. >> mark halpern, editor at large for "time" magazine. here we go again, mark.ton team and others are concerned that the message is all wrong. how do you assess this at this point in the campaign? >> whenever a presidential campaign hits a bump, you see the air is filled with calls for change. you can change tactics, strategy, personnel. one thing or another. this operation, the obama operation in chicago and washington, i think is much less likely to do it. bush 41 made changes, clinton made changes, kerry made changes, dole made changes, mccain made changes. the reason i don't think this operation will do it, for a lot of reasons, one way i think to get them to dig in and not make changes is when people from bill clinton's world make the suggestion. the clinton people say zig, the obama people say we're zagging and that worked pretty fine. there's a lot of call for them to make change. i think the speech tomorrow will be interesting. to see if there's any fundamental change. they still believe in the end that mitt romney cannot beat barack obama and i think th

this stuff about gas and things will get a lot of attention, but it shouldn't. >> mark halpern, melissa harris-perry, thanks for joining us. you can catch the melissa harris-perry at 10:00 eastern on msnbc every saturday and sunday. you have work to do. >>> up next, our love/hate relationship with technology. [ . 11 years playing the outfield, and i got no plans to retire. [ female announcer ] aging may slow a dog down, but iams helps keep dogs playing year after year with our age-specific nutrition. and now, even for dogs 11 and older with new iams senior plus. it helps boost the immune response to that of an adult dog and helps fight signs of aging. [ dog ] i'll never be a bench-warmer. [ female announcer ] new iams senior plus. see the iams difference or your money back. [ dog ] i am an iams dog for life. no. you quit? i'm trying nicoderm cq. [ male announcer ] nicoderm cq, the patch with 24-hour smart control technology, lets you celebrate a little win every time you say no to a cigarette. nicoderm cq. quit one day at a time. every time you say no to a cigarette. progressive saved m

we're also still waiting, mark halpern, for mitt romney's ideas on immigration policy. how wrong -- well, what is this moment for mitt romney? is it a good moment, a bad moment, is it a wash? >> it's mostly a wash. i think the shelf life of this in the context of politics is relatively short. the immigration system's broken. it's one of the many issues where i don't think we're going to get a real debate between these candidates. in terms of the politics of it, romney's statement is trying to do clever things. somebody put on twitter a few minutes ago, that would be me, the rhetoric in this statement is themes romney wants to go to whenever he can. the statement doesn't address the specific provisions and what he liked about the ruling or not. he says obama is weak, partisan, breaks his promises, and obama doesn't respect state rights. i think that's the best he can do is try to talk about those themes rather than address the provisions because the provision that was upheld is a huge hot button issue in the hispanic community as we have been talking about for a week. he

he'll be the for more on this story we turn to msnbc and "time" magazine senior political analyst mark halpern, becoming i think the fourth or fifth guest in studio in the history of this storied program. >> celebrating the cubic zirconium anniversary. >> author of the book "game change." the front page, "nation eyes wisconsin recall vote." is this important to the country? >> it's important for labor unions, they've got a lot at stake and they're a big part of the coalition of the left. it's a big deal for collective bargaining. governor walker is being recalled primarily because people in wisconsin didn't like the way he went after government unions. it's a big deal because wisconsin could end up deciding the presidential race. i think the winner tonight will be energized, the democrats or republicans, to try to win the state come november and use the political muscles they built preparing for the recall in order to build a presidential nomination. >> if governor walker holds on to his seat like most of the polls say what's the lesson here for people who want to carry out recall elections, w

marco rubio is being thoroughly vetted as part of our process. >> mark halpern, editor at large for " and msnbc senior political analyst. was mitt romney trying to smooth ruffled feathers among rubio supporters who might feel he was being dissed by not even being vetted? what was romney trying to do in breaking his own promise to never discuss the process? >> i should say that this is based, what i'm going to say is based less on reporting and more on magic eight ball and ouija board and experience covering these things. my guess is he's not going to be picked, he's not going to hand over the full documentation because he doesn't think he's going to be picked and they will send the signal he's not going to. there is clearly a political problem caused by the report, which is a lot of conservatives, a lot of people who think governor romney needs to do something about the hispanic vote, feel marco rubio should be considered. so i think it was a mistake from a communications point of view and process point of view for the governor to do that. i don't know why he did. i think there would

