we stay focused on positive messaging. >> carl, thanks so much. >> thank you for starting your morning with us. >> yeah. "inside politics" with john king starts right now. make some good memories today. first, conservatives call for a coup against speaker of the house john boehner because of his surrender in the debt ceiling showdown. >> don't have 218 votes, you have nothing. >> tea party darling ted cruz forces a senate vote that could cost his boss gop leader mitch mcconnell his job. nasty public battles in the tea party versus the establishment civil war. why do so many republicans feel better than ever about 2014? and it's back to the future week for hillary clinton. >> i suppose i could have stayed home and baked cookies and had it's. >> an insight into clinton's take on her husband, monica

lewinsky. "inside politics," the biggest sourced sourced by the best reporters now. welcome to "inside politics." i'm john king. thanks for sharing your sunday. with us to share their reporting may breston of the wims, robert costa and hana lowry of the "new york times." imagine this, you stand up after the boss' big presentation and you tell your boss take a hike or imagine being told there's an easy way to avoid a big problem but inside you force your boss to publicly take a position you know might cost him his job. well, welcome to the world of john boehner and mitch mcconnell. in today's republican party, being the leader means being the pinata and the people with big sticks are fellow republicans. the tea party versus establishment is nothing n but tensions spilled over big time in the fight over the debt ceiling. could the government borrow more

money to pay its bills, embarrassing and humiliating, ugly in some ways for boehne and mcconnell and yet at the end of the week some say the republicans are in better shape than ever. >> the republicans are in better shape because they are getting this fiscal fight behind them. the debt limit is extended until march of 2015, and you real have still an internal battle within the battle about expectations for divided government. the right, conservatives, they want concessions from the white house and democrats, but boehner and mcconnell, they live in political reality, and they say that's just not possible with the white house and senate democrats who don't want to negotiate. >> they avoid a land mine. the conclusion is the voters won't remember come november, but some conservatives say primary, anybody who voighted to raise the debt ceiling, not a lot, to you dozen in the hand and a handful in the senate, primary them. how long is this going to play out? >> that was so interesting yesterday to see them kind of try to walk in lockstep this week when they -- when they took that final vote, and what you're

seeing here is boehner trying to take one for the team and move on to the obamacare issue which is a much better issue for them going forward and something they will be want to be talking about this year. >> pretty breezy singing "zipity doo-dah. in the in the in "the house of cards" you do this to the leader you end up in the river or dumpster. in the old days, lbj cut off your financing and put you on the widget committee. can you do retribution in today's politics? >> you can. i think boehner thinks what more can he do with this group of people in the house, and that's why he thinks he's done the right thing for the pare, averted fiscal disaster and helped the party in the mid-term elections. he just can't deal with this small segment of the party. >> i think mcconnell is furious at cruz for the vote. >> the senate is a different beast and mcconnell has been there a long time. the rules and protocol matter. cruz isn't just, you know, any republican senator, a freshman

republican senator, he's new. he's done this before. they still blame him for the government shutdown, and the point from the leadership is when is he going to get it? they view him as harmful, but if you're ted cruz the grass roots thinks you're great. >> yeah, absolutely. ted cruz caused a problem he didn't have to cause. didn't have to be an issue. it became a real thorn in the side. for john boehner the good political calculus is he's turning the page faster. had this excruciating process in the fall where it was taking them weeks to bring people on board. here he saw he wasn't going to get 218, and he just moved forward. that was it. it was over really, really fast and i think he sees that as strategically much better. they get to move on, lake maeve said,ish to use that matter. >> conservatives felt the speaker should have gotten something, learning yourself against the president. the president has negotiated in the past, but listen to the president here. one of the reasons boehner surrendered and mcconnell did what he had to do, this is him answering our brianna keilar, he

wasn't budging here. >> i'm willing to have a constructive conversation of the sort we had in resolving the issues, but i've got to assume folks aren't crazy enough to start that thing all over again. >> folks aren't crazy enough to start that all over again. robert, he's thinking we've been through this before, especially with the government shutdown and knew the governments didn't essentially have the guts to do this again. >> the problem for the republicans a lot is they live in this 2011 mindset, swept to the house majority in 2010 and were able to get some concessions in 2011 with the sequester, but right now after the president won re-election in 2012, the president is in a better political position, has more political capital and doesn't need to yield much. >> better political capital, and if you take the six-year mid-term election, things against the president and his approval rate is down and some could say this week was the best numbers for obamacare. enrollment for young people.

