with the leader of the yes campaign in scotland, and that the leader of the yes campaign in scotland demands a debate with somebody who does not have a vote. [interruption] in these circumstances, does the prime minister agree with me that, in politics as in shipbuilding, empty vessels make the most noise? >> hear, hear! >> i am not finished! >> more! >> there is more. [laughter] without seeking to give offence to the prime minister, may i tell him that the last person scots who support the no campaign want as their representative is a tory toff from the home counties, even one with a fine haircut?

>> i accept every part of the hon. gentleman's question. i well remember when he came to question time not with an empty vessel but with a model of the vessel that he wanted to be built near his constituency, and i am proud that the government is building that vessel and, indeed, another one like it. i also accept, humbly accept that, while i am sure there are many people in scotland who would like to hear me talk about this issue, my appeal does not stretch to every single part. but the key point that he is making is absolutely right. the reason the yes campaign head and the no campaign head cannot seem to get a debate is that those who want to break up the united kingdom, they know they are losing the argument, so they want to change the question. it is the oldest trick in the book, and we can all see it coming. >> order. >> you have been watching "prime ministers questions" from the

house of commons. on sunday nights at 9:00 p.m. eastern and pacific on c-span, and you can watch anytime at c-span.org, or you can find video of other prime ministers questions and other british programs. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2014] [captioning performed by national captioning institute] "washingtonxt flournoy willele discuss the united states and in rat, followed by ricardo alonso- zaldivar, talking about health care spending, and then the more than 50 year history for providing help to poor people. " is live atjournal 7:00 a.m. eastern on c-span.

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sunday roundtable including a longtime democratic party strategist and also a political commentator on cnn. welcome back to the "washington journal." with a couplein of headlines. there is this from politico this morning, tying in outgoing virginia governor bobby donald gop'sis christie, the tarnished golden boys, both republican golden boys, bob mcdonnell facing a far graver situation as he left office yesterday, and then there is this, a model search for a gop leader, the bridge scandal that has engulfed governor chris christie has also brought more destruction to the already model stages of the republican search for a 2016 nominee. we are talking about 2016, and we have just barely

creep into 2014, so we have a long way to go. clinton was the nominee two years, it's a funny thing happened on the 20th of january, so the notion that this step should be settled in advance is just silly, on the one hand, and on the other hand, it is probably good to have somebody that is sort of leading the charge, but i am not a chris christie fan, nor am i not a fan, but one of the things is that because he is where he is on the continuum, he does not have anyone guarding his flanks. nobody on the left wants to help, and nobody on the right ones to help, so he is out there , naked on his own. host: the rnc chair will be talking about this. he will be defending him and republicans.

what would you expect to hear? guest: i think he'll say the republicans are better for the country the democrats. one of the problems that i have with my party is that we have become the party of no. i have been insisting among my friends in the house that they come up with reasonable alternatives. they just have not been able to do that. i will stop here. the issue i have with republicans, at least congressional republicans, is that if they want the country to trust them with article one, they have to show some actual concrete plans moving forward. and they have just not done that. host: this headline from the huffington post -- chris christie could be impeached. that is if he knew about what was happening. there's also this from the new jersey ledger.

guest: that is typical. host: pointing out more subpoenas. guest: there is no question that this is not the end. we have barely scratched the surface. that is the problem. right now, there is nothing tying him to what happened personally. the big problem here, which we see pointed out in many of the articles that we are seeing written about him, is what was it about him that created this culture among his advisers? we have been principles to very high officeholders. the closest advisors, the inner circle, normally reflects the values. for his deputy chief of staff to

have thought that it was ok to do this, in such a brazen manner, to have e-mailed the way that she did, ordering the traffic lanes to be shut down -- how does one person do it by themselves? that is another question. if you look at his press conference, he painted himself not as the buck stops here, but as i was blindsided and humiliated. like a victim. that does not coincide with the kind of image he himself has worked so hard to project. lots of questions there. it does not mean he will be tied to this. it reflects his leadership style in terms of that brazenness. a lot of people love it, but a lot of people criticize it. i think he has issues. guest: let me just help. the question is not so much his leadership style.

i think if he were the governor of somewhere else, it would be different, but this is new jersey. guest: maybe people do not want the kind of new jersey -- and that is house, the problem. guest: that is quite possible. between a wimp and a bully, which one would you want? host: before the story unfolded, we talked but how it would play out. this is from the new york times. the eye in chris christie's storm. from the washington post, the new jersey narcissist, pointing out that he used the word "i" 692 times. i will get your response. "me," 83 times.

his greatest obstacles are his own self regard and his blindness to the idea that he may have erred. pointing out that during his keynote speech, he talked more about himself than mitt romney. guest: chris christie is chris christie. you'll like him or not like him. he makes that clear. i guarantee that where he would play well is against south carolina. if you want ugly politics, that is the heartland. after they kill somebody dead politically, they look over and say he did not have to run. guest: the problem is, in terms of presidential, voters want to know that you're doing this for them. christie is all about christie. one of the biggest problems that we see is that, for 120 days, he knew that this was swirling around. what does he do when this was first brought up? he joked about it. he mocked it and laughed about

it. he did not focus on trying to figure out what really happened. he knew that two of his closest advisors were connected to the port authority and resigned. it you are a principal, don't you think that would be strange? try to figure out what happened there. that questioning, in terms of the about what really happened, especially around an issue that really hurts him. it gives an image of a commander in chief or executive who doesn't care. does not care about the voters, cares about himself. guest: two things -- he fired them. the morning before, when he found out they had lied to him. guest: i thought it was

interesting, having been through this over the summer a bit that , even when he pointed out that he talked to his chief of staff, she said that she lied. to atl be subpoenaed least talk to federal investigators, and he wanted to be able to say, the only thing i asked her is did she lie, and she said yes. i think that comes from being a u.s. attorney. : plausible deniability. is he a bully? >> everybody who engages in politics knows that. on the other hand, that is very, very different than saying that somebody is a bully.

