p.j. crowley and from tel aviv, nbc news correspondent stephanie gosk. thank you, both. stephanie, i want to start with you, is the attack we were just discussing in tel aviv an indication that cease-fire talks are not actually on track? >> no, that's not the case, ari. they aren't necessarily connected. at the very least they're are probably -- it's probably complicating the conversations, but right now, the talks keep going on, the negotiations keep going on. israeli officials saying they still are looking for that guarantee that rockets aren't going to come out of gaza towards israel. that is their stipulation. we heard the defense minister ehud barak say today that right out of the gate, what they want most likely is something like a 24-hour period where they can see whether or not hamas is capable of stopping those rockets. so negotiations ongoing and we are hearing some more kind of rumors and hopefulness coming out of cairo that perhaps a cease-fire deal has been reached, but we are

joining the panel now to discuss these implications and more, former assistant of state, p.j.y and from normal, msnbc contributor rula jebreal. welcome to the program. i want to ask p.j., in terms of dynamics here, countries moving swiftly in the course of the last year to support palestinian statehood. how much does the conflict in gaza inform that? >> the conflict in gaza informs the desperation president abbas and the palestinian authority feels. he has to do this now to be relevant because he was largely sidelined in the recent gaza conflict. from the time they announced this a year ago all events have compelled him to take this action. >> let's talk a little bit about how this affects israel and america in terms of their -- not negotiating power but their position in all of this, which is to say, we are to some degree isolated here, given the fact that germany, uk, france, they are effectively not on america's side on this. how devastating is that in terms of the broader international picture? >> once this got to the united nations' general assembly the result is inevitab

last, but not least, p.j.rowley, served in 2009 and assistant secretary, spokesman of the department of state until march 20 # 11, at global communications here at gw, and in the clinton administration, special assistant to the president of the united states for national security affairs on the staff of national security council and served as principle deputy assistant for public affairs, spent 26 years in the air force retiring as colonel in september 1999. okay. i want to get us started by going back four years, and the inauguration of barack obama, and a lot was made at the time about how, at least on one side of the aisle at least, that barack obama was a walking, talking example of public diplomacy in action, and he was going to change america's perception in the world, and do all wonderful things like close guantanamo bay and end torture, gave very important speeches in osloy and cairo, and, yet, four years later, the opinion of america and things american improved here and there, but not to the degree o

for more, i'm joined by p.j. crowley, former assistant secretary of state for public affairs for president obama. former special assistant for national security affairs to president president clinton and a professor at george washington university. thank you for joining us, professor. >> pleasure, eliot always. >> eliot: it seems so tantalizingly closer. a cease-fire was about to be announced. you've been through the process before. can you infer or suggest or understand what would be a sticking point at this late moment? >> part of this is probably one or both of the parties haven't got man they need out of current crisis. i strongly suspect it is probably on the hamas side where they're looking for assurances that if there is a cease-fire, there will be some relaxation of the israeli blockade and obviously israel is in no position to grant such a wish as long as there are rockets that are continuing to rain down on the israeli population. >> that seems like such a fundamental issue. do you think israel will agr

what p.j.said reminded me that i may have forgotten the most important legacy of all, and one of the things i meant to say here, which is i think that public diplomacy needs a big success. i think for public diplomacy to grow and become more important, we need to be able, the mecca people need to be able to point to something and say hey, that works. so for example, most americans believe that radio free europe helped bring down the iron curtain. and if that's true. but what can we say about public diplomacy in recent years, despite the fact i think there've been a lot of achievements? it's hard to answer that question. and in my view that answer may lie in the country that p.j. mentioned, which is iran. where we can point to something and say we actually had an effect there. i think we actually had an effect in egypt, and one of the things that we've done at the bipartisan policy center is to codify that affect. what did america do in egypt that might have helped a little bit in the arab sprin

