>> production assistance for "inside washington" was provided by allbritton communications and "politico," reporting on the legislative, executive, and political arena. >> if that this place becomes so dysfunctional that even when agree to things, we cannot do it? >> this week on "inside washington," embracing the spirit of christmas in the nation's capital. >> where is the compassion? where is the heart? where is this all? >> the arrogance of this place is outstanding. it is unbelievable. >> the end of the payroll tax cut standoff. >> i don't it is a time for saw

burning. >> if you cannot stand the relatively modest heat in the kitchen right now, wait until obama's hell's kitchen shows up. >> iraq without americans. while mitt and newt feud, look who is running strong in iowa. >> get the government out of everybody's life. captioned by the national captioning institute --www.ncicap.org-- >> as the song goes, is beginning to look a lot like christmas. not in your nation's capital. everybody seems to think the extension of the payroll tax cut was a good idea politically, anyway, what our elected representatives just were not able to make it happen until the

last minute. >> i need the president to help out, all right? [applause] a two-month extension will create more uncertainty for job creators in our country when millions of americans are out of work. >> this is an issue where no bombing in number people in both parties agree -- where an overwhelming number of people in both parties agree. >> they did get it done for the last minute. you were on the hill this week, mark. what is the back story? >> the late morris udall, democrat from arizona, unsurpassed wit and decency, commented it on the injured merrill fighting chinese own party this way -- when democrats formed a firing squad, first they formed a circle. that is what republicans were doing the week before christmas.

after passing by overwhelming bipartisan margins in the senate, with the endorsement of the president, and the extension of the payroll tax cut, republicans in that house stood athwart. not on traditional republican arguments of this will help the job creators or anything of this sort. they oppose this on the basis of this wasn't regular order, that we ought to go to conference, a process argument. this is what democrats usually do. it was awful to be told for republicans. what you have is republicans who fight to the death to preserve the bush tax cuts, which benefit mostly the very best off among us -- all of a sudden and they want every nickel accounted for for a $20 week tax break for 160 million working stiffs. they had a terrible week. >> how did republicans get

themselves in this fix, charles? >> i don't know. perhaps a drink? i am not sure . the good news for republicans is that it had a in a week went people were distracted by shopping at christmas. it was an unbelievable self- inflicted a defeat. on policy, the senate bill is an abomination. a two-month extension of the payroll tax holiday? the consortium of people who actually processed payroll issued a statement saying this will be unbelievably difficult implement, it will cause all kinds of tests. -- all kinds of tests. however, the politics of it were awful. once republicans accepted it in the senate, it was a done deal. it was only a matter of time before they at least cape quickly. >> margaret, how did boehner get

in this mess? >> you have to feel sorry for him in this christmas season. is the point to pay for the tax cuts? as mark points out, they never worried about paying for the bush tax cuts. is the point that two months is too short? they are not for a one-year extension and then they say it open what we object to two months because it is not one year." john boehner looks like he does not have control over his caucus. >> mitch mcconnell is the good guy -- >> mitch mcconnell is a good guy. >> all of this is going to be forgotten and it will not meanin anything at next november. it is two months, so there will

be fighting about it in february. but it doesn't really matter. >> after two months, what happens? >> they will have two months of argument over this. it is not economic idea. nobody is going to hire -- hiring a person in false -- it commits an employer to many years. he is not going to do it on the basis of a one-year or two-month tax holiday. there is no way you can make a political argument in an election year against putting money -- >> but unlike the bush tax cuts, it could actually help the economy, not because these are people who the employers will necessarily higher, but the tax cut is going to people who will actually spend the money -- >> the way last year's payroll tax cut help to the economy -- you are saying it is going to

help the economy. there is no evidence it is going to help the economy. >> that is open to debate. elected as i am to -- reluctant as i am to dissent from evan thomas, i think there is a lasting impression from this. john boehner was wounded as speaker. it distances the republican party from whoever the nominee is. eight emboldens democrats. democrats for the first time are openly confident about 20 top and their prospects congressional -- about 2012 and their prospects a congressionally. let's get one thing very clear -- the democrats -- this is not a brilliant victory by the white house. the white house set in concrete its position for millionaires'

tax increases folded it had to be a year, folded. could not be any pipeline, folded. because the democrats were not involved in it -- >> but entirely self-inflicted, because as mark indicated, at the senate bill included all kinds of democratic capitulations and a victory that mitch mcconnell had in including the pipeline. the house went and kicked it away. >> let's talk about the fading newt gingrich and the spending of mitt romney. >> if he wants to test the heat, i will meet him anywhere in iowa next week, 90 minutes, at no moderator. i will be glad to debate him anywhere. >> that is newt gingrich. you heard mitt romney's talk

