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on why it won t work this time. good evening. there it is, breaking news. i m cenk uygur. president hosni mubarak was foursed to go before the cameras and say he will not return for another term. he says in september he will be walking, like an egyptian, out of office. in a recorded statement that aired late this afternoon, he vowed to oversee the peaceful transition of power. that means his 30-plus year will come to an end. it s important he s not stepping down, essentially retiring seven months from now. that is not what the protesters wanted, of course. they want him out now. and they re right, i ll explain why in a moment. what was the reaction of the crowd? reporter: i think there was a real mixed reaction, surprisingly perhaps to people who thought everybody here would be against the president, but he did apparently change some minds, and some people we saw leaving the demonstration said, okay, he said what we want to hear, he s going to resign at the and not stand for another election and we ve gotten what we can. but i think there was also significant and perhaps a majority of people who were just angry, and who were disgusted and frustrated, and vows to come back. the organizers of today s marches were saying they want a million more people out friday after friday prayers. whether they can do that or not remains to be seen. that is going to be the challenge, to heartness what was out there today. so many people hoped this would be the day, but it was turning out to be another day in a continuing back-and-forth between president mubarak and his opponents. you said it yourself, he s vowing to walk like an egyptian, and to use his words, die on its soil. he s not leaving here. he was defiant and claimed he has the support of the military behind him. one thing we re watching closely is in alexandria where there have been some clashes between proand anti-mubarak forces. the military stepped in firing shots above the air trying to disperse the crowd. a fairly tense situation that went on for some time this evening, as people were milling about, getting over and digesting what had happened, but it was one of the few times where there were clashes between opponents and supporters of the president. interesting that that happened as we go forward, because the events in cairo today were almost festive. there were a million people or more. but the mood was upbeat. people were chanting and protesting, and really optimistic that they were going to bring about change. that didn t quite happen, and i think now the bottom line is a lot of people are trying to figure out, what do we do next while others are vowing to continue to fight the president? on that note, ron, quick last question. given the reaction you got from the crowd, which is partly surprising about some being satisfied with this response, how do you think that affects the protests going forward? you think they ll bring out the same number of people tomorrow? or perhaps less? reporter: that s the big question. it s not easy to bring a million people out to the streets every day. to try to heartness this energy and try to get people to do it again and again and again. this is the challenge of the opposition. we know the opposition is not a unified voice. it s a new opposition, if you will, and this is completely new and uncharted territory in this part of the world. how will the people react? some people just don t have it to keep fighting, but of course there seems to be many more people who do, who want the president gone and who are angry and disappointed and vowing to fight on to get him out of here. they were chanting leave leave leave but again uncharted territory. ron allen is live in cairo. thank you for your reporting tonight. we appreciate it. now it appears that president obama certainly had a hand in helping mubarak see the writing on the wall. today nbc confirmed that president obama sent a retired diplomat to carry a message to mubarak telling him not to run again. i wish he had gone further, but he has been inching close you are to nudging mubarak out. perhaps he remembered what this u.s. president said in cairo. i do have an unyielding belief that all people yearn for certain things the ability to speak your mind and have a say in how you are governed p confidence in the rule of law and the equal administration of justice. government that is transparent and doesn t steal from the people. the freedom to live as you choose. we will welcome all elected peaceful governments, provided they govern with respect for all their people. boy, am i with that guy. i wish he would get to that position a little quicker now that it really matters, but today was a good day as the position moved against a dictator we ve been supporting for nearly 30 years. joining me is new york congressman gary acerman. he sits on the house foreign affairs committee, and met with president mubarak multiple times. congressman, great pleasure to have you on. you called for mubarak to resign. would you doi think it s a good idea for the president to get to that position, if you do? i think it s important for the egyptian people at this heavy moment and juncture in their transition to know that the united states of america is really, truly on their side and sides with them. the administration i think up until this point