i want to bring this the former state department spokesman p.j. crowley to talk about this.ve you here and as we talk about the crisis playing out over the last several days, i want to start with president obama and his position that israel has every right to defend itself, and i want to remind everybody about what he had to say. take a listen. >> israel has every right to expect that it does not have missiles fired into its territory. if that can be accomplished without a ramping up of military activity in gaza, that is preferable. >> that is a reasonable expectation not to expect missiles and rockets to be fired in their general direction, but knowing what you know what gaza wants, can a deal be struck before this does escalate and israel sends ground troops into the gaza strip? >> well, that is the $64,000 question, and it is one thing to say that israel has a right to defend itself, because it does. but how that exercises and how israel exercises that right matters significantly, akd right now they are able to accomplish much of what they are going to do in terms of the

what the president can do and what i'm sure he's trying to do and p.j. knows this and anderson knows this, what he's trying to do is egypt and israel and hamas a cease fire, when you go back to the situation they had earlier when there was no shelling coming into israel, israel doesn't respond and maybe that can set the stage and this is right now sounding way, way overly optimistic, and george missile the special envoy -- there's a new administration and the president is going to get involved with the new secretary of state, whoever he or she might be. >> how important do you think this is right now between president obama and what is the secretary of state hillary clinton. can they play an important role at this moment? >> certainly it's a very important moment, i can honestly say you can hear explosions off in the distance. i don't know if you can hear, that it's actually multiple now, explosions off in the distance, it's the central gaza area, it's obviously a crucially important moment, we're seeing france play a role, obviously president obama play

this a real test as p.j.ier for the morsi government to determine whether it will abide by the muslim brotherhood of hamas or be a responsibility party for tranquility and peace in the middle east. it is a difficult test for mr. morsi. remember, the muslim brotherhood created hamas in the first place. >> can i ask you one more question, regarding qatar's role in all of this. while while iran may be supplying the arms to hamas, they brought $4 million to hamas to buy that. what does that say with our policy? they are all allies of ours. >> it raises questions. the a i mere of qatar paid the first state official visit to gaza and forked over $450 million by which hamas was able to transfer the money to iran to buy missiles. the fact of the matter is qatar is playing a dangerous game with hamas. they see themselves as the great new power player for islamist politics in the middle east and the united states has got to be a little wiser than welcoming an amir to the united states when he is funding a terrorist org

well, p.j., thank you very much. my members loved you, but on monday morning i had so many calls and e-mails from members, what did i miss by not going to that lunch? [laughter] he is a man of great candor, principle. he got in trouble for speaking truth to power and saying something about the treatment, the detention of private brad manning over the wikileaks thing. but you've landed on your feet. i owe you all a great thanks for being with us here today. thank you. >> glad i could do that for you. [laughter] [applause] i resigned two hours after speaking to world boston. the two are not connected, i want to make that perfectly clear. [laughter] so we're coming up on the two-year anniversary of this thing called the arab spring or the arab awakening or, as marc used in the title of his book, arab uprising. almost two years from when a fruit vendor in tunisia lit himself on fire and has literally changed the region. i want to go country by country, but first at the 0,000- 40,000-foot level what is this about, and wha

[laughter] p.j.crowely who needs no introduction because he moderated the last panel, i do want to say something. in march of 2011, weeks into the arab spring, the state department sent p.j. to the home down, boston, where we had the great privilege of having events at university schools community cations, emerson college, and we had a fine lunch chon where he wowed our crowd. >> and mitt. >> and mit which world boston was not responsible for that itinerary. over the week, i'm driving in new england, listening to npr, p.j. crowely just resigned. well, p.j. thank you very much. my members loved you, but monday morning, i had so many calls and e-mails from members, what did i miss by not going to that lunch. [laughter] he's a man of great candor, principle, got in trouble for speaking truth to power and saying something about the treatment of private brad manning over the wikileaks thing. you landed on your feet. i owe you all great thanks for you being here today. thank you. >> i'm glad i could do tha

