Transcripts For MSNBC Morning Joe 20101227

wonderland in new york city. it is 6:00 in the morning on this monday, two days after christmas. the white christmas came a day late actually yesterday as this blizzard blew through the northeast. we've seen the worst of the snow here in new york city over these live pictures. that's times square right outside our building here at rockefeller plaza. now it's moving up north, hammering boston. we're going to get live reports from up and down the coast. i'm willie geist. it's great to be back with you. joe and mika have the week off. i'll be here all week. this morning we're talking is a little while about snow. winter storm warnings up and down the east coast. still one in effect here in new york city until noon. really the story now is up in the boston area where the snow is still dumping. the mayer and governor deval patrick of massachusetts asking people just stay home. thousands of flight cancellations have stranded people this holiday weekend. the newark airports closed until noon. that's backing things up across the country. let's go right now where the story is to the boston area where we find the weather channel's mike seidel. mike, good morning. >> reporter: good morning, willie. the snow and wind continue up here in the boston suburbs. we've had about a foot of snow across the area except on the cape out there. temperatures this morning around 40. the center of the storm as bill will show you in a minute over radar is coming over nantucket. they had wind gusts last night miles an hour. minor damage out there. here inland it's snowing and blowing. this is route 9. you can see how much snow they have piled up on the side of the road here. the plows have done a great job of going back and forth. wind right now is in a bit of a lull but still getting widespread gusts reported 30 to 40 miles per hour. a car here and there but mostly the sound of snow plows this morning in these areas. we have that blizzard warning until noon in boston, until 5:00 in portland, maine. three to five inches more here. five to eight more in portland. amtrak still shut down between new york and boston. they'll assess that situation and the rails this morning. logan airport officially is open. but as you well know, if there are no planes, you can't fly anywhere. so it's a wait and see there. even once the snow tapers off we'll have strong gusty winds across all of the northeast today. adding insult to injury blowing and drifting the snow around. still breezy tomorrow but the sun comes out and things will start to get back to normal. fortunately, it's a holiday week, so a lot of things -- schools are closed and the normal morning rush hour would be a little bit more low key than on a typical weekday. with that said, a lot of closings up here today. people are just going to make it, what is that a four-day weekend. not too shabby. >> that's what they're saying. everybody stay home. let's turn now for more on the storm to our man bill karins. i heard you say earlier this morning you've never seen anything like this. >> i will equate this today super storm of march of '96. in weather terms that's the biggest storm go up and down the eastern seaboard. the storm. this one didn't affect everyone. a lot of people got hit from it. it wasn't really an historic storm until you got to about philadelphia northwards. you notice the bottom of our snowfall totals. everyone in baltimore and washington, d.c. is saying what big deal? we got a half inch or inch of snow and cold and windy. it didn't blow up until off the delaware coast. the snowfall totals most impressive in between philadelphia and new york city. numerous reports near newark airport of at least 20 inches. i've heard some reports as high as 26. so we're talking some areas that are trying to get their way around two feet of snow. not that you could measure it because it's so windy, the drifts are over the tops of cars and your neighbor's yard could be bare. all of that snow could blow in your yard. by far the worst is over. now light snow and snow bands continuing through massachusetts back through areas of the berkshires. additional snowfall accumulations, vermont, new hampshire and maine could pick up another foot from this. it's really their storm to deal with now. we're more or less starting to deal with the clean-up in new york city and long island where just light snow currently. we have gotten a foot snows before so that's not the story. it's the wind. it's making it an historic storm. as far as the winds, gusting in new york up to 40 miles per hour. jfk had a gust of 48. we've seen the winds as strong as 80 miles per hour, hurricane gust over cape codover night. currently 43 in philly and 41 in d.c. strong northwest winds on the back side. boston now has a wind gust of 43. that means windchills in the single digits. that's why unfortunately there's no real kids in school but they can't go out and play in it because the windchill is in the single digits and the snow is so high and blowing so fierce it's not a fun morning out there. we don't want to leave everyone else out. it's 11 windchill in atlanta and down in florida it's going to be 20s in orlando again. so it's the snofrm philly northwards but the east coast is feeling the wrath. >> a white christmas in atlanta, first time since the 1880s. columbia, south carolina, snowing on christmas. you don't see it. let's talk travel for a minute here. we know the three new york airports closed until noon today. they're going to open up -- >> i don't see how they will do it by noon. i know they say that. but the way the wind is blowing. they plow it and it goes. i can't see -- it may be 5:00 p.m. you have to put two fetal of snow and get that out of way, plus get the planes shoveled oit and the wind will be howling. good luck. >> even if they do get those open, there's such a backlog of air traffic that they have to get all through that. probably looking at tomorrow until you're at full capacity. >> and tomorrow should be 40 and sunny in new york city. so if you can wait, wait. >> tomorrow is the day. how about the boston area? what's travel looking like up there? >> boston a little worse. they'll stay windy a little longer. in the boston area and hoping to do your travel, really it's mostly a tuesday thing. there's a lot of cars stranded. numerous reports of a lot of highways with vehicles stuck. they have to get to them, get the people out, get the cars towed and plow the roads. i can't imagine anywhere new york city northwards -- it's not going to be until tomorrow. >> governor patrick in massachusetts said stay off the roads and we'll get it cleaned up and back in business on tuesday. so if you can, stay home. >> give you have updates. >> obviously checking back with you throughout the morning. there is some breaking news this morning. reuters news reporting that suspected explosive packages have been found at a number of embassies in rome today, just days after mail bombs claimed by an italian anarchist group wounded two people at the swiss and chilean missions. according to the associated press suspicious packages have been found at the venezuelan and monaco embassies. those were a false alarm. but a package at the greek embassy has been confirmed as a bomb. since last week's attacks there have been false alarms at the irish and ukrainian missions in rome as they stepped up mail deliveries but they say the one at the greek embassy is some form of a letter bomb. elsewhere, nbc news reporting that a car bomb has exploded in the southern city of kandahar in afghanistan this morning, killing one civilian and injuring more than a dozen others. the car exploded near a police compound and a local bank in the crowded center of the city. this year has been the deadliest of the nearly ten-year war for foreign troops with 697 killed just so far in 2010. that is according to an associated press count. we'll keep you updated on the damage there in afghanistan. here at home, homeland security secretary janet napolitano has been defending the use of full-body scanners and invasive pat-downs at the nation's airports where so many people are stranded today. in an interview yesterday with cnn she said the security measures will remain in place for now. >> it's been about six weeks maybe since we noticed the enhanced pat-downs. what have you learned since then about what works and doesn't work? has anything changed? >> not for the foreseeable future. we're always looking to improve systems and so forth. but the new technology, the pat-downs, just objectively safer for our traveling public. >> as you'll remember a few weeks ago, many travelers expressed concern about being subjected to the intimate pat-downs. napolitano said safety is the country's number one priority. the secretary also defended the recent gaffe by national intelligence director james clapper who didn't know about a roundup of terror suspects in the uk when asked during a tv interview last week. a week after the predaunl police raids across england, nine men will appear in a london court today on terrorism charges. they're charged with conspiracy to cause an explosion between october and november of this year. they are also charged with involvement in the preparation of an attack after allegedly downloading and researching methods and materials and scouting potential targets. three other suspects arrested during last week's sweep have been released without charges. white house press secretary robert gibbs says the guantanamo bay military prison is not going to should down any time soon. in an interview yesterday, nearly a year after the obama administration's self-imposed deadline to close that facility, gibbs admitted the president has run into several legislative roadblocks. >> we are a month away from being a year late in closing down guantanamo bay prison. when is that prison going to close? >> i don't -- certainly not the next month. i think it's probably going to be a while before that prison closes. >> a year? >> i think part of this depends on the republicans' willingness to work with the administration on this. >> gibbs also admitted that the president has served as a rallying cause for islamic terrorists around the world and seemed to acknowledge a recent report that the white house will issue an executive order for some detainees to be held indefinitely without trial. it's been a key issue for members of his liberal base but it's not going to happen for some time. much more on the major storm that's heading up the east coast and whipped through the new york area late last night and overnight, now making a charge up into maine and the boston area. but up next, a look back at some of morning joe's biggest interviews of 2010 including our sit-down with president bill clinton. and the jets clinched a playoff spot but kind of backed into it. they lost and made the playoffs. we'll tell you how that happened when "morning joe" comes right back. so, during sign then drive i can get a cc for just my signature? 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[ male announcer ] it's amazing what you can do with a pen. sign then drive is back. for a limited time get any 2011 volkswagen for practically just your signature. executor of efficiency. you can spot an amateur from a mile away... while going shoeless and metal-free in seconds. and you...rent from national. because only national lets you choose any car in the aisle...and go. you can even take a full-size or above, and still pay the mid-size price. now this...will work. [ male announcer ] just like you, business pro. just like you. go national. go like a pro. welcome back to "morning joe." it's 6:15 in the morning. that's a live picture of philadelphia. as you can see, a lot of snow is dumped. in fact, they canceled last night's philadelphia eagles game and moved it to tuesday night out of concern for the fans. more on that and update on the storm in a few minutes. morning papers. "the boston globe" where the storm is now. it's all anybody is talking about there. the major storm barreling through the area this morning. early winter wallop. how about "the tennessean." the 101st airborne has lost 104 soldiers in 2010, making it the unit's second deadliest combat since vietnam. "usa today" good news for everyone who has christmas presents they don't like. retail he recalls loosening return policies and dropping restocking fees this holiday season. time for the "morning joe" rewind. our interviews with some of the biggest names from 2010. we begin with an interview joe and mika did sitting down with former president bill clinton at the clinton global initiative to discuss his charitable work and his thoughts on this year's politics. >> it's just remarkable. it is remarkable how much this initiative has grown. you've got to be thrilled. >> i am. this is the biggest one we've ever had. i was quite surprised. i didn't know. last year when we had it, we were bottoming out in economic downturn. but we had a good year. and this year we have 100 more people who actually paid to come and to give. >> it is recession-proof. you are encouraging people in the worst of economic times to remember those overseas. >> and here. >> and here. >> and here at home. i asked all of our members to take another look about what we could do in other countries and in america to target a lot of these commitments they make to creating jobs and opportunity. and a lot of them have. it's been interesting. >> could you break it down? because people hear so much about cgi. they know what's going on in new york but could you break it down for people across america? >> yeah. >> what's the big idea? what does this initiative do that other initiative don't? >> the big idea is that there's been an explosion of an old, old american idea that there's always a limit to what the private sector can produce and the government can provide. and in that gap, citizens should take action to try to heal the breaches in our society, in america and around the world. also, if you are not -- if you don't have to produce a profit for shareholders tomorrow and you're not bound by all the government rules, you can take some chances to try to do things faster, cheaper, better. and if you're really good, then the model can -- you can either partner with the private sector or partner with the government or hand it off. so we -- this all started in america before the constitution was ratified, when benjamin franklin organized the first volunteer fire department in philadelphia. now, fast forward 200 years. all these intelligent and sometimes wealthy people representing successful businesses, they meet around the world and they have these talk fests and talk about all these problems. nobody ever asks anybody to do anything. so we said why don't we meet at the opening of the u.n. and get the world leaders to come. we'll invite people from poor countries who can't afford to come and places in america who can't afford to come. we'll pay their way. everybody will come and all commit to do something. this is not a left/right thing. this is right/wrong. does it work -- >> mika, how great, no formula. >> i think the formula you described bringing people to both sides could apply beyond the clinton global