today has been walking a diplomatic tightrope, trying to show the world that we are with leaders in the region and elsewhere who side with us, who meet or national security requirements. the other thing is the people don t necessarily see that we are with them if at this moment we re siding with mubarak. they have to see us as on their side and not keeping mubarak. they have viewed us as his enabler to maintain power and stay in office for these 30 years or a very good part of those 30 years, anyway. is is the president moving fast enough? or seasonal possibly helpful to mubarak, and have suleiman take over next, or should the president say you ve got to go now? this is a script being written in real time, no prepared play here. we don t know the real answer, but certainly it s very important to have a peaceful transition, to have a transition indeed. the sooner the better. i know suleiman. i think he s a very good choice. he s some been that other, shall we say, country capitals in the middle east would not be unhappy with. his activity as a resource, as an intelligence and security officer, has met the needs of our country as well as others. he s been very effective. the important thing to know is that he was appointed by mubarak, and whether or not the population, the public in the street will accept anything mubarak still remains to be seen. mubarak is not going to stay forever, the egyptian people aren t leaving. mubarak has to leave. it s important to make the impression now with the people who are going to run the country. that s the egyptian people, whoever the leader will be, that the united states is their friend, in favor of their democracy, and not the people who have empowered a dictator as we ve had done in iran and so many other places, and the people in the end always will out. democracy wills out. the only cure for the virus of freedom is freedom itself, and that s what they people are going to have. they re going to be making their own decisions. they want to know we re with them. they re not burning american flags. they re not saying death to america, they re not doing undemocratic, anti-american chants. they re saying please help us. we have to walk the walk and have to be on their side and the president must show that immediately. congressman, alternates later in the program we re going to talk about suleiman, the guy who s been appointed vice president. honestly i don t agree that he s the right guy. i ll explain why later in the show, and i know he s worked with the cia, but that presents problems, too. like i said, i ll explain that later in the show, but when he gets to the issue of stability, of course we re all concerned about that, the it s and our allying. where does israel stand on this? earlier we had seen a report that they were basically hoping that mubarak stayed because he had been a partner for so long. have they shifted that position, to your knowledge or know? i think they re worried. otherwise israel doesn t survive. it s always important to keep in mind you have to be wear wary of your dream coming true. the bad deal that you have now may be the best deal you re going to get, and israel worries about those things. who s next? we worry about that. suleiman is not going to be who s next, because he s made in the image of mubarak. he s a mubarak ally. the israelis have had their needs met by egypt s careful, determined, consistent fight against terrorists and terrorisms for their own reason and the cooperation he s giving to israel sadat before him did the same thing. i think that s why it s important to be on the side of the people on the street, so they are on our side in the end and they fight terrorism. you have a good neighbor. he watches your house when he s not around, he protects your back, lets you park on your side of the driveway and takes care of the snow on your sidewalk, but he abuses your children? where do you come down? i m with the kids. mubarak knows mubarak will not be there, whether the people demand he be outed immediately before the seven months are up, on what particular day is not important, but he s going to be gone. i think that all of us who are interested in the stability of egypt and their continuing to fight terrorists and terrorism, to be an ally in the war, to be israel s partner in making a peace, as they have been steadily and reliably, the people of egypt are the ones who will carry on that tradition and they have to know we re with them, because we are with them. congressman acerman everybody that was a powerful analogy, and on that analogy, i totally agree with you. thank you again. thank you. let s look at what the republican reaction has been. for the most part leadership has gone along with president obama s strategy, but there have been many gop voices arguing that the democratic movement in egypt is actually a bad thing. remember the bush doctrine is theoretically the freedom agenda. the idea if we light up the middle east with our bombs democracy would naturally follow. now that democracy has actually arrived in an arab nation, organically and peacefully without bombs some bush cheerleaders have turned their backs on the former agenda. john bolton tarred the prote protesterso fox news. i think what s clear ly an te dictator is the good guy? a funny way of showing he likes democracy. that had mcconnor also suggested the he