former governor ed rendell has championed the casinos. >> governor ed rendell: look, gambling is notnything we should say, "oh, thank the lord, we have gambling." but it is a decent way to raise revenue, where the upsides that's produced is significantly better than any downside that comes from it. >> stahl: you said there was downsides to gaming. what are they? >> rendell: the biggest downside is that some people lose their paychecks. but understand, lesley, they're not losing their paychecks because pennsylvania instituted gaming. those people were losing their paychecks in atlantic city, in delaware at the racetracks, or in west virginia. >> stahl: so why not lose it here? >> rendell: well, if they were going to lose it anyway, let's get the upside. we were getting all the downside and none of the upside. >> stahl: the upside, he says, is the $1 billion the state got in gambling revenue last year, which was used to provide a $200-a-home property tax reduction, plus more relief for senior citizens. >> rendell: people have been gambling since organized society was formed on the bank

think think when they go into next yar's election, ed rendell is right. they 8 look at this and even despite the cold conditions, people are going to say, these folks can't govern. the truth is, if you hate the government, you can't run it. and we are seeing that proved again tonight. >> well, hold on a minute, bob. i want to bring some people in with us. trs let's bring in political reporter from the washington post. and ryan grim, washington bureau chief from the huffington post. let's start with you mr. grim, no pun intended, but it's a grim night. >> the only thing that happened today is that john boehner livers to fight another day now. this will go to the senate. it will be -- you know, and actually yesterday some house republicans were saying, you know, if the senate is going to try to kill this thing immediately maybe we won't send it to you for while. the senate said we will just print it off the internet, slap it on another bill and reject it. that's how badly we want to vote this sum r sucker down. now a constitutional amendment. are you seriou

ed rendell, thank you. i think we should put philly cheese steaks under every bridge in america so we can make sure that people are taking a look at what those pillars look like for us. >> absolutely. >> thank you for being with us tonight. >>> the house is still in recess, as speaker boehner tries to get enough votes out of his caucus to pass his debt ceiling bill that is sure to die in the senate anyway. it's high and completely manmade drama. the one person in the news media on whom i rely the most for insight on this specific topic joins me next. >>> the entire country is waited with baited breath this evening ugh, my feet are killin' me. well, we're here to get you custom orthotic inserts. dr. scholl's custom fit orthotic center recommends the custom-fit orthotic that's best for your tired feet. foot-care scientists are behind it. you'll get all-day relief. for your tired achy feet. for locations, see drscholls.com. thank you... ongress is fighting with itself over whether or not to end the crisis of t

ed rendell, thank you.philly cheese steaks under every bridge in america so we can make sure that people are taking a look at what those pillars look like for us. >> absolutely. >> thank you for being with us tonight. >>> the house is still in recess, as speaker boehner tries to get enough votes out of his caucus to pass his debt ceiling bill that is sure to die in the senate anyway. it's high and completely manmade drama. the one person in the news media on whom i rely the most for insight on this specific topic joins me next. a city comes to life. it moves effortlessly, breathes easily. it flows with clean water. it makes its skyline greener and its population healthier. all to become the kind of city people want to live and work in. somewhere in america, we've already answered some of the nation's toughest questions. and the over sixty thousand people of siemens are ready to do it again. siemens. answers. ♪ ooh baby, (what) can i do for you today? ♪ [ female announcer ] need help keeping your digestive b

let's turn to nbc news political analyst and former governor of the state of pennsylvania, ed rendell. thanks for joining us tonight. >> reverend sharpton, pleasure to be with you. >> it's hard to know where to begin. romney threw so much out there. let's begin with the claims about the allentown plant. what's your response to that? >> well, your analysis was exactly right. that plant didn't close because of the stimulus. it closed because we didn't investigate enough money in infrastructure in the stimulus. you know, you said reverend sharpton that 33% of the stimulus was tax cuts. it was actually 40%. out of $870 billion, and the republicans always like to rail and say, we spent $870 billion! well, actually $350 billion of it was tax cuts. >> 40%. >> 40%. so that's number one. we should have had more infrastructure spending. and, in fact, barbara boxer and senator senator inhofe tried to look at stimulus itself. in the first full year of the stimulus, 2009, orders for steel out of the pennsylvania's steel plants increased by 43%. concrete, 40%, asphalt, 51%. those workers that had b

