>> i don't think anyone knew it was going to be bigger news than the vote count, but only the folks who know this as far as i'm concerned, nancy pelosi and shultz, state secret, like they said, it turned out to be the story and it should be the story. it's an amazing story of the human spirit triumphing over evil. >> luke russert, thanks so much for joining me tonight. >> good night. >> "the rachel maddow show" is up tonight with guest host chris hayes. >> thanks so much and thanks to you for staying with us for the next hour. rachel will be back tomorrow. at this time on friday night, three short days ago, it appeared more likely than not that the united states of america was heading towards its first-ever national default. house speaker john boehner had just barely managed to pass a debt ceiling vote through the house of representatives, and that bill was then soundly defeated just two hours later in the senate. that was friday. what a difference a weekend

makes. late tonight within the last two hours, the u.s. house of representatives passed another bill to raise the country's debt ceiling, but this was a bill that enjoys not only bipartisan support but also by-cabinet support. the house passed a debt ceiling plan tonight that was crafted over the weekend by president obama and congressional leaders from both parties, it's a deal that raises the debt ceiling by $2.1 trillion in exchange for spending cuts over the next decade. well, dig into the numbers of this deal a little later in this show. numbers that are in some ways better and in some ways worse than they first appeared, but right now at least it appears we're going to avoid the acute catastrophe, as opposed to a drawn out one that until a few days ago seemed unevidentable. now that it's expected to pass

the senate and be signed by the president. a loot of liberals were looking around saying how did this happen, how did we get here? as drawn out as this process was, didn't seem like an open or deliberative one, unlike the debate over financial reform or health reform, all was conducted with the inspecker of impending doom in the air. as far as having a conversation, essentially one side trying to have that conversation while simultaneously being dangled out of a window. there was always this threat that disaster was just a breath away. in fact, it almost seems to me like our political institutions cannot function anymore but for that threat of imminent crisis. the problem with that, as we've learned the hard way over the last decade, is that situations of crisis are not situations that are most conducive to self governance, in fact, throughout history crisis and self

governance have been all but mutually exclusive. yet that's sort of how we've chosen to operate over the past decade. we all remember, of course, with the towers still smoking, the passing of use of military force against terrorists, this was something widely supported and passed under the specter of imminent danger, but it's been used to justify everything from torture to rendition to secret cia black sights to warnless wiretapping. everyone felt another attack might be around the corner. something widely allotted and supported and the dangers were not visible until much later. skip ahead to the financial crisis, tarp, $700 billion thrown together during a weekend, three-page proposal. lawmakers told the economy would implode itself, armageddon would be ushered in unless it passed.

tarp failed its first vote, then a panicked congress reconvened and passed it. at least there was some external crisis present. what we've seen from this particular congressional class is crisis governance, not to react to some external crisis, but rather to create imminent crises in order to restrict what the political system can produce. we saw this before the new republican congress was ever sworn in, right after the 2010 midterm elections, republicans threatened any help for the unemployed at a time of 9.4% unemployment. threatened to put people on the streets on christmas eve if they didn't get their way in order to preserve the bush tax cuts, a totally self-created crisis, but it worked. then in april, another crisis, a

potential government shutdown, all hands on deck. government workers were being briefed on what to do to shut down national parks. senior citizens were sent into a panic about what was going to happen with their social security and medicare benefits, all over a resolution to continue funding the government that republicans were holding up. a self-created crisis in which republicans extracted billions in spending cuts in a time the economy desperately needs more spending. and now this, the debt ceiling fight, republicans turning what has always been a routine congressional action into an imminent and dire crisis, pushing the country towards the brink of default. at each point along the way, the stakes get higher and higher. the fate of the unemployed, the fate of everyone who uses government services, and now the fate of global financial markets. each time this create a crisis strategy has been successful,

