. >> jonathan white. the new u.s. strategy, to what extent do you see it doing three different thing? first of all, encouraging greater cooperation and coordination across the u.s. government in terms of civilian coherrence and secondly how to what expect the new strategy is considering the importance of looking back over the past several years, learning the lessons of coordination with our allies internationally and how the new strategy is going to help leverage and encourage and create the opportunities alex mentioned. then lastly how are we going to take advantage thf election and how will this strategy create opportunities for renewed partnership and new contract with the afhgan people? and welcome. >> dave. >> i was hoping you would put that to alex. >> alex. >> i will touch on that a bit. i think on the u.s. side, that is a -- an immense challenge, a bureaucratic challenge. the bureaus of the u.s. government, the departments, are strong organizations. the majority of them are focused domestically overseas and re

white house will say, here's our skin. we're in the game. >> last question along those lines though, chuck, following on jonathan. how does the white house change the conversation from death panels and funding abortion to plans that increase portability for people in the workforce and increase patient choice and manage costs? how do you create a conversation around portability, choice and cost as opposed to death panels and abortion? >> i think this is the problem. we now -- the debates, there are two debates. the debate inside the beltway an among democrats is about portability, it is about cost. that's a real debate that's happening. the debate now in the polarizing red versus blue culture war, one that he's going to be fighting as long as he's president, as long as he's head of the democratic party, so i kind of think the white house, for now, believes, guess what? these town halls, it's table catnip. you heard robert gibbs yesterday saying, hey, almost blaming us in the media for ginning this story up, creating this made-for-reality tv news, whatever you want to call it. and instead focus on the debate they ha

the white house doesn't just wanted to address these issues. >> jonathan, they are saying look this could very well be a violation of our rights. this could be breaking the law with this website. >> sheryl, they are monitoring for subversion. i'm all for them monitoring the internet, but islamic terrorists. people that dont oh potion the health care program. i understand there is some confusion about the president's bill, why is that? they have a bully-pulpit. he has been talking on the issue and how much there is so much confusion on what government health care is. >> its complicated bill and there is different versions considered in both houses. let's get back to what is really going on. all the white house is saying. let us know what you are hearing about. this we'll give you our side of the story. >> these town halls have been out of control. they are very nervous about the costs. they expected they are not going to get the quality health that they would. >> we'll see what congress finally produces. there is nothing wrong with having townhall meetings. i had them all the time when i w

. >> the white house doesn't like that stuff at all. jonathan martin reports that rahm emanuel, the top kick at the white house, quote, warned liberal groups this week to stop running ads like that against democratic members of congress. with us now jim dean, the brother of former dnc chairman howard dean, and the childrairmf democracy for america which is sponsoring that ad you just saw. are you saying that ben nelson is in bed with the mutual of omaha and the other insurance companies out there in nebraska? are you saying he's in bed with them? you say he's taking their money. is he in bed with them? >> here is what's going on -- >> you're saying that in the ad. so just say it now, jim. what's the different if you can say it in the ad and saying it now? >> chris, this is part of a much larger campaign that we've been involved with in our million mex members of our community have been involved with. it's a campaign of letters to the editor, petitions, 150 to 200 meetings with congressional staffers. all aimed at getting citizens to take respons

jonathan. you suggested earlier that maybe the white house -- i think we've all agreed that the cia story, notorrendous. >> horrendous for the white house. do you think this announcement may have been timed to overshadow the cia's story. >> i don't know that officially or whether that was their intent. but when a big announcement like this, especially someone like bernanke who everyone thought was on his way out when they came in, as you just said, perhaps setting things up for larry summers to come in. that was the conventional wisdom in washington. now you have this huge announcement, that, you know, now shares the page with the cia interrogation problems. so it could be. i always look to see, you know, what's coming down the road. why are they making this announcement now. >> and with this, the announcement they could have made at any time. >> right. >> willie, you have a guest. >> let's bring in andrea, nbc chief foreign affairs correspondent andrea mitchell joins us from washington. good morning, andrea. >> good morning, willie. do you think they may have timed it, just coincidentally. i