mark halpern and author of "the page" and melinda hennenberger writes she the people blog and in thetrial. she is a big "washington post" columnist. let me ask you both. i've been trying to think about the angles of this trial as it seems to be concluding at least in first round with the acquittal and one count and the hung jury on rest, mark. the jury did something again that probably should make us feel good. they were able to separate out the questions of the law. they did have a hard time deciding the decision. but basically, it looked like they weren't being driven by the sexual aspects of this whole matter. >> chris, the jurors probably don't follow the issue of prosecutoral discretion the way you and i do. i don't think there's any doubt that when we hear from them they're going to say what you and i believe which is this case should never have been brought. whatever you think of john edwards in terms of how he conducted himself, it is a ridiculous case under law and common sense to prosecute. i think the jurors felt that way. if the prosecutors don't decide to retry, my guess

when mark halpern of "time" asked mitt romney why he wouldn't cut spending his first year in office 2013, cut government spending by $1 trillion if it's holding the economy back, here's how mitt romney responded. "well because if you take a trillion dollars for instance out of the first year of the federal budget that would shrink gdp over 5% that tt is by definition throwing us into recession or depression. so i'm the not going to do that. of course." i'm not going to do that, of course, of course. you couldn't have gotten a better definition from president obama. take money out of the federal budget and in the short term, in the immediate term, take money out of the economy. you reduce demand. you slow growth. the government should spend and hire during recessions. that's one of the things that helps end them. republicans know that. well, at least they know that when they're the ones in power. joining us now is the host of msnbc's weekend show "up with chris hayes." he's also the author of the new book out tomorrow i believe "twilight of the elites: america after ameritocracy." good to

changed the vice presidential nominating process, msnbc and "times" senior political analyst, mark halperncghee of demos. the supreme court upheld a key provision of arizona's immigration law, saying police can check the status of an immigrant in the country illegal but the rest of the controversial law was struck down. joining us is pete williams. pete, thanks for joining us. >> you bet. a couple things about this ruling. it's 5-3, justice kegan stayed out of this. it's the court's three liberals and the chief justice, john roberts, to make the fifth vote. you mentioned the part of the law the court upheld. the court struck down three others that would make it a crime in arizona for illegal immigrants to look for work or fail to have the right papers and also struck down a provision of arizona's tough

mark halpern makes the point that one of the reasons you haven't seen sort of a unified preparation amongrats is because they're not quite sure, maybe the health care exchanges will incentivize individuals to go get insurance themselves and the individual mandate isn't the linchpin that the administration has made it out to be. do you have a sense that there is sort of a workable consensus that democrats can arrive at before november? >> i don't think there's -- there are a bunch of things you can do. there are automatic enrollment which just means whenever you go and deal with a government agency they push you to get insured, something what medicare part d did which was passed by the bush administration, essentially make people pay more if they sign up later. one thing that's important to say, what nobody thinks anywhere is that taking the individual mandate out will be good for the bill. people disagree on how bad it is, but it is bad. it's a bad thing for the bill, a bad thing for people who need insurance, a bad thing for people who are buying insurance on the individual market. i thi

. >> josh, let me play what mark halpern said on ""morning joe" about the police officers and teachers firefighters. let me play that. >> i think all of this is silly. i thought when john mccain said the fundamentals of the are strong is silly. i think this is what our politics has become. >> do you think that this boils down to something silly, or are we see i guess an achilles heel regarding big government, teachers, firefighters, people we know we all need. >> i don't think it's totally silly with all due respect to mark. anybody can make a mistake in the haste of a press conference. i'd say that is probably what the president did on friday but there a broader debate between the two parts. if you're talking about aus t austerity plan. it probably does mean laying off firefighters or teachers or police officers. and so if people are laying economic plans on the table, it seems to me that it's totally legitimate to talk about what the impact of those jobs may well be. >> let me also switch you to this taung. the so-called friendly fire for mitt romney. scott walker, an indiana governo

joining us, mark halpern, bill burton and romney senior advisor. 40 years later with the former white house counsel, john dean. >>> and remember sargent shriver. occasional constipation, diarrhea, gas or bloating? get ahead of it! one phillips' colon health probiotic cap a day helps defend against digestive issues with three strains of good bacteria. hit me! [ female announcer ] live the regular life. phillips'. silver and bronze... ♪ it's the red. it's the green and yellow. it's the red, white and blue. because at the olympic games, it's not the color you go home with that matters. it's the colors you came in. and when colors mean this much, you can only trust them to tide. proud keeper of the red, white and blue. right? get. out. exactly! really?! [ mom ] what? shut the front door. right? woop-woop! franklin delano! [ male announcer ] hey! there's oreo creme under that fudge! oreo fudge cremes. indescribably good. you'll also care about our new offer. you get access to nurses who can help with your questions. and your loved one can get exelon pat