wildly successful, each time the republicans demands have been met and with each success they are incentivized to employ the strategy again. this has become the new normal in washington, so what we get are these self-created crises every few months and ab northerly insidious means of creating public policy. joining us now, eugene robinson, msnbc contributor, great to see you, gene. >> great to be here, chris. >> am i being hyperbolic, is this something you knew and -- or is this the way the system always works? >> it has certainly escalated, chris. look, this government, our political system has always worked best with a tight deadline. things tend not to get done until they have to get done, but you're right this is different. there was a familious quote from

rob emmanuel when he was chief of staff a couple of years ago to the effect that what a shame it would be to waste a crisis. well, the republicans have learned never waste a crisis, just make the crisis and use it to an advantage. they seem to be perfecting the techniq technique. >> what episode, two aspects, substance of what the actual deal that was struck and passed by the house today is, then there's a process by which it produced. i wonder, what do you find most ominous about how this whole deal went down? >> how much time do we have actually? if you want to talk process, look, if you reward hostage takers, they take more hostages, so it's positive reenforcement for those who would practice this technique of saying look, we're going to blow the place up unless you give us what we want, that's disturbing because we're obviously going to see it again. in terms of the substance of the

deal, you know, what was the administration's position, well, give us a clean bill raising the debt ceiling like we always do and the republicans said no. so the fall back position was okay, so we can have some budget cuts but let's have new revenue too. we got to have that, the republicans said no, and in the end it turned out just to be budget cuts. now, the administration did some creative work in sort of undermining -- >> fine-print ju jitsu. >> so, in fact, $350 billion of the $900 billion of for sure cuts over the next decade are in defense cuts. this is an unpress departmented whack at the burgeoning defense budget and there are other things in there that i think are quite clever, but in the end, is this a victory for the administration? no, is it a victory for the

republicans? yes. >> also, the question of what comes after this. because whatever the substance of this deal, one of the things i think is disturbing or worrisome is the fact at each point is doesn't seem -- the white house seems surprised all over again when this strategy is pursued the next time, so the president was asked specifically in a press conference after the republican election by mark amander from the atlantic, when are you going to build the debt ceiling? it brings us to the question when is the next irresponsible moment? are we going to go through this in september? >> well, we're going to go through something like this in september. some sort of drama in september, i can pretty much guarantee that, and, you know, one of the reasons the administration was so set on getting something that at least takes us past the election is that they did see a -- oh, gee, they are going so

hold us hostage on the debt ceiling again in a few months. they have certainly learned that much, but can they see the next thing coming? i'm not sure. >> eugene robinson, thanks so much for joining me tonight. for one group of republicans, this is a critically important vote even if they didn't vote on it, mitt romney, i'm looking at you. affect the 2012 presidential candidates? that ahead. one more thing, the only thing to come out of it with that vote. that sound you hear is applause, same applause for three minutes and 30 seconds. i counted. as for what the members are clapping for is this woman. that right there is congressman gabby giffords, returned to the chamber the first time today since she was shot nearly seven

months ago. halva took her face and said it's you, it's you. congresswoman giffords traveled back to washington to vote in favor of the debt deal. congressman saying in a statement i had to be here for this vote, i could not take the chance my absence could crash our economy. well, if this manufactured crisis did nothing else, at least it provided the means and motivation to bring a critically-wound eed congress wambach to work. [ jasmine ] i want to be a pediatrician so i want to major in biology. miss gopie is the best teacher i ever had. she's amazing, i love her. [ jade ] i'm teaching jasmine ap biology. i knew she had the talent... i always pushed her. [ jasmine ] her class you literally have to think, like it takes so long to do her homework. [ jade ] she's gained the confidence that she can achieve anything.

[ jasmine ] i'm going to be a pediatrician... and i'm going to make this dream come true. a 100 percent. ♪ ♪ ooh baby, (what) can i do for you today? ♪ [ female announcer ] need help keeping your digestive balance? align can help. only align has bifantis, a patented probiotic that naturally helps maintain your digestive balance. try align to help retain a balanced digestive system. try the #1 gastroenterologist recommended probiotic. align. 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. so how do you pay for government? with tax revenue. and when you stop paying, what happens? as president bush once said, the math doesn't work. that's just ahead. woman: day care can be expensive.

