health care coming up on "the lead" with jake tapper which begins right now. mr. president, as long as you're bringing back things that were canceled, can you also maybe bring back the tv show "freex and geeks"? it was gone way too soon. i'm jake tapper. this is "the lead." the national lead. were you told your insurance would be canceled due to changes from obama care? well now president obama says he's changing the rules to allow, allow, not require, your plan to be extended for another year. will that satisfy our guest? west virginia senator john manchin, the democrat who wanted to delay the individual mandate for a full year. the buried lead. it happened 50 years ago this month. an assassin's bullet claimed the life of our 35th president in dallas. newly discovered tapes are filling in the blanks from that day and you will hear them right here. and the pop culture lead. andy, did you hear about this one? if you believe andy kaufman's

brother joins us to address the fresh rumors sweeping the comedy world that the mad comic genius faked his own death and is still alive. with a grown daughter. good afternoon. welcome to "the lead." i'm jake tapper. we begin with the national lead. if you like your health plan, you can keep your health plan. for real this time, says the president. but here comes the asterisk. it's only for a year, assuming the insurance companies cooperate. president obama today acting under enormous pressure even from within his own party to address policy cancellation notices which millions of americans have received as a result of changes from his signature affordable health care act. the president acknowledged that the rollout of obama care has been, what's the word i'm looking for, it starts with an "f"? >> we fumbled the rollout on this health care law. fumbled the ball. we did fumble the ball. these are two fumbles. >> fumbled. yes. thank you. fumble, like a tony romo botched

snap. it was a recurring theme throughout the president's remarks which came a day after the country learned that only about 106,000 people had enrolled in obama care in the first month, only 26,000 or so of them through the federal website healthcare.gov. far, far below projections. the president today admitting his own fallability. >> there are going to be ups and downs during the course of my presidency and i think i said early on when i was running, i am not a perfect man and i will not be a perfect president. >> today, the president once again amended his vow that if you like your plan, you can keep your plan. >> insurers can extend current plans that would otherwise be canceled into 2014 and americans whose plans have been canceled can choose to re-enroll in the same kind of plan. >> in a way the president had to act now. house republicans are set to vote on a bill tomorrow with this self-explanatory name, the keep your health plan act. democrats in both the house and senate each have their own bills to address the cancellations.

the president's rule change will allow, not require, allow insurance companies to extend plans that would otherwise have been canceled in 2014. will the insurance companies go along with that? maybe, maybe not. the ceo of the trade group america's health insurance plans which represents more than 1,000 insurance companies released a statement reading in part changing the rules after health plans have already met the requirements of the law could destabilize the market and result in higher premiums for consumers. let's bring in democratic senator joe manchin of west virginia. he has supported a delay on the individual mandate and signed on to a bill that would allow those americans to keep their plans, but permanently, not just a year. good to see you. so is this fix enough? >> well, it's a step in the right direction. we had a nice meeting today. dennis came over, the chief of staff, and really took time and went through the whole thing, where they're coming from, and it is a step. it is an acknowledgment that we're moving in the right direction and need to move in the right direction. the bill i signed on with mary

landrieu basically says this. if you had insurance when the bill went into effect, you can keep that insurance indefinitely. if you want to change your plans later, they have to meet the certain requirements. the house bill basically says they open up anybody to buy any insurance, even if it doesn't meet the intent. that's just gutting it. we want to fix things. we're trying to fix it. i don't want west virginians to go back or have any west virginian in jeopardy that if they get sick, a catastrophic illness, they could be bankrupt appear lose everything. i don't want a child who had a defect not able to be insured or someone who might have had cancer pre-existing condition not -- we don't want to go back there. but can we fix it? you've got to be compassionate about this but my bill basically, the bill i put in with mark kirk, the republican, my friend from illinois, simply said this. there's no crime and no fine for this one year period until january 1, 2015. there's more problems and we are all acknowledging and seeing them, than just the rollout as far as the computer glitches.

