we are joined by former presidential candidate jon huntsman and congressman joe manchin next.on? -oh! -oh! oh! [ female announcer ] with 40 delicious progresso soups at 100 calories or less, there are plenty of reasons people are saying "progress-oh!" share your story for a chance to win a progress-oh! makeover in hollywood. go to facebook.com/progresso to enter. >>> with me now, senator joe manchin, democrat from west virginia and former presidential candidate and former utah governor jon huntsman, thank you for being here and joining forces here. i have to say when i was reading about this, and said, okay, goals to argue less and act more, and i'm thinking, yeah, but how do you go about that, particularly from the outside? why is an outside group needed? >> well, let me say from no labels' standpoint when i was a senator two years ago, i was enamored from this, because i came from a governorship, and jon and i were governors together in 2004 we were elected respectively from utah and west virginia and friends and democrat and republican to solve problems and i thought that t

with west virginia democratic senator joe manchin and former republican presidential candidate jon huntsman. plus, guns, spending and all the president's men and we do mean men, with republican congresswoman marcia blackburn, democratic congressman elijah cummings, "the new york times" jeff zeleny. and jeff scherer. i'm candy crowley. this is "state of the union." >>> a month after the massacre in newton, connecticut, the vice president is expected to present an array of gun control proposals this week. # he has publicly mentioned universal background checks on gun buyers and restrictions on high capacity magazines. the white house adds that president will also push congress for an assault weapons ban, a spokesman explained biden did not mention the controversial ban because the panel focused on consensus proposals. it appears you can count the national rifle association out of that conken sus. for starters, biden talked about his conclusions before he met with the nra and after the biden session the gun rights lobby said, quote, we were disappointed with how little this meeting had to do w

jon huntsman. joe manchin, senator from west virginia, will join us.er house member. it's january 14th, and "starting point" begins right now. >>> welcome, everybody. our starting point this morning, a day of remembrance for the 20 children and 6 adults who are gunned down at the sandy hook elementary school. it happened one month ago today. at 10:30 eastern time, the stratford, connecticut town council will vote on a proposal to name the new school after victoria soto, a teacher killed in the shooting. and sandy hook promise will unveil its efforts to honor the victims, a national grass roots effort to address gun violence. they'll be joined by family and victims and survivors of other gun shootings. last night in a forum, some 200 newtown residents voiced their feelings on the future of the sandy hook building. some say it should be demolished. some say it should stand as a reminder. newtown's police chief had a clear message for washington, d.c. here's what he said. >> ban assault weapons. restrict those magazines that have so many bullets in them.

headed by democratic senator joe manchin of west virginia and former republican governor of utah jon huntsman. in the final news conference of his first term, president obama told reporters the u.s. can't afford a drawn-out debate over raising the debt ceiling, which could reach its lmit in mid february. "raising the debt ceiling does not authorize more spending. it simply allows the country to pay for spending that congress has already committed to. these are bills that have already been racked up, and we need to pay them." president obama warns that if the debt limit is not raised or used as leverage by republicans, markets would go haywire, interest rates would rise, and checks to military veterans and people on social security would end. gop senate minority leader mitch mconnel reponded by saying, "the president and his allies need to get serious about spending, and the debt-limit debate is the perfect time for it." traders will get their first opportunity to react to comments at the market close yesterday by federal reserve chairman ben bernanke. among the highlights, the fed chair says,

jon huntsman had the right tone, but unfortunately it didn't work the republican party.d have actually beaten barack obama. i think chris christie, even though he can be sort of strident in some ways he has a much better tone going into 2016 because he's willing to work with democrats, he's willing to criticize democrats. the republicans have to sound reasonable in order to win elections, especially the presidential election, at the presidential level, and they haven't done that in recent years. >> what about the -- let me go to the asians for a minute. this is a huge growing population. supposedly great business people, free market people, free enterprise people. republicans got slammed in the asian -- >> i don't know why. >> it was just as bad as hispanics. is it because republicans don't go there, they don't talk to asians, they don't go to their meetings? it's it's a matter of language? it's a matter of communication? >> i have no idea why because asians come here legally, there's no flob, they're usually very hard-working, don't depend on government entitlements. th

former utah governor and republican president jon huntsman told "the daily telegraph" the gop is likeding company that is "devoid of soul." a new gallup found president obama is the most-admired man in america. for the fifth straight year, in the same poll, the most admired woman, hillary clinton. guess how many years in a row? 11. after this morning's vote on the fiscal cliff, outgoing texas senator kay bailey hutchison tweeted this at 2:43 a.m. i just cast my last vote in the u.s. senate. it has been an honor to serve in the greatest nation on theers. >>> the term fiscal cliff, i tried getting it banned, is at the top of the 38th annual list of words to be banished by lake superior state university. others on the list of unliked words? double down. plus spoiler alert. trending and guru. and a new petition has been started on the white house website calling for an end to stupid petitions. it says, white house petitions are being gamed to the point of absurdity and maybe it's time for the petition to end all petitions. meaning this one. and that's your morning dish of "scrambled polit