initiative. >> absolutely. >> could apply in washington. >> i think so too. i think that what we ought to talk about -- i urged my fellow democrats to tell the american people that the country wasn't back to work, nobody was happy. but according to all the numbers, the recession bottomed out and it was job time, show time. so the only real issue in this election should be what is each party going to offer to get the country moving again, which idea is most likely to work. i think that ought to be the debate. what are we going to do? who is more likely to do it? and i think -- i believe they should say, give us two more years to do this. it it if it doesn't work throw us all out. another election in two years. throw us out. we were in a deep hole, couldn't get going in time. i think we all ought to be willing to be judged by what or what does not empower other people. >> i talked to you about this before. we go out and give speeches across the country. and sometimes to progressive crowds and i always start with when i ran in '94, i couldn't stand bill clinton's image on tv and they'll all rustle out there. i came up to washington, d.c., and i go through this. and then as i explain the story away. he didn't really like us that much either. but look what we accomplished together. look what we -- we learned. i learned so much from those five years -- and they were tough, tough years for you and for hillary and for a lot of people. balance -- talking about this. we balanced the budget. four years -- for four years. first time that happened since the 1920s. reformed the welfare. created 22 million new jobs. and those were two sides that didn't exactly love each other. could you explain to washington, d.c., on both sides, how do you do that? how do you have rise above it? how did everybody learn to work together even if they fought each other like -- >> first of all, you have to know the difference between something that's real and something that's show. i remember one day senator lott, who was the republican senate -- on one of these sunday morning shows. and he called me a spoiled brat. something like that. and our -- one of our guys on the staff called and said do you know what trent lott said? i said, i said don't worry about that. he said, how can you say that? he's supposed to be working. i said let me tell you what happened. trent lott agreed to be on a sunday morning show before he thought about it. he was exhausted all weekend because we had been working long hours. he got up early in a bad mood and somebody goaded him and he took the bait. that's all. i called lott and he said, oh, my god, you're calling. i said i'm calling to tell you i've already forgotten about this. he said why. i said because you shouldn't have done this, you why too tired. woke up exhausted and somebody goaded you and you have took the bait. he said that's what happened. that's what happens when you know somebody as a person as well as a political opponent. when you cut people a little slack and you realize that doesn't have anything to do with the job. you just work on getting the job done. when we hung lott's portrait in the capitol, newt gingrich and i spoke for him and talked about the fights but then talked about what we achieved. that's what i think we have to do. we have to get back into -- we're all hired hands here. and we've got to -- it's a good thing to have a philosophy. if you look at the stuff we're debating here, i could give you a more conservative and a more liberal position about how to deliver health care in haiti or reset up the schools or promote economic growth. but in the end, what matters is half the kids have never been to school, do they go to school or not? they never had a health care system at all. will they have one? they don't have a government that functions. 17% of the government was killed on earthquake day. are they going to have one? and somehow we need to drive our political debate toward that. >> we seem to be losing ground. you brought up newt gingrich. i've talked to your wife and you and others about what i learned, that you can disagree without being disagreeable. i made a lot of mistakes in the 1990s. i think a lot of people did. but you brought up newt gingrich. here's a guy that should know better. and yet he's going out there comparing one of the great religions of the world to naziism. cathleen sebelius to stalin. it's really disappointing that in some ways we seem to be losing ground. >> yeah. but i think part of that is he saw what happened in these republican primaries. he might want to run for president. and, frankly, it's a version of what he did in '94 as opposed to what he later came to do after we had the huge fight over the government shutdown and we all calmed down and went to work. and i think -- at least i know he knows better. >> joe and mika with president bill clinton. we're going to have a lot more for you on "morning joe" rewind. james cameron, tom hanks, mayor curry booker of newark. collection of stars here on "morning joe." in between all that, we're going to be talking about the storm in the northeast. it's now moved through philadelphia. that's where you're looking right now. but they're just starting to dig out. we'll have a live report from philly, talk to you about the airports here in new york which are causing a lot of trouble for people across the country and take you up farther north to boston and up into maine to dig out from this blizzard. plus a little nfl action for you. the new york giants taking a beating in yesterday's game against the packers. if they had won, they go right into the playoffs. we'll show you how they responded. sports is next on morni"mornin." pumpkin pie! gingerbread men! egg nog! [ female announcer ] grab a box of multigrain cheerios. get a code to... ...a 7 day plan to get going on that new years weight loss. get the box. get the code. get started! on that new years weight loss. this is my band from the 80's, looker. hair and mascara, a lethal combo. i'm jon haber of alto music. my business is all about getting music into people's hands. and the plum card from american express open helps me do that. you name it, i can buy it. and the savings that we get from the early pay discount has given us money to reinvest back into our business and help quadruple our floor space. how can the plum card's trade terms get your business booming? booming is putting more music in more people's hands. welcome back to "morning joe." coming up on 6:30 in the morning on the east coast. the story of the day, the blizzard. you got a look at the radar there. it started off the coast of north carolina a couple of days ago and moved its way up passing through among many other places philadelphia. that's where we find the weather channel's jim kantoree. jim, good to see you this morning. a lot of us turned on to see some football and saw your mug getting blown sideways. what happened? >> reporter: the upper deck was a bit raw last night. windchills down around 5 degrees. horizontal snow. for the public safety, the nfl says we're going to cancel this thing. and quite frankly, that was a great play. because whether they got 4 inches or 14 -- we got a foot officially at philadelphia -- the key all along the weather before the game and after the game was supposed to be at its worst. having people drive in that is not a good idea. like you wanlted to see the game. check the little conveyor belt. they're picking the snow out from under this subway stairway and each person is taking the snow throwing it up higher until you get it to the top. that's like heavy mud because it's already salted. sidewalks cleared with the pay loaders. we have one scooting down there now. we've got the busses in operation this morning. you can see that. that's good news for philadelphia. plows have come by from time to time. so slowly but surely we are getting the city back in working order. the airport is open here. still obviously a snow emergency so you have to keep those emergency lanes open. here's the big deal. the northeast is pretty much in gridlock especially from this point northward. logan is closed. we've got laguardia closed until 2:00 this afternoon. jfk is closed until 4:00 this afternoon. i don't know how busy the airports are a couple of days after christmas but either way these are people now that potentially wanted to get home saturday that were starting to miss flights out of atlanta that could never get out. big issues with the airports continuing and this will probably last through a good part of the midweek or even the end of the week by the time they get back to normal. huge problems at the airports, no question about it. >> ugly in new york. are people heading into work today? what does it look like where you're standing? all things considered here in new york, they've done an incredible job plowing at least the major thoroughfares. broadway. we were able to get in. some of the cross streets are still buried about what does it look like there? >> reporter: we're not as bad -- actually, very similar snow amounts. new york in and around the city. queens 14 inches and the city 11. but the streets are plowed. they're passable. cars are moving along. sure there are wads of heavy snow in certain corners but i think they'll get back to normal as quick as they can. the good news it's a holiday and everybody is off. >> jim cantore, the man you saw instead of michael vick last night. you heard jim talk about the postponement of that eagles game last night. not everybody was happy with the decision to move the game. mainly pennsylvania governor ed rendell. he said he did not agree at all with this idea. he said, quote, this is football. football is played in bad weather. i for one was looking forward to sitting in the stands throughout the snow and seeing an old-time football game. that from the governor of the state of pennsylvania saying you're a bust of wussys for postponing the game. a bunch of teams looking to make the playoffs, two from new york. the giants coming off the embarrassing loss to the eagles last week. if they beat the packers at lambeau, they're still in the playoffs. it turns out they cannot beat the packers in lambeau. first quarter finding a wide open nelson up the gut. splits the defenders, 80 yards for the touchdown. four touchdowns and 404 yards yesterday. eli manning was as bad as rogers was good. here in the fourth he throws an interception to sam shields. one of eli's four interceptions on the day. the giants turned the ball over six times. you're not going to win when you do doe that. packers blow out the giants 45-17 at lambeau. giants still alive at the playoffs. they need to win in washington next week and get those packers to lose to the bears. still could happen. the other new york team vying for a playoff spot rex ryan and the jets need a big win over the bears to van advance. this was football weather playing in chicago, a little snow coming down. tied at 31 late third quarter. jay cutler of the vanderbilt university finds johnny knox in the end zone, a 26-yard touchdown. one of his three touchdown passes. bears jump to a seven-point lead in the fourth. bears cut the lead to four but with under a minute to play hoping for a drive to win the game, mark sanchez throws an interception right into the hands of chris harris. jets lose 38-34. chicago clinches its division with an 11-4 record. great season for the bears. the jets fall to 10-5. they need s. the jaguars to lose yesterday after their game against the redskins to make the playoffs. in his postgame press conference jets coach rex ryan heard a cheer and got the news. >> you know, eventually it comes down to you got to make some plays. by the way, i think we're in the playoffs. god dog, it ain't the way i wanted it, but i'll take it! whoo! >> the jets had just lost to chicago. he's giving the postgame press conference and hears the shouting in the background. the players reacting to the game that put them in the playoffs. jets division rivals new england patriots continuing to stomp people. tom brady picking apart the bills up in buffalo. three touchdowns including this four yarder to alge crumpler. he set nfl history setting most pass attempts consecutively without an interception. it's been more than two months now since tom brady threw one. tim tebow is winning over the hearts and minds of the people of denver. they needed something to cheer about after an ugly season. starting in his first home game yesterday again the texans. down 13 going to the fourth quarter but tim tebow, a child shall lead them. someone has actually said that of him. fakes right and throws a screen. 23 yards and scoots in for the touchdown. they cut the deficit to six and a few minutes later broncos with the ball near the goal line. tebow nice moves back here. shuffles around, gets the end and goes in for the score with about three minutes left in the game. broncos with a big comeback win behind tim tebow and win 24-23. this was the scene during the 49ers/rams game yesterday. niners coach mike singletary, quarterback troy smith screaming at each other on national television on the sidelines in the third quarter. a shouting match over coach singletary's decision to remove smith from the game. 49ers lost to the rams 25-17 and that was the end for singletary. he is fired when he returned back to san francisco. he went two seasons with the niners finishing with an 18-22 record. they had high hopes for the former chicago bears linebacker. we mentioned the jags lost to the redskins so the colts had an opportunity to get ahead in the afc south taking on the raiders. peyton manning threw three touchdowns but the best play finality minutes of the fourth. look at the wheels on peyton. a naked bootleg fakes the handoff. goes 27 yards. why didn't he run into the end zone? he slides at the goal line to keep the clock riding to let it run out so the colts would win 31-27. if he scored they would have been ahead two scores. but he's peyton manning so a brilliant play. they can make the playoffs next weekend with a win over the titans or loss by the jags to houston. one more game of note. the chiefs hadn't gotten enough attention this year. let's give them some. from worst to first in the afc first in a single season. clinch sching the division yesterday with a 34-14 win over the titans. they're 10-5. chiefs become division champs for the first time since 2003 completing one of the best one-year turnarounds in franchise history. last season they were 4-12 and the st. louis rams having a great turnaround themselves. they can win the afc west next week. up next, the politics of aftera star he tar. our interview with oscar award winning director james cameron. ah, it's stinging a little bit more than usual! yeah, you'll get used to it. the longer you keep your high mileage car, the more it pays you back. get castrol gtx high mileage. it helps engines last longer by fighting the main causes of engine failure. i think a dime went up my nose. yeah, it happens. don't change your car. change your oil to castrol gtx high mileage. its more than just oil. it's liquid engineering. ♪ you know how i feel i feel like jennifer hudson but with new arms, new legs, and this smile. ♪ freedom is mine ♪ and i know how i feel i'm loving