i want to bring in retired army colonel jack jacobs and also a medal of honor recipient and he is an msnbc military analyst and an iraq war veteran and an author of "love my rifle more than you," good afternoon, kayla. you are, again, an iraq war vet and served in the army's most well known unit, the 101st airborne division the screaming eagles and you weren't even sure women should serve in combat, why not? >> i'm not so sure that the men i served with were ready. i heard right before we invaded iraq some of the guys saying you don't belong in the military at all and much less in combat zones and i wasn't sure if they would ever be prepared, but once we were serving for a while and i went in combat foot patrols and realized the only thing that mattered was to help them accomplish the mission i started to think, okay, maybe some day down the road eventually things will change and these young guys as they move up into leadership positions having served alongside women in combat they may be ready for this type of change and here we are today. that change is happening. >> colonel, here

also military analyst retired army come cell jack jacobs, a recipient of the national medal of honor and michael smerkonish with us. it's a great pleasure to have you on. when this news came out yesterday to the fact that we would have this announcement from secretary panetta, the discussions right away went in the direction of is this the right decision. i know you believe this is the right decision. >> absolutely. this was the right decision. and we have been waiting for years and many of my sisters in arms waiting for decades for this decision and women have fought in the u.s. military since the revolutionary war. they just had to disguise themselves as men to fight for their country. and so, this is a long time coming but the significant thing about this announcement is really that it came from the joint chiefs. secretary panetta got the recommendations of the generals in charge of the military and this came from within the military. it's extremely validating for any woman serving in uniform, but particularly for the almost 300,000 women that served in iraq and afghanistan since

joining us can colonel jack jacobs. he is an msnbc war analyst. he was awarded for his service in vietnam. thanks for being here. >> thanks for having me. >> there is two questions here there is the policy question which i want to get to. but there is also this question of whether a cabinet with three wounded vietnam veterans in the cabinet is important milestone to veterans itself? >> i think it is important to veterans there are lots and lots of things going on here. part of it is a veneer. there is a certain amount of public relations involved in having three combat veterans from that era, from my era now in positions of tremendous authority and responsibility, working for a president who, as you said, was too young to go into the service even if he wanted. so there is a bit of public relations here. the second thing that is of significance is that there is a huge bulge in the american population among my age group, shinseki's age group, hagel's age group, an enormous bulge. lots and lots of people are of our age. >> uh-huh. >> and larger than

the program, says one of its architects, med afl honor recipient and nbc military analyst colonel jack jacobsf we don't transfer to the next generation notions like service and sacrifice and patriotism, then all the hard work, all the sacrifice of the previous generations, will be for naught. >> reporter: enter brady and cranda crandall. history and heroism brought to life. >> it's much harder to wear it than it is to get it. >> they really went out there and did their best and did make this world a better place. they changed it for the better. >> i don't mind talking to the young people. because it's -- kind of keeps you young. >> reporter: two old soldiers nowhere near ready to just fade away. mike taibbi, nbc news, acton, california. >> thanks, mike. >>> here's your first look at some of the other news going on around america. connecticut police arrested a man on a violent rampage at a walmart. the suspect attacked two men, one in the parking lot, the second one in the store when he punched the elderly greeter in the face. the one that greets you when you walk in the door. the 54-year-old

medal of honor recipient and nbc military analyst, colonel jack jacobs. >> if we don't transfer to thet generation notions like service and sacrifice and patriotism, then all the hard work, all the sacrifice in the previous generations will be for naught. >> reporter: enter brady and crandall. history and heroism brought to life. >> it's much harder to wear it than it is to get it. >> they really went out there and did their best, and did make this world a better place. they changed it for the better. >> i don't mind talking to the young people, because it kind of keeps you young. >> reporter: two old soldiers, nowhere near ready to just fade away. mike taibbi, nbc news, acton, california. >>> and one sports note tonight. it has been a particularly black monday for nfl coaches following the end of the regular season yesterday. seven teams fired their head coaches. the philadelphia eagles, chicago bears, san diego chargers, arizona cardinals, cleveland browns, buffalo bills and kansas city chiefs all missed making the playoffs, and today their coaches paid the price. >>> when we come ba

