after the verdict at chris hall's sentencing a letter was introduced. another of cristi hall's brothers, billy carlton, who until now had said not one public word about the case. "we would like to ask his honor for the maximum sentence," wrote billy. "the pain that my family has suffered through this tragedy is unforgivable." >> i didn't want to hurt the girls. i had to say what was on my mind. >> reporter: there was a deep divide in cristi's family, said billy. some of her relatives believed chris was innocent. but he and, he says, others, including cristi's uncle steve mundy silently urged on the prosecutor. >> half the family was convinced he was innocent, and half the family was convinced he wasn't. and that's hard to do when you have a big family and you all have to be together every once in a while. >> reporter: and when it involves a member as loved as cristi was -- >> exactly. >> reporter: does that explain why this kind of group of people in the family decided just to let justice take its course? >> we had talked about it quite a bit. >> i think

after the verdict at chris hall's sentencing a letter was introduced. from another of cristi hall's brothers, billy carlton, who until now had said not one public word about the case. "we would like to ask his honor for the maximum sentence," wrote billy. "the pain that my family has suffered through this tragedy is unforgivable." >> i didn't want to hurt the girls. i had to say what was on my mind. >> reporter: there was a deep divide in cristi's family, said billy. some of her relatives believed chris was innocent. but he and, he says, others, including cristi's uncle steve mundy silently urged on the prosecutor. >> half the family was convinced he was innocent, and half the family was convinced he wasn't. and that's hard to do when you have a big family and you all have to be together every once in a while. >> reporter: and when it involves a member as loved as cristi was -- >> exactly. >> reporter: does that explain why this kind of group of people in the family decided just to let justice take its course? >> we had talked about it quite a bit. >> i

if you remember, the lakers were going to teen kobe bryant and chris hall of the other team in los angeleson the game's other best players. chris paul, we will tell you without kidney the names that we have not heard of this guy named eric gordon goes to new orleans and chris brown will be a new member of the los angeles clippers to give kobe bryant some--a run for his money. now here is what is crazy, he has $27 million guaranteed but there's a new rule in the nba without warning to too much detail you can cut a guy and it will not count against your salary cap but you still have to pay him. so they cut him, they owe him $27 million they still did the money but they did not have that against the cap, so they can go out and sign somebody else. the nook aaron davis he's good for like a year or two and then he did in some trouble. some people, the more you get to know them the more you like them and when you get to know them, nothing but trouble. for cleveland as on the hook for 27 million right now. and what does qum cruzahy--and what doesqumay brown look like? this is him. he was bumped ar

the price is right, you build them back up, chris hall is the best player on that team. >>darya: they have resigned and the on trade. >>gary: quit showing off. >>darya: they are saying, you have done as a favor. now, we know that we can move on. jordan is a tall guys who is athletic. i do not think he is that much better than what they have. >>darya: let's move on to the coaches that were fired. i am baffled. with the chiefs, you go from being coach of the year to being fired? >>gary: he is a pretty tough guy to deal with. we say all the time, if you're going to be a jackass, you better be a winning jazz. >>darya: and tony serrano? >>gary: is a funny thing, not the except getting fired, but when you take the job, 90 percent of them know eventually what will happen. >>darya: it is not those days where they will stay forever and ever. if people do not buy what you are selling, what can you do? >>darya: how about this former raiders player and his downfall. todd marinovich. now, with the espn special, it has really fuelled his art sales. he says it is a big part of his stay

. >>> still ahead on "way too early," a new jersey man at a town hall meeting accusing chris christy of planting questions at his events. we'll show you his response in a moment. >>> plus who knew? steven colbert can plea ya? [ male announcer ] what can you do with plain white rice? when you pour chunky beef with country vegetables soup over it... you can do dinner. four minutes, around four bucks. campbell's chunky. it's amazing what soup can do. on the network they deserve. like the powerful droid charge by samsung, or get the samsung stratosphere, and for a limited time, get twice the data for the same low price. verizon. you noticed! these clothes are too big, so i'm donating them. how'd you do it? eating right, whole grain. [ female announcer ] people who choose more whole grain tend to weigh less than those who don't. multigrain cheerios... five whole grains, 110 calories. >>> live picture from the top of our building here at 30 rock. looking south to one world trade. let's get a check of your weather with bill karins. you called. it it's cold outside. >> people at this point w

