visiting professor at nyu and msnbc political analyst, former democratic congressman harold ford juniorial director of the huffington post media group msnbc analyst, howard fineman making his debut today. >> i'm honored. >> grand bargaining is the name of the game in washington as president obama and republicans seek an illusive middle ground on spending and taxes. so far, the game is not going very well. >> is the grand bargain dead? >> i don't know whether we can come to a big agreement. the president believes that we have to have more taxes from the american people. we're not going to get very far. >> the president has sounded equally pessimistic about bridging the divide. >> it may be that the differences are just too wide. if their position is we can't do any revenue, or we can only do revenue if we gut medicare or gut social security or gut medicaid, if that's the position, then we're probably not going to be able to get a deal. >> while there's not much agreement there are plenty of ideas. washington is awash in budgets. no less than six plans are currently circulating on the hil

harold ford. >> how are you doing? >> i'm doing good.ridding ourselves in limiting deductions for mortgages and so forth at 28%. is that something you could find yourself to agreeing to and, two, is there anything in obama care has worked in your mind, your eyes some you're one of the most skilled thinkers on the budget and particularly health care. is there something working you might be able to embrace and republicans might be able to embrace to move this process forward? >> first point on the tax spend tours you talked about. we see that as a necessary part of tax reform. all of those things you mngsed to me are fair game in tax reform. as a revenue generating exercise to fuel more spending. you have to understand, harold, we. want to have a competitive tax code to create jobs and growth and be competitive internationally and bring the tax rates down competitive so we can have a fast record on the growth you need the loopholes to do that. we don't want to use those for spending and we want it to bring rates down. on the obama care thi

so he's not -- you know, 80% wrong but not entirely wrong. >> hey, mike, harold ford. how are they taking to the new manager down there, and how do you like him? >> reporter: the new manager is like night and day compared to last year. i don't want to knock bobby valentine because you can't blame the entire episode, tragic episode, of last year that was 2012 on one guy, bobby valentine, the manager. but the new manager, john farrell, he has a past here. he was pitching coach for the red sox for three or four years. so most of the players know him. he's got a much different disposition than bobby did. so they're taking to him very, very well. >> mike, we know you've got a busy day ahead of you shopping for corrective footwear. we're going to let you go. >> reporter: oh, willie, i went to an outlet store yesterday and got myself a pair of comfortable shoes. i'm all set. i'm on my third lap at the mall here in fort myers. morning, gladys. >> say hi to the boys and ann. see you when you get back. >> reporter: thanks. >>> coming up next, nbc foreign correspondent ayman mohy

the president in the council of foreign relations richard haass and former democratic congressman harold fordr. >> what's going on? >> oh, we have more. >> i know. >> i saved the best for last. >> thanks a lot, mika. >> and what is richard haass? >> and we've got david ignatius coming up, as well. >> fantastic. >> yes, it is fantastic. >> all right. what do we have in news? >> hi, harold, how are you doing? what's going on? >> oh, really? >> who are you picking in march madness? >> it hurts me to say this because i'm a michigan man, but ohio state is playing extraordinarily well. i've got michigan state. >> do we have a story on cypress? or can i make chitchat with haass. >> if you have a few more, thad be good. >> what about cypress, richard haass, isn't that something? >> it is astrange approach to economic policy. turns out, it's the willie sutton approach to dealing with the european economic crisis. one of the few places they have any resources. anything that approaches the scale of what they need. and it makes no sense and it's not going to last. >> very good. >> this is interesting. fr

republicans and democrats in washington found out what happened, they worked on it and it was a pretty -- harold fordon the floor what you're doing down in florida is land mark. what have you done and how did you get to it? i said i just went into the community. i didn't have to go vote for higher taxes or do these things that i was against idle lodeol y ideologically. >> what you did is called environmental justice. >> right. >> if you had gone to cpac and said words environmental justice, what sort of reception would you have gotten? it fi had gone to cpac and said you know what i did? i found 300 families that had been moved on top of a brown stone site, brown-filled site and their young children your reasoning around on a toxic waste dump and we had to get them out of there because government screwed up putting them there in the first place, i think i would have been just fine. >> people like the truth. even at cpac. >> i would say we cannot be -- what was the word? ravenus? >> we cannot be a ravenus party, my friend. >> exactly. eugene robinson, thank you. >> environmental justice. >> margaret,

harold ford the former head of the democratic leadership council has said look of course obama had aalso was able to find voters in states like ohio and florida and colorado that had never been found before and we have to emulate that to prevent any chance of success. lastly, there is one thing we do have to worry about. we are seeing a deterrent to change the rules of the game. it's not just michael targeting. it's an attempt to obliterate the system that we have in this country and to introduce a greater element of fraud. right now all of the liberal groups -- all of the liberal groups are trying to push for something called mandatory voter registration. this would be a disaster. of course we have an antiquated registration system to the lobby of 2 million dead people. i don't support representation without restoration. [laughter] we have 2.75 million people in one state. we have one out of a voter registrations are inaccurate. the way to fix that isn't to throw away the whole registration system and take everyone from the driver's license list, everyone in the welfare list, everyo

jordan's divorce an estimated $168 million, while harrison ford paid his ex-wife an estimated $85 million. as for what it has already cost haroldamm? since confirming the pending divorce on thursday, shares in his company have fallen by almost 3%, just the beginning of what could be a costly separation. >> harold hamm released a short statement through his company, confirms a petition for divorce is pending and said the matter is private. >> said the matter is, private. >> oh, dr. evil, i got it, got it. >> nice when you have to spell it out. >> i'm as devoted to the austin powers trilogy as you are. >>> coming up the better and perhaps faster way to board planes. is it just a ploy to get you out of your money? we'll investigate. >>> and why these kids are sleeping right through smoke alarms that should be waking them up in an emergency. but first, this is "today" on nbc. >>> brace yourselves. coming up, the new ad touting the latest fashion rage, skinny, skinny jeans. are they for real? well, we have a pair of them right there in our studio. >> an extra pair for matt to try on. once and for all, are these real or fake? >> she'