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.

whenever congress reaches one of these by now routine, last minute crisis averting compromises, most people watching have two immediate questions, one, what the heck is in it? two, is it any good? now, sometimes we like to skip immediately to answering the second question because well, it's more fun and better tv than reading through the fineprint. that instinct is compounded by the fact this deal is pretty complicated. if you're feeling a bit bewildered, i'm here to tell you, you're not alone. newspapers, blogs, websites, have even resorted to flow charts to explain it.

i myself have spent the last day trying to get my head around it. the debt deal is layered. there are things that happen needily and other things that happen over time. finally a bit of meta-legislation that attempts to control the process by which future deficit reduction happens. think of it as three main components. first, big kahoona. debt ceiling gets raised enough to meet obligations until after the 2012 election. in exchange for this, congress introduces spending caps. you know, stuff like national parks, scientific research, education, highways, stuff like that. the spending caps start in the fall and they start relatively small and then get bigger. they are predicted to reduce spending by about $900 billion

over the next decade. finally, congress creates a bipartisan joint committee. this is the super congress or super committee you've been hearing about that will get together in november with the task of coming up with another $1.5 trillion in cuts. this is where both tax increases and social security and medicare cuts could come back into the deal, because that super committee, which will have an expedited process to vote on its recommendations can more or less come up with whatever it wants, but you're thinking what if there's no agreement for the super committee? that's not a surprising thought given what we've been through and there's reason to think they won't come to an agreement. if that's the case, then another round of automatic cuts goes into effect. this is the trigger everyone's been talking about, in the amount of $1.2 trillion, which will hit everything from the pentagon to payments to medicare providers. the thinking on the trigger here

is that the second round of automatic cuts will be so unpalatable across the board, hitting democratic and republican constituencies that congress will be motivated to pass whatever the super committee comes up with, but be careful what you wish for. anybody who thinks a body who is equal democrats and republicans will come up with anything other than a conservative agenda has not been paying attention. if you're sitting there saying to yourself how can this congress or three or five congresses from now, you're not alone. your name might as well be chris hayes, that's what i'm thinking too. joining us is ezra klein, msnbc policy analyst and the man i like to talk to when every sentence i have ends in a question mark. >> hi, chris, how are you? >> i'm genuinely trying to figure out this statutory

mechanism here. how does this congress say what spending is in, say, 2017? >> it doesn't, and one thing to always note when you see a bill like this, they keep saying discretionary spending, and the reason they keep saying discretionary spending is nobody knows what discretionary spending is. they don't like to say medicare cuts or social security cuts, everyone knows what those are. they set arbitrary levels of discretionary spending to get them to a goal and put in place what they call a trigger or in this case they call spending caps, works like a trigger. that means if they go over their caps, there's an automatic set of cuts made across the board to discretionary spending. now, the next question, couldn't congress in 2015 or 2018 say we're not going to listen to the trigger, we're going to vote the trigger out of existence, they could. they have before. there was a trigger back in the late 80s, early 90s, they didn't

let that go into effect. the trick of the trigger, can't be quite so horrible congress won't let it happen but just so it makes congress do what it's supposed to do. >> if i were to ask you what's the good, the bad, and the ugly here, what would be your headlines for each of those categories? >> so the big headline news in this bill is how much it actually cuts defense. if you're talking about what's good, you can argue good both ways, but for many years -- defense has been off the table. you have made the point before, worst four words in budgets are nondiscretionary spending. how do you do a balanced deal if republicans aren't going to do revenues, instead of revenues, republicans will do defense cuts associati so spending cuts count -- if we do the trigger, spending cuts are gigantic, it would get cut by $600 billion on top of the