there is some product problems and marketability needs to be done here, and the insurance industry is going to have to get real, also, and come to the table and work through this. >> but wouldn't what you and senator landrieu are proposing, allowing anybody to keep their plan in perpetuity, wouldn't that damage the architecture of obama care, the fact that you need these healthy people to sign on to this in order for women to not be discriminated against, then men who take out individual plans also need to sign on for maternity coverage? >> when we were told there were so many uninsured americans, from a back door approach, we're paying anyway. i was governor and basically we had emergency rooms and we had workers' comp claims and things of this sort that was basically the only line of defense a person had to get insurance or get coverage. >> right. to get health care. >> that was the costliest

portion of getting it. if we can have a more -- more people involved into health care, more people with healthier lifestyles, the thing i have concerns with is this. the personal accountability and responsibility. we take in medicaid. most states with less than 50% coverage. we have gone from 50% to 133%. there has to be personal accountability and responsibility. a person is just above that, you want to make sure everyone is getting the adequate care. but if we're paying and giving somebody, there has to be quid pro quo responsibility, accountability, not overabuse or use to the point and live a healthy lifestyle. >> but aren't you worried that what you're talking about doing, allowing people, even people who have junk plans that are really cheap but don't really offer anything, in fact, health care experts would say that they're worthless, it's just sneaky business by some insurance companies, some unsavory actors by allowing them to keep this because it's cheaper than what they would pay for actual insurance, you are undermining

this goal you share with the president. >> i think the american people or person who might have the so-called junk plan, at least they made a concerted effort to get something. they thought they needed something. they thought it was adequate or what they could afford. even though we might think the insurance industry took advantage of them. they are going to be able to have more options and shop as we go along and we get further down the road, and what we're saying is if you think you can keep it and you want to keep it and you're happy with it, why not. on the other hand, they're saying wait a minute, we'll give you one year extension because then you're really going to find out it's not the right thing. the market's got to move in then. the market's got to attract me from a junk plan to one that's maybe the same price or not much different, that gives me a lot more protection and coverage. >> did you ever promise anyone, senator, that if they liked their plan they could keep their plan? >> let me just say -- >> did you ever? did you ever promise -- >> me personally? >> yeah. you personally. >> no. i repeated what i heard, the same as the president was saying. >> you thought it was true. >> sure i thought it was true. you know what, if a mistake has been made, the president will

correct that and should correct it. i think he has. if that's what he thinks the correction is, one year, and say the senate, some of us believe it should be in perpetuity and the market will basically bring those people back in, is that another way of being able to make sure we have everybody with adequate insurance. you've got to give the american people some choices here. you got to give them some benefit of the doubt. they can make some decisions, too. >> you came in in 2010, voted for obama care -- >> it was already passed. >> already passed. in 2010 when you said that you would have voted against it -- >> what i had said, i would have voted against the plan the way the plan came out. i didn't think they should go -- i mean, i know the strain the states have on them. states have a balanced budget amendment, 49 states. we have to live within certain guidelines. >> you stand by that? >> well, i really believe the changes -- it went from less than 50% to 133%.

don't you believe 100% would have been a lofty goal? the individual mandate i believe there's a market, i believe the market will be able to attract a young person 26, 27, 28 -- >> so you like it now? you like the health care bill now? >> what do you mean? we have to work it. >> obviously you want to change it. in october 2010, you said that you wouldn't have voted for it. i'm saying now, 2013, seeing everything -- >> we made the 1099 change. there's other changes we put in there. the 40-hour work week. we don't have that in there yet. that needs to be in there. i never heard of a 30 hour work week. i been working all my life. that's two days. >> so do you like it or no? would you vote for it if it came up tomorrow? >> no, we have to change it. we get the changes, yeah. >> last question. we are one month away today from the one year anniversary of the tragedy at sandy hook, the school shooting. you and your republican colleague pat toomey worked very hard on a background check bill. it did not pass the senate. i understand it still is not

making any progress. what's the problem? what's the difficulty you're having convincing your colleagues to support background checks on gun purchasers? >> let me say first i'm a law-abiding gun owner. i love to go hunting and sport shooting and have all my friends in west virginia. it's our culture. >> i remember your ad. you shot a gun, a bullet through an epa bill or something like that. >> the bottom line is i'm a staunch defender of the second amendment rights but also, i'm a responsible law-abiding gun owner. i'm not going to sell my gun to a stranger or to someone who is mentally impaired or give it to a family member who's not responsible. responsible gun owners don't do that. law-abiding gun owners. don't look at me like i've done something wrong or committed a crime because i own a gun. >> im certainly not looking at you like that. >> what i'm saying is as a law-abiding gun owner, want to know that person who wants to buy my gun or if i'm going to buy a gun, they should want to know who i am. i thought it was very reasonable and sensible to say commercial transaction when there's no

