thinks willie geist is sporting -- highly unbelievable. >> a man of great maturity, wise beyond his years. >> "morning joe." we'll see you back here tomorrow. well, the ts haven't been crossed but a deal to keep the united states from a historic default appears to finally be in place. >> now, is this the deal i would have preferred? no. but this compromise does make a serious down payment on the deficit reduction we need. most importantly it will allow us to avoid default and end the crisis that washington imposed on the rest of america. >> this morning, the fine print, the hard sell, today on both sides of the aisle. some winners and losers and why it still may not be enough for the credit agencies. it is monday, august 1st, 2011.

i'm chuck todd. we have a packed show, steny hoyer will tell us how they'll get the votes in the house. mike crapo, senator for gang of six guys, will tell us how a super committee will work this time. and stephanie cutter from the white house will explain why the left should quit its griping. but let's get right to my first read of the morning. after months of behind the scenes wrangling and public bickering with the markets on edge in default less than 48 hours away, we have a deal. we don't have a real winner for whatever that is worth. months ago, the president said he wanted his debt ceiling raised clean. last night he acknowledged didn't turn out that way. >> this process has been messy. it has taken far too long. i've been concerned about the impact that it has had on business confidence and consumer confidence and the economy as a whole over the last month. nevertheless, ultimately, the leaders of both parties have found their way to a compromise.

>> he left out the crisis and confidence as far as the country has when it comes to its leaders in washington. in the tentative agreement, the president gets the debt limit raised by $2.4 trillion through 2012 in a three-step process in exchange for dollar for dollar spending cuts. step one, an immediate $400 billion increase to avoid default once the bill is passed. step two, another $500 billion increase comes after congress votes on a resolution of disapproval, when it comes to the debt ceiling. then step three, the big one, the bipartisan congressional super committee will be charged with finding the remaining $1.5 trillion in cuts. of course, the last sticking point was the penalty if that committee deadlocks. what we're saying is the reason there was an hours long delay in the announcement of the deal was at the last minute, a lot of house republicans were upset by the size and the potential penalty of the across the board cut that was going to hit the pentagon. and it was, of course, that was

when you couldn't get tax hikes and democrats couldn't get that as a potential trigger, they wanted something that would be painful on the spending side, they went for the pentagon, it is what mcconnell and vice president biden agreed to, looked like it was done, but at the last minute, there was some concern there, everybody signed on. the hawks and the liberals are not so happy, though. listen. >> i don't like the idea that we're going to pick a number out of thin air and start reducing the defense department. we're slowing the growth of the government. we're still adding a massive amount of debt. instead of running toward bankruptcy, we're walking toward bankruptcy. >> if i were a republican, i would be dancing in the streets. i don't have any idea what the republicans wanted that they didn't get. on the surface, it looks like a satan sandwich. >> well, so there you have it. how is this thing going to get through the senate and the house? we think the senate is still going to go first. it is likely more democrats in the senate than republicans will put this over the finish line. i can tell you this, the folks

on both sides of the aisle in the house charged with getting those 216 votes that they're going to need would like to see 75 or 80 senators support this deal. the higher the number, the easier it will be to make sure seeds of doubt don't get planted. question we're going to find out from steny hoyer, what is that range of democrats that can support this. closer to 80 or closer to 100? and how many can the republicans provide? 120, 150? we shall see. what have we learned? what have we learned about the president? well, a lot of -- a lost his supporters are wondering if he is any good at negotiating since you look at the path of this, it seems he gave and gave and he gave and he gave. as he will argue and his people will argue, when you're dealing with somebody that actually wants to cut the baby, his argument, what are you going to do? you have to avert default? did they gain anything on here? they feel like they're the reasonable guy in the room, that's what independent voters

see. when it comes to leadership and a crisis, how are those numbers going to look? that's something that will be interesting to watch in the next couple of months. that said, the campaign structure is happy to get over this hump. they think there will be no more big congressional showdowns between now and november 2012. we shall see. what did we learn about speaker boehner? he presides, he doesn't necessarily lead that republican caucus. he has a hard time trying to corral these folks. it always has been joked it is the senate, it is like herding cats. that's not the case. he presides over a coalition. while they may be closer than they realize, they don't act that way. whether it is a tea party conservative or some of these more mainstream conservatives. they're a lot closer on the issues, but they don't act that way and it makes it very hard for them to govern. they may have won the policy fight, but they did not necessarily make the case they're ready to govern. what did we learn about the republicans and the tea party? this is an uneasy coalition. you see some mainstream

