Transcripts For MSNBC Andrea Mitchell Reports 20110929

turn the numbers in a decisive way. >> one of things that's so striking is the base is demoralized for one reason, they don't think he has been tough enough or hard enough progressive enough. every time he pleases one side, he's further alienating the other side. >> that's right. i think it speaks to one of his real failings, he's been kind of indistinct president through much of his time. you've had this situation where the left has felt he's been kind of a compromise centrist and hasn't fought hard enough with republicans and the center part of the democratic party has felt that like a lot of conservatives that felt he's governed too far from the left, i think again it speaks to the president's failure to really articulate a core governing philosophy and programs he would fight for so people knew where he stood on the spectrum. >> if chris christie were to get in the race, he was at the library appearance going after president obama for being too much of a populist. let's watch. >> what happens to state senator obama? when did he decide to become one of dividers he spoke so eloquently of in 2004? >> mark, you were there and watched that performance and quite a performance it was in terms of political theater. what is your sense of chris christie and whether or not he's going to go? >> i think less likely than not but it's clear it's under consideration and it's clear that the speech that he wrote, if people paid so much attention, rightly so to his nonanswer -- >> it was a road map. >> it was an incredible road map. it talked about ronald reagan, not just with a throwa way line how great he was but put his philosophy in a modern context. he talked about his record in new jersey and working across state lines, he has a democratic legislature an been able to work with them. his critique of the president was something that would appeal not just to the base of the republican party but to centrists and even democrats, whether he runs or not, anybody trying to beat the president would be smart to look at the text of the speech. >> where does that put him in the lineup of republicans this year, john, heilemann? would he be in fact the toughest opponent for barack obama? what do the people in the white house think? >> i think it's very hard to know. as we've seen with rick perry, it's very high bar when you enter the presidential field and the scrutiny is very high. chris christie has been very quick on his feet and compelling political performer but as rick perry showed, you get on the big national stage with the bright lights and tough scrutiny, you can wilt fast. in terms of the kind of appeal christie has which is not so much idealogical as it is very pragmatic and based in the notion of getting your arms around the fund amountle problems and pulling together to do it in a way not the traditional partisan way, i think that makes him very compelling actor, conceivably. because he's a northeastern republican who can win in states where very few republicans can. >> even though it's early in the game, when we think about four years ago at this time as our pal chuck todd was pointing out last night, giuliani and fred thompson were leading the republican race and hillary clinton was leading barack obama 2-1 in the fall back then. with the filing deadlines and with florida now trying to accelerate the calendar, they have to make a decision by might have had-october. >> people like christie and governor palin do need to make a decision and they will be players. watch rick santorum in iowa and jon huntsman, they may put pressure on perry in iowa and mitt romney in new hampshire because things are so fluid, even the front-runners have huge flaws this time. >> mark halperin and you're cataloging all of it behind the scenes, john heilemann, the two of you, thanks for being with us. today, police in alabama are enforcing parts of a tough new effort to crack down on illegal immigration. a federal judge upheld key provisions while other controversial elements are still being debated in court. pete williams is the justice correspondent and has it all covered. pete, how different is this from other laws around the country? what is still being debated? >> well, it's different in this sense, it's in effect, the tougher one that we thought was tough in arizona is not in effect because most of it was put on hold. but here is what the judge in alabama left intact. provisions that require police to determine the immigration status of people who were stopped or arrested and to hold them. we have a whole list to look at. block states from enforcing contracts to which illegal immigrants are a party that make it a felly nor illegal immigrants to enter into any business with the states, that includes municipal services or trying to get a business or driver's license. make it a crime for people to people to fail to carry their immigration documents and also a provision that requires schools to keep track of the immigration status of all of their children. here are the provisions that the judge has temporarily blocked. those that make it a crime for an illegal immigrant to apply for work or transport or shield illegal immigrants or urge them to come to the state. that allow lawsuits against company that's hire illegal immigrants while dismissing workers here legally and forbid businesses from taking tax deductions for wages someone here illegally. can't be barred from enrolling in state universities. the alabama has the toughest immigration law in effect in the country. >> what happens next? their appeal is with sharon blackburn, the district judge, what happens with the other provisions, does she reconsider them in another hearing? sfwl not for now. i think what