p.j. of kayaking. going along this river here. he notices something right there on the bank. it's a sheep. >> that she is stuck in this wat. ee up on the grass. that's where the sheep is trying to get back to. it's too steep there. so this kayaker is trying to give this guy a hand. he goes over there first. he didn't want to kayak and give up safety, but the sheep is not happy. plan b is get the sheep down the river where this kayaker knows is a road that the sheep can easily take back to dry land. >> no. no. not that way. >> but it's not so easy. you can see he is grabbing him by the back of the neck and trying to get him to go down stream. he gets pretty close right around here. kind of a spot where it looks like the sheep might be able to make it. i feel like his back legs are getting stuck in the mud. poor guy doesn't know what to do. kayaker says, you know, i don't want to leave you here, man. >> i know you're frightened. you have to listen to the jesus that is the kayaker. come on. >> looking at this guy's youtube, he calls himself the jesus of kayaking. a miracle is on

we'll be speaking with p.j. crowley coming up a spokesman from the state department with more on that story. >>> also one of our top stories today general petraeus finishing up testimony before the house intelligence committee now talking to the senate intelligence community. he is being questioned on what happened on september 11 in benghazi. of course, he also has been under fire for his affair with by ogg raffer paula broadwell. i want to bring in my guests. you know, this was supposed to clear up questions about what happened in libya and the timing but here is what peter king had to say just last hour. >> many streams of intelligence but he also stated that he thought all along he made it clear that there was significant terrorism involvement and that is my recollection. i'm satisfied with the ultimate conclusion he reached. i told him i honestly disagreed with his recollection of what he told us on september 14th. >> not his recollection here. will this just raise more questions? >> i think for republicans

reactions that they're writing to this latest piece of information about it being contested we had at any p.j. a battle say it's highly tedious for the even fulfill the rules under which the award should be given i mean really vary from reaction to calls see that price being awarded see as if that may have been a project that many people feel represents the total opposite. sarah ferguson of a team in london and to some other world news briefings starting off with syria must warn you though the video but to see the extremely graphic. syrian rebels reportedly uploaded this showing the execution of ten armed prisoners lying face down on the ground and seeing. some of whom are being tortured pleading for their lives again we can't show the video it's just too graphic but meantime in aleppo a government airstrike is reported to have hit three residential buildings in the neighborhood controlled by insurgents of pro rebel group says at least fifty civilians were killed in that strike including women and children. the rail bridges collapse in new jersey said the two tankers loaded with hazardous che

much for detective p.j. defective traffic lights that we learn. stoplight at that intersection. just be courteous to others. north side looks good. traveling over towson, 51 approaching 795. at's give you a live look traffic in the area of 70 west of the beltway. building in volume especially eastbound. '95 looks like volume is picking up in the southbound direction coming toward us just outside of the toll plaza. so far so good at the harbor tunnel. now let's get the latest on the buses and trains. >> good morning. 15 minute delay on light rail. mark trains are on time. on the buses, diversions on the three, 11, and 16 buses at charles. with the mta, back to you. >> people still recovering from sandy, whether it be picking up the damage or try to get their power back on. we did not see the work for our damage, so we were lucky in that sense. new york and new jersey is on the brunt of the storm. however, i think merrill lynch on the most extreme weather out of this storm system. we saw snow in garrett county, 29 inches fell. that is an incredible amount of snow this early in the

last but not least, p.j.rowley served as assistant secretary for public heirs and 2009 undersecretary spokesman of the department of state until march 2011. currently a fellow at the communication here at gw. during the clinton administration as special assistant to the president of the united states for national security affairs on the staff of national security council and served as deputy assistant secretary of defense for public affairs. 26 years in the air force retiring a rank of colonel in september 1999. okay, i want to get us started by going back four years and the inoculation of barack obama. obama was made at the time at how at least some one-sided cio of the barack obama was a walking talking example of public diplomacy in action and he was going to change america's perception of the world and he was going to do all these wonderful things that was once on a moped and end torture. he went out and gave important speeches at oslo and cairo and yet four years later, opinion of america have improved h