$350 billion already in the initial bit. the ugly, i'd say, is the discretionary, nondefense discretionary spending. that's education, medical research, infrastructure, transportation, all that in the future stuff the white house is talking about and we need and politicians love to cut it because nobody knows what is in it and programs are smaller than programs like medicare, medicaid, and social security, so they don't have powerful constituencies protecting them. so we're cutting more into the bone when we go into nondefense discretionary than when we end up with medicare, tax code, or defense. >> the other thing i want to get to here because i think the white house has proven itself very adept at rescuing noncatastrophic results of the deals, so the chronology are

somewhat key, they are fairly back loaded, am i right? >> very back loaded. one catch to that -- >> $22 billion, right? >> $22 billion, i believe. one catch to that is this bill does not extend unemployment insurance or the payroll tax cut. they continue until the end of this year. this bill says nothing about them. now, if you don't extend those you're looking at $150 billion cut in the economy in 2011 -- i'm sorry, '12 compared to 2011. that's a real big reduction in not just spending but targeted government support for recovery. that would be a big deal, but aside from what's in the bill specifically is back loaded to cut towards the end of the ten-year window in order to protect the recovery but not, unfortunately, in order to actually support the recovery further. >> the final question is is there any light horizon

in terms of what we've been banging on the desk at the network and on your blog, a complete reluctance, inability for washington to deal with the obvious problem to deal with more stimulative measures for supporting people unemployed. >> what killed me about this deal, chris, i can't believe it when i look at it, is that we did it so stupidly. there's a clear deal here. there are two different perspectives on the economy, one, you need more deficit reduction in the long-term, theirs, more support now. any economist would tell you this is not hard. do a lot of deficit reduction between 2015 and 2015 and a fair amount ever support until unemployment gets below 27%. we did not do very much deficit reduction in the long-term and no stimulus and look to be removing it now. we got a deal that's the worst of the both worlds. things about it not as bad as it

could have been but that's not high praise as far as how bad the economy is. >> district of columbia's official motto. ezra klein, thanks so much for coming on. as promised, michele bachmann voted against raising the debt ceiling, potential economic catastrophe be darned. in here, the planned combination of at&t and t-mobile would deliver our next generation mobile broadband experience to 55 million more americans, many in small towns and rural communities, giving them a new choice. we'll deliver better service, with thousands of new cell sites... for greater access to all the things you want, whenever you want them. it's the at&t network... and what's possible in here is almost impossible to say.

and today, we're re-inventing aspirin for pain relief. with new extra-strength bayer advanced aspirin. it has microparticles so it enters the bloodstream faster and rushes relief right to the site of your tough pain. ♪ in fact, it's clinically proven to relieve pain twice as fast. new bayer advanced aspirin. extra strength pain relief, twice as fast.

republican leadership in the house was so proud of itself today for reaching a deal on the debt ceiling, it's planning to give itself the rest of the summer off. reportedly cantor's office announced the house will adjourn tonight and not return until after labor day. see you dudes in september. this leaves a whole lot of stuff unfinished, including reauthorization of the federal aviation administration. you know, the guys in charge of overseeing the safety of all those planes wizzing about overhead thousands of feet in the air carrying our loved ones. nbc news is reporting the same republicans just rejected both a democratic proposal to make huge cuts in that service and a clean extension of faa authority. so the partial shutdown of the faa, now in its tenth day will last at least 45 days or more.

now, remember that all of this is happening in the middle of a deficit fight as well as an economic recovery that is seriously stalling. congressman pete difazzio pointed out today, far better than we ever could, the decision to keep the faa shutdown is a decision that's both dangerous and costly, really, really costly. >> at the least, at the least, they could have extended the federal aviation administration authority. so we're walking away from $200 million a week, that is in taxes, that would come from users of the system. 4,000 federal employees have lost their jobs or are laid off, collecting unemployment. republicans don't care about federal employees, put that aside, but 90,000 private sector construction workers and small businesses are unemployed because we brought all the safety and security improvements across the entire system to a

screeching halt because we're not collecting taxes. that would put 94,000 people back to work. nope, that's not in here. that's too much to ask. >> it's really crazy, and congress doesn't get back from vacation until september 6th, but tomorrow night right here, transportation secretary ray lahood will be rachel's special guest on the faa shutdown. i'll be tuning in for that.

