petraeus. is this guy running for president? we'll be right back with david corn and jonathan martin who knows his politics. general petraeus will have an easy time in new hampshire. (announcer) regular kool-aid. goes almost three times further than soda. kool aid. delivering more smiles per gallon. what if you could capture the fresh taste of broccoli in a luscious soup? v8 garden broccoli. from campbell's. velvety, delicious. campbell's v8 soups. also, try new garden vegetable blend. the energy to get the economy humming again. the energy to tackle challenges like climate change. what if that energy, came from an energy company. every day, chevron invests $62 million in people. in ideas. seeking, teaching, building. fueling growth around the world, to move us all ahead. this is the power of human energy. chevron. as the decades have past, the promise of medicare has always been there. and aarp has fought to guarantee none of the benefits you earned were ever taken away. today we're continuing that fight by protecting your freedom to choose the doctors and t

general david petraeus was diagnosed with early stage pros test cancer in february. the radiation treatment is considered successful. his office says it didn't affect his workload much. petraeus kept all this private, though key administration officials knew about it. >>> a man who fell out of a hot air balloon in albuquerque is in serious condition. it struck a tent yesterday, and the man fell about 25 feet to the ground. the 70-year-old has a dislocated hip. >> we saw the man cartwheel out at about 35 feet. he didn't hit the tent. what he did was he landed it looks like right on the the aspha asphalt. >> you can probably see the balloon rose quickly with a passenger out of the basket. then the pilot brought it down quickly to check on her passenger. she was a little banged up from the hard lan landing. >>> brett favre has been on the helm many of times when green bay teamed up on the football field. find out how he did against his long time team. >>> an alabama woman is in trouble for apparently allowing her teenage daughter to ride in a box on top of their van. po

included secretary of state hillary rodham clinton, defense secretary, robert gates and general david petraeus, who's in charge of the central command. >> we need to have the number of troops recommended. >> it is critical if you ask young americans to put their lives on the line, the strategy is equal to the sacrifice you're asking them to make. >> some have argued that u.s. drones can do the job. those planes killed six alleged militants today. republican leaders are charging any delay endangers u.s. troops. >>> urgency to pass health care reform, columbus day break for the u.s. senate. majority harry reid canceled the week long recess today coming after lawmakers request to pass a final health care bill by thanksgiving. congressional leaders planned on an end of the year deadline. the debate over health care is getting even more heated. house republicans are looking for an apology from grayson of floridwho criticized what he deemed the gop house plan on the house floor. >> do you want the democratic plan or the republican plan. remember the republican plan, don't get sick. if you do get sic

. >>> today in washington, i interviewed david petraeus. the general has been in on these talks on afghanistan with president obama. he said, again, today, it's a far different war. a direct outgrowth of 9/11. among other things, i asked about the main reason u.s. troops went to that place eight years ago, osama bin laden. on your top list going forward, where does osama bin laden fit on those? >> well, bin laden obviously has enormous iconic importance and a degree of operational importance. it's really his deputy issuing the instructions. the top two are of significant importance. and, it is obviously a focus of a lot of folks in the central command area, responsibility and partner agencies, eventually to locate the individuals and to kill or capture them. >> bears repeating there. general petraeus saying bin laden is of enormous importance and operational importance to the u.s. a focus of a big effort by the military. it's an hour long interview. you can see it on our website, nightly.msnbc.com. >>> the month of september saw the end of

david petraeus, has prostate cancer. doctors say that the disease is in its early stages and the treatment is positive. in the bottom box, cooler weather helping to get california wild fires under control. full containment could come on thursday. martha: bertha lewis, the leader of the acorn has just released their own internal reports. she said, -- this, as new details are emerging on embezzlement. eric sean is in the news room. what did she say about the white house in her comments? >> she said there is no sinister when house -- white house acorn connection. they were involved in some past efforts, but today, she responded to a question about any type of white house connections, especially with top advisers. she said there is no connection. basically, trying to tamp down any relationship between the two. martha: she is talking about news that is not coming out, acorn embezzlement. >> we have known about this, about $1 million. this is from the brother of one of the founders of acorn. he embezzled $1 million. there is a

