and dealing with our relationship with god, but since they want to play this game, let's not even raise this as an issue. clearly people of faith are people that believe in god. >> reverend al sharpton.

we'll see you latering tonight. we appreciate it. you can watch the reverend week dies at 6:00 p.m. eastern and you can also watch his riveting post-speech analysis beginning at 7:00 eastern only on msnbc. sandra fluke seals the deal. lawyer and activist not only taking the microphone but destroying it. will we hear chants of run, sandra, run. wanda sykes is in the house. she will join us on the growing lgbt voting power in this election. we're so excited to have miss wanda here. we're counting down to president obama's big election speech. we're back right after this. ♪ forz(power!)

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an america in which our president, when he hears that a young woman has been verbally attacked thinks of his daughters, not his delegates or donors. and in which our president stands with all women and strangers come together and reach out and lift her up. and then instead of trying to silence her you invite me here. and you give me this microphone to amplify our voice.

that's the difference. >> that is sandra fluke one of several women making the case for president obama last night. you may remember the recent georgetown law grad landed in the spot lights by rush limbaugh after advocating for bitter control. last night she lit up the floor. take a look. quite a thunderous ovation. joining me now is sandra fluke. she really did light up that stage in charlotte last night. great to have you here and i remind everybody a year ago you were a law student at georgetown. you've testified on capitol hill. you've campaigned with the president. you brought down the house at the dnc using words of the gop position saying they are

offensive and obsolete relics. why did you want to be the one up there saying that? >> i've been saying that to anyone who will listen. it's critical every woman in this country and every man who cares about a woman makes sure that voters know what choice we're making in november. the choice between mr. romney and mr. ryan's policies that will take us backward and ask my generation to fight battles that our mothers already won versus president obama who has stood with women for four years. >> we heard a lot of rousing speeches from other women last night including sister simon campbell. as well as cecile brews. for you what were some of the moments you stuck out to you that will resonate to modern american women? >> well, it was a really touching moment when cecile richards was talking about her mother. i honestly think if we just make

sure that women in this country, no matter what their political party is, have the information that if we tell them that mr. romney vetoed a bill in massachusetts that would have guaranteed a rape survivor access to emergency contraception when they went to the hospital, if we explain these positions to them, then the facts make our case for us. so that's what we have to keep doing. we have to keep talking about these policies. >> certainly over the last year you had to grow a very thick skin at being front and center on a very controversial type of conversation. you made quite an impression last night. a lot of people wondering would you ever consider running for office down the road? is all of this ground work for something like that in your future? >> i would absolutely not call it ground work. i am doing what i am doing because i believe in this president. and because i believe in these issues. and that all of us have to be standing up and fighting right now because our country's future for american women is at stake. as for my future, you know, maybe that's something i would

consider some day, but is absolutely not why i'm here doing what i'm doing this week. >> sandra fluke, great to have you on today. thanks for joining us from charlotte. i appreciate it. on a separate note we want to wish tom brokaw a speedy recovery. you may have heard he was taken to a hospital in charlotte early this morning after feeling a little light headed on the set of "morning joe." he's being evaluated, said to be in good spirits and can you tell this from his latest tweet saying all is well, early a.m. i mistakenly took a half dose of ambien and made less sense than usual. made a better come back than the giants. tonight our guest, thomas sargent. nobel laureate in economics, and one of the most cited economists in the world. professor sargent, can you tell me what cd rates will be in two years? no. if he can't, no one can. that's why ally has a raise your rate cd.

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>> welcome back, everybody. 11 hours and counting before the president takes the stage, campaign officials scrambling to finalize plans of president obama's acceptance speech tonight as tens of thousands of voters lose out on a chance to watch that speech in person. the threat of stormy weather forced organizers to move that speech from the outdoor 74,000 bank of america stadium to the indoor arena. now the campaign says they can only admit 21,000 people into tonight's event instated 64,000 as originally planned. sam stein of the "huffington post" is tweeting afl-cio staff are giving their credentials to hotel staff and drivers so that they can attend. joining me now is the president and ceo of the national urban league. let's talk about this, the change of venue. do you think that will harm the president's chances in north carolina? a state that, you know, he took

north carolina four years ago. a lot of people would like to see him take it again. >> rather have a dry crowd than a wet crowd. i've been in charlotte and it's raining off and on all week. it's a right decision to move it inside and every presidential address to a convention has been held at an indoor and basketball/hockey style arena. this is more consistent than denver. doesn't rain in denver. so four years ago it was easy to do, i think they made the right decision. >> time was of the essence to make the move and switch. let's move on the economy and selection as we talk about this, this morning we received these new job numbers. let's show everybody, private-sector creating 201,000 jobs in august. they also revised though the july figures to higher. let's move this conversation ahead tomorrow morning that new jobs number comes out.