[ smooches ] [ male announcer ] it can open doors, it can erase boundaries and hold its ground. it can even the score and start a movement. -it can... -[ beatboxing ] [ male announcer ] it can buy time and tell time. shhh. [ baby giggles ] [ male announcer ] we use our mouths in so many ways to open up to the world. after all, life opens up when you do. crest and oral-b. tell us your story at lifeopensupproject.com. what if we designed an electric motorcycle? what if we turned trash into surfboards? whatever your what if is, the new sprint biz 360 has custom solutions to make it happen, including mobile payment processing, instant hot spots, and 4g devices like the motorola photon. so let's all keep asking the big what ifs. sprint business specialists can help you find the answers. sprint. america's favorite 4g network. trouble hearing on the phone? visit sprintrelay.com.

our girl's an architect. our boy's a genius. we are awesome parents! biddly-boop. [ male announcer ] if you find a lower rate on a room you've booked, we won't just match it. we'll give you $50 towards your next trip. [ gnome ] it's go time. you have been quoted coming out of your caucus as calling this agreement a sugar-coated satan sandwich. was that indeed your quote? >> it's a very accurate quote. if i were a republican i'd be dancing in the streets. i don't have any idea what the republicans wanted that they didn't get. >> it's not exactly a secret that not everyone on the left is happy with this new deal that was struck over the weekend to not have republicans destroy the economy. and there's lots not to love about the deal. but what might be hardest for liberals to swallow about this new compromise is there's no revenue in it, there's no

taxation in this deal. remember, the president himself said he would not sign a bill -- >> let's live within our means by making serious historic cuts in government spending. let's ask the wealthiest americans and biggest corporations to give up some of their breaks in the tax code and special deductions. this balanced approach asks everyone to give a little without requiring anyone to sacrifice too much. i've told leaders of both parties that they must come up with a fair compromise in the next few days that can pass both houses of congress and a compromise i can sign. >> of course, the deal we got has no balance and it is getting signed. this isn't new, of course, this anti-revenue down with taxes thing, it's a trend and it's been going on for decades. what is at its heart a move to starve it of tax dollars.

taxes aren't just in and of themselves, no one wants them to be higher taxes because hey, taxes are awesome. no, taxes are means by which the government pays for its provisioning of goods. taxes get us roads, parks, sewers, and running water. if you stop paying for the government to provide public goods, then not surprisingly what tends to happen is the quality of those public goods decline. you get, instead, public mess. this deal, where the republicans say hey, maybe we'll destroy the economy, democrats say okay, we'll give you tons of spending cuts and no taxes, just how you want it. groovy working with you. this deal calls into question whether our political system has totally lost the capacity to raise revenue to pay for the vital public good, and if you think i'm being hyperbolic here, hold on tight because there's a chart coming up with your name

on it. in the era of the mythic beltway of ronald reagan and tip o'neal, the definite reduction deal was born, passed, and signed into law. gerald bernstein points out yes, ronald reagan approved of a deal that was more than 80% new revenue, more than 80% more taxes, a deficit-reduction bill passed in 1990 by the first president bush. then, in 1993, bill clinton and the democratic-led congress cut the deficit. that was about 60% taxes, and now to our most current balanced budget deal. earlier this summer when the crisis of the looming debt ceiling was only just beginning to roll off the assembly line of republican shenanigans, the white house was pushing a deal that involved a 3 to 1 compromise, $3 of spending cuts to every $1 of tax increases. in other words, if the

