cheney did an interview with "the today show" this morning, matt lauer used the perfect frame for the waterboarding question. >> if an american citizen were to be taken into captivity into iran, for example, and the government looked at that person and said we think you're a spy for the u.s. and here to carry out a covert operation, would it be okay for the iranian government to waterboard that american citizen? >> well, we probably would object to it. >> on the grounds that it's torture? >> on the grounds we have obligations to our citizens and we do everything we can to protect our citizens. >> matt lauer continued to press the point and cheney was incapable of answering the question if waterboarding is not torture, is it okay for other countries to do it? >> so why was it okay for us to use what most people would say was torture against terror suspects? >> remember, first of all, these were not american citizens. we were not dealing with the american citizens in the enhanced interrogation program. it was people who were a handful, two or three that got waterboarded. third, we had g

but wait until you hear his answer when matt lauer asks if it would be okay for a foreign government to waterboard an american? how fast will rick perry run away from his positions that social security is a failure and unconstitutional, or that texas might want to consider seceding from the union? he's about to find out, because his fellow republicans are going on the attack. >>> finally, funny she doesn't look jewish. why some people seem to think michele bachmann is jewish, and that's why it's costing mitt romney some money. we start with the president's jobs initiative. eugene robinson, a columnist and for "the washington post," and howard fineman, huffington post's editorial director and both are msnbc political analysts. eugene, you wrote, president obama's promised jobs plan needs to be unrealistic and unreasonable at the very least and if he can crank it all the way up to unimaginable that would be even better. i take it from what you wrote what you're really saying is, hey, nothing's getting done in the next 15 months? >> well, what i'm saying is, go for it. you know, the pla

i'm ann curry along with matt lauer.alking this morning about a wonderful new face for charla nash. >> she was horribly mauled by a chimpanzee in 2009. she went through a grueling surgery. she received a face transplant this morning for the first time. we will show you how that went. we'll talk to her brother and her daughter. that's coming up. it will make people feel a lot better about this story. >> after this morning, we're going to talk about a serious habit -- raising the question of whether or not you have tried to medicate your children with cough medicine to help them stay asleep before a long trip. that question was asked thousands of women in a new survey. if it's an uninterrupted night of sleep or satisfying sex. going to get into the survey coming up. >> and who here? bobby flay is in the house. >> bobby. >> it's raising the bounty. we love when flay is in the house. >> smells terrific. >> a little later. >> go inside. natalie is standing by at the newsdesk with a look at all of the headlines, good morning.

me the question, and then ray nagin was on the today show yesterday in the an interview with matt lauer when this question came up again about race. and how did race and social economics effect what took place in katrina. and i am astounded that that issue still comes up when you think about the men and the women who worked for the federal emergency management agency and dhs and, for that matter, the entire federal government. now, i know if you take x number -- i don't know what the number in dhs is now, when i left it was 180,000 people. so i'm sure now it's at least 200,000, right? that's just the nature of government. but i'll tell you something, that population within dhs is no different than the general population, and i'm sure somewhere in that general population or in that specific population of dhs, there might be a bigot, there might be somebody who was thinking racially, i don't want to help those people, i don't want to do this, or they're poor and stupid. i can just imagine all the bigoted kinds of things that someone like that might be saying. but what we forget is that th

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broke out she was frightened but didn't show her fear in order to not upset her mother the neighbor lauer was constantly by the family side. georgian greatest concern was the georgian soldiers would shoot her first because of the fact that she was living in a setting where there was no food or water in the basement the underground inhabitants spent several days totally unaware of what was happening above ground and in constant fear for their lives. down the street you know they were shooting from this machine. they thought there was an abandoned house here they were sure there was no one there but there were incidents when they threw grenades into the basement. and i will never forget the noise the whole time. and it got closer and then we heard an explosion it never crossed our minds that it was from a missile launcher. took a pencil and a single sheet of paper into the basement down there she drew sketches of everything around. we're actually measuring the gloomy there in black pencil initially as children they only store adult life such as. sure it was done. only shown in from that pla

her attorney jose baez speaks to matt lauer. >>> jason bateman and ryan reynolds are in studio to talk about their new movie "the change-up." thank you so much for watching "early today," just your first stop of the day today on your nbc station. have a terrific wednesday.

and oscar-nominated actress ann hathaway talks to matt lauer about upcoming roles, including "batman." >>> i'm lynn berry. thanks for watching "early today," just your first stop of the day today on your nbc station. have a good one. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com

