bush era tax kauts for people making under $250,000. the move comes on the heels of friday's disappointing jobs report and as house republicans push to permanently extend the bush tax cuts for the middle and upper class. yesterday obama's senior adviser robert gibbs framed tax strategy as one of the key differences between the president and mitt romney. >> we know what tax breaks and tax cuts for the wealthy and financial regulations off wall street mean. they mean economic calamity, what we're dealing with now verses a vision where we add jobs and billed out of the middle class. people take responsibility, they work hard but get ahead. but the head of the rnc says stagnant job growth underscores the president's failed strategy and the obama white house has had plenty of time to turn the economy around. >> if they kept their promises there would be 8.5 million more

people employed today than there would be four years ago. the fact of the matter is this president can't fulfill a promise. they're living in fantasy land. we'll put this dream to an end of theirs in november, save america, fire barack obama and hire mitt romney. this week house republicans begin their move to repeal the affordable care act. mitt romney has made it clear, if elected president, he will abolish the law on his first day in office and has used the supreme court's recent ruling to rally backers. but democrats have been eager to associate the plan with romney who created a similar program as governor of massachusetts. >> let's get down to the bottom line here. mitt romney is the obama care daddy. he gave birth to this baby up in massachusetts and now he doesn't recognize it and can't pick out any strains in the hereditary chain there that look like

anything he did in massachusetts. >> recent comments from house speaker john boehner about romney's prospects with voters are coming under scrutiny. according to "roll call" while at a fund-raiser someone asked boehner can you make me love mitt romney. boehner reportedly responded no, adding the american people probably aren't going to fall in love with mitt romney. i'll tell you this, 95% of the people that show up to vote in november are going to show up in that voting booth and they are going to vote for or against barack obama. a new u.s.a. today poll of 12 swing states including boehner's home state of ohio gives president obama the narrowest of leads. the poll has the president in a statistical tie with mitt romney ahead by just 2%. both sides have focused millions of dollars in tv ads in those critical battlegrounds. but when asked what impact these ads have had, 70% of voters said

the commercials confirm their opinion, just 8% said the ads changed their views in some way. a series of roadside bombings and insurgent attacks killed at least 29 people yesterday in one of this year's deadliest days in afghanistan. u.s. military officials say six american soldiers are among the dead. they were killed by an ied in the eastern part of the country. at leaf 16 afghan civilians were killed by two earlier bombings in kandahar province. another ten people were injured. according to united nations more civilians are killed in taliban attacks in afghanistan than in operations by the u.s.-led coalition. also overseas, u.n. and arab league omni kofi annan is in syria to meet with president bashar al assad. annan admits his six-point plan

for peace failed to end the conflict between the syrian government and rebel forces. syria's president blames western countries including the united states for destabilizing the situation by providing support to what he calls terrorist forces. speaking from an international conference in tokyo, secretary of state hillary clinton warned the violence in syria could easily spread across that country's borders. >> the sooner there can be an end to the violence and a beginning of a political transition process, not only will fewer people die, but there's a chance to save the syrian state from a catastrophic assault that would be very dangerous, not only to syria but to the region. >> senator john mccain criticized the obama administration for not taking

enough action against the assad regime. >> the fact is the united states has played no leadership role. now 14,000 people have been massacred by bashar al assad. the united states of america's performance so far has been shameful and disgraceful. my question is to the secretary of state and the president of the united states is how many more have to die before we take action to help these people with other nations, and i don't mean american boots on the ground. over the weekend syria test-fired several missiles in a new show of force. state media says the military exercises were intended to show the country's ability to, quote, defend syrian shores against any possible aggression. in other news, congressman barney frank is now the first sitting member of congress to enter into a same-sex marriage. the massachusetts democrats married his long-time partner

jim ready saturday evening at the boston marriott hotel. the wedding was attend bid more than 300 people with governor duval patrick officiating the ceremony. hollywood icon ernest borgnine is being remembered today for his long list of memorable characters. the oscar-winning actor passed aid way yesterday at a los angeles hospital. borgnine tackled a wide range of roles from film to television to the broadway stage. he appeared in movies like "from here to eternity" and won the academy award for his role in "marty." he even voiced a character in the hit cartoon "spongebob square pants," perhaps best known for his role as quinton mchale on "mchale's navy," first the tv sitcom and then the movie. >> somehow you always manage to clear the decks just in time.