will happen is there will be an appeal on whether to appeal -- this was an injuncti injunction, there are two steps, one is people can appeal her injunction and say she went too far, didn't go far enough. is the case on the mer rits itself, whether the law is unconstitutional or in fact preempted by state law, what she ruled, she doesn't think the federal government is likely to prevail on that question on the ones she declined to block. she said the government probably would on the ones she did block. the next step is probably appeals. >> pete williams, thanks so much. good to see you. rick perry has a change of heart on immigration, toughening his stance and republicans crushing on chrischrist ie, will the love affair last? this is andrea mitchell reports, only on msnbc. this one works. ooh, the price sure doesn't. i'm tired of shopping around. [ sigh ] too bad you're not buying car insurance. like that's easy. oh, it is. progressive direct showed me their rates and the rates of their competitors. i saved hundreds when switching. we could use hundreds. yeah. wake up and smell the savings. out there with a better way. now, that's progressive. republican dissatisfaction with the front-runners has called a frenzy over chris christie fred served on the campaign and nicolle wallace was white house communications director under george w. bush, senior adviser to the mcca mccain/palin campaign and the new novel of "it's classified which is wonderful. all of this fuss over chris christie he gave a striking speech and acknowledged on his behalf that reconsidering the decision not to run. what would he bring to the table? >> he's been a very blunt speaking, straight talking leader. he says it like it is and people really appreciate that. i think it's particularly refreshing contrast to what we have coming out of a rather -- white house. people find it refreshing but andrea he's not running, take him at his word, he's not running. it's kind of a political reporter's dream he would so you have something like you have last night in the major league baseball wild card race where you had these people right down to the wire, very exciting and interesting but take him at his word, it's not going to happen. >> there are people close to him who say it may happen but you're telling me and you know this better than anyone because you're inside and talked to all of these people, you do not expect that chris christie -- >> i don't know anything for sure but i would -- you take him at his word. he said he's not going to run. two years ago he was a prosecutor for the state. if all of a sudden two years later the most -- some of the most important people in america are saying we want you to be leader of the free world, obviously you're going to think about it. but i think at his base he's a rational human being, he knows who he is, what he wants to do. i don't think he wants to run for president right now. >> nicole, what fred is saying and chris christie is saying, he's not ready yet. do you think he's ready to be the candidate? >> the fact that he doesn't think he is is reason enough. look, we should be so thankful. what makes him so extraordinary, makes us pine for what we can't have is the exact same set of reasons that he probably won't run. we love him because he matches this moment so perfectly. he's willing to talk about the ugly truths about the state of our spending, about the state of our economy. he's doing the difficult things in new jersey. and i'm just worried about the dysfunction of pining over and over again for these candidates who continue to express either a.m. bifl ens or in his case a disinterest in running at this moment. what that does so the rest of our field is going to be damaging when our vul nominee has to stand against president obama. we have to stop our lusting and pining for the guys we can't have and get behind the guys in the field. >> it doesn't sound like high school dating. doesn't this sound like something about mitt romney and people have seen him now for all of these years, he is a known quantity, mitt romney and rick perry, what does it say about mitt romney that there is so much pining for chris christie? >> to cling to the dating analogy for a second longer. he has to make sure he doesn't tolerate so much that he looks like a door mat. at some point he has to stand up for himself and tell us why we should be more excited than we are because people are starting to take for granted how competent and even keeled and improved he is from his own candidate performance four years ago. he's been a governor, our party loves governors, they've run states. we believe a lot of the best laboratories for public policy come out of the state level. i think romney has to start tooting his own horn a little louder before he becomes the door mat of the republican field. >> is he at risk of becoming a doormat? >> i don't think so. let me take a different slant at this. we once before three years ago, four years ago, we picked a candidate and picked a president who made a great speech, had a vags nar way about him, talked movingly about both his past and the future and inspired people with his care is ma. it didn't work out too well. it really didn't. what people are looking for today, not somebody who can talk about creating jobs and get the economy move but has a proven record of having done so. mitt romney does, rick perry does. they've created jobs, perry created more in the state of texas than the rest of the country combined. mitt romney has shown he can do it in the private sector and in government. and he has a plan tore doing it in the future. i think he's run a steady flawless campaign. i think he's a strong candidate. >> is it going to be perry or romney. >> absolutely. it's going