joining me now is chris cillizza and eugene robinson.ld you put the odds at of a mitt romney return? >> i would put the odds of making a dumb and dumber referring to one in a million so these things happen. but, look, i do -- yes, you could parse that, his comments to hugh hugh wet as evidence that the store is open again. i really think -- and from having a lot of conversations with folks about this, i think that mitt romney is not, under any circumstance we could imagine, seriously considering running for president. remember, he was a nominee and ran a very tough campaign that -- he spent $44 million of his own money four years before that. i don't think a 12-year commitment is what he's looking for. >> eugene robinson, mitt romney was -- this is what was said on cnbc on "squawk box." >> i would drive mitch campaign's budget if he thought that would be the most effective way for me to help him. >> does that mean you have to wait for him to decide what you're going to do? >> no. look, i would love to see mitt run again. he's pretty emph

joining me is washington post associate editor eugene robinson. you were the foreign editor "the washington post" before you were associate editor and you run correspondence all over the world and were posted overseas as well. he was held captive for 44 days in libya. >> it's incredible. >> spoke about that and then went to syria because he was completely dedicated to telling the story of the more than 100,000 people that were already killed. >> as an editor, what you are usually doing is restraining your reporters and photographers because they are so eager to go and witness the truth and tell people about it. that's what they lived to do. unfortunately, you know, in a few tragic cases, that's what they live and die to do. it can be so dangerous. >> and his parents, james foley's parents just came out of their new hampshire home and spoke to the media and said that the president had just called them and spoke to them before he is going to appear before the cameras. the burden on them, they, of course, have known every step of the way of these sec

dion and eugene robinson. you have a column today that takes an optimistic vow that all of us have had a pessimistic understanding of which is interpretations of what happened in ferguson by race and you point out these two statistics from a pugh poll comparing white and plaque attitudes in the wake of trayvon martin when 78% of black respondents that the case raised important issues about race and 28% of white respondents agreed. when 80% of plaque respondents thought it raised important issues about race and 37% of white respondents thought it did. i look at those, and i thought it seems pretty large, but the difference between 28 and 37 is measurable. tell us a little bit more about why. >> right. the reason i wrote that column is because people have taken that poll and other polls and really emphasized the divisions between white americans and african-americans and there is no doubt that we do look at this differently. the history of racism in our country is there and it affects the way whites and blacks v

joining us now is eugene robinson, pulitzer prize winning columnist for the "washington post." gene, thanks for being here in the studio tonight. i mean, the way we ended it there, really, it seems fitting to me, they come to the summer break, and the second year of this congress, you know, we started -- last year around this time we were talking about a bipartisan comprehensive immigration reform bill making it out of the senate. maybe it would have a chance in the house, maybe something would get done. now here we are a year later. forget immigration reform. a real crisis at the border. and you can't even get a vote in the house on a symbolic bill. >> no, you can't even get a vote. they're pointing fingers and saying it's a huge crisis, but they won't do anything about it. my favorite part of this whole story, this whole day, is that the republican leadership came out with the statement saying that, well, you know, there are plenty of executive actions that president obama can take to solve the border crisis. right? well, they're suing him for taking executive action. >> and

winning columnist and associate editor of "the washington post" and msnbc political analyst, eugene robinsonn meacham is here. >> we have so many pulitzer's here. >> won the masters in '86. wasn't it odd three or odd four? >> we have breaking news so if we can just move forward here. >> right, willie? >> in washington, senior political editor and white house correspondent for the "huffington post" sam stein. >> n

eugene robinson piece from "the washington post," this morning.n other news, the front page of "the star advertiser," out of .awaii several thousand will get the rare opportunity to settle a close election. host: so, that is the latest out of hawaii on that. let me give you a couple of headlines this morning about russia. "the washington post," "humanitarian mission is set for ukraine. and international humanitarian mission would be sent to the war-torn east of the country -- host: that is in "the washington post," this morning on russia. the editorial weighs in and calls the food and humanitarian putina farce -- humanitarian watch a farce. the money section of "usa today," says that if russia sneezes, wall street gets a cold . foreign relations dominating the new math on wall street, "russia laying a big role. markets going down after numerous news" -- you can look along the site here, going up and down with news of russia. that in the money section of "usa today." phonel keep getting your calls here this morning on the hillary rodham clinton cri

and joining me now is jason zengerly, author of "the new racism" and u gene robinson. eugene, let me start with you with the date that we just advised in terms of the racial breakdown and institutions in st. louis not representative of the communities that they are tasked to serve. do you think what we're seeing now is the harvest of that? >> well, i think you have to say that at least in part it is. i mean you would see those numbers and wonder what year this? then that seems like something from my childhood days. i think what we're also seeing is a reflection of the fact that african-americans have not done well through the recession and not bounced back like the rest of the economy. there's some anger and frustration unite there that an incident -- let's not belittle the incident itself because it sounds worst more i hear about it. but an incident like this can sort of trigger. >> disenchantment, when we look at riots, the call for peace is a good one but there are communities in the last few months, john crawford, 22 years old, shot by police in a dayton suburb of ohio af

