joining us onset, mike barnicle. and we have the executive editor at random house jon meacham. >> we've had the past couple of days, first newt gingrich -- >> they do blur together. >> and newt romney, both talking about how they don't flip-flop. and they're steadfast. >> that's perfect. >> they are a solid rock. you know, meacham, i gave the scriptual reference of the day of building that house on a solid foundation. we're not on sand, being swept away. and these guys are saying we have had our feet in cement for years. first you have newt doing it two days ago and now mitt romney saying i just don't -- hey, we've got a politico quiz. i'm not knocking mitt. you know i like mitt. and we've been talking about how great he's doing this year. but just fess up. >> well, it's exactly right. today as i'm sure you all know and you're probably going to have the party after the christmas tree, churchill's birthday. he changed parties three times and remember he said anyone can rat, but it takes real character to re-rat. he sa

when mike barnicle says something to me, that's not your cue to talk.ike barnicle is talking to me. >> where do you learn to talk over -- >> we don't need more than one joe. >> that's right. >> we begin with our parade of papers. >> now i'm feeling a little better. >> this is on me, baby. >>> the birmingham news, unbelievable news. first we lose to lsu and then this. the birmingham news says the largest municipal bankruptcy in u.s. history just happened in alabama. and alabama's jefferson county specifically more than $4 billion in debt, jefferson county's filed for chapter 9 protection. unable to repay money that it borrowed to fix its broken sewer system. the governor was unable to save the day. and that's what happened. >>> the wisconsin state journal says former president richard nixon's grand jury testimony on watergate, which has been sealed for some 36 years will be released today. a professor at the university of wisconsin madison won a court challenge to make the documents public. the nixon library is also releasing thousands of pages of other

mike barnicle and donny deutsch are here.cal analyst eugene robinson who has a really good piece in the post this morning about rick perry not being the only one that stuck his foot in his mouth during the debate. >> we'll talk about that in a minute. the kids on twitter love me. i don't know why, they just do. >> really, i had to close mine down. really? >> the kids on twitter love me. and all the kids on the far right and far left saying really nice things about me, and i picked up -- >> what did you get? >> what i got was corbett the governor was actually attorney general twice. >> that's right. >> twice before he was governor. he certainly was attorney general while a lot of these rapes were going on. and i wonder if any of this information got to the attorney general's office. i think that's something that needs to be investigated. >> we'll find out. >> when he was asked yesterday during a press conference he kept saying he can't talk about the investigation that he was involved in. >> he was asked during the press confe

mike barnicle and mark haleprin are still with us.e you this hour. how's it going there, joe? >> going great. >> great, great, great day for newt gingrich. >> oh, are you -- how excited are you for newt? >> you know what? at this point, i'm pretty excited. >> and why is that? >> well, i just think it's probably really good news for obama. so i'm not going to get caught up in what a hypocrite he is. >> just stop that. come on. >> no, that'll come out in the wash. so what's great is the republicans clearly don't want to win and that's good for obama. >> wow. i don't know. i don't know -- i mean it's looking pretty good for him. he's moving ahead in the polls. mark, he's moving up in new hampshire. he's moving up in iowa. he's got the endorsement -- >> conservatives love him. >> what i call the manchester union leader. he doesn't have a conservative record. he's spotty at best. >> but they can pretend he does. >> but he's still doing very well despite the fact he flip-flops as much as mitt romney. >> i'll say again, if you take the good

with us onset, we have msnbc contributor mike barnicle.e have the executive editor at random house jon meacham. we also have financier and "morning joe" economic analyst steve rattner, and in washington to help us translate a little bit, msnbc political analyst and former chairman of the republican national committee, michael steele. good to have you. >> good to be with you, mika. >> that clip we came in with, perfect after yesterday's news with washington doing nothing about fixing school lunches and passing pizza as a vegetable. in the "wall street journal" today, a study on american teens finds that children's cardiovascular health, the current generation of teenagers could be at risk of increased heart disease, adolescentsç performed poorly overall on a set of seven criteria by the american heart association for cardiovascular health. it will lead to heart problems later in life, exercise and food at the crux of the problem. seriously? this is what's wrong with washington. that we can't even make their lunches healthy. thank you for p