weight watchers new pointsplus program and the edge it's giving me. ♪ it's a new dawn, a new day i've got even more control now. ♪ and i'm feeling good go on, join for free. weight watchers new pointsplus. because it works. welcome back to "morning joe." 6:41 in the morning in clifton, new jersey. just waking up digging out from the blast they got overnight of winter weather. home of the clifton mustangs by the way. updates for you throughout the morning on this storm that's made its way up the east coast now hovering somewhere in the boston area up to maine. airports here in the new york area shut down. laguardia closed till 2:00, newark till noon, jfk till 4:00 p.m. so definitely if you're traveling today check in with the airline before you make your way to the airport, save yourself some time. right now more of our "morning joe rewind." oscar award winning director james cameron discussing the challenges of global warming and explaining the political message behind his film "avatar," the top grossing movie of all time. >> you talked about the importance of "avatar," that while al gore's message in "an inconvenient truth" had a lot of charts and things that make people like me fall asleep that you have hit people where they need to be hit in the heart. >> i wasn't trying to throw al under the bus. i think he did important work in raising --ness. but i thought what can an entertainment movie really do? it's not there to give you facts. that's the wrong forum. i thought what it can do is create an emotional reaction, give people a sense of outrage against what's happening to the natural world and, to a certain extent, to indigenous rights. that's what the film is really all about. and then let that emotional reaction maybe become a call to action for people. >> obviously, something -- the biggest selling movie of all time. you of course, as usual db your movies just look remarkable and great effects. but at the same time, if you don't have the narrative, it doesn't -- we've all gone to movies that have a lot of things blowing up, but it's the story in the end that sells. >> yeah. forget about the 3d and the visual effects. got to be a good story and got to connect. i think it has to connect on multiple levels. good story, a lot of action, bit of a love story but you have to have something going on underneath that to feel fully entertained. you have to engage the intellect and some aspect of the heart, even a spirituality that people can't explain. the movie is firing on all those cylinders or it wouldn't have made the money that it did. frankly, we were somewhat dumbfounded by the success of the film. i always assume to do an environmental message in an entertainment film would actually round down quite significantly its revenue potential. i think quite the reverse has happened. >> break it down. what's at stake? what do you think is at stake for this country? what's at stake for this world if we don't face up to the environmental challenges that are facing us? >> i think we're at a real crossroads in history. i think it's like a chinese curse, may you live in interesting times. i think we live in interesting times. it puts a tremendous amount of responsibility on us right now because we're at a point we have to redefine how we've done business the last couple of thousand years in order to survive the next couple of thousand years. we're at those crossroads. we're challenged in energy. fossil fuels are causing a lot of problems and they're going to run out. it's an object sclet paradigm for a couple of reasons. we're warming up the planet. people think a couple of degrees, i can live with that. wear a lighter wealth of fabric summer suit. i'm down for it. but i don't think they understand it's a finely-tuned engine this climate of ours. when people feel six feet of snow being dumped in the middle of winter they can't understand how it's related. global warming is kind of an obsolete term because dumping heat into this big engine of climate actually cause these local imbalances and that extra precipitation here had to evaporate out of ocean somewhere else. the heat inputted somewhere else causes it right here. >> you were in brazil fighting for indigenous tribes. >> just back. >> just back from there. and actually because you went down there, the plight of these people got placed on the front page of the "new york times." stunning. >> we were on the front page of "the new york times" from our trip a couple of weeks ago and went down and did rallies and that sort of thing. got brazilian celebrities and environmental scientists and ngos involved and shined a light on a process down there it's not a transparent process. they try to shove it under the rug and marginalize these people and hide them so they don't get a voice. >> generally tell people it's wiping communities out for -- >> it's the first of a series of dams. so it's a little bit of a domino principle. the reason the government wants the dam is the same reason we don't, because it's going to open the way for a process for all these -- some think hydropower is clean. in some cases it is. in the amazon it's not because it floods forest and releases that carbon back into the atmosphere. a huge amount of carbon pollution will result. >> it's amazing and when it comes to climate change as a whole or even this dam project that's halted it's very hard just like the economy or health for people to think long term. they just don't do it. >> let me ask this, though. the chinese built three dams and we had hoover in the 1930s and got our country up and modernized. >> you were there, buchanan. >> but the brazilian government is saying, look, you guys have done these three gorges in grand cooley and hoover. brazil is a takeoff country and we want to do the same thing and here you come now saying, no, you guys got to respect your environment when these things worked out for america. >> yeah, it's tough. they look at us and say we want to do that. we want that model of taking our urbanized east coast and spreading it west with highways and power lines and railroads like we did. but we did it at a time when there was no solar power or wind power. we didn't know about all these problems. they can't turn a blind eye to issues that are 21st century issues looking at a 20th century paradigm. yeah, it worked for us but you can't make the same -- >> you think our hoover dam and three gorges dam were mistakes? >> china displaced a lot of people. there were hundreds of thousands of people that had to be moved out of the way and it wasn't up to them. the difference is the rain forest is -- i believe it's an asset that the world needs to be looking carefully at. it's the single largest sort of carbon sequestration plant in existence. and they're knocking it down at a rate of -- i think it's 20 million hectares a year. literally like a couple of belgiums a year. i don't know why they're measured in belgiums. poor belgium. >> the unit. let me ask you something. a bigger question about where the environmental debate has gone. it's been fascinating to me. we saw al gore come out -- was it wife, 2006 with "an inconvenient truth" and a lot of awareness and a lot of focus in the media. and if you looked at the polls, i think the climate change argument was winning the day. over the last two years, you have just seen the poll numbers go down more and more and more down to 34% as you said in a recent poll. and as you went to senators yesterday talking about the importance of climate change, you heard from just about everybody, don't use that word. can't use that word. >> it's a dirty word, yeah. >> how did that happen the past um years? >> i think several things. one, a price tag started to be dangling from it and in the last couple of years we've entered into this most serious recession since the great depression. everybody knows that p p and so at a time when people are fighting for their homes, they're out of work, they're being asked to contemplate this kind of thing that they can't see, that they can't touch that's going to happen down the road is you. somebody else solve that problem. i have to deal with mine now. when al was doing his awareness and the science community was saying it's happening, it was a little more abstract and we were a little more flush with cash. it's interesting you can almost measure the denial process in action with how much it costs and how much people are going to have to sacrifice. so that's a part of it. plus you have this really well coordinated, well funded campaign of denial that's funded in the same time way the tobacco industry did if. there's a very good model. for a long time tobacco industry suppressed the results of the science community. they said it isn't a problem. you can pull the covers over your head and go back to sleep. it worked for a long time. >> director james cameron. much more still ahead on "morning joe" including interviews with tom hanks, former british prime minister tony blair and new jersey governor chris christie. when we come back we'll check back in on the weather and get you updated on where it is and how it will affect your day. bottom line, if you don't have to go out in the northeast, don't do it. ooh, a brainteaser. how can expedia now save me even more on 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[ female announcer ] you could save 522 bucks. see for yourself at esurance. technology when you want it. people when you don't. welcome back to "morning joe." as you can see i'm willie geist sitting here alone. the home alone verg. joe and mika have the week off. i'll be here all week. we're going to do morning jo r" rewin rewind". also looking at some of today's news including valerie jarrett yesterday on "meet the press" with david gregory trying to get the senior white house adviser to talk about sarah palin. >> i find it interesting in one of the president's recent interviews. he said about potential presidential aspirent sarah palin he doesn't think about her. >> i think his obligation is to think about all of americans every day. >> do you think he should pay attention to her as a political threat? >> i think he shouldn't be distracted by what are perceived as threats. i really go back to what i'm saying. because he's the president of the united states, he's not out there running the way he was when he wa the u.s. senator when you have to think about everybody in the field every second of the day. >> basically, no. she said he thinks about all americans every day. that's a lot of americans. we're going to make a clear line of demarcation here and go to the news you can't use. some people say it's news. it's a big one, hef. hugh hefner. he's engaged again. third time is the charm. this will be his third marriage for the 84-year-old hugh hefner. here's the lucky lady 24-year-old. that's a 2 and a 4 next to each other. 24-year-old crystal harris. she was of course need i remind you december 2009's play mate of the month. just a note. when she was born in april of 1986, hefner had just had a week or so earlier his 60th birthday party when she was born. so hef is going to try it one more time with that lucky young lady right there. that is all. much more on the massive blizzard that's slamming the east coast. live to some of the places getting hit the hardest this morning, get you updated on airport delays. bottom line, folks, if you don't need to in the northeast, don't go out. keep it right here on "morning joe." losing weight clicked for us when we realized we could do weight watchers online together. it was easy, it was flexible and it worked. ok -- i've got ground turkey, i've got bell peppers so he'd plug it into the recipe builder and it just pulls up tons of recipe options. laura's very competitive, whenever i was beating her in weight loss numbers -- i always was winning in percentage. i am a little competitive. together we lost 162 pounds. i don't know if you've noticed, but look at this guy. 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[ male announcer ] just like you, business pro. just like you. go national. go like a pro. you can do this... get the ball, girl. hmmm, you can't do that. but you can do this. bengay pain relief + massage with penetrating nubs plus the powerful pain relief of bengay. love the nubs! welcome to "morning joe." it's 7:00 in the morning here in new york city. that's a live picture of a pile of snow in a parking lot in boston. it's ugly out there. airport closures here in the new york area. i have to say coming in today we were worried about even getting here but they did a great job, the sanitation crews in new york city clearing out major roads broadway getting people up and down the island of manhattan. they're working furiously to get those cleared. not too bad actually in new york city. great job by the city here. washington, d.c., just some light snow flurries. got some reports on the ground now. really the problem is just drifting. the snow is gone. but you still have some high winds blowing things around. there's a look at the blizzard still making its way up the northeast. some airports to tell you about. laguardia here in new york city closed until 2:00 p.m. newark till noon. jfk 4:00 p.m. a lot of people have been waiting a long time to get out of town for the holidays. you have to wait a little longer. they say they really won't be back till full capacity till tomorrow. so check in with your airport if you're trying to get out of the new york area or to get into the city. i'm willie geist. joe and mika off this week. i'll be with you for the next couple of days. a lot for you today. a lot about the storm but also best interviews from the year on "morning joe." we had james cameron. we'll have tony blair and tom hanks among others coming up in a little while. let's begin with the weather channel's jeff morrow with more on the path of this big storm. he's at weather channel headquarters. >> i was going to ask you how your commute was in there this morning. how did you get to draw the short straw? >> they're off in the caribbean somewhere. who knows. it's just me and the snow. >> just you and the snow. all right. here's how much fell, willie. basically yorktown down to virginia almost a foot. down in norfolk, chesapeake area about a foot. really d.c. got away with not that much. philadelphia about a foot of snow. good thing they canceled that football game last night. the big winners or losers depending on your point of view. tuxedo in new york state, 26 inches. lind hurst, new jersey, the big winner 29 inches of snow. i think it's pretty much over with now for new york except for some flurries. just a lot of blowing and drifting. boston is going to pick up more snow. in fact, it looks like that's where most of the rest of the accumulating snow will be. tapering off through the day but windy and cold. it will take until tomorrow to get all those airports back reopened and everything pretty much back to some semblance of normal normalcy. >> we know the snow has pretty much stopped here or just some flurries in the new york area but as you say, it look like it will continual through the day in the boston area up through into maine. what can people traveling up that way expect today? >> my recommendation would be as usually with