let's now go to our washington obsession correspondent sam stein. now, obviously like willie said dropping 20 points ain't nothing. this guy is a republican in a democratic state and he is still sitting at 49%, 50%, depending on what poll you look at. we got investigations. we will see which way the investigations go but, still, he's holding pretty firm when you compare him to his democratic -- >> i see your point. >> thank you, sam. >> a lot of governors would be -- are envious of having a 49%, 46% disapproval. i wouldn't call it a obsession. a relent less couple of weeks of coverage for chris christie and the question is when does it end? you get the since it's teetering on now. but, of course, always the possibility that more documents will be produced as part of this investigation. >> there is always that possibility. a possibility that -- shows up on a flying saucer in central park. >> a greater possibility of the former than the latter. >> i don't know. i'm not so sure. >> that is a question. is this the end of the drip or not? and i think unti

sam stein, let me ask it this way.en the choice we were facing with our economy and the risk, we were at the edge of something really bad, what were the other options? >> that's a great question. we were losing 800,000 jobs a month at that time, 8% retraction. it just was not -- it was a bleak situation. what were the other options? well, republicans actually put forward their own stimulus plan and roughly between 400 billion and 700 billion dollars largely if not exclusively with tax cuts. i know we look at the president's stimulus plan and say it blew up the deficit and he didn't address long-term debt. same would have gone true with the republican plan. wasn't as if only one plan out there. present plan was spending and tax cuts. i think at that moment the administration realized it had to act. i would argue the biggest criticism is what richard said in the 6:00 hour he left it largely to congress to put this together and what happened they had a hodge-podge of ideas as opposed to one constructive simple stimulus. t

a discharge -- >> let's go to sam stein. i'm sorry, senator.unch here. sam stein, go ahead. i think we may start ringing a bell every time the senator says tea patty. he can file in for carl bernstein. go ahead. >> i will ring the bell personally. shifting topics a little bit. i talked to a few people on unemployment insurance and saw a cutoff at the end of december. they want some clarity right now in their lives. they get the sense they don't think another package will pass and seen a few failed votes in the senate. what can you tell them about the prospects of legislation and when will it be brought up an do you see the house enacting unemployment insurance in the near future? >> we will keep bringing it up. i think it has a chance but not that large a chance but still has a chance. the reason is this. the big tectonic plates are moving. the number one issue sh creating good jobs and raising incomes of the middle class and the people who are in the lower 70%, 80% of america. deficit reduction doesn't have the power that it had before. in par

. >> joining me now is sam stein and msnbc political analyst and reporter with the huffington post and brian murphy, professor and former political reporter in new jersey. brian worked for david wildstein in 2002 in new jersey at politicsnj.com. with friends like sarah palin, there is a hardy defense, huh? >> oh, god. the bus, it's moving so fast over chris christie. you know? she didn't do him any favors with that statement, but if you step back and you ask the question, is it likely that he knew or should he have known? she probably has a point, which is that -- and it gets to the big problem here for chris christie is that either way he's sort of damned. either h edidn't know and didn't have good control over his staff members and they were running wild underneath him without him having any knowledge or he did know. either way, either explanation is a bad one. and i guess we'll find out which one is true. but either way, it hurts him politically. >> yeah, his best defense is i'm completely unfit to be president because i delegate, as i he said, enormous authority to my staff and my

anyway, thank you, gene robinson, thank you, sam stein.ain't funny, but it is ridiculous. >>> ted cruz saying his obama-hating father and birther father doesn't speak for him, except he is paying the bills for this guy to go around and say this stuff. this is "hardball," the place for politics. >>> looks like another fault ma so that was our first task, was getting him to wellness. without angie's list, i don't know if we could have found all the services we needed for our riley. from contractors and doctors to dog sitters and landscapers, you can find it all on angie's list. we found riley at the shelter, and found everything he needed at angie's list. join today at angieslist.com line is opening up in the republican party. rand paul's recent attacks on bill and hillary clinton aren't sitting well with the architect himself, karl rove. here is what rove said about paul on fox today. >> frankly, rand paul spending a lot of time talking about the mistakes of bill clinton does not look like a big agenda for the future of the country. i'm not

