we also have "washington post" columnist, eugene robinson and bloomberg view columnist, jonathan alter. thank you for joining me. you work for an hour, but you got the first hour of the debate. the 10 to 1 ratio, it really is probably the high point, the most interesting point of the debate. they are now positioning themselves against what popular polling tells us, especially about the general election, where that position is favored by about 20% of the electorate. it seems this will corner them more and more into tight, republican corners that do not appeal to the general elections. >> it almost seems like they are trying to outdo each other on taxes. >> always. >> the could have followed it up with out 100 to 1. all the hands would have stayed up. >> they are out trying to outdo one another. that was my interpretation. we have a thing in minnesota called minnesota nuts. we found out tonight that they left the republican arena. i thought that michelle and tim going back and forth with one another is very telling. we will see more of this with the candidates as we get going. they will

eugene robinson. >>> recent chief of staff was said to "make things up." ♪ >>> back to "hardball."the "sideshow." first up, fed up. that's how one of michele bachmann's recent chiefs of staff describes his sentiment after repeatedly having to take the backlash of bachmann's tendency to make what he calls or what he considers blatantly false statements. there was the issue of obama's $200 million trip to india last year. not true, and a staple in many of her speeches that obama has added more to the federal debt load than all the other presidents combined. that's right. all 43 of them. well, the former aide expressed frustration in a "wall street journal" interview saying "it was simply not true, and yet i could never get her to drop that line." well, the piece points out that when it comes to staff, bachmann has an unusually high turnover rate. >>> next up, in the midst of a dismal employment, florida governor is reaching out to voters and taking a trip down memory lane once a month. scott will take a day off from his group that electoral duties and take on the employment at a loca

joining me, mike murphy, eugene robinson, iowa's republican governor terry branstad, minart jonathantin and nbc's chuck todd, after this brief commercial break. a man: everybody knows you should save for retirement, but what happens when you're about to retire? woman: how do you go from saving to spending? fidelity helped us get to this point, and now we're talking about what comes next. man: we worked together to create a plan to help our money last. woman: so we can have the kind of retirement we want. now, you know how this works. just stay on the line. .. fidelity investments. turn here. a living, breathing intelligence that's helping drive the future of business. in here, inventory can be taught to learn. ♪ machines have a voice. ♪ medical history follows you. it's the at&t network -- a network of possibilities... committed to delivering the most advanced mobile broadband experience to help move business... forward. ♪ energy is being produced to power our lives. while energy developement comes with some risk, north america's natural gas producers are committed to safely and resp

good. >>> "washington post" columnist and a miss nbc analyst eugene robinson is back.ou for staying with me. choctaw, bachman verses polanski, was that the hottest one-on-one thing? >> there was no doubt about it. 1 other thing that struck me was something i wanted to say before the break. watching tim hit michele. i agree, it was eugene that said this. if you were scoring it at the time, okay, bob -- michele got the exchange in those debates, 2007, particularly that one debate. i got a sense it exposed some real weaknesses. romney and perry, essentially, the play book on how to go after her. assuming, maybe he wins the stronghold and gets his mojo back and he is able to get out of the show. if that doesn't happen, though, i would not be provided the blueprint as to how he sort of threw himself on the grenade and tried to stop her if you were romney or rick perry. >> this is a very important point because i think for the men on that panel taking on the only woman on the panel is difficult. it seems that romney will want him to stay on as long as he can. >> i want to po

right now joining me, eugene robinson. eugene, i'm glad i could persuade you to talk about this, thank you for being here. >> it's good to be here. >> how does one prove that you are in love with america? >> well, as you know, the traditional way, and actually the surist way is with a bumper sticker. see, the president has this new bus, right, the souped-up bus, he could put a really, really big bumper sticker on the back that says i heart america and everybody would know. >> when rick perry said this today, particularly with a follow-up question, i don't know, you're a good reporter, go ask him. it struck me when i saw it as old school, the return of orly taitz, the respectable right might be over now, might be embarrassed by. but we saw carl rove, others on the right, upset about what rick perry said about bernanke, nobody peeping about this, does that mean it's back for the campaign? >> i'm not sure it's actually back. it might be in rick perry world, right? he's in the -- in the past two days he's demonstrated why peop

