That was paul white. An engineer from ham lake, minnesota. Hes one of the winners from this weeks 448 million jackpot drawing. And he is a smart guy. Smart guy. Smart financial plan. He opted for the cash payment, which ended up being just over 58 numb 58 million after taxes. Friday, august 9th. Great to have you on morning joe. With us on set msnbcs thomas roberts. Weve got the host of way too early, Brian Shactman. Pulitzerprize winning columnist and associate editor of the Washington Post and msnbc political analyst Eugene Robinson and the former governor of pennsylvania, nbc news political analyst, ed rendell. Showing that we do at nbc have a conservative there oh, wait, conservative democrat. Fortune magazines assisting managing editor Leigh Gallagher, good lord it started early, the author of the great new book the end of the suburbs. Its great to have all of you guys with us. Lets start with news. Mika, of course, she where do you think she is . South of france. Shes in the south of france, right . Well, its just that time of the year where, you know, the rich and the famous and the powerful go off to vacation and, of course, so today president obama is set to kick off his weeklong vacation, not in the south of france, but in Marthas Vineyard and that has triggered the expected criticism from corners of capitol hill. Of course who are the middle of a fiveweek vacation. Usa today is reporting the first family is going to be staying at the 7 million home of a top democratic donor and, of course, bill clinton also vacationed in Marthas Vineyard during his time in the white house but he famously and i know that gene will remember this and ed will remember this, he famously switched his vacation destination after dick morris took polls to see which vacation spots would be better and they found out that wyoming, surprisingly enough, is better than Marthas Vineyard. Nantucket is better than Marthas Vineyard but i dont think youll find that in the poll. Usa today is remibdsing us this morning Franklin Roosevelt was criticized for spending time on his yacht. John adams spent seven months in quincy, massachusetts, on his farm in 1797 and actually accused of abdicating his office and that criticism didnt help his bid for the second term. Now, for republicans who are ready to pounce, lets look at this by the numbers. The president is going off on vacation but the last commander in chief, george w. Bush, also took his share of r and r. At this point in george w. Bushs presidency, mark knoller with cbs figured this out, george w. Bush had spent 367 days at his ranch in texas or at his familys compound in kennebunkport, maine. That, of course, according to mark knoller who says also, that president obama, who doesnt own a Vacation Home or have a family compound, has only spent 92 days of his presidency on vacation and before he heads out of town hes going to make more news. The president will be holding a News Conference at the white house at 3 00 p. M. And, you know, i just got to say, and i always go back, ed rendell, to a maureen dowd column talking about first ladies and who the great first ladies were and how pat nixon was great at making Peanut Butter and jelly sandwiches that would relax Richard Nixon and as maureen said and she wasnt being sarcastic or snippy at all, if that put the president s head in a better place, to make decisions regarding china or the economy or then thats exactly what they needed. Ive always felt this way joe, if you make a pbj with xanax yeah. That will that relaxes you too and let me just say, i have tried that. Bury it. Thats called the breakfast of champions, actually. Crunchy Peanut Butter. I actually i disguise it in the crunchy Peanut Butter. So ed rendell, you know, we shouldnt bedrudge or leaders vacations, should we . And i mean, is the president making a mistake going to Marthas Vineyard, poll tested this and gone to like alabama instead . Well, on that note, first of all, youre right, president s are entitled to vacations. Secondly, there are never any real vacations for president s. The work goes on. Its unbelievable how much work even as governor of pennsylvania, i never had a day on vacation where i didnt have some contact with the office, have to make some decisions, and third, forget all about polling your vacation retreat. We have become a nation of polls. Just do what you want. No one is going to vote for you because you went to Marthas Vineyard or wyoming. Give the voters a little respect for their intelligence. Well, exactly, gene. And again, i think the president would have been much better served going to nantucket than Marthas Vineyard. We can have that debate elsewhere, though. This does seem like the perfect show to have the debate on, but where does a president stand right now . He expected so much more. His supporters expected so much more. The white house expected so much more in this second term. It has been a really, really rough eight, nine months for the president. His poll numbers, according to the latest nbc news poll, down a little bit. Heck, even matt damons criticizing him overseas. What could be worse than that. What does the president need to do when he comes back to turn it around . Well, you know, i dont think theres like a mammic bullet that makes everything in washington better, joe, to tell you the truth, and i dont think he thinks that either. I think he, at this point, is resigned to the fact its going to be a bit of a slog. Hes going to keep working on his major priorities and hes also, frankly, going to have an eye on 2014. Boy, and gene, gene, could you follow up on what ed said too. No president , republican or democrat, liberal or conservative, ever has a day off . Absolutely. Yesterday, when Thurston Clarke came on said he was in the middle of