ug war you must be high. >> "viewpoint" digs deep into the issues of the day. >> do you think there is any chance we'll ever hear the president even say the word "carbon tax"? >> with an opened mind... >> has the time finally come for real immigration reform? >> ...and a distinctly satirical point of view. >> but you mentioned great leadership so i want to talk about donald rumsfeld. >> (laughter) >> cutting throught the clutter of today's top stories. >> this is the savior of the republican party? i mean really? >> ... with a unique perspective. >> teddy rosevelt was a weak asmatic kid who never played sports until he was a grown up. >> (laughter) >> ... and lots of fancy buzz words. >> family values, speding, liberty, economic freedom, hard-working moms, crushing debt, cute little puppies. if wayne lapierre can make up stuff that sounds logical

while making no sense... hey, so can i. once again friends, this is live tv and sometimes these things happen. >> watch the show. >> only on current tv. ♪ >> michael: how much does partisan gridlock cost? $85 billion. that's according to the congressional budget office. that's the estimated impact this year alone of the sequester a series of across the board cuts to federal spending that were originally just a political threat. in the summer of 2011, the federal government was approaching the debt ceiling, republicans refused to raise the limits unless a compromise was reached. a supercommittee was formed tasked with decreasing the federal budget. to make sure they followed

through, a trap was set if no compromise was reached a series of automatic indiscriminate cuts would be trig youred. they were thought to be so harmful to the recovering economy and painful to the american public that nobody would ever let them kick in. america was held for randsome and then left for dead. no compromise was reached and the cuts took effect on march 1st this year. >> obama: not everyone will feel the pain of these cuts right away. the pain, though, will be real. beginning this week, many middle class familiar list will have their lives disrupted in significant ways. the longer these cuts remain in place, the greater the damage to our economy. a slow grind that will intensify with each passing day. >> michael: 4.5 slow grooinding

months later, it is clear these cuts have real effects. 75,000 children have been kicked out of head start programs nearly a billion dollars in loans to small businesses have been eliminated over $9 billion in researches plans have been lost. all told it will cost 750,000. that's more jobs than people living in north dakota. and the list goes on. medicare, pentagon, food inspectors, unemployment benefits, missile defense, national parks. you name it. remember all of this is a result of political maneuvering. in washington government has become subject of a theoretical debate. but in the rest of the country it's a real thing. joining us now from new york is

journalism professor at columbia university and online column9ist for "the new york times," thomas byrne edsall. welcome into "the war room." >> good to be with you. >> michael: we're happy to have you. again, it's one of these conversations that we wish we didn't have to have. your book is about how a lack of resources fuelled partisan politics. you wrote this in 2011 when sequestration was nearly a threat. is this the perfect example of your book's main point? >> it's a pretty good example. i don't want to claim credit for it, but this is a case study of what happens when the deficit gains a -- a kind of a political obsessive strength that outweighs rational decision making. and the fault lies largely with

the republican party, but obama does not have clean hands on this one. in fact i believe his people were the ones who actually suggested the concept of sequestration. >> michael: that's an interesting part of the conversation. how -- how is this happening then without major political fallout? you say, yes the gop is largely to blame but tell us also the ways in which the obama administration deserves its share of blame for letting this happen. >> to be honest i think they deserve going back to almost their first month in office, in february 2009 he -- obama created a deficit commission. he basically opened up the issue of red ink as a dominant part of the debate and it was a debate that the democrats really are going to lose.

once the argument was opened up that the deficit was causing economic problems, it's a very questionable incidentally, but it was the argument being made obama then aloud the debate to shift to who can cut the deficit most. he started it. and the republicans took it up and it is like a poker game. the republicans can out bet and out raise democrats on this kind of fight. >> michael: did they also call the president's bluff on this in a way, by -- he set this up and ip invited them to play and they came and actually played the hand? >> they more than raised the hand, they raised the steaks. if obama bet a thousand dollars, they raised it to $10 million. >> michael: that's amazing.

>> and it was the kind of -- with the political parties there are -- both sides are constantly trying to set the agenda, and they want agendas that are favorable to their constituents. a deficit cutting agenda is caverable to the republican party, which wants to cut the side of government and obama, unfortunately allowed the debate to go in this direction, and then he lost control of the debate. by 2010 it was really out of hand, the tino martinez -- tea party wins and in 2011, the tea party was the dominant force in washington. and he was forced into the deal to get the debt ceiling passed in august of 2011, that included sequestration. no one thought sequestration was actually going to come about,

but in fact it did. >> michael: you thought it was. so you win that one. i want to talk about the magnitude of this problem, because it's not going away any time soon. the republicans just announced another $24 billion in proposed cuts on top of the sequester cuts. the debt crisis obviously isn't going anywhere. so what is the future of politics in washington on this issue, and is there any chance that things improve? who has to make the first move? >> well, the problem -- the real problem is that this is bad economic policy. i think there's pretty strong agreement, including many conservative economists that doing the budgeting cutting and attempts to get some balance should be postponed until after the economic is back on its feet and jobs are close to normal. to do it this early in the

process threatens the strength of the economy and as the congressional budget office, which has been a deficit hawk, basically, even they agree that figure you used of 750,000 jobs that's three quarters of american people that are not working because of austerity. it is -- there's a depth of irrationality here that it's -- it's hard to pull out of at this point. >> michael: yeah, it is like war. it seems like everything is slattal damage as long as the people waging war on each other win or lose. the book is called "the age of austerity." thomas byrne edsall thank you so much for your time and intellect on this issue. up next, mark leibovich joins us to talk about "this town," and the fallout from the city it

covers. his ability, is trying to look out for us.