washington post," eugene robinson, and senior political reporter tracking the republican field for "politico," jonathan martin. captions paid for by nbc-universal television >>> good morning from iowa. big political weekend as we cast the republican race for the white house. news this morning that former governor tim pawlenty who came in a distant third in the straw poll in iowa, held a conference call with supporters moments ago and told them he plans to announce this morning that he is dropping out of the race at this early juncture. joining me fresh from her iowa straw poll victory, republican presidential candidate, congresswoman michele bachmann of minnesota. welcome back to "meet the press" and congratulations. >> thank you, david. thank you. >> here is the headline in "the des moines register," the sunday edition -- "bachmann takes first," one of the big headlines in a busy political weekend. are you now the front-runner in iowa? >> oh, i'm grateful that we won the straw poll, but we see this as just the very first step in a very long race because we, of course, have the caucuses here

and eugene robinson of "the washington post."uck todd traveling with the president in iowa. [ male announcer ] get ready for the left lane. the volkswagen autobahn for all event is back. right now, get a great deal on new volkswagen models, including the cc. and every volkswagen includes scheduled carefree maintenance. that's the power of german engineering. right now lease the volkswagen cc sport for just $289 a month. ♪ visit vwdealer.com today. >>> upset of rick perry running in the race. let's try that again. >> it's a room full of young people and you're like, there's a new presidential candidate. please, ladies, keep your tube tops on. >> reported in the early days in the texas state legislature, rick perry used to wear his jeans so tight that his nickname, i'm not making this up, was crotch. ladies and gentlemen, item number 77 on my bucket list is the president of the united states named "crotch," wouldn't that be apaezing. >> welcome back to "morning joe," a gloomy day. >> rick perry, good in jeans. >> yeah, yeah. >> cle

eugene robinson, and rob christ christie, welcome to you both. >> good evening. >> eugene, he got osama laden, he pulled the trigger on the somali pirates, he doubled down in afghanistan. what else did he do here? lots of stuff. he's been pretty good, it seems to me at sending troops overseas to do things. by traditional republican standards, how is obama doing as a war president? >> well, what he has done, i would say, ron, is neutralized the traditional republican attack on democrats that they are wusses who can't be trusted to defend america or project american military force the way republicans would. clearly obama is knolls hesitant to do so, and he's clearly rather skillful at doing so, because he's had these successes. i think that's the major political impact. >> ron, if george w. bush, or for that matter mitt romney had somehow nail osama bin laden orring flying those drone missions over pakistan, what would republicans be saying? >> i'll give the president all the due in the world. it was an important mission, and whether that's president obama or any president, i will give hi

joining me now, eugene robinson. willard, thank you for being here tonight. mind if i call you willard. >> i do actually. mitt romney is thurston howell iii, does that mean jon huntsman is the professor, because he believes in global warming and he believes in evolution, then michele bachmann could be maryann, sarah palin, of course, is ginger. >> wait, wait, wait. you've got ginger and maryann backwards. >> do you think so? >> i totally see bachmann as ginger, but keep going. >> no, but there it ends. who's the captain, who's gilligan? >> well, the skipper is hard to say. the thing is, if you think -- if you're thinking about this in terms of pure impression, ron paul is the skipper, don't you think? >> yeah, i was thinking ron paul for gilligan and newt gingrich for skipper. >> that does put rick perry in the position of being gilligan, i'm afraid rick santorum will sue me for even saying that for being religiously offensive. >> that's a given, so we won't go there. >> a three-hour tour. now we've done it. can a candidate turn a rich guy caricature into a s