. >> we'll talk much more about this with senator manchin and former utah governor jon huntsman straight ahead on "morning joe." >>> today marks one month since the mass shooting in newtown, connecticut. town officials are holding public hearings on what to do with sandy hook elementary school and whether students and staff should ever return to the building. some newtown residents are joining the national conversation on gun policy. >> reporter: one month after police converged on sandy hook elementary school, the newtown police chief has a message for the white house. >> ban assault weapons, restrict those magazines that have so many bullets in them. >> reporter: he said the gunman had more fire power than his officers two handguns, a bushmaster rifle, and two 30-round magazines. as vice president biden prepares to announce sweeping gun control proposals. noa pozner w noa pozner was the youngest victim. >> he had the right to live, get married, have a normal life. i think that right is more important than the right to own a high velocity weapon that can obliterate whole classrooms in s

. >>> still ahead, former governor jon huntsman, newark mayor cory booker and dr. zeke emanuel.t back with much more "morning joe." with the spark cash card from capital one, olaf gets great rewards for his small business! pizza! [ garth ] olaf's small business earns 2% cash back on every purchase, every day! helium delivery. put it on my spark card! [ pop! ] [ garth ] why settle for less? great businesses deserve great rewards! awesome!!! [ male announcer ] the spark business card from capital one. choose unlimited rewards with 2% cash back or double miles on every purchase, every day! what's in your wallet? with fancy feast mornings ongourmet cat food.every day! (announcer) make mornings special, mornings are delicious protein rich entrees with garden veggies and egg. fancy feast mornings. the best ingredient is love. i obsessed about my weight my whole life. and then, weight watchers. i amazed myself. get used to it. introducing the new weight watchers 360 program. join for free and expect amazing. because it works. >>> coming up next, it's a no-labels convention. mark mckinn

but the thing is, it really is--and there are other men jon huntsman who i've met.a bright, articulate guy who believes in science. he's wacky for that. i disagree with him on most issues but we need someone--with christie he does show flexibility like in new jersey he said after sandy we're going to have to raise taxes. that points to the other republicans who were so--they don't live in reality. chris christie lives in the real world. >> christie has done a great effort to reach out to minorities who are demonized by other republicans. a muslim-american who was demonized, and christie said enough of this crazy. >> he called out the shariya law they were scamming. >> he nominateed them and they were rejected by the senate. >> you support muslim support gays mr. christie meet the tea party. >> because he's moderate on abortion. he's with the exception of rape and incest, which is now--it used to be that was a conservative position. now it's a moderate position. >> and the etch-a-sketch. >> john: that's right. for chris christie, for all the things people like about

but by singling those three out, especially bill clinton, jon huntsman probably doesn't have to worryure endorsements. and a move that could signal some progress. during thursday's swearing-in ceremonies house speaker john boehner met the husbands of both democratic representative shaun patrick maloney of new york and mark pokan of wisconsin and how is that for family friendly and a new pew report notes members of the 113th congress are getting bold when it comes to their religious affiliation. they are at the same 2% level as americans who refuse to specify their faith. democratic congresswoman kirsten cinema to describe her religion as non-but ten of her colleagues didn't specify any religious affiliation and that's up from ten members in the previous comment. an update on nelson mandela's health. the 94-year-old civil rights icon doing a little bit better. straight ahead -- >> what's going to dominate washington for the next threements here is going to be spending and debt. >> senator mitch mcconnell doesn't think gun control gets any movement in congress any time soon, but the whi

there is a new group forming with senator joe manchin who is a democrat from west virginia and jon huntsmandential candidate a moderate who is trying to form this group to form bipartisanship, and is that possible anymore? we want to look at gun debate through the prism of bipartisanship and is that at all possible? >> do you believe they will come to some type of agreement here, because certainly a lot of issues on the table? >> yes. i think that there are a lot of issues on the table, so, i think that there are some things that the white house is prepared to do in terms of making the background checks more effective and laws in place to fund more of the money for some of the background check, and tighten up the sort of mental health background check, and try to help states comply a little bit more, but in terms of the big things, that is, what about the magazine clips that can fire so many bullets at the, you know, one right after the other in rampant fire, and what about the assault weapons ban? i don't know. we will see a little bit more coming up, because we do expect in the assaults w

