the first-in-the-nation primary, and truely an hop nor to give this -- honor, and my colleague, john kerryry well deserved, and it's an honor to serve with you in the united states senate. it's very much -- it's surreal actually to be up here tonight to give this award to john mccain, someone who i have such great personal admiration for. john has an extraordinary record of service to the people of this country and a long history with the people of new hampshire, and i thought about it, and i don't think you can understand or appreciate that special relationship and why new hampshire took to john mccain so much without an understanding a little about john's background. he comes from an extraordinary family, a distinguishedded military family -- distinguished military family with four generations of naval academy graduates. his grandfather was an admiral serving commander of a carrier force in world war ii. his father was commander in chief of the pacific forces in the vietnam war. his son, jack, is a naval academy graduate who now flies helicopters in the navy, but breaking ranks is his so

. >> now a new hampshire primary awards banquet honoring senators john kerry, john mccain and the late david broder. the senators also participating in the discussion on the primary campaigning in new hampshire. past honorees include former senator bill bradley, patrick buchanan, former senator gary hart and the gop presidential candidate mitt romney to read this is one hour and 45 minutes. [applause] >> the next part of our program is we recognize our special guests, and the way this is set up we are going to have a dialogue that will take place. it will be dan will moderated and he will be like the oprah winfrey of the presidential primary tonight. we are going to hear local the about some of those new hampshire moments and to senator mccain and senator kerry i will share with you what people consider new hampshire moments because there's 1i am aware of and it's bipartisan just like this event. it was 1996 when bob dole won the republican nomination, and that summer gephardt came to manchester and needed to pick up some items at a drugstore and in that stopping at the drugstore on da

being here in new hampshire is very, very special because here in new hampshire, john mccain and john kerryre 3-and-0. [laughter] so tonight, we're here as winners, and -- [applause] that's very special. [applause] you know, john and i got here this evening, took one of the john huntsman flights -- [laughter] by pass iowa, straight to new hampshire -- [laughter] and i was listening to governor, congratulations to you on an extraordinary -- will be an extraordinary year as you're getting there, and i think everybody is appreciative of your public service -- [applause] but i -- [applause] john was talking about the new media and the social media and tweeting and facebook and so on and so forth. i don't tweet a whole lot cause i think it's much more important for senators to make their mistakes and gaps in public i person, which i've been known to do occasionally. it's a pleasure to be here under the -- i was a fan, which means he never would have made it in washington today. [laughter] but this event brings us together to celebrate one of the most important journeys in america, how we choose

senators from both sides, democrat john kerry and republican john kyle will join us next hour to tell the ball sees his dream come true. sergeant scott moore will be here as well and brought all of the pictures. i'd race down that hill without a helmet. i took some steep risks in my teens. i'd never ride without one now. and since my doctor prescribed lipitor, i won't go without it for my high cholesterol and my risk of heart attack. why kid myself? diet and exercise weren't lowering my cholesterol enough. now i'm eating healthier, exercising more, taking lipitor. numbers don't lie. my cholesterol's stayed down. lipitor is fda approved to reduce the risk of heart attack and stroke in patients who have heart disease or risk factors for heart disease. it's backed by over 19 yes of research. [ femalannouncer ] lipitor is not for everyone, including people with liver problems and women who are nursing, pregnant or may become pregnant. you need simple blood tests to check for liver problems. tell your doctor if you are taking other medications, or if you have any muscle pain or weakness. t

john kerry got swift voted when when money is poured into destroy you. no limits. spend all you want wasting a candidate. can the democrats match the money power of those planning to do just that to obama finally does, he really want it? is his heart in it it? president obama called himself the underdog. really, that is that how he feels. i'm chris matthews. welcome to the show. with us today. joe klein, katty kay, nia-malika henderson and major garrett. first up, in this next election, we will reup president obama or will reject him and whether it's regrettable or not, this media mirror watching will dominate that decision. ever since kennedy and nixon, television has been the decider. down in the polls, the obama campaign is not going to stick to the high road. they're going negative to use tv to try to take down the republican. but in the huge balancing act, they hope to reignite the positive passion obama aroused in 2008. >> this moment -- this moment, this election is our chance to keep in the 21st century the american promise alive. >> to make tv work for the

and the senior senator from massachusetts, democrat john kerry. kyl and kerry on the debt fight. then back to the campaign trail. newt gingrich is up in the polls, but battling his past. this time his high-priced work on behalf of mortgage giant freddie mac. herman cain stays in the top tier despite another foreign policy lapse. >> i did not agree -- that's a different point. >> and rick perry is looking for a comeback by getting personal with president obama. inside analysis this morning from our roundtable. republican strategist mike murphy and ed gillespie. plus former white house press secretary for president clinton, dee dee myers. and juan columnist eugene robinson.