america has to help and i don't know what the time line is. >> sam stein has a question for you, rickfirst, rick, what is on the cover of "time" magazine? >> sam, i don't know. >> obamacare. >> i'm sure it's good, though. >> i'm sure. secondly switching topics. secretary kerry took a little heat and causing a little controversy for saying a week or so ago that saying climate change was the biggest complexity facing the globe in a couple of decades ahead. can you elaborate on what he meant and whether or not you think this is a big deal? >> i do think it's a big deal. i know he feels passionately about it as does the president. we are talking about environmental diplomacy here. this is an issue that affects every single person on the planet and i think he wants to marshal the leadership of the u.s., the integrity of the u.s. to get nations to start thinking about it and, of course, the u.s. has to think about it too. it's no small thing to him and no small thing to all of us. >> how will that affect keystone? >> look. keystone, i mean, there was a ruling about the legitimacy of how the

good thinking, sam stein. >>> up next, is mitt romney thinking about making a comeback?en to him, the answer is no. that's the smart answer. >>> times are tough for the democrats. anyway, this is "hardball," the place for politics. so you get your fico® score on your monthly statements now, for free! that's nice of you! it's a great way to stay on top of your credit, and make sure things look the way they should. awesomesauce! huh! my twin sister always says that. wait...lisa? julie?! you sound really different on the phone. do i sound pleasant? for once in your life you sound very pleasant. at discover, we treat you like you'd treat you. free fico® credit score. get the it card at discover.com. >>> new polling shows two big state republican governors in real jeopardy this year. let's check the "hardball" scoreboard. first to florida, where a new quinnipiac poll shows former governor charlie crist, now a democrat, beating his successor, rick scott by eight points. it's crist, 46, scott 38. in pennsylvania, a new poll shows that less than a quarter of voters say governor

. >> let's get reaction now from "the huffington post" political editor and reporter sam stein and "washington post" white house reporter, david nakamura. this has been, obviously, big news, a long time coming. what do you think there what you heard in that new sound from the general, and what's the white house's view? >> well, it's been a frustrating process for the administration. obviously, they wanted some residual combat force in afghanistan after 2014, but karzai basically determined his own fate on this one, so now they are pulling out, or announcing they are going to pull out combat troops. it would be caveat if someone wanted to cut an agreement, they could always put troops back in. i think what's fascinating about this is the domestic politics have changed so dramatically. eight months ago this was not expected to happen, now it seems the likely course of action and what you're seeing is generally a positive reaction from people on capitol hill. for example, joe manchin was praising this idea. people are tired of the war, tired of supporting the war, want the troops to come back hom

anyway, thank you, gene robinson, thank you, sam stein.is ridiculous. >>> ted cruz saying his obama-hating father and birther father doesn't speak for him, except he is paying the bills for this guy to go around and say this stuff. this is "hardball," the place for politics. fedex one rate. really makes my life easier. maybe a promotion is in order. good news. i got a new title. and a raise? management couldn't make that happen. [ male announcer ] introducing fedex one rate. simple, flat rate shipping with the reliability of fedex. >>> looks like another fault line is opening up in the republican party. rand paul's recent attacks on bill and hillary clinton aren't sitting well with the architect himself, karl rove. here is what rove said about paul on fox today. >> frankly, rand paul spending a lot of time talking about the mistakes of bill clinton does not look like a big agenda for the future of the country. i'm not certain again that beating up on bill clinton and monica lewinsky is a particularly good thing to strengthen your skills. >

sam stein, the president said in that very interview there was not a smidgen of corruption.he republican party does not need a smoking gun and congressional republicans are trying to rekindle the irs tea party targeting controversy. is it we can look forward to this forever? this scandal, nonscandal, scandal. >> it certainly feels that way. don't begrudge bill o'reilly for asking the questions he did. i do find it odd that he didn't have the full facts in front of him. people have looked into this a lot. they've come to the conclusion that it was a bureaucratic bumbling. people did things that were wrong, but there wasn't a plot by the white house here. that has been discussed a lot. if bill o'reilly is going to go in guns ablazing, he should probably have the full facts. that's where i thought the interview went off the rails. >> that's also the question. whether o'reilly was listening to the president's answers or has accepted any of the facts that have been reported by the irs. when the president sat down with david remnick -- the issue has been the inability of my messag