to be a governor or former governor and couple of months ago when rick got in the race, it's going to be one of those two and i think it will be. >> nicole, what about florida if it jumps the gun and trying to get in the end of january, we'll spend new year's again as i did last time in a burger king in west des moines? >> like we've all pounded the pavement in palm beach and counted more chads and shards than we should have to. it comes down to florida for better or for worse. i think florida has a pretty good history for republicans. we have a good republican governor. i think florida will never allow itself to not be a big player in either phase of the presidential contest. looks like the primary or general. >> if these guys don't work out, we may have to vote for president charlotte and her team, all female team of defense secretary and national security advisers and its classified is the book. it's a great read. thank you very much, nicole. >> thank you so much. >> of course, thanks to fred for your wisdom. and anita perry, taking a bigger role in her husband's campaign isn't helping. the plolitico briefing next. [ female announcer ] have you met your skin twin? covergirl trublend has skin twin technology. other makeup can sit on your skin, so it looks like...makeup. but trublend has skin twin technology to actually merge with your skin. how easy breezy beautiful is that? trublend...from covergirl. had your kraft macaroni and cheese stolen. now there is a policy that covers you in the event of macaroni and cheese loss: macsurance. an insurance policy for mac and cheese? talk to me. i have a policy with kraft that covers me in case a grown-up eats my share. with kraft macsurance you have piece of mind in an unsafe world. coverage feels good! [ male announcer ] gooey, creamy, delicious kraft macaroni & cheese. you know you love it. i've heard of it, but i haven't seen one up close. what's the word around the sink? that it removes 3 times more soap scum per swipe, and it came from outer space. it is not from outer space! no, man, it's from outer space. they're aliens on an intergalactic cleanliness mission. they're here to clean up the universe. oh, the kitchen scrubbers are aliens, too? yeah, look at that greasy kitchen mess. everybody's in on the cleanspiracy, man. i can't even trust myself. [ male announcer ] mr. clean magic eraser kitchen and bath scrubbers. the clean is out of this world. [ male announcer ] mr. clean magic eraser kitchen and bath scrubbers. living with the pain of moderate to severe rheumatoid arthritis... could mean living with joint damage. help stop the damage before it stops you with humira. for many adults with moderate to severe ra, humira's proven to help relieve pain and stop joint damage. humira can lower your ability to fight infections, including tuberculosis. serious, sometimes fatal events can occur, such as infections, lymphoma, or other types of cancer, blood, liver, and nervous system problems, serious allergic reactions, and new or worsening heart failure. before starting humira, your doctor should test you for tb. ask your doctor if you live or have been to a region where certain fungal infections are common. tell your doctor if you have had tb, hepatitis b, are prone to infections, or have symptoms such as fever, fatigue, cough, or sores. you should not start humira if you have any kind of infection. ask your rheumatologist how you can defend against and help stop further joint damage with humira. in the plit koetco briefing, anita perry is taking her most public role yet in the campaign opening her husband's iowa campaign headquarters. she talked about the pressure of the very public vetting. >> been the longest serving governor of texas and never seen anything like this. the intensity and scrutiny and every little thing you say and everything in your history, that was really one draw back we really discussed over length. >> maggie is a senior political reporter for politico. if rick perry had said that during the debate, he wouldn't be trying to explain himself quite so much. anita perry had it down. >> i think that's right. she is very effective. she is human. she is more candid than she is. she is allowing this is a very -- it is different than anything they have done in texas. this is not really a role she has played that much in texas, being out there, being interviewed by reporters this much. this is an interesting use of her in this campaign. >> she's in iowa, critical state, opening the campaign headquarters there. she's been reportedly -- it's been reported she had a big role in the hpv vaccine decisions, she's the nurse, daughter of a country doctor, met rick perry when they were in high school and very much part of the medic medical kmupt. she's been a counselor to rape victims, very interesting and very much an advocate for women's health. >> absolutely. she gave an interesting interview in 2005 so it's now six years ago prior to hpv and a lot of issues but talked about how frustrated they would get when budgets would get cut in her husband's administration and she would see things like women's health initiatives get cut, why didn't you come to me and ask me what this was. i don't think that's quite the role we'll see her talking about. i don't think she's going to do issues quite so much but she'll be explaining who her husband is, talking about where he stands more broadly and defining him for people who are starting to see the blanks filled in themselves. >> we've seen this with spouses, particularly with wives of candidates, remember the role in 1980, when nan say reagan salvaged her husband's campaign in new hampshire. we've seen hirings and firings along the way. and hillary clinton was clearly a very important part of east