Time says Marco Rubio is the GOP savior, but is it so?

>>> welcome back. 32 past the hour. joining us now, "time" magazine managing editor rick stengel who is here to reveal the latest issue of "time."

>> let me just say, if there is a political equivalent of the " sports illustrated " jinx which means when you declare somebody the national champ in waiting, they, of course, have a complete collapse.

>> are you saying, joe , that i did that deliberately?

>> i'm not saying that. i'm just saying we're going to reveal this, and you have completely doomed this guy.

>> i feel bad about it.

>> were you thinking the same thing? please, this is the worst thing you can do for anybody. the guy is going to be selling popsicle sticks that he has handpainted in south beach in two years.

>> no.

>> because of this cover. this is a curse!

>> i did that for you, joe . because really, so many people regard you as the republican savior. i wanted to jinx the other guy from florida.

>> if it ever comes through your mind, please do not put me on the cover of "time" magazine. tell everybody who we have here.

>> just saying, we have marco rubio on the cover of "time."

>> show the cover, guys.

>> marco rubio .

>> the man who may actually help bridge a deal on immigration, which is so important to this nation and obviously to president obama as well. but talking about the "time" jinx, joe .

>> yes.

>> we put barack obama on the cover in 2006 before he declared saying the man who may be the next president.

>> however, my first --

>> by joe kline.

>> i went many, many years with rick. the first cover i ever wrote for "time" i was so proud of it, was called " john connelly , hot on the trail."

>> i was just going to say, we're also going to have to do the four times that "time" predicted harold strasman was going to win it.

>> jimmy carter . that was good.

>> and we did my old boss, bill bradley .

>> he did not get the nomination.

>> oh, he lost.

>> i think it's the walter jinx. not the "time" jinx.

>> there you go.

>> let's talk about this. the republican savior. that's awfully bold. was that more of a marketing move, or do you guys really believe that marco rubio is the republican savior?

>> it's a discussion point. there's a little bit ironic, too, because of course people are looking -- you know, people on the left in a way are looking more for a republican savior than people on the right. i'm not even sure that republicans regard themselves as needing a savior.

>> we need something.

>> rubio is interesting because he is, as we saw, he's extremely conservative on fiscal issues, on so many social issues. he voted against the debt ceiling deal. he is a fiscal conservative . at the same time, on an issue like immigration, because the personal becomes political in his case. he is looking at what is best for america in terms of bringing these folks, many of whom didn't come here, you know, on their own steam, came here as young children. these people are americans just the way his family was. i mean, turns out that his grandfather was an undocumented immigrant . and because of special legislation that we have regarding cubans, the 1966 cuban refugee law , you know, he was allowed to become a citizen. so he is the beneficiary of this. he knows that we, of course, are a nation of immigrants. i think it will move him more towards the middle and move him as a person who can reconcile left and right.

>> speak offing of immigrants, what is the back story -- i know there was cloudiness early on about his story about his family, about his upbringing. what have you cleared up there?

>> well, michael grunwald wrote our story , and he cites this biography of came out on rubio i believe last year which actually determined that the grandfather was an undocumented immigrant who came from cuba. but again, because of the cold war , because of what was -- the post- cuban missile crisis era, he was grandfathered in, as it were, as a citizen which couldn't have happened if he was a mexican or el salvadorian or whatever. because he was cuban.

>> what about the concerns that he sort of isn't mature enough in politics?

>> you know, richard haass , one of your frequent guests, had me come to the council last year and do a q&a with rubio on foreign policy . i found him amazingly astute and mature to ask a question and understanding of foreign policy issues that was actually deep and subtle. i don't -- you know, he's very youthful looking, but he feels like an old soul at the same time. despite the fact that he likes hip-hop.

>> you're really selling this guy. those are some bold words.

>> i want to kind of override the jinx.

>> the jinx.

>> it's a big one. you also talk about the contenders. some great pictures in here of academy award contenders. here, of course, is hugh jackman and anne hathaway from " les mis ."

>> it's a photo gallery of folks up for the academy awards . but the theme of the story which jessica winters wrote is really about how so many of the most important films of the year this year meld fact and fiction. they meld history and contemporary events. that's kind of a new thing. it's an old thing, but it's a new thing this year. of course, we had kathryn bigelow on the cover a few weeks ago.

>> yes, you did. is that a bear?

>> sally field . this is lovely.

>> i love the sally field picture and i love the story that spielberg gave about them not wanting to cast sally field , and then she called up and basically, "it's my role. this is my role whether you know it or not, spielberg."

>> that's a great story .

>> i guess he said that he had to go -- she had to go out and talk to daniel day -lewis. they were, like, yeah, okay.

>> she was right.

>> she was right. holy cow !

>> the bear on a tightrope. "time" magazine.

>> always on a tightrope.

>> that is the story of my life .

>> metaphor for joe .

>> we all feel that way.

>> that is a bear walking on a tightrope.

>> and donny --

>> look at the bored trainer sitting in the chair over there who's so used to looking at the bear on the tightrope.

>> donny , why does this picture speak to you? how does that make you feel?

>> kind of a metaphor for --

>> please, don't give him any time to talk.

>> weaving through the treacherous paths of life.

>> god.

>> so walter , do you miss "time"? what do you miss the most?

>> i do. one of the things rick has done, what donny has talked about, light box . "time" is always good at, in an age of video and the internet, to say the still photograph can still move you. and by starting light box , that's one of the many things you've done. also, i had his job, so i know how hard it is. but doing the drone story last week. i remember a couple weeks ago seeing it come out online. it sets a tone for what we're discussing. as for rubio, the whole thing -- the whole narrative of american history is who can make us feel more inclusive. and i think that's one of the things the republican party is grappling with now is if you exude exclusivity, you're not going to bring people in if you include inclusivity. it's that simple. and that's what this guy does.

>> inclusivity, a "time" word? you see why walter was the editor of time. he was the great modern editor.

>> i was going to ask him about his time at "time." what was your most memorable moment?

>> other than doing the cover story on john connelly that set the tone for that campaign?

>> yeah.

>> my most memorable moment, i decided to take a year off to go do some more reporting. and i was in eastern europe in the shipwith regard whyard when the revolt s were going on, got to meet the revolutionary leader, knocked on the door of their apartment and they were talking about what was going on happen in those revolutions. and you see the freeflow of information whether it's a fax machine to satellite tv or cnn breaking the stranglehold of power on eastern europe .

>> that's really cool.

>> you talked to him in '80, '81 --

>> solidarity.

>> -- could you tell at that moment that --

>> absolutely.

>> -- history was turning, that it was about to be bent?

>> here's what you can tell, which i worry about the current twitter and facebook revolutions. you can tell that there was a movement happening but with real leaders who had been tested by standing on the gates of the shipyard or going to jail as javel had done. and this is another story that you did when you did the man of the year on it, tend to be leaderless. they don't have somebody forged by fire leading them. and that was the big difference of the revolutions of the '80s and the fall of communism .

>> all right. the new cover of "time" is "the republican savior." rick stengel, thank you so much. walter , thank you as well.

>> it's always good to be on with a great successful editor.

>>> up next, " morning joe " theater guru, jordan roth takes us behind the scenes of barry