personal interaction, have a background check. >> what's the difficulty? >> people do not trust government now. we have lost the trust of government to where the government will just stop there. the people i go hunting and shooting with say we like your bill, your bill's good, there's no problem. we just don't trust government will stop there. >> senator joe manchin, west virginia, thanks. always a pleasure. coming up next, president obama says he's sorry but will americans accept that excuse? that he was kept in the dark about the website problems before the rollout? plus, he was tasked with investigating the secret service sex scandal in welcome. now he's at the center of an investigation of his own after an alleged incident involving a woman and missing bullet in a high end hotel room. stay with us. how much protein does your dog food have? 18 percent? 20? new purina one true instinct has 30. active dogs crave nutrient-dense food.

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welcome back to "the lead." the politics lead now. so what's worse, the president

fumbling the ball or being left in the dark about the potential problems of the rough, rough obama care rollout? >> i was not informed correctly that the website would not be working the way it was supposed to, and i had been informed, i wouldn't be going out saying boy, this is going to be great. you know, i'm accused of a lot of things, but i don't think i'm stupid enough to go around saying this is going to be like shopping on amazon or travelocity. >> let's bring in our panel. former white house press secretary deede myers and former ceo of hewlett-packard, carly fiorina. thank you for being here. explain this from a crisis communication standpoint and also from somebody who was in that building. the president saying i didn't know the website was going to be such a disaster. if i had known, i wouldn't have been out there saying it's going to be like travelocity. >> i think it's a great unanswered question, who knew,

what did they know and when did they know it and why didn't it get communicated up to the top of the chain of command. the white house was doing briefings in the days and weeks just before the rollout, before october 1st and saying yes, there are glitches, those are being fixed, we are putting the information in the computer at night, each evening as we get this information back, and it will be ready to go on d-day, on october 1st. clearly, it wasn't. why wasn't it is a question that i think will continue to be asked. as it was repeatedly in the briefing room today. >> so as a former ceo, if you had gone out there and said a product, the hewlett-packard product, was going to be outstanding and it came out and it was not outstanding, let's just put it that way, and there were top aides of yours, the coo or cfo, and they knew but they didn't tell you, would you fire them? >> yes, but it wouldn't have happened. the reason i say that is because it is a chief executive's job to

fight the isolation that surrounds every chief executive. it is the chief executive's job to make sure that they are informed. the problem i think with this line of "i didn't know," one, it's a continuation of a pattern. i didn't know about the irs targeting conservatives. i didn't know about the justice department targeting journalists. i didn't know the website was a problem. so you're left with only a couple explanations. either he did know and is not telling the truth, or he didn't bother to ask the right questions, which i believe is his job, or his staff knew and didn't tell him. that's not very heart-warming or nobody knew and they are all incompetent. i just think it's a terrible explanation and it has been a pattern of his to say when anything goes wrong, i didn't know. it's his job to know. he's accountable. >> do you think what he did today, extending for one year all these potential cancellations, allowing them to be extended, rather, and saying he didn't know and speaking more as van jones put it earlier

today, more as a person who cares about these individuals as opposed to a lawyer looking for wiggle room as to his previous promise, do you think this puts this to bed? is it over now? >> no, but i do think it was a step in the right direction. it's better than it was. i think we'll see whether this fix will resolve the problem for enough people, how congress will react to it, whether they will seek to make the changes permanent through either the house or senate legislation and whether either of those can pass and be signed. then we'll look at whether this will help the problem. if there's a way to allow people, unclear whether the insurance companies can make this work, to stay on their policies if they like them for a limited period of time is probably a doable thing and it does help. it doesn't answer all the questions, doesn't answer the questions about who know what and when, but it -- but i think the president showed today that he is deeply concerned about this. he understands that they dropped the ball. he said multiple times we fumbled it, it's on us, and it's on them to fix it. >> carly, you and i have spoken before about the republican