a storm this big -- and there are still blizzard warnings up in maine and coastal massachusetts, by the way -- is not -- if you don't have to travel don't do it. even if you have to travel i would think two or three times about doing it. you might not be able to get up here. i would say stay off the roadways because another half foot to eight inches of snow and blowing and drifting around. not a fun time to be around. >> we should reiterate what governor deval patrick of massachusetts telling the people of his state. stay off the roads. let us do our job and get them cleared up and back in business tomorrow. i want to ask you about this storm because i remember looking at the forecast last week about the middle of the week and say you might get snow on the day after christmas on sunday. this thing suddenly turned into a monster as it came up the east coast. what happened? >> basically, a lot of the energy that became this monster was actually what hit california last week. remember all the rain out there and the mountain snow and what we were talking about? that's what came across the country. but once it hit the east coast and made the left turn up the coast here and it slowed down just a little bit, allowed it to gather in some atlantic moisture, that's when things really got going here and that's when it kind of blew up. it's a tricky thing here. if this would have been 100 or 200 miles farther east we would have been talking about a near miss. but we aren't. >> put this in percent tech tiv if you can. the media is sometimes accused of overhyping weather systems. our friend bill karins saying the worst he's seen. how about you? >> the highest win in barnstable on the cape. 80 miles per hour. lindhurst getting 29 inches. that ranks it up there with big storms. last christmas we had a series of big storms on the east coast including new york down to philly and d.c. those were epic. i would say this is one of the worst i've seen probably in the last five to ten years. >> jeff morrow at the weather channel headquarters. we'll be checking back in with you guys throughout the morning, jeff. thanks so much. so we had offensive the course of the last few days states of emergency declared in north carolina, virginia, new jersey, now maine and massachusetts. just to update people tuning in. laguardia closed until 2:00, newark till noon, jfk until 4:00 p.m. that's not just the new york story of course. we have flights backed up across the country back into europe because people obviously can't get in and out of new york until later today. they'll be just trying to get backlogged passengers out of here today. but really until tuesday morning until you see new york airports at full capacity. they are open down in philadelphia, as jeff just said, though, up through boston, maine, new hampshire, vermont, travel is going to be very, very tricky today. we should point out as you look at that shot of times square, if you went to bed around, i don't know, 10:00 last night you could not have possibly imagined getting out early this morning. it was whiteout conditions. the snow knee deep up to your thighs in some places. but the new york department of sanitation in this city has really cleared -- i walked out the door about 3:45, 4:00 this morning. and it wasn't easy going but you could get a path right down broadway and down to our center here. so great job in new york city. we hope that continues up into boston. want to turn now for more on the storm to nbc's jeff rossen live here in new york city at columbus circle. what are you seeing out there? >> reporter: hey, willie. a lot of snow. i don't know how hard it was for you to get into work today. it was a disaster for a lot of people. there are more people walking than you see cars. on the famed madison avenue we're told busses are stuck and in fact trucks stuck as well. usually this city is amazing about clearing snow. they have 2400 people out all night as they did overnight into this morning. but look at the roads. you can barely even tell that they've made a dent because you have a nice sheet of ice under it. tony, if we swing over this way and over here you have nypd cars completely buried. so far we've gotten about 13 inches here in manhattan. we're told it could get up to 18 to 20. and it's not only the snow. you can see it's these snow banks. when the wind comes across, it really blows it up. that's part of the problem. it costs $1 million for every inch of snow to clean it up here in new york city. like i said, so far, 13, maybe up to 18. that's a lot of money. so far in the northeast, six states have already declared states of emergency. so it's going to be like this for quite a while, willie. it isn't going to be one of those slushy sidewalk situations that get your beautiful gucci shoes. >> they don't sell those at payless. we'll show you what you've seen the evolution of the storm because you've been out there. late last night when i went to bed i couldn't imagine how i was going to get into the office but it's let up a little bit and they're getting to the streets now. >> reporter: most of the snow has stopped now but it's still flurrying around. even over there you have these tornadic looking -- it looks like tornadic activity with snow that funnels around because of the whipping wind especially in a city like this with wind tunnels. the evolution of the storm. it was tough to sleep last night at times. the snow was pounding against the windows so hard, it was almost like a bad rain storm. and here in the city we even have a rare thundersnow. you had lightning and then you have actually heard thunder, which would knock snow down. you could barely see times square for a time. it's gotten a little better but it's bitter out here and i think according to the forecasters, the winds is going to be the biggest problem today. so even when you plow these streets, this snow, the snow in the snow banks gets thrown right back on to the road and they have to start all over again. >> that's going to be blowing all over the place. and as we look at that shot of jeff, behind him that is columbus circle. that is one of the busiest places not only in the city but probably in the world and it looks awfully quiet this morning. >> reporter: yes. >> we'll check back in later. more news for you this morning. a package bomb found at the greek embassy at rome three days after mail bombs exploded at two other italian embassies injuring two people. a greek foreign ministry spokesperson says no one was hurt in the latest incident in part because heightened security measures had already been put in place. according to police and local news reports suspicious packages at embassies of venezuela, monaco and denmark were false alarms but this one was real. also false alarms at the irish and ukrainian missions in rome as authorities stepped up checks on mail deliveries. pakistani intelligence officials say a suspected u.s. missile strike has killed 12 alleged militants in a tribal region along the afghan border. this is the latest of at least 110 such missile strikes that have been launched this year. more than doubling last year's totals. nearly all have landed in north waziristan, a region that hosts several militant groups battling u.s. and nato troops in afghanistan and a point of contention of course the united states predator drone strikes that in many cases take out civilians. today's attack comes after general david petraeus, the commander of u.s. and nato forces in afghanistan, said the u.s. military is planning to increase operations along the border with pakistan. he commended pakistanis on their, quote, impressive counterinsurgency efforts. republican senate candidate joe miller says he's dropping his opposition to incumbent lisa murkowski being certified the winner in the alaska senate race. in a statement last night miller said he wants to insure that alaska has full representation when senators are sworn in for the new congress next week. however, miller also vowing to continue a federal lawsuit challenging the state's handling of the vote count saying, quote, the integrity of the election process is vital. miller's announcement, which comes days after the state supreme court ruled against him, paves the way for murkowski to be named winner of that race now officially. up next, can mark zuckerberg's $100 million donation save newark, new jersey's public schools? chris christie, corey booker and education secretary arne duncan all weigh in. ♪ sun in the sky ♪ you know how i feel ♪ freedom is mine ♪ and i know how i feel ♪ and this whole world is a new world ♪ ♪ and a bold world ♪ for me ♪ and i'm feeling good ♪ it's a new day [ jennifer ] weight watchers new pointsplus. because it works. welcome back to "morning joe." it's 7:16 on a snowy monday morning up and down the east coast. they've begun the process of digging out in philadelphia where they had to cancel or postpone, i should say, an nfl game last night. they'll play that one on tuesday. the airport is open in philadelphia. some people creeping out of their homes to see if it's safe to go to work. we'll have much more on the storm coming up throughout the morning. education reform, though, a top priority with the obama administration in 2010. with over $4 billion given to states as a part of the white house's race to the top program. but the president was not the only one handing out money for education. as you remember, in september, facebook ceo mark zuckerberg went on oprah to hand out $100 million of his own money for newark schools. after that announcement newark mayor corey booker, new jersey governor chris christie and secretary of education arne duncan stopped by "morning joe" to discuss zuckerberg's donation and the future of education reform. >> we are rad cattle. we have friends who are republicans and we have friends who are democrats. so let's start with our -- >> we're your favorite republican and democrat? >> right now you are. there's the secretary here. >> a remarkable job together. let's talk -- it should be a model actually for america. >> yes. >> so let's talk about what happened in newark. this is great news, isn't it, mr. mayor? >> extraordinary news and i think it's got the whole community excited and energized but the reality is money doesn't make a difference until matched with other things. we need to start setting high levels of accountability. because we in newark know it's not a community standard that we have almost half of our kids not graduating from high school. it's not a community standard that we have such low number of our kids reading at grade level in the third and fourth grade. this is our opportunity. this is newark's moment and what will define our success will not be the incredible general ross i had of mark zuckerberg. that's an amazing tool in our toolbox but it will be the actual architects which have to be the people of the city of newark. >> how exciting. shines a great light on new jersey, which has become the center of the national debate in a lot of different ways. but now on education. so positive. >> it is great. and we started this right at the beginning of our term and talking about education in a different way and taking on the fights that need to be taken on. >> republicans and democrats working together. >> thrills our parties that corey and i work together. we've been friends for a long time and agree on so many things that our view is especially on this issue of education that we need to take this on and take it on directly and we need to do it for the kids of our state. >> how exciting, mr. secretary, that you have citizens stepping up like mark zuckerberg. of course bill gates has done god's work for the past decade on education. what else can americans do? >> we're at this moment. i mean, this is a national movement. whether it's hollywood "waiting for superman" which is extraordinary or silicon valley stepping up or republican governors and democratic mayors, all of us are saying the status quo is not good enough. >> and happening in washington too. republicans and democrats. republicans go after the president on so many issues say on this most important issue they are shoulder to shoulder with the president on reform. >> ideology, egos have to go to the side and do better for children. when you think about almost 1 in 2 of the children in newark not graduating from high school, what chance in life do they have? they're basically condemned to poverty and social failure. they deserve better. these guys putting ego and politics aside, they're going to do it. what does the public have to do? two things. education has to become the voting rights issue. people if they go to the polls in november have to vote along with republicans and democrats who is supporting education and reform. education has been fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth on the list of things to think about when they vote. this has to rise to the tom of that list. secondly everyone has to step up and get involved. you have to tutor, mentor, coach, you have to volunteer. you can't just drive by schools and say those poor children need a good education. you have to step up and find a way to make a difference. >> i wish you were right, joe, that all of us agree on this. but i watched your show last night. and i'm still waiting for andy weingarten to answer a question. you asked her what has the union done wrong to contribute to this. i watched it live at 8:00. i watched the replay. i'm still waiting for the answer. so listen, not all of us are there yet. i can tell you that. we're having these fights in new jersey all the time of the teachers union not being willing to step up and acknowledge the change that needs to be made. >> not putting kids first. >> no. >> it's still about adults. >> it's worse than that. it's not just about adults. it's about their money. that's all it's about, joe. it's about their money. and they've got to decide they want to take this fight on that way. i was waiting last night for randi to answer your question once and she didn't. that's emblematic of what's happened in the teacher union movement. i agree, corey booker agrees, secretary duncan agrees. the president has provided great leadership. but until they come along either willingly or dragged along this isn't going to change. >> one thing about this show that we do that most other shows don't do because we don't have a teleprompter. i'm actually too stupid to actually keep things to myself. is we tell the truth about what goes on off camera. i know randi and i like randi. i know she's had a very difficult job right now trying to bridge the gap of what was and what will be. but what the governor just said is what we've heard a hundred times since last night. willie, you're a native of new jersey. for a long time new jersey has been a punch line in so many jokes. isn't it exciting over the past year that new jersey has been on the cutting edge of so many debates on where america needs to go in the future? and it certainly happened with governor christie and happening again on education. >> i heard a lot of people it was a proud day to see mayor booker and governor christie on oprah giving new jersey a good name. i think it speaks to the energy secretary duncan is talking about. we asked tom brokaw why this moment is difference. he said because there's tension but energy. i have friends watching over the last week whether the movie or you guys on oprah or the conversations on nbc saying i have to do something and get involved before this moment passes. how do you seize on that before this passes? because right now a lot of people are excited but they'll watch the jets game and forget about it. >> still watch the jets game. that's fine but we have to lead and continue to speak out and speak the truth. if they continue to hear from leaders this kind of precanned pablam they get all the time like give the teachers the tools to allow effective evaluation. i don't even know what the hell that means. we know what this is about. what this is about is ineffective teachers are being allowed and protected by the union to stand in front of classrooms and waste years of children's lives. until we change that, until we reward good teachers with more pay and penalize bad teachers by ending their careers, we're not going to change this. >> governor chris christie of new jersey not pulling a lot of punches. still ahead next hour interviews with former florida governor jeb bush and also one with ols car winner tom hanks. you don't want to miss that. plus a full recap of the day in the nfl when we come right back. this new jetta is awesome. yeah, right now during sign then drive, you can take home a volkswagen for just your signature. really? 