extraordinary event this morning at the white house. jonathanre right, extraordinary to see, as you mentioned before, the first african-american president welcoming the first hispanic supreme court justice. it's only in america story and only an american moment. but there is one thing we should point out that, you know, her life story is one of those spectacular stories that she is one of millions of people out there who have this story, people who are succeeding, despite their backgrounds, despite their pet a pedigree and where they've come from and sheer what they all have in common. they have an adult, a parent or a mentor or guardian who is pushing them to be the very best they can be and to achieve their dreams. these are people who have personal drive to actually create dreams and then they have the talent to actually achieve them. and while the supreme court is a very small club, the presidency is a very small club. congress is a very small club. but, you know, little kids out there who are looking at justice sotomayor and wondering if th

when it does, we expect we might get something from the white house, and if that happens in this newscast, we'll bring it to you. jonathan, thanks. in iran, new concerns now that three americans who apparently wandered across its border from iraq could be tried as spies. iranian state media reports and confirms that authorities there arrested joshua fattal, sarah shourd and shane baur for illegally entering the country. investigators will now decide whether they came to spy. the u.s. state department shot down any insinuations of espionage saying they just aren't credible, and shane baur's boss says he never meant to leave iraqi territory. >> i have to assume he was in an area that he didn't realize was iranian. >> he was a freelance journalist covering the elections in northern iraq. here at home there could soon be a lot more cash for clunkers. that's the program that gives rebates of up to $4,500 if you trade in an old gas guzzler for a new car that gets better gas mileage. as we've been reporting here, it's such a big hit it used up most of its $1 billion budget in one week. now harry reid says he has the support of

trouble with jonathan's mother, but let me just say that sherri shepherd is a big fan of jonathan capehart and at the whiteorrespondent's dinner she made a point of tracking him down with quite an interesting exchange between sheri and jonathan. it's a good story. let's say she has a thing for mr. capehart. >> she is wearing a gown and we both looked at each other. i guess we looked familiar to each other. i said what is your name? she said my name is sheri. what is your name? i said jonathan and she goes, capehart? oh, my god! she wanted to take a picket with me! >> oh, my god! like that. >> it was cute but she never called again. they never call again. >> it's because we're out drinking, guys. >> on that note. >> let's take a break before this goes to the wrong place. >>> ahead in the succeed hour of the "morning meeting," town halls. speaking of conversations turning ugly. these are angry protesters pushing and shoving and ripping a man's shirt in tampa. if it's this bad now, what will the recession rally look like later this month? and is this just extrek extremists looking to vent random frustration o

white house, listen to this guy. jonathan up, tonights "playbook" the president's away-game strategy. nbc news political director, chuck todd, joins us with what he said and didn't say about health care reform. it's next on "the ed show." hi, may i help you? yes, i hear progressive has lots of discounts on car insurance. can i get in on that? are you a safe driver? yes. discount! do you own a home? yes. discount! are you going to buy online? yes! discount! isn't getting discounts great? yes! there's no discount for agreeing with me. yeah, i got carried away. happens to me all the me. helping you save money -- now, that's progressive. call or click today. but i did. you need to talk to your doctor about aspirin. you need to be your own advocate. be sure to talk to your doctor before you begin an aspirin regimen. you take care of your kids, now it's time to take care of yrself. five co-worker are working from the road using a mifi, a mobile hotspot that provides up to five shared wifi connections. two are downloading the final