obligation to come up with an alternative and you have spoken strongly about it's not enough to tear something down, you have to have your own alternative. republicans right now, what would you advise them to be doing? >> well, first, i would advise them to stay in the game of fixing it. i think that's what they're trying to do. i think fred upton's bill is a way of trying to fix it. i think and i hope that they will continue down the path, the senate and the house saying here are some things we can do to address the concerns of these millions of americans who are losing their policy as an example. but i also think they need now to put forward a broader blueprint that says you know what, let's actually have a competitive marketplace. today what we have are 50 states and there's not sufficient competition. let's restore real competition which is the only force that works to lower costs and increase quality over time and it doesn't exist in the insurance marketplace. >> thank you both so much. really appreciate it. coming up next, chilling recordings from air force one

made moments after president kennedy was assassinated. now the man who restored those tapes is questioning whether americans were ever told the whole story. plus, it's the story that has the internet abuzz. could comedian andy kaufman still be alive? his own brother is the one asking the question and he joins me live in a few minutes. mine was earned orbiting the moon in 1971. afghanistan in 2009. on the u.s.s. saratoga in 1982. [ male announcer ] once it's earned,

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welcome back to "the lead." i'm jake tapper. in the buried lead now, what we call stories we think should be getting more attention, it's a walk of shame that ended up being another shameful moment for the agency in charge of protecting the president. first there was the secret service scandal in april 2012 involving prostitution and drinking before presidential trip to colombia. now a supervissor tasked with getting to the bottom of that scandal is involved in one of his own. two secret service agents on president obama's protective detail are under investigation for possible misconduct. one of them was allegedly busted after an incident at a hotel, a d.c. landmark right next to the white house in which he allegedly met a woman at the hotel bar, took her upstairs, left a few hours later and went

back to retrieve a bullet he accidentally left in her room. the investigation into that incident reportedly uncovered sexually suggestive e-mails that he and another agent sent to a female secret service employee. a few hours ago, the president's acting homeland security secretary was grilled about the supposed boys' club mentality in the service. >> we have found out that similar instances occurred in 17 countries around the world. that's just a limited snapshot. we have had very limited access to individuals that might know better. >> senator ron johnson, republican of wisconsin, also just released a letter demanding that the inspector general for the department of homeland security release the report on the culture of the secret service, 18 months after the colombia incident. next friday will mark a full 50 years since one of the darkest hours in american history, the assassination of president john fitzgerald kennedy. pretty much anyone who was alive on november 22nd, 1963 can tell you exactly where they were when

they heard the news. for younger generations, there are myriad books, movies, tv documentaries and more that have painted the picture for them. but now five decades later, newly discovered tapes are telling the story from a perspective you likely have not heard before. as history and tragedy were unfolding at deeley plaza, communications squawked between the command center, the white house and air force one. >> this is the situation room. i read from the a.p. bulletin kennedy apparently shot in head, he fell face down in back seat of his car, blood was on his head. mrs. kennedy cried oh, no and tried to hold up his head. >> reporter: earlier this year, these rare audio recordings were discovered in the personal effects of general chester clifton jr., a military aide to president john f. kennedy. >> post mortem has to be done by

law. >> they want a post-mortem that needs to be done under law at walter reed. >> reporter: ed primo was tasked with remastering and piecing together the new tape with older copies. >> it's spine-tingling. it gives you goose bumps when you listen to it. >> reporter: the result is an unflinching account of history unfolding in real time. >> that is correct. that is correct. >> we're hearing several commanders communicating logistical information about interrupting everybody's plans because the president was assassinated and what it's going to take to get them to all come together and deal with this disaster. >> the president is on board. the body is on board. >> reporter: on the tapes you can hear the military using code names. lbj is volunteer.

>> that's the volunteer? >> reporter: that swearing in aboard air force one produced this iconic image of lbj with a shaken jackie kennedy by his side. after air force one was in the air, crews could be heard scrambling to sort out logistics. >> volunteer wants a patch with mrs. rose as soon as possible. mrs. rose kennedy. >> reporter: you can even hear lbj passing on condolences to jfk's mother, rose kennedy. >> i wish to god there was something that i could do. i wanted to tell you this. >> reporter: just as interesting

as what is on the tapes is what is not. there are a number of obvious edits. >> i think it's pretty simple, whoever created the tapes had certain parts of the conversations they didn't want anybody to hear. >> its's good for people to listen for themselves and see how things developed. sometimes seeing the roughness of history. >> reporter: john mcadams is a political science professor at marquette university and says these recordings are not likely to be the last pieces of history to surface, even 50 years after the assassination. >> the truth is, a lot of stuff fell between the cracks. this particular tape which was in the possession of general clifton took almost half a century to show up. the historical record on all kinds of fronts is a bit more ragged than one might think. >> as the nation prepares to mark the 50th anniversary of the john f. kennedy assassination, you won't want to miss the premiere of the '60s, the assassination of jfk tonight at