general david petraeus has been diagnosed with early stage prostate cancer.one two months of radiation treatment. he has gone on at least one overseas trip during this time. he has been able to keep his training regimen to route the time as well. the treatment is being called successful. an update to that shocking case of the mother that was stabbed. remember this story? she was stabbed and her newborn baby was kidnapped out of her home. the suspect is telling police that she purchased the baby for $25,000. the baby is now safe. his three siblings are in state custody. a judge will review the case today to see if the children should go back to their real mother. erin andrews may not be the only victim of an accused peeping tom. prosecutors said michael barrett taped many other women in their hotel room. he is free on bond, but barred from using the internet. prosecutors say that he was obsessed with andrews and went through a lot of work to track her down. that is where they allegedly messed with the people and take her walking around -- taped her walking aro

shepard: david petraeus commented on the war in afghanistan today. what did he say? >> he said security is deteriorating, very similar from what general mcchrystal is saying. petraeus said today in the d.c. area that everyone agrees more afghan fighters, more soldiers need to be trained to take on that fight, they are in place to do it, the sooner we can surrender some responsibilities to them and the sea for it will be for the afghan people. they say they are facing an industrial strength insurgency and the sooner we put it down, the better everyone will be. shepard: but are those troops trainable? we shall see. thank you. president obama vowed to close guantanamo bay by january, 2010, but but today eric holder said it will be very difficult to shut that down by the deadline. the problem, according to eric holder, is to find out where to put the detainees who are already there. it is very difficult to transfer them from debt owed to u.s. presence. critics claim that many of the detainee's, many of them terror suspects, are too dangerous. i think that we have a very

. >>> general david petraeus was diagnosed with early stage prostate cancer in february. radiation treatment is considered successful. he kept his illness private was administration officials knew all about it. >>> tyler perry reveals intimate details of his troubled childhood in new orleans including physical and sexual abuse. that's the news for now, i'm mike galanos.

remember, general david petraeus, the hero of the surge in iraq who is now the commander of iraq andprostate cancer and he had all of that rigorous therapy. i think he was out of the loop and that is why i think the mcchrystal memo got leaked. >> i have a different theory why it took so long. because ann and her friends had us in iraq looking for weapons of mass destruction when we should have been in afghanistan maybe about seven years ago, that might be why is took so long. >> as long as you mention it, i would like to take this opportunity to mention what a disaster it is to move the focus of the war on terrorism from iraq to afghanistan. we win in afghanistan when you didn't have all the muslim focusing on afghanistan. it is not a good country for our military power where we can dominate from the air. we can't do that in afghanistan with the mountains and the caves. >> geraldo: that is where the bad guys are. >> i think the problem is. >> that is why you want to keep them focused on iraq just as george bush was doing. >> i think you have a strategic problem when you want to fight

it look the like the presence -- man we all know general david petraeus. s "new york times" talks about general petraeus being sidelined by this administration and he getting very frustrated, perhaps. that according to people close to him. >> it's not good for the administration for it to -- for there even to be an appearance of some sort of daylight between the president and his generals. unless that's what the white house wants. and i think that's going to have to be reconciled in the next few weeks. gretchen: i thought it was interesting in a couple of columns when the president went over to copenhagen to fight for the preliminary picks to -- olympics to come to chicago. he did meet with mcchrystal they said that meeting lasted 25 minutes to. me that sounded so weird. i went back and re-read it why would they put out that he met with him for 25 minutes. why wouldn't they use a different frame of reference. because to me that seemed like quite a bit of time for something so important. >> yeah. i thought so. too. one of the reasons you do that as working f