republicans would go ahead and vote not to blow up the economy, the white house would give them a deal that was only 25% tax increases, lowest one so far on the chart. you can witness the blue shrinking. republicans themselves had advocated earlier this year a reduction plan that was 15% revenue, so where does that lead us? now we have a final "let's not destroy the economy by blowing it up through the debt ceiling deal," how much of that deal is revenue? zero. zero percent. there's no revenue. it cuts the deficit by $2.1 trillion with no guaranteed taxes, no concrete evidence that taxes will be a part of raising all this extra money. now, the white house will say oh, but don't you worry, we're going to have the hammer in our hands of the expiration of the bush tax cuts, which are a very, very significant chunk of revenue, and that's true, but we've been there before.

they've had the hammer in the lame duck session and completely failed to use them to raise revenue. part of the problem here is that democrats and liberals have sounded almost like republicans on taxes. always boasting about keeping taxes low, always promising no one who makes less than $250,000 a year is going to see their taxes go up, and that's not true -- or it shouldn't be. taxes are going to have to go up. period. taxes right now as a percentage of gdp, a 50-year low. one of the things that character rises a country with poor governance is an inability to collect taxes to fund the state. we've seen this in action in greece and this agreement today calls into question whether or not we're on a slippery slope that leads down that same path. joining us now, congresswoman jan schakowsky, congresswoman of

illinois. thanks for being here. you voted against the bill today. what was the deciding factor for you? >> the deciding factor gets down to what you were talking about, all of the cuts come from people who have already sacrificed so much, middle class people, senior citizens, all the people that we should be protecting and not a hair from the head of a millionaire or billionaire, as you said, not one penny from the wealthiest americans. but, you know, you asked a really important question, are we capable of raising taxes? and if you asked the american people, you know, do you want higher taxes, they say no. do you want a balanced budget, they say yes, but if you say would you prefer to raise revenue, to have higher taxes, especially for millionaires and billionaires, from rich people or to cut medicare, social security, forget it. hands down people do not want those things cut, and i dare say

if you say do you want clean air, do you want clean water, do you want food inspection, they say of course we do. that's what we expect. we want police, we want teachers, we want all those things, so -- and the phone calls that i was getting today, 20 to 1 in my office, i heard others saying 100 to 1 not to support this plan. >> god bless levinston, illinois. i want to ask you live on national tv an honest question. if that vote was tied today in the us and you had not voted yet and they were holding that vote open and you were the deciding vote, would you have voted the same way you voted today? >> you know what, i probably would have changed my vote, i'll be honest with you, but i have said i'd like to see the president invoke the 14th amendment, but you know what, people have voted against debt

ceilings before to make a very clear statement that, you know, we don't want to have a deal that is a bad deal. the president himself did it, but we never obstructed actually raising that debt ceiling. so there would have been a lot of pressure. >> there would have, and this strikes me in some ways, and this relates to the expiration of the bush tax cuts, and i'm not saying i would have done any differently in your position, but this strikes me as the asimilar industry that gets us in this position, if i would asked that question to the members of the tea party about the earlier bill they voted down, screw it, i would have voted no and damn the consequences. if that's the dynamic when we come up to the expiration of the bush tax cuts, what says that's going to be any different? >> no, i absolutely think that at that point, we can mobilize people and that's what we're going to be doing this summer and that's what we're going to

have to be doing going forward saying if we're going to create jobs, if we're going to grow the economy, if we're going to address the real crises of a disappearing middle class and a disappearing american dream then we cannot let the wealthy get away with absolutely no skin in the game whatsoever, including the corporations who are getting tax refunds instead of paying any taxes at all. i really think that we are going to be able to build the momentum that is necessary to say no, you are not going to continue to take it out of the middle class, and we're going to have the president with us making those speeches on the stump as he begins in earnest his campaign for the election. i believe him when he says that we are not going -- that we will let those tax cuts expire unless there are some serious tax reform, and i certainly would recommend and introduced a bill, my fairness and taxation act,