tomorrow jack jacobs will talk about chuck hagel's confirmation for defense secretary and i will talkut lev grossman on the rise of drones. the cycle is up next. all stations come over to mission a for a final go. this is for real this time. step seven point two one two. verify and lock. command is locked. five seconds. three, two, one. standing by for capture. the most innovative software on the planet... dragon is captured. is connecting today's leading companies to places beyond it. siemens. answers. hi victor! mom? i know you got to go in a minute but this is a real quick meal, that's perfect for two! campbell's chunky beef with country vegetables, poured over rice! [ male announcer ] campbell's chunky soup. it fills you up right. i've got a nice long life ahead. big plans. so when i found out medicare doesn't pay all my medical expenses, i got a medicare supplement insurance plan. [ male announcer ] if you're eligible for medicare, you may know it only covers about 80% of your part b medical expenses. the rest is up to you. call and find out about an aarp medicare supplement insu

as for his potential replacement, jacob "jack" lew, former fed vice chairman alan blinder says he's the right man right now. our next guest has worked with both geithner and lew. he's jared bernstein, senior fellow at the center on budget and policy priorities and former chief economist to vice president joe biden. jared, thanks for coming on the program. you know, as i just mentioned there, there are a lot of people who have different views on timothy geithner. some people say he was too easy on wall street. he wasn't tough enough on the banks. when the history book books are written, what do you think they're going to say about timothy geithner? >> well, look, it's often the case when you have people attacking from the left and right that you may have found a sweet spot in the middle. and i think the story is kind of one that's in the middle. i think when the history books are written, they're going to look at the measures that secretary geithner preside over as critical to inflating the financial sector when it was really poised to take down not just our economy but global economies.

darren gersh reports. >> reporter: assuming he wins senate confirmation, jacob "jack" lew will take over a treasury that is rapidly running out of cash. the federal government has already hit the debt ceiling. and the only way the government can pay its bills is by using accounting gimmicks to move money around. those tricks will only get the government through mid-february. at that point lew might have to take the unprecedented step of deciding he has the legal authority to pick and choose which bills the feds will pay. >> even if it were clear that the treasury secretary could do that, pick and choose, the ability, the real ability to reprogram all of the software in treasury's computers which connect to all of the computer software in the various agencies is not something that can be done in ten minutes or ten days or ten weeks. so you have the right to do it, but you don't have the ability to do it. >> reporter: the treasury uses a separate computer system to make interest payments on the federal debt so it is possible investors would get what they are owed. but what happens with soc

darren gersh reports. >> reporter: assuming he wins senate confirmation, jacob "jack" lew will take over a treasury that is rapidly running out of cash. the federal government has already hit the debt ceiling. and the only way the government can pay its bills is by using accounting gimmicks to move money around. those tricks will only get the government through mid-february. at that point lew might have to take the unprecedented step of deciding he has the legal authority to pick and choose which bills the feds will pay. >> even if it were clear that the treasury secretary could do that, pick and choose, the ability, the real ability to reprogram all of the software in treasury's computers which connect to all of the computer software in the various agencies is not something that can be done in ten minutes or ten days or ten weeks. so you have the right to do it but you don't have the ability to do it. >> reporter: the treasury uses a separate computer system to make interest payments on the federal debt so it is possible investors would get what they are owed. but what happens with soci

as for his potential replacement, jacob "jack" lew former fed vice chairman alan blinder says he's the right man right now. our next guest has worked with both geithner and lew. he's jared bernstein, senior fellow at the center on budget and policy priorities and former chief economist to vice president joe biden. jared, thanks for coming on the program. you know, as i just mentioned there, there are a lot of people who have different views on timothy geithner. some people say he was too easy on wall street. he wasn't tough enough on the banks. when the history books books are written, what do you think they're going to say about timothy geithner? >> well, look, it's often the case when you have people attacking from the left and right that you may have found a sweet spot in the middle. and i think the story is kind of one that's in the middle. i think when the history books are written, they're going to look at the measures that secretary geithner preside over as critical to inflating the financial sector when it was really poised to take down not just our economy but global economies

joining me, jack jacobs, patrick murphy, the first iraq war vet to serve in congress, former governoroy ann reid. don't go anywhere, "now with alex wagner" next.

