> what i believe in my faith is that a man and a woman, when they get married, are performing something before g"> > what i believe in my faith is that a man and a woman, when they get married, are performing something before g" property="og:description"> > what i believe in my faith is that a man and a woman, when they get married, are performing something before g">
"morning joe" starts right now. >> what i believe in my faith is that a man and a woman, when they get married, are performing something before god. and it's not simply the two-persons who are men. i believe that marriage is between is a man and a woman. as a christian, it's to me a sacred union. i struggle with this. i have friends. i have people who work for me who are in powerful, strong, long-lasting gay or lesbian unions. and they are extraordinary people. i have to tell you that over the course of several years, as i talk to friends and family and neighbors, when i think about members of my own staff who are incredibly committed in monogamous same-sex relationships, raising kids together, when i think about those soldiers or airmen or marines, sailors, who are out there fighting on my behalf, and yet feel constrained, even now that don't ask, don't tell is gone because they're not able to commit themselves in a marriage, at a certain point, i've just concluded that for me personally, it is important for me to go ahead and affirm that i think same-sex couples should be able to get married. good morning. it is thursday, may 10. welcome to "morning joe." with us onset, we have msnbc and "time" magazine senior political analyst mark halperin. morning. >> morning. >> msnbc political analyst john heilemann. hello. >> hi. >> and in washington, we have pulitzer prize-winning writer for "the washington post" and msnbc contributor jonathan capehart. jonathan, great to see you. >> you too. >> you look fantastic. >> thank you. >> hi, willie. >> hi, mika. >> i noticed that you went right to "the new york post." >> no, i just thought it was hilarious given the news yesterday. "the new york post," their headline, the tan man, the tan lady up here. you've got travolta in some sort of a rubba d a dub dub controve. and then obama at the very bottom. >> the "boston globe." big news. obviously, a moment in history for many americans. landmark day. and we're going to get to that a little bit later. get to the headlines, other headlines of the day. but first, bottom line it for me. we'll go around the table. what happened yesterday with the president, john heilemann? >> the president made history. and took a significant political risk, but one that i think the white house is comfortable it's in his interest to do. >> i would agree with john, but i would add that what the president did yesterday was have his words match his considerable deeds. not confirming doma against a court challenge, saying he would sign a repeal. he had already done all the things that signalled his evolution was complete. yesterday he announced that indeed the evolution is complete. >> the evolution is complete. mark halperin, what happened yesterday in one line? >> he took a bit of a political risk, but this election was going to be about the economy before yesterday and it still is. >> was it a political risk? >> i think on balance, the reason they weren't doing it right away is because it was -- there's risk involved. if you look at the battle ground states, in at least half of them, it could hurt the president. but i think it infuses his campaign in a positive way. if you look at mitt romney and john boehner and how they talked about it yesterday, they seem to be trying to move on from the issue, rather than what would have happened five years ago. if a democratic presidential candidate took the issue, it would have been a national firestorm, unthinkable. that as much as anything else shows how far public opinion has moved on this. >> and you could hear, mika, a collective sigh, combined with a cheer from his supporters. this was the one hang-up they had with him. just say you support gay marriage. he did that for them yesterday. and the question of whether or not it's a tough political decision, a gallop poll most recently shows that 87% of independents support gay marriage. it may not be as risky as some are saying. >> every time it's been on the ballot, though, gay marriage has lost. one advantage the president has here, i think that the media is as divided on this issue as the obama family. which is to say not at all. and so he's never going to get negative coverage for this. the republicans will say this is a flip flop and it's a wrong public policy. but when you have almost the entire media establishment on your side on an issue in a presidential campaign, it's hard to lose politically. >> jonathan, go ahead. >> if the republicans try to hit the president as flip flopping on this issue, the opening montage actually shows his evolution due to his religious beliefs, going all the way to yesterday where it was focused on respect and dignity for all families. >> so