we have a big big hour and the iq will go way up. (vo) current tv gets the converstion started weekdays at 9am eastern. >> i'm a slutty bob hope. >> you are. >> the troops love me. (vo) tv and radio talk show host stephanie miller rounds out current's morning news block. >> you're welcome current tv audience for the visual candy. just be grateful current tv does not come in smellivision. the sweatshirt is nice and all but i could use a golden lasso. (vo) only on current tv.

♪ >> michael: well they say that truth is stranger than fiction, and the political world proves this every day. consider the story of steve cohen, a 23-year-old aspiring swim suit model tweeted at cohen during the state of the union and he tweeted back. he revealed that brink was in fact his daughter. he only learned about her in 2010 when he was contacted by brink's mother. when a test revealed he wasn't the father he called it a tragedy. >> she is a person i thought about every day for the last three years. she was my daughter and only family. >> michael: this personal

tragedy instantly became headline news. this is what got him on the airwaves. it's more proof that washington will never miss a chance to miss the point, and it makes you wish someone would write a book about that. our next guest did exactly that. joining us from times" magazine and author of "this town: two parties and a funeral -- plus plenty of valet parking! -- in america's gilder capital" capital". mark, welcome inside "the war room." >> thanks, michael good to be here. >> stephen cohen isn't the first representative to be ignored by the political press until he does something completely unrelated to politics. what prompted you to write such a takedown on the city? >> well, i mean people are calling at it takedown i try to think of it more neutrally like it is a profile of a city in the

21st century. what i tried to do was really profile a city and also i thought the city had reached a tipping point of self celebration, celebrity saturation, money, quite frankly, it is the wealthy any the united states now, and i think it has changed the fundamental nature of what this city was supposedly built on which is public city. >> michael: yeah let's get to that. now people come to d.c. to get rich, but it hasn't always been the case. what is different now? what makes it that way? >> what is different is first of all the money is actually here. in the last couple of decades corporations have pored money into this city. the media, hollywood, tourists have poured money into this city. and i think because there is so

much media available, your brand or one's brand becomes paramount to your identity. so i think if you look at money and media and celebrity those are the three things that have really amped up in washington. >> michael: yeah, and celebrity is something that everybody is vaguely chasing. i guess we near a society where the kardashians are doing nothing. >> so are a lot of people in washington washington. >> michael: that's right. let's get to the president. has he changed anything or has washington changed him? >> that's sort of a fundamental rhetorical question that i asked, and also his own people asked. they had a reckoning meeting in which the president had stormed out of a strategy meeting in

2011 that someone leaked from the previous meeting, and everybody remained behind. vice president biden remain remain -- chewed everyone out, and then they said what happened to us? presidents are obviously influential people but this was the administration that said they were going to be different. they said they were not going to engage in the revolving door and it didn't really turn out that way, so for whatever reason. >> michael: yeah, and is that a good thing you are going to do if you are going someplace to say you are going to withdrawal from it? >> maybe. if it's all about getting elected as it was in 2007, 2008, it obviously was a very very winning marketing strategy. which is not to say i don't

think the president or the people around him meant it at the time, but saying i know when i get to washington or if i get to washington i'm going to have to compromise and say this or that, that's not going to get your nomination. so i don't know if he did the best he could, but certainly this is how it has turned out. >> michael: exactly. when you think of glitz and celebrity, the first person you think of isn't harry reid, who has been in the news a lot lately. you wrote he has the magnatism of a dried snail, but yet is the most effective people in washington, d.c. what do you think his secret is? >> a lot of people who read the book has said that reid is one of the anti-heros, because of his indifference to being on tv he actually -- he is kind of a

gym rat. all he wants to be in charge, and get 50.0001% of the vote in nevada and outsource the rest to everyone else. reid has been very very effective. he does not care what people think about him, which makes him very unique around here. >> michael: and also his effectiveness comes in a way that a lot of people wouldn't think you could still be effective in washington, which i think is fascinating. what would you tell a young person who is arriving to d.c. now? how do you hold on to your soul and still be in this business in this town? >> that's a great question other than reading this book. [ laughter ] >> michael: you can say it again. >> yeah read the book. one of the things that has been gratified about the early results of this, is a lot of college students and political

science professors have said a lot about remembering why you were coming here. people are coming to washington to get rich now, which wasn't the case 30 years ago as much. ideally people would leave after a few years, but one of the things that has always changed about d.c. is people stay now. they run against d.c. as this swamp, and then they settle into it like a warm bath. and lo and behold it is home. >> michael: the book is called "this town," mark leibovich. read the book. up next on the show, fitting after talk about the town of washington, d.c., we remember one of its true originals. some thoughts on the passing of helen thomas right after this.