it's going to be a very interesting year. >> okay, former pennsylvania governor ed rendell.to see you. >> thanks, alex. >>> closing arguments in the casey anthony trial will be held tomorrow morning. we're bringing them to you live. a preview of what we might see many the final showdown here on msnbc saturday. with bengay pain relief plus massage you can do this... get the ball, girl. hmmm, you can't do that. but you can do this. bengay pain relief + massage with penetrating nubs plus the powerful pain relief of bengay. love the nubs! because a chicken is what it eats. [ jim ] this seal verifies we feed my fresh all-natural chickens an all-vegetarian diet including corn, soybeans, and marigolds. no animal by-products. no meat and bone meal. when you put my chicken on the table, you know where it came from. >>> closing arguments many the casey anthony murder trial scheduled for tomorrow then it's going to the jury. it will be a much amendmented verdict. karen desoto joins me along with keith sullivan, criminal defense attorney. let's get right to it. what do you expect? firew

governor rendell, you go. >> he didn't pay for them. that created this massive deficit that we have. spending contributed to it, i agree, but we have to address both. we have to cut spending, continue to cut spending, and we have for increase revenue. right now the democrats are offering 17% in revenue increases and 83% in spending cuts, as david brooks, a respected columnist said, take the deal, for the good of the country, take the deal. >> now, let me ask you this, michael. "new york times" says more than half a dozen outs republican freshmen already facing primary fight from tea party challengers. aren't republican lawmakers afraid they'll lose their jobs if they don't hold the party line on the deficit? >> i don't think so, reverend. >> when you have david brooks saying aren't these guys just scared the the extremists in the ahead party? >> i don't think so. certainly i had a hand at getting a lot of them elected. i know firsthand that these individuals are very principled in their arguments and beliefs. they don't care if they're

ed rendell, thank you. think we should put philly cheese steaks under every bridge in america so we can make sure that people are taking a look at what those pillars look like for us. >> absolutely. >> thank you for being with us tonight. >>> the house is still in recess, as speaker boehner tries to get enough votes out of his caucus to pass his debt ceiling bill that is sure to die in the senate anyway. it's high and completely manmade drama. the one person in the news media on whom i rely the most for insight on this specific topic joins me next. [ male announcer ] members of the american postal workers union handle more than 165 billion letters and packages a year. that's about 34 million pounds of mail every day. ever wonder what this costs you as a taxpayer? millions? tens of millions? hundreds of millions? not a single cent. the united states postal service doesn't run on your tax dollars. it's funded solely by stamps and postage. brought to you by the men and women of the american postal workers unio

thank you so much, governor ed rendell.tie little bit of music for you a little bit later here on msnbc. >> thanks. >> have a good one. >> you too. ♪ ♪ >> it's not the rolling stones, as ed rendell suggested. the crew, though, of the space shuttle "atlantis" up and ready to start their day's work. the four-member crew got up to the song "celebration." that brings back some memories for you, doesn't it? kool and the gang. the crew has been busy fixing and hauling equipment aboard the international space station. so as the sweltering temperatures sweeping the country intensify, dangers of heat exhaustion are growing by the minute. we'll tell you what activities to avoid in the heat. >>> and "harry potter" fans are still arriving in droves to theaters. you can't stop these folks. but just how successful has the film been at the box office? did it beat expectations? ñññ >>> hot weather now blanketing the country proved to be a huge obstacle during a weekend marathon in wisconsin. organizers of a 10k run in milwaukee stopped the

we have the former governor of pennsylvania and ed rendell.e's going to be here to talk about the sexiest word in the english language. >> stooge? >> no. >> what is the word,ed? >> infrastructure. >> wow. >> all right. >> everyone peps up immediately. 6:32 a.m. >> and it's also the second most -- the first most important language, j-o-b-s. jobs. >> troubled tabloid, news of the word says the paper will shut down over a phone hacking. it's accused of hacking into the cell phone messages of thousands of people ranging from families of soldiers killed in iraq and afghanistan to the relatives of the 2005 london transit bombings as well as the royal family. the editor has been arrested. david cameron has opened a public inquiry. for the first time in over a month, the yemen president spoke out. he's gone over eight operations. his complexion was darker, hands and arms covered with bandages. facial hair was gone. he made no mention of when he would return to yemen and welcomes power sharing as long as it is within the country's constitutional frame