earlier that if newt gingrich cannot stand the heat generated by millions of anti-gingrich adds, he ought to get out of the kitchen. romney -- what a surprise -- has declined the offer of this debate. romney has a lot of money. >> and he has spent a lot of it putting out gingrich's weak spots, of which there are so many. not that gingrich does not inflict this on himself. he seems to put everything on this idea that judges who go too far should be arrested. he brought it up at every stop. gingrich cannot sustain. his worst moments are when he is ahead. he is much better when he is behind. the last debate, he wasn't good. it is hard to withstand that onslaught of ads when you have so many weeks but, from freddie mac -- romney using the word "sobriety" -- and his own

marriage. >> he says his goal is to be at the top two or three in new hampshire and then win at south carolina and florida at. his numbers are pretty good in florida. >> they have slipped nationally. the explanation of his iowa slippage is the millions of dollars against him in negative advertising. people are not seeing the negative advertisements that they are seeing in iowa. i think there is a connection here. as we have seen a washington, d.c. be even more dysfunctional, more partisan, more rancorous, less productive, it is a reminder of the gingrich years as speaker. in a strange way, it comes back .o bite newt gingrich let's be blunt -- mitt romney

was disingenuous, "i don't know what migy pac is suspending." it is doing what his campaign doesn't want to do, because he does not want to answer for it. newt made a mistake of making the campaign about him. the campaign is about the voters, and every successful candidate makes it about that. >> but it is fun to watch him. he is trying to be reasonable, trying to speak in a softer voice, but the inner newt -- [laughter] >> especially when you see this happening -- >> i don't blame -- >> he is urging the voters -- >> i think it is remarkable restraint, but it is fascinating to watch this struggle on. >> what happened was that in the last debate, he tried to refine judges, and he got tremendous

applause in the hall. -- he tried to slide on judges and he got tremendous applause in the hall. instead of thinking, what exactly and by proposing, ending at the system we have had that a sellout since martial for 200 years, he decided that he is going to go -- the system we have had since marshall for 200 years, he decided he is going to go all out on this. this is completely and he stopped, and yet he is in solid with it. -- this is complete mlooney stuff, yet he is all out on it. whenever it is -- he once proposed having members in it spa -- proposed having mirrors in space. what about the wild life? this is a guy who gets carried

away with it, and it shows. it shows a lack of discipline . >> of all of his plans, this is the worst. he can have a laugh over the outer space and stuff. this is a seriously bad idea. you put that in jeopardy and we are in a bad place. >> stunning, especially for a man with a ph.d. in history. >> good point that evan does make, that it is one of the strengths of our country. newt is playing to the iowa a moment here. this is a state where the voters did recall three judges -- >> but that is within our system. >> i understand that, but he is playing -- there is a certain sentiment within the republican party, and he is competing with ron paul and michele bachmann for that share of the vote. his ideas might be a rational,

but tactically it was not irrational -- might be to rational, but tactically it was not irrational. >> he lost his chance when bob vander plats interest rick santorum -- endorsed rick santorum. >> money talks and you know what walks. best government money can buy. how horrified are you buy this? >> citizens united ruin any -- >> i thought that was about free speech. >> romney said corporations are people, free speech goes to whoever can afford it the money used against gingrich is super pac money. is such a game. the candidates pretended to have no idea there is gamcasino, andr

supporters' spending money on negative ads. >> you have to sympathize with newt gingrich on this one great he is getting whacked all over. >> it must be said that of all the candidates in this race and any race, he has provided material for zero hours of negative ads -- for hours of negative ads to run. newt has a 20-year history of stuff that invites negative ads. i am trying to explain the phenomenon happening in iowa today. i am not arguing over the logic of the campaign laws. >> the fallacy is that the candidates cannot talk to the independent groups because they are independent. the candidate is not have to talk to the independent groups, because it is obvious what the

independent groups have to do, go negative and destroy the competition. there probably is some communication. this is kind of a stark example of it. romney is disingenuous to say i have nothing to do with this. >> absolutely. just to back up what margaret has said, the republican position historically has been campaign finance laws -- we are against any limitations on spending, we don't want to circumscribe free-speech. but we've believed devoutly, fervently, passionate, in total, immediate, and complete disclosure of every contribution. with electronic reporting, we can do that in microseconds. had you heard a single republican endorse the long-held position the majority is bows,

backed off from disclosure -- not only to have corporations, we have millions of dollars coming into the campaign. we know not where from, although it is probably not good government and mom and apple pie. >> i capitalist society and open system, people are going to express themselves, and if they have money, they will have a larger way to express and reach a lot of people. you can write all the laws you want. in the end, money will find its way. the only way out is to go to the canadian or european system where denationalize a dog, have the government supplied the money to -- where you nationalized it all, and have the government supplied the money. it is always going to be able to go around the law and find other ways to do it. >> i have a dissent here. >> it pains me to dissent. >> you have been in pain all