chuck todd and eugene robinson will be here.ins with a check on the forecast. >> good morning. boston and new york city a much better day for today. i think you will enjoy the forecast the next couple days. the morning commute for the rush hour, so warm in d.c. at 93. we drop the temperatures for awhile. yesterday, 107 in dallas. we are going to be 100 today. 39 days in a row. three away from the record in dallas. you can see we are doing 100s through the upcoming weekend. bad storms in arkansas and oklahoma. you are watching "morning joe," brewed by starbucks. ♪ [ country ] [ man ] ♪ gone, like my last paycheck ♪ gone, gone away ♪ gone, like my landlord's smile ♪ ♪ gone, gone away ♪ my baby's gone away with dedicated claims specialists... and around-the-clock service, travelers can help make things better quicker. will your auto and home insurer... be there when you need them most? for an agent or quote, call 800-my-coverage... or visit travelers.com. new splenda® essentials™ no calorie sweetener with b vitamins, the first and

joining us now to help me is eugene robinson, pulitzer-prize winning columnist for "the washington post" and msnbc contributor. can you help me with this? >> take a deep breath. you and me, we'll find the aerosmith tour bus and we'll take a trip. we'll take a nice drive, and it will be beautiful and it will be fine, rachel. >> even though i trust you and love you, gene, i am not getting on a bus with a mirrored ceiling and leather sofas. it's not going to happen. >> oh, darn! >> i know that the criticism of the bus is stupid. but i'm wondering here if there is something salient in how phrasenly brazenly stupid it is. does this reflect a cockiness of being sure you're not ever going to be called out for it? >> i think it reflects what we've seen since president obama took office, which is attack, attack, attack, on everything, everything, everything, even if all of the presidents did it, even if somebody else made the decision. attack him. and, you know, just chip away, chip away, and frankly they haven't mattered -- it hasn't mattered yet that you call them out on it and right, but it w

joining us now, eugene robinson, msnbc contributor, great to see you, gene. >> great to be here, chris. >> am i being hyperbolic, is this something you knew and -- or is this the way the system always works? >> it has certainly escalated, chris. look, this government, our political system has always worked best with a tight deadline. things tend not to get done until they have to get done, but you're right this is different. there was a familious quote from rob emmanuel when he was chief of staff a couple of years ago to the effect that what a shame it would be to waste a crisis. well, the republicans have learned never waste a crisis, just make the crisis and use it to an advantage. they seem to be perfecting the technique technique. >> what episode, two aspects, substance of what the actual deal that was struck and passed by the house today is, then there's a process by which it produced. i wonder, what do you find most ominous about how this whole deal went down? >> how much time do we have actually? if you want to talk process, look, if you reward hostage takers, they take more hos

. -- eugene robinson. we've had a rock-n-roll day here. halo barbour accusing the liberal media of taking rick perry to task. i know the governor, we all know that a lot of republicans have been voicing concerns about rick perry and if he's ready for prime time. >> if he continues to put it on the media, men it was republicans karl rove and other republicans who were complaining about perry's language as being not presidential. it wasn't presidential. let's face it. if he keeps shooting off from the lip that way. he's going to squander some of this early buzz from the nomination. >> what do you think about the state of the race right now? is this it? is this the field? do you think there's time for someone else to get in? >> there's probably time for someone else. i wonder who that would be. i take chris christie at his word that he's not running. sarah palin continues to suggest. i think it's difficult to credit that. this is probably the field. if you were going to bet on a potential nominee, you wouldn't really put down a lot of money o

eugene robinson, a columnist and for "the washington post," and howard fineman, huffington post's editorial director and both are msnbc political analysts. eugene, you wrote, president obama's promised jobs plan needs to be unrealistic and unreasonable at the very least and if he can crank it all the way up to unimaginable that would be even better. i take it from what you wrote what you're really saying is, hey, nothing's getting done in the next 15 months? >> well, what i'm saying is, go for it. you know, the plan should be what ought to happen, rather than what he thinks he can get through a republican house that's not going to let anything get through. they're not going to pass anything that he sends up there, because they don't want to. a, they don't believe in it, and b, they don't want to help him out. >> if he throws the hail mary and you get more intransigence from the gop freshman class, where do we assistant for the next 15 months? >> the next 15 months both sides can take their case to the american people and let them decide, hear the arguments pro and con, some sort of large sc