here's the thing. "the new york times." you talk about the media not being so divided on this. they do have one major issue with this, and we'll address it right now. then get a look at the other political headlines of the day, as it pertains in and gets into this big picture and get back to the emotion of this. but the "new york times" says, we have one major point of disagreement with mr. obama. his support for the concept of states deciding the issue on their own. that position effectively restricts the right to marry to the 20 states that have not adopted the kind of constitutional prohibitions north carolina voters approved on tuesday. so there is some interesting careful political dimensions to this that some could say played into his decision. fair enough? anyone disagree with that? >> i would. >> go ahead. >> chris geithner, a very good reporter on the law as it pertains to gay issues, had a great piece yesterday up on the web where he talked about how this particular issue isn't as fraught as "the new york times" or even "the washington post" editorial this morning thinks it is. what the president did was say that he personally believes that same-sex couples should be married, that he believes that states as has been tradition have the right to set their own laws. but he also believes that because sexual orientation dogma should be struck down, and that matters based on sexual orientation should have heightened scrutiny, big time legal term, that because of that, there are federal limitations on what states can do in terms of setting marriage laws. so when the president said that -- and the department of justice said that dogma should be unconstitutional and heightened scrutiny should apply, that doesn't just apply to doma but federal, state, and local law. and you're seeing that especially in a case where you have a lesbian trying to get health care benefits from her deceased spouse. >> all right. we're going to get back to the political implications of this story in just a moment. and also the -- more from president obama's interview with robin roberts on the emotional side of this. you were at the white house yesterday as this was all going down. >> i was. >> we'll get some insight from you as well from that perspective. some other headlines, though. when it comes to political fundraisers, this one is going to be a blockbuster tonight. 150 wealthy democrats are paying $40,000 each. wasn't he at the white house correspondents dinner? to dine with president obama at george clooney's studio city home. but the hollywood vips are expected to count for just 1/3 of the funding haul tonight. there's also a donor contest online, which by some estimates could gross as much as $15 million. the event is being organized by dreamworks ceo jeffrey cattenberg, and is expected to draw guests such as barbra streisand and robert downey jr. it seems like hollywood is right there at least tonight. >> they weren't going anywhere to begin with. >> they love him. on the other side of the aisle, mitt romney has offered an update on his search for a running mate telling a denver radio station, quote, we're looking at a pretty significant group of people, and we've got a great group of republican leaders. and i want to take a very careful look and make sure we select someone who has the capacity to become president if that were necessary. romney also said he'd consider candidates from both genders but would not set a firm time line for his decision. are you hearing anything about this, mark halperin? >> i think it's clear he'll pick someone who is obviously qualified, someone he likes, someone he'd like to work with in the white house. and those are all good standards to use. >> does he need to appeal to women at this point, or has that mistake been made so royally that at this point it would be too much of a risk to take a chance? >> well, like mark, i think the best thing for him to do is pick someone who is obviously qualified. i think he has to appeal to women for sure. but i'm not sure that putting a woman on the ticket that doesn't meet that -- >> the capacity to become president. are they clearly trying to say we're not going to make the same mistake again? >> yes. and they are clearly trying to telegraph they are not going to make that mistake. robert cost at the national review, put mike huckabee back on the list. someone whose name we hadn't seen that much in contention. he reports that he is huckabee more of a look than thought of. >> retired women politicians. >> like who? >> condi rice? >> stand by. >> really? >> kay bailey. >> kay bailey hutchisson? >> stand by. >> what are you, in the military? >> i just gave you something. you want the whole thing? >> yeah, stay tuned for the 7:00 hour. >> what? did you hear that, willy? >> when people at look at women, they tend to say, who are in the senate now, who are women governors? but there are women who are retired from public office. >> decode some game change talk for us. >> i have no idea. i have to get the board out here and see. >> why