hello, sam stein. >> hello. >> hello. >> newman. hello, newman! >> he sounded like a young newman. >>> we have got so much going on today! we were producing the show until 11:00 at night because things kept coming in. did you guys listen to the governor on the radio? i did. the new jersey governor. >> always listen to new jersey radio pretty much 24 hours a day. >> i did because it pertained to some of our top stories of the day and you all had to do your research, ombudsman. >>> back-to-back snowstorms causing major headaches. the radio show that chris christie went on last night asked the governor he is doubling down that he knew nothing about the gw bridge lane closures before they happened. still, new poll in shows him slipping further behind in a potential race for president. but it was interesting some of the things he said last night. also obama adviser openly warned that hillary clinton is making some of the same mistakes from back in 2008. is she more focused on building a machine than a message? so i was asking that question, what is her

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from washington, political editor and white house correspondent from of huffington post, sam stein, davestart with you. people always give the president a hard time for not having more of a relationship with the congress, more specifically the republicans, more specifically the speaker, and i have no sense of the significance of this meeting. what do you think prompted the president to have this meeting with speaker boehner? >> well, first of all, my observation of their relationship when i was there is that it was not -- it was not this deeply unfriendly relationship. i understand that events transpired after that that may have put a strain on their relationship. you prone isn't the relationship. the problem is the relationship between the speaker and his caucus. they can gra el on anything, but if the caucus is unwilling to move, it puts boehner in a different position. we've seen that time and again. frankly, lately he's been bug bucking the caucus at some personal cost to hillself. so, you know, these may not be meaningful, though i think on things like the highway bill there may be

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sam stein is with "the huffington post" and a msnbc contributor.n and he is a regular person and assume you're a regular person, let me ask you this, mark. you would ask him, was there any obvious reason you wouldn't run. and the obvious reason not to run is secretary clinton is beating his butt by 60 points and she'll probably be the nominee. so he ignores the elephant in the room, hillary clinton's inevitableability and said no. why doesn't he say if hillary clinton runs, i'd have to take another look at it. of course she would be a the clear front-runner and of course the usual courtesy. instead he said i can't think of any reason not to run. i can't think of hillary clinton. >> because he loves politics, and he would like to be president, and he is keeping his options open. i don't think there are any circumstances under which he'll run if she runs. i really don't. but i also have been surprised -- >> why is he leaving that possibility out there, then, by saying i don't see her as an obvious obstacle? >> he has enjoyed being vice president for

and in washington, ski bunny, sam stein. >> i don't even know what that means. >> what does that meanod. who did you dress for? >> wow. >> wow. the snow. i have my snow boots on. okay. can we do the news, please? >> oh, boy. >> right away? >> okay. hi, thomas. >> hi. >> rogers. what the heck? [ laughter ] >>> we're at winter storm -- >> i'm going to wear a name badge. >> i'm sorry about that. with snow falling on the east coast once again. commuters should expect a treacherous ride to work. apparently, epically treacherous, as another storm sweeps through. some areas could see a foot of snow. the storm will be causing big problems across the midwest, so let's go straight to bill karins and the meteorologists are updating the forecast. sunday looks different, but today looks terrible. >> yeah, we don't need to worry about sunday. we need to get through this morning. we're in the heart of the commute, and it's as bad as many people remember. we have 500,000 people without power in this storm. in you're in the middle of winter, it's not fun. the people will want to get the power on as so

and in washington, white house correspondent for the huffington post, sam stein. sam?s that like the -- >> no, it's that app. check donnie's phone. >> my dogs don't like you. they have nowhere to go. >> your dogs don't like anybody, by the way. they bite you and pee on your foot. >> i'm like a dog whisperer. i'll come to your house and work it out. >> we just saw the french media pass. [ speaking in french ] >> can i play the sound bite we were going to play from the speech? >> i'd rather just hear myself talk, but sure. >> i know. >>> welcome back to "morning joe." it's time to talk about what we learned today. thomas. thomas, thomas. basically wearing glorified olympic flag, what did you learn today? >> i learned that my sweater is a big hit on twitter. my patriotic valentine theme is a success. >> it's fantastic. >> i learned that you do not challenge al roekner a tweeting contest. don't do it. >> that is smart. i want to borrow that sweater. thomas. i learned even though it's valentine's day, mike barnacle still gets a hard time on this show. really. >> a lot of lo