republicans who had quietly been griping about the tea party for months and showed some of that fresh, lets that frustration show. does it do collateral damage or create problems down the road in the presidential primarys? we'll be watching for that. in the house, republicans and democrats are trying to round up enough votes, 216. with me now, the democrat's number two in the house, steny hoyer. congressman hoyer, how do we get from yesterday and last night, how does this deal get through the house? what is the coalition of democrats and republicans going to look like when the 216 happens and will it happen? >> chuck, first of all, let me say that you said that the president gets the debt limit extended. very frankly, that wasn't a give to the president. that was a give to america's credit worthiness and image around the world. but the way we're going to get there is nobody that is responsible in the house of representatives or the united

states senate believes that default is an option. given that, it was necessary and is necessary for us to come together and to reach an agreement. i think we missed an extraordinary opportunity to have a balanced, long-term grand design, if you will, deal which would have brought the deficit and debt down over the long term and would have been balanced. we didn't get there. but we did get some stability for the markets. we did, on our side, protect medicare and social security from cuts to the most vulnerable in our society. no cuts to social security and the only cuts that might be in this on medicare is to providers and capped at 2%. so that we have moved forward, we do have a committee option. whether or not that committee will be able to work in a positive fashion, i think, is doubtful. but what we're going to do is we're going to have a caucus at 12:00 to meet with our members

to get their views. all of them believe that default is not an option. they're disappointed that this deal wasn't as balanced as they hoped it would be. and we'll see how they -- how they react, but many of the members i've talked to, again, upper most in their mind is default is not an option. we have to protect america's credit worthiness and the ability to grow jobs in our society and protect the american public. >> do you think the president is a good negotiator? >> i think that the president was confronted with very, frankly, a u.s. senate that was unprepared to move forward at all. senator mcconnell made it very clear he was going to lock up his people and did successfully lock up his people. right up until the 11th hour when default was staring us in the eye. and i think the president is a responsible party in this negotiation. and i think he was upper most in his mind was the welfare of our

economy and the welfare of the people. from that standpoint, i think he made what he thought was the best possible resolution. >> in the last couple of weeks, i get that. in the last six months, if you could change one thing the president did, what would you have done in. >> i think the president may well have from my view offered the bowles simpson alternative much earlier. i think the bowles simpson or the gang of six are balanced approaches, would be more effective in the long-term and would create a fair balance so the wealthiest and best off in america would help, that we wouldn't be giving big tax breaks to big oil and other taxpayers making extraordinary sums of money as we see the disparity between the middle class and the wealthiest in america continue to grow. so if i could look back and say, look, let's focus on bowles

simpson more than we did. >> and let me ask you this, how many votes do republicans in your mind need to provide for this deal in the house? >> i certainly think that republicans need to provide certainly 150 plus range for this deal. this obviously fgets them a lot of what they wanted. i think that the leadership is going to be tested to see whether or not they can deliver. they haven't been very good at it on the house side. delivering for what they believe was the best way forward. the speaker had to walk away from two deals he had with the president and the republicans walked away from him in the final analysis on thursday night. >> so your floor, i just did the math, your floor is you're promising a minimum of 66 votes. how many more can you promise? >> chuck, i'm not promising anything until our caucus -- but thank you very much. >> fair enough. congressman steny hoyer who has quite the heavy lift in front of

him over the next 48 hours. thank you very much. >> thank you. >> as you know, the devil is in the details and the details of this deal will be in the hands of a congressional super committee. and someone said a super committee used to be called congress. and senator mike crapo, how 12 members of congress will be able to succeed where a gang of six was unable to. and what have we learned after all the long hours on capitol hill? speaker boehner's ring tone, of course, coming up. we'll let you hear for yourself. it is pretty funny. first, a look ahead at the president's schedule. not a lot of public events today. he'll be making a lot of phone calls to a lot of members of the democratic side of the house. you're watching "the daily rundown" on msnbc. i love that my daughter's part fish. but when she got asthma, all i could do was worry ! specialists, lots of doctors, lots of advice... and my hands were full. i couldn't sort through it all. with unitedhealthcare, it's different. we have access to great specialists,