don't you twist his arm and try to get it out of him. meanwhile, the romney campaign, definitely the issue of women has come up. and the super pac supporting mitt romney is preparing for mother's day by reminding voters in nine battle ground states about some comments by democrats about mitt romney's wife, ann. take a look. >> ann romney raised five boys. she successfully battled breast cancer. and multiple sclerosis. but what does hilary rosen say about ann romney? >> his wife has never worked a day in his life. >> and bill maher who gave $1 billion to obama attacks. >> ann romney has never gotten her [ bleep ] out of the house. >> happy mother's day from barack obama's team. >> whoa. the latest -- that's just wrong. >> it's a low blow. >> but that's why everyone has to be careful about what they say and not say stupid things. the latest "usa today" gallup poll -- >> was she looking at you? >> 12 swing states, including myself, finds mitt romney leading president obama among married women by four points but trails the president 64% to 28% among unmarried women. and before we get to the massachusetts story, which i'm so glad we kept that in, does mitt romney still have a huge problem with women? >> he has humongous problem. i'm not sure that ad helps. i don't know. we all try to sit around and say if ads are good or bad. but he needs to find a way to appeal -- he has to win married women, cut his gap with unmarried women. it's not his only demographic problem, but probably his biggest right now. >> but he does have for example in florida, did very well among men. does his support among men perhaps trump it? >> it offsets it. but right now, his gap with women is bigger than his advantage with men. >> and more women vote than men. so, you know, when you have a big gender gap -- democrats traditionally do better with women. republicans traditionally do better with men. so the thing is to deal with the gaps on both sides. but romney has to close that gap. and unmarried women in particular is a huge stronghold for the president. a group of people that are very much turned off by the contraceptive talk during the republican primary. that will be very hard for romney to get back if the president is as aggressive and his team are as aggressive as they are going to be at continuing to make mitt romney own positions he took in the republican primary on issues that alienate those people. >> and i'll say it 100 times. national polls, great. but unmarried women in california, you know, it doesn't matter. they are not going to help elect the president. so really, where do they stand in wisconsin and ohio. and that is something they'll micro target. and we'll see a lot of tv ads. but those unmarried women will get a lot of ads on the health care plan. and governor romney will figure out a way to appeal to them on different issues than the president will. >> one more story before we get back to the big headline of the day. republican senator scott brown out with his first television ad of the massachusetts senate race, painting himself as an independent leader. take a look. >> independent majority has delivered a great victory. my whole life has been about beating the odds. there's absolutely nothing in this world that you can't get if you work hard at it. i've done what i said i was going to do. >> he's turned out to be unpredictability independent and beholden to no one. >> we have more work to do getting this economy working again. working together, we can restore it together. >> brown is also putting the spotlight on his challenger elizabeth warren's claims of native american ancestry, calling on her to release her law school applications. brown says, quote, serious questions have been raised about the legitimacy of elizabeth warren's claims to native american ancestry and whether it was appropriate for her to assume minority status as a college professor. warren has faced questions from the media after it was reported she listed herself as a minority in two law school directories after discovering her great great grandmother was a cherokee indian. ok. let's go straight to jonathan capehart on this. having said that, i think this is an incredible race. with two incredible candidates. but does this one issue, which scott brown is focusing in on, does that hurt elizabeth warren? >> well, it hurts elizabeth warren because she can't seem to get away from it. you know, in the early days, there was a piece saying this has more to do with how she handles controversy than it does the actual issue. scott brown is sitting in a seat that was held by a democrat for three decades. he's fighting for his political life in the sense that he is trying to hold that seat. by declaring himself, you know, a truly independent person. i don't even recall hearing the word "republican" in the ad. it might be too early and i missed it. but for him to declare himself an independent is getting away from, one, from the republican party but, two, from a republican party that is increasingly unpopular and increasingly extreme. so he's