. >>> still ahead, senators john kerry, joe manchin, keep it on

john kerry is meeting with republican senators jon kyl and rob portman in a last ditch effort to reach a deal. joining me today former rnc chairman, michael steele, melissa harris-perry, a columnist for "the nation" and also an msnbc contributor, former d.c. mayor, adrian fenty is on set with us and meghan mccain, the newest msnbc contributor. welcome, meghan, there will be a commemorative tote bag when you leave today. luke russert always is with us. welcome to the show. >> always a pressure. >> david axlerod is a fan of the phrase kabuki theater as a description for the political maneuverings in washington. is this something we can use to describe what's been happening on the super committee for the last two weeks? was anybody serious about cutting a deal? >> when the whole process started, i spoke to members on both sides of the aisle, there

john kerry talking too much. of course he's talking too much. that's his super power. it's all he's got. it would be like tell the flash to slow down or the hulk not to get so angry or mr. fantastic to stop blowing himself. ( laughter ). he's very limber. tremendously limber. ( laughter ) blows himself off. i can't believe he's found the time to stop a single crime, quite frankly. law enforcemenfrank ( laughter ) i know. i hea hear yeah. i wouldn't be here tonight. ( laughter ) now, look, i know what you're all thinking, please stop talking about super hero auto fellation, point taken. second, the deficit reduction super committee is going to end up like all the others. there was last year's bowles-simpson commission, proposalsed $4 trillion. the domenici-rivan task force, $6 trillion proposed over nine years, didn't get voted on. the gang of six proposed a $3.7 trillion cut. the five people you meet in heaven, $2.4 trillion in cuts. the three 10 organize deputy 6.9 trillion. >> this time it's going to be different. this time failure is not an option. >> if this super

john kerry saw this coming. listen to what he seed on "meet the press" on sunday. >> there is a real threat that not only will there be a downgrade but the market on monday will look again at washington and say you guys can't get the job done and just the political confusion and gridlock is enough to say to the world, america can't get its act together. >> he was right. but he didn't do anything about it. today's markets just a taste of the long-term consequences that the partisanship and bickering in washington. u.s. stocks fell as you can see, 249 points, 2.1%. i say just a taste. when the day of reckoning comes and that day may not be immediate, we may get a sense that nothing in washington matters. but that's not true. it does matter. when the day soms, our retirements will be smaller. interest rates will be much higher. experts say 18-plus percent. america's standard of living will be lower. so instead of listening to 12 super committee members blaming each other, the nation needs to hold them to account. e

we'll also talk to senator john kerry. >>> newt gingrich's support is growing. he's leading the republican presidential field with 24% of the vote. all within the margin of error. so he and m.i.t. romney are tied for the lead. mitt romney has 22%. herman cain and rick perry round out the top four. romney picked up a key endorsement in new hampshire this weekend, senator kelly ayotte. threw her support behind the massachusetts governor and charlie bass will also back romney. romney has picked up the backing of two out of three congressional republicans in new hampshire. the state he lost to john mccain by five points in 2008. when asked about romney and his rivals, former white house chief of staff, current chicago mayor, rahm emanual, went on the offensive. >> somebody is going to be the republican nominee. then it's up to the choice that presented for the american people. but what's interesting, regardless of the personalities, all of them are espousing the same policies that have been tried before and led to the present economic situation that the president in

i think it's important to remember, this was a line of attack we used against john kerry in 2004, butdidn't become a disabling issue to john kerry until he went out and said he voted before it before he voted against it. mitt romney has to be very careful. all campaigns begin with assets and liabilities. this is clearly a liability. the romney people are aware of it. his strategies are smart people. we'll see what happens. >> bob, here is more what he said about the flip-flopping issue. "romney is a man devoid of any principles other than getting himself elected. as much as the american public does not like barack obama they loathe a man so fueled with ambition he will say or do anything to get himself elected. mitt romney is that man. i've been reading the 200 peaches of single-spaced research on there the john mccain campaign on mitt romney. there is no issue i can find on which mitt romney has not taken both sides. he has no core beliefs, other than himself. is he the silly putty of politicians. press on him real hard, and he'll take on whatever image you press into him, until the

john kerry? talking too much?'s talking too much, that's his superpower. >> pretty good superpower to have. we just learned last week that billy crystal is going to take over for eddie murphy and host the oscars. yesterday we learned who is hosting the golden globes again, it's a good one, ricky gervais is back, despite the fact that he steamed about half the audience last year. the hollywood foreign press association acknowledging that quote, not everybody is happy with the decision to bring him back because his blunt, within-liners targeting big-name celebs caused anger and resentment. he went after mel gibson, bruce willis and robert downey junior last year and he said next year will be ten times as bad. >>> still ahead, why are you awake, your heartfelt tweets texts and emails are coming up. is this a chevy volt? [ stu ] yeah. it's electric. i don't think so. it's got a gas tank right here. electric tank, right over here. an electric tank? really, stu? is that what you pour the electricity in? it's actually bo