>> eugene robinson in washington, you write a piece in "the washington post" today.iraq and how this is america's responsibility, the pottery barn rule, america broke it, so they bear the responsibility for this. in a sense, don't we have to look forward now and think what is the best solution in terms of trying to limit isis' ability to impact american national security and trust going forward, not looking back at the last ten years? >> i think we do need to look forward. i was, frankly just cheesed off at dick cheney going around saying this is obama's fault and actually, no, it's mostly your fault. but that aside, let's look forward. there is a short-term question, i think, which is baghdad. i mean, so they have been stopped from taking over erbil and wiping out the kurds and is the iraqi -- are the iraqi armed forces strong enough to keep isis away from baghdad? think that is a short-term question they must be looking at at the pentagon. medium and long term. you heard what mick reported. i think it's going to be, first, isolation and containment of isis and then

jon meacham and eugene robinson join joe, willie and me at the table. of the democratic national committee, governor of pennsylvania, nbc news political analyst, ed rendell. are you angry too with congress? what's he muttering there? >> he doesn't look angry. ed rendell is never angry, only determined. >> okay. we'll get to what's not happening in washington and the fallout from that in just a moment. >> what a mess. >> but first we begin with breaking news from the middle east. there are reports this morning that the cease-fire between israel and hamas has unraveled just hours after taking effect. both sides are accusing the other of violating the truce. a palestinian official says israeli shelling this morning has killed at least 35 people and wounded hundreds of others in southern gaza. the israeli military meanwhile says militants have fired eight rockets and mortars at israel since the cease-fire began. an israeli source says at least two israeli soldiers were killed and the army says it appears an idf soldier may have been abducted. we have live c

that's the focus. >> eugene robinson has a question. >> commissioner bratton, the question that occursion. in these encounters, one thing that several have in common is the officer initiated the contact with the subject in a way that seems to me to have been designed to escalate rather than to tamp down the potential for a bad outcome. is that -- do you agree with that assessment and what are you going to do about it? >> from all of these events we attempt to learn. the idea that the training we give our officers, simply from this one, we will learn intimately what occurred there, were there things that could have been done differently. we don't know at this stage. but you always try to learn from these things, to improve the training and get to our officers and to move forward. >> let me ask you about the flag. i see it. okay -- >> i see it and i'm upset. >> i saw it and i thought what wacko risked their life to do that, right? and then the next day everybody is freaking out in the tabloids like somebody has just taken down the empire state building. i don't see it as the end of the w

with us on set, john hallman, eugene robinson. and in washington, carol lee.yeah. >> passed away. 38 seasons of snl. you know the voice? >> of course. >> of course. >> we all know the voice. it was weird. i went back on apple tv and i stumbled across "saturday night live," the first season up right now. >> 96 years old. >> like '75 and '76. i went back. and it was just -- it's don pardo. >> don pardo. >> oh, my god! for those of you who don't know the voice, take a quick listen. >> they know the voice. >> it's "saturday night live." >> and, willie, don pardo was the voice of nbc for just decades. >> as things change, some things are constant. >> yes. >> the music on snl and his voice. those two things. and he had a lifetime contract at nbc, started 1944 doing radio and went right up till the end. 1944, he started. >> can i -- a lot of political new this is morning. first we want to start in ferguson. so far the presence of the national guard isn't stopping the violent protests in ferguson, missouri. police fired several rounds of tear gas at demonstrators over

bill, well, that's what eugene robinson says in his column this morning in "the washington post" with the headline that we're still paying for bush's mistakes. ewe gene robinson, liberal columnist, writing that in "the washington post" this morning. we're getting your thoughts on hillary clinton's criticism of president obama's foreign policy. she sat down with the atlantic, jeffrey goldberg n a lengthy piece. go to the atlantic.com, you can read -- there it is on your screen. you can read the write-up by jeffrey goldberg, but then underneath that he also has the question and answer, the transcript to his interview with her. and then on friday president obama sat down with tom freed beman of the new york times -- friedman of the new york times, the columnist over there, and "the new york times" videotaped that interview. it's a lengthy one, it's almost 60 minutes. so if you missed that, dwowk to new york times.com, and they have video clips of it and the swire video if you want to watch it there. this is from politico's playbook this morning with the headline: 84 cays to midterms. thi