we also talk to the guys like david petraeus, we talk to guys like general mcchrystal and fact of theatter is it the president has to make a decision. will he stand with his generals and win this war and keep america safe or is he going to cow tow to the liberals in congress. if we pull out, it has terrible ramifications. it also sends as terrible signal if we pull out prematurely to iran, to the russians, the chinese. we have to not to stay the course, but we have to -- one of the they thinks about this battle here that happened yesterday is that we didn't have enough troops where we needed held. and we need on to send the troops in, we need to back up our generals, and we need to win this war because that does have implications for us back home. in vietnam, they were not going to attack the united states. what happened in afghanistan with 9/11, the taliban and the al qaeda decided to organize in afghanistan and that had ramifications back home. so that's yits's so vitally important for us to win this battle and win this war. >> so, peter, do you think the president wants the troops

that's what the office of general david petraeus is saying. it says he was diagnosed with early stage prostate cancer back in february. the radiation treatment is considered successful. his office says it did not affect his work schedule much and he kept it private, but that cue administration officials knew about it. >>> richard is here. if you're staying around for the next hour, so is he. i understand the economy is hammering the one industry that everyone thinks is recession proof. >> that's right. but not anymore, robin! we're talking about the adult sex industry. it is feeling the pain now. the next hour, we'll look at where we can see the downturn there and what is still selling in the sex industry. >>> plus a strategy in florida when a little boy asks his mom if he can take the wheel. what happens there. it is a catastrophe there. >>> plus if jon and kate gosselin saga just got a little nastier. stick around for the latest in the fight that just won't quit. >> i always thought the one recession proof industry was alcohol. >> that may s

commander in the middle east was treated for cancer, that's what the office of general david petraeus is saying. he was diagnosed with early prostate cancer in february. the radiation treatment is considered successful and his office saying it did not affect his work schedule much. key administration official os did know about that. >>> let's talk about reality star kate gosselin quhoo is saying her estranged husband, jon, stole $230,000 from her. she told nbc he withdrew it from an account and leaving her with $1,000 and now kate says she can't pay her bills. jon gosselin has not responded to the accusations as of yet. last week he said he wanted filming to stop on the tlc show that follows their eight kids. know we'll hear more on that as time goes by. >>> new this morning, it will cost you a bit yet, possibly a lot less to heat your home this winter. a year ago we were sitting, oh, my word, it will cost a little to heat our homes. >> these prices and grocery prices were a scare in the past year or so and they cooled off a lot as the economy has calmed down. you know, has shrivelled

iraq war the bush administration had looked at their strategy there and talked to people like david petraeus and other people around the country who are actually fighting the enemy, they might have revised their policies on things like debathification and their tribal policy which is a disaster for the first five years of the war. that's what the obama administration is looking at now. there are things that general mcchrystal, you know, that they aren't, like the improved intelligence about al qaeda which has helped us target their leadership in a fashion in the last six months. there's another level of the playing field, as well, which is the afghan government and what is going to merge from that very disastrous electroprocess. i think what is going on now is really important process. there has to be a reevaluation based on the elections and the new, on our new intelligence capability and on what we're learning out in the field. and i do think that general mcchrystal has overstepped a bit publicly. >> let's say what general jones says over the weekend, the national security adviser saying t

what general david petraeus told our own brian williams today. brian will join us live. big picture" on msnbc. we put our economy in the hands of hostile nations. we let big oil make record profits... while we struggle. and we lose new energy jobs, that go overseas. but we can take charge of our economy... by passing strong clean energy legislation. 1.7 million new american jobs. less carbon pollution. and a cleaner america for our children. it's time for clean american energy. ♪ and now in my sixties, they are again. grandpa, are we there yet? i have the freedom to do what i want... and go where i want. grandpa, come on! freedom is what i like about my medicare supplement insurance. i can see the doctor i want, where i want, anywhere in the country. now your sixties can be a time of freedom again... with aarp medicare supplement insurance plans... insured by unitedhealthcare insurance company. because any doctor or hospital that accepts medicare... will accept aarp medicare supplement insurance. anywhere in the u.s. the freedom to do my own thing, without worrying about