is there any risk for the republicans if they put all the eggs in the obamacare basket if the perception gets better and the economy gets a little bit better, could the situation as we see now look different as we get closer to november? >> the democrats have lost the pr war thus far about obamacare. you had the completely botched rollout, the real disappointing numbers, all of these political fights and the employer mandate, all of these other issues. you're going to start getting the good news stories. it will start covering more people you'll get the grandma who says i got obamacare and two weeks later i found out i had cancer. thank you, barack obama. but i think that nevertheless sentiment is still really, really fixed, and i think it's going to be hard for all of those good news stories to sort of make up the deficit about the bad news. >> and the obama administration frankly since they took office has been very good about communicating their economic accomplishments and despite the intraparty stuff we see in the republican party they have been pretty good messengers on this

economic stuff. they really set the terms of the debate for these economic debates. >> on the obamacarish urk the other thing that the administration has done is really push their political problems down the road. we've seen delay after delay. those were the really bad stories that were going to come out this year, you know, the small, the medium size employers who will talk about how they are having to pare back the workforce. they are pushing that down the pike and maybe hillary clinton has to talk about that. >> talk about ground how long day, immigration and health care in 2011, 2012 and now again here in 2014. we're having a conversation in washington, but if you go to louisiana or arkansas or the places where the key senate races are this year, is it too late, even if obamacare from february to november is more of a success story, is it locked in? >> i don't see democrats like mark begich in alaska or kay hagen starting now because of these positive stories to start

running on obamacare. it won't happen and the gop is going to stay fixated on this issue in 2014. immigration is not happening. tax reform is not happening, given up on entitlement reform this year so what else. >> and obamacare isn't exactly separate from the economy and the president's approval rating, is you know, at its lowest point of the presidency so if the economy continues to stagnate and the president continues to be in the 40s, once we hit september, october, november, to your point, none of the red state democrats are going to be -- >> almost like obamacare is a theological issue at this point. they either think that it's good or bad or hurt their family even if it has nothing to do with their family, and so for the change of that perception is a big ask. >> and they are not really good explaining what the law does, explaining the benefits and the upsides and downsides. they were really detailed and technical and once again the obama administration had a

difficulty saying this is the positive effect. >> not to bring in -- maybe it will be like the election in 2012, they will bring in bill clinton to explain. >> when we get mad we lash out. hillary clinton's good friend wrote it all down. is that good news for 2016 or trouble? and goes to work in seconds. ♪ tum, tum tum tum tums! ♪ ♪ so you can get out of your element. so you can explore a new frontier and a different discipline. get two times the points on travel and dining at restaurants from chase sapphire preferred. so you can be inspired by great food once again.

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welcome back. our puzzle this week, piecing together the many looks and many roles of hillary clinton and posing this question. will an old friend's candid notes of their conversations help or haunt a 2016 clinton white house run? first a trip down memory lane. 1992, a diner in chicago. the first lady of arkansas in those days answering questions

about her law work. why was she a high-powered corporate lawyer when her governor was the governor of arkansas? >> i suppose i could have stayed home and baked cookies and had teas. >> 16 years later, a united states senator, democratic candidate for president, bowing out of the race. barack obama wins but hillary clinton suggests women win, too. >> although we weren't able to shatter that highest, hardest glass ceiling this time, thanks to you it's got about 18 million cracks in it. >> more recently neither end of her tenure as secretary of state, defending herself and her department, after the deaths of four americans in benghazi. >> was it because of a protest, or because of guys out for a walk one night who decided they would go kill some americans? what difference at this point does it make? >> many looks, many roles for hillary clinton over the year so perhaps no surprise.