. >>> former utah governor jon huntsman is promoting a problem- solving approach in congress, with hisrtisan movement that he calls no labels. >> it's a dysfunction of congress that's now becoming our nation's dysfunction. we're becoming disfigured in a sense, our economy is, because congress is so far behind in the game. >> we don't even know our colleagues in congress out of 435. so this gives us a chance. no labels gives us that venue to sit down and have meaningful conversation. >> so far, 25 members of congress have signed on to quit the finger-pointing and focus on solutions. former governor huntsman says he hopes to get at least 50 more. >>> there were protests all across the u.s. this weekend to mark the 11th anniversary of a prison. human rights groups are demanding be shut down. ktvu's christien kafton talked with those opposed to the camp at guantanamo bay, who say they are disappointed with the president. >> reporter: protesters say their aim today here in san francisco was to raise awareness about the prisoners still left at guantanamo bay detention camp. so they walked ba

. >> ryan, i want to play something jon huntsman told a british newspaper this week.e a listen to this. >> we can't be known as a party that is fear-based, that doesn't believe in math. >> now, ryan, the gop does have a math problem, and here it is. of the gop's 35 freshmen seated today, 32 are men, but only 3 are women. they also didn't have a woman chairing a committee until they were embarrassed into it. have you seen any evidence that they understand that they do have a math problem? >> well, you know, they do understand it intellectually. they recognize it, and -- >> so does that mean they just don't care about addressing it? >> well, i think it's hard for them to address it because they didn't get to the place that they're in by accident. you know, nixon's southern strategy, it was based on race-baiting. it was an attempt to drive out the working class white vote and there was a lot of kind of bracism underlying that. if you think of willy horton and beyond. so it's not like they got to where they are accidentally. so they fired up this base of people. now movin

. >> you had one rational guy, jon huntsman, come out, and they all pounded on him. >> who didn't actas rationally as he is. remember the old ten for one, he was one of the hands that went into the air. >> he tried a little bit until south carolina. it wasn't just the debate. the pathologies of the debate played out through the campaign. so you had senate seats in missouri and indiana that fell to the democrats in part because of republican flubs. we have to go to that core question. what is the democratic party now? is it a party that simply does well when the republicans do badly? is it simply an alternative to the republicans? or is there a there there? that's something that barack obama is going to have to do a lot of defining in, and it will start in the inaugural speech. >> mayor, looking beyond the president, identify a face or faces within the party that you think best represent where it needs to go. for example, senator-elect elizabeth warren. is that an individual who you think embodies where the democratic party needs to be moving? >> no, i do not. i think the democratic pa

erin, i spoke to jon huntsman and joe manchin, and asked them what they think about how we got here anden how to do the art of the deal. it's been so long since this government has put together any kind of deal between parties. heaven forbid the next generation come up thinking this is the normal way forward. this is not the normal way forward. this represents a broken system. >> if we quit thinking about the next election and start thinking about the next generation, we're going to make it through our lives just fine. it's what we're living behind. and they're going to have to come together sooner or later. >> there you heard it. it's the short term thinking creating potentially huge long-term costs for the american economy. >> the down grading of the u.s. economy was a huge problem. of course, it hasn't yet resulted in higher interest rates. a lot of people might say, look, who cares? let's be complacent. let's not worry about another downgrade. who cares? do people get it, in washington, that's it's important? >> it almost seems to be an afterthought in all of the chest thumping and

whether it's rick perry or jon huntsman, they just can't ever get there. so regardless of the timeline, i think clinton is going to be incredibly strong position. >> speaking of who has a national profile, of course, it's not all about hillary clinton. joe biden has been building his brand. there has been a lot written about this. he's spearheading the president's gun violence task force. he did help close the deal on the fiscal cliff debate. now, his poll numbers aren't quite as high as hillary clinton's, but i'm wondering, jonathan, as you look at it from the other side, how strong a candidate you think he would be. what about a possible dance between he and hillary clinton? do i get in, don't i get in? >> i would expect at least one if not both of them to run. they're both, obviously, very ambitious people. they've been very, very close to the seat of power. the issue that's going to be the weakness for both of them, quite honestly, is going to be generational. if you were to pair biden or clinton against rubio or paul ryan, you would have between a 25

president obama named then republican governor jon huntsman to be ambassador to china.here was republican congressman john mchugh who president obama picked to be secretary of the army there was former republican congressman jim leach. president obama picked him for the national endowment of the humanity tis. anne northrup. republicans would love to make stick this idea that president obama is rabidly bipartisan and can never work with republicans. a lot of democrats would love it if president obama were a little more partisan than he is. but he is not. he is not that guy, which today is driving republicans crazy over this latest pick of chuck hagel. we will have more on that in a moment. but the question is should it drive democrats crazy that a democratic president is again, for the third time in 15 years picking a republican specifically for this one job, that is running the pentagon. should that drive democrats crazy that democrats do that all the time in terms of putting a republican in charge of the military, but a republican has never done that for a democrat? sh