at the table with me is colonel jack jacobs, and also, a former marine officer who is now the executive director and co-founder of servicewomen action network, and katrina, who is the editor and publisher of the magazine, and chloe angyal and sorry, but they had you originally in there as bob herbert. and you are clearly not bob herbert. colonel, i believe that when we look back at this first term, i believe that the legacy will be that he has made huge cultural shifts in the military. how are they being received at this moment? >> surprisingly well. indeed, you could be excused for thinking that the lifting of the ban was just a gratuitous decision on the part of the administration before panetta left, and so he wanted to leave some legacy, but that is not -- you would be wrong. this decision actually came from the chiefs of staffs of all of the services who, themselves, have spent plenty of time in combat and presided over nation at war for more than a decade and came to this decision completely and independently by themselves. that's why panetta was sitting there with the chairman of

joining me, jack jacobs, patrick murphy, the first iraq war vet to serve in congress, former governoroy ann reid. don't go anywhere, "now with alex wagner" next. [ woman ] ring. ring. progresso. your soups are so awesomely delicious my husband and i can't stop eating 'em! what's...that... on your head? can curlers! tomato basil, potato with bacon... we've got a lot of empty cans. [ male announcer ] progresso. you gotta taste this soup. >>> another day, another questionable and incendiary diatribe from wayne lapierre. it's wednesday, january 30th, and this is "now." joining

joining me now, retired army colonel jack jacobs and also politics reporter for "roll call."olonel, i'll start with you in this discussion. many people talked about the dynamic of the confirmation hearing and you have john mccain who once praised chuck hagel, even saying that he could be secretary of state. now going after this war hero, two war heroes, if you will, together and what will likely not be a glorious moment but to give us all pause. what do you make of the dynamic here? much of the praise of john mccain and the credibility is the fact he served and same is said for chuck hagel? >> there's a lot of things at work here. one of them is the senate's opportunity to assert itself in an environment of which the president's won re-election and they don't want him to do anything he wants. they're also very muched concerned generally about what hagel probably intends to do and that is to continue panetta's effort to streamline the pentagon and make budget cuts. those who are in favor of a strong defense are against that and therefore against hagel's perception more cuts ar

. >>> let's bring in nia-malika henderson, jim rootenberg and jack jacobs. jim, i would like to start off with you. you were on yesterday and discussing an article you'd written discussing who's behind the television ads and radio ads who have gone after chuck hagel on israel, on his comments that were seen as anti-gay. the list goes on and on here but we know it's coming from secret donors. this factor in to the questions that we heard today from the senators? >> i don't -- you know, i have to say to me this is the real stuff and these are obviously lawmakers putting the faces on television and asking it so i think you have to look at them as two very separate -- one is a campaign and the business of government and it show that is this is the real challenge to hagel's nomination and those tv ads seem to me much less in comparison, obviously. >> the point of the tv ads to get people to call the very lawmakers that we watched today and pressure them, if you will, to come after hagel on the issues of israel that we had heard just now from senator wicker. >> th

we want to bring in our political power panel, military analyst and medal of honor recipient jack jacobs, we have joining msnbc contributor joanne reid, who happens to be the managing editor, and it's good to have you all here. a lot to talk about as we've been watching this this morning. patrick, i want to start with you. senator mccain is definitely pressing very hard about chuck hagel's resistance to vote about the iraq surge of '07 saying he looked at it through the leps was this policy the best policy to make, the cost of blood and treasure that would be needed. what's your reaction seeing mccain press so hard and as i call it this republican on republican crime? >> listen, i think history will show chuck hagel was right, our focus should have been on afghanistan where bin laden was, the with one who killed thousands of innocent americans, not iraq. the fact to this, we had five times the amount of troops at that time in iraq than we did in afghanistan. it wasn't until we brought troops home, we tripled in afghanistan to smoke him out and finally bring him, bin laden, to justice. so