9:00 p.m. eastern only on cnn. coming up, a $3 billion offer from mark zuckerberg isn't cool. know what's cool? turning down $3 billion from mark zuckerberg. facebook tries and fails to buy the next big thing. first, he inspired countless imitators and not one, but two r.e.m. songs. is andy kaufman sitting at home laughing himself silly that we all think he's gone? we'll ask his brother. so there i was again,

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loveable latka from the show "taxi." >> give me the food and clothes and the car and the house with the pool. and the beautiful woman who have a nice body that make you foaming at the mouth. >> his legendary acts included wrestling women, getting into fights with other comedians on air and taking an entire audience out for milk and cookies after a show. these acts and his famous hoaxes were portrayed by jim carrey in "man on the moon." ♪ >> kaufman died in 1984 from lung cancer when he was just 35

years old. ever since then, rumors have circulated that he has in fact faked his own death. perhaps his greatest hoax of all time. almost 30 years after his death, a brand new andy is alive rumor is raging through the internet. just over the past 24 hours, it takes a little explanation. andy's father started an award show years ago to honor rising stars who could have the impact that his son did in the comedic world. this year's ceremony was on monday, the first since andy's father's death. he died over the summer. at the show, andy's brother michael took the stage and said that although he watched his brother die, he now has questions. he talked about finding in his brother's writings plans to fake his own death, then to reappear in 1999 at a certain restaurant. michael says he showed up to the restaurant back then and was handed a letter telling him andy was happily married with two children and didn't want anyone else to know, especially their father. but now with the father gone, have things changed? >> i get a phone call from a

young sounding woman who professes to be his daughter, and so i ask her prove to me that you are who you say you are, and she told me a lot of secrets that andy and i had together, like our secret handshake, the way andy made fun of me for being too nice of a guy. >> he asked if she was in the audience that night and the 24-year-old woman supposedly took the stage and talked briefly about kaufman, the man she claims is her father. she said he never told the family he was a famous comedian and she had to look him up on youtube to learn more. so did michael kaufman reveal the greatest hoax or are we now just victims of another one? joining me now is michael kaufman, andy's brother. thank you so much for being here. we appreciate it. you've said from the beginning that this does not mean you actually believe he's alive. you are still skeptical but it raises questions. what's your take on what

happened on monday night? >> i'm still trying to process it all. there were articles that came out today that have forwarded the action, but you know, regardless, i'm questioning things as much as you and everybody else is. >> i'm sure you know there's a report from the smoking gun website that this woman is an actress and they say that you recruited her to play this role, according to a source of theirs. can you respond to that? is that true? >> that is not true. >> so the smoking gun source is lying, you did not recruit this woman, you never saw her until that moment? >> right. >> and you have no idea who she is? >> right. >> is there a chance that she is scamming you, someone hired her to do this, this is a hoax of some sort and you're now part of the hoax inadvertently? >> now that it's thursday, not

monday anymore, i believe i am part of the hoax. whether she, you know, i don't believe that she's acting on her own, though. but you know, that's all i know. >> do you know how to reach her? maybe she could have a dna test, as i believe someone in the audience suggested. >> right. i did not know how to reach her but now that did you say smoking gun, i'm sure there's a way of reaching her now. >> so just to reiterate, you now don't think that it's true? you think that this is a hoax and you were a victim of the hoax? >> correct. >> okay. is this an homage to your brother, because he was known for tricks? i heard a story that your late father told one time about his first trick, hiding in the back of a car as your parents went into new york city for a date and halfway across the bridge, he jumped out and said hello, and he loved to do tricks on people from that moment on. is it possible that this is in