i actually think to jonathan's point, they are doing a pretty good job at it. terry: wal-mart care better than the white house prescription here? >> i don't think it's a question of wal-mart versus the white house or anything like that. i think it's a question, i'm saying that the free market competition is better than regulation. in other words, if you have competition in the marketplace, prices will come down. consumers will get the best deal. if you have it dominated by one entity, in this case the federal government, you're going to have price fixing in a way that you can't -- there is no control over it. competition will control it. regulation get rid of. let the competition do it. for example, teva pharmaceuticals, a great worldwide, if you will, pharmaceutical company that does all of these generic drugs. they do very well. terry: the israeli company. do you own it, wayne? >> i happen to own that stock. yes, i do. terry: i thought you might. jonas, everyone who has tried to compete with wal-mart knows that it's hard to beat them on competition. so why not let them into this arena? maybe they shou

jonathan. what is your sense, karen, of the government, whether it's congress, the white house, the judiciary, the system that mandated the response that bernanke had to basically do? >> you know, it's sort of a cautiously approach. i mean, i think there is a recognition that we have to make changes. but, at the same time, how much change is too much change? particularly at a team -- remember, politically speaking the war in afghanistan and things putting pressure on the white house and congress so how far they want to go with this is constrained a little bit by that. i think we will go through incremental changes. >> i feel, jonathan, from watching last year, when it comes to markets and money, washington would really not have to deal with it at all and much rather do other things, quite honestly only if the markets command a market. collapse in the market and collapse in the currency and spike in the interest rates. the risk is not so much a stock market collapse, the risk right now is continued depreciation in the u.s. dollar or a big spike in interest rates at some point. and basically, to

some white house officials believe that in that environment, the president can be at his best. we're joined by chuck todd and john harwood. and jonathan washington post." chuck, let's start with you. the idea that the president may be able to leverage the emotion against him, explain how the white house would like this to work. >> if they think, they're not afraid of it. one official said to me, we're not looking for somebody to yell at us. nobody searches out for that moment. at the same time, they don't fear it. i don't know if they're really going to get it. i go back to this observation of the protesters watching in new hampshire. there wasn't angryness and yelling. and how people acted on the inside including one of the gentleman who asked a question that was somewhat critical and how he had an easier time talking to me than he did when he was actually asking the president a question. it can be an intimidating environment. they are hoping for a wide variety of questions. one thing, david, i don't think the president is going to go out of way to answer questions from 11-year-old girls. one of the things that they set themselves up

jonathan. savannah is freed up at the white house. what are the comments coming out of the white house this morning? >> reporter: i just learned we going to get a statement from the president on camera. he's, as you foe, on his way to elk hart, indiana this morning. he'll make a statement before he boards marine one on the south lawn of the white house. i don't know the content of that statement, but in any event, he'll make some kind of statement. we expect that. besides that, hearing a lot of the back story and just how involved the white house and the state department really were in this mission. yesterday the posture was this is a private humanitarian mission, in some sense, that's true. to the extent that issues like the nuclear issue weren't officially on the table. on the other hand, there was government involvement. this was thoroughly vetted both leer at the white house, the nfc and state department. i think we'll hear the president likely congratulate president clinton, obviously welcome home the girls and express his relief

and basically, he is suggesting that white house treated it like a press release for the president. >> indeed it was. jonathan turley of john washington university. always great. thanks for the perspective and have a great weekend. >> thank you, keith. >> it's rare, that's true. but sometimes there is justice in this world. the original hit woman in health care reform, betsy mccoy, just lost a job. worst persons next. (announcer) if you think all batteries are the same, consider this: when a tornado tore through holly, colorado, air life denver took to the air... their night-visn goggles keeping them safe on a perilous flight... and powering those precision goggles--- is the only battery air life trusts: duracell. trusted everywhere. look for new duracell ultra advanced now with even more power to protect. >>> oddly placed in the lineup because of the time we devoted to nexus in terror, tonight's worst persons in the world. andrew malcoml of the political page, the times screwed up the tv listings for this program and issued a correction. but he wrote -- >> mr. malcolm is a very old and very stupid talking po