darren gersh reports. >> reporter: assuming he wins senate confirmation, jacob "jack" lew will take over a treasury that is rapidun

darren gersh reports. >> reporter: assuming he wins senate confirmation, jacob "jack" lew will take overreasury that is rapidun

colonel jack jacobs. good to see you. savannah. >>> secretary of state hillary clinton returns to capitol hill with heated questions about the terror attack on benghazi, libya. andrea hitmitchell has this sto. >> introduce iing john kerry toe senate confirmation hearing he chaired. it's a safe bet he will get a better reception than the hostile reception they gave hillary clinton on benghazi. after nearly five hours of gruelling testimony, clinton showed rare public emotion talking about the deaths of ambassador chris stevens and three others in benghazi. >> for me, this is not just a matter of policy, it's personal. i stood next to president obama as the marines carried those flag drape caskets off the plane at andrews. i put my arms around the mothers and fathers, the sisters and brothers, the sons and daughters and the lives left alone to raise their children. >> she took the blame for the tragedy. >> i take responsibility and nobody is more committed to getting this right. >> her republican critics wanted to know what

president obama has nominated jacob jack lew to be his next treasury secretary.years old, got the weirdest signature ever, which is soon going to appear on a dollar bill near you. he's been the white house chief of staff, described as a budget wonk and a consummate washington insider. lew's done two stints at the head of the office of management and budget under presidents obama andclinton. he was a key player during the 2011 debt ceiling talks that almost shut down the government. he'll have his work cut out because democrats and republicans are gearing up for another battle over extending the debt ceiling while the global embarrassment that serves as economic policy debate in washington these days i've got a hunch that tim geithner won't miss taking part in another showdown. why should the rest of the world care if jack lew or anyone else is running the u.s. treasury? joining me now, taking off his jacket, hiss suspenders for a little q&a. i'll do the same thing. get rid of the jacket here. vests and suspenders. vests and bracers as you call them. richard, does

in the bigger pick kbhur jack lew, jacob lew who very much follows in timothy geithner's footsteps and people are asking serious questions about him and we'll talk about accountability. looking at john brennan. and what it means for him to head the cia. the man who came out of the bush administration, identified with they call it enhanced interrogation techniques. one might call it torture. drone attacks. these are the serious issues that have to be looked at diversity and always. >> i think you raise a good point. which seats women are in. there are three seats with women as treasury secretary, defense secretary and veterans' affairs and back to that photo, the fiscal cliff conversation that where women are sitting, the first woman ever appointed, was the labor secretary. we have a good history of women in the labor position. what about treasury secretary and defense? what difference does this make? so where they sit really matters. >> one thing this issue brings up so -- the idea of these kind of disingenuous attacks from republicans on this. which has been interesting to me because

first president obama is just nominated jacob jack lew to be the next treasury secretary.ef of staff and described as a consummate washington insider. he has done two stints at the office of management and budget. an old cog eel of his told me yet experience makes him the perfect choice for the job right now. >> it is described as the central nervous system and everything of consequence goes through it. it coordinates the branch for the president like the chief operating officer role. in that, jack has been exposed to every type of policy and issue and regulation. it's a huge gambit of issues and terrain that he is an expert on the depth he can bring on a number of issues, especially economic policy. >> that makes lew more than qualified to negotiate the debt debates and republicans in congress. wall street doesn't like him so much. who cares what wall street thinks. to many that makes him more palatable. the president made the right choice with tim geitner because the world was teetering on financial collapse. he knew the ins and outs of wall street and global credit and