the turning point with p.j. cany crowley threw him off his game with the interruption.im lay off. he laid off. huge error. it really believe that, bob. i know you don't agree. >> bob: you're just in denial. these little pieces here and there. the strategy -- i know, but romney could not have won with three good debates. >> greg: i know what you are saying. the demos don't care about the foreign policy. >> bob: part of it. the demo is the demo. we are talking about -- >> greg: i agree, i agree, bob. conservatives have to find a way to reach out to the new demographics and explain why freedom is better than free stuff. they have to do it and do it soon. they are getting young people like eric said involved in the process. having said that, the media interspearing iinterfering in oe biggest scandals in ten years is awful. that helped obama. it had to have. by the way, we're armchair quarterbacking. that's what we do here. >> bob: i understand that. you have to look at the largeer picture here. if the republicans not to recognize a problem, and look at it as sandy and the r

bell up-ended by p.j. smith. time-out called by nebraska leaving the huskers with one with 2:21 left. tonight on abc's saturday into the football, national championship hopes on line in the big 12 for k-state. the wildcats host number 24 oklahoma state. 8:00 eastern time and 5:00 pacific. another series with a knack for having close games. >> chris: i just think kansas state with collin klein, everything going for them and number two and no longer flying under the radar. do you feel an upset there? >> sean: i do. >> chris: that is the one you feel the upset? i kind of feel it too. time of the year nobody is talking about whether lsu can knock off alabama down there. i'll go with that one too! i got to get one of them right! >> sean: bid on one, everyone says, that spielman said that. second and seven. bell. nebraska will use their last time-out, you would think. for the moment, they are not. they will after this play, almost certainly. rather than punt them down and try to stop them and make them punt deep in the

meredith from p.j. smith. and what will bill o'brien do? no time-outs left. he's going to go for it. >> he has to. >> sean: this is the game here. fourth down and six. >> chris: big number 18, jesse james, who is a size match-up problem for nebraska against the linebacker or safety. and remember the last series he had jesse james open on a little end route. >> sean: one of the best fourth down teams in the country, this is as big as any they've had this year. four-man rush. mcgloin. started to step right. throws incomplete. broken up by blatchford. intended for alex kenney. nebraska takes over on downs. >> chris: sean, here's what we're talking about zone match-up. man to man but they're going to wait for the penn state players to come to the area. they let them go and each guy waits for them to come to their area then jump them on the zone match-up. you cannot play it any better. whatever lack of communication there was in the first half, certainly not there in the second half. for bo pelini and his cornhusker defense. >> sean: penn state cannot stop the clo

p.j. crowley from the state department. ambassador ginsberg will tell us what's going on.f there are any winners. robert reich talking about economics as always. a probably one of the smartest guys out there. congressman grijalva, can we do anything this congressional term. >> we're going to keep talking about climate change. sounds like a great show. >> eliot: i hope somebody listens. stop talking act! >> that's right. everybody should w w w w w w w w w w w w w w w w w w w w w w w w w w w w w w w (vo) she gets the comedians laughing and the thinkers thinking. >>ok, so there's wiggle room in the ten commandments, that's what you're saying. (vo) she's joy behar. >>current will let me say anything. >>> i may be giving something away here but repreresentative allen west has conceded. he's a lame duck representative. the only republican in the caucus will no longer a congressman. allen west brought us beauties like this. >> i believe there is about 78 to 81 members of the democratic party that are members of the communist party. 78 to 81. there are a few guys who are a little

joining him tomorrow former state department spokesman p.j., joe lock hart and democratic strategist doug thornall. >>> "now with alex wagner" is up next. ari, what have you got coming up next, brother? >> thanks, craig. will congress be the grinch that stole christmas? a new white house report warns that failure to address the fiscal cliff could spoil holiday spending. we have cnbc's eamon to explain all that. >>> plus more rinse are unpledging allegiance to grover norquist's tax rules. we'll look at how that may be unraveling and what it reveals about washington's new power brokers. >>> also, just how top secret can a top secret spy program be when it's getting spoofed on "saturday night live." ? we'll explain in just three minutes. no, no, no, stop! humans -- one day, we're coming up with the theory of relativity, the next... stop, stop, stop! my car! not so much. but that's okay. you're covered with great ideas like optional better car replacement from liberty mutual insurance. total your car, and we give you the money to buy one a model y