today, washington post columnist eugene robinson amplified that sentiment with a calm on the state ofan-american men in america. it reads in part the fire this time is about invisibility. we expect the police to keep unemployed poorly educated african-american men out of sight and out of mind. when they suddenly take center stage, illuminated by the flash and flicker of molotov cocktails, we feign surprise. they are invisible but in ferguson and other pockets across the country millions grow up knowing the deck is stacked against them. the unrest in ferguson, missouri, is bringing into focus again the racial tensions that simmer in this country. joining me now is joshua dubois, president obama's spiritual adviser this his first term. sits on the advisory board of my brother's keeper to address the opportunity gaps by young men of color. also michael steele, my friend, former chairman of the republican national committee. the only chairman of the republican national committee i have as a friend. we don't have much time tonight. we're doing a lot. take a couple of minutes. then michael'

eugene robinson piece in the "washington post" this morning. in other news by the way, front page of the star advertiser out of hawaii, a legal battle could loom. several thousand voters on hawaii island will get the rare opportunity friday to settle a close election by u.s. representative colleen hanna chose a in the democratic primary for senate questioned withholding a vote so soon is realistic. >> host: so that's the latest out of hawaii on that. on the situation in russia, let me give a couple of headlines here this morning. the "washington post," humanitarian mission is set for ukraine, ukrainian president petro poroshenko announced monday -- . and international humanitarian mission would be sent to the war-torn east of the country -- host: >> host: that's in the "washington post" this morning on russia. the editorial weighs in and calls mr. gruden humanitarian pledge a farce. that's the "washington post" editorial. the money section of "usa today" says that if russia sneezes, wall street gets a cold. foreign relations dominating a new ma

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eugene robinson is a columnist for the washington post. the u.s. military started dropping bombs on isis today at 6:45 a.m., washington time. there were two separate rounds according to the pentagon. the first targeted a mobile artillery piece being used to shell kurdish forces. a few hours later drones and u.s. jets struck a mortar position outside erbil. andrea, this seems like we've got a good bead on targets. we are not shooting at areas, groups or whatever. we have one vehicle at a time. this is precision bombing which raises the question. we have to go in low. then the question is how vulnerable is american forces in this limited humanitarian effort. >> what some suggested is it's too precise, too targeted, too simple. it's a piece offer artillery here. a convoy here. that you're really not getting at the heart of isil. not even at the isil terrorists surrounding the mountain top. >> can you break their assault with these pinprick attacks? will they stop marching on and killing? >> you can slow them. through other support of the kurds you can

eugene robinson joins with us congresswoman karen bass, from california, whose district is at the siteney king riots in los angeles. thank you. i want to start with eugene, congresswoman, because he has been writing about this so well. give us a sense, then respond congresswoman, if you had a congress that believed in action and creating jobs and taking these kids who are 18 years old, regular kids, regular kids, maybe troubled but regular, how do you help them find a career in this country? >> you know, there's no one sort of magic remedy that -- or one thing that you can do to have guaranteed success. it takes a more holistic approach. there are lots of factors involved. education, employment, transportation, housing, health. a lot of things. one idea i had actually is you know, you've got to have jobs. where are the blue collar jobs that generations use. >> we were comparing notes about people who live if big cities. two generations ago for sure. maybe one. you could come out of high school with a c or b average. get a job at the plant and provide for a family. >> exactly. >> and yo

. >> joining me now is washington buy rerow chief from mother jones, david korn and the great eugene robinsonboth msnbc political analysts. gene, i'm trying to figure out. i thought the president was pushing back. i think we are looking at the bay of pigs when you have le may saying hit them. obama saying, they will be there when we leave. there are problems. you don't get rid of someone because you don't like them this the middle east. >> it sounded like that. dech dempsey, hagel, kerry, their hair is on fire. they are saying this is an imminent threat we have to deal with. we have to crush them, destroy them. that means going into syria. so one did expect the president to say, okay, the outlines, here is what we're going to do or something. he said, we don't have a strategy yet. >> what do you make of that admission? >> well. >> say the herd, the pack went after him. >> i got phone calls after that saying, what the president meant to say -- >> from the white house. >> exactly. it sounded like -- >> i will make the point in my own little way at the end of the show. >> agree with you now. >>

eugene robinson is with the washington post and msnbc contributor.ichelle ber nartd from the bernard center for women, politics, & public policy. gene, i want to start with you. the reason we believe as almost a religion in diversity is we know there are different perspectives. if you go on television with white guys you will be ignored and should be. we don't know the american experience. >> right. >> we don't know the experience as a group. tell me your reaction to the whole thing. i think there is a need for discernment right now. what's going on? >> you know, why is this happening now when, as you mentioned, there is an african-american president. there is an african-american attorney general ordering a new autopsy and is on his way to ferguson. the police commander on the scene, the head of the state highway patrol is an african-american. yet there is a civil unrest that is reminiscent of the '60s. i think the reason isn't that complicated. some african-americans have done extremely well over the last five decades and moved into the middle class