. >> chris christie. every town hall meet something a auburn tube sensation waiting to happen. he is the most brash and fat politician in america. >> herman cain was the most charismatic politician of the year. maybe he was too charismatic in some ways. nevertheless. >> what does that mean? >> well, nevertheless. >> judge for yourself, john. >> i mean, here is a guy who became frontrunner and was wide. >> okay. >> -- without a campaign staff. >> i'm surprised this eluded the others on the set. the most charismatic is george clooney. he has also used his likability to bring awareness to the humanitarian crisis in sudan. and clooney's charms with women. i think that speaks for themselves. they also contribute to make him an inspiration to males everywhere. wouldn't you say, pat? we'll be right back with more awards after this. >>> okay. bummest rap, pat? >> the rich are not paying their fair share of taxes. >> eleanor? >> bummest rap, president obama hates business and everything else said about president obama on this show. >> rich? >> clarence? >> the bummest rap is that "the f

. >>> nhl a concussion has taken out another future hall of famer. chris pronger is shutting it down for the rest of the year because of postconcussion syndrome. the games must go on and flyers have been getting a lift from an unlikely source. wayne simmonds got another score last night against canadiens. >>> capitals and jets scoreless for 58 minutes. ovechkin decide enough is enough, unleashed a rocket with 1:14 left. that's why he's one of the best in the game. capitals are starting to turn thing around after a slow start shutting out the jets 1-0. >>> chris paul a clipper and dwight howard staying put in orlando, nets owner mikhail prokhorov is trying to acquire something much bigger. russian presidency. yep. he's owned the nets for a year. now he wants to take over russia. the savvy billionaire sets out to beat vladimir putin in the next election. >>> that's your early look at sports on "early today." have a terrific weekend. i'm fred roggin. >> interesting pair. >>> coming up, a big boost for the box office. and a silent film makes lots of golden glo

chris chelios lemont five men inducted united states hockey hall of fame including former universityps and two with the red wigs. >> hoping everybody can forgive me just wanted to play hockey that was a bad situation i have played these are the bank's international type tournaments' come into some cities plan games with teams i went and wart usa jersey there were cheering for me like one of my own from chicago i hope they are proud to what i accomplished in chicago. >> tough news for penguins at the nhl sidney crosby out again with concussion like symptoms surface after this game last week only has played eight games this year after missing 10 months even though tests show does not have a concussion sidney crosby not so short out indefinitely >> back to football to nfl head coaches fired today including todd haley by the kansas city chiefs and tony sparano by the dolphins green bay packers receiver greg jennings missing 2-3 games in the injury and couldn't against chicago bears on christmas. finally back to hockey hall of famer chris chelios clearly has not forgotten his hometown roo

chris. >> red, pink -- >> we have decked the halls with bows of holly here, and you, sir, are patheticallyink. >> i wouldn't wear that coat that michael has on. he wears it well. >> let's listen to the president. >> when congress returns, i urge them to keep working without drama, without delay, to reach an agreement that extends this tax cut as well as unemployment insurance through all of 2012. you didn't send us to this town to play partisan games and to see who's up, who's down, you sent us here to serve and to make your lives a little bit better and to do what's right. and fortunately, that's how this week ended. >> well, i'm going to let you have this first ball here, bob. it seems to be nice for the president to say he's above politics, having won one of the first big political tussles of the term. >> oh, sure, the republicans blunders into this. the analogy i might use is i haven't seen anything this dumb since custer got himself surrounded at the battle of big horn. mitch mcconnell tried to stop them, took a position that is untangible. they have helped the president do exactly wh

. >>> nhl, a concussion has taken out another future hall of famer. the flyers chrisronger is shutting it down for the rest of the year because of post-concussion syndrome, just the latest in a handful of players that have missed significant time. the games must go on and the flyers have been getting a lift from wayne simmonds scoring a goal in four straight, another one last night. flyers won it, 4-3. capitals scoreless. ovechkin unleashed a rocket with 14 seconds left. that's why he's one of the best in the game. capitals starting to turn things around, they shut out the jets, 1-0. >>> dwight howard staying p up in orlando. nets' owner is trying to acquire something much bigger. the russian presidency. yep. he's owned the nets for about a year. now he wants to take over russia. the savvy billionaire has set his sights on beating vladimir putin in the russian election. no word if fellow nets owner and rapper jay-z will be his running mate. that's your first look at sports. have a great weekend. i'm fred roggin. >>> now for another look at the weather. let's check bac

at a town hall meeting in new jersey which is actually in the united states, someone asked governor chris christie if he plants audience questions at town hall meetings. kristi's response was christie-esque. >> do you or your staff ever plant questions at a town hall meeting? >> to say it is a planted question, that means my staff is telling someone to ask a particular question. >> correct. >> and that doesn't happen. so you really in front of this group with all of the important issues we have going on in this state, you are wasting these people's time with a qi on whether we plant questions in the audience. >> well, with all due respect, if it was a planted question, you are wasting time at the town hall meeting. >> if i planted the question why the hell did i call on you? >> that was so good. >> that was so magical. >> tucker, how -- this guy should be running for president? how can you change his mind? >> he is playing at the higher level. he gave --20 years of covering politics and he gave the single most compelling speech. it doesn't mean he would be a great president, but he can co