she's had a bit of a roller coaster when it comes to public opinion. let's look at some highs and lows. one early high, look right here. bill clinton just inaugurated as president, the country warming to its new president and its first lady. look, she's near 80% right there, but didn't take too long. here's the low, 1996. the rose law firm where she worked in arkansas, some of her law records mysteriously disappeared and suddenly showed up at the white house. immediately under subpoena by the independent counsel, ken starr. his investigation remember started about clinton family finances. a couple years later, back above 50. a political high point of sorts, imbeachmo -- impeachment, monic lewinsky, people support her and mad at him. 60% early in the obama administration, and even a lot of republicans came to admire her work as secretary of state traveling the globe representing the united states. now these new notes.

the diane blair foils and the question asked is this. are keep cans who say hillary clinton's past is the way to block her from living in the white house in the future? smart strategy? >> not a smart strategy. i mean, you can bring this stuff up. you can churn it up, but when you talk to republican opposition researchers who really are going to be the ones that are doing the digging, they say you have to find something new, you have to find something fresh. voters when they heard all of this before has a much more limited effected the republicans have the opportunity of overreaching like going too far into the far, far past, as we've seen in the past it makes her look like a victim. >> republicans overreaching when it comes to the clinton, that's impossible. >> and yet we're talking about the past. >> right. >> and aren't elections about the future? >> right. >> and that's is what was sophisticated, you bring this issue up and splash it you a cross websites and tv, pictures of the rose law firm and the clintons, and you know, just

raising the specter of the baggage and raising money. >> no question republicans can use these issues to riley their base. they aren't going to vote for hillary clinton anyway. did we learn anything fundamentally new, get great new quotes and color but anything more about the character of the person and here's one of them. this is interesting. the first lady asked a close friend and confidant on advice how best to preserve her general memories of the administration and in health care in particular? when asked why? clinton said revenge. we don't like vengeful politicians, been through this chris christie's policies. does it hurt her? >> it's very impressionistic. one data point will build a large picture and if this makes her seem like a political sleaze ball from the '90s it will be pretty powerful in the primaries.

i don't think it will have an effect in the primaries. during a general election, sure. >> a show of hands at the table if anyone thinks access to the diane blair files and recycling all of this is going to lead somebody credible to decide i can challenge hillary clinton in the democratic primaries. seeing no hand. >> it will be some ambitious democrat, not a well-known democrat who sees this sense of clinton nostalgia among democrats and antagonism among the republicans saying that's my opening. there is going to be space that someone can represent the new democrats. >> one thing that seems to be pretty resonant from 2016 is the membere from stan greig bertha said voters perceive hillary clinton as a little bit chilly, not sure what to think of her and secondly they are skeptical of a co-presidency that you get a two for one. this came up a bit in 2008 for bill clinton and hillary clinton. >> i remember when it came up in

1992. this is my favorite, cnn team in fayetteville pulled this out of the diane blair files. according to blair clinton told her when the clintons are done with this, meaning her husband's presidency, the first lady will go be a kindergarten teacher and never have to hold hands on the hill again. she denieded not to be a kindergarten teacher. >> i think that, first of all, is not a surprise, but i think also that some of what these files showed was a little bit of that real hillary clinton that actually some people like. i'm not going to put up the facade, be something that i'm no. i hate, you know, the hand holding pictures, and i think to some extent that humanize her a little bit, kind of makes her more interesting to voters. >> when i went through the polling, robert, saw the high point after secretary of state. that's the fundamental question for her. she wants tonight president, the first female president but does she want to go through that again and become a polarizing figure like she was in the '90s and to a degree when she ran for president in 2008? here's something in the blair files that tell us how hillary clinton used this. talking about after impeachment,

they go out to dinner, bill and hillary and chelsea, go out to a play, public appearances and they survived impeachment and republicans are back on their heels. this is what tries the adversaries totally nuts, that they don't bend. they don't appear to be suffering. if you remember those days that did drive republican nut. how did bill and hillary clinton survive all of that? >> my big takeaway from reading these files is that the clintons play tough, play political hardball. democrats thinking about challenging her in the primary may remember this and republicans, this is still the clinton machine. you go at them and better win. >> despite there's no old news, one thing that these files crystallize is the lack of coherent response and messaging from the clinton universe. they keep saying she's a private citizen. we're not going to respond to e-mails. we're not going to address this. this might not be a bad story for her but the clinton people are not in the conversation. they say they are not going to