jonathan? >> this will set up a clash between the white house and the attorney general. the white house, the obama administration from the pedestrian down has made it clear they want to look forward and not back. they are not in favor of any investigations on capitol hill into what the bush administration did or didn't do. so now what i think that we are going to see is if attorney general holder proceeds and opens an investigation, he is truly independent of the white house and any of their political things? >> should we be shocked if the attorney general wants to investigate the white house? >> well, strange things happen in washington. here is a question that i have for the other guests. why should americans care the geneva convention was violated? >> well, there was an issue of justice. and the other thing is, we want to maintain the geneva convention's in their fullest capacity, so that our people, when they are grabbed, and they are intear gatd do not face that same level of abuse. i think that is what is driving a lot of the nonpolitical discussion on this. >> tha

jonathan hunt, thank you. president clinton got to check out his old stomping ground when he went back to the white house todaywith president obama for some 40 minutes, and foreman of debriefing, of sorts, where the president describes what happened during his visit to north korea. you will remember that president clinton went to p'yongyang-to try to secure the release of two journalists, and they were talking about the health problems of kim jong-il. no word on what the president said, but it must have been interesting, because the white house reported that after their situation brings it down, he was invited back to the knoblauch this for another half an hour. well, the man convicted of of the lockerbie bombingç has made closer toç being in an area closer to home. they are deciding whether al- megrahi would have his sentence changed. they are determining whether to keep the terminally ill man in jail there, and transfer him to libya, or release them, on grounds of compassion greenhill he was convicted for his part in the bombing -- or release him on grounds of compassion. he was convicted for his part in t

and basically, he is suggesting that white house treated it like a press release for the president. >> indeed it was. jonathann washington university. always great. thanks for the perspective and have a great weekend. >> thank you, keith. >> it's rare, that's true. but sometimes there is justice in this world. the original hit woman in health care reform, betsy mccaughey, just lost a job. worst persons next. when people say, hey mike, why ford, why now? i say brace yourself. that gas guzzler in your driveway, just might be, a clunker. budon't panic, it could be a good thing. your ford and lincoln mercury dealers are cash for clunkers specialists. they'll recycle your ride, and get you a big fat juicy rebate from uncle sam. you can get allhe details, charts, graphs, etc, at ford.com. why ford, why now? why not? visit your ford or lincoln mercury dealer. i'm thinking now would be a great time. when a tornado tore through holly, colorado, air life denver took to the air... their night-vision goggles keeping them safe on a perilous flight... and powering those precision goggles--- is the only battery air life tru

jonathan? >> salina, thank you very much indeed. let me update you on our top story. former american president bill clinton, a surprise visit to north korea. we have a statement by white house press secretary robert gibbs. " we will have no comment. we do not want to jeopardize the success of the former president's mission." he is trying to secure the release of euna lee and laura ling. >> funding for this presentation was made possible by -- the freeman foundation of new york, stowe, vermont, and honolulu, the newman's own foundation, the john d. and catherine t. macarthur foundation, and union bank.

white house and lawmakers and the health profession? "the washington post's" david ignatius and "newsweek's" jonathan alter both joining us next. ♪ oh announcersay hello to the can-doers. - the budget mters. - ♪ yeah yeah the knock-out artists who are finding more ways to spread their dollar further. - to bolder color in less time. - ♪ are you feeling it? say hello to newer ideas and lored prices, enabling more people to turn more saving into more doing. - that's the power of the home depot. - ♪ are you feeling it? try out different colors with new 8-ounce paint samples at a new lower price of only $2.94. (announcer) what are you going to miss when you have an allergy attack? achoo! (announcer) benadryl is more effective than claritin at relieving your worst mptoms. and works when you need it most. benadryl. you can't pause life. we've all heard about the trouble in the housing industry. the fact is, with all the talk of a national real estate market, your town, your neighborhood, your home, or the home you'd like to buy, are each unique. the national conversation may not apply at all. if you've been worrying about what your property may be w