wing/west wing negotiations in the clinton's first term. but the fact is that anita perry really has a very important substantive role and also a strategist in that she's been saying for the last couple of days that he needs more debate prep, that next time their son will be involved. >> that was really interesting. one of things you're seeing with the perry campaign, their message will be, we are not changing but they will make changes. one change is he himself walked back saying the people that disagree with him on in state tuition for illegal immigrants don't have a heart. which was not met well by conservative activists. but the other way was her saying, he will be better prepared. they have argued this was not that big a deal, what you think you're seeing, you're not seeing, and she was the first person in perry's world to admit this was not a great night and you will see differently going forward. >> do you think rick perry -- that these lessons can be learned in time, the next big debate is nch new hampshire. >> i think it's a big question. learning how to be a big debating, nothing something he's been good at. it's really not a learned skill. he's going to have to do something to seem like he has endurance and better prepared for questions that have been telegraphed for weeks in advance. and he's going to have to get past thealec baldwin caricature. >> no falling asleep, no yawning. >> lawrence o'donnell joining us next. first, a playoff season to remember or if you're from boston to forget. it was a devastating finish for red sox nation as boston blew a nine-game lead, the first team to suffer such a colossal collapse. they ended up losing, orioles scored two runs in the bottom of the ninth. only minutes after the sox lost the it was won by the tampa bay rays, a stunning come from behind upset to beat the yankees. tampa bay ended up winning it in 12 in one of the most thrilling nights in baseball history, unless you're from boston. in the national league, the meltdown continued for the braves, atlanta gave up game time falling to the phillies. and of course the yanks had already secured their berth. d t: supported nearly 3 million steady jobs across our country... ... scientists, technicians, engineers, machinists... ... adding nearly 400 billion dollars to our economy... we're at work providing power to almost a quarter of our homes and businesses... ... and giving us cleaner rides to work and school... and tomorrow, we could do even more. cleaner, domestic, abundant and creating jobs now. we're america's natural gas. the smarter power, today. learn more at anga.us. topping the headlines right now, day three in the involuntary manslaughter trial of dr. conrad murray in california. testimony today focusing on the events in michael jackson's bedroom in the last moments of his life and it's been very graphic so far. prosecutors allege that dr. murray didn't call authorities as soon as he should have. the defense maintains that jackson administered the lethal dose of propofol to himself. jackson's parents and brothers and sisters are in court once again today. german lawmakers approved a new bailout fund to make up to $600 billion available to countries like greece on the brink of default. it has to be ratified by all 17 nations. the fact it was led by germany seems to guarantee approval. >> a violent mob of president assad supporters attack this morning. the recent crackdown on uprisings has been meeting all over the country. the state department has confirmed ambassador ford is safely back at the u.s. embassy. king abdullah is canceling a sentence of lashes. this comes days after the king granted women the right to vote and run in local elections although that won't kick in until 2014. chris christie may not be running in his reagan library speech he laid out a strategy against president obama. just listen. >> each and every time the president let's a moment to act pass him by, his failure is our failure too. when there is a problem, you fix it, that's what you do. that's what he did. that's what the job we've been sent to do and you cannot wait for someone else to do it when you're sitting in the oval office. >> lawrence o'donnell is the host of "the last word" and came in early just for us. thank you very much. >> pleasure. >> the chris christie fphenome n phenomenon, it's sort -- >> chris christie fund raising phenomenon. if you want to know the value of being talked about as a presidential candidate. ask any governor who isn't being talked about as a presidential candidate. they are desperately trying to make fund raising calls can you help me with the re-election campaign and all the people are waiting for a call from chris christie. >> he's raising money for his gl gubernatorial re-election complain. it's great to be talked about this way. he's smartly allowing it to continue so his political stock price increases. no one can tell you how he would run for president. if he decided this afternoon, called you, he wanted to announce on your show, there is no political strategist who can outline for you here's how you do it. here's who you hire. who's available, just give me the names of the republican political presidential campaign operatives who want to work in a campaign this year and aren't lshd working for perry, romney or the real players. there's so much that is undescribable in what he would have to do. no one knows how he would do it. >> the big money guys, all of these other new yorkers trying to talk him into it, they are basically trying to talk him into it but he's using that leverage to raise money -- >> those guys spend their day rubbing their money together. that's all they do. they have no idea how politics works. they don't even know how their own office buildings