. >>> still ahead on "morning joe," richard haass, richard krystal, eugene robinson here, plus, could hot brownies land one teen in jail for life? we'll explain -- this kid, obviously, not from colorado. >>> would you eat at a restaurant run by a former corningman named anthony weiner. let me answer that, no. his project coming up, and what can four presidents golf games tell us about leadership styles? a lot according to politico apparently with bill clinton. that and much more when "morning joe" comes back. when folks think about what they get from alaska, they think salmon and energy. but the energy bp produces up here creates something else as well: jobs all over america. engineering and innovation jobs. advanced safety systems & technology. shipping and manufacturing. across the united states, bp supports more than a quarter million jobs. when we set up operation in one part of the country, people in other parts go to work. that's not a coincidence. it's one more part of our commitment to america. hey pal? you ready? can you pick me up at 6:30? ah... (boy) i'm here! i'm here! (co

alexander, this is eugene robinson. you any idea of why we don't have a more coherent narrative from the police point of view of what happened to michael brown? why is there so little information as to what happened? >> well, we have had conversation as well, eugene, and one thing that i pointed out to him is the fact the more you're able to disclose information to your community around this case, you're going to move through this process a little bit easier. now, i'm not on the ground there with him. i will have that conversation with him again on tomorrow morning, and try -- and during the time i'm there, try to help him as much as i can going through whatever it is that he may have. what is it that he can release to the community to help them feel better about what is going on. because what we consistently hear there is a lack of transparency but being respectful to the investigation itself, which is clearly very important, i want to make sure that there's opportunities and information that we can share with the comm

host: eugene robinson has in his column -- we are still paying for bush's mistake. guest: george w.bush made the call to go to war with iraq and a lot of democrats voted for it. its voted no, but 40% voted yes. democrats in the senate or more in favor of it. said my legacy cannot be defined now. it can be defined decades down the road. the legacy of iraq is not looking good now. we sit back and we listen to how the clintons, we blame everything on bush, but we blame nothing on clinton. the war in iraq is bush's fall. we do not blame the housing th market on the clintons. the media never says anything about this. we only talk about bush and what bush did. say sheary clinton to had no responsibility for any of the foreign policy put into place today is ridiculous. sittinge remember her in the housing committee when four guys at benghazi died? media allows this to be put out there, they only attack republicans. the housing market was destroyed by the clintons. if you want to do that again, vote her back in. the housing and financial implosion happened in 2008. there have been questions

from washington pulitzer prize winning columnist and editor of "the washington post" eugene robinson.piece in a bit. reverend al, you had everybody galvanized and listening yesterday and standing out of their seats feeling something very powerful about the state of policing today. >> well, i hope we are at a point where we can deal with this in a very substantive and intelligent way, because of what we have seen the last several weeks from staten island to l.a. to ferguson. i think it is time for us to really deal with these issues. >> i want to not only talk about michael brown and staten island in a minute. first, a couple of criticisms that were cropping up yesterday as you started speaking and they probably started writing them before you started speaking. the question is always here. why is al sharpton there? he is chasing a camera. if a camera is there, al will be there. >> first of all, i was called by a family. no one does a eulogy at a funeral because they broke into a funeral. >> exactly. not like you jumped up and said i'm going to talk. >> you went there because the family

from us capitol hill is associate editor of "the washington post" and msnbc political analyst, eugene robinsonto have you both with us. >> if governor rick perry is taking his recent indictment battle. >> no, he's not. >> you wouldn't know it. not based on his trip to washington. >> i think the indictment looks look goo on him. >> he came in an a conquering hero for american conservativi m conservativism. he slammed the president's approach to the middle east and took up a muscular interventionist stance on how to stop the spread of isis. >> others take the view that no matter what comes next in iraq, it's no concern of ours. their attitude is we gave it our best effort, but now we're done. in syria, as well as iraq, this terrorist army must be confronted with overwhelming force appear. as for the many iraqis trying to defend themselves and their country, they need to seek more help from us. air power is a major part of it. but it's also going to take more special operations, intelligence, and advisory support than we have offered so far. three ukrainian individuals were apprehended in a ranch

we will start with eugene robinson and "the washington post." are we at war again? in part this. gene, is the aim of u.s. policy to contain the islamic state or to destroy it? obama should tell the nation in plain language what he believes we must do. congress should debate the issue rather than duck it. after all no decision by our elected leaders is more fateful. as far as i can tell we don't have a strategy yet obama said thursday which is the one thing we already knew. >> gene, a lot of people concerned. obviously, on the left. you certainly heard people on the right explode about it last night. it was concerning to a lot of americans to hear the president say we don't have a strategy get on a situation that is really the most frightening for most americans since 9/11. >> yeah. well,, you know, the reason we consider it so frightening, not only, you know, the atrocity that happened to james foley, but also what administration officials have been saying. you know, chuck hagel saying the worst thing we have ever seen and eric holder talking about the worst terror