put out a statement many will be tempted to interpret the egyptian demonstrations as an uprising for pop you list democracy. america must stand with her ally egypt to preserve an imperfect government capable of reform, and prevent a tie rain cal government capable of harm. now do you see why we always thought they were using democracy as a convenient execution for invasions? but if you thought that was bad, wait until you get a load of this. it turns out that peaceful pro-democratic movements in egypt prove we must bomb iran. here s john bolton on sean hannity s radio show. do you think the israelis will have the to strike and they are going to have to take action? i think that s right. i don t think there s much time to act. i think the fall of an eye jipgs government committed to the peace agreement will almost certainly screw that timetable up. so peace is working, so we re running out of time to bomb. let s do it now. the logic is astounding. potential 2012 candidate mike huckabee trashed peace in egypt. first, a real shock and surprise down to the average citizen on the street and how quickly the obama administration abandoned a 30-year ally and long-standing friend to peace and stability, president mubarak. .concern is that this could have cascading effects across the middle east. yes, god forgo ahead that democracy could cascade through the middle east. this last one takes the case, louisiana republican jeff landry is using democracy in egypt to push the gop drying, baby, drill agenda. i think we re back to where we were in the 1970s. the department of energy was tasked and created in order to shield the united states and the economy from exactly what we re seeing today. the amount of daily production in the gulf of mexico surpasses the amount of oil that passes through the suez canal. if we have a problem in the middle east, if that canal is shut down, the price of oil and the price of gas that we pay at the pump for all americans are going to pay is going to go through the roof. so instability in egypt means we have to produce more oil here. great. do you get that? you at home, bob, do you get the oil we drill for here? susie, do you get three goals? john, dots five goals? no, exxon mobil gets it, and they can sell it anywhere they like. the gop sees the situation as a wonderful opportunity to make sure the oil companies get more contracts. now, it s funny how the oil companies win, whether we re pushing for democracy through invasion in iraq or not pushing through democracy for the protests in egypt. the one constant is either way, big oil gets paid. but that s probably a coincidence. we ll be right back. and it can do this, here. and it can also do this, here. just imagine what it can do, here. 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[ female announcer ] phillips colon health. i love your work. somewhere in america, 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. welcome back. we are still awaiting the president. he is set to come out and speak on the situation in egypt. of course this will give us a much better indication of where he stands now, whether he s going to push mubarak out the door as it were a little quicker or he agrees with the statement that the egyptian president made earlier today. so we are waiting. now let s discuss whether hosni mubarak stepping down is good enough? is it a real road to reform or a cover for maintaining control? that partly depends on who replaces him, right? let s talk about the guy he s charged in being the head of the. omail suleiman is promising policy changes and fair elections. here s what he s actually done. for the last 15 years he s run the feared intelligence services. they re, quote, feared because as one u.s. official told the new yorker he isn t squeamish about torture. during the bush administration he was the cia s point man for renditions, the secret program in which ckriism cia would hand terror suspects, and would be often be done under, quote, brutal circumstances. in 2001, they game suleiman a suspect name al libbi. they locked him in a case for 80 hours and beat him repeatedly. he told reporters, quote, they were killing me. i had to tell them something. so he lied, claiming al qaeda was connected to saddam hussein. in 2003, that so-called confession made it into colin powell s speech to the united nations, making the case to invade iraq. that i can you omar suleiman for helping to build a case for war. no wonder our cia likes him. on the other hand mubarak s new cabinet does include new faces, in the important departments of culture and antiquities, and the antiques, totally reformed. very, very bold. joining me is rasheed khalidi. professor, you can tell i was skeptical. am i right to be skeptical about his record? i believe he s deserve a rich degree of skepticism. he s old-school, is identified with repression. the idea of connecting that individual with the word reform is ludicrous, to put it mildly. that gets to the critical question, if mubarak is saying i ll hang out for seven months action i ll go out in september, have my guy run, probably omar suleiman. if you think that is how it would unfold action is that basically window dressing, it s not real reform, and then mubarak s allies are back in charge? i think a lot depends on what the army decides. if the army decides a scenario like that, which is