that sentiment, in that vein, or is this cruel? is this mean, if this were my brother who had died and somebody was pretending he was alive, it would bother me. >> you know, even on monday night at the andy kaufman award show, we showed my father who had addressed the audience in 2009 and he was talking about andy being a hard child to raise, and he said maybe the whole thing was a put-on. so even andy being a bad child may have been a put-on, my father was conjecturing. >> all right. so you don't think this is true. you think that this woman is not his daughter. does it make you angry at all, or are you still just kind of stunned? >> i'm still processing it. you know, as andy's brother, you learn over the years, you know, to go with the flow, kind of, and so i have mixed emotions now. i never allowed myself to get

too excited. i was always slightly skeptical. so i'm not coming down that far. and i think you had said there's something nice about this for andy, you know, and as the brother, you know, i put my own feelings aside. and you know -- >> because we're now talking about andy kaufman years after his death so you're willing to be hurt even in the name of this kind of bizarre homage to your brother? is that what you're trying to say? >> yes. i can't be hurt more than i was in 1984. remember, i was there in 1984. i was at andy's deathbed. when andy told me, he told me on christmas eve 1983 that he had cancer and he told me not to tell anybody, not even the family, especially not my father because my mother was ill and he thought my father had enough on

his hands, so andy's famous for telling me to keep secrets, but i saw andy, i saw him emaciated, i saw him die and i even saw him in the casket. the casket is the least of all of them because my father passed away this summer and it didn't look anything like him. i think the wax museum does a better job than whatever those people are called who get people ready for a coffin. >> morticians. i don't want to rudet lost you father and your brother was a genius and you lost him as well. but i just, as a reporter, i find it very difficult to believe that you weren't part of this in some way because one of the things that was so convincing about this story is you being so convinced by it. >> i'm convinced by it because of what happened 14 years ago and now i'm starting to even doubt that.

>> in 1999, the letter that you received when you showed up at that restaurant. >> yes. >> what exactly did that letter say? >> it said that -- i actually have a copy of it with me. you want me to read it? or paraphrase it? >> if you could paraphrase it. >> i'm sorry for all the pain i must have inflicted on, and he mentions family members. hope you can understand my reason. number two, he writes number two first, for the heck of it, and number one, to have a life. there was too much pressure to be andy kaufman. i just wanted to be andy. i think that's why i got sick. i hado change completely and ickly. so you know, the letter goes on but that's his reason. please don't tell anybody, me especially dad, not a soul until after he dies. >> well, even if this was just a nice way to honor yr brother, it was nice having you on the show.

i suppose before you go, sir, what do you want people to remember about andy kaufman so many years after he's gone and with this renewed interest in him because of this young woman and this bizarre episode? >> remember that andy, he was a genius, he was also a good guy, where most people think he was a problem, but he was actually a good guy, a pleasure to work with, and he's left behind a legacy of all the people who compete in the andy kaufman award. kristen shull and reggie watts attribute the award as giving them the impetus to go forward. harry trajeanian who just won did what andy couldn't accomplish onstage. so it's beautiful, the legacy he's leaving behind is beautiful regardless of what is the truth with all this. >> whether or not i'm a victim of a hoax, michael kaufman, thank you for your time.

condolences on your father. i hope we honored your brother a little bit today. >> thank you, jake. coming up on "the lead," he's the ceo of a company that makes no money and facebook just reportedly offering him $3 billion for the company. so why did the 23-year-old turn it down? plus, it's a moment in time that permanently changed this country. how would things be different if president kennedy had not been assassinated? where is flo? anybody know where flo is? are you flo? yes. is this the thing you gave my husband? well, yeah, yes. the "name your price" tool. you tell us the price you want to pay, and we give you a range of options to choose from. careful, though -- that kind of power can go to your head. that explains a lot. yo, buddy! i got this. gimme one, gimme one, gimme one! the power of the "name your price" tool. only from progressive. customer erin swenson ordebut they didn't fit.line

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welcome back to "the lead." house democrats are emerging right now from a meeting with white house chief of staff dennis mcdonnough on capitol hill after president obama nounsnouns announces his plan to allow people to keep their plans for a year. >> -- a gentleman who was frustrated, spent some three hours trying to navigate the website. and he was not pleased that he had to wait three hours. but after three hours he found that he ended up saving $6,000.