all of these personal crises, when somebody came up and basically asked him to green light the assassination of dim and caroline was having a rough couple days and pulling at him and he goes, yeah, sure, basically. Couple days later he says what have i done . But that was on vacation. Its constant. The incoming is constant. No president ever has a day off or a night off or a morning off or anything. It is absolutely constant. And keep in mind, he has a family, you know. He has daughters who are growing up. First lady. They go to Marthas Vineyard every year. Theyre kind of used to it. Friends gather there. Its its a family. Lets just kind of lighten up and all wish we could be on vacation too. Exactly. Hey, thomas roberts, you know, the president when hes off, hes going to be looking at a lot of issues. Certainly Foreign Policy is at the top of the list. Interesting new poll out shows that the United States making some gains as far as how people view us. Not doing so well in the middle east, but across the rest of the world, our image improving a bit. A bit. Despite the recent backlash over these drone strikes and the nsa spying programs the u. S. Actually enjoying these levels of popularity it hasnt seen since before the iraq war. Pew Research Showing 64 of people around the world have a favorable view of america. 64 . So thats a 13point rise among those same countries when they were last vared back in 07. Still in muslim countries like pakistan, frustration over u. S. Foreign policy appearing to have only deepened 11 . Theres been a dip in approval under president obama. Leigh, you think thats just obamas transition to presidency over bush . Because that last poll was in 2007 and what else would it say . I think that has a lot to do with it. I think the world is looking to us for a number of reasons. You know, but i think that its, you know, i think the timing has a lot to do with it. That was a long time ago. I think under president obama i think our global image has improved. Joe, you cant forget how unpopular we were at the end of the bush presidency, right . No doubt about it. I mean, things were going poorly. Of course, were still having some problems in the middle east but across the rest of the world, across europe, those numbers are certainly up. You know, ed rendell, weve been looking at polls out of kentucky. Looks like Mitch Mcconnell hasnt had a lot of excitement on his side. Hes been tied with the challenger. The news yesterday, not news that any of us running in a Political Campaign would want, and there was a clip, lets throw to this clip where like do we have the actual clip of the phone conversation . Thomas, so lets go to the statement and then ed, get the response about a situation no politician would want to be in . Joe, the background on this is the master Mitch McconnellSenate Reelection campaign, a guy named jesse benton told a conservative activist, quote, between you and me im sort of holding my nose for two years because what were doing here is going to be a big benefit to rand in 16. Thats my long vision. Now at the time benton was speaking with dennis, a former aide to former congressman rand paul. He handed over the recording to the economicpolicyjournal. Com. Benton called this leak sick adding i believe in senator mcconnell and 100 committed to his reelection. I look forward to victory in november of 2014. Then the Campaign Even posted this photo on benton holding his nose next to the Senate Minority leader. So the republican challenger, matt bevin tweeting that photo with a close pin on his nose saying dont hold your nose, vote for a real conservative. The other thing we need to point out, there are family connections here. The fact jesse benton is married to ron pauls granddaughter and worked on his campaign in the past and kind of shoed over into mcconnell world after, you know, the wheels came off the bus. But governor, there are family connections here, talking about looking at the longer vision and his family is, you know, that would be his uncle, would be rand paul. Its pretty confusing. The only winner here is the democratic candidate who is an impressive woman. Can she win in kentucky . It really depends on how tough the republican primary is. If its tough and its bitter, she really gets a leg up for the fall and shes going to raise a ton of money nationally. Its interesting, though, that, gene, this guy was speaking to dennis, a former aide to congressman ron paul. So its kind of really inside baseball that he would go ahead and leak this to try to pants Mitch Mcconnell basically. Is this a mole inside the Mcconnell Campaign . I mean taking down the pillars from the inside. Its very interesting. Its interesting all the strategizing around rand paul for 2016. Yes. Rand paul for 2016. I mean, this is going to be fascinating. Hes going to make a serious run i think. A Tea Party Candidate if hes viable, i mean, you know, mitch might have a tough time anyway even if there are plots against him. No doubt about it. He definitely theres no doubt you go back to rand paul running in 2010 and, of course, rand paul was not the favorite of Mitch Mcconnell. He had supported a more mainstream candidate. Rand paul won anyway. The fact that they are working together as a marriage of convenience at best. And i just i have to follow up with what gene said. Whats most fascinating about this, and most revealing about this, is how people who are closest to rand paul, are so actively engaged already in his 2016 rupp for president. This is a guy and you know, weve all heard the old saying, that character is what you do when nobody is watching, i guess you could say the same thing about political plans revealed with what you say when you think nobodys listening and gene, there is no doubt here that rand