and our pediatrician gets all the information. everyone works as a team. and i only need to talk to one person about her care. we're more than 78,000 people looking out for 70 million americans. that's health in numbers. unitedhealthcare. you've been stuck in the garage, while my sneezing and my itchy eyes took refuge from the dust in here and the pollen outside. but with 24-hour zyrtec®, i get prescription strength relief

from my worst allergy symptoms. it's the brand allergists recommend most. ♪ lily and i are back on the road again. where we belong. with zyrtec®, i can love the air®. where we belong. we share. shop from anywhere. and are always connected. we live in a social world. isn't it time we had a social currency to match? membership rewards points from american express. use them to get the things you love from amazon.com, ticketmaster.com, and more unexpected places. they're a social currency with endless possibilities.

let me reiterate that before any agreement is reached, republicans will need to discuss the framework that the white house and congressional leaders in both parties think would meet our stated efforts to cut spending more than the president's requested debt ceiling increase, prevent a national default, and protect the economy from tax increases. >> that was senator mcconnell last night. he and majority leader reid will meet with their conferences and caucuses over the next few hours to get their take on this deal. joining me now, idaho senator mike crapo, member of the waban budget and finance committee. senator, thank you for coming on this morning. >> good to be with you. >> let me start with the basics. how many republicans are going to support this deal in the senate, is your sense? >> i thought you might ask me that. >> you're the whip. get your whip out, right?

>> that's right. i think at least 30, maybe 35 will support it in the end. there will be some who pull back, but i don't think we'll lose too many more than that. >> you think this will be 70 to 80 overall votes, that kind of message you'll be able to send to the house. >> i think so. it is always dangerous to crawl out on a limb and make a prediction about how the vote will go on something as controversial as this. but i believe in the end we will see pretty strong support in the senate on both sides. >> let's talk about the super committee here, because in many ways it is modeled, whether folks in washington believe it or not it modeled off the various bipartisan commissions created or ones formed like the one you were part of when it comes to -- i know senator conrad wants to ka s ts to call of six, not the gang of six, saying there are no gangs in idaho. why do we think this will get

through when every other bipartisan effort has failed? >> so far we haven't had a committee approach that has the kind of teeth that this one has. the gang of six did come forward with and it is still out there, a very powerful progrowth plan that not only deals with our deficit, but also by lowering taxes, and generates greater revenue for our deficit reduction. that plan is out there and gaining support. it could actually be a very major part of the deliberations of this committee. whatever the committee does, the reason this committee is appealing is because it has teeth the previous committees have not had. this committee, if it reaches a result is guaranteed to get a vote on the floor of the senate and the house. if it does not there are guaranteed consequences. both the mechanism at the end for a gridlock and the mechanism for expediting consideration of a result are very powerful parts of this. the one thing i am a little

concerned about is the enforcement mechanism at the end and whether it is strong enough. but at least we are at the point where we're debating the strength of the enforcement mechanism. >> that's what i found fascinating, that was the holdup yesterday. we were waiting, it felt like, frankly, it brought back memories for me of waiting for the birth of my first child. just took hours and hours, waiting for the announcement that we finally had a deal. and it was over the trigger. and it -- that's kind of depressing because that means it is almost an acknowledgement that the expectation is and you talk behind the scenes, people on both sides assumed this committee will end in a deadlock. >> well, there is two pieces of it. first, there was a high likelihood it could end in a deadlock because it was balanced, even six republicans and six democrats, no tiebreaker. i think they won't result in a deadlock, but that was a problem. there was a bigger problem, though. that is they're talking about hopefully coming up with a ten-year plan, a very powerful plan, i hope, like the gang of

six plan, but one thatplemented. what we have seen is with our current enforcement mechanisms, congress never goes into the second, third or later yore er the plans it puts out. we need to be sure if we put something out, it has to be held. we have to hold to it. >> one final question here. i talked to a lot of senators behind the scenes that are not in leadership and this has been on both sides of the aisle over the last couple of weeks and i sensed some frustration. i sensed frustration that the -- your gang of six wasn't taking it seriously by leadership on both sides of the aisle. i sensed frustration that they feel as if they haven't had enough of a role in all of this. give some voice to this. what is it that leadership could do better going forward at a moment like we have seen over the last couple of weeks and making sure senators who are not in leadership and don't always