conversation goes from that moment forward. >> yeah. >> i think jonathan is right and the the other tactical thing for me if i was sitting in the whitethem look so small and makes the protesters look so much more ridiculous because the president is so good at handling protesters. he is so thoughtful and rational and pragmatic. so that sort of contrast that you would then see on your television for the nightly news and morning shows might try to turn people's thinking around this is wacky. >> we'll wrap it up, but obama is so so well known for his leadership through hope and opportunity and through this can be done better as his message as opposed to the reent messages which are they will kill you if you don't do what i wanted to do or that power of nightmare versus power of hope and interesting to see whether obama can flip the nightmares currently promoted around this country into a more hopeful conversation. >>> new developments in last week's deadly shooting in pittsburgh area, health club. police teled nbc news sodini was picked up for questioning before he killed the three women and himself. he was spotted on a bus pulling out w

jonathan. >> reporter: good morning, chris. the president has invited all 60 democratic senators to the white house. the white house wants it extended. i have talked to a number of senators who just don't like this program. >> the federal government should not be running used car business. i mean, this is a horrible policy idea. and the fact that people buy cars when you give them free money does not mean that that's what the federal government should be doing. >> why out $4,500 for old refrigerators? why not $4,500 for small businesses across my state that are struggling? i think we have to be careful that we don't go too far with this program. that we don't spend too much money on this program. >> reporter: but there is momentum behind the program right now. and i expect, chris, by the end of the week, you'll hear griping from a lot of the critics. but the bill will ultimately be passed. and the program will be saved. >> let me ask you a question. we know the president has invited all 60 democratic senators down to a lunch today. supposedo be talking about this. but th all that power in one room,

white house briefing and listen to robert gibbs. >> are on vacation. we'll try to get you better guidance on that in terms of splitting up bills. jonath jonathan's story had it in there that the president was going to meet with advisers on this. unless that was a meeting that includes marvin on a golf course -- >> be on the budget -- >> maybe jonathan can clear it up for both of us. >> are you going to take questions? >> sounds like he needs to. no, let me discuss in -- discuss a little bit. obviously, our focus as i said yesterday, is on continuing this process in a bipartisan fashion. you heard the president say that again today. he reached out and spoken with members of congress including members of the finance committee over the past several days. yes. he talked with senator olympia snowe yesterday and senator conrad. as we've discussed, talked with senator baucus on friday. that's our focus is continuing to work this in a bipartisan way. i know that six senators on the finance committee have a conference call slated according to -- >> so there's secretary robert gibbs. a lot of questions swirling around about whether the senate might instit

white house who helped them do it. >> "daily beast" contributor john sifton, thank you for your time tonight. >>> let's turn to george washington university, our old friend jonathan turley. jonathan, good evening. >> hi, keith. >> even if this abc report is incorrect, we tortured people and we killed some of them. if guidance from the bush justice department was deliberately vague, if officials created an environment for abuse beings might that get this prosecutor, mr. durham, back to those officials despite what seems to be a narrow mandate at this start? . >> well, it's a very curious mandate. i don't see how he can possibly do what holder's asking him to do, because essentially what holder is saying is that he wants them to do a preliminary investigation to look at whether anyone went beyond the legal advice, but the legal advice said you can commit torture. so basically holder is saying, i want you to look at the degree of torture, that is we want to see if it goes beyond what is described as authorized. well, the bush justice department and the bush administration said they could do acts of torture. so it's a bizarre thing for a professional prosecutor to do

white house. thanks. so, what is fact, what is fiction when it comes to health care reform? jonathanr editor of "the new republic" and author of "sick: the untold story of america's health care crisis and the people who pay the price". jonathan, good morning. >> good morning. >> i'm going to get right to some of these questions, some of these hot-button issues that get repeated and repeated and repeated day after day, especially in these meetings. we just heard the mantei we don't need obama and his crew to tell us how to die. is this health care reform plan going to create death panels telling people how to die, true or false? >> absolutely false. i think this is probably the most outrageous claim we've heard. there is a provision in the bill that they're moving through that if you want to write a living will, you want to talk to your doctor about it, you want to do it the right way, make sure you're asking for what you want, then medicare will actually pay your doctor to sit down with you and do it so, you can have the time and the conversation. that's all. voluntary conversation a