mike barnicle knows it and knows these stories. but i went into depth. he's carrying a guy on his back and he's got a badly injured back, and grown up with a bad back, carrying this guy on his back for four hours through the pacific ocean through japanese-held waters, all the time pulling the guy's life jacket in his teeth. he saved the lives of ten of his crewmen. two were really in bad shape. he had to go out and talk them into not giving up. it is right out of a movie. he is a true hero. a chillingly, amazingly gutsy hero and that's how it all started. >> chris, i have a bunch of questions, but i want to talk to you tonight about something that absolutely jumped off the page to me. and it has to do with an appearance that then senator kennedy made in pittsburgh, pennsylvania, before the convention in 1960, long before the election in 1960. and i ask you this in light of today, when so many people, republican and democrat, seem to be wallowing in a frustration about the future of this country and about the strength of our political leaders, including p

mike barnicle?out china yesterday with richard haas from the foreign relations committee. and yet there's a clear void when you watch some of the political debates in this country of people running for president to address this huge issue of china in that whole region of the world. so my question to you is we tend to focus so little on china, how much do they focus on us? >> well, i think the u.s. relationship was the most important foreign relationship for china. it's one that they in terms of foreign policy terms they're constantly thinking about. and i think they like an equal librium, right. the reason that china has been able to grow so strongly is because of a peaceful international order. and that's been underwritten by the united states. let me give you an example. the korean civil war's not over. japan and china have all sorts of tensions. that's kept in the bottle by the u.s. military in asia. look 10, 20 years down the track, china won't want the u.s. protecting the sea lanes around china

mike barnicle and mark haleprin are still with us.bc political analyst eugene robinson. good to have you all on board this morning. we're going to start with politics. let's get through this cain stuff and get to the polls, shall we? >> we'll charge through it. new details. >> i agree. >> it's officially reached call me when it's over. >> well, i do want to hear what david and eugene have to say about why this is even at this point. >> well, let's -- >> because the polls show something, as well. >> let's give him a respectful reading because he is in first place. >> wow. front-runner. new details are emerging. >> i'm sorry. >> about an alleged incident that led a female employee of the national restaurant association to accuse the front-runner, herman cain, of sexual harassment back in the 1990s. that's your front-runner. according to "politico," the employees say cain made a "unwanted sexual advance." the woman left her job shortly after the incident with one year's salary, about $35,000. politico reports that a separate woman who ac

we heard mike barnicle at the top there talk about the real unemployment rate in this country. what do we expect is the actual real unemployment percentage right now? >> well, just to be clear, we use this term of the real unemployment rate, craig, which is actually a figure the government publishes. it's about 15.8%. what that includes is people who have left the workforce because they're discouraged. they're not even looking for a job anymore. people who are working part time for economic reasons. that is they cannot find full-time employment. as well as the unemployed. we don't have to suspect what that number is. we know what that number is. it's very elevated. it did come down. you did have a decline in those working part time for economic reasons and also seen the workforce grow a little bit because people are attracted back with better numbers. we have to mention one other thing that makes wall street relatively optimistic about this numbers is that in the prior months, july, august, september, we've revised up that data by 102,000. i don't know if you remember, craig, b

. >> mike barnicle, what did you learn? >> i learned the traffic is no problem for me because i have my senior scooter. >> i love it. mike mika, what did you learn? >> i'll read the next e-book. i look forward to it. >> happy birthday winston churchill, never, never. >> 1874. give up. >> willie, if it's too early, what time is it? >> "morning joe." >> see you tomorrow. chuck todd now. >>> well, the herman cain train hasn't completely jumped the tracks yet, but is it just a matter of time? he and his campaign push back and push on. is mitt romney benefiting from the cain spectacle and what will romney do when that shiny metal object goes away? he got testy yesterday over the slightest challenges. >>> evacuation, the united kingdom pulls their diplomats out of tehran after protesters stormed their embassy. who is behind the raid? what's it mean for iran's already bad ties to the west? >>> and congress tries yet again to make a deal. this time it's on a payroll tax cut holiday. can the white house help this one across the finis