. >> chris: congresswoman, you held a town hall meeting in iowa and you talked to iowa high school students about same-sex marriage. we'll play the exchange. >> there shouldn't be any special rights or criteria. >> why can't same-sex couples get married? >> they can get married but they abide by the same law. if you are a man marry a woman. >> chris: but same-sex marriage is legal in iowa, does that mean it is all right? >> guest: no, i don't believe it is. marriage for all human history has been between a man and a woman. it hasn't been the same-sex marriage . remember in iowa, it was judges that made the decision and not the legislature which are the people's representatives and that's why the people of iowa threw out three of the supreme court judges. that should give pause to all judges. the people of iowa are sick and tired of the judges telling them what the law is. they need to act like judges. as president of the united states i will only apply the judges that apply the constitution of the united states. >> chris: you invested heavily of time and money in iowa. if on january 3rd you

but i think it's interesting, we hearing from romney, he's got the ad and now chris christie is going to do a teletown hallth io io iowans, doing these phone conference calls with 2500 caucus goers getting a phone call and saying, stay on the phone, listen to chris christie. we'll see how that goes. >> thanks chuck todd. republicans are saying they will support extending the payroll tax cut by capping fall salaries for three years and withholding some benefits from millionaires. democrats say that's not good enough and the plan won't pass. bob corker is live on hill. senator corker, thank you very much for being with us. what about the payroll tax extension and the two sides are agreeing now, reports that republicans were concerned that they were gettanf out flanged on this payroll tax cut and it was too dangerous to go against the democrats on this, not a good talking point politically. can you agree on how to pay for it? >> i don't know, andrea. i think it really is a bad policy. i think where we need to be moving is towards the kind of thing that bowles-simpson laid out, doing away with the loopholes an

. >> chris: congress woman, you held a town hall meeting in iowa this past week and ended up talking so some iowa high school students about same-sex marriage. we want to play the exchange. >> there shouldn't be any special rights. or special set of criteria. based on people's preferences. we all have the same civil rights. they can get married. they abide by the same law as everyone else. they can marry a man this if he are a woman or marry a woman if they are a man. >> chris: congresswoman, same sex marriage is legal in iowa. is that all right? >> no, it has been between a man and a woman. it hasn't been the same-sex marriage. and remember in iowa it was judges that made the decision, not the legislature which are the people's representatives and certainly not the people. that is why the people are iowa threw out three of those supreme court judges. that is something that should give pause to all judges. the people in iowa are sick and tired of having judges tell them what their laws are. they are not a super legislature. they are judges and need to act like judges. as president of

chris. >> red, pink -- >> we have decked the halls with bows of holy here, and you, s , sir, -- >> he wearst well. >> it's a zippered sweater. anyway, the president signed a payroll tax extension into law today and he thanked congress for ending the political stalemate but warned there was more work to be done next year. let's listen to the president. >> when congress returns, i urge them to keep working without drama, without delay, to reach an agreement that extends this tax cut as well as unemployment insurance through all of 2012. you didn't send us to this town to play partisan games and to see who's up, who's down, you sent us here to make your lives a little bit better and to do what's right. and fortunately, that's how this week ended. >> well, i'm going to let you have this first ball here, bob. saying he's above politics having one of the big political tussles of the term. >> the analogy i might use, i haven't seen anything this dumb since custer got himself surrounded at the battle of big horn. mitch mcconnell tried to stop them. they have helped the president do exactly what he