. >> the president today signing the nominations of john kerry and jacob lew -- jack lew.ng later this week to be secretary of state. the current secretary of state, hillary clinton, testifying twice this week on the ben ghazi attack. let's go to gardiner, maine on our republican line. >> this is roberta. onto to say i thought obama's acceptance speech was absolutely brilliant. i think that susan collins -- i am very disappointed in my senator. >> when you say susan collins needs hearing aids, what did you hear from her after the speech question mark next >> she did not feel that he reached across the aisle. she did not hear the same speech i heard. >> what was the dominant thing that you heard -- the theme that you heard from the president's speech? >> the men could not possibly have done more -- then more open or more accepting or more generous or more openhearted. he wants this country to be one people. he wants us to work together toward one goal. that is what he wants. sincerely what he wants. that is what he believes. that is what he wants the country to work towards

jack lew, to head up the treasury department. >> ladies and gentlemen, the president of the united states, accompanied by secretary timothy geiger and mr. jacob lew. >> good afternoon, everybody. please have a seat. a little more than four years ago, i stood with mr. tim geithner and denounced him as my first nominee to my cabinet. we were barely two months into the financial crisis. the stock market had greater and the housing market had cratered as well. bank after bank was on the verge of collapse. worst of all, more than 800,000 americans would lose their jobs in just that month. and the bottom was not yet in sight. i could not blamed him when he tried to tell me he was not the right guy for the job. [applause] but i knew that his extensive experience with economic policy made him qualified. i knew he could hit the ground running. he had just spent several sleepless and chaotic weeks emerged in the crisis and had been working closely with his republican predecessor to save the financial sector. then with the wreckage of our economy still smoldering and unstable, i asked him to help me put it back together. thanks in large part to his stea

his current signature was look on the dollar bill, a series of loops that apparently spell jack lew or maybe jacobthat's unlikely to make the cut. the current treasury secretary, timothy geithner, revealed that he had to change his signature when he joined the cabinet. he was also loopy swirl, which he refined to this stately and legible version, which may be in your wallet right now. that is quite a signature. i don't want to throw my father under the bus, but this man might actually have a worse signature than my dad, who has the worst signature in the entire world. >> jack lew is going to be competition -- he's going to have to learn some penmanship if his signature is going to be on the u.s. dollar bills. >> the big joke today was, wolf, contrary to what many believe, he does not actually have to sign each dollar bill. >> oh, really? >> yeah, shocker. >> see how he does. >>> critics of egypt's new president, investigated for treason. i put some tough questions to mohamed morsi. my exclusive interview with him in cairo. isn't it time the automobile advanced? introducing cue in the all-new cadil

jack lew. this is about 15 minutes. >> ladies and gentlemen, the president of the united states, accompanied by mr. jacob lew, and mr. denis mcdonough. [applause] >> thank you. thank you, everybody. please, everybody have a seat. good afternoon, everybody, and welcome to the announcement of one of the worst kept secrets in washington. [laughter]as president i rely on an extraordinary team of men and women here at the white house every single day, and i rely on my chief of staff to keep up with them and our entire permit, making sure we are all moving in the right direction, they can share my high 40s are being carried carried out, and that our policies are consistent with the commitments that have made to the american people and that are delivering progress to the american people. as i said earlier this month, i could not be more grateful to jack lew for his amazing service, first as our omb director, than at the state department, and ultimately as my chief of staff. as he prepares for confirmation hearings, and the challenge of leading our treasury department, i am pleased to announce my next chief of s

jacob lew's signature. >> this loopy signature could be seen on every american dollar bill. that's the signature of jacke current white house chief of staff. the next treasury secretary. >> you see a bunch of circles. it is repetitive. what that means is the person is compulsive. you also want to know you absolutely cannot read anything in it. not one letter. when you cannot read a signature, it doesn't want to give you any information about their personal life at all. [ ♪ dramatic ♪ ] >> almost like having a pyramid and an eye on the dollar bill. >> stephanie: wow! i guess that passes for journalism eric. >> i guess. a lot of people laughed at -- became a bit of a story last week. when you look at it, it's truly bizarre signature. it is going to be -- only fox news though tried to look into the insights into what it told us about the shortcomings of the psyche of the new treasury. leave it to fox, right? >> stephanie: his personal life has what to do with his job? i'm a little confused. you can't read my signature either! [ ♪ dramatic ♪ ] >> you're secretive and compulsive. >> you've been hiding your r