. >> i agree that was the beginning and end for jon huntsman.ut also in the long-term the beginning of the end for mitt romney. >> how so? >> well, because he began to lock himself into a position of grover norquisting himself for the whole election. and that played into who he was as a businessman. that played into the -- >> it's today's politics. they used to say you have to be the most segregationist guy in the south. you couldn't be an inch away from it. >> i guess you could say whatever an early primary season crowd claps for furiously is going to kill you in ohio. >> i'm thrilled thinking how great politics are. let's get back to the iowa caucus. iowa is another unique state. romney's campaign b and the super pac that were supporting him were to annihilate. newt gingrich was the biggest threat. they destroyed him. let's watch here's a romney supporting ad destroying newt. >> you know what makes barack obama happy? newt gingrich's baggage. he has more baggage than the airlines. gingrich cashed in on freddie mac. freddie mac paid newt $30,00

thought it was interesting this weekend, i don't know if you saw in the sunday "time"s magazine jon huntsmanviewed about his, you know, criticism over the last year or so about his party's shift to the right. here's what he said about his primary loss. quote, michael moore, bill clinton and jimmy carter coming out and giving you kudos as a sane republican doesn't play so well in the primary phase of iowa or south carolina. can you be a, quote, unquote, sane republican these days and be successful? >> well, i think that the most important thing for us all to remember is that we are americans first. and we need to be democrats and republicans second. >> it's easy to say. everybody says it. but in practice, nothing's getting done. >> but you're right. and if you look at what happens in primaries now, which pushes so many people either to the far left or to the far right. but you look at what huntsman did. what huntsman did was he looked to where his commonality was with president obama. that's what he did first. he went to the common ground first. and when he realized that there were things tha

remember really saying so in a direct fashion was former utah governor, former china ambassador jon huntsman guys, we have to leave it there, although i guess i just want to say, i know, hopefully we will all be inspired to try to be one america again with the president's message on monday during the inauguration. thank you, toure. thank you, jonathan capehart. >> thanks. >> thank you. >>> next, more from the sunny gop retreat in williamsburg. stay with us. >> a majority of americans agree with us on this. and by the way, so did ronald reagan. >> oh, take a cheap shot at ronald reagan. what are you trying to do? impress jodie foster? [ coughs ] shh! [ coughs ] shh! [ breathes deeply, wind blows ] this feels cool. [ male announcer ] halls. let the cool in. the battle of bataan, 1942. [ all ] fort benning, georgia, in 1999. [ male announcer ] usaa auto insurance is often handed down from generation to generation because it offers a superior level of protection and because usaa's commitment to serve the military, veterans, and their families is without equal. begin your legacy. get an auto-insu

i was talking this morning to your counterpart on the republican side, former utah governor jon huntsman, and, you know, he is -- there's a key word there i just used, former. how do you get the people who are involved in the process right now who can have this influence, to get on board and really do sit down in that meeting room and listen and talk and negotiate? >> chris, right now i've been in senate for two years. you know we have not had the first bipartisan caucus yet, not one time have we sat down organized by leaders for us to sit down in 100 chon or at any time in two years to talk about the problems and if we had commonality. >> what does it take to make that happen, senator? >> well, this is what no labels is all about, the problem solvers. we're saying if it's not going to happen from the top, maybe those of white house are frustrated as i am that wanted to do something that came to washington to solve problems will get together. it's the first time i've been able to meet with colleagues over on the house side. i've never had that opportunity. and the problem solvers of no l

of -- the republican primaries of 2012 and we found that all of them, with the one exception of jon huntsman, were calling into question the basic reality of the problem itself. were basically saying in some cases saying that it was a hoax, okay. this is a remarkable turn for the party itself. and you know -- and what we're seeing of course right now is that in the aftermath of the loss of 2012 -- republicans are beginning to look inward and they're trying to say, "where have we gone wrong? where are our new opportunities to engage the public?" immigration is one of those issues that they're beginning to say, "maybe it's time to change our position." climate change could be another of those. because it's one of the ways that they can appeal back to the middle. our own work, we found that independents are much more like democrats on their beliefs about climate change than they are republicans. so if republicans want a way back, this is one of the ways that they could do it. and there's actually a historical precedent. we used to have a huge acid rain problem in this country. we created essent