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[ male announcer ] it's amazing what you can do with a pen. sign then drive is back. for a limited time get any 2011 volkswagen for practically just your signature. welcome back to "morning joe." it's coming up on 7:28 in the morning here in new york city where we got a dump of snow overnight. for the latest on the big storm let's turn to our man bill karins. hey, bill. >> i'm still amazed this many people made it to work here. i don't think people comprehend around the country how difficult it was. >> it was pretty wild but i've been saying it all morning. the main thoroughfares in new york were cleared miraculously in my view. >> my subway was only five minutes late getting to work. that's better than an average day. incredible scenes. all through new york city. new york city was the bull's eye. trying to keep the storm in some kind of perspective, new jersey, new york city, up into areas of southern portions of new york state, this was where we saw one to two feet of snow. i'm hearing some reports from central and northern jersey of almost up to 30 inches of snow. and that snow is going to be around for a long time. it will take a while to melt this much of it. who's got the snow now? happy to say new york city, looks like you are done. still snowing pretty good in nassau county on long island and suffolk county. in bridgeport and new haven another inch or two. boston on and off snow through a good chunk of the morning. boston give you another two to four inches on top of the foot you already have. in boston, you get a storm like this in boston probably once a winter, maybe once every other winter. on the other hand, new york city probably only gets a storm like this about once a decade. this was a much more rare event in the new york city and new jersey area than for our friends up in new england who still have to deal with this storm really all day long. let's kind of wrap up what we have snowfall totals and wind gusts. winds were incredible. islip, new york, on long island 64-mile-per-hour. 80 miles per hour in cape cod. even newark, new jersey gust up to 50 miles per hour. snow totals a lot of the big cities ended up with about a if the. we're still adding them up because they take the measurements this morning. i think central park will be somewhere close to 16. look at the winds. almost impossible to get out there and shovel or plow because these winds are blowing. this light powdery snow right back where you moved it from. 48-mile-per-hour gusts. even now in philly, 47 in boston. the winds are what's making it really dangerous. the windchill right now in philly is 5. new york city it is 10. this is not a day for the kids to go out and play especially the really young ones. it's difficult to sled in this snow anyways. our friends in northern new england. new hampshire is a mels right now and up there in maine. in general, the heaviest, the worst is over with today. let the professional clean up today. and tomorrow we can play. new york city 40 degrees and sunny tomorrow. >> the airports still just kind of getting their legs under them in new york. 2:00 at la quaaguardia and 4:00. >> i don't expect the numbers will move up. >> still getting worse. we have other news to get to. south korea's president is vowing a relentless retaliation against the north if provoked again saying just this morning he is not afraid of war with north korea. the two koreas have both ramped up rhetoric since the north shelling of an island near the border last month which killed four south koreans. meanwhile north korea's state television is airing newly edited video of kim jong-il and his son heir apparent kim jong un showing them attending a workers party in september after kim jong un was promoted to four star general. "the new york times" reporting a new health regulation issues offers medicare recipients voluntary end of life planning. despite being dropped last year. it allows medicare to pay for voluntary counseling to help beneficiaries deal with the complex decisions when a relative is approaching death. last year it was heavy criticized by republicans who likened it to death panels. the white house saying president obama has not made a decision where to relocate his campaign in 2012 but expect windy city. that was the base you bait you base for the 2008 campaign. it would buck recent history since every two-term president in the last 30 years set up re-election offices near the white house or in suburban virginia. according to "the tribune," a key factor favoring chicago is the anti-washington climate that has swept through the country the last few years. all right. now to some nfl from yesterday. plenty of teams still looking to make the playoffs, two of them in new york. let's start with the giants coming off an embarrassing loss to the eagles. that historic comeback last week. but they still have a chance if they can beat the packers at lambeau, they can get into the playoffs. let's see how they do. first quarter aaron rogers finds wide receiver nelson wide open. gets behind the defenders. 80 yards for a touchdown. rogers four touchdowns and for more than 400 yards. the afternoon more than 500 yards of total ofls rolled up by the packers on the giants and a bad day for eli manning. one of his four interceptions, this one in the fourth quarter. giants turn the ball over six times. packers blow out the giants 45-17. the giants, though, still alive for the playoffs. they need a win in washington next week and get those same packers to lose to the bears. so there's still hope. the other team, new york, vying for a playoff spot. rex ryan the jets needed a win over the chicago bears to move on. late in the third quarter, the game is tied at 21. bears quarterback and vanderbilt university alumnus jay cutler finds noox in the end zone for a 26-yard score. one of three touchdown passes of the day. in the fourth, though, the jets cut the lead to four. looking for a drive for the comeback but mark sanchez intercepted by chris harris. so the jets lose 38-34. chicago clinches its division with an 11-4 record. the jets fall to 10-5. they could get in the playoffs yesterday with a little help from the jaguars. they needed jacksonville to lose against the redskins to make the playoffs. in the postgame press conference, his team had just lost. rex ryan talking about that loss and got surprising news. >> eventually it comes down to you've got to make some plays. by the way, i think we're in the playoffs. god dog, hey, it ain't the way i wanted it, but i'll take it. whoo! >> the shouting you heard were the players, the jets players reacting in the locker room. they had just lost but are watching on the screen as the redskins beat the jags. that puts the jets into the playoffs for the second year in a row backing into it. the nfl moved the eagles name against minnesota from sunday night to tuesday because of the east coast blizzard. not everyone was happy with that decision. pennsylvania governor ed rendell said he did not agree at all with the idea. quote, this is football. football is played in bad weather. i for one was looking forward to sitting in the stands throughout the snow and seeing an old-time football game. ed rendell disagreeing with the envelope you nfl's decision to move the game to tuesday. the new england patriots continue to roll. tom brady picking apart the bills. three touchdowns including this four-yarder to alge crumpler. the pats crushed the bills. braidy made nfl hills trif with the most passes without an interception. over two months since brady threw one of those. tim tebow win sching over the hearts and minds of the people of denver. they needed something to cheer about. it's been an ugly season there. the coach got fired. bad season. tebow starting his first home game. the rookie against the texans. broncos down by 13 going to the fourth quarter. tim tebow leads them back. fakes the pass. nice moves. 23 yards for the touchdown. cut the deficit to six. a few minutes later just over three minutes to play ball near the goal line. tebow gets out of trouble. gets the corner. sneaks into the corner of the end zone. tebow leads the broncos. a big comeback win 24-23 broncos behind tim tebow. this was the scene during the 49ers/rams game yesterday. niners coach mike singletary chewing out quarterback corey smith and he screams right back. a shouting match over coach singletary's decision to remove smith from the game. the 49ers lost to the rams 25-17. and this was right there. that's the last we'll see of mike singletary with the niners. he was fired after the game. two seasons with san francisco. he finishes with a disappointing 18-22 record. we mentioned the jags lost to the redskins, so the colts had an opportunity to get ahead in the afc south yesterday taking on the raiders. peyton manning threw three touchdowns but his best play. look at the wheels on peyton. who knew he could run like that? boy, he looks awful when he runs but he got the job done. takes the handoff. naked bootleg 27 yards. why did he slide short of the goal line? he wanted to continual the clock running and run it out. so the colts hang on to win 31-26. they can make the playoffs next weekend with a win over the titans for a loss by the jaguars. i think that was every nfl game yesterday. up next "morning joe" sits down with some of the biggest names in british politics including former prime ministers tonally blair and gordon brown. plus, tom hanks when "morning joe" comes back. blvg with bengay pain relief plus massage you can do this... get the ball, girl. hmmm, you can't do that. but you can do this. bengay pain relief + massage with penetrating nubs plus the powerful pain relief of bengay. love the nubs! 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[ female announcer ] you could save 522 big ones. see for yourself at esurance. technology when you want it. people when you don't. it's bad out there but it's not that bad. there is light. the sun did come up this morning. we're having a big snowstorm in the northeast. that was a shot right before we went to it. laguardia airport. scheduled to open at 2:00 this afternoon. a lot more on the storm wreaking havoc on travel up and down the east coast. we want to go back to our "morning joe" you rewind. we sat down with former prime ministers tony blair and gordon brown. >> we have not yet started what will surely be a big deficit reduction effort in this country probably once the president feels we're clear enough of the recession. you have started some government cutbacks in britain which have parked student protests the likes of which we've never seen last week. what's the next chapter of the government cutbacks and student protests? >> i think you've got -- even in greece and portugal, a general strike in spain. you had the violence in britain which is completely unacceptable. the violence in pursuit of a cause in a democracy is completely unacceptable and unjustifiable. but there's a fundamental issue here. if you're going to prepare for -- what's the biggest change that's going to happen in the next ten years? the biggest change is going to be the rise of these massive consumer markets in asia. a billion new consumers, twice the size of the american consumer market. you're going to get into these markets. america, britain, europe. so can you afford to cut back on education? can you afford to cut back on technology? can you afford to cut back on science? no. if you're going to win in these markets and sell goods that are technology driven and have got the high skill content that we can uniquely produce, how can you afford a cutback in education? so that's the fundamental division of opinion in britain at the moment. yet, you have to have a deficit reduction plan. but does it make any sense to cut back on your skilled workforces and any sense to cut back on science and technology? and in america, if you're going to export to the rest of the world, can you afford to leave the technology advances to china or india or someone else? you can't do that. so i think you have deficit reduction but you've got to expand your education and your technology and your science and you've got to think ahead. at the moment we're just thinking how do we -- >> stop it right here. >> so have the leaders in britain gone too far? >> it's an experiment. it's an experiment. >> is it an experiment that causes you great concern? >> in the 1930s they tried a similar experiment and it was pretty disastrous for britain. keynes was a great philosopher. he produced a book -- how to conquer unemployment." and they just wrote inflation extravagance bankruptcy and accepted it. he was right and the language you're hearing today is almost exactly the same as in the 1930s. so it's an experiment. i don't want to say it's going to work or not work. >> is it a dangerous experiment turning their back on kooenleyn. >> it's a big shock the first in 70 years. >> you have all have become known for what we've been calling the politics of austerity trying to impose some fiscal discipline in the interest of long-term growth and long-term security. as you look at it in the united states, what do you see that you have would like us to be doing that we are not? >> i think the situation is really different. i think one of the things -- whilst we were all up against the same crisis in the banks and so on and the world came together in many ways very effectively to pull us back from the brink. i think how we sought out the aftereffects, the deficit, really depends from country to country. we in a sense are in a much more exposed position than many other countries. >> why is that? >> because we're a smaller economy than the american economy. we're part of an ep economy. not part of a reserved currency. we're