year. you need to see a doctor. ceswe have had ra where there were limitations on what one could raise and spend and we had an equal playing field between democrats and republicans. it was broken in 2008 by barack obama, le'tt's be blunt about it. it was pushed by republicans, but barack obama broke it. >> all right, thanks. bad news from iraq, just days after the last american troops withdraw. >> we warned long ago that terrorism would be acting in iraq against the iraqi people unless the political landscape is corrected. >> that is ayad allawi, head of a sunni-backed political party, witafter a score of

bombings days after u.s. troops left the country. it is giving rise to fears of a civil war. does any of this surprise you, evan? >> no, but it does satiny. i hope this is a temporary phenomenon the whole idea of a resting in the vice president for hiring death squads is like something out of a bad movie. >> you thought it would be sunni and shia fights in the streets, but now they are in the halls of power. there seems no end in sight. they are the government now. this is what we might have expected eight years ago after being there two years.

this is what opponents of the iraqi war warned against, that we were going to have this problem no matter when we left. >> nobody argues that the iraqi defense forces are top flight, mark. >> no, they don't, and it is a tragic end to a tragic policy was a war begun on false, misleading promise -- premise, the argument that iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction and the capacity to reach us as well as others. what is fascinating about it all is that it was the generals who had seen combat, who opposed the war virulently. it was all the non-combatants -- paul wolfowitz, donald rumsfeld, george bush, and dick cheney

-- who were the champions of this war, sadly. >> and it was the generals on the ground, the ones who are there right now, who had asked the president to leave residual american force, around 20,000 troops. remember, we have had forces in there the last year and half in and non-combat role. simply the presence of americans filled a vacuum. it helped to mediate between the abs in the north and kept the peace between shiites and sunnis. nobody has commented on the amazing coincidence that this happened at two days after the last americans leave. this is a direct result of the

decision by the president, against the advice of the generals on the ground. the surge succeeded, al qaeda had been defeated, and even maliki produce and defeated the shiite militias, who are out resea and -- are now resurgent. we had the beginnings of a national government, and what we needed was continuity. as soon as it was removed gratuitously, all the unraveling has begun. >> most americans want to believe this is behind us. not only is it happening in iraq, but iran -- id there is an excellent chance that this year, this election year, israel is going to attack iran and the united states is going to be drawn into a scary, violence situation. >> there is a nightmare scenario for you, mark. who's's hope that evan,

rarely wrong, is wrong. if we are about to embark upon that, let's do it the right way, by a full and complete debate and declaration of war, a statement calling in about what our objective is and what we are willing to do, as a people, nation, military, and when we get out. >> mitt and newt have been fighting. has anybody been watching ron paul in iowa? >> i did not write them, i did not read them at the time, and i disavow them. >> these things are pretty incendiary. >> because of people like you. >> no, no, no, come on, and these are very incendiary, like

saying that israel is responsible for the bombing of the world trade center. >> good buy. >> all right, goodbye. ron paul and cnn's gloria borger. talking about newsletters from the 1990's with racially charged comments. this comes back to haunt you if you don't take care of them in advance. >> ron paul has always been out on the edge, and to attract people who say crazy things, and it is going to come back to haunt you. we would not be paying attention to ron paul except that it is a presidential year and nobody really likes mitt romney. >> look, the reason he is under attack is because he can actually win in iowa. he is not going to win the nomination, but he is sort of our front-running candidate. that has never happened before. before, he would not want to waste ammunition on him. these newsletters are really

incriminating. it has his name on it. he can say he did not read it, but he is responsible. incendiary, racist, anti-semitic stuff that is quite verizon. -- quite hair-raising. >> what ron paul has is a certain authenticity. we can all drink raw milk thanks to ron paul when he is president of his handling of this takes away that part of him, being authentic. if he blames the media for something that has his name. these letters often are not written by the person whose name is on them, but he did take the money. >> i'd like ron paul, but these newsletters are really an abomination. saying things like the recent the l.a. riots ended was because blacks had to pick up welfare checks.

violation of what did happen when law-enforcement and military moved in. it is, quite frankly, not affecting things up to now in iowa. >> last word. enjoy the holidays. see you later. of the best of europe.

venice seems to be every italy connoisseur's... prague has always been beautiful... germany... the irish civilization... the eiffel tower was built... hope you've enjoyed the magic of... on sunday mornings when i'm in paris, you're likely to find me here... [ pipe organ playing ] ...in the saint sulpice church with its magnificent pipe organ. for organ lovers, a visit here is a pilgrimage.

after mass, organ enthusiasts from around the world scamper like sixteenth notes up the spiral stairs into a world of 7,000 pipes. before electricity, it took three men working out on these 18th-century stairmasters to fill the bellows which powered the organ. the currenorganist daniel roth, carries the tdition comiues eoy his peorma coound a towerdition comiues sat lpe s like kings or president,

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