eugene robinson. great discussion. >>> libya leader moammar gadhafi may be -- talking about weasel words. may be preparing to flee the country. wellance okay. he could be gone in a matter of days. that could be news. we'll find out in a couple of days. this is "hardball," on on msnbc. >>> back in '83, ronald reagan's nerd year in office, 9.5. reagan set off on a 25-day vacation to his ranch in california. 25 days. not 9 that this president is getting. presidents have always been taking vacations and complaining about it -- we'll be right back. [ male announcer ] this...is the network -- a network of possibilities. in here, the planned combination of at&t and t-mobile would deliver our next generation mobile broadband experience to 55 million more americans, many in small towns and rural communities, giving them a new choice. we'll deliver better service, with thousands of new cell sites... for greater access to all the things you want, whenever you want them. it's the at&t network... and what's possible in here is almo

the "washington post" eugene robinson with us next. [ male announcer ] where'd you get that idea? you learn to do that? what'd you use? every project we finish comes with a story built-in. it's how our rough ideas become "you did that yourself?" so when we can save more on the projects that let us fix, make, and do more... that just makes the stories even better. more saving. more doing. that's the power of the home depot. right now get this vanity and matching mirror for just $99. what if we designed an electric motorcycle? what if we turned trash into surfboards? whatever your what if is, the new sprint biz 360 has custom solutions to make it happen, including mobile payment processing, instant hot spots, and 4g devices like the motorola photon. so let's all keep asking the big what ifs. sprint business specialists can help you find the answers. sprint. america's favorite 4g network. trouble hearing on the phone? visit sprintrelay.com. >>> topping the headlines right now on "andrea mitchell reports" five american service members were killed in afghanistan today. a roadside bomb

eugene robinson. great discussion.. >>> libya leader moammar gadhafi may be -- talking about weasel words. may be preparing to flee the country. okay. he could be gone in a matter of days. that could be news. we'll find out in a couple of days. this is "hardball," only on msnbc. every time a local business opens its doors or creates another laptop bag or hires another employee, it's not just good for business -- it's good for the entire community. at bank of america, we know the impact that local businesses have on communities, so we're helping them with advice from local business experts and extending $18 billion in credit last year. that's how we're helping set opportunity in motion. >>> president obama is on his first full day of vacation. he is being criticize sides for his trip. >>> back in '83, ronald reagan's third year in office, 9.5. reagan set off on a 25-day vacation to his ranch in california. 25 days. not 9 that this president is getting. presidents have always been taking vacations and there's been compla

eugene robinson, thanks as well. mcdonnell joins us and maria bartiromo with what to expect. david ignatius joins the conversation. you are watching "morning joe" brewed by starbucks. boy, i'm glad we got aflac huh. aflac! oh, i've just got major medical... major medical. ...but it helps pay the doctors. pays the doctors, boyyy! [ quack ] oh yeah? what about your family? ♪ we added aflac, so we get cash! it's like our safety net... ♪ to help with the mortgage or whatever we need! so my family doesn't feel the pain too. ha! [ male announcer ] help protect your family at aflac.com. [ pigeons ] heyyy! hooo!!! in one place. ♪ the race of your life you never ran. the trip around the world you never took. the best-selling novel you never wrote. but there's one opportunity that's too good to miss. the lexus golden opportunity sales event, with exceptional values on the lexus es. but only until september 6th. see your lexus dealer. >>> in peasz peaceful demonstration across the nation, syrians are demanding their civil human