clearly what mubarak refers will lead to continued unrest and harm their position in egyptian society, which they are intent on preserving, then they may themselves push the president out. i don t think this is going to decrease the pressure in cairo or in the provinces, which are actually much worse than cairo in terms of instability and disorder. the pressure is still on. i don t think the president s statement has in any way changed anything. i don t think his appointment of the vice president or new government has changed anything. i gra i with your skepticism. the president will speak in just a little while. we ve heard and nbc has confirmed he did send a diplomat to nudge mubarak out and say, you ve got to go. is that enough for mubarak to come out and say, okay, i am going to go in seven months? i think we have to get over the arrogance, which makes us think that we can, with a nod and wink, determine outcomes. that may be the case with dictators with little legitimacy who are entirely dependent on external support. that s not the case in egypt. that s not going to be possible in egypt. and i think the kind of arrogance which has us talking, as secretary clinton did yesterday, for example, as if she s the school mistress and these are children, will not go down very well. look at the pew poll in egypt, one of the highest degrees of lack of support for united states anywhere that the pew has polled. they will not take this easily. we do have some degree of power, we give billions to their military and government. given that we have that power, what do you think the president should say tonight? well, i have no idea what the president should say. the kind of influence the united states has, as you suggest, involves the money that s being given essentially to egypt and its security forces. egyptians will not forget the tear gas canisters fired at them by the hated security police were made in jamestown, pennsylvania. that s not the way to win friends and influence people. it has gained the support of the security forces. they re the most hated part of the government in egypt. egyptian military is very much concerned to maintain a relationship with washington, but that doesn t mean they re going to jeopardizes their perks, their position in israel and egyptian society in order to do somebody s bidding in washington or elsewhere. they re going to try to figure out the best solution for them. all right. thank you, professor khalidi, we appreciate your expertise. thank you. the president is set to speak. we ll come back and find out for ourselves who he s going to say next. more energy efficient is something the whole world can get in step with. 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[ bat cracks ] that s a hit. one a day men s. we are still waiting for the president to come out and speak on egypt. that should happen at any moment now, but in the meanwhile, time to give you more fun and interesting stories. time for an edition of red states gone wild. there s so much crazy news we need a whole segment. in south dakota, they have introduced legislation to legally force every citizen over the age of 21 to buy a gun. s. next stop, every over the age of 21 must shoot someone. they re trying to mock the individual mandate in health care law. good one, good one. for the record, when a person shows up at an emergency room without insurance, the cost is absorbed we everyone else. that s why their decision affects you. your neighbor s decision to buy or not buy a gun doesn t affect you at all, unless of course he uses it on you, in which kay you would be dramatically affected. for the record, south dakota completely understands that concept, that s why it mandates its car owner have auto insurance. just being cute here. bobby franklin wants to limit government so much, he has a bold new proposal. get rid of driver s licenses. franklin explained his sophisticated logic to a report in atlanta, saying we don t need to know who is on the road. when the reporter asked who would stop people like 12-year-olds from driving, franklin said, who s stopping t? in december he introduced a bill that would require all georgians to pay their taxes in precious metals, silver or gold. on the up side you don t have to worry about the lines at the dmv. on the down side, you have to melt your silverware to pay your taxes. south carolina is looking to be the third state to take on sharia law. i was wondering who would be brave enough. one of the sponsors says they purposely did not use the word sharia in order to be sensitive to muslims. he told tpm, quote, we re being on religious freedom if we were to i.d. this as an andy-sharia law and statute, then we re being guilty of one of the things we re not trying to do, but repeated the claim that other states are having problem with sharia law. he couldn t cite examples. neither could we. why? because they don t exist. look, for the record sharia law has not taken over in oklahoma or in dearborn, michigan, or in frank ft. texas, a town sharron angle once claimed was under sharia rule, but in fact doesn t even exist. you have to love it when they don t care about the facts at all. we re still waiting for the president, i promise you he s going to show up. so come right back. get em boys! 