much more vulnerable in many respects and what we've said is, look, we can't afford to take the risk of the kind of dead weight of debt hanging around too long. we have this five-year plan. the previous government said they would do that over eight years. we've shortened it to five years. i think it's just not fair to say to our children and grandchildren you have to carry on paying off the billions of pounds of interest on our debts when that money could go in their schools and hospitals. >> but u.s. recklessness fiscally impacts great britain and impacts the west and the world. >> we're interconnected but i don't think what will help is for me have or any politician to say what we're doing is what other countries should do in the same way. i don't think that's right economically and certainly don't think it will help for people to be holier than thou. >> the interesting thing about today's politics -- i think the interesting thing about politics today is sometimes people find it very hard to have a disagreement, right, which is say we're reasonable people, we disagree. >> right. >> it always has to be kind of -- >> ugly. >> i hate you or you're a liar. and i think actually one of the things that's really important in today's world -- because all these questions are difficult. i think this is the toughest time to be a decisionmaker in recent political history. and the truth is the decisions are hard. so we disagree. but we don't have to dislike each other or disrespect each other. >> you're very fortunate to be here today because the head of the tony blair fan club in new york city is here with us and she is -- >> i'm glad i have one somewhere. >> my exact point. >> explain to the prime minister. >> i came on and said that -- i had seen a lot of your interviews last week because i was in -- >> she summers in old europe. >> on her computer. >> which is a lot creepier. but you have a quality that certainty no american leader has and i don't see anybody else -- >> that's the english accent. >> that's very sexy, i have to say. but, no seriously -- >> good god, woman! go ahead. >> all right. i'm never going to be invited back. >> yes, you are. >> the ability to understand and almost absorb a critic's argument and not judge it but to actually empathize with the complete opposite argument and then listen to it, not judge the person for holding a view wholly opposite to your own and come back around for making your policy. there is nobody in our politics now who can do that and i wonder what's going to happen in all these vitally important debates and all these ongoing problems without people that can do what you do so effortlessly. >> the trouble is these decisions are difficult. it's not a great revelation that. but sometimes we understand it but we don't let that enter into our view of politicians and their -- and the challenges that they have. so you take the economy at the moment, the financial crisis where you've got a raging debate here. we've got one back in our country. it's hard. what is the right way to deal with this right now? so i think if we get a little lels partisan with each other and learn to disagree reasonably rather than have a sort of detestation that comes into it we'd get a long way forward. >> you have a threshold for taking it from the media and from people in your own party -- >> i guess the bigger point is how do you have not take it personally? and i've got to say -- >> and get drawn in. >> that's one thing reagan just never -- his biographer who wrote his zany biography said the amazing thing about reagan was he was reading "valley times" and saw these horrible stories about reagan and thought he would explode when he saw it and he did but it was because at the bottom it was about o mally selling the dodgers to murdoch. >> that is an important political quality. >> how do you get there where it's not personal? the attacks against you, you don't take them personally. >> my wife gave me the key to this. because she used to say when i come home at night and you have the papers out and calling you. it's quite hard under those circumstances, if you are human, not to feel a little, that's unfair. and she would say, it's voluntary. you don't want to do it, go and do something else but it's a privilege to do it, it so stop whining and get out there and make your case. >> prime minister tony blair on "morning joe." up next, rahm emanuel's bid for the mayor of chicago just got a big best. we'll tell you which very big name will be joining him on the campaign trail. you're watching "morning joe" brewed by starbucks. ♪ sun in the sky ♪ you know how i feel i feel like jennifer hudson but with new arms, new legs, and this smile. ♪ freedom is mine ♪ and i know how i feel i'm loving weight watchers new pointsplus program and the edge it's giving me. ♪ it's a new dawn, a new day i've got even more control now. ♪ and i'm feeling good go on, join for free. weight watchers new pointsplus. because it works. princess of the powerpoint. your core competency... is competency. and you rent from national. because only national lets you choose any car in the aisle. and go. you can even take a full-size or above. and still pay the mid-size price. i'm getting an upgrade. [ male announcer ] indeed, business pro. indeed. go national. go like a pro. welcome back to "morning joe." 7:54 in the morning. rockefeller plaza buried in snow. we're going to have continuing coverage of this blizzard that's whipped through philadelphia, up through new york city overnight and is now moving northward, the boston area being hit, maine, new hampshire, vermont all those points north. the weather keeping a lot of people at home right now but there are still some diehard shoppers hitting the stores tomorrow returning those awful gifts they got. nbc's kerry sanders has more. >> reporter: for some this is a family tradition. shopping for deals after christmas. >> yes. sport jacket for $39.95. i mean that's ridiculous. >> reporter: from balmy miami to snowbound virginia and across the country, retailers sfoekt make up to 15% of their year's sales between now and the end of the year, much of that thanks to shoppers redeeming gift cards. >> the girls got gift cards and we had to come shop. we're looking to see exactly how much we can get for how little. >> reporter: despite the near 10% unemployment rate, retailers say it was a record season. >> we've seen a lot of pent-up demand and a lot more confidence to spend conspicuously and not worry about the fact that there are others who can't even put a meal on the table. >> reporter: a stun 3g 3% of all gifts will be brought back to the store for an exchange. >> you change this one for this. correct? >> reporter: or refund. shoppers in los angeles found today return policies are stricter this year, especially with electronics. a warning, don't delay more than two weeks or -- >> you may discover the retailer either won't take it back or may charge you a large restocking fee after that timetable's expired. >> reporter: big-ticket items also did well this christmas. this man bought a christmas present for himself and his pest control business. the largest car dealer in the u.s. reports truck sales climbed 18% to 59% over the last nine months. >> truck sales are a bellwether indicator of the u.s. economy. it means that small business is starting to get back o normal. it means consumer confidence is starting to increase and it really means that the economy overall is starting to heal. >> nbc's kerry sanders. i can just ask, who gets a car for christmas? you get these commercials with the red bow. who ever got a car for christmas? generous families, i guess. next on "morning joe," more coverage of the storm and also an interview you don't want to miss with mr. tom hanks. all that and more when "morning joe" comes right back. welcome back to "morning joe." it is 8:00 in the morning on the button. a live picture outside our window here. look out towards 6th avenue from our building at 30 rockefeller plaza. the sidewalk piled high with snow. we got absolutely blasted overnight. a long snowstorm with blowing wind. the snow has stopped for the most part but we're going to get snow drifting all day today as those big winds kick it all over the place. good morning, i'm willie geist. joe and mika have the day off today. we are watching thousands of flight cancellations, airport delays, not just a new york story because so many airports across the country and through europe really rely on new york city to get their people in and out. we'll keep you posted on that. we can update you actually all of the new york area airports, jfk and newark pushed back to 4:00 p.m. openings. those airports not even going to open for business million 4:00 p.m. that's when they begin the long process of getting all those people who have been waiting to get on planes for more than 24 hours now through their airports. don't expect your scheduled flight to be leaving on time today. probably not going to get that open really at full capacity until tomorrow. let's get a check on the storm at this hour, see where it is and who's getting dumped with snow. bill karins. >> remember a half-hour ago i was a applauding the subway system for getting me to work? >> the a-train in new york city, express train, lot people from jfk airport back to manhattan, easiest way to get there. people who had been stranded at the airport for more than that day, cut their losses, go back home, they get on this a-train subway. it got stuck because snow was piled so high over the third rail. that was some seven hours ago. this is a pick tufr passengers inside that train stuck for seven hours. >> for people that don't know, the subway isn't all underground in new york. once you get outside in manhattan it tends to go outside. they got stuck. they were sending a rescue train and at one point the conductor went on and said sorry to inform you the rescue train is now stuck. >> some 500 people stuck on that train. they're working to get them out of there since 12:50 a.m. local time. more than seven hours ago. one of the passengers said, i figured staying at the airport was 24 hours was ridiculous. but now i'd kill to be in one of those uncomfortable metal airport chairs. bill? that story aside, where's the storm? >> let me show you this image. eric fisher is at laguardia airport and sent me this picture of the runways. this is what it looks like now. you can see where the airplanes usually pull up it on the sides, this is the main area where they'd be taxiing. there's still snow piled high 10 to 20 feet high. they'll be lucky to get open by even 4:00 today. they have to do a lot of clearing. the snow is over with in new york city. long island still snowing pretty hard. will probably give you another two to four inches. almost done in most areas of connecticut, too. winds are really the story. we've seen snowstorms with that much snow but add in these hurricane-force gusts and it is very impressive. tropical storm-force gusts in hartford, connecticut, greenwich, worcester, mass. winds are the story. we've had snowfall totals like to before. a foot of snow is a big deal in new york but the wind is what's going to make this really an historic event. winds still at 45 miles per hour down in d.c. you only had about an inch of snow in d.c. but it is mostly just cold winds you're dealing with. in boston heavy snow, winds are still at 43-mile-per-hour gusts. windchills right now, 7 in philly, 9 in new york. 2 in albany who also picked up about a foot of snow last night. snow is shown in the white here. heaviest in a band from about springfield, mass with, northward. areas like new york city,er in's already doing clean-up. i always hate when we show these pictures. they had a clean-up crew of around 50 people around 30 rock. that's not indicative of what much of the tri-state region of connecticut, new jersey and new york had to deal with. that's like the snow soldiers. >> as i said earlier, when i went to bed late last night and looked out my window, i could not imagine how i was going to get into this office today. by the time i woke up, a lot of the side streets are still bad but the main streets, broadway and others, they've done a great job clearing. >> i have an old lab. he's like 14 1/2 years old. i had to shovel out the door about a five-foot path. i'm like this is it, buddy. >> the road stops here. thanks so much, bill. we'll check back with you throughout the hour. let's now go to the weather channel's jim cantore. he's live in philadelphia. jim, what's the latest down there? >> reporter: willie, it's cold. it's doggone cold out here. we've got some of the coldest temperatures an windchills right now because as the storm pulls away it's kind of shot some warm air to new england but back down here in pennsylvania and even d.c. for that matter the cold air wraps in on the back side. we not only have those teens and low 20s but we've got winds blowing at 30 to 45 miles an hour with occasional gusts and that is doing its job on the windchills. we're sitting right around zero. the good news is because we've had had so much wind it's actually packed some of the snow so we're not seeing the blowing and drifting as we saw earlier, at least here in the city. that's given road crews a chance to get out, do some scraping, do some salting and -- the good news is the city really never shut down. offices are open and the airport's open. 2,000 flights though canceled. 