that taxes the millionaires and billionaires more. >> congressman jan schakowsky from the wonderful state of illinois, i appreciate your time tonight. >> thanks, chris. can you get to the white house by just saying no all the time? that's next. getting enough veg? maybe not. v8 v-fusion juice gives them a full serving of vegetables plus a full serving of fruit. but it just tastes like fruit. [ male announcer ] get five dollars in money-saving coupons at v8juice.com. and today, we're re-inventing aspirin for pain relief. with new extra-strength bayer advanced aspirin. it has microparticles so it enters the bloodstream faster and rushes relief right to the site of your tough pain. ♪ in fact, it's clinically proven to relieve pain twice as fast. new bayer advanced aspirin. extra strength pain relief, twice as fast.

here's what you can the expect from regions. a bank that provides you with real business expertise. check. a professional optimization of your cash flow with a regions cashcor analysis. check. cash management solutions and the smart lending options you need to grow your business. check. plus, it all comes with award-winning service to help you achieve more balance. interested? let's talk. looking good. (bike bell)

this best new thing in the world today arrives courtesy of the federal government of the united states of america. no, seriously, it does. on a day we're all feeling a bit frustrated with our government, a reminder of what it can do when it works just ahead. the wh. nothing wrong with that. in fact, allstate gives them a bonus -- twice a year -- for being safe drivers. dollar for dollar, nobody protects you like allstate.

you're looking for the soul of the republican party these days, you have to look in two places. this is the part of the republican party we've been hearing so much about over the last couple of years, the tea party, which is really a proxy for the base, republican base, low government, no taxes, fend for yourself. the base is where congresswoman michele bachmann lives with the rank and file who've had enough of whatever or something. ms. bachmann left her presidential campaign in iowa today so she could vote on raising the debt ceiling, but she phoned the folks in iowa and called for a show of hands. >> let me ask you this question, raise your hands, do you want me to vote no on raising the debt

ceiling? raise your hands. very good. they'll tell me the results, i can't see it, but i know if you're -- if you're raise of hands is anything like the rest of the country, it is a very strong no. >> the second slice of the republican soul belongs this year at least to one willard mitt romney, made money, who was born wearing chinos and deck shoes and wants to joke with you about being unemployed. mitt romney is the 20th candidate of wall street, aka the fat cats, the rich, the other half, even though they are more like the top 1% or 2%. these republicans are the plutocrats and mitt romney is their guy. so republican coalition has these two parts, the base and the plutocrats and every once in

a blue moon we see these two sides at odds with each other. the great men of wall street almost unanimously wanted the bailout because it saved their hide, and the base hated it. guess what, wall street won. wall street won because wall street wins as long as the plutocrats and base agree, fine, they are the force, but when they differ, bet on wall street. for this reason, i've believed we get some deal to raise the debt ceiling. wall street was simply not going to let congress tank the economy, goldman sachs does not want america to default on its debt, so that was probably never going to happen, but i will admit i underestimated the extent to which the balance of power has shifted. it would make sense michele bachmann voted against raising the debt ceiling. she thanked their voters for raising their hands even though she couldn't see them.

through the weekend michele bachmann was raising money for her promise to not raise the debt ceiling, but streets, and continuity for wall street. they wanted stability, and they didn't want the u.s. government to default on its debt. this is what wall street got from the candidate of wall street. quote, while i appreciate the extraordinarily difficult situation president obama's lack of leadership has placed republican members of congress in, i personally cannot support this deal. given a which side are you on moment, the chief threw in with the base. only after he realized the deal would pass, but then that is mihm romney for you. joining us now is wayne slater, senior political writer for the dallas morning news, co-author of bush's brain, which is still the definitive book on karl rove. thank you for making time tonight.