ari will have a special show from plymouth rock, joined by p.j.d wolfe, heather mcghee, jonathan capehart and ben smith. follow us on twitter at "now" with alex. "andrea mitchell reports" is next. into their work, their name on the door, and their heart into their community. small business saturday is a day to show our support. a day to shop at stores owned by our friends and neighbors. and do our part for the businesses that do so much for us. on november 24th, let's get out and shop small. >>> right knew on "andrea mitchell reports" crisis point. president obama leaves cambodia after dispatching hillary clinton to help egypt try to nail down a cease-fire between israel and hamas. >>> secretary clinton will emphasize the united stat

p.j.sistant secretary of state to join us and discuss and republicans do keep piling on against susan rice, a potential nominee to replace secretary clinton. but when you do the math, and add up the number of republicans who actually have the authority to stop rice, it may be be much ado about nothing. we will explain. plus, yes, it is cobbler versus gobbler. two turkeys enter the white house only one gets the trophy. who will win the vote in today's presidential pardon? ben smith, heather mcghee, richard wolffe and jonathan capehart will join me to tackle that and much more when "now" starts in three minutes. can i help you? i heard you guys can ship ground for less than the ups store. that's right. i've learned the only way to get a holiday deal is to camp out. you know we've been open all night. is this a trick to get my spot? [ male announcer ] break from the holiday stress. save on ground shipping at fedex office. go ahead, mark your calendars. break from the holiday stress. it's the

also former state department spokesman p.j. crowley. politics a look at the best of the lighter moments with all of our guests. i began by asking mika brzezinski about a holiday dinner she'd like to forget. you brought up something this just popped to mind with your father being who he is in the carter administration, you being a democrat, you've got these two brothers, one of whom works for mitt romney. >> right. >> what in the world is thanksgiving dinner like around your table? >> we've had some bad ones. but we've had some -- >> can't talk about the iraq war. >> no, we can't talk about that. >> seriously. >> my mother hates it when i tell that story though. >> 2004, middle of the iraq war. >> it was just the boys weren't getting along. >> ian brzezinski, who worked for don rumsfeld, right under don rumsfeld. mark brzezinski, worked for bill clinton, and now is an ambassador in sweden, for barack obama, they got into a fight over thanksgiving dinner over the iraq war. it started in the dining room. >> it was heated. >> and ended up o

[laughter] and p.j. crowley who needs no introduction because the moderate in the last panel, i do want to say something. in march of 2011 weeks into the air of spring, the state department sent p.j. to his hometown, boston, where we had a great privilege of having events at boston university school of communication, emerson college, and we through a fine luncheon where he wowed our crowd. >> and mit. >> and mit, which all boston was not responsible for. so over the weekend i am driving in new england and listening to npr. the state department spokesman has just resigned. well, thank you very much. my members loves you, but on monday morning i had so many calls and the males, what did i mess by not going to that luncheon? he is a man of great candor become a principal, and trouble for speaking truth to power in saying something about the treatment and attention of private brad manning a over the wikileaks thing. you have ready on your feet. i owe you all a great thanks for being with us today. plenty to

p.j. crowley served as assistant secretary of state for public affairs in 2009. the assistant secretary and spokesman of the department of state until march 2011. he's currently a fellow at the institute for public politick -- public policy here at gw. special assistant to the president of united states for national-security affairs, staff of the national security council, principal deputy for public affairs. air force, retired with rank of colonel in september 2009. i want to get started going back four years. the inauguration of barack obama. a lot was made at the time about how, at least on one side of the aisle, barack obama was a walking, talking example of public diplomacy in action. he was going to change america's perception in the world, and to all these wonderful things like clothes guantanamo bay and and torture. he went out -- close guantanamo bay and end torture. four years later, opinion of america and things american have improved here and there, but certainly not to the degree that i think a lot of people, including people in the administration ex