the head of central command, general david petraeus, says president obama should be allowed to settle what's the mission? what is it that we want to accomplish? and that is what is being discussed right now. we're not yet at the point of talking about resources or numbers or what have you. in fact, i have not yet endorsed the resources. >> general petraeus will be part of the national security team meeting with president obama twice next week to consider the best strategy for afghanistan. >>> kidnap survivor elizabeth smart minced no words, testifying in court about her horrifying ordeal seven years ago. the now 21-year-old smart accused her captor, brian david mitchell, of raping her three or four times a day for nine months, keeping her tied up and threatening to kill her if she tried to escape. smart described mitchell as "evil, wicked, selfish, not spiritual, not religious, and not close to god." >>> here's your friday forecast. a large storm brings rain to the midwest, the ohio valley and the gulf coast. stormy across south florida. the southwest remains dry with a high fire dang

david petraeus was diagnosed with early stage cancer in february. yes undergarment two months of successful -- he has undergone a two months of successful treatment, which did not interfere with his job. jon: president obama will discuss afghanistan and pakistan today with key members of congress at the white house. john mccain, ranking member of the armed services committee, will be one of those at today's meeting. he says it would be a mistake to scale back afghan efforts against the taliban and narrow the scope is defining al qaeda. >> you cannot separate the two. if the taliban takes over -- not to mention the horrible things that would happen to the afghan people, but i strongly disagree with those who allege that they are similar problems. jon: karl rove served at a white house -- at the white house as a chief adviser. he is here to talk about afghan policy and issues related to health care. the president is in an uncomfortable situation. he picked general mcchrystal to run the war there, firing his predecessor, and then general mcchrystal say

david petraeus was diagnosised with prostate cancer. he kept this private but key administration officials knew all about it. >>> and tiler perry is sharing a painful past with his fans. he reveals intimate details of physical and sexual abuse in his child hood. >>> did cbs dump david letterman over a sex scandal? some say it is time for the king of late night to step off the throne. plus once again republicans are using smear tactics to gain political ground and once again it's working. and joining me on the studio, lewis black. how fabulous is he. all that and more tonight. >>> tonight some people are saying cbs should fire letterman over the sex scandal but their ratings have been huge. i don't think anyone is getting more out of the scandal than letterman himself. take a look. >> it's fall here in new york city. oi spent the whole weekend raking my hate mail. and it's cold. chilly outside my house. chilly inside my house. i got into the car this morning and the navigation lady wasn't speaking to me. ouch. and he apologized to his wi

this is a former advisor to general david petraeus and he says, now, the only counter insurgency in the good, if the government is good and therefore, you have corruption and you have a government that the people there don't even believe is on their side. therefore, none of this will ever take hold so you have to reform first, and then you can then build what you were talking about, building schools and trying to drive down suicide attacks. on ap on and on. >> well, i mean, i think ultimately this down to two questions the president has to answer. first, do what general mcchrystal wants and send 40,000 extra troops or pull back in some sense and before he gets into these in particular details, and you need to answer that question. i thought it was interesting that the taliban, these poppy farmers are not tacked in any way and they're talking about that could be a path to suck success and gets the money from the people who get income from selling drugs. >> i've not heard that before. that's interesting. >> and the taliban has found a way to tax those people who beastically organizationed

as you know, if general petraeus is not ready to go along yet with more troops in afghanistan, that's a pretty big deal. >> it is. david and alex, you can go a little blind trying to read the tea leaves. at so many levels, petraeus, west point class of '74, mccrystal, two years behind him, class of '76, same class as general odierno. this is the post vietnam generation of four-star military officers, and they've been called in, along with civilians. the president wants to review everything. and beyond that statement saying, look, i haven't agreed to anything, and if i have numbers, they haven't leaked. it was tough to get the general to commit. these are very, very serious talks. he said today the president will have few more serious decisions during his time in office than this decision. do you go big? do you go small? do you keep it the same? what's the mission and what's victory after all? >> brian, i'm so intrigued by what my producers are telling me at what point today you asked the general how he would react if president obama came to him and said he wanted to go small and not send more troops? the general answer