production assistance was provided by albritton communications and politico. ♪ >> why did cheat talk about her college education? but how come it took nearly two decades to pay her college bill? how did she make 11? >> they want to all these middle-class tax cut hostage until they get additional tax cuts for the wealthiest 2% of americans. >> the president talked to

republicans about taxing the wealthy and naming -- and men's elizabeth warren to help the new consumer financial protection burial. bureau. >> thank you for joining us. gordon peterson is off this week. this week's election was topped by christine o'donnell for the united states senate nomination in delaware. she won with the backing of sarah palin. how do you feel two days later? >> bill buckley said to support the most right-wing candidate that was elected pope.

i think the republicans broke that rule. it could cost republicans control of the senate. >> it looks like we have this anger we are talking about. this is a temper tantrum that ran amok. some tea party candidates have come up and then nominated and have sent a message and made a statement and can win and compete in the fall. in this case, she will have to run again not just the democratic party in delaware but much of the republican party as well them n. >> ronald reagan said that shall not speak ill of another republican in public. this is also what jim demand said about others he served with. he said he has been in the majority with republicans who

don't have principles. >> what bigger shot can you take? >> ronald reagan had the 80% rule which is someone who is with the 80% of the the side and the is our friend and ally. he is not 20%. that seems to be the prevailing attitude. >> goodbye, bipartisanship. the death of the modern republican is a sad thing because it kisses goodbye chances to make meaningful compromise and congress. without that, nothing will happen. >> what was fascinating to watch is that tuesday night, most people agreed that this is somebody who won and does not have a chance and we will might spend a lot of money. as the week went on, all the sudden previously hostile --

republicans discovered cristina o'donnell. >> a lot of that was started by her mother. >> you have a party and you get a candidate who is not exactly your favorite. what is at stake is control of the senate and house and you will discover the virtues quickly what is important here is you have a marker rubio in florida, a miller in the alaska who has an excellent chance of winning. with christine o'donnell, she is a long shot but it is all you've got. . you still want to control the senate. you will go for all the seats that you can possibly get. >> in addition to them recognizing her to make a majority, i think there is a factor here. i think they reacted initially with their own gods and their own instincts. then, they got pushed back.

they cannot anchor the tea party based. use of the election night talk which was that they will not spend one dime on her race. within 48 hours, john cornyn had backed off and said she will get the allotment that everyone else does. they have to be very careful about how they react and how they interact. the tea party base has demonstrated that they have the upper hand right now, not washington. >> in addition, on election day i was in delaware covering the race and the rush limbaugh later -- radio shows merits my castle by suggesting an item that mike castle had voted to impeach george bush by voting to send dennis kucinich's impeachment vote to the senate where it was intended to died.

rush limbaugh is pretty dangerous. >> she took a shot at the buckley role. they said to vote for the most conservative person in the race. you cannot qualify that. rush limbaugh and sarah palin is on one side. >> when my liberal colleagues agree with me i get alarmed. i have to read calibrate my position. if this was an isolated race and if republicans were going to end up in a minority, if it is about who would represent delaware and you want to take a shot in the tea party candidate that is fine. at issue is she will be in charge of the senate judiciary committee. willoughby charles schumer for

senator orrin hatch? that is what is at stake here. that is why there was such anxiety and the establishment this is another chance to stop the obama revolution and jeopardized because of one candidate. i think that is simply a tactical mistake. >> there is an interest in the ideology that the tea party has been to the debate. they will not tolerate this. >> who wins delaware? >> i don't know but there is a possibility of a true title way. -- tidal wave. she is kind of perky and queued and people like that. i don't think it is impossible.

i don't is impossible for her to win. >> some critics say the tea party decide to qualifies as a republican party >> the tea party is not -- is the real republican party now. delaware sent a message that there is no room at all for that kind of moderation in the republican party. >> that is the maryland democratic candidate and james carville on the gop aide. the tea party indictment of senator bob bennett and my castle and at of delaware -- and my castle in delaware talks about the opposition. will they find a bipartisanship? >> congress cannot just do not need -- nothing very we have big problems coming down the pike. we have people getting ready to run in 2012 and they are

terrified about the tea party. for them to do nothing is not good. there is an opportunity here to do something constructive. they could do something on tax reform. we should fix it and go back to 1986 where if you give -- get rid of all this to the deductions, you could actually cut the tax rate. a considerable amount. out of all this negativity, there could be a positive mood toward tax simplification and tax reform. >> interesting idea, but the litmus test for the tea party is tax increases. even if the rates go lower, that will be seen as a tax increase. >> out of the question.