the new chairs of the no label movement, joe manchin and former presidential candidate jon huntsman.oth for joining us and, senator manchin, let me begin with you. the motto of no label, stop fighting and start fixing. admirable goals, but what is your specific goal and how do you intend to get there? >> george, basically jon and i were talking about this earlier, you know, i've been there two years in the senate and i have yet to have a bipartisan meeting that's been organized where republicans and democrats in the senate sit down and work through their problems. think about just in the senate we don't have that type of dialogue going on from democrats and republicans. we don't even know our colleagues over in the house. no labels gives us that venue. >> and ambassador huntsman, there's going to be a test of that strategy on so many issues including the issue of preventing gun violence one month after newtown. i was surprised to see there's no mention of that issue on the no labels website. pretty conspicuous in its absence. is that a punt? >> this is not about finding the end point

democratic senator joe manchin and former republican presidential candidate jon huntsman called theirabels. governor huntsman and senator manchin join me now. what's with the yellow ties, did you send out a memo today? >> we're working together across party lines. >> it's an auspicious color and today's an auspicious day, joe, that's what it's all about. >> all right. so governor, or i should say senator manchin, you're also a former governor of west virginia, the president came out swinging today against republicans in his news conference. let's listen. >> and republicans in congress have two choices here. they can act responsibly and pay america's bills, or they can act irresponsibly and put america through another economic crisis. but they will not collect a ransom in exchange for not crashing the american economy. the financial well-being of the american people is not leveraged to be used. >> he's talking about bipartisan, but you would agree that he's also playing politics here or no? >> i'm not going to second-guess what the president, his motives and everything. i can tell you,

. >> i think jon huntsman for a couple of weeks of the past year, but why did know the republicans talkabout the banks? why did nobody say break up the banks? the banks that acted recklessly, the bankers that acted recklessly, they got a bailout from us. they got bigger. why didn't the republicans asked the question of barack obama during the debate, what happens tomorrow if citi goes under? >> which your administration has employed. >> i think that is a good question. everyone has written for a magazine on this panel, and we have all written a piece of that order and have been critical of wall street and big government and big business, especially of wall street and the obama administration. there's a problem, which has been alluded to already. it seems much more a problem at the federal level than at the state level. a lack of political on to nor should. a lack of jack kemp-like figures, paul ryan-like figures. -- a lack of political entrepreneurship. >> [inaudible] >> develop legislation along these lines. >> something happened this week that i think people ought to pay attention to

and yet nobody talked about that on the campaign trail last year other than jon huntsman. one that said we have to break up the big banks. >> those choices had to be made a few years ago. now when you've got some quiet again, no way that's going to happen. >> yeah. >> when the decisive moment came, the banks wrote their ticket. >> so true or false. if citi goes under tomorrow, do we all bail them out? we all bail them out again. >> absolutely. >> and i could say that about the other four or five -- i could say the same about wells fargo. if wells fargo went under tomorrow, we'd have to bail them out. >> absolutely. those are earthquakes for the world economy. we don't have that -- >> so basically they are connected to life support to the american people, the middle-class americans who are going to have to bail them out again. and the question is how do we start unwinding that, even if it's slowly? how do we start unwinding that today? so we will never be faced with what we were faced with on september 15th, 2008, again? >> those who were responsible for making the decision

why wasn't there one republican other than, i think, jon huntsman did it for a couple of weeks over the past year talking about the banks? why didn't anybody say break up the banks? too big to fail got bigger under barack obama. [applause] the banks -- >> right. >> the banks that acted recklessly, the bankers that acted recklessly, they got a bailout from us, they got bigger, and why didn't a republican ask the question of barack obama during the debate, hey, mr. president, what happens tomorrow if citi goes under? >> which, incidentally, employs all kinds of -- which your administration has employed -- >> right. which you -- [inaudible conversations] >> people did very well at citi in 2005, 2006, 2007. let me just say i think every one of us who edits the magazine on this panel has actually published pieces that are of the break up the bank order and are critical of the crony capitalism on wall street and big businesses, especially on wall street and the obama administration. and the lack of i'm not sure exactly what accounts for it, it seems to be much of a problem at the federal leve