work. they don't know how the janitors empty the wastebaskets or how anything works. so they can sit there and think, i don't like these guys, i would like to get somebody else in here. in that case, christie has this tremendous geographic advantage, just like rudy giuliani was, they lived in their realm. that's who they wanted to see this time last time around, giuliani was doing well in the polls at that time and turned out to be a complete mirage. >> i remember sitting with our great friend tim russert in his office in washington and we were waiting for mario cuomo to fire up the jet to meet the new hampshire filing deadline. it feels an awful lot like that in waiting for mario was obviously -- >> mario will insist and with some accuracy, that it was not quite as dramatic in the last second as people think. but it certainly felt that way in the press. it felt that way in politics. he took it all the way to that final moment. christie isn't zo that. what you don't have in the cuomo model from the past is a series of statements by governor cuomo saying i absolutely won't do it. christie has solid statements and referred to them at the reagan library, he said that's my answer. he said, look at those -- >> then he played with that woman who said, please do it for us, do it for your trip -- >> he tried -- the first version was typical christie dismissed and forget about it. then a woman comes along very emotional. in the swoon of christie mania, as if a beatle was on the stage. he had to meet her emotionally or he would have been regarded as a kind of too cold and crude guy. so he kind of met her emotionally and said i understand why you feel about this and tried to say or i don't, pointed to his heart and in effect it's not in me right now. >> if this were the script of west wing and jimmy schmit's character is getting up there, he's going to say in two weeks or so when the deadlines are real, that he's not going. >> once you get to the deadlines yes, in the meantime, he's doing everything right. he should stream this up as much as he can. there's a lot of political value. so far chris christie is the smartest republican candidate playing in the game this year. >> doesn't he -- >> and the game is christie re-election in new jersey and then the national future after that. >> by being so smart, does he make the others look less smart? >> in effect, but people will forget all of this as soon as it's settled and the deadlines are here, the republican voters will concentrate on those candidates and forget the dreams of who else they were thinking about. those people who could have run, colin powell in 1996, he had a tremendous opportunity to run for president, bigger opportunity than christie's he didn't. you watched that closely. the voters didn't as the acampaign went on, where's powell, i wish he had done it. they let the candidate, potential candidate who wants to leave leave. they let them leave, don't follow them around. they decide who they are going to vote for after that. >> i love when you come in early. >> just had coffee, peak performance of the coffee. >> caffeinated lawrence o'donnell, thanks very much. of course be sure to watch "the last word" tonight and every week night at 8:00 eastern. a federal judge says that alabama's plan to have teachers check the immigration status of students does not violate the constitution. the state's governor says the new law wouldn't have been needed if the federal government had done its job protecting the border. >> they have failed to do that. and a number of states have chosen to enforce laws dealing with those individuals who are not citizens of the united states and costing our citizens millions of dollars. >> and nbc's kerry sanders is live in birmingham. you've been covering all of this. now what happens? >> well, school officials and specifically teachers are not overly pleased by this and take issue with what the governor is saying about saving money. they see this costing money and costing time and costing a lot of energy of trying to find out which children are coming to school that have legal papers to be in the country and those that do not. it's not as if today when the kids went to school now that this law is in effect that the teachers lined them up and started to go through this. there is going to be a process that quite frankly has not been figured out. same goes for law enforcement. law enforcement now has new authority in this state to effectively enforce federal immigration laws without having going through special classes, but that said, law enforcement agencies say that they are going to have to take some time to work through how they are going to do this because one of big concerns is that an officer sees somebody jaywalker or maybe not but they profile somebody and say, i'll say he was jaywalking, which leads to the next problem, let me see your papers. the reason the governor and other people who have been pushing this law have been pushing it, we just heard the governor say one of things he's most concerned about is that this is costing the state, well they estimate that it's about a $290 million cost in revenues that are being spent and lost by people who are here being employed illegally. but those who have jobs, specifically farmers who have crops that rely on these illegal workers to get the crops in, they are up really up against what are they going to do. at this point, they are hoping that they can go ahead and plant next year's crops and hope that there will be something worked out so that they'll have a workforce who can then harvest those crops. this is what one farmer had to say. >> we're going to go ahead and plant it and you're going to hope we have people to pick it. what we hope here in alabama is that