>> no, they said "make us a turkey and make it fast". >> (laughter). >> she gets the comedians laughing. >> that's the best! >> that's hilarious. >> ... and the thinkers thinking. >> okay, so there is wiggle room in the ten commandments is what you're telling me. >> she's joy behar. >> ya, i consider you jew-talian. >> okay, whatever you want. >> who plays kafka? >> who saw kafka? >> who ever saw kafka? >> (laughter). >> asking the tough questions. >> chris brown, i mean you wouldn't let one of your daughters go out with him. >> absolutely not. >> you would rather deal with ahmadinejad then me? >> absolutely! >> (singing) >> i take lipitor, thats it. >> are you improving your lips? >> (laughter). >> when she's talking, you never know where the conversation is going to go. >> it looks like anthony wiener is throwing his hat in the ring. >> his what in the ring? >> his hat. >> always outspoken, joy behar. >> and the best part is that current will let me say anything. what the hell were they thinking? >> only on current tv.

>> if you believe in state's rights but still support the

drug war you must be high. >> "viewpoint" digs deep into the issues of the day. >> do you think that there is any chance we'll see this president even say the words "carbon tax"? >> with an open mind... >> has the time finally come for real immigration reform? >> ...and a distinctly satirical point of view. >> but you mentioned "great leadership" so i want to talk about donald rumsfeld. >> (laughter). >> watch the show. >> only on current tv. ♪ >> michael: helen thomas covered ten presidencies from jack kennedy to barack obama for upi herst papers. he is began her journalism career during world war ii. she died this weekend at the age of 92. the way she did her job made an a magnet for adjectives.

the best was truthful. when she didn't get the truth, we all felt her frustration. she was outspokenly awed by her job. but she also saw the presidents as foulable figures who were just passing there. she was there to stay and she proved that point. every time you see a female television reporter doing a live shot on the north lawn on asking the question of jay carney or rare that it may be a reporter of any sex asking a tough question in the brady room, know they are there, because helen thomas born in the year that women first got the vote went there before them. she wrote a book called "front row at the white house." those of who just wanted the

answer can say collectively thank you, helen thomas. now rest in feistiness. now he calls himself the helen thomas of current tv a man who has never been afraid to ask the questions that no one wants the answers to. welcome, brett ehrlich. >> welcome i'm so delighted to announce the birth of a bouncing boy from the loins of princess kate middleton. when print sis middleton went into hospital was this bbc reporter. let's take a look. >> everybody join the specter of the speculation, and the speculation [ inaudible ] the bbc, people do have babies give us the rest of the news.

what a report of second-hand rubbish, but until then we'll be speculating about this royal birth with no facts. >> i thought that was fantastic. other things making the rounds, fan art of kate middleton. i thought we would take some moments. since we don't have a photo of the baby or a name even. we will go through some fan art. here is the first one. oh, wow -- i'm sorry -- that is -- that is something that i faced this morning that is geraldo rivera who posted a selffy of himself in the shower saying 70 is the new 50. >> michael: that's not fan art. >> no. this is from someone named eugene. it's just a shiny princess.

>> michael: dutchess. >> yeah, sorry. it reminds me of that sarah palin photo, where she is in the bathing suit that someone doctored up. >> michael: right. but not pregnant. >> yeah, and it works for that one day when their son in britain she can wear that. >> michael: the tan lines in the fan art. >> it is really amazingly shiny and beautiful. let's go to the next photo if we can. msz yeah i love this fan all right. >> oh, that's geraldo again. here we go. this is an amazing photo. i don't know if you can see how terribly out of proportion this is. this is not a photograph believe it or not. this is painting. it's almost as if someone had a photo of the dutchess's face

but not of a baby suckling while someone was sitting in a robe which is absolutely fantastic. that's -- that's one of the favorite fan art bits. >> michael: the fan art has been great. >> it has been great. there is another piece of fan art that we have -- oh there he is again. >> michael: well brett thanks for showing us geraldo rivera and kate middleton probably for the first and last time ever on television. today is bob dole's 90th birthday. happy birthday bob dole. thank you all for joining us in "the war room." "the young turks" are next, and they have a great show. thanks again to brett ehrlich. ♪ compelling true stories.

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[ ♪ theme music ♪ ] >> cenk: welcome to "the young turks." trayvon martin, george zimmerman controversy still up first. there is a lot to talk about. the president spoke about it on friday, and now everybody is speaking about it. we've got sean hannity tavis smiley saying president obama's speech was not good enough. today, the legendary co-host ben mankiewicz. and decade long producer of the "the young turks," jayar