and theyteor john kerry in 2004 andot overwheoverwhelmingly forar i 20082008. so we have to get them now or we lose them. they will not identify with the ruic ptyorhe rest of their life. >> and the i i can rsad tm that your yours are their issues. and i say that because you are a republin. i call myself a conservative. iim not a social coerti. dhe question is -- >> on social issues from the book you make john hunts plan look like rick perry. [ llughter ] >> well, because i ifar o same , not civil unions. >> and you describe yoursf as rsonally pro life, but polittcally pro choice. being pital p choice and being for civil unions, d -anofhe things in this book peg you as outside whht we now uerantoe he newainseamf the republican party. >> well, but keep in mind wt'moi is characterizing sensibilities of the millennial generation. and on the issue of morally eiven wit g rights. the millennials have tte view. they believe that abortion morall unethical. eyot in favor of it personally or for their friends or for the peoe thn in their lives, but they are also not in fa

. >> john kerry. >> in the case of john kerry there's evidence it happened.healthcare debate there was a massive trading of stocks by all sorts of people and they did quite well. that's the problem, the way the laws have been designed and set up, they don't consider private information they hear behind closed doors to be nonpublic information, which is a ridiculous standard. >> let's go through some of the examples. forks we are all worried the crash, the fall of 2008, just before the election. there's ben bernanke, all the financial guys in the room, congressmen and women in the room. they get insider information about how bad the economy is and what they are going to do to deal with it. >> exactly. >> what happens? >> what happens is they have the small meeting. everybody has to turn in their cellhones because they are so sensitive about the information. the next day literally congressman go out and sell a lot of shares. we have some congressmen that go out and short the market. they buy option toss short the market betting or knowing that it's going to go

john kerry and rob portman and fred upton and patty murray. they were meeting in kerry's office a short time ago. trying to grab low hanging fruit and a few hadn't million. they don't want to give up the referage and take any deal and it's cuts only. it doesn't look like it will happen leaving a lot of folks. they will say the last meetings are for esthetics. >> they are likely to be repercussions. they remember the debate and the downgrading of america's creatid rating. we can push this into 2013, but there is an recovery that we need to generate now. >> there has to be concern because of course this president is going to be judged on one issue really. that's the economy. his approval ratings in the mitt to low 40s. so if this super committee can't come up with a deal if it winds up looking like another sign that this economy is struggling to get back on track, there is no way that the president will escape blame for that. one thing to look for, you talk about the downgrade that happened this summer. some agencies are threatening to downgrade

he is john kerry in 2004, and also john mccain in 2008. i heard the same thing.u go on redstate.com, they say absolutely not we're not taking mccain. >> i'll mind everyone, john kerry only lost the president byly 113,000 votes in ohio. it was very close. >> he needed intensity. >> you're exactly right. >> that's the problem that romney will have. >> romney is intense in a weird way. >> why do you say that? >> there's a great "new york times" magazine article coming occupy, he's incredibly disciplined, but there are anger management issues, a sort of underlying frustration with folks who are out of order. there's an underbelly there, but he's run a disciplined campaign. he has staying power. >> i'm not sure i like that this guy is a kind of technocrat who you will not love, a little uptight. i'm not sure that's disqualifying. >> i'm not saying it's necessarily disqualifies. >> obama was never the guy you wanted a beer with, either. >> but obama has an ease that romney does not seem to feel. i just can't get over how weak the field is. >> i don't think it's relevan

was on this weekend and john kerry said this about grover norquist, is it the problem? >> the thing about the bush tax cuts and pledge to grover norquist coming up. he's the 13th member of this committee without being there. i can't tell you how many times we hear about the pledge, the pledge. all of us took a pledge to uphold the constitution. >> now that was john kerry this morning saying grover norquist was the 13th member of the committee and norqucy t is an activist who got a significant number of republicans to sign a pledge under nosirk kansas would they raise taxes at all across the board. most americans don't know who he is but he seems to have veto power over the gop's decision. >> we've been talking a lot in this look .movement around the 1%. it's looking like it's going down to the one. 1% at this point it's like the one guy. >> the power of one. >> the power of one but look, i think what senator kerry, the point that he takes is a critical one which is to say to sign a pledge is, after all, simply sort of a request. it is not a binding agreement. what shoul