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[ male announcer ] just like you, business pro. just like you. go national. go like a pro. we re still waiting for the president. we ll get back as soon we have them. except, of course, when it s their guy doing it, right? we ve seen it a million times, who, he ruled that the individual mandate was unconstitutional. that meant the whole thing was void. i think it raises some legitimate constitutional questions, but for the judge to say it invalidates the entire health care law? that s basically admitting you re a republican. there s no question that s what happened here. judge vinson said, quote, it s difficult to imagine that a nation that began in that part because of and imposing a nominal tax on all tea sold in america would have set out to create a government with the power to force people to buy tea in the first place. you think that s a coincidence? no that s a direct reference to the tea party and some advocates thanked him afterwards. gee, i wonder if political considerations came into play in this decision. he s not alone in his activism. the only other judge to rule against the law, virginia district court judge henry hudson, a dyed in the wool republican both political and financially connected to the party. judge hudson invested in a republican firm that, including virginia attorney general ken couch necessarily couch cusp necessarilyi. that didn t change once the courts got involved. where does the games leave us? with anthony kennedy. the case is you wouldly heading to the supreme court, and we basically know four justices will be four it and four against it, so that leaves your decision about your health care not up to your congressman or doctor, but up to one supreme court justice. joining me now is independent senator bernie sanders of vermont. first of all, great pleasure to have you on. i know the republicans have started their assault on health care reform. tell us about that. frankly i don t think they have the votes, but i think it s a totally absurd proposal. they talk about our large deficit, yes if they are successful in repealing health care they ll add a trillion at a time when 50 million americans have no health insurance right now, health care reform would provide health insurance to over 30 million, and what these guys want to do is say no action we can t do that. at a time when people were denied access to health insurance because the preexisting conditions, they want to allow that object senity to continue to exist. this bill would provide access to community health centers for 20 million more americans. they want to do away with that. look, at the end of the day, let s be clear. the united states is the only nation in the industrialized world that does not provide health care to all of our people, yet we end up spending almost twice as much as any other country. is this health care reform bill the bill i would have written? no, it is not. one of the changes i want to see is not to repeal the whole bill, but to give states the flexibility to go forward in more effective ways. in my state i would like to see, and i think we have a shot at passing for a single payer program, which in a cost-effective way could provide health care to all our people. those are the changes we need, not the wholesale repeal. senator, i want to talk about messaging. whenever there s a decision that the republicans don t like, they scream, they do a press conference, they say my god, judicial activism. why is there not a concerted effort to say the same. i think you re absolutely right. again, this to my mind, could we have writer a better law, a stronger law, taken on the insurance companies? yes, we can t have, but this debate took place for an entire year. the whole nation was involved in it. we had hearing after hearing, markup after markup. now it all comes down, perhaps if you re correct, and you may well be, to one justice in the united states supreme court determining the future of health care in the united states of america, if that is not judicial activism, i don t know what is. how do you feel about the mandate? i notice some progressives were not in favor of the mandate? it is not the best way to go. the best way to go is say, number one, everybody in america will have health care, and b, we are going to fund a medicare for all single payer program in an effective in a plowingive way. the problem with the individual mandate is in some case it s going to be pretty regressivive. government will help many people, but there may be some people stuck with the bill. i think there are more effective ways to pay for health care for all people than the individual mandate. having said that, if somebody walks across the street without any health insurance, gets hit by a truck, spends $100,000 in the hospital, you know who s paying for the bill? you and i are, and everybody else who has health insurance. is that fair as well? you can make the case for the individual mandate. it s probably not the best way to fund universal health care for our people. if the courts eventually struck down the rest of the mandate, might you actually be happy about that? there is a debate about where we go from there, but i think the evidence that i have seen is you can deal with that reality, and probably it without the individual mandate. what i am fighting for right now is to maintain the high standards, but give us the flexibility to do it in a more