New York Times columnist David Carr responds to Bill Maher implying Alabama and Kansas are not the "smart states." David Carr: "If it's Kansas, Missouri, no big deal. You know, that's the dance of the low-sloping foreheads. The middle places, right? [pause] Did I just say that aloud?"

"A few years ago, Procter & Gamble teamed up with the researchers at Los Alamos National Labs to adapt software developed for war -- to figure out what is happening to nuclear particles -- and they are using these simulators to dramatically boost the performance of ... diapers," President Obama said at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh.

NBC: Fresh off a victory in his home state of New Jersey, where he got the legislature to pass landmark pension and health benefit reform, Republican Gov. Chris Christie tells TODAY’s Matt Lauer what President Obama and the U.S. Congress can learn from his state. Christie also repeats that he is "not running for president." "First, the presid

President Obama spoke at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh this morning about robotics and the Advanced Manufacturing Partnership. Obama talked about several sectors the government has invested in, praising America's innovative spirit. Obama praised new jobs building wind turbines, solar panels and advanced batteries. "We have not

In an interview with CNN, First Lady Michelle Obama thanks the media for their "support" and "kindness." CNN reporter: "How's the family ready for this [the election]? It's going to be quite vicious, isn't it? How do you prepare for that?" First Lady Michelle Obama: "You know, it's … we're ready, you know. Our children, you know, could care

Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) talks about some GOP governors’ recent attacks on the bargaining rights of state workers.

Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.): "Would you also agree with Admiral Mullen, as he put it to the committee, that the truth is, that we would have run other kinds of risks by keeping more forces in Afghanistan longer. That’s his exact words. And we would have made it easier for the Karzai administration to increase their dependency on us.

President enters stalled negotiations.

Bill Press, Laura Flanders and Heidi Harris discuss Barney Frank's (D-MA) plan to make decriminalizing/legalizing marijuana usage a issue for states rather than the federal government. Hilarity ensues.

Key quotes: Janeane Garofalo: "I also feel it’s quite unjust to be punished for calling racism ‘racism.’ And I don’t know why so few people, especially back then a couple of years ago were willing to say that word." Garofalo on Justice Thomas: "You have an African-American gentleman married to a white woman who is in cahoots with a gr

"He [Cantor] threw Boehner and frankly, the country's credit rating under the bus a little bit. Boehner needed Cantor because Cantor is Boehner's emissary to the tea party," Ezra Klein told MSNBC.

"This is outright lawlessness on part of the administration. Whatever the politics of this, we do have a constitution and under it the legislator, the Congress, enacts the laws and the executive executes them, it doesn't make them up," Charles Krauthammer said on "Special Report." "The DREAM Act was rejected by Congress, it is now being enacted

MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell addresses the divide between Rep. Paul Ryan’s so-called revered reputation in Washington and his actual reputation almost everywhere else in America. (The Last Word)

Bill O'Reilly: "What President Obama tried on the economy simply has not worked." "This country is in dire trouble and that is not an exaggeration. The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is the total amount of the goods and services the U.S.A puts out every year. Right now, federal spending is 24% of the GDP. A quarter of what we put out is federal sp