democratic congresswoman marilyn edwards and eugene robinson, columnist for the "washington post."e got two people i trust. let's start with this why doesn't president obama start acting like a democrat and start creating public-sector jobs. has the talk of a deficit scared democrats out of being democrats. >> i think the way we get this economy rolling is talking about the government investing and not just talking about reducing spending. i'm going to have this argument and debate within our democratic caucus and also with the president and say now is the time to actually spend money. you say infrastructure? really big word, roads, bridges, water and sewer systems, pretty simple. put people to work. we have 151,000 bridges in this country that need repair. that's a lot of jobs. >> why don't you go down to richmond and look for bridges below code and all the water systems and sewer systems that are out of date and put them on local television and say there's one man against fixing all of these things, he's eric cantor. >> that's my job working for tip o'neil, thinking of things lik

up next, eugene robinson.le announcer ] we've got all you need for back to school with low prices every day on everything. backed by our ad match guarantee. save money. live better. walmart. [ male announcer ] get ready for the left lane. the volkswagen autobahn for all event is back. right now, get a great deal on new volkswagen models, including the jetta, awarded a top safety pick by the iihs. that's the power of german engineering. hurry in and lease the jetta s for just $179 a month. ♪ visit vwdealer.com today. ♪ host: could switching to geico reon car insurance? or more host: do people use smartphones to do dumb things? man 1: send, that is the weekend. app grapgic: yeah dawg! man 2: allow me to crack...the bubbly! man 1: don't mind if i doozy. man 3: is a gentleman with a brostache invited over to this party? man 1: only if he's ready to rock! ♪ sfx: guitar and trumpet jam vo: geico. 15 minutes could save you 15% or more on car insurance. what if we designed an electric motorcycle? what if we turned tra

joining us to talk about this, simon hobbs, great as this and msnbc political analyst eugene robinsonho understands the politic. setting you both up, gentlemen. all i can ask, a simp question. dow jones industrial down 265 points today. any winners in this whole kerfuffle. simon, gold -- gold went up, telling me nobody trusts anything except bullion. >> it's not about just today. we have fallen for eight straight sessions. we have lost on the dow jones industrial average 858 points in eight sessions 6.7%, because we believed the world is slowing down and that america, possibly, possibly, could tick back into recession. that is the backdrop. meantime perhaps ironically people are stampeding selling interest rates down. if you ask me specifically about the debt ceiling and what we accomplished in washington i would say the world markets most definitely dodged a bullet but a bullet playing a game of russian roulette wholly of washington, d.c.'s making. >> give me your assessment gene? >> a negative sum game. not a zero sum game and the question, who's going to lose worse. so dems lost wo

now joining us, eugene robinson. gene, madison says hi. >> i say hi to madison. been there, it's a wonderful place, and it was awhile ago, there was no "the rachel maddow show" show then, but i'm sure they love you. >> i've been spending more time in washington than i usually do, mostly by accident, but i've been talking to national democrats who have been bringing up madison to me. seem i've been having conversations is washington watching what's going on in madison? it feels washington is, beltway democrats are paying attention to what's happening, is that your sense? >> certainly the democratic base part of washington, labor organizers, people who are deeply involved in democratic politics are definitely paying attention to madison, because as you said, it does give us a sense of where the pendulum is and it also, i think, if the recall efforts are successful, will -- it will convince us that this was a serious overreach by governor walker. >> is this more of -- as you say, is this more of a statement about republican politics than it is about democratic polit

. >> eugene robinson. i won't. >>> up next, the truth comes outa former michele bachmann aide quit because of her tendency to make things up. ooh. that's next in the "sideshow." you're watching "hardball" only on msnbc. [ male announcer ] want a better way to track what you spend? pnc virtual wallet now comes with spending zone. it organizes all your spending, including your pnc debit card, credit card, and your bills. so you can view them by category... or by month. you can set a budget... and it'll even alert you when you're getting close to the amount you've set -- and when you've gone over. spending zone is built to help you keep better track of your spending. experience everything virtual wallet has to offer at pncvirtualwallet.com. pnc bank. for the achiever in you. >>> back to "hardball." now the "sideshow." first up, fed up. that's how one of michele bachmann's recent chiefs of staff describes his tentment after repeatedly having to take the backlash of bachmann's tepdancy to pake ma he calls blata