going to have to do that if he wants to hold on to that seat. >> all right. jonathan capehart, thanks very much. we're going to get back to our big headline of the day, every major newspaper has it. president obama saying that gays should have the right to wed. we'll talk about that in the politico playbook. also, the top stories in the playbook. in a few minutes, the national journal's major garrett will be here. why he is comparing this year's presidential race to the film "this is spinal tap." gillian tett will join us. chuck todd. and award-winning accuracy sissy spacek as well. but first, bill karins. >> an amazing seen in mobile, alabama, yesterday. a storm was coming onshore, four water spouts just off the coast. you can see a boat in the middle of it. the one on the right was the strongest. a water spout is just a tornado over the water. thankfully, none moved onshore. that storm system has moved up the east coast overnight. heavy rain from new york to philadelphia to d.c. is over with. the only rains remaining is pretty much from connecticut to massachusetts. northwards. and even there, this afternoon it will be much improved. so the forecast is looking much better today than it did yesterday in many areas. a decent amount of sunshine late in the day especially in new york and hartford. but rainy morning, of course. as far as the south goes, heavy rain over the next 48 hours in texas should cause a lot of problems, maybe even some flooding in san antonio, houston, and dallas. get ready for some wet weather. everyone else, though, what a fantastic thursday. get out and enjoy it if you can. beautiful spring day. and the sunshine is already out in washington, d.c. you're watching "morning joe" brewed by starbucks. i went to a small high school. the teacher that comes to mind for me is my high school math teacher, dr. gilmore. i mean he could teach. he was there for us, even if we needed him in college. you could call him, you had his phone number. he was just focused on making sure we were gonna be successful. he would never give up on any of us. droid does. and does it launch apps by voice while learning your voice ? launch cab4me. droid does. keep left at the fork. does it do turn-by-turn navigation ? droid does. with verizon, america's largest 4glte network and motorola, whatever you want to do... droid does. 23 past the hour. time to take a look at the morning papers. the "wall street journal," the federal reserve has for the first time given approval for a large chinese bank to purchase a u.s. bank. the fed board announced it was approving the application of china's largest bank to purchase the bank of east asia usa located in new york city. the approval comes after high level talks in china involving treasury secretary timothy geithner and secretary of state hillary clinton. the daily telegraph. vladimir putin will skip the g8 summit and ice breaker talks with president obama next week, raising new questions about the strength of ties between moscow and washington. "usa today," fired arkansas football coach bobby petrino put his motorcycle up for sale online. it's the motorcycle that he was riding on when he and his mistress crashed, which exposed the repair. it needs about $18,000 worth of repair. >> somebody will buy that. >> i'm just going to pretend we didn't buy that story. >> some fan will buy that. howard stern says he's serious about his new gig. if you haven't heard, he'll be a judge on "america's got talent." >> whoa. >> howard says he built his career on finding weirdos and making them stars, his words. he will replace piers morgan. he'll be good. with us now, the chief white house correspondent from politico, mr. michake allen, wia look at the playbook. we have more of the abc interview with president obama yesterday. robin roberts summoned to the white house for the approximate the to make his big announcement. >> i've always been adamant that gay and lesbian americans should be treated fairly and equally. i had hesitated on gay marriage in part because i thought civil unions would be sufficient, that that was something that would give people hospital visitation rights and other elements that we take for granted. and i was sensitive to the fact that for a lot of people, you know, the word "marriage" was something that evokes very powerful traditions, religious beliefs, and so forth. you know, malia and sasha, they have got friends whose parents are same-sex couples. and, you know there, have been times where michelle and i have been sitting around the dinner table and we've been talking about their friends and their parents, and malia and sasha, it wouldn't dawn on them that somehow their friends' parents would be treated differently. it doesn't make sense to them. and frankly, that's the kind of thing that prompts a change of perspective. >> and mitt romney reaffirmed after this news came out his opposition to gay marriage on the campaign trail yesterday. >> states are able to make decisions with regards to domestic partnership benefits, such as hospital visitation