cost-effective way. i happen to bloef when you get rid of the insurance companies, you can say you can get rid of the bureaucracy, and administrative costs that presently exist, you can provide health care to all people without having to spend more overall dollars. all right. senator bernie sanders from vermont, thank you so much for joining us tonight. we appreciate it. good to be with you, cenk. by the way my opinion is the mandate is a questionable issue, but invalidating the whole law is absurd i think that s what showed the true colors. all the other judges have ruled that the law is perfectly valid and constitutional. we re waiting for the president, and we hear he s going to come out any second. here s president obama about to speak on egypt. good evening, everybody. over the past few days the american people have watched the situation unfolding in egypt. we ve seen enormous demonstrations. we ve borne witness to the beginning of a new chapter in the history of a great country, and a longtime partner of the united states. my administration has been in close contact with our egyptian counterparts in a broad range of the egyptian people, as well as others across the region and across the globe. throughout this period we ve stood for a set of core principles. first, we oppose violence, and i want to commend the egyptian military for the professionalism and patriotism that it has shown thus far in allowing peaceful protests while protecting the egyptian people. we ve seen tanks covered with banners and soldiers and protesters embracing in the streets. going forward, i urge the military to continue its efforts to help ensure that this time of change is peaceful. second, we stand for universal values, including the rights of the egyptian people to freedom of assembly, freedom of speech, and the freedom to access information. once more, we ve seen the incredible potentially for technology to empower citizens and the dignity of those who stand up for a better future. going forward, the united states will continue to stand up for democracy and the universal rights that all human beings deserved in egypt and around the world. third we have spoken out on the need for change. after his speech tonight, i spoke directly to president mubarak. he recognizes that the status quo is not sustainable and that a change must take place. indeed all of us who are privileged to serve in political positions of power do so at the will of our people. through thousands of years egypt has known many moments of transformation. the voices of the egyptian people tell us this is one of those moments, this is one of those times. now, it is not the role of any other country to determine egypt s leaders, only the egyptian people can do that. what is clear and what i indicated tonight to president mubarak is my belief that an orderly transition must be meaningful, it must be peaceful, and it must begin now. furthermore it also must included a broad spectrum of voices and opposition parties. it should lead to elections that are free and fair, and it should result in a government that s not only grounded in democratic principles, but is also responsive to the aspirations of the egyptian people. throughout this process, the united states will continue to extend the hand of partnership and friendship to egypt, and we stand ready to provide any assistance that s necessary to help the egyptian people as they manage the after 2k7 math of these protests. over the last few days, the passion and the dignity that has been demonstrated by the people of egypt has been an inspiration to people around the world, including here in the united states. and to all those who believe in the northwestibility of human freedom. to the people of egypt, particularly the young people of egypt, i want to be clear. we hear your voices. i have an unyielding belief that you will determine your own destiny and seize the promise of a bet future for your children and your grandchildren. i say that as someone who is committed to a partnership between the united states and egypt. there will be difficult days ahead. many questions about egypt s futures remain unanswered, but i am confident that the people of egypt will find those answers. that truth can be seen in the sense of community in the streets. it can be seen in the mothers and fathers embracing soldiers, and it can be seen in the egyptians who linked arms to protect the national museum. a new generation protecting the treasures of antiquity, a human chain protect iing an anch the civilization to the promise of a new day. thank you very much. the president of the united states speaking on the momentous events of egypt today. to discuss the statement, joining mess is crist matthews, the host of hardball and savannah guthrie and congressman gary ackerman. chris, what did you make of it? there s a bit of wiggle room saying he wants the transition to begin now. that s pretty close to what we re getting as the message that was delivered by hi liaison with mubarak yesterday, which is you have to leave now, a little subtler than apparently the delivered statement. i get you would have to say begin now is going to be a head now. he wants him to leave now, i don t know what else it could mean. what else could begin now mean. savannah, you re at the white house, any insight into what they meant by that? reporter: i do think