i have very heated discussions and arguments with people in my own party and on the other side of the aisle. feel passionately about issues, and i do not hide my emotions from people. i am not a focus group tested, blow dried candidate for governor. somebody,lways made as you know, i'm easy. some people like this style. some people don't. i have always said, and i think you asked me at the election, are you willing to change or style in order to appeal to a broader audience, and i think i said no, because i am what i am, but i am not a bully. host: there are a lot of comparisons to richard nixon, i am not a crook, and the bill clinton, i did not have sex. : one of the things that we

teach people is do not repeat the crime. do not let it come out of your mouth. is previous part of that that people is betting the ranch on being himself. i have to tell you, i do not think this is going to have any impact on the election. in this morning's new york times, there was not a single news story. not awas an op-ed but single news story about this whole thing in the entire national edition. : but it is not over. here is the issue. i do not think he had a chance of making it through the republican primary anyway, so this whole scandal, add that to it, and those four words to it, that is going to be an ad from one of his conservative rivals, along with him hugging president

obama. i thought he was done before. i did not think he was going to make it through the primary. guest: we will see. also, to your point, one of the reasons i think it will be difficult for him to make it through the primary, he is alone. in new jersey, they voted for him. they are not going to vote for him at any time during a presidential. so they are going to abandon him. the right is going to abandon him. host: this is a story in the boston globe, more troubles for the president, obama's ratings dropping, and a take factor is alienation on the nsa snooping as well as some of the problems with healthcare.gov. we heard the white house it ministration changed the server that works on healthcare.gov, but going back to this nsa

story, we will hear from the president, a major speech, on friday. has this hurt him? there is no question this has hurt him and contribute to to his lower poll numbers. he was at this level of polling a year before he got reelected, so this president is also very good at bouncing back very quickly from some of the issues that he confronts, and i think he does that by raising issues head on, and one of the things that we're going to see him talk speech that the nsa he is going to give is he is going to take a look at what the issue is, what the challenges are. he said from the very beginning when all of this came out that there is a very delicate talents between privacy and security, and you know what? frankly, the majority of americans believe him and agree with them, frankly, especially

after nine/11. has beene nsa issue met with, and there have been absolutely loud credits on the left and right, and my own party, the progressives, hate this, but more so the mainstream of america has dealt with this with a collective shrug, because they understand that they would rather or this president would on the side of providing security for something like 9/11 never happened again, and what this president will outline is what does that look like, and my hope is, and this is what the white house really needs to do is be more transparent. i think the american people can handle the truth. we will have that speech on friday on the c-span networks, and run the gallup organization, a record high. 42% of americans identify as this is at itsd

lowest level in 25 years. guest: i think about the nsa thing, it is generally generational. people that are in their late 20's, early 30's, especially looking environment, and knowing that out there whoguy has been listening in on their phone calls essentially since they were in college i think is very unnerving to them, so i think it is largely generational, which would account for that drop in young people support. republican -- what i said earlier is exactly right. if the washington-based republican party would begin offering up solutions instead of just either voting for things

they know are not going to get through the senate, just for the of it, see what they would not do, i think that will reverse itself. fore is no gigantic move the democratic party as an identification. >> republicans have done a lot on their own to alienate people. our phone lines are open. the line for democrats, republicans, and you can also join us on twitter or send us an e-mail. i want to have you look -- smoker line?is the host: did either of you smoke? guest: i did. host: why? >> i quit. i couldconsultant, but

go through a carton of cigarettes. i started smoking at 6:00 in the morning, and you keep smoking until you finish the last slice of pizza at 2:00. generale surgeon issuing that morning, your thoughts? guest: i think it had a huge impact. think this scare ads last year had a positive effect. it is one thing to say you made icing, but there is something else to say that you may live, but this is what you are going to look like. i think it is also generational. it used to be cool to smoke. now, among young people, you look bad. host: let's talk about the senate and the control of the senate. a half-dozen seats will look at whether or not republicans get control again. there are only three truly

tossup senate races. the senator seeking another term, a key state for democrats, and the senator levin seat in michigan, he is retiring, and senator mitch mcconnell, another lean democrat , and then also in tennessee with senator lamar alexander. tossup races. i think we are pretty well also five --ossified. they know where they are and know what they are going to do. they have been pulled and pulled and pulled and micro-targeted. everybody has a really good feel for where they are, and i feel it is not likely, not impossible, but it is not likely that republicans can pick this up. unless democrats find candidates like we are, they would have to

find time, and then we would have a better shot. gues i think rich is much more realistic. i've heard republicans talk about this, almost giddy in terms of their chances of taking over the senate. you cannot take anything for granted, but i guarantee you after they changed the senate rules, they're going to do everything they can in order to keep the senate. and i think the trajectory for the affordable care act is going is helping them in that. we have more than 6 million people signed up for it, enrolled if you count the medicaid piece. the more that republicans have this attitude, the more voters