1,200 people stranded at the airport. i done know if they spent the night at the airport or it was just 1,200 could not get out because of canceled flights. this has rippled up through the tri-state area and especially the new york city airports where at the earliest, we'll see a reopening maybe at jfk, laguardia and newark at 4:00. they have tons of snow removal. runways look like might as well be alaska right now. but here in philly, i see some breaks in the overcast and blue skies. as we head toward new year's eve, temperatures are going to go up. we could be 50 degrees by new year's eve. obviously a far cry from where we are right now with these single-digit windchills. >> jim, you were there with the sunday night football team last night covering the postponement of the eagles game. do you get to hang around for the game under the "guise" of covering this blizzard? >> reporter: i think i've earned it. thanks, buddy. to go through that last night in the upper deck for an hour and a half for "football night in america" it was pretty brutal. but that's a good question. that's yet to be answered. here's one of these plows coming by. just a nice scrape, there goes the salt and pretty soon we'll have a pretty clear way in through here. there's still a lot of snow removal to go but the city's done a nice job. they clean all the subways o out, streets are walkable for everybody that i can see and basically businesses and business owners are just cleeshg o clearing off their sidewalks and making it as easy as possible to get people in. >> jim, stick around for the game. have you my approval. as we said earlier, all three major new york area airports are closed until 4:00 p.m. eastern today. as jim just said, those times could move back. since we've been on the air already they've moved back from noon to 2:00, now 4:00 at all the major new york airports. eric fisher has more on that part of the story. >> reporter: for the millions of people traveling over the holiday weekend, no one had this scene on their wish list. thousands of flights canceled, hundreds of thousands of people stranded in airports. at eastern seaboard battles the most major storm of the winter, air travel froze to a stop. >> we came early this morning at 10:00, found out our flights were canceled. rescheduled to wednesday. >> reporter: by 9:00 last night jfk and newark airports were closed. flights at laguardia barely moving. from atlanta to boston, whether they were coming from, or going on vacation, people were forced to change their plans. >> just kind of wait in this long line. i've been here 2 1/2 hours already just to see if i got another flight. >> reporter: in response to the severe weather, most carriers have waived their fees for flight changes through the 27th. >> everybody's been very nice. air tran has been very gracious to try to get us out of here. >> reporter: with the heavy snow to last in the northeast corridor through this evening, air travelers across the country can expect more delays, long lines and a good deal of frustration. >> we're trying to get on amtrak like evidently a lot of o other people because there's an hour holding on amtrak to try to get through. >> reporter: amtrak canceled all service between new york and boston. choices become very simple. >> we're debating to try to get a hotel room or just be troupers and stay all night -- or survivors and stay all night here tonight. >> they're going to be there a while. nbc news reporting that a car bomb exploded in the southern afghanistan city of kandahar this morning killing one civilian and injuring more than a dozen others. the car exploded near a police compound and a local bank in the crowded center of the city. this year has been the deadliest of the nearly ten-year war for foreign trips with 697 killed so far in 2010. that's according to an associated press count. the u.s. embassy in egypt says it is "deeply saddened" by a traffic accident that killed eight americans and injured more than 20 years yesterday. officials say the group's tour bus was traveling to an ancient temple site in the southern part of the country when it collided with a damaged truck that was parked on the side of the road. such incidents are common in egypt where an estimated 8,000 people are killed every year because of poor road conditions and lax regulations. former president bill clinton will campaign in support of former white house chief of staff rahm emanuel in his bid to become the mayor of chicago. that's according to an emmanuel spokesman who said yesterday that clinton will be in chicago next month to appear on emmanuel's behalf. exact date and location have not yet been determined. rahm emanuel is leading early polls there in chicago. a check on business before the bell. but first, tom hanks takes over "morning joe." a look back at our interview with the actor in his stint in our director's chair. you're watching "morning joe" brewed by starbucks. losing weight clicked for me when i had everything i needed to lose weight right in my hands. sophomore year, started weight watchers online, the weight started coming off. ahh! oh my gosh! 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[ female announcer ] join for free today. weight watchers online. finally, losing weight clicks. you can do this... get the ball, girl. hmmm, you can't do that. but you can do this. bengay pain relief + massage with penetrating nubs plus the powerful pain relief of bengay. love the nubs! welcome back. live look at new york city. overnight huge storm. so far 15 inches were recorded in central park but that's expected to go up. the storm right now headed up north, boston, maine, in that area, dealing now with what new york got overnight. some of the morning papers, that includes "the boston globe," all anybody's talking about there right now but a major storm barreling through the area this morning. early winter wallop is the headline there. governor patrick of massachusetts asking his people to stay off the roads today so that the government can get them cleaned up, and the 101st army division lost 104 soldiers in 2010 making it the year's deadliest year in combat since vietnam. the "wall street journal" facinging budget gaps. state and local governments are hitting non-profits with new taxes. the move marks a sharp departure from the tax exemptions many charitable organizations once held for providing community services. "usa today" good news for everybody who got presents that they weren't that excited about. many retailers losening their return policies and dropping restocking fees this holiday season. more now from the "morning joe" rewind. academy award winner tom hanks made an appearance here in the "morning joe" studio showing off a bit of his directing skill in the control room before coming on set for his interview. >> welcome to the show. >> nice to be here. >> you're mayhem. >> it's like a pinata party first thing in the morning. what's the topic? >> you're on the west coast and you have no idea who we are. but we love you. >> periodically i've seen you in hotel rooms about the country. >> we shouldn't talk about that part. you started out, and i'm assuming still are, but fill in the blanks, as an obama supporter. >> yes. >> are you happy? disappointed? >> think the president of the united states is doing a spectacular job in the face of a brand of insanity that doesn't make any sense today in america. does anybody want anything to get done in this country? i saw somebody's ad from somewhere. essentially saying "i made sure nothing happening when i was in congress." i made sure absolutely nothing happened for the people of the state that i come from. >> and that was a democrat! >> okay, all right. against fg. let gm fail, make sure no one can get to the hospital if their kid has a temperature of 104. >> well, do you think he's lived up to the expectations and the goals that he set? >> i think that if the president of the united states no matter who he is, has either a magic wand or a propaganda piece network that does his bidding for him can get an awful lot of things done. but in the face of trying to -- bipartisanship and let's work together and let's try to make things happen for the good in let's serve the people of o our country? let's be the stewards to our political process? i think that's hard to do. >> you know what's interesting off of what you do when you're not acting in movies, things like this, things like "the pacific," things like "band of brothers," if you take that chunk of history that you've concentrated on so far, late '30s, war years and what people did after they came home from the war. think as a nation today what we could have gotten done -- take elements of that period of time and introduce them into the political system today, would they have passed? would the gi bill have passed? >> you can go back and look at -- >> social security. >> by the end of june of 1944 when cable news networks be calling for ike's resignation because he we didn't push as far into france as we expected. i think after "band of brothers" i bought some old "life" magazines and "life" was bitching that we overpromised. once we got into normandy we didn't go into berlin. >> the way to fight a war is to dig a big tremnch and stay ther as move forward. >> as america's history teacher, is this a problem that presidents get in, bill clinton -- >> george washington, when john adams as his vice president, was confounded by the political process and he was reviled and torn apart as much as you could the president of the united states in the first go-around. and john adams himself said the senate and the congress is the biggest body of do-nothings. they argued for something like 100 days over what to call the president. they had vicious partisan straight-line votes of whether to call him his excellency, your majesty -- >> or whether adams should stand or sit. >> we had devised a very difficult political process from my layman's perspective. but periodically as a student of history that i am, when things like the gi bill came apart, when project apollo needed to get away, there was a time when the president of the united states could go into a combined house and senate and say, i propose that we do the following within ten years, people took him seriously, they wanted to get something done. i am of the average citizen's perspective now, don't these guys want to work? >> you talk about, mike, you had said that we are a nation of amnes amnesiacs. the nation of 1800 was the saddest probably in u.s. history. i guess it is just that we have 24/7 news coverage that amplifies this so much. >> we have an ample number of distractions that are put forward. >> are you a big blogger? >> no, i don't. >> do you go online? >> no. i do tweet, i just tweeted your snack foods in the back. i've been doing a lot of shows so i've been sending out pictures of snam foosnack foods. that's how heavy-hitting -- very good, but a little heavy on the sugar. >> we're carb-loading. >> put some fruit on there! get some turkey bacon. since when is an apple a left wing product? >> you're a marxist. speaking of other shows, he was on "good morning america" earlier today. >> how was that? >> yesterday, an invitation from our good friend james carville. >> i'm telling you right now. who cares if he gets to the football game? >> tom, do me a favor. hang on to that one. >> i'll drop that. i don't know mr. carville but watch, i bet you he's on the plane back to -- sorry, sorry, i'm just an actor. >> james carville said something, he said what the obama people don't understand is washington always wins. is this one more the pressing example for you where with the obama administration, washington always wins. >> we are in the first year of what will be the most difficult administration in our history, we're in a place in world history -- i think we'll be fine. i think we elected a wise, calm man who wants to get things done. >> i don't disagree with that. i think there may be people out there who say well it is easy for you to say, but there a lot of people out there with no job and they've been looking for months and months and they may feel like this president is not completely connected with their plight. >> well, maybe they can elect a time machine and they can go back and vote for john mccain, in which case i'm sure fg would just be hunky-dory. >> last year obama got elected, some of my conservative friends -- calm down. calm down. >> i think a documentary nominated called "the last truck" about the closing of the gm plant in ohio. >> indiana, i think. >> it was ohio. this is a back-breaking piece of work. all it was was the local students i think at wright state university heard on the news that the guy comes on, gn guy, says we're going to close these -- and the plant right down the street. they just went down with their high-def stories. the last truck. that happened on somebody else's watch and i defy you to look at that and not say, hey, something's got to be done. it is a job i think of our government to take care of us every now and again and this is one of those times. >> tom hanks on "morning joe" back in march. coming up next, a check on [ male announcer ] you are a business pro. princess of the powerpoint. your core competency... is competency. and you rent from national. because only national lets you choose any car in the aisle. and go. you can even take a full-size or above. and still pay the mid-size price. i'm getting an upgrade. [ male announcer ] indeed, business pro. indeed. go national. go like a pro. welcome back to "morning joe." it is 8:29. a live picture of times square in new york city. there he's the rake, they're shoveling it off. the zamboni was out earlier right outside our window, rockefeller plaza. looks like they might get some skating in. pakistani intelligence officials say a suspected u.s. missile strike has killed 12 alleged militants in a tribal region along the afghan border. it's the latest of at least 110 such missile strikes that have been launched this year that more than doubles last year's total. nearly all of them have landed in north waziristan, a region that hosts several military groups battling u.s. and nato groups in afghanistan. a day after general petraeus, commander of u.s. and nato forces in afghanistan, said the u.s. military is planning to increase operations along the border with pakistan. he also commended the pakistanis on what he called their impressive counterinsurgency efforts. white house press secretary robert gibbs said yesterday the guantanamo bay military prison will not be shut down any time soon. in an interview nearly a year after the obama administration's self-imposed deadline to close the facility, gibbs admitted the administration has run into several legislative road blocks. >> we are a month away from being a year late in closing down guantanamo bay prison. when's that prison going to close? >> it's certainly not going to close the next month. think it's probably going to be a while before that -- >> a year? >> i think part of this depen on the republicans' willingness to work with the administration on this. >> mr. gibbs admitted the president has served as a rllying cause for islamic terrorists around the world and seemed to acknowledge a recent report that the white house will issue an executive order to allow some detainees to be held indefinitely without trial. closing the prison was one of president obama's major campaign promises during the election. a package bombing found at the greek embassy in rome. the device was diffused and no one was hurt. it was similar to the bombs that exploded last week in the shil lane and swiss embassies. anarchists with reported ties to greek anarchists claim tonight for those blasts. suspicious packages at the embassies of denmark and monaco were false alarms. let's get a check on business with cnbc's amanda drury, she is trouper, she trekked through the elements and made it to the new york stock exchange. >> it is going to be open for business but don't expect any volumes, willie. for one i would manl it is going to be quite difficult for traders to get to work today. number two is the seasonality of it all. a lot of institutional investors have already closed their books for the year and it is just a general holiday volume kind of week. we do have santa on our side. i believe 73% of the time the week between christmas and new year ends higher so we do have that on o our side. we will be watching of course lots of things such as the china rate hike over the weekend. one of the officials from the pboc, central bank in china, said it is no accident that they decided to announce the rate hike on christmas because they wanted to avoid overreaction by western financial markets. i don't think there is going to be an overreaction because at this stage futures are only looking slightly lower. we did of course see some reaction to some of the overseas markets like the chinese market for one was down by nearly 2% and the london market is closed but the european markets have