get to be in the room with the president actually have an impact on this. >> well, first of all, you're absolutely right. there is a high degree of unhappiness and frustration with the fact that we did not follow regular order. we didn't go through the committee process. we didn't have legislation moved forward in a way that we could study it and vet it and amend it and improve it as it moves toward the floor for consideration. that is the way you truly get higher quality and greater buy-in in your legislation. and so i think that the lesson to our leadership is we should follow regular order more closely in the huge battles. that's one of the reasons frankly i believe this committee that is being established should openly and should operate openly and publicly in a way that helps to bring in not only other members of congress, but the public as their deliberations proceed. >> are you going to go to your leadership and make sure there is some fear that each side will put sort of a poison pill members on there, members that they know at the end of the day

will protect the basis of the parties here. how do you prevent that? >> first of all, you put people on who have to protect the base of their party and i expect that and i think that's actually healthy. but you also put people on who are willing to think outside the box and find ways to achieve solutions that solve -- that are win-win solutions for both sides. for example, the gang of six bill, in dealing with revenue, instead of raising taxes in the age old battle we have over should we raise tax rates on the wealthy or do something else, we got around that by saying let's grow the economy. let's have the kind of pro growth tax reform that will actually allow us to generate the revenue piece for our deficit reduction through growing the economy. so there are ways to get win-win solutions if you don't just get into those head butting battles on a partisan basis. that's the kind of people we need on this committee. >> all right, senator mike crapo, republican from idaho, we don't know about the gang issue, group of 12 now is what we're going to be watching for.

senator, thanks very much. >> thank you. well, more than a few members of the president's own party feel like they have been thrown under a bus in this deal. up next, president obama's deputy senior adviser stephanie cutter responds to the support they have been getting from the left. today's trivia question. twice in u.s. history, three different men served as president in the same calendar year. name the years and the men. tweet me the answer. first correct answer gets a call on monday from me.

finally, there's a choice for my patients with an irregular heartbeat called atrial fibrillation, or afib, that's not caused by a heart valve problem. today we have pradaxa to reduce the risk of a stroke caused by a clot. in a clinical trial, pradaxa 150 mg reduced stroke risk 35% more than warfarin. and with pradaxa, there's no need for those regular blood tests. pradaxa is progress. pradaxa can cause serious, sometimes fatal, bleeding. don't take pradaxa if you have abnormal bleeding, and seek immediate medical care for unexpected signs of bleeding, like unusual bruising. pradaxa may increase your bleeding risk if you're 75 or older, have kidney problems or a bleeding condition, like stomach ulcers. or if you take aspirin products, nsaids, or blood thinners. tell your doctor about all medicines you take, any planned medical or dental procedures,

and don't stop taking pradaxa without your doctor's approval, as stopping may increase your stroke risk. other side effects include indigestion, stomach pain, upset, or burning. if you have afib not caused by a heart valve problem, ask your doctor if pradaxa can reduce your risk of a stroke.

well, president obama is waking up this morning to harsh criticism from those who normally try to help him in some of these battles. can he weather the storm from some unhappy liberals? stephanie cutter is special assistant to the president and i won't put your e-mail address up

publicly today because i can only imagine what that might lead to. let me start with this. >> thank you. >> i know it is loud out there. i'll start with paul krugman, here is what he said. republicans will surely be emboldened by the way mr. obama keeps folding in the face of their threat. he surrendered last september. he sur rentered in the spring when they threatened to shut down the government and he has now surrendered on a grand scale to raw extortion over the debt ceiling. how do you respond? >> it is not true. if you look at where the economy was last fall, the best thing to do for the economy was to extend them. and add on to it with a payroll tax cut that put money in people's pockets. as we debate the debt ceiling, what to do with deficit reductions, he set out principles at the beginning of the debate. we need a long-term solution so we're not playing politics with our nation's credit worthiness and preventing default, we

needed to make sure there was shared sacrifice, a balanced approach and we need to ensure that we set up a process for long-term deficit reduction. >> i'll give you a second there to fix that. i know that it is noisy out there. it gets a little nutty. >> yes. >> nobody seems to be happy on the left about this deal. you can go through the nation, set a bold action. the administration is to the right of mainstream republicans where they used to stand and fight with fringe elements of their parties. what is it you think you could have done differently that would have satisfied this part of the base and still gotten the result that you wanted to have? >> well, chuck, i think that the nature of any compromise means that neither side will get everything they want. and just a week ago tonight, the president stood before the country and said we need compromise. both sides need to come to the table and give up some sacred cows and that's what happened. neither side is happy. we did the right thing for the country, extending our debt