here's our discussion with mike barnicle, and one of america's celebrated essayists, joan didion. >>s great to have you here. this is, of course, the second book that followed up "the year of magical thinking," which created a real sensation, sold over 1 million books and put you in a very odd position with people coming up to you at airports. and seeing you as a grief counselor. >> it was odd. every place i went, somebody was telling me about who they had lost. and actually i got kind of used to it. >> right. >> i mean, it became a kind of gratifying moment in the day. but it was odd at first. >> tell us, if you can, about "blue nights," and i'm not sure this is the best way to put the question, but who was this book for? >> this book is for my daughter who died three, four years ago. and that's who it is for in my mind. who it is -- who the reader is for, i suppose is anyone who has a child. it's about having children and how we deal with that kind of unnatural state. how we -- how we fail and how we sometimes come out okay. >> sometimes our biggest failures would be with our daugh

mike barnicle. he's my crazy, crazy crank key uncle. >> what is that picture all about?g about this add is he was a spokesman for camel cigarettes. this is a professional athlete. the front man. in this ad, if you look closely, he's got the camel in his left hand and cheeseburger in the right hand. this is not a parity. this was the ad. one of the great professional athletes of his time in the 1930s smoking and eating a cheeseburger. and i think some of the science hadn't gotten caught up on cigarettes because they are good for you after a meal. how little we knew then. smoking cigs and eating cheeseburgers. >> look at that. did you capture the look of the bourbon? he went to school in tennessee. you can watch willie geist on way too early every morning at 5:30 a.m. as well as on "morning joe" every morning at 6:00. >>> the failures and frustrations of washington. why is there such a disconnect between congress and middle america? congratulations. congratulations. congratulations. today, the city of charlotte can use verizon technology to inspire businesses to conserve e

with us onset, we have mike barnicle. what? >> herman cain. >> we're going to miss him when he finally falls off the tracks. >> we are? >> yeah. we have the chairman of deutsch. >> once a year, show up with the shoes, everything's okay. >> really? >> it's from the heart, that's what's important. >> they are lovely. i will say. >> i brought mike a tie, but i forgot it. >> what's going on? nothing for me? >> i got you a pair of birkenstocks, but i left them -- >> you know me so well, donny. >> i'll take the shoes. >> also editor in chief of news magazine "the daily beast." rick perry has new plans. occupy wall street's in the news, but we're going to start with newt gingrich. and this is very, very interesting. by the way, joe is off for a few days. he had a second sinus surgery. he's miserable. he'll be fine and back next week. so to 2012 politics we go. iowa caucuses less than six weeks away. several presidential hopefuls are spread out campaigning today. a new bloomberg news poll shows a statistical tie herman cain, ron paul,

and mike barnicle e-mailed me at 1:00 in the morning, and said you just saw one of the three or four in august, it really is from beginning to end the most remarkable run. let's also talk about missouri going in the southeastern conference. >> i'm kind of sad about that. >> i'm sad about it. i'm not nervous, but i'm sad because i've obviously grown up a big fan, i grew up in columbia. my dad told me i could go anywhere i wanted to college, but keep in mind that if i went to k.u., i had to pay for it myself. i ended up paying for it myself because things didn't work out for my family to pay for it anyway. but it is hard for me to give up all of those rivalries that have been part of my growing up. you know, the o.u., the k.u., lsu, florida -- >> you don't want to -- >> vanderbilt, arkansas, although i like playing -- >> vanderbilt, you can make fun of willie once a year now. >> it's true. it's true. >> is willie still up there? or did he shove off? he shoved off about an hour and a half ago. >> i want to ask about the jobs bill. >> i want to go to the weight thing. >> no, i want to ta

mike barnicle is still with us and joining the table conservative commentator, syndicated columnist and. >> we're talking about newt gingrich, one of your favorite topics. he claims to be more conservative than mitt romney but he is not perfect. only christ is perfect. >> he says that. >> that's true. >> we're getting checkmarked for that. willie, we were going through this before and i missed a couple things. he said he doesn't switch positions. nothing radically different. this is a man who bragged about being a rockefeller republican and he said he is, quote, most electable. now i haven't seen that poll. but i think he is one of the least electable out there. >> herman cain is right there with him. i think miss coulter wrote a column a couple weeks ago basically saying let's cut the bs. mitt romney is the guy. let's stop pretending it's newt gingrich. let's stop pretending it's rick perry or herman cain or whoever the flavor of the month is. you believe it's mitt romney and it's time for the republican party to come to grips with that. >> yes. i just mostly want my prediction to be t