maybe our court system can figure this out. i think there's a fair way for everybody. >> reporter: that's a produce salesman who deals with the farmers who relies on this illegal work. bottom line, i've spoken to people, met a woman earlier today from el salvador, she's here illegally, been here for four years. she said the message being sent to her is a message of hate. of course, that is a message that if you go through the history of alabama, is one that resonates in the resonate. the lawmakers who pass this say they do not want people to walk away with a message of hate. they say this is all about employment and unemployment but at the end of the day, andrea, it looks like there are a lot of different points of view on what this new harshest immigration law means. remember, it's not in full effect in the sense that we see teachers or law enforcement actually utilizing that law today. >> kerry sanders, thank you very much. and now to education nation, each year 1.2 million students fail to graduate from high school. more than half from minority groups, the new options project provides an alternative for 18 to 24-year-olds who have not graduated, trying to connect them with meaningful jobs. high unemployment time, that is difficult indeed. angela leads the new initiative and joins you now. thanks so much for being with us. >> thanks for having me. >> let's talk about where to find jobs for high school dropouts, what we have known in all of the data, you have to college fr graduate from college to get the better jobs not being filled. >> we actually see a real skills mismatch in our country. we have an unemployment rate that hovers around 9% but yet we have 3 million unfilled jobs. we think that is actually an opportunity for the young adults that we work with for young adults with the educational background that we work with, we do see growth as we look forward in certain industries like education services, government and health care. so we do see great possibility for the young adults we work with and know it's important for our country's competentiveness to invest in them today, just because they are not in school today doesn't mean that they are destined to a life of unemployment or underemployment. >> to be fully employed, do you think that eventually these young people have to get back into either community college, some sort of associate's degree or some sort of higher ed in order to better fit their skills for the jobs that are out there? >> education and training is a really important component for young adults who have been disconnected from the traditional education system and from work. but the first step for many young adults is actually connecting them to employment so that they can begin learning a wage, start to identify career paths and career options for themselves and then there's greater context for their education. so it then makes more sense to go get their g.e.d. or their high school diploma or get technical training or pursue community work at the four-year college. it is absolutely a component to helping them not only get into the workforce and get their first jobs, but also to move along a career path that will lead them to greater sustainability. >> angela cobb, thank you so much for what you're doing for education nation. be sure to logon to education nation.com to join this conversation. there are lots of interactives. you can take part online. [ carrie ] i remember my very first year as a teacher, setting that goal to become a principal. but, i have to support my family, so how do i go back to school? university of phoenix made it doable. i wouldn't be where i am without that degree. my name is dr. carrie buck. i helped turn an at risk school into an award winning school, and i am a phoenix. [ male announcer ] university of phoenix is proud to sponsor education nation. because we believe an educated world is a better world. [ male announcer ] university of phoenix is proud to sponsor education nation. [ boy ] hey, i thought these were electric? uh, it is, yeah, it's a chevy volt. so what are you doing at a gas station? well it still takes gas to go farther. but you're not getting gas. true. not this time. uh, don't have to gas up very often. so you have to go to the bathroom? no. yes you do. thought these were electric? yes, it's a uh, a chevy volt. so what are you doing at a gas station? we're keeping an eye on the trial of michael jackson's doctor. plus, senator john mccain and three other senators are in libya right now meeting with the nation's new leaders in tripoli, mccain is saying that the people there have quote, inspired the world. and your run of the mill bus trip home from a high school football game turns bizarre when the coach takes a detour that involves tombstones. details straight ahead. william colby, started in the oss during world war ii and taking part in missions all around the world, sometimes with his wife barbara at his side. >> my husband took me aside and said, quiet, we don't -- before -- we don't know these people. we don't know these people. we did know these people. there were times when really i didn't know what role we were playing, who are we tonight? >> after being fired as the agency's director in 1976, colby left his previous life and in many ways left his family behind. his death years later was just as mysterious as his life. now his son, carl colby has done his best to try to the unearth the truth in a documentary, the man nobody knew. we want to talk about your father. he was a legend, legend spy master. yet, so mysterious in life and in death, perhaps because of exactly because of the work that he did. here's from your documentary, ben xoe krost talking about bill colby. >> bill really became a tortured soul in this