. >>> well, turning now to our first look at politics, the crisis in syria, i'm joined by bob frankene in washington. bob, good morning, thanks for being here. >> good morning. >> i want to start with this op-ed that putin wrote in this morning's "new york times." how do you think that will impact kerry's meeting with his russian counterpart? >> who knew, putin, the pundit. next thing we'll hear he's hired at msnbc as a contributor. >> do you think it will have an effect on the efforts taking place? >> probably not. this was a little bit of snarkiness rubbing the nose of the united states in it just a little bit lecturing such things about exceptionalism and lecturing about a country meaning the u.s. has that been relying on brute force, et cetera, et cetera. as i said, he has the advantage right now and this was just an effort to gloat about it a little bit. >> who do you think was the real audience here? is it the american public? is it congress? is it the international community? who was he speaking to? >> yes. >> all three. >> yeah, all three. probably more the american public. th

bob franken, that's for your perspective.coming up, bill and betty will be back for first buzz. now you can give yourself a kick in the rear! v8 v-fusion plus energy. natural energy from green tea plus fruits and veggies. need a little kick? ooh! could've had a v8. in the juice aisle. we'll take something tasty and healthy. ♪ must be the honey! ♪ there's a party going on in your cereal bowl ♪ ♪ o's can help lower cholesterol ♪ ♪ oh why does it taste so great? ♪ ♪ hey! must be the honey! and then another. and another. and if you do it. and your friends do it. and their friends do it... soon we'll be walking our way to awareness, support and an end to alzheimer's disease. and that? that would be big. grab your friends and family and start a team today. register at alz.org with new roc® multi correxion® 5 in 1 proven to hydrate dryness, illuminate dullness lift sagging diminish the look of dark spots and smooth the appearance of wrinkles high performance skincare™ only from roc® hearty cheeseburger. creamy thai style chicken wit

bob franken, esta harmon, and bill mccalfry. general, let me start with you. john kerry defended the agreement, but speaking in jerusal jerusalem, he made clear that use of force remains on the table. that ta a listen. >> this is only as effective as its implementation. and president obama has made it clear that to accomplish that, the threat of force remains. the threat of force is real. >> general, at shall point does talking about the use of force over and over, does that diminish the impact of the threat? >> well, i think so. look, the good news is we're talking to the russians instead of bombing the syrians. but some of the rhetoric has been almost laughable. to tell assad we'll go after you with an unbelievably small military strike, we're not going to try to bring you down, change your trajectory of the ground war, not arm the rebels significantly, and by the way this agreement that we are trotting out, which again the diplomatic process i applaud, says explicitly no use of chapter 7 force will be tolerated by the russians. russians wouldn't agree on th

bob franken is joining us now from washington. bob, good morning.s for being here. >> well, we talk segues, but sumo wrestling? >> because you're major muscle in this political segment. >> we're witness something sumo wrestling except it's with a bunch of light weights in the minds of many people. >> let's talk about that, the sumo wrestling match taking place in congress. as we mentioned earlier in the show, house republicans are threatening to shut down the government unless obamacare is defunded. is there any way it will work? >> probably not. but if you read between the lines, everything that is re relevant here is really between the lines. there is all kinds of room for maneuvering. the house will indulge its fetish for house republicans to defund obama care as they like to call it, then it goes to the senate, the senate is going to turn that down. and then the negotiation is going to start. and you even have this back fall for speaker boehner that he can count on democrats to help him prevail and avoid a government shutdown at the end. the pro

joining me now is syndicated columnist bob franken, professor and the first iraq war veteran to serve in the u.s. congress and political strategist michelle bernard. that's melissa. michelle is over there. former congressman, i want to ask you this question as a former congressman. one of the most difficult places for public opinion to guide a member of congress is on the question of war, on the question of foreign policy. sometimes we're absolutely right. sometimes history demonstrates we have been absolutely wrong. what would you do if you had to cast a vote on the syrian question today. >> no. it breaks my hard, it's a tough call. at the end of the day we should not insert ourselves in the middle of the syrian civil war. those casualties, those children being killed, 1400 women, children, and men have been killed by chemical weapons, it breaks my heart. but lobbing tomahawk missiles, number one, is an askt war. number two, does it mean that it's going to solve that solution. he could continue to use it, that means -- what does that mean next? does that mean we have boots on the gro

bob franken, syndicated columnist. a big thanks to them as well.rday. to prove febreze eliminates tough odors, we threw a party. the next day, we sprayed febreze air effects and led in real people. i'd say it was very pleasant. flowers everywhere. oh! [ chuckles ] febreze did a really great job. impressive. febreze air effects eliminates tough odors for good. and try febreze stick & refresh. designed to stick to eliminate odors anywhere. simply click, peel off the strip and attach to surfaces in your house. febreze stick & refresh, another way to breathe happy. and attach to surfaces in your house. cheryl burke is cha-cha-ing in depend silhouette briefs for charity, to prove that with soft fabric and waistband, the best protection looks, fits, and feels just like underwear. get a free sample and try for yourself. you know who you are. you can part a crowd, without saying a word... if 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