how impactful will that be after the president's speech. >> if 200,000 jobs is a number, that's a good number, considering what we went through years ago and it also means a continued pattern of consistent job growth. so from a directional standpoint it means job growth continues. now for over 20 months. i think that's a positive news story. it doesn't mean that the nation is out of the woods. doesn't mean that there isn't -- there are many people out there still suffering and bill clinton referenced that but it does mean directionally the economy is moving in a better direction. >> we do talk about the economy, in your opinion is president obama, has he done enough to help improve the minority employment situation where the percentages are higher than the overall average of the country? >> we always want to see more done. we won't be satisfied until that unemployment rate comes down. we're not unmindful that the president has made great efforts and most recent efforts would have been more successful with

the american jobs act had congress not drawn a line in the sand, filibuster and blocked consideration of it. i think people out there are aware that it takes two to tango. the president needs a willing partner in congress. he's done his job. we think congress has to do more. >> everybody waiting to watch. thank you. >> thanks, thomas. last week fact checkers challenged the validity of some of the claims in paul ryan's address to the republican national convention. president bill clinton took a swipe in that direction last night. >> their campaign poster said we are not going to let our campaign be dictated by fact checkers. now, finally i can say that is true. >> joining me today is editor of

politofact. your website fact checked the former president's speech last line. one line in particular you had fact checkers talking about. >> since 1961, for 52 years now, the republicans have held the white house 28 years, the democrats 24. in those 52 years our private economy has produced 66 million private-sector jobs. so what's the job score? republicans 24 million, democrats 42. >> all right, bill, where does your website fall on this claim for the president. you say what? >> we give that one a true on the truth-0-meter. he was right on the numbers.

we look at the job numbers since 1961 and he's correct. it's important, though, to add a caveat, of course. job growth is a function of many, many complex things, population growth, what's happening in the broader economy and a whole host of other things. so, we weren't rating whether it's true that democratic policies necessarily do that, but he's right about numbers. so a true on the truth-0-meter. >> you followed the president's promises on the obama-0-meter. >> obamameter. you give him a 37% rating for promise kept. how does that compare to others you've rated? >> you know, i wish we knew. we have not -- politifact was created in 2007. what's remarkable about president obama's promises there are so many of them, 508 campaign promises he made in

2008. a lot of them presidents can do with executive order. but many of them were include in the economic stimulus bill that he pushed through congress and health care bill. he's had some notable promise kept. also had some notable promises broken. he promised to bring the parties together for a bipartisan agenda, something that he's been stymied at doing. he promised to close guantanamo bay and repeal the bush tax cuts for the wealthy. all in all, our obamameter tracks them all so your viewers can take a look at it. >> thank you. i appreciate it. >> thanks, thomas. other news we're following, we're learning a hoaxing sparked an emergency landing of a dallas bound flight in philadelphia. this morning police rushed on board u.s. airways flight 1267, removing the passengers, arresting one man named christopher shell.

investigators said they called officials that shell was trying to smuggle something into texas but police found no explosives. it may have been a hoax because today is shell's bitter today. hurricane michael is the first major storm of 2012 season. it's small but powerful. expected to weaken starting tomorrow. number of west nile cases around the country are up by 25%. this is accords to the cdc. 87 deaths in the u.s. are blamed on that virus. texas has been the hardest hit state with 40 people killed by west nile. everybody, as we've been promising you this morning. signed, sealed, delivered she's wanda sykes. what does president obama need to show america tonight? stick around, you don't want to miss wanda.

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>> proud americans can be who they are and boldly stand at the altar with who they love. >> letting people love who they love and marry who they want to marry. >> today in massachusetts you can marry whom ever you love. >> a president who believes that who you love should not keep you from serving the country you love. >> and who is cool with all of us getting gay married. so thank you invisible man in the chair for that. >> acceptance of marriage equality on full display at the dnc, even first lady michelle obama joining in on that chorus. deposition showing support in their platform and giving the lgbt more political clout. joining me now, one of the funniest women in america, wanda sykes. thanks for joining me. as we talk about this in terms

of history and given the fact that don't-ask, don't-tell was started under the watch of president bill clinton how do you think he did last night opening act status wise for what we expect to hear from the president tonight? >> i think he really set the table. he made the case why president obama should get four more years. and now president obama, instead of coming out tonight and, you know, attacking romney, he just has to tell us what we're going to do next. i think president clinton was incredible. >> as we look back at how the country has changed in just a short period of time and over the last decade, 49% of the country now backs marriage equality, six states plus d.c. now allowing for it if it goes ahead, maryland another state where it's on the ballot this november. even republicans 50% over the age of 35 superimportant it. we had the president come out over the summer and give his

endorsement for marriage equality. how do you think that changed hearts and minds especially in the african-american community who learned from the pulpits to feel otherwise. >> exactly. i mean that was huge. that was huge. i think the only way we were going to move forward and increase those numbers for people who are, you know, are okay with or think we should have marriage equality, it was for the president to stand up and say hey, i'm for this. and this is the way things should be. we all should have the same rights. and i think by him voicing that, that now you're going to have the african-american community going look we want to give this guy four more years even if i'm uncomfortable with, you know, with the marriage equality thing, we get it. it's a civil right, it's equality, and i'm pretty sure people are going to turn out and vote for him because, you know, look at your alternative? do we really want four years of mitt romney? i mean, i think they can, you