ceiling so we don't have political gamesmanship and brinksmanship over the credit worthiness. we made a significant down payment on deficit reduction and set up a process that will produce balanced deficit reduction because of the hammer that has come down on everybody if we don't. we have strengthened our hand to achieve that balanced reduction. when the special committee, the super committee produces this result, it is an up or down vote, which means people can't play games on the floor of the united states senate or congress. >> are you confident we're going to avoid another brinksman-like type moment starting potentially on september 30th, the end of this budget when there is a continuing resolution that will likely be needed? are you confident that we're not going to have a moment like this on december 23rd? how do we avoid where every one of these issues becomes -- started with both in december, then in march, now this, that it seems that this is the way all things budgetary turn into some

sort of right up to the end? can we avoid it? >> well, you know, we hope we can avoid it. we hope that everybody in washington learns a little bit of a lesson through this process. the president called it a three-ring circus and it was. they wanted people to come to the table and compromise. we hope people will learn a lesson from this. we'll start getting things done. >> could the president have done some of this a little bit sooner on his own. steny hoyer was on and he said if he could have changed one thing, he wished the president would have taken up bowles simpson earlier and sold it earlier. what do you say to that? >> i say the president, at the beginning of this process, said that any result, anything that we're going to produce has to be done on a bipartisan basis. and to do that, it requires negotiation. it required both sides sitting at the table and talking about it. we made a significant amount of progress through the process that the president set up, the

bipartisan, bicameral process led by the vice president. the cuts that congress is voting on today, the balanced cuts that protect education, medical research, pell grants for needy students, that was a result of that process. so, you know, everybody will look back and think what could have happened, what could have been done differently, we'll do that too. but we are -- we're voting on a package today, a package that is the right thing to do for the country, it avoids default, it protects people, anybody that has a mortgage, car loan, student loan from escalating interest rates, it protects the economy. it shows the world that we are a good investment. so, you know, we need to get this vote done and move forward. >> is the president going to be making phone calls to house democrats to try to whip the vote count if necessary? >> i think there will be a lot of negotiations today. i know that leader pelosi is meeting with her caucus. there will be administration officials on the hill all day. we hope to get a good, strong vote. and we know that at the end of

the day, congress will pass this, the president will sign it and the country will move forward. >> stephanie cutter, deputy senior adviser at the white house. it is only monday. but i think it has been one long continuous week for the last three. so, stephanie, get some rest. thanks very much. well, as we have been saying, it ain't over yet. getting this bill to the president's desk will be a heavy lift for those folks in the house. we'll ask congressman joanne emerson if speaker boehner can count on the support of her center right coalition. and washington and wall street. could there be a market rally? the opening bell is just seconds away, actually. may have just rung. [ male announcer ] in america, we believe anyone can be a hero. kraft singles. we're rich in calcium to help build 'em up strong. ooh, watch out, bad guys. kraft singles. the american cheese.

kraft singles. woman: day care can be so to save some money, i found one that uses robots instead of real people. 'cuz robots work for free. robot 1:good morning... robot 1:...female child. sfx: modem dial-up noise woman: flaws? yeah, um, maybe. anncr: there's an easier way to save. anncr: get online. go to geico.com. get a quote. 15 minutes could save you 15% or more on car insurance.

well, just the opening bell just rung on wall street. markets reacted positively to yesterday's deal. the dow opened up over 120 points.

asian markets jumped after the news last night, about 8:40 p.m. eastern time. a bloody crackdown in syria, four civilians killed in the city of uma after 70 people were killed over there over the weekend by security forces banked by tanks and snipers. president obama condemned the attacks yesterday and today the eu announced sanctions against syria. it is getting serious there. there was a funny moment after the debate deal, debt deal last night. john boehner got a phone call while leaving the capitol. listen to the speaker's ring tone. [ quacking ] >> hello? >> i don't know, maybe he has aflac as his insurance company or somebody is in a lame duck period of their political career? sorry. a lot of jokes we can go with there. one key block for speaker boehner will be the tuesday group, a coalition of 45 mad rat