[ laughter ]. >> what in the blue pacific is going on in here? what are they doing with these dresses? >> well, you see, sir, they're preparing a show that the special service house is putting on. >> special service office? >> yes, ensign parker. he's our special service officer, a regular zig field. isn't that right? >> i am. >> tim conway, joe flynn also in there. ernest borgnine dead of kidney failure. he was 95 years old. still ahead on "way too elderly" hometown hero andy murray fights back tears after falling short in his quest to become the first british man to

win wimbledon since 1936. highlights from center court coming up just after the break. plus there are only two ways this high-flying adventure could end. we'll break down this daredevil's losing battle with gravity and get a check on weather when "way too elderly" comes right back, if we're able to. two planes nose to tale, a spy swap, ten russians spies for four men who worked for american and british intelligence. [ man ] ever year, sophia and i

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what have we got here? there we go. look at that. the jefferson memorial,

washington, d.c. for about the past two weeks the average temperature has been about 138 degrees per day. nice going, todd. >> thanks. hey i showed up here and it got cooler. >> good job. >> thank you. i want to take credit for that side of things. good morning. we're talking about much milder temperatures from new york through d.c. a good stretch of the northeast, more average for this time of year, maybe a couple degrees cooler. we still have the chance for thunderstorms. we track these through the weekend across some of the same areas we're dealing with this morning. you see to the south of philly, showers in and around d.c. we've had a few light showers already this morning. could deal with more of those through your morning commute. when you turn the windshield wipers on and off here and there. as we work through the afternoon, may see more thunderstorm activity firing up. richmond down through virginia beach and extending back into a good stretch of tennessee all the way back to the central rockies. did also want to mention the best chance for severe weather, similar to what we've dealt with, the wind energy getting

involved. some of the areas south of d.c. including virginia beach down through portions of even south carolina could get some of the storms to produce severe wind gusts. that would be 60-mile-per-hour winds beyond that. so something to keep in mind there. beyond that thrng, still mild temperatures in new york and northward towards philly and d.c., still a little sticky, especially once you get south of d.c. where we still have a murky atmosphere in place, the higher humidity. 87 for d.c. this afternoon. compared to what we've been dealing with, that's a huge improvement. we'll talk about more thunderstorms extending into the mississippi valley. >> the place to go wind surfing is virginia beach, 60-mile-an-hour winds. go from virginia beach to montauk. >> sure, if you want to go fast. sports. andy murray, he had his chance in great britain's long wait to win the men's title in wimbledon, but andy failed. in order to get past roger

federer, he didn't do it. murray serving from the far court, federer can't return. murray takes the first set from federer, 6-4. crowd firmly in his corner. murray gets a little royal encouragement from kate middleton and her sister pippa. federer gets going after exchanging baseline shots, federer rushes the net, let's see. comes through with a devastating drop shot. federer takes the second set 7-5. he'll go on to win the third set as well. fourth set now. federer serving for the match and the title. murray is able to return the serve. after a short rally, murray's forehand goes wide and 30-year-old federer claims the wimbledon championship, tied with pete sampras and william renshaw for the most wimbledon championships of all time. the win makes him the number one player in the world yet again. he's won 17 majors in his career. as blissful as the day was for

him, it was equally gut-wrenching for murray who struggled with his emotions after the match. >> i'm going to try this and it's not going to be easy. [ cheers and applause ] >> everybody always talks about the pressure of playing at wimbledon, how tough it is. but it's not the people watching. they make it so much easier to play. the support has been incredible. so thank you. >> i think a little less crying and a little more practice, maybe he would have won. is it just me? on the women's side, serena williams won the final in three

sets to capture her fifth wimbledon title. who did this? baseball now. who put this in here, the red sox hosting the yankees, weekend series at fenway. first inning, cody ross, pop-up. derek jeter, hits the heel of his glove, pops out. captain makes an error. you're not going to see that. hardly ever going to see derek jeter do that. a-rod, deep drive, triangle right center field, ryan sweeney, bang, right into the wall. couldn't come up with it. that scored a run. sweeney was down for a while but stayed in the game. seventh inning. he went head first right into it. andrew jones. what a weekend he had in boston. crushed one into the left field stands, two-run homer. fourth homer in the last three games. yankees won 7-3. took three of four games in the series against a lineup filled with minor leaguers.