. >>> we used to do this with matt lauer. where in the world is matt lauer. now where in the bay area is jeff ranieri. we think he's in campbell. what a beautiful night to be outside, jeff. >> how did you know? were you on the 5:00 show? >> hmm, i think so. you gave us a clue back then. >> yes, of course. yes, we're right here in campbell, which can often get confused down here with san jose in the larger part but it is amazing out here tonight. you know it's summer in the bay area when there is not only music in the park but there's also some great drinks as well. as we pan off out here, i have some new friends out here at music in the park. it's a great time. everyone out here is just having a blast in campbell. we're on the front lawn of the anesly house, a very historic property here in campbell. it's definitely a you cannot miss opportunity. come out here to music in the park or tour the house. joining us tonight, karen lang with the city of campbell. tell us about music in the park. not too much time left? >> yes, there's only one more left next week, i

i'm matt lauer. >> i'm ann curry. wall street was really and still in need of good news after thursday's major sell-off. initially investors got some good news, but stocks opened strong initially, but now the dow is back down in negative territory. >> down about 55 points right now. let's look at the jobs numbers. the unemployment rate dipped to 9.1% in july. employers adsing about 117,000 new jobs, so what's the take-away of all this for you? we're going to talk to cnbc's maria bartiromo and jim kramer from the floor of the new york stock exchange in just a couple minutes. >>> redmond o'neill, the son of ryan o'neill and the late farrah faucet was arraigned on thursday following his most recent drug arrest. what ryan o'neal says about his son's latest trouble. >>> and a remarkable couple we've been following on "today" for more than a year now. rachel was paralyzeeds when she was pushed into her pool at her bachelorette party. she's finally married the man of her dreams. they are back from their honeymoon, and they'l

matt lauer's exclusive live interview with former vice president dick cheney, whose memoir is out this week. and al roker conquers the great outdoors on his alaskan adventure. now keep it on this channel for continuing local news, weather, sports, and more. i'm lynn berry. thanks for watching "early today," just your first stop of the day today on your nbc station. the day today on your nbc station. have a good one. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com

today, matt lauer asked cheney will come call him the most controversial vice president in history.o you think there's something about your personality, your demeanor that inspires animosity in your criticics? >> i can't speak for them, matt. you're right. you left out darth vader. >> i figured that had been said a lot. >> we're going to have much more of cheney's sit-down and also ask melissa harris perry why dick cheney feels the need to take so many shots at different people. new pictures now of the devastation in vermont where fema chief craig fugate will be today. damage estimates could top $12 billion. fema has only about $800 million left for federal disasters. since irene, fema has frozen future projects in places like joplin, missouri. the death toll from irene now stands at 40 with several people electrocuted by downed power lines. utility officials say it could take more than a week to properly restore electricity to all five million customers who lost power in the storm. the fight to restore power across north carolina is making some significant progress to talk about to

i'm matt lauer. >> i'm ann curry. perhaps no surprise that the president is moving to quickly put the debt showdown behind him by returning to the campaign trail. >> however, it appears investors are not all that excited with the deal that was reached. after months of heated debate. the dow dropped 266 points on tuesday. that's its largest drop in the string of eight straight days of decline. we'll have more on the law's impact on washington and wall street coming up straight ahead. >>> also this morning, disturbing new videotape recorded by phillip garrido and his wife as they lured a young girl into their van. it was made two years after the kidnapping of jaycee dugard. >>> also ahead, a controversial new way that some young women are paying off their college debts. coming up, one coed who turned to the internet to find herself a so-called sugar daddy. we'll talk more about that. >> especially in these economic times. >>> also, after attending another lavish royal wedding, kate is seen once again, this time doing he

. >> and i'm matt lauer. let's go right to the map, although if you live in the southern half of the united states, you don't need a map to tell you how hot it is. arizona to florida, that's the area trapped in this brutal heat wave. >> excessive heat warnings are in effect for a dozen states as arkansas where wednesday's 114 degrees in little rock smashed that city's all-time high. coming up, al's going to tell us why this summer has been so brutally hot and whether we could see some relief. >> also ahead, remember the georgia mother convicted after someone else killed her 4-year-old son in a hit-and-run accident? she was found guilty of jaywalking. at her sentencing, the judge said she could take probation or endure a new trial. well, she has now made her decision. she'll reveal it in an exclusive interview. >> very tough choice. >>> also, the intruder breaks into the home of the wealthiest man in sydney, australia and put what he claimed was a collar bomb around the neck of that man's teenage daughter. we'

i'm matt lauer. >> i'm ann curry. buckle up because here we go again, 30 minutes into the trading day and wall street is on a major roller coaster ride. >> that's right. the dow plunged at the opening bell. let's take a live look at the big board at the stock exchange, down 356 points. that erases almost all of today's gains. some of that credit for the point gain due to a fed decision to keep interest rates low for at least the next few years. of course a lot of people are wondering what more president obama and the administration can do to speed up the economic recovery. should he, for example, demand that congress shut short its summer vacation to address the situation? the latest from wall street and the white house straight ahead. >>> also this morning we'll talk about british police launching this massive crackdown on rioters in london, matt. it happened overnight. this morning more deaths are being tied to the violence. the latest in a live report from london coming up. >>> as casey anthony talked to her parent

a look at what's happened in the asian markets well they're in negative territory banks are mostly lauer and exporters are also under pressure amid worries about him through the month and all this is of course the result of what's happened in the u.s. and europe promising market jitters here rush hour markets will open in two hours time on friday they close the in the right after answer national stock markets fell to their lowest since late one nine hundred ten. there was some formats and says what a downgrade monday is slightly it's inherent last week's figures. this week we're back in business again and people will be looking at the big news though the dataflow extremely closely because the markets are extremely volatile. there's no conviction for any sort of strong recovery in my view the situation they were problematic last week are still problematic this week so any improvement in data will you know support the markets but it could also be a very short term and it looks like we could have the dow fall into eleven hundred i think without any problems. the u.s. has managed to stave of