jonathan, thank you. he was convicted in the 1988 bombing of the passenger jet over scotland who killed 270 people. now this man could be one step closer to being released from prison. plus, the white house responds, has the president abandoned his base? the infighting in the democratic party and the fight over health care reform. public option or no public option? sliver and preferred, or essential and the president won't sign it? which is it? it depends on the day. we'll find out about today next. ( chirp ) team three, boathouse? ( chirp ) oh yeah-- his and hers. - ( crowd gasping ) - ( chirp ) van gogh? ( chirp ) even steven. - ( chirp ) mansion. - ( chirp ) good to go. ( grunts ) timber! ( chirp ) boss? what do we do with the shih-tzu? - ( crowd gasps ) - ( chirp ) joint custody. - phew! - announcer: get work done now. communicate in less than a second with nextel direct connect. only on the now network. deaf, hard of hearing and people with speech disabilities access www.sprintrelay.com. you all want to run your businesses more efficiently, so we've brought in a team of experts to help. one suggestion is to make your shipping more efficient with priority mail flat rate boxes f

white collar workers. there seems to be an emergence of a core group of people who feel very strongly negative, whereas inauguration, i think, was only 6% who said that. >> jonathan, why think the president ever believed that all the people were going to agree with him all of the time. or even -- certainly, that all the people agree with him a majority of the time. i think you can have the effort to talk about issues differently, to be -- to disagree on issues without being disagreeable about it, to have those types of discussions, to talk about how we deal with the issues that haven't been confronted for years and years. you're still not going to get 100% of the people all the time. you may not get most of the people all of the time. i think the president will continue to reach out to democrats and republicans for ideas, both in washington and outside of washington. continue to find a way to bridge the differences that we have and seek common sense solutions. i think that's what he's tried to do since he has come into office. >> robert gibbs at the white house briefing as the white house tries to get out front of this continuing health care debate. right now on

jonathan wolpaw: this is basically just your standard e.e.g. or brain wave cap. >> pelley: to understand how the b.c.i. works, i asked researcher theresa vaughan to hook me up. >> wolpaw: and you'll see there are little whited on your head. >> pelley: those disks are electrodes that pick up the faint electrical activity that brain cells create when they communicate with each other. yeah, it's a little cold. theresa is putting a conductive gel on top of my scalp to help the electrodes pick up the signals. >> theresa vaughan: all set? >> pelley: all set. i'm thinking of the letters of a word that only i know. every time the computer flashes the correct letter on the screen, i silently think to myself "that's it, that's the one." that feeling of recognition sets off a unique electrical pattern in my brain which the computer picks up. this is remarkable. it worked the first time i tried it without a single mistake. ( laughs ) that is amazing. how about that? how about that? i never would have believed it. you know, i can imagine some people watching this interview are thinking to themselves, "wait a minute, they're connecting the brain to a computer." are we moving in the direction of reading people's thoughts

white they need to support the government's plan or why they need to come out strong against it. i'm joined live from washington now by eleanor clift, contributing editor for noo "newsweek" mall zegazine. jonathannning the message board right now? >> right now the opponents of health care reform are winning the message war. part of that is because it is easier to defeat something than to get something done in congress. they're able to latch on to the various provisions of the various bills that are out there and mock them and ridicule them. we'll see some of that over the august recess when members have town hall meetings in their districts. they'll get barraged with questions from people who are upset about a wide range of issues and that will only increase as this debate goes on. there are so many different things to talk about that it is going to be hard for supporters to get momentum back after august. i think if the president ends up being set back only four weeks by the four-week break in his push to get this done, he should consider himself lucky. >> okay. new jersey congressman rush holt had a talk with a constituent who's against health care reform. the man said, "government should sta