republican moderate republicans, counted on as the core of the republican coalition being rounded up to support this deal. joanne emerson is the chairman of the tuesday group. i know that on -- i believe it was on saturday, friday, all the days are blurring together, i'm sure for you too, but speaker boehner sat down with you guys specifically and from what we understand the message was about counting on your support for the deal that was likely to be struck in the senate. tell us more about what the speaker asked of you guys. >> we really had a good meeting and it was not just us. i think other groups of members also went in to meet with the speaker, chuck. but basically he said, i'm going to try to do the very best i can this weekend. i'm hopeful we'll get it done. and i'll get back to you all as soon as i've got anything whatsoever. he really didn't say i'm counting on you whatsoever. i think that everyone or most of

us within the tuesday group at least will support the framework. i think this is not as difficult a vote to do the framework. i think the tough stuff is going to come in the next series of votes when we have 1.2 trillion from the committee. however, i think we have all got to look at the details. >> i understand that. as you can imagine, there are some, i just did a segment with stephanie cutter at the white house about all the groups on the left, not happy with the president. there are plenty of important constituency groups on the right that rare unhappy. there are a lot of republicans tonight willing to play the fool for the gop in the debt ceiling plan and in november when the chickens come home to roost and what i predict will come true yet again, they'll pretend yet again they were with us the whole time. then the heritage foundation ceo, it fill stalls well short of the standards we have consistently laid out. this highlights how dysfunctional washington has

become and we'll continue to oppose it as it is insufficient to the task at hand. what do you say to these folks? >> i think everybody can agree that this is not a perfect package and that nobody is thrilled about it. on the other hand, you have to keep in mind, number one, this is the first time in my lifetime, in 75 years or 75 times of raising the debt ceiling that we have ever actually talked about cutting at the same rate that the debt ceiling is increasing. so that is a significant achievement. >> is that a good achievement? is this now the future of all debt ceiling increases? >> i suspect it is. i think we set a precedent. i think that's important, given the fact that the debt has just skyrocketed over the last ten years. there is no doubt about it. and republicans and democrats are both blamed for it. so consequently we have to have some kind of enforcement mechanism to deal with spending, growing way too fast, but we

also now have to pivot immediately to working together in a bipartisan way to increase the economic growth in this country, to increase the job creation and innovation, to really, i believe, sit down and look at all of the factors that have hindered job growth over the last couple of years. and i'm hopeful that we can make a beginning during this select committee, if you will, a process and moved for it next year as well. >> i want to go back. so you think the next time we have a debt ceiling, you know, if all of this happens, the way everybody thinks it is going to happen, if everything works the way this bill and the super committee is supposed to work, by the spring of 2013, when we hit the debt ceiling again, you really think it has to come with even more cuts? >> well -- >> dollar for dollar in. >> i suspect that if the precedent that is being set now and i think that it probably will stay.

and i think it sets a good example. over ten years, chuck, $1.2 trillion and the $900 billion isn't that significant when you spread it out over ten years. i mean, it is a down payment. but if, in fact, we can couple that with economic growth through tax reform, through closing tax loopholes, through job creation, then of course you're going to increase tax revenues at the same time. it may well be that in 2013, if all things work positively, and i mean there is a big if there, we might not have to face increasing the debt ceiling at that particular time. >> all right. jo ann emerson, co-chair of the tuesday group, a long 24 hours still. we're not done yet. we see the light. >> well, the country is most important here, chuck. >> all right, thanks for coming on this morning. >> thanks. well, we have talked about punting, we have talked about hail mary passes and after last night's debt deal announcement, our panel is here for some monday morning quarterbacking.

we'll break down the winners, the losers, what we learned about the big players and what it all means for the next 18 months. first, white house soup of the day, mushroom and leek. leek is my favorite because they don't do enough of it. [ p.a. announcer ] announcing america's favorite cereal is now honey nut cheerios! yup, america's favorite. so we're celebrating the honey sweetness, crunchy oats and... hey! don't forget me!! honey nut cheerios. make it your favorite too! honey nut cheerios. this is my band from the 80's, looker. hair and mascara, a lethal combo. i'm jon haber of alto music. i've been around music my entire life. this is the first alto music i opened when i was 24. my business is all about getting music into people's hands. letting someone discover how great music is, is just an awesome thing. and the plum card from american express open helps me do that. i use it for as much inventory as i possibly can. from picks...to maracas...