. >> hey, chris -- >> i think it reminds us of the hall of the presidents down in disney-world, wheree president statues stand up and talk. your book is called -- it's an e-mail book. not an e-mail book, of course. it's an e-book. and they're very popular right now. great title. "the right fights back." another great production by evan thomas. this time co-authored with mike allen. when we return, let me finish with why democrats who want gingrich to knock off romney should be careful of what they wish for. you should always be careful of that. you're watching "hardball," only on msnbc. >>> let me finish tonight with this. there's intrigue afoot in this race for president. try these two undercurrents now running out there. one on the democratic side, the other on the republican. the biggest mistake you can make in politics is to assume that the other side things like you do. they're the other side precisely because they don't see things the way that you do, and that's why they're over there. look at the republicans going, lunging for newt gingrich right now. democrats think they're cr

now, the guy who runs the great state of new jersey where i live, chris christie, he was at a town hall where there was some give and take yesterday in west new york, new jersey, just across the river from where we're sitting and one guy got up and he said, hey, has anybody on your staff ever plant questions at town hall meetings because he was somewhere where he saw somebody ask a question at another event and that person claimed to be a friend of christie's. that's what the questioner asked. >> and her name was candy. >> that's right. >> and here's what the governor gave back. >> first of all, i don't know who candy is. i may have a friend named candy. i don't know who you're talking about. secondly, to say it's a planted question, that means that my staff is telling someone to ask a particular question. >> correct. >> and that doesn't happen so you really in front of this group, with all the important issues that we have going on in this state, you're wasting these people's time with a question on whether we plant questions in the audience. >> with all due respect, if it was a plante

. >> hey, chris -- >> i think it reminds us of the hall of the presidents down in disney-world, wheredent statues stand up and talk. your book is called -- it's an e-mail book. not an e-mail book, of course. it's an e-book. and they're very popular right now. great title. "the right fights back." another great production by evan thomas. this time co-authored with mike allen. when we return, let me finish with why democrats who want gingrich to knock off romney should be careful of what they wish for. you should always be careful of that. you're watching "hardball," only on msnbc. do your lashes want volume or length? how about both? with covergirl lashblast fusion. a mascara for lashes that want it all... all at once. our biggest brush meets our fiberstretch formula to bring you a blast of volume and length. lashes that want it all want lashblast fusion. from easy, breezy, beautiful covergirl. make a splash with water resistant lashblast fusion. so i used my citi thank you card to pick up some accessories. a new belt. some nylons. and what girl wouldn't need new shoes? we talked about

chris christie doesn't hold back. you won't want to exchange his town hall meeting. and what set him off?ong. see what it did sending a cannon through a neighborhood and the damage it left behind. >> you have seen our top stories but here's the best of the rest. governor chris christie, knowing for speaking his mind, he's at it again. this time the new jersey governor gets into it with a con stage went at a town hall meeting. what sparked his fiery response? here it is. >> i want to ask you a procedural question first. do you or your staff of plant questions at a town hall meeting? >> to say it's a planted question, that means my staff is telling someone to ask a particular question. >> correct. >> and that doesn't happen. so you really, in front of this group, with all the important issues that we have going on in this state, you are wasting these people's time with a question of whether we plant questions in the audience. [applause] >> well, now -- with all due respect -- with all due respect, if it was a planted question, you are wasting time at the town hall meeting. >> listen. if i p

chris crossing iowa. >> every country in the state so far but this marks my 350th town hall meeting. >> wow. >> congratulations >> reporter: five of the major republican candidates are in iowa tuesday. rick, michele bachmann, rick perry and newt gingrich show a combined 900 miles on the campaign trail. >> i appreciate the support in new hampshire. >> reporter: but plan to be in iowa by evening. they show every major candidate in the state. >> this is our opportunity. >> reporter: candidates phil and their adds packed air waves and inboxes. rick perry played in anty washington moves. >> if washington is the problem, why trust a congressman to fix it? >> reporter: a new american research poll shows two points separate. 12% of likely caucus goers are still undecided. steve king is part of that group. >> i thought i could come to a conclusion in september or october. it's nearly the end of december and i've not gotten to that point with my head and heart. >> reporter: it leaves candidates going the extra mile to win caucus support hoping it pays off down the long election year road. in washington i'm emily. >>> a

chris nas. there is all sorts of displays. folks in the count reap deck the hallsights and sounds. this is different entirely. why one woman said the decorations could help her find a job. >> thousands celebrating with the ones they love. and now generous americans are shipping in to make sure they all have a merry christmas. >> wish you could see them huving to the tune. little taste of the home for men and women serving in afghanistan this christmas. they deserve it. the marine corp released the video. chefs preparing the christmas dinner and they are working hard to put that meal together. they want to bringg holiday share to heros far from home. >> christmas came early for troops in south. they were arriving home i want it to change and me not be here. all i have to do is with the fiance and family. that's good enough. >> welcome home. they are expected home next we. it is something that americans should view this chris mass. take a moment to give thanks . and say a prayer. they are struggling to make end's meet. on a way now that we can had. merry christmas an

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