when the women are in free soil, that's when the white house will have a statement about this and say what has gone before. >> mike, stay with us. jonathanart and stephen a. smith here for the conversation. >> mike, i'm a fan. thank you for being on the show. i got to ask you when you look at the fact that clinton is going over to north korea, what does that say about what north korea feels about the obama administration, particularly, and, specifically, hillary rodham clinton? >> i can tell you what they want you to think is that they are anxious to engage, that they want to have a better face to the world. there's other ways they can do that. they can stop testing missiles, for instance. that also would be taken as a positive sign by western observers, as we say. >> jonathan capehart, are you there? >> i'm right here, dylan. >> when you play a game of political leverage which is what we've been playing with north korea and trying to play it with iran, whether it's by way of sanction or some sort of moral high ground, whatever your mechanism is, is there anything in the dialogue that you've seen, whether with iran or by watching the for

slated, according, i think, even to jonathan's report and others, that they have a conference call tonight. >> we'll continue to follow robert gibbs there at the whitese briefing, in particular when he talks more about health care. but later this hour, the president intends to meet with the base that got him elected, now called organizing for america, will be holding a live event. we'll have live coverage of that. it should happen about 2:45 eastern time. meantime, check out the health care in america website on cnn.com. find the fact-checks, i-reports and health care news on demand. just go to cnn.com/healthcare. >>> this is the only man convicted in the 1988 lockerbie bombing, responsible for killing 270 people, many of them americans headed home for christmas. well, now he's a free man. >> that was a plane full of young kids, a family with three little girls, young students, the average age of the plane was 27. it sent ripples of horror and pain and grief which have continued and will continue as long as i am alive and the other family members are alive. >> and today that convicted killer is heading home to libya, terminally ill with cancer at th

have a conference call slate, according i think even to jonathan's report and others, that -- had a conference call on that tonight. >> does the white house have a presence on that conference call? >> not that i am aware of, no pity i think that it is part of a regular negotiation session that they have had that we have not taken part in. i am trying to get the extent to which conversations have been here looking into what possibilities are next. i talked to the president briefly about it, and all he said was our focus was on doing something in a bipartisan way. >> do you agree with what jim manly said about by any legislative means necessary -- obviously bipartisan being the hope and the priority but you're going to get this on? >> well i think that the president has said on a number of occasions that -- excellent, thank you. [laughter] >> while. >> what is that? >> that's water. you didn't recognize the newspaper, chaka? [laughter] and all he did was mentioned to me that our focus was on doing so in a bipartisan way. i think that you continue even when he is out next week to talk to members of congress including additional members

. >>> is the white house compiling an enemies list to target the president's critics on health care? that's what one gop senator is indeed claiming this morning. >>> jonathanolling. now his mother's going to give us a piece of her mind. right here on the "morning meeting." contessa wasn't happy about it either. >>> wall street opening up for business. good news and bad kind of thing. slightly better than expected. the job report's real number comes tomorrow morning. you want to talk about the american economy? talk about jobs, whether in fact we are creating them or not. so far, not so much. but hope springs eternal. we'll get to that a little bit later. >>> first off let's get into the credit ratings agencies which has been one of the issues that's been coming up in congress this week. they've been doing hearings on financial reform, financial reregulation. we know ba the banksters and the grand caper. >> dylan, during the height of the housing boom, these credit rating agencies are accused of giving top rating to those risky and confusing mortgage-related investments. everybody was making a lot of money until those investments crumbled in value. the coll