to drums... to dj equipment... you name it, i can buy it. and the savings that we get from the early pay discount on those purchases has given us money to reinvest back into our business and help quadruple the size of our floor space. and the more we expand, the more space we have for instruments and musicians to come play them. rock n roll will never die. how can the plum card's trade terms get your business booming? booming is putting more music in more people's hands. but when she got asthma, all i could do was worry ! specialists, lots of doctors, lots of advice... and my hands were full. i couldn't sort through it all. with unitedhealthcare, it's different. we have access to great specialists, and our pediatrician gets all the information. everyone works as a team. and i only need to talk to one person about her care. we're more than 78,000 people looking out for 70 million americans. that's health in numbers. unitedhealthcare.

he needs some gellin'. yeahhhhhhh. gellin' is like having a teeny tiny foot masseuse in your shoe. you like ? nice ! dr. scholl's massaging gel insoles. outrageous comfort, all-day long.

ladies and gentlemen, rock 'n' roll. >> it was on this day in 1981 when mtv went on the air for first time, first music video, of course, to air on the brand-new cable network, video killed the radio star. and it was probably some time in 1994 when mtv ended the practice of playing music, having -- they haven't come out with a song yet that says reality tv killed the video star. happy birthday to mtv. how, again, did you fake that moon landing? our verdict after last night's debt deal announcement, nobody really won, but some lost

more than others. so for more on what we have learned about the president, speaker boehner, the two parties heading into 2012, we have a pretty powerful panel today. dan balls, national political reporter for the washington post, the chief himself, author of the take and ron and susan, a former congresswoman from new york. so i want to start with what two things that sort of -- two people that are really like this deal. one is david plouffe, not surprisingly. here is what he had to say on the "today" show. >> the president said last week, the american people did choose divided government, but they didn't choose dysfunctional government and there were moments during this process where is looked dysfunctional. i think moving forward it would behoove all of our leaders on behalf of the american people to lower their voices a little bit enbe more earnest in seeking compromise. >> he likes the deal. and grover nor quist tweeted, real spending cuts, no tax hikes, gang of six said it

couldn't be done. we learn onward. they're on the same side. what does that tell you? >> i think we have reached nirvana here. or the exact opposite. >> or everybody is faking it until we get through the vote. >> that could be. what did we learn about -- i want to break this down. what did we learn about president obama in all of this? >> we learned president obama, with his back up against the wall, had to blink. he had to give up more than he wanted. if you think of the kinds of principles that he had laid out in the past, he didn't get much of that in this case. he got less than he wanted. >> ron, we heard steny hoyer say, one thing you can change, take bowles simpson. that would have sold it. that was his thing. that was the recurring theme. he didn't own a plan. when you don't own something, you have no place to draw. >> he's thinking long-term, short-term, no doubt he has a problem. looks like he was steam rolled by the ineffectual government he

promised to change. if there is one thing voters can't stand it is a leader who is inefficient and ineffective. in the long-term, he's trying to play to this new republican brand that is outside the mainstream, that is pushing for an unbalanced plan, no tax increases, which the polls show is outside of what voters want. he's hoping to be able to take this case to the public in 2012. s they that's a risky thing to try. >> susan, we're dealing with somebody who was willing to let go of default. what did you expect us to do? >> i think it goes back to the initial posturing and that's where they made their mistake, they didn't have a plan. when you don't have a plan, you see a significant portion of the conversation. this is not unlike what happened with the cr. you said there is no winners in this. i think speaker boehner is a huge winner in this. people this week, in particular, questioned his ability to be an effective speaker. he pulled off a lot of miracles here when it came to

negotiations and discussions up until the last minute, even when they changed the definition of defense to security. so that some of the cuts could come from the state department, homeland security, and defense. i think the president's back was up to the wall and i think john boehner showed real leadership. >> you transitioned here. >> it is what i do. >> no, it was helpful. speaker boehner at some point, you know, there was a lot of frustration in the eight hours running up into the announcement of the deal. here basically mcconnell had cut the deal t was sold. pelosi and reid were not happy about it, but climbing on board. and boehner wasn't there yet. and there was frustration, like, you know, we know he's so afraid. does he lead this conference or does he preside over it? >> i think he leads it. i think he and the tea party can claim great success. i remember being in congress, admittedly, a lot of years ago, but i was there during the big fight. we used to talk about cuts when