know, turn their heads and maybe not -- you don't have to attend the gateway. that's the whole thing. you don't have to get one. it's not mandatory. it's not like -- to me it seemed like gay people are crazy, that you know we go around and canvas the whole neighborhood, come to my big whole gay wedding. it's mandatory. if you don't agree with it, then chances are you don't know anyone who is gay or close to someone who is gay so that even increases your chances of never being invited to a same sex wedding. so, you're cool. you're cool. >> as we look at north carolina, in charlotte the dnc success held over the summer as well, charlotte voted to add a state constitutional ban against marriage equality for them. we see negative ads popping up around the country, 38 different states have the ban themselves. if we don't get something on a federal level, that sets the

bar, that shows the leadership that the rest of the country needs to rise up to, do you think it should be kind of meandering through states hands the next political cycles? >> no. no. not at all. there's some things you can't allow states to control. your civil rights that are given to you under the constitution is one of them. we would have let states do whatever they wanted to do. there still might be slavery in mississippi. you never know. no. it has to come from the federal level, and i mean -- i got married. i don't want to be driving from state to state and go okay welcome to virginia. oh, don't touch me, we're not married here. it's ridiculous. it should be across the board. >> one thing i'm excited about tomorrow night we'll sit down and tape a special for logo. it's called the "new now next vote with wanda sykes" and

election special where you're looking through the lgbtprism of things. what do you hope to accomplish? >> i thought it would being a great for logo to have a show that was not about drag queens. but also i just think it's very important that logo gets -- has something to talk about the election and to present the ideas and platforms of each party, cut through all the rhetoric, cut through the lies and say okay this is what you're going to get with this guy, this is what you're going to get with this guy. now go vote. >> a great night. i look forward to it. thanks. wanda sykes, mom, wife, funny lady, renaissance woman for everyone. thanks again. i just want to point out that

logo special, it's going to air on september 109 th at 10:00 p. eastern. we'll remind you

but plenty of companies do that. so we make something else. we help make life a little easier, more convenient, more rewarding, more entertaining. year after year. it's the reason why we don't have customers. we have members. american express. welcome in.

the romney plan fails the first test of fiscal responsibility. the numbers just don't add up. people ask me all the time how we got four surplus budgets in a row. what new ideas can we bring to washington? i always give a one-word answer. arithmetic. >> there you have it. a lesson in basic math from bill clinton about the republicans' fiscal plan. joining me now, meghan mccain, msnbc contributor, also a columnist for the daily beast and of course the daughter of arizona's republican senator and former presidential candidate, john mccain. fresh back from tampa. meagan, good to see you here. >> thank you. >> last night we have this

intelligent, articulate and passionate argument to re-elect president obama delivered by former president bill clinton. basically taking on the gop plank and talking about basic arithmetic. how do you think the president did in trying to reassure america you reap what you sew in the investment you made four years ago with president obama, you need to re-elect him? >> listen, i think no one could ever say bill clinton is not a fantastic orator, and amazing at making a speech. he was absolutely fantastic. one of the few people that can keep my attention for almost an hour during a speech. i think he was preaching to the choir. if you're already a fan of president obama, he's reasserting that. if you're not, it didn't have much impact other than entertaining you. >> when we look at the plan romney/ryan has put out, they direct you to the website and 59-point plan and want to point just five points of it if they talk it specifically. when we look at the number and the president there pointing it out, the math just doesn't add up. i know you find yourself to be fiscally conservative, with a more socially liberal attitude.

so do you feel that when we look at these plans and really break it all down, yes, spending cuts need to happen, but we need to raise the revenues to be able to get ourselves back in balance with where we need to be as a country moving forward. >> you you knknow, for me, my es is young people and politics and i think i just don't have the faith president obama can lead us out of this recession. half of all college students leaving college don't have jobs. one-third of them are going back to live with their parents. the numbers speak for themselves. the deficit is at 16%. i don't have faith president obama can lead us out of this economic recession because he hasn't in the last four years. listen, your viewers at home are going to have to make their own decision whether or not they think him and his administration are capable of doing that. >> meghan mccain, thanks for being here. i appreciate it. programming note, mitt romney will appear on "meet the press" this sunday, his first interview on the show since 2009. you don't want to mess that. thank ryou for your time.

we're going to waeigh in on the president's big speech tomorrow with the jobs report with jared bernstein. and matt miller, karen finney, and susan delpersio. don't go anywhere. "now with alex wagner" is coming up in all her glory. she's live in charlotte. boy, can this lady draw a crowd? hi, alex. >> we're live and direct from janet jackson rhythm style, headphones from the site of the democratic convention in charlotte. is former president bill clinton still speaking? i'm not sure. we will evaluate the former president's show stopper of a speech and his case for government cooperation and president obama. john heilman, sam stein and mark lebovich join the panel. new york city's council speaker christy quinn joins us for a look at the party platform and front and center emphasis on social issues. all that when "now" starts in a

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