. >> eugene robinson. i won't. >>> up next, the truth comes out. former michele bachmann aide quit because of her tendency to make things up. ooh. that's next in the "sideshow." you're watching "hardball" only on msnbc. the safety of onstar is now available for your car. ♪ [ recorded voice ] onstar. we're looking for city hall. i'm sending directions to your car. [ recorded voice #2 ] turn right on hill street. go north for two miles. ♪ [ man ] this is onstar. i got a signal there's been a crash. do you need help? yes, please. i've got your gps location. i'm sending help. [ female announcer ] introducing onstar fmv. get it installed on your car at best buy or visit onstar.com for more stores. >>> back to "hardball." now the "sideshow." first up, fed up. that's how one of michele bachmann's recent chiefs of staff describes his sentiment after repeatedly having to take the backlash of bachmann's tendency to make what he calls blatantly false statements. the $200 million trip to india. not true, and a statement that obama added more to the federal deb

to the new yorkers about that profile he's down on michele bachmann and "washington post"'s eugene robinson joining us. my colleague tamron hall has a look at what's next on "newsnation." hi, tam. >> next hour, we're following breaking news from washington and wall street. the dow took another sharp slide after yesterday's huge rebound. in the third straight day of market may hernlgs and we know the names -- we now know the names of most of the lawmakers who will make up that super committee whose mission is to cut the nation's debt, and already republicans are slamming one of the democrats selected for the subcommittee. why? plus, breaking news, three siblings who are the focus or were the focus for a nationwide manhunt. "newsnation" is just minutes away. ♪ yes! ha ha! [ clicking ] ♪ what happened? power went out, want a hot dog? [ female announcer ] oscar mayer selects are made with 100% beef and have no artificial preservatives. how'd you learn to do that? what'd you use? every project we finish comes with a story built-in. it's how our rough ideas become "you did that yourself?" so when

joining us now is eugene robinson from the "washington post." msnbc contributor. good to see you. >> good to be here. >> am i being hyper bollic. is this new and distinct, this kind of brand of self imposition of crisis? or is in the way the system always works? it has certainly escalated, chris. look, this government, our political system has always worked best with a tight deadline. things tend not to get done until they have to get done. but, you are right that this is different. there was a famous quote from rahm iman yul when he was chief of staff a couple of years ago to the affect of what a shame it would be to waste a crisis. the republicans have learned never waste a crisis, just make the crisis and use it to their advantage. they seem to be perfecting the technique. >> what episode of this -- there are two aspects of it. the substance of what the actual deal that was struck and passed by the house today is, and then there is a process by which it produced. i wonder, what do you find most ominous about how this whole deal went down? >> how much time do we

u gene robinson is with us from washington. eugene? >> we'll take it. it's better than we thought. this will be an opportunity for a good day on wall street. that would be a great thing. the point that ezra made a few minutes ago is right though, this is not even quite sustaining rate of job creation in this country. so it doesn't mean that we're out of the woods, we've got a lot of work to do. that number needs to be twice that essentially to really feel we're in a recovery. >> 9.1% but willie, the question is, what's the hope to get it to 8.5%? that's the hope to get it to 8%? right now you look at the sectors and not a lot of bright spots. >> there are not. we play this game every month of expectations where wall street sets a number, we had it yesterday, 75,000 or 8 o,000, anything above that was supposed to be good news. if you look inside the numbers, it's not great news, ezra was talking about the private sector added 154,000 jobs. we get to the 117 number by subtracting government jobs. the tick down unemployment rate from 9.2 to 9.1 is because people stopped looking for wo