joining mess, former dnc chair and pennsylvania governor ed rendell.msnbc news analyst, and bob herbert, a distinguished senior fellow at a think tank. bob, how would you rate the strategy so star? do you think it's wrong or right? >> politically the strategy is very good, and i agree with you, the president is winning this battle, but i think it's a wholly manufactured crisis. there should be no controversy around raising the debt limit. the republicans should have agreed to raise it, as they did several times during the bush administration, just raise it and move on. the real crisis in this country right now is an employment crisis, which is why the economy is in the tank. what the two parties should be negotiating is a way to get americans back to work, and then leave the debt issue, the long-term budget deficits and debt issues into -- into the medium term. deal with the jobs crisis first, and then deal with the debt issues, which are serious, but deal with them subsequently. >> i had a congressman telling me if we protect the top 1%, jobs will com

joining us here at the table, pat buchanan, jonathan capehart and ed rendell back at the table. nice to see you. visiting professor at nyu, gerald ford jr. we are going to go into the 2012 race coming up. who is the most likely alternative to mitt romney and who has the best chance to beat president obama. a look at the war in afghanistan. now the longest war. how do we get out? does obama's policy differ from president bush's and what is the effect for generations to come? joe and mika and willie join in the conversation later this hour. we begin with the debt crisis. they are trying to make a deal on the deficit. houses of congress are rolling out separate compromises to safe off a default. harry reid is meeting with mitch mcconnell to craft a solution to appeal to both parties. according to reports, this would do the following. it would allow the debt ceiling to be raised three times for a total of $2.5 trillion. in exchange, some $1.5 trillion in spending cuts would be enacted. the plan would be established to identify new deficit cuts. proposal, already, getting a lukewarm

. >> ed rendell, thank you very much. >>> president obama says john boehner's bill has no chance of passing senate. will harry reid's plan fare any better? lori what is the outlook for the senate this weekend? >> well, the senate is going to try to fix this problem. people in the senate in both parties are a little alarmed that john boehner's answer to his vote problem was to move the bill further to the right when he's going to have to find some compromise with the democratic senate. you talk to senators in both parties they are fully expecting whatever comes out of the senate tonight, probably, will see an amendment to the plan that reid has been talking about is going to be some effort to bring republicans aboard. republicans and democrats both aboard the same measure. >> and mcconnell and other republicans have been reluctant to at least publicly negotiate with the democrats while boehner's still in play. they don't want to take any focus oi way from what those house leadership is trying to do. but once that happens, do they become really engaged? are they sitting down with joe biden. i

good things that happened as a result of the intervention of president obama and former governor rendell had tremendous job growth in the state. over 15,000 jobs have been created in pennsylvania alone as a result of the recovery act. 44,000 within the last year. in allentown at this very site right across the street we had a new plant open up, 100,000 square feet industrial building that employs about 130 people. we had an old mack truck facility now fully occupied with three new businesses. one makes tactical water systems for the military and another one manufacturing steel and another one that's actually doing form structures manufacturing. so there's a lot of manufacturing still going on here. even in the general vicinity that mr. romney did his press conference on. what's really ironic is that the region as a whole is one of the fastest-growing regions in the state of pennsylvania. it is -- it has declined in its job loss. we're about 8.4% lower than the national average, and mack truck even, which has been a symbol of some of the recession's decline, actually added 125 jobs within

joining me now is nbc news political analyst and former dnc chair, governor ed rendell.ans try and hang this around the neck of the president next year? no matter how it turns out? >> well, sure and it's why, al, i feel so strongly, to go back it your last segment, which was very interesting, i think the president if there is no bill presented to them by august 2nd, has to envoc the 147b8g amendment. is it questionable legally in maybe, maybe so. but when i was governor of pennsylvania my general counselor, an incredible smart woman named barbara adams, she would tell me often, gov governor, i'm not sure this is legal. i would say, barbara, this is in the interest of the people. if someone sues us, we will stop doing it pb but until then, he will do it. that's what president should do, he should lead. >> now, people don'tç understa why you, myself, congressman clyburn, others be saying this, because they don't understand what is at stake. a lot of people talk in the high-fa looting terms. i try to talk so people understand. whether they agre or not, at least understand