mark halpern is editor at large for "time" magazine. i think we have to wait to see what we find out about this, what kind of medical condition. everyone who knows the secretary, i know him, i have met him a number of occasions, know him to be a very sober-sided, well regarded business executive and newcomer to the cabinet. >> well, first, two things. you said let's wait for the facts which is hard to do in the age in which we live. the other is let's hope everybody, including the secretary, is okay. that having been said, as a political matter i'm a little surprised at the lack of information, the lack of awareness. we're in a presidential year and i think any time a cabinet member is involved in a potential crime, it's smart for the administration to respond quickly and get the facts available. otherwise, that vacuum is filled by other things. i'm just surprised, not sure what the reason is, there has been relatively little information forthcoming from the department. there's a brief statement from the white house. >> exactly. it just

pacific when i am joined by mark halpern, michael eric dyson and ari melber.s" is next. good afternoon. it is always so good to be in the same city with you. >>> thank you. right across the room. thanks so much. executive privilege and contempt of congress. pete williams and chris cillizza here with the latest on the fast and furious debate. >>> the fed weighs in on interest rates, next on "andrea mitchell reports." let's take a paint project from "that looks hard" to "that didn't take long". let's break out behr ultra... ...the number one selling paint and primer in one, now with stain blocker. each coat works three times harder, priming, covering, and blocking stains. let's go where no paint has gone before, and end up some place beautiful. more saving. more doing. that's the power of the home depot. behr ultra. now with advanced stain blocking, only at the home depot, and only $31.98 a gallon. wouldn't it be nice if there was an easier, less-expensive option than using a traditional lawyer? well, legalzoom came up with a better way. we took the best of the

joining us now is cochairman harvey weinstein. >> mark halpern used to be a filmmaker. consumer of news. how would you rate harvey's interview with bill clinton? >> the verve of larry king and the heft of david. >> a high wire act. >> what was that like having the microphone and interviewing the president of the united states? >> untold respect for what you guys do and the fact thaw do it every morning is beyond comprehension. >> eight hours a day. >> incredible. in my case, having fed oprah winfrey a couple of movie stars over 25 years, i called her for advice. the first thing she said is if you are nervous walk out and say you are nervous. it happened to an african in 1992 intrusion michael jackson. she said prepare. i read 1200 pages in preparation. the internet and i reread the book. i wanted to know what i was doing in case. he is so good you into. they could have had a robot to be honest. >> but you made news. that was the crazy thing about it. you were running clips and you made news and got in the middle of this campaign. >> you got a couple of questions and peo

back with us on set we have andrea mitchell, mark halpern and john heilman.ngton and we are all a little bit in shock this morning. you probably heard now the very sad news that author, screen writer, directionor and good friend of ours, nora ephron died of pneumonia after a battle with leukemia and leaves behind such a legacy. a resume of hollywood hits. we saw some of those. she wrote and directed julie and julia, the story of a blogger who makes each of julia's recipes in a cookbook. she was in the 1998 film you've got mail and used the same duo five years earlier in sleepless in seattle where a widower finds love from across the country. then the new york favorite when harry met sally. i'll have what she's having. a love letter to the city where she was born and later worked as a journalist. >> i'll have the number three. >> i would like the chef salad with the oil and vinegar on the side and apple pie ala mode. i would like the pie heated and i don't like the ice cream on the pie and strawberry and only whipped cream if it's out of a can. >> just the pie

mark halpern. >> this is fantastic. >> let's go to you, governor. you seem to be enjoying this. >> this is great. this is why presidents win reelection a lot. this is a brilliant move on obama's part. romney desperately has to get himself over at least 35% in the latino population. he can't do. even now putting rubio on the ticket, he can't do it. this is what incoming presidents get to do. the stuff about the constitution, first of all, since when have the republicans cared what's in the constitution? but secondly, standing up to congress, ignoring congress, that's exactly what the american people want. here's a group of people, a 9% favorability rating, obstructing everything the president is trying to do in every area, not just immigration and obama just says i'm just going to do this anyway. i think he gets big points for that in the latino community, 64% of americans support this, 90% of latinos support this. a, it's the right thing to do and, b, was this ever well timed. >> was this is masterful move to short circuit the rubio-romney plan? and