period. he saw his life and his life's work crumbling. i often wondered if bill was not xpee ating his sins. >> how painful was it for you in searching for the real william colby? >> it was a difficult process. at first i thought well, i'll tell a story about my dad's professional life. and leave it at that. but then the more i dug into the story, i thought, how will i really unearth him? can i really understand him? so i started digging. and i interviewed over 85 people, some of whom are in your clips and some of whom you know in washington, new york, elsewhere. and my initial feeling as a boy my father was a soldier. the very end after the hearings and after the phoenix program and after his being fired by ford and just sort of leaving the agency, taking off the trench coat, i think ultimately he was a soldier at the end. he sacrificed his career for the agency. >> is it possible to understand your father without understanding the cold war and what the politics and the geopolitics were in that day? >> i think you have to understand him from a world war ii perspective, it's like my mother, i'll just interview her and she'll have a few things to say. then really she's the heart and soul of the film. off camera she told me once during the height of this afghan conflict, she said, why aren't i being asked to sacrifice? what am i being asked to do? even folding bandages or volunteering at a veteran's hospital, why should the war be fought by just the brave men and women fighting it and thanked for their service in a pro funkry way. i think she and my husband were a team. she grew up in hardship, the depression and world war ii, my mother would write him hoping he would come back from this dangerous mission. when he took on the new mission, it was very exciting, she thought, oh, my god, kind of like i'm married to a spy, very exciting. but after a while, it starts to turn. even in rome she said once, my father came up to her and shed said i need you to have lunch at a party where i meet my contacts. my father said the landlady is getting suspicious, i'm not there that often. my mother thought, we're like secret lovers? then she caught herself as if, well, maybe they never really well, maybe they never really were ♪ pat it on your partner's hand ♪ ♪ right hand ♪ clap, pat, clap your hand ♪ cross it with your left arm ♪ pat your partner's left palm ♪ clap, pat, clap your hand, pat your partner's right palm ♪ [ male announcer ] the all-new beetle. it's back. ♪ clap, slap, clap your hands [ woman ] my heart medication isn't some political game. [ man ] our retirement isn't a simple budget line item. [ man ] i worked hard. i paid into my medicare. [ man ] and i earned my social security. [ woman ] now, instead of cutting waste and loopholes, washington wants to cut our benefits? that wasn't the agreement. [ male announcer ] join the members of aarp and tell washington to stop cuts to our medicare and social security benefits. which political story will make headlines in the next 24 hours. contributor and managing editor joins us. chris, i think something that just happened with michele bachmann may be making headlines. let me share with you. there was a republican fund-raiser and a local barbecue that conquered north carolina. michele bachmann condemned the arab string blaming president obama for showing weakness and compromising the position with israel. when asked why did she think there was a screening, she tried to tie that to events that related to the israeli relationship. is this a case where she has to explain her lack of foreign policy? >> let me talk first of all in the broadest terms possible. i think what this is is in line with keeping what we have seen. a critique of president obama over israel and not standing up as a stall work for the country. that said it seems to me a little bit logical to blame him, the president, for what's going on across the arab world. my guess is she is going to get more questions about that. we will see what she has to say by way of explanation. >> in the next debate as well. thank you, chris. that does it for this edition of "andrea mitchell reports." richard louie has a look at what's up on "news nation." so i was the guy who was never going to have the heart attack. i thought i was invincible. i'm on an aspirin regimen now because i never want to feel that helplessness again. [ male announcer ] be sure to talk to your doctor before you begin an aspirin regimen. talk to your doctor, and take care of what you have to take care of. i'm richard louie for tamron hall. bombshell testimony in the trial of michael jackson's doctor. here's a live look in the courtroom where testimony just resumed after a 15-minute break. what you are looking at is roberto alvarez, the first body guard to arrive at the scene that day when jackson died. he gave heart wrenching

Related Keywords

New York , United States , Alabama , Tampa Bay , Florida , New Hampshire , Germany , North Carolina , Texas , Afghanistan , Boston , Massachusetts , California , Tripoli , Tarabulus , Libya , West Des Moines , Iowa , Washington , District Of Columbia , Arizona , New Jersey , Rome , Lazio , Italy , Israel , Phoenix , El Salvador , Greece , America , Afghan , German , Israeli , William Colby , Jon Huntsman , Ronald Reagan , Roberto Alvarez , Richard Louie , Andrea Mitchell , Pete Williams , Chris Christie Fred , King Abdullah , Rick Perry , Sharon Blackburn , Michele Bachmann , Carl Colby , Chris Christie , Mccain Palin , Janita Perry , Chuck Todd , Colin Powell , Rick Santorum , John Mccain , Fred Thompson , Kerry Sanders , Tim Russert , Jimmy Schmit , Michael Jackson , Barack Obama , Nicolle Wallace , Conrad Murray , George W Bush , Angela Cobb , Rudy Giuliani , Hillary Clinton , Mario Cuomo ,