. >> coming up nerks john, kerry, and your sunday gardener. >> we're past halloween. we're into the fiffing season. these beautiful fall colors are still valid. >> they are valid. we are going to switch over soon, so that -- that other holiday season. >> right at the end of the year there. we're still going to talk about fall. >> absolutely. it is still full. >> comin >> good morning, welcome to jury -- your "sunday gardener." thanksgiving season is here. then we have christmas. let's not rush this. we already have the christmas out. >> whatever you do now for thanksgiving, we'll go into december as well. make sure you get out the christmasy stuff. >> a lot of them have been decorating for halloween as well. we'll start with a simple wicker basket. this is a line. >> this is a fun firn. >> yes. >> it has that season yaling color to it. we can really see the stuff. >> we can direct it with picks and anything that sorts of -- just create a nice table or officer piece. makes a great table decoration before the turkey takes over. >> and there is more. >> now this would wo

we'll talk to senator john kerry now. we appreciate it. >> all right.kerry for his take on why the debt talks have failed. >>> good morning. washington, d.c. where it's cloudy and 57 degrees. showers later with a high of 58. welcome back to "american morning." what went wrong? barring an 11th hour breakthrough the bipartisan debt super committee appears headed for failure. the republican cochair says nobody wants to give up hope but the reality is starting to overtake hope. joining us now from capitol hill is democratic senator john kerry of massachusetts who is himself a member of the super committee. senator kerry, nice to see you. thanks for joining us. >> my pleasure. >> americans are waking up this morning hearing the headline, the super committee is doomed to fail and people are frankly mad at what they call a do-nothing congress. as a member of the super committee, tell us what went wrong and is there still a shot at a deal? >> i'm not going to talk about what went wrong when we are still working and hopefully there is an opportunity. it's very t

john kerry saw this coming. listen to what he said on "meet the press" on sunday. >> there is a real threat that not only will there be a downgrade but the market on monday will look again at washington and say you guys can't get the job done and just the political confusion and gridlock is enough to say to the world, america can't get its act together. >> he was right. but he didn't do anything about it. today's markets just a taste of the long-term consequences that the partisanship and bickering in washington. u.s. stocks fell as you can see, 249 points, 2.1%. i say just a taste. when the day of reckoning comes and that day may not be immediate, we may get a sense that nothing in washington matters. but that's not true. it does matter. and when the day comes, markets and our retirement nest eggs will be smaller. interest rates will be much higher. experts say 18-plus percent. america's standard of living will be lower. so instead of listening to 12 super committee members blaming each other, the nation needs

he lost the suburban counties outside of pittsburgh by twice the margin that john kerry did., and maybe the whole country, is going to be be white collar whites who have been more supportive of him in the past. in pennsylvania they moved sharply away among barack obama carried 52% of them in 2008, they moved sharply away from sestak in 2010. if he can't recapture those voters in 2012, given with the blue collar whites very hard to win pennsylvania. if he doesn't win pennsylvania, thoords get to 2070. >> sestak came close in a model that really, really favors the republicans. they will never get anything like this mod until 2012 like they got in 2010. keep that in mind. the democratic profile is going to be much better. i don't think anybody would argue that. >> we'll spend a lot of time in the suburbs figuring out the answer to that question right there. >>> the man who tried to assassinate president ronald reagan is asking to go free. the legendary abc white house correspondent sam donaldson and the secret service agent whose quick thinking may have saves the president's lif

joini me now, two members of the super committee, senator john kerry, democratof massachusetts. senator jon k, republican of arizona. welcome to you both. senator kyl, let me begin with you. deal or no deal? >> well, there's no deal yet. but, both senator kerry and i are certain we're that going to quit until the stroke of midthiet. >> but whe is there potential for a breakthrough? anywhere? or is this going to fail? >> it's been very hard so far. i think it's illustred by the last thougs made by republicans. we have not been able to do entitlement reform or tax reform and so republicans say let's see if we can salvage something here? take areas where we at least have some agreement in our meeting, put those together and it adds up to about $640 billion tat we couldactually save in increased costs or in some cases, some revenue from asset sales and that sort of thing. my democratic friends said no to that offer because it didn't raise taxes. and i think it tells you a lot. and that is that in washington, there is folks that will not cut a dollar unless we also raise taxes. >> all

senator john kerry said in effect he was the 13th member of the committee. that his taxpayer protection pledge is a stranglehold on republicans and they don't dare defy him. is it a little easy to blame an anti-tax advocate in the failure of congress to do what it said it would do? >> well, he does have a great deal of clout, and one of the members of the super committee, democrat, said to me that when they started talking about revenues, the republican members all said, we'll never pass anything with any revenues in either the house or senate, because of the pledge. but let me take a step back here. because i think it's important to outline this. the one good consensus we have on both democratic and republican sides, is that we have to reduce the deficit. we're sort of like a blindfolded man walking towards a cliff. and if we keep walking we're going to fall off and die. some may argue the cliff is 50 yards away. some may argue 500. but we all agree if you keep walking, you die. now, how did we get into this problem? first, there is the growth of entitlemen