eugene robinson, eugene, glad to have you on today.to brighten the mood this morning. >> mr. sunshine. >> under no circumstances will i break the -- >> should i read from your column? oh. >> talk about chickens. >> yeah, we need to talk about chickens. >> i love chicks. >> let's do it. >> we can talk a little bit about somebody else's problem. >> that's right. >> what's that? >> somebody else's problems right now. you were in london for a couple of years. you surprised at the riots going on? >> i'm surprised. if you paid close attention, maybe you could have seen something coming, but i'm very surprised. because i didn't have the sense that it -- especially in britain, i would have anticipated that maybe a city like paris, for example, such alienation and such a gap between the center city and the -- and the poor suburbs and a racial gap and a religious gap that maybe something like this might have happened. but in london and birmingham and elsewhere, again, now, there's liverpool. >> spreading across the entire country. >> pretty rema

we'll talk to elijah cummings and eugene robinson.lus, ever want to see inside moammar gadhafi's compound? we go on a tour of the home he left behind. politico has the top stories out of washington including more from vice president cheney's new book. you're watching "morning joe" brewed by starbucks. ♪ [ country ] [ man ] ♪ gone, like my last paycheck ♪ gone, gone away ♪ gone, like my landlord's smile ♪ ♪ gone, gone away ♪ my baby's gone away with dedicated claims specialists... and around-the-clock service, travelers can help make things better quicker. will your auto and home insurer... be there when you need them most? for an agent or quote, call 800-my-coverage... or visit travelers.com. or creates another laptop bag or hires another employee, it's not just good for business -- it's good for the entire community. at bank of america, we know the impact that local businesses have on communities, so we're helping them with advice from local business experts and extending $18 billion in credit last year. that's how we're helping set

. >>> also, newark mayor corey booker and the "washington post" eugene robinson will be on, as well.g all the while. i'm really glad we took this last minute trip! you booked our room right? not yet, thanks for reminding me. wait, what? i have the hotels.com app so we can get a great deal even at the last minute. ah, well played sir. get the app. hotels.com. handle more than 165 billion letters and packages a year. that's about 34 million pounds of mail every day. ever wonder what this costs you as a taxpayer? millions? tens of millions? hundreds of millions? not a single cent. the united states postal service doesn't run on your tax dollars. it's funded solely by stamps and postage. brought to you by the men and women of the american postal workers union. ♪ of the american postal workers union. >>> i do not believe -- i do not believe that america should fall subject to a foreign policy of military adventurism. we should only risk shedding american blood and spending american treasure when our vital interests are threatened. we must be willing to act when it is time to act. we canno

. >>> up next, correspondent chuck todd and columnist for "the washington post," eugene robinson.l karins with a check on the forecast. >> hot forecast, 99 in dc, that wasn't close to one of the hottest temperatures in the country. show you the forecast for new england first. a lot of people waking up in the big cities. a nice summerlike day. no problems. maybe a sprinkle or two in northern new england. but what happened yesterday? tulsa, oklahoma was 110. dallas was 107. the middle of the country is baking. this is one of the hottest temperatures we've seen in some areas in 30 year. we're going to see 107 in kansas city? that doesn't happen that often. thunderstorms will roll through the great lakes, detroit, cleveland, and chicago. some showers and the thunderstorms in the southeast. we have tropical storm emily in the caribbean. this could be near florida this upcoming weekend. details on that as that event approaches. you're watching "morning joe" brewed by starbucks. [ p.a. announcer ] announcing america's favorite cereal is now honey nut cheerios! yup, america's favorite. so

host: your comments are echoed this morning by eugene robinson in this morning's "the washington post host: plantation, florida. tom, you are next. caller: i would like to enumerate some low hanging enumerate some low hanging fruit that the obama administration has been unable to capitalize on. i would like your viewers to listen to these. i would like them to form their own conclusion about whether they should have confidence in the obama administration. this might take me a few minutes. number one, we have $1 trillion in profits from companies that can be brought over to this nation that could stimulate this nation that could stimulate this economy and nobody has given anybody a clear reason why this cannot be done. in my opinion, it has to be ideology and politics. exhibit two, if the obama administration had a well thought out energy plan, it could be a pipeline from canada. we would have millions of jobs. this pipeline is no different than the pipelines that already exist in the united states. host: tom? caller: what could possibly be the explanation for this pipeline not being a