also been a little bit lower. but do keep in mind that people could see this as a good thing because china really does need to get its inflation situation under control so a right hike could be seen as a way of doing that. watch next year, it could come in a little harder and faster with the rate hikes. that's the big question overhanging the markets. >> we'll see what that means for chinese imports. you are also talking about pepsi making a big investment in russia. >> yeah, absolutely. i do believe this is pepsi's largest international acquisition so far. it looks like it is going to get the approval from the russian competition regulator. at this stage it looks like they're seeing no major competition issues with that. at this stage wimm-bill-dann has 30% of the dairy market in russia and i think 35% is the threshold there so competition regulators say it shouldn't pose a major problem on the competition side but we do still need to get the final nod of approval, the rubber stamp, if you like, for that acquisition to go ahead. >> amanda drury, bundling up, trudging through the snow to get you have that report. >> yes. knee-high. coming up next, joe sits down with former florida governor jeb bush. keep it right here on "morning joe." this new jetta is awesome. yeah, right now during sign then drive, you can take home a volkswagen for just your signature. really? that's great. yeah. plus, it includes scheduled carefree maintenance. huh. light's green. there you go. oh, you need a pen. i had one here just a second ago. who would take my pen?? [ male announcer ] it's amazing what you can do with a pen. sign then drive is back. for a limited time get any 2011 volkswagen for practically just your signature. welcome back to "morning joe." 8:38 in the morning here in new york city. that's a live picture of jfk airport in new york city. the airports here in new york, we can update you all now, going to re-open at 4:00 p.m. laguardia, jfk and newark all scheduled to re-open at 4:00. at least that's the point they'll begin trying to get this backlog of passengers o out of the city. we want to now bring in peter alexander live in new jersey this morning and he's such a woos that he's in a car. he wouldn't even get o out in the storm. amazing, peter. >> hey, willie, kind of us to hand ups the "morning joe" escalade keys. you get a sense of exactly what we're dealing with right now. this is a mess throughout the entire northeast and this is what folks in a lot of neighborhoods are waking up to today. this fortunately is one of the few side streets that's been plowed already but look at some of these folks who live along this route just trying to get their cars out of here. they've talk about all morning long this being a nightmarish commute for most people. it ends for most in your driveway. you literally can't get anywhere. people have been stranded on highways, including a family of five with an instant stuck in the car overnight. they said they didn't see anybody available to help them during the course of the entire evening. we're hoping to reach out to them and see if they got out safely. abandoned cars everywhere. intersections that are completely blocked. if you pan forward, you can see this. these guys are stuck. they're hoping to get out here. the other cars hoping to get out an clear the way. a lot of times one car gets stuck and everybody else even the four-wheel drive guys behind them are basically paralyzed, there's nowhere to go. the only real problem going forward is even after we clear all these roads, plows finally make their way through, the simple fact is the temperatures will warm up, the snow will melt an unfortunately as temperatures dip overnight again it will rephrase which turns into black ice. >> peter, the sort of double-edged sword there is that you get those roads plowed, you can see the plows kind of bury some of the cars. looks like the street you're traveling on anyway, peter, has been plowed. how are people getting around if they can make their way out in cars? >> reporter: i mean, to be honest with you, one of the real dangers that exist today is that a lot of these streets, it is the gusts, these drifts that are really reating the problem. for a lot of people with sidewalks not cleared in a lot of these areas are forced to walk in the streets themselves. when a gust blows through and a drift crosses the road you can't see pedestrians using the street as the sidewalk. it is something a lot of folks including aaa are encouraging us to warn people to keep an out eye for during the course of this day. if you look forward across the river toward new york city -- if you can see that. >> that's a good looking shot. we froze up there, peter. thanks so much for that report. we appreciate it. as you can see, some of those roads are getting cleared up but as always happens in these situations, when you plow a street it tends to bury the cars that are parked along it. we'll have more on that storm coming up with bill karins in just a few minutes, tell you where it is going to hit, where it is right now and what it means for the rest of your day. but up next, we'll get into joe's interview with former florida governor jeb bush. he talks about the future of education in america and answers the question that he gets almost every day -- will he run for president. ♪ sun in the sky ♪ you know how i feel ♪ freedom is mine ♪ and i know how i feel ♪ and this whole world is a new world ♪ ♪ and a bold world ♪ for me ♪ and i'm feeling good ♪ it's a new day [ jennifer ] weight watchers new pointsplus. because it works. >> ( party horn blowing ) >> ( speaking chinese ) >> ( speaking chinese ) >> ( laughing ) >> introducing cisco umi. be together in high def on your tv. exclusively at best buy's magnolia stores. cisco. welcome back to "morning joe." i'm willie geist. joe and mika are off today, well-deserved time off. we've been playing these rewind interviews with you all morning, tom hanks, president bill clinton. another one now, former president george w. bush made most of the bush family news with his ma'am war "decision points" this year but he wasn't the only bush brother in the headlines. his brother, former florida governor jeb bush, making big strides in education reform and, as always, bandied about as a possible presidential candidate. here's joe's conversation with jeb bush. >> i can't tell you how many republicans i hear wherever i go across the country talking about how they want you to run, they need you to run, they believe not only that the republican party's future depends on it but america's future depends on it. how do you say no to that? >> i have enough humility to know that's not the case, that there are going to be good candidates. i'm troubled about the future of our country. i think we're stuck when we need to be sploesively moving forward to transform how we do things. i'm going to be involved but i'm not going to be involved as a candidate in 2012. >> how frustrating is that for you on the sidelines to see america losing its competitive edge? we're still number one but china's catching up. india's catching up. the world's catching up. and we're debating about islamic centers near ground zero. we're distracted, both sides screaming and yelling at each o other. how frustrating is that to you? >> it's frustrating because the political class is really dysfunctional. so what troubles me the most of anything is that people are so anxious about what they see, so disturbed by it, so fearful of it, concerned about it, they be they see the people that they traditionally ask to solve it and they seem to be in a massive food fight. that disconnect i get to see now from the sidelines more because i'm not -- i've never really been immersed in the washington role anyway. and it is troubling. i'm not saying i'm going to be a hermit, go in some cave and check in with you five years later. i'm going to be involved but not as a candidate. >> are you distressed by this back-and-forth -- let you a just say what you hear about barack obama, that 40% of republicans don't think he was born in america. >> yeah, that troubles me, for sure. but i think it's fair game to say that when you have massive increases in spending and underneath the surface a totally -- total rewrite of significant elements of the regulatory system on top of our economy, and underneath that all sorts of social initiatives that don't even get to the light of day because these other things are so huge, it is okay to fight back. it's okay to -- >> sure, to attack the policies. >> there's enough low-hanging fruit there to get diverted on to all these other topics is not just bad for the ability ultimately to find common ground but it's bad politics. >> jeb, four decades ago america was number one in education. now we're 18th out of 24 industrialized nations. what's caused the back-sliding? >> partially, i think there is a real focus on feeling good about o ourselves and moms and dads think their kids go to a good school but the system may not be good. there's a sense of complacency. meanwhile, education is a cultural value in the emerging world. it is the highest priority of every parent that wants their children to have a better life. here we don't have that same kind of passion and commitment for making education important and so we're kind of stuck in the 1970s. the reforms that have existed are on the margins. they're not significant and we've seen the results. >> what are the implications if we continue to slide? >> well, president obama gave a speech about a month ago at the university of texas, my alma mater, that said for the first time ever the united states is i think 13th in the world in terms of college graduates, that their parents, and i think grandparents, had a higher percentage of that age cohort at that time going to get a college degree than today. can you imagine that? so as a time to get a college degree the importance of it increases, the gap between learning grows each year. it's been that way for 20 years. we're having worse outcomes. >> does barack obama have nerve to stand up to the unions? >> look, he's -- we'll see. it's a work in progress. he advocated this bail-out which was purely to placate the teachers unions about two months ago. but at the same time, both he and secretary duncan have been pretty stalwart supporters of charter schools. they haven't advocated private choice, which i think would also be important, and they're saying all the right things about performance pay for teachers. but while it is a work in progress, give him high marks because from his perspective he's on the left and he's taken on a core constituency. and any time that happens from the left or right based on principle, based on conviction, you got to give people credit. >> are you surprised that teachers unions are now going to have to be the ones that are going to have to start defending policies that many of us believe are indefensible? >> if you play offense, whether it is in sports or the policy world, you win eventually. so by advocating and pushing reform in varying forms across the country, who are the primary opponents to every reform of any significance? teachers union. eventually you can't just play successfully defense all the time -- what was the tipping point? it's just like one day i showed up on set and everybody around the table said, the problem with education are the teachers unions won't allow reform. when did that happen? why did that happen? >> i think it partially happened because of the philanthropic support of charter schools up here in the media capital of the united states. >> what's happening down in harlem. >> that is a significant factor because it makes it okay. it makes it kind of socially acceptable to o be supportive of reform. and those things are great for the kids that are in those schools an their parents. it is a expect collar learning environment. but remember, if you pay 20 grand per student, as exists here in new york city, are those schools transformative? are they going to bring about -- can that be scaled? will that bring about change in liberty city or in inner city pensacola? >> do you feel like your successor charlie crist has let you down? >> there was a bill that would provide for higher pay for teachers that taught their kids better than teachers who didn't. >> why did you do that? >> he's political animal. up to that point, governor crist was relatively faithful to the reforms that were put in place so i can't be critical from that perspective but he saw the walls closing in on his own ambitions. this is guy is about his own ambitions. he supported the bill all the way to the point until he vetoed it, which is something that gives politicians a bad name, i guess. >> former florida governor jeb bush back in september with joe. up next, bill karins gives us another update on the blizzard -- i think that's about all we learned today. heavy snow up and down the east coast. we'll tell you where it is hitting right now and what it means for travel when we come back. i'm meteorologist bill karins with your business travel forecast. hopefully your business travel is not taking you anywhere from philadelphia, new york city, up through new england, including boston. blizzard conditions continue throughout our monday. it is cold in the southeast, too. atlanta only 38 today. on the west coast, we have rain showers but nothing compared to the problems in the east. teur from a mile away... while going shoeless and metal-free in seconds. and you...rent from national. because only national lets you choose any car in the aisle...and go. you can even take a full-size or above, and still pay the mid-size price. now this...will work. [ male announcer ] just like you, business pro. just like you. go national. go like a pro. with an irresistible full key... oh, too much? now get an lg quantum™ for $199.99, and get one free. only from at&t. rethink possible. time to tell you with a we learned today. bill karins with me here. bill, we learned this is a pretty ugly storm. >> yes. what are the odds mika and joe would have made it to work today? >> joe would have found a way. they're enjoying some good time off. the storm is pulling away. it made its closest approach to cape cod. looks like a hurricane just off the coast of cape cod and wind have gusted that strong. there is a lot of wind damage out there, 80-mile-per-hour winds. that's the other side of the storm. as far as the windchill gross, that will be battling all day today. bundle up today, kids outside playing, it is going to be cold. >> philly an new york digging out. boston still getting it. >> couple more inches. friends in new hampshire and maine, it is your storm now. >> as you look at this picture of rockefeller plaza, all three major new york area airports now scheduled anyway to reopen at 4:00 p.m. that's been pushed back a couple times even since we've been on the air. >> i wonder if the jets and giants are stuck at their places that they lost, stuck, miserable. >> we know they had had to spend the night in green bay and chicago. >> let them stay. >> want to bring you up to speed on one other story. is upway de subway deal? the a-train here in new york city,

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