it s once again these very diplomatic words. he s trace that president mubarak knows change is coming. he wants the transition to start now. i don t think based on my reporting that that is the same as saying he should leave office right now. because of that, some of the demonstrators in egypt may be disappointed with what the president just said based on the reporting that our correspondents on the ground have given us about how the protesters feel. obviously they re not satisfied with what mubarak said tonight. i think what you saw was president obama trying to walk this line, making clear that they want mubarak to go, and they think his time is up, but they stopped short of saying he needs to leave office immediately or comply with the demands frankly of the protesters that he be gone by friday. you saw the president speak very personally to the protesters saying we hear your advices. this is a wow once again trying to walk a very delicate line. congressman, if it s a transition to reform, is it good enough, or no? i think the president understands the timing. i think the president has to indicate in some way, and i think it was a pretty good speech, but i think he could have made it up clearer he was more answer to see him leave sooner than after seven months of a transition. i think he could have offered to send the car to pick him up. i understand you re leaving, hosni, what time would you like the car? i think if mubarak had announced he wants to cut the time shorter, he s going to do a transition call and call for an election earlier, i think that would have been helpful, and would have indicated a compromise on his part to the people in the street. nobody thought he was going to stand for election the minute this street demonstration started. i think it s important. chris, let any go to you. does the transition, if that is what they re pushing, as we have all said, leaving mubarak in power, is that a win for mubarak? and do you think that that is a strong enough statement for the united states of america? no, our position is he should leave now. whatever the president said, what he s saying indirectly is leave now, and of course we re not saying get in the car as the congressman says, but pretty close to that. i think we want to meet the demands of the proo testers pretty directly, and think we want to play that role. i think we want to be part of the effort to change, to be seen as part of what we re watching, in perhaps a more refined way, but the same message, you have to go. i think it means he has to leave the country the i wouldn t trust the mob to decide on this man s future in the mood they re in right now. i don t know what institution in egypt would protect him. maybe the army would. i think he has to leave. oy certainly hope there s plans for asylum for the president, because i think he s going to have to leave, given the demands in the street from some of the elements that he be tried for murder? i don t think he should stick around if that s the environment. congressman ackerman, there s some reports they have reached out to turkey, the turkish prime minister or leader came out and said that mubarak should go. any chance he should go to a country like turkey? i don t know how that would sit in the streets of cairo. there s a bit of a historic rivalry there, as you well know. let me just say, chris is very wise and has been at this business as well for a long time and picked up on the nuances. what the president said was, yes, he s not satisfied, he would like to accelerate the process and have him leave in possible. i think he gave that message to mubarak, but he s not giving it to the street. the street mob is not that sophisticated. they re not reading between the lines. they have to clearly understand that we want to process fast er than mubarak wants it, and we are partnering up with the people. president s speech was brilliant. he tied the country to its culture. he acknowledged we understood it. what country have been seen where people held hands and protected their heritage. it s something that the people in egypt appreciate. this is a big country with a sizable economy. 25% of the arab world resides there. they are despite the fact the polls shows they re not pro-american, they are pro-democracy. we can settle with that very easily. the army is the guarantor of the stability, and you can be sure that our military, our pentagon has been talking general to general to make sure that things will go smythely. many thanks, congressman, savannah guthrie and chris matthews. we ll be right back. you ve been seeing pictures of revolution on your tv screens for some days. it s an amazing phenomenon. it started in tunisia, then spread to egypt, then yemen. now the king of jordan has fired his cabinet. groups in syria are organizing online for a protest this friday. and china is blocking the word egypt from the internet for fear the revolution against tirny will spread to their shores. this is the revolution we were promised. when people talk about open government and free flow of information leading to democracy, this is what they were talking about. the internet revolution was a turn of phrase, but that phrase has become literal. why are these protests spreading like wildfire? because people are getting information about them through facebook, twitter, blogs and web sites. before an