pauls people are expecting a big run for the white house and this is one part of it. Yeah. I mean, theyre trying to lay groundwork and seem to be trying to establish him as in the field already, which sets up, of course, this fascinating battle inside the Republican Party with the libertarian wing trying to assert itself. Assuming there is a wing behind him. I mean its its not all that organized. But this is going to be this is going to be fascinating as we go through. You know three years left. That quote about character is perfect for this next story. Joe, listen to this one. Another day and another indelicate piece of video for mayoral candidate Anthony Weiner. You dont have to make the kids leave the room. Already this week hes fought with a new york voter, dismissed another candidate as grandpa and making fun of the foreign press. Take a look. Is it ambition, a [ inaudible ] for power . I have to take you seriously. It has to do with wanting to be mayor of the city of new york and wanting to help the middle class and those struggling to make it or the hunger for the big or the hunger for the big job. Would anything stop you . I just have a feeling i stepped into a monte python big. Is a rock going to fall on my head . Anything else i can do for itb or something . Want me to do the weather or something . You can do the weather for me. Where is the weather . England . Ill do yours. Rainy, cloudy and gray, so do what you can guys. Try to keep your head up. Keep a stiff upper lip. A stiff something. Oh. Well, so listen to this, the poll, hes in fourth place. The new poll by the New York Times and Siena College finds the former congressman in fourth place. Christine quinn sits at the top with 25 . If no candidate receives 40 of the vote theres a runoff between the two top candidates which puts weiner out of the race. For former new york governor Eliot Spitzer he is faring much better. Spitzer currently holds a ninepoint lead over manhattan bur ro president scott stringer. 44 to 35 . Do you think, governor, that theres anything thats going to make Anthony Weiner hes in it for the long haul until september 10th when the election the most interesting thing about those two polls is, imagine for a minute if Anthony Weiner didnt have the second postresignation slew of tweets. Right. Imagine he didnt have those. Imagine he conducted himself without losing his temper during the campaign he very likely could have been in the same position as spitzer. Remember, before that came out, he was leading in one of the polls. Right. He was well ahead. Amazing how he selfdestructed. Do you think yesterday this video was taken as Anthony Weiner was going door to door knocking, if you were on the other team would you find out where hes going to be nooking in the future and put sydney behind and have it ready to rock and roll. She looks at him as a atm machine. Oh, god its you. And the cameras are there. Its over. Leigh, its got to be over here. What is fascinating its over weeks ago. Weeks ago. Whats fascinating is, a guy that a lot of people you cover hate. Eliot spitzer is on his way back to power, it certainly looks that way, and the Business Community, michael bloomberg, many others not happy about that at all. No, theyre not. And he looks strong. Especially when you compare him to weiner. I mean these two, you know, are lumped together and that contrast is just becoming more and more striking. Yeah, i mean, this is he was persona nongrata for all of wall street. They were thrilled when what happened to him happened to him. This is going to be interesting to watch for that reason. Weiner, talk about somebody who really needs a vacation. He just needs to go away. Its just incredible. Its just drama. Its sad. Exile youre thinking. Thats the word. He has until september 10th because he said hes going to stay in and then he can take a long vacation. Want to talk about the extreme weather events taking its toll on the country. Wildfires in california to flash flooding in tennessee. Miguel almaguer and Kerry Sanders have those reports. If we can get some air support, anything at all will help. Reporter from the air a moving monster. The socalled silver fire exploding out of control at a, quote, critical rate. Several structures involved in the community. Reporter in less than 24 hours, this inferno quadrupled in size. 16 square miles up in smoke. It hit here very fast. That wind started, started pushing that fire up over the ridge lines and before they knew it it was upon the community. Reporter this is erratic and aggressive fire behavior even for seasoned california firefighters. Request five strike teams of crews. Reporter 15 structures destroyed. Mandatory evacuation. You need to evacuate immediately. Reporter nearly 2,000 people had only minutes to flee the flames. I got here and the house was already half burned. Reporter dave clark watched his home burn to the ground. I knew where a bag of legal documents were and i ran in and grabbed them and ran out. Reporter these tinderbox conditions are dangerous and can be deadly. Four firefighters are injured, one neighbor severely burned. For some there was no time to escape the flames. Sheriffs deputies were evacuating locals when the fire tore through here and they rode out the fire storm and luckily survived. A small blaze when it began wednesday, the silver fire became a blow torch. Structure after structure devoured during a time when fire typically lays down. The wind we got last night was cool and it had some moisture in it, but it was still 35 Miles Per Hour and it continued to push that fire. Reporter with an army of nearly a thousand on the ground and a steady air attack, crews are making progress. But if the winds return, this fire could be poised to make another dangerous run. Rain wa