we were decreasing the rate of growth. now we're talking about real spending cuts and, again, as jo ann emerson said, for the first time, talking about making reductions on a debt ceiling, something president obama said would never happen in his administration. >> she lays out the case for what did we learn about speaker boehner here though in this? what did you learn about him? >> i learned that he knows just how far he can go and sometimes tried to go farther than he was able to go. we don't know whether in the long run he will be -- come out of this bruised or strengthened. clearly people rallied around him late last week after the debacle of thursday night. republicans i talked to on saturday said he had done a pretty good job in finally getting that through. but i think the question and it goes back to what susan was just talking about, and what we talked about with the president, the president clearly is playing a longer game and i think that the debate going forward will be whether the tea party is still

so entrenched and that the speaker can't move them in the direction he wants to and that's going to be where the fight comes forward. >> and, ron, that's where the fight comes forward. >> speen speaker boehner and o'connell three different men served as president in the same calendar year. name the years and the men. think about presidents that died shortly after taking office. van buren, harrison and tyler served in 1841 hayes, garfield

and an thur all in the white house in 1881. guess who gave the idea for this? he was sitting here giving new trivia questions. mine was earned over the south pacific in 1943. vietnam, 1967. i got mine in iraq, 2003. u.s.a.a. auto insurance is often handed down from generation to generation, because it offers a superior level of protection and because u.s.a.a.'s commitment to serve the military, veterans, and their families is without equal. begin your legacy. get an auto insurance quote. u.s.a.a. we know what it means to serve.

♪ you know how i feel ♪ sun in the sky ♪ you know how i feel ♪ breeze drifting on by ♪ you know how i feel [ female announcer ] weight watchers, rated #1 best plan for weight loss by u.s. news and world report. join right now and you can join for a dollar. weight watchers. because it works.

and started earning loads of points. you got a weather balloon with points? yes i did. [ man ] points i could use for just about anything. ♪ ♪ there it is. [ man ] so i used mine to get a whole new perspective. ♪ [ male announcer ] the new citi thankyou premier card gives you more ways to earn points. what's your story? citi can help you write it.

developing news, vp, as in biden, will talk about the debt ceiling compromise. he is the man that cut this deal with mitch mcconnell. let's bring back dan, ron, and susan. the 2012 presidential primaries have been on the back burner. what most have missed is tim pawlenty and michele bachmann. what was amazing is i was going to play for you mitt romney's response to the debt ceiling deal. >> did you find it? >> i cannot find it. michelle bachmann has come out against it. we know that john hanuntsman is

reluctantly for it. susan, one of the hats they are trying to make on the president, he doesn't lead. how can you make the case you are ready to lead if you don't have a position on the biggest political debate this year? >> it is a big political debate. it is clearly what's going to be the context of the presidential election next year, debt reductions, shrinking the size of government. >> seems like you don't find it odd he didn't weigh? >> i understand the tea party is going to play a very valuable role in the next year's election. i guess he is trying to figure out what their reaction is going to be. in many ways, the tea party is a movement that hasn't caught up to its success. i think a presidential contender like mitt romney is sort of waiting for that. >> she didn't say it but it sounds like he didn't react out of faear. >> i would say caution. >> mitt romney has a problem with his credibility. the only thing i can say to his

credit is he obviously realizes that what people really care out there are jobs and the economy. he has been very disappointed. >> single-minded thoon? >> dan? >> i agree with ron. he wants to keep his focus always on the president. to the extent he can avoid these, he will but he can't indefinitely. >> the section front of the detroit news, a first-person account of a young. i am going to take this in a very personal, personal way. this is going ton the

anniversary from where paxton got on his knees. >> it was something we were all waiting for forever. that's it for this edition on the daley coming up, "andrea mitchell reports," we're almost done. bye-bye. airport delays in boston, new york, and d.c. also, detroit can have problems, 106 today in dallas. hi, umm this other store has these for 20 cents less.

what?! -match it! -match it! -match it! -match it! -match it! -match it! -match it! -match it! -match it! -match it! -[ horn honks ] -match it! thank you, got it. i'll match that price right here. cool. [ male announcer ] get low prices every day on everything. backed by our ad match guarantee. and the savings are even hotter with the walmart sizzling summer clearance.

get cool clearance prices on clothes, toys, outdoor gear, and more. now through august 15th. save money. live better. walmart. new splenda® essentials™ no calorie sweetener with b vitamins, the first and only one to help support a healthy metabolism. three smart new ways to sweeten. same great taste. new splenda® essentials™.