so no one should have to wait three hours to find out if they are going to be able to qualify for quality affordable health care. everybody wants to save $6,000. that's why we're here. we want americans to save money on health insurance. more importantly, we want the millions of americans who could never say they could afford it to buy health insurance, let alone save money, have access to those doctors and those hospitals that are so important for their children and themselves. so we're here to say we will do everything we can to make our health security law work and work well. when there is an opportunity to improve it, we will work with the president and with our colleagues in congress to make that happen. on the other hand, we understand that speaker boehner today announced that the bill that the house republican majority will put on the floor of the house tomorrow isn't for the purposes of improving the new health security law. it isn't for the purpose of trying to help americans who are

trying to secure health insurance through the new marketplaces. it's for the purpose of moving towards once again repealing the affordable care act. so this will be, what, the 46th time that republicans have tried to repeal all or part of the health security law that americans now can count on so they won't be discriminated against for pre-existing conditions, to make sure that their children if they're under 26 can stay on their health insurance policy, to make sure that seniors continue to watch as that doughnut hole for payment of their prescription drugs evaporates to zero so they don't have to pay so much out of pocket. that's what we want to do. we want to continue to see health insurance coverage improve for americans and that's why we're pleased we can join with the president to say that we're ready to improve on the affordable care act. >> that was the congressman from california, democrat, part of the democratic leadership, talking about the affordable care act after speaking with white house chief of staff. we will take a quick break. when we come back, a little more

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welcome back to "the lead." now the money lead. what's the real sign that you hit it big? getting a $3 billion offer for your company or being in position to turn that offer down? facebook reportedly tried to buy snapchat for $3 billion but the 23-year-old founder replied thanks but no thanks, because he's holding out for a better deal. snapchat lets you share pictures and videos that permanently disappear within a matter of seconds. unlike facebook where you get inundated with friend requests, snapchats core audience is teens and college students. to borrow a line, there are sadly many dates in american history that will live in infamy. for an entire generation of americans, one of those days is november 22nd, 1963, the day president kennedy was gunned

down in dallas. tonight, a new cnn film looks back on that infamous day almost 50 years ago, the assassination of president kennedy premieres tonight at 9:00 p.m. on cnn. i had the chance to talk to one of the country's most celebrated historians and asked her about kennedy's lasting influence. so you wrote the book "the fitzgeralds and the kennedys." >> i did. >> 50 years after his assassination, how does jfk still influence things? >> it's astonishing how those pictures, if we hadn't had a world of photography and film, i'm not sure the memory would be as strong as it is right now because he did only have three years in the presidency. but popular people still remember what he looked like as a young man and the idea that he was cut short at that moment of glamour when america was feeling optimistic about the world, when we felt that private people could care about public lives and the peace corps and poverty, there was a sense of a mood of destiny in that generation and when it was cut short, i think

there will always be a romantic feeling about it. >> in fact, so romantic that at least two authors, stephen king and jeff greenfield, have written books about what might have been had kennedy survived. >> exactly. in fact, i talked to both when they were writing the books. it was fun to think about what if. >> what do you think would have been? >> i think it would have been different. there's no question. on the one hand, i got to say for lbj, the guy i knew when i was 24 years old and who i have enormous affection for, i'm not sure that jfk would have been able to get the civil rights bill through the congress. would he have been able to get voting rights bill, medicare. i think lbj had a brilliance with the congress that jfk wouldn't have. but it's very possible that jfk was a more rational person than lbj. it's possible when the war was spiraling out of control, he might have said enough and he might have cut it short earlier. that would have made such a difference in the country. but we don't know. he might not have. >> make sure to follow me on twitter. check out our show page at cnn.com/thelead for videos,

blogs and extras. we also have a page on facebook. i'm jake tapper. join us tomorrow at 4:00 eastern for my interview with actor and activist matt damon. i turn you over to wolf blitzer right next door in "the situation room." happening now, the president opens up. >> i'm not a perfect man and i will not be a perfect president. >> an apology and a proposed fix. can it save obama care? i'll talk to an insurance industry insider who says the president's plan could destabilize the market and make matters even worse. plus, debating the obama care debacle. congresswoman michele bachmann getting ready to square off against paul begala. i'm wolf blitzer. you're in "the situation room." it's a snowballing debacle that has the white house u