national book award-winner jonathan kozol has analyzed and critiqued the american public education system and sunday will take your questions live. >> topics at today's whiteludes an upcoming report on the situation in afghanistan from the top u.s. commander there. press secretary robert gibbs also talks about the debate over health care legislation. this is about 35 minutes. >> good afternoon, everyone. welcome back. just one quick scheduling announcement, on tuesday, september 15, the president will address the national afl-cio convention in pittsburgh. and with that, our a.p. personnel, hold on, divert the cameras over here. yep. tuesday, september 15,>d[çóÑi b wayÑztoÑi ask the obvious -- ca you repeat the announcement, please. >> i didn't know. you were here the whole time. fire away. >> is the president still asking israelis to stop all settlement building in the territories? >> obviously, i think the president's views on this have been made clear, there's been no dirq and i think the -- i do think senator mitchell has had productive meetings over the past few weeks, and is going back soon to the region. >> javier solana thinks the two sides can come

jonathan capehart, no leaf blowers in your studio. we'd like to ask you a couple of questions. do you expect that this whiteouse may have learned from the mistakes of the white house administration and when they get attacked they're going to hit back fairly aggressively? >> oh, absolutely. you answered your question in your question. the obama administration is taking a tact from the campaign. they set up sort of a truth squad or truth website to deal with all the rumors that were out there about the president and so never let a negleative challenge go unanswered. that worked during campaigns and so they're bringing it here to governing and when you're trying to get something passed, the administration's point of view is it's better to hit back and hit back hard to make sure the message gets through from their perspective that what's being said about them or their policy position isn't true. that's what they're trying to do. >> and they seem to be doing it fairly effectively right now. jonathan capehart, thanks for being with us. always great to see you. >> thanks, joe. see you, everybody. >>> still ahead,

jonathan capehart, and also the man who has been the health care guy from the post. and then former dnc chair, howard dean. dr. dean, welcome back. where do we stand in your view at the white house on the public option? >> well, i thought the assessment was right. i think they are looking for wiggle room. the problem is there isn't any. the co-ops -- we tried the co-ops before and they failed. they were eaton en up by the private insurance industry. the public option is only to inject the kind of things the president wants. i think the secretary was wrong when she said it's not essential. you don't have reform without the public option. i disagree with the president. to say it's a sliver of the bill, but without a public option, you are pumping $50 billion a year into the insurance industry, and it's hardly a reform. >> is this a trial for the president? >> i don't know. this is a political season. the senate is not even in session. they need to be in session. that's when this stuff gets done. at the end of the day, i don't think the republicans are going to get a single vote for this health care reform, no matter what the democrats do or the president does. and it will be

. >> and jonathan capehart, if you're trying to fight this thing, if you're against it, the biggest opponent to this plan is the economy and it is the way the whiteling with this situation, maybe too many at once. i think it just genuinely makes people afraid and they're wondering, gosh, if i don't have a job, am i going to like this plan? what's in this plan? i don't think the rhetoric and the vitriol is necessary if you're trying to bring it down. >> correct. you're absolutely right, mika. and i think someone out in one of these town hall forums should ask the president today in montana, mr. president, you often say that doing health care reform is essential to economic recovery. make him explain that because that's been the mantra out of the white house since the inauguration, since before inauguration, and it is most likely true, the crushing health care costs that are weighing down the economy adding to the deficit. the president needs to explain that so that the folks out there who are leapfrogging, and i think it was john who mentioned this, the two strains of the debate going on now where you have people who are concerned about socialism.

headline white house rethinks how it sells health overall, more emotional appeal may surface as obama backers criticize him for focusing on regulatory details instead of lofty themes. jonathan weissman writes this article. in it he writes the president is expected to present a more emotional appeal during a conference call wednesday with liberal h a liberal religious groups. the message will be tailored group' moral his is, although h oned the president' age to igious groups may not hold a broader shift i >> host: back to the phones. middletown, connecticut, john on our line for independents. how important is it for you that the healthcare bill be bipartisanly. >> caller: i don't think with the independents -- as the independents think we look at both sides of the story. and i just don't think that the democrats or the republicans are going to work together. barack obama -- your past callers -- all they do is class warfare. republicans go against the democrats, the democrats go against the republicans. and all they do is call everybody names. you've on the programs where the republicans would call the democrats names. democrats are calling republicans names. barack obama wa