and tomorrow morning on "today" former vice president cheney will be live with matt lauer. >>> we couldse a little good news these days. in case you missed this joy in williamsport, pennsylvania yesterday, as a team of 11-year-olds from huntington beach, california, won the little league world series. nick pratto, whose dad is the manager, drove in the winning run for the 2-1 victory over the team from japan. the win brought the championship home to the u.s. after a japanese team won it all last year. always ends up in a pile of kids. >>> up next here for us tonight, beyonce shares some big news with the world, and sets a new modern day record for twitter traffic in the process. confidence. available in color. depend for women is now peach. looks and fits like underwear. same great protection. depend. good morning. great day. morning starts with arthritis pain... that's two pills before the first bell. [ bell rings ] it's time for recess... and more pills. afternoon art starts and so does her knee pain, that's two more pills. almost done, but hang on... her doctor recommended aleve beca

i'm matt lauer. >> i'm ann curry. the big news is that after weeks of often bitter negotiations republicans and democratic leaders in washington finally agree to an outline of this deal. >> it came last night. it would cut trillions of dollars of federal spending but the bill still needs to be voted on by the full house and senate. the outcome of that vote is not a foregone conclusion. the members on both sides of the aisle already complaining about the deal. we're going to talk about that with one of the president's top advisers coming up straight ahead. >>> also this morning, what would you do if you came face to face with a black bear? a former member of the u.s. ski team accidentally got between one bear and her cubs leading to a dramatic encounter. she was forced to fight for her life. she actually struck the bear as it was clawing at her. coming up, exclusive live interview this morning. >>> also going to talk about something you're starting to hear more of, the no kids allowed movement. it's picking up steam at

>>up matt lauer. the dow is up about 150 points. that's a pretty positive sign a day after dropping nearly 635. >> that's right. that decline was the sixth worst single-day point decline in the last 112 years. but despite the turmoil, the s&p president is defending his company's decision to downgrade the u.s. credit rating and, in fact, some analysts believe that decision could end up being a good thing for the economy in the long run. so we're going to talk about all that this morning with cnbc's maria bartiromo and jim cramer. >>> also ahead, take a look at this "newsweek" cover featuring michele bachmann. the caption is "queen of rage," but an unflattering photo that has a lot of people crying foul. we'll talk more about that, as well. >>> also, should a man be able to use social media to say bad things about his ex-wife? that's an interesting question. a judge has ordered the creator of a blog that is called the psycho ex-wife dotcom to take down that website. we'll hear from the man and his ex-wife coming up just ahead. >>> let

s matt lauer on that show and given the fact that it severely damaged our reputation around the world and there were no stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction you still think it's worth it you know sure i don't. think that damage our reputation around the world i just don't believe that i think you know the critics or don't want to argue that but in fact i think it was sound policy that dealt with a very serious problem and that they limited saddam hussein from. from the kind of problem a prisoner of war. so dick cheney doesn't believe that this impacted our reputation it was however one of the statements like this what impact if i could have well to the degree they're not contradictory to read it aloud or i don't know what he said after that but you know when he was interviewing interviewing cheney's boss bush and he said do you still think torture was right and bush said well my lawyers said it was all right and i left it at that you know so you have to challenge these people when i challenged rumsfeld in public in atlanta i was i was called immediately by a very high person and

s matt lauer on this day so given the fact that he had severely damaged our reputation around the world and there were no stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction you still think it's worth it you know sure i don't. think damage her reputation around the world i just believe i think you know the critics here at home are are you there but in fact i think it was sound policy to have very serious problems and that he limited saddam hussein from. a problem for. so dick cheney doesn't believe that this impacts our reputation because a lot of our what do statements like this what impact a statement like this half go through degree they're not contradicting the medal i don't know what he said after that but you know when i was interviewing interviewing cheney's boss bush and said you still think torture was right and bush said oh my lawyers said it was all right and lower left it at that you know so you have to chop down trees people when i challenged them spoke in public but when i was i was called immediately by a very high person and c.n.n. saying aren't you free. and i said. you're asking

this is an interview that the president had with matt lauer of the today program about a month after he took office. in 2009. i just want you to listen to this. >> look, i'm at the start of my administration. one nice thing about the situation i find myself in is that i will be held accountable. i've got four years. >> you know how quickly people can.... >> that's exactly right. a year from now i think people are going to see we're starting to make some progress but there still be pain out there. if i don't have this done in three years then there's going to be a one-term proposition. >> schieffer: there you are, mr. axelrod. that was the president at the start. we're getting right up to that three-year point. is this going to be a one-term presidency? >> i think the question is... first of all let's certify that we have... we're in a different place than we were in the day he did.... >> schieffer: we are. worse. >> and we were losing 750,000 jobs a month. we've had job growth for 17 months. we have to do much much better. the president has proposed a series of steps that he thinks w