$190 million payroll the red sox have and have minor leaguers in the lineup against the yankees. disgraceful. yankees in first place by seven games. i'm not even going to tell you where the red sox are. let's just move on. one of the american league's best teams took on one of the worst as the rangers face the twins. we pick it up in the fourth. >> wow. that knocked -- the players are coming off the field whether they want them to or not. >> holy cow. >> after the game. twins outfield erden nard span tweeted, quote, that's the loudest noisy ever heard. i thought jesus was coming. end quote. back to the game, tied in the 13g9, ian kinsler puts one over the drawn-in outfield to drive in the winning run, rangers win 4-3, head into the all-star

break with a four-game lead. but watch out for the california angels and mike trout. the pirates at home taking on the giants, seventh inning, andrew mccutchen, best player in the national league so far hits one deep to right center. park can't hold it. the second homer for him of the game. the first player in pirates history with a batting average of .362. pirates went on to win 13-2, leading their division at the all-star break for the first time since 1997. go pirates. coming up at the top of the hour on "morning joe," a new fight over economic policy begins in earnest with president obama laying out his plan for those expiring tax cuts. we'll kick around the political implications with our "morning joe" crew. when we come back here, we'll huddle around the water cooler to watch a political argument in jordan turn really ugly really quickly. that's a gun the guy just pulled on live tv.

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we told you at the top of the show that president obama is calling for a one-year extension of the bush tax cuts for people who earn less than $250,000 a year. the tax cuts would still expire as scheduled at the end of this

year for people making above the $250,000 threshold. if you want to sound smart today tell your friends that according to the obama administration extending the bush tax cuts for one year for people making under $250,000 would cost the government roughly $150 billion in revenue for the year. economists estimate that letting bush tax cuts expire for people making above $250,000 would net the government $850 billion over the next ten years. after you tell your friends this, stand by because they'll probably slap you in the face for being a smarty. enough with the real news, let's gather around the water cool to watch a jordanian parliament member duke it out with a political activist. desks were flipped, guns were pulled.

>> the men were arguing about jordan's policies towards the uprising in syria when the activist accused his opponent of buying his way into parliament. the current mp pulled off his shoes. the producers separated the two men while the audience watched. last month in greece, sthirng similar. a spokesman for the country's ultra conservative party attacked greece's female communist candidate and member of parliament. water and fists were thrown. >> last year in beirut two prominent lebanese politicians

came to blows while clashing over president assad's credible. the pro syrian politician picked up his chair in attempt to hit his opponent. all of this we'll put to practice on the set of "morning joe" in about ten or 15 minutes. i'm going to throw a chair at rattner who is over here reading the paper. last night mike tyson was on "watch what happens live" and answered everyone's most pressing question. >> mike tyson, what does an ear taste like? >> it depends on we're did you bite. but since i bit holyfield's ear and didn't have holyfield's hot sauce on it. >> needed the holyfield hot sauce on the ear -- >> that would have been a delicacy. >> oh, man. an amazing survival story when a

chinese acrobat fell off his tightrope yesterday. he was walking backwards 657 feet above the ground with his eyes covered. he fell about 130 feet, but since he was close to the platform -- whoa -- the drop was relatively small. he suffered only minor injuries. he got up and walked just after the fall. don't try this at home today, folks. still ahead on "way too early," why are you awake? your high-flying tweets, texts and probably hateful e-mails are next. "morning joe" is just moments away. [ morgan ] right now when you use your visa card, you're entered for a chance to win a trip to the olympic games for life. to cheer the summer athletes to new heights, starting in 2016... as you experience every moment, every emotion, every four years... for the rest of your life.

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you need an ally. ally bank. no nonsense. just people sense. tat the top of the show we asked why are you awake. john tower, on his way to summer camp today has some answers. johnny? >> i have to leave soon. lori writes, wonderful mike barnicle greets me this monday. who could ask for more? >> isn't that nice. anything else? >> i have jonas, he writes, when did msnbc buy the writes to re-air "golden girls" episodes?

>> that's extremely harsh. i mean we're trying to honor earnest borgnine by my presence, died at 95, i'm 93, i have a couple more years to go. thanksp. "morning joe" starts right now. >> good morning, everyone. it is monday, july 9th. welcome to "morning joe." with us on set this morning, we have msnbc contributor mike barnicle, walking in the room, slightly drunk after doing "way too early." i think it's a little too much on him. you can tell by his voice. former foreign policy adviser to the bush administration, dan senor is here. hello. >> how are you. >> do you want to do "way too early". >> mike is doing it. >> i'm not sure he should. visiting professor at nyu, former democratic congressman harold ford jr. is