be, you know, until she runs for president perhaps and that's a problem. plenty of republicans to rand paul who are absolutely willing to flub the zone with negative clinton stuff and they better be better equipped at responding to them. >> instead of the shadow group, the hangers on around her coming out and defending and speaking for hillary clinton world when really they are not actually in it, and that's a dangerous way to go. >> and it is strategic in the sense that they want this to kind of peter out. want to get all of this stuff out there so it's not just from 20 years ago. that's from six months ago. focus on that new hillary. you can criticize the strategy but i think there's a strategy there. >> we couldn't get a response from her of course, and she has not answered any of this directly, but she did do an event on thursday morning with her daughter. listen to this, hillary clinton thinks before she speaks, and she knows people want to know what she thinks about the blair files and all this focus on her. listen. >> one of the best pieces of advice that i've ever heard from anyone is eleanor roosevelt in the 1920s who said that, you

know, women in politics or in public roles should grow skin like a rhinoceros. i think there's some truth to that. >> and eleanor roosevelt didn't know about twitter. good advice, skin like a rhinoceros? does she have it? some say she's thin-skinned. >> i think she's trying to give the image of having a skin like ary no russ. i think annie is right. the hillary clinton strategy, all this noise starts to become an issue for her. how did she stay elevated above the conversation? how in 2014 can she help out democrats in strategic races and stay above the fray so she can enter strong? >> she's working on a book, too, so she will try to reshape this and steer the conversation back to where she wants to get it. everybody stay put. next our reporters empty their notebooks, including you won't want to miss this, a coming judgment day at chris christie. a glimpse at tomorrow's news today next. i asked my husband to pay our bill, and he forgot.

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welcome back. our goal here is to keep you ahead of the curve of the big political stories so every week we ask our reporters to share a nugget from their notebooks. annie. >> this week one thing i noticed thinking about the debt ceiling one thing that got put on the table is tinkering again with the sequester oh, tending it further. become this cookie jar that i think we'll keep on coming back to because it's a forever policy even though they have tweak it had a little bit. >> otherwise you have to shape a budget. >> exactly. >> ten years in the future. it's nice. always ten years from now. >> democrats and the "new jersey star ledger" can editorialize

all they want, the only thing that would compel republicans to move chris christie from the rga is money. did he raise enough money? has he raised enough money? has the scandal in new jersey become a distraction? raised money in chicago and texas last week, did a pretty good job. this week he has a meeting, private meeting with the republican governors executive committee, a meeting that will include rivals rick perry and bobby jindal and will present to them their 2014 strategy and how much money he has raised. and we'll see what comes out of that meeting, but that's going to be the real test for him whether he stays in that position. barring a further -- >> the real jury of his peers, you might say. >> maeve? >> mother judgment day coming up for chris christie which is cpac which is coming up, the conservative gathering at the beginning of march. he generally -- that audience has been very cool to him, but the one interesting thing that we've seen in the polling is that while his numbers have slid among independents, democrats, all those folks that he was strong with before, it actually -- his numbers have

gone up a little bit among the core republican group, so do they give him a warmer, you know, reception and see him as a victim and embrace him as their own going forward? >> or pulls a newt and attacks the media. >> rally around. >> keep an eye on senator ted cruz. his path to 2016 presidential candidate campaign starts very soon. he heads to iowa in march. he'll headline a rally for home schoolers, and then in april he'll be in new hampshire. cruzsy think following the huckabee model, the rick santorum model of being the anti-establishment candidate well ahead of times and have the grass roots organization. >> mine is a couple weeks ago the governor of georgia blew the response to the snow storm there? i'll call this the diehl effect. eight governors declaring states of emergency a stay or more before the snow reached their state. that's a reaction. politicians react to one of their own when they fall down. that's it for this week's "inside politics." again, thanks for sharing your

sunday morning with us. "state of the union" with candy crowley starts right now. peace talks in geneva all but collapse while syria implodes. today, the syrian government lays waste to rebel-held territories. anti-government forces turn on each other, and militants islamists use the chaos to get a foothold. >> it's pad fbad for the region. it is bad for global national security. >> it's more than that and should be an affront to our conscience. >> more than 9 million people have fled their homes and an estimated 135,000 are dead. senator john mccain joins us on the horrific humanitarian problem in syria. and closer to home, his thoughts on whether republicans are blowing the mid-term