meritorious, yes but out of the question politically. they have a litmus test of on the right to live, soulful conservative issues that are ongoing. they could look at the irs but there is no room for compromise. compromise is a bad word as far as they are concerned >> you are completely wrong. the tea party has distinguished itself for being almost exclusively about governance, taxation, economic issues. it is not about "social conservatives'% that is what distinguishes it. the other element that is being missed is that spontaneously as a reaction to an extremely ambitious left liberal administration, that instead of attacking tax reform, which they haven't tried it the beginning of the ministration, they would

have had bipartisan an agreement and great success. it decided it wants a reform of health care which nobody at the time thought was the major issue. >> you just cannot rewrite the rules. sarah palin did not come to the state of maryland to endorse the republican candidate on the basis of a checklist. >> she is not tea party. it is a liter less movement. >> the tea party spokespeople in florida, they work as a unit. >> i think there is an opportunity here for something that is counter intuitive. if we go back to what history shows in 1994, we will have a

more conservative congress. we don't know if the republicans will run up but there will be more of them so it will be more conservative. taxes will be part of the coming debate. if you look at president obama and his wishes and what he wants on his resume for 2012, i think this white house wants spending cuts and deficit reductions are on their residents. when they run for reelection. in a way, the president might be able to -- the two sides could find common ground that would benefit both the congress that comes and could still demonstrate that they can get things done and they are not a bunch of crazies that don't know how to work in washington. they could accomplish some of their goals and reward their constituents and the president could get something on his resume, some conservative credentials which i think he wants. he talks about deficit reform. >> this tea party is a negative

energy. so far, people in office cannot just tear things down. they have to do stuff. >> even if a few of these wind, that does not mean that the tea party dominates the republican caucus. the republican caucus will the conservative budget will not be run by the tea party. >> another election tuesday was in the district of columbia where the former mayor, adrian fenty seeking a second term was controversial and highly publicized. his school chancellor michelle rey lost a bid for a second term. >> the winner of the democratic primary was vincent gray. he supported the education as well.

in michelle rhee, you have the national backing of reform. she did something unforgettable -- unforgivable. separate her from education reform and she was very affective and was a media-savvy. educational reform in the district of columbia does not end with michelle rhee. >> educational reform would not have happened in d.c. accept or michelle rey. she is an historical figure. she is a true hero of the movement. >> the fact that she will go, we

will say. in a couple of years, the teachers union will ride again and will not be able to get rid of the bad teachers. we will go back to status quo. >> the most important thing that happens with the education reform is taking the school board that had been the problem with education and the district of columbia because they play a political football. the person who pushes that will lead the district of columbia3 >> the timing of that the feed is important on a national scale. those advocates of education reform or led by the corporate community and they are on the verge of releasing a new movie which is called "waiting for

superman." it was created and written by the same director who made a "an inconvenient truth." they are supporters of reform. this had the same kind of impact that i" an inconvenient truth" had on environmental issues this will go national. who is one of the leading voices in this, michelle ray? a reformer who was about to get run out of town because of the daring reforms that are being advocated. >> this is normally a local election, this makes this national park i. this is not usually nationalize but michelle rhee is a lightning rod. she is the symbol of this reform.

she was quite in polyptych but quite a determined person. i think the unions tried to get mayor fenty taken down and they succeeded and that is a message. >> they did not taken damper the people live in this city for three years took him down not because of education reform but the way in which he governed and the way he did not listen to people. he paid for it. >> politics is a matter of addition not subtraction. who deserves tax cuts, max? >> we call for bipartisan action to cut spending and stop all of the tax hikes that are coming about because wages and income had flat line for middle-class families, they should definitely get an extension of the tax cuts that were in 2001-2003.

>> the president and john banner making their arguments about what to do about the bush tax cuts expected to expire at the end of this year. >> this might have been an opportunity for the white house or the democrats to start a dialogue with the other side. instead, the democrats reacted in a knee-jerk way and attacked. john behner may have reason -- misspoke last sunday. they could have wrapped his arms around him. they could have accepted what he said. it could of been the start of a negotiation which would have made john banner much more uncomfortable because the other republicans were not happy with what he had said. in agreeing to accept a middle-

class tax cuts. >> it was fascinating. it gave the white house and (its let john behner -- it split john behner from the other republicans. >> they should have tried to embrace it. he was running away so fast right after the wos came o whatf best whh good, do you tts

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are. >> this is just not right. separation of powers. this is very unseemly. if you want to appoint somebody to a that requires the approval of the senate, get the approval of theenate. >> that for this week.

tune " inside washington." >> for a transcript of this brt, log o insidewashington.tv.

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