frozen things but they have never really had to give up any far of their nuclear infrastructure. >> david sanger reporting from harvard university today. thank you very much, david. >> thank you. >>> coming up next, who would win a 2012 matchup between president obama and sarah palin? >>> plus, will the white house get congress to vote on "don't ask don't tell." >>> 47 years later, the secret service agents assigned to president kennedy share their account of what happened during those terrible moments in dallas. this is andrea mitchell reports only on msnbc. [ female announcer ] the healing power of touch just got more powerful. introducing precise pain relieving heat patch. it blocks pain signals for deep relief precisely where you need it most. precise. only from the makers of tylenol. >>> a new poll shows that more voters feel the president does not deserve a second term than those supporting him for re-election. today's poll shows that 49% say that president obama should be a one-term president. 43% feel he does deserve a second term. on the republican side, no one has stepped up as the par

we begin this evening with a debriefing of david sanger, who writes about north korea for the "new york times." >> the overwhelming sense i got today, charlie, was that the administration wanted to manage this. they did not want a bigger confrontation. they did not want to threaten to take out the artillery sites from which this was launched. just as south korea did not threaten to take out the submarine base from which the attack on the ship was launched last spring. so they're stuck. it's an interesting thing a country that is as broke, that is as starving as north korea is holds all the cards because it has so little too lose. >> rose: we continue with steve martin whose new novel is called "an object of beauty." it's about interesting characters in the art world in the end what you are is a writer. you wrote your own comedy. you perform it but you wrote screenplays. you wrote novell las, you write pieces for the "new yorker." you write songs. you are a writer. >> i guess. so but it's the strangest thing because i do it out of necessity because there would be no point for me to play

david sanger of the "new york times." and pete williams of nbc news. >> award-winning reporting and analysis, covering history as it happens. live from our nation's capitol, this is "washington week" with gwen ifill. produced in association with "national journal." corporate funding for washington week is provided by -- >> we know why we're here, to give our war fighters every advantage. >> to deliver technologies that anticipate the future today. >> and help protect america everywhere from the battle space to cyberspace. >> around the globe, the people of boeing are working together to give our best for america's best. >> that's why we're here. >> there have been a lot of markets up and down lately, but anne and mike made it through. they stuck through their plan. now they're thicking about what's next. as their financial advisor i reviewed their complete financial picture. they're reallocating some of those assets so they don't have to rethink some of their dreams. >> wells fargo advisors. together we'll go far. >> corp

. >> meacham: joining me now are the "new york times"'s scott sthan from washington and david sanger from cambridge, massachusetts. they have reported on document for the paper. in new york is jamie rubin. he served at the state department under pic and now teaches at columbia university. welcome. david, i want to start with you. you have a story out tonight for the paper tomorrow about north korea. tell us what you have that's new. >> well, i think, jon, what was striking about the cables from north korea were that the south koreans and the united states have engaged in a fairly detailed discussion that we've always heard the echoes of that never seem to close up about what would happen in the event that north korea collapses. and that seoul would try to begin to take over all of the korean peninsula again so that really for the first time since the end of world war ii. and some of that discussion goes to the question of how the chinese would be placated. remember, china is perfectly happy to keep north korea in place even if it's a somewhat unruly neighbor, because it's a buffer bet

a piece by david sanger, the dateline is washington. the focus is on north korea. the headline, north koreans unveil new plans for nuclear use. north korea showed a scientist a vast new facility it's secretly and rapidly built to inrich -- enrich uranium. -- host: more details from david sanger this morning in the "new york times." karen is joining us, independent line from new york city. good morning. caller: good morning, steve, how are you? >> fine. how are you today? caller: fine, thank you. i think the truth of the matter is that sarah palin is the leading thorn on the side of the republican establishment. i think that the republican establishment does not like her, does not want her and is going to do whatever it can to get rid of her. i found her -- i'm extremely left wing. that's how i roll. host: uh-uh. caller: but you have to go to the anchorage daily news to the alaska blogs as i did from the campaign up until the present, not as much recently but i spent a lot of time doing research. she has a very long, very bad record. she's widely regarded by the reg