were you surprised by the romney statement? was this vintage romney? was it surprising he came out against the deal? >> he's able to say something politically, and oernld the wall street supporters know he's one of us. you have two factions who are competing for the soul of the republican party. the tea party or the tea eadvantage gevan evangelicals and wall street on the other. there are two factions playing on very different fields. the tea party plays on the political field where servitude and purity is what counts as part of rhetoric. wall street is playing and mitt romney are playing on the policy side where compromise is king and ultimately that's what you have to have when your goal is not sending thing over the edge. let me just say, this whole

conflict in the last few weeks raises a question in our democracy. can you have a successful politics, and that's what the tea party has the last two years, a successful politics that ultimately makes it impossible to govern? >> that's a profound question, and i think in the long run it's hard to imagine the impossibility of governance being a sustainable kind of politics. in the short run it's reaping its benefits, and i think you see that in the skittishness of the other candidates today. rick perry here. of course, your texas governor. he says he doesn't say anything. he wants to support and that he supports, quote, cut, cal balance approach. that's it. one-sentence line. what do you make of that? >> that's politics. that's the message. you don't talk about do i agree with what portions of boehner bill or the bill discussed now. that gets you in trouble. all you do is cite a big theme.

cut, cap, balance. that's a dog whistle basically to the tea party constituency that says i'm on your side. he never said whether he would vote or pass, sign or veto it bill today. he said i'm with the guy running the political side of things this year as i look to the primary states, iowa, new hampshire, south carolina, florida, and so forth. >> what's so interesting about this, and i think i'm sort of obsessed with this one poll which asks people do you want your representative to stick to principle or compromise to get things done? democrats say i want them to compromise and get them down and independents say we want them compromise and republicans say i want them to stick to principle. you see this in the dynamics. how much is that shaping the sort of contours of the policy positions they're staking out in this republican field? >> well, it is. basically when you have a

constituency especially on the republican side that will speak so clearly and express itself so clearly, i want to stand on principle even if it means running the country over the cliff. you're back to barry goldwater in 1964. what happened today when you had a sense of compromise is equal to rockefeller agreeing with barry goldwater and joining. that's almost what you have right now, but it's not surprising. >> goldwater gets the last laugh in that encounter. wayne slater, senior political writer for the dallas morning news. thank you for dropping by. >> great to be with you. recall elections are rapidly approaching in wisconsin to counter governor scott walker's union-busting agenda. "the ed show" have the latest gomts. it it benefits tens of millions of women. come to think of, men. some good news up next. ♪ let me entertain you

♪ let me make you smile ♪ let me do a few tricks ♪ some old and then some new tricks ♪ ♪ i'm very versatile ♪ so let me entertain you ♪ and we'll have a real good time ♪ [ male announcer ] with beats audio and flash, you can experience richer music and download movies straight to the new hp touchpad with webos. and download movies straight to the new hp touchpad it's true. you never forget your first subaru.

[ kate ] can't believe i have high blood pressure. what's that thing? another medication. ♪ i really should have taken my shoes off before i got weighed. [ female announcer ] you've got a lot on your mind. that's why every walgreens prescription goes through a 10 point safeguard check that reviews your current walgreens health record for allergies and potentially harmful drug interactions. [ kate ] i can do this. [ female announcer ] the 10 point safeguard check from walgreens. there's a way to stay well. man, we give out so many car insurance discounts. safe driver discount, homeowner's discount... multi-car discount. i wish we could get discounts everywhere. body like a greek god discount at the gym. best moves discount at the disco. you guys are so funny. really? best actress discount. uncalled for discount. whatever discount. [ female announcer ] tons of discounts. see for yourself at esurance.

technology when you want it. people when you don't.

this is what people think about what has been happening in washington over the past few weeks. it's a word cloud based on the single word responses when asked for their characterization of the budget negotiations. pretty grim, but there are times when the government does something good, crazy as that may sound. even like today when it does the best new thing in the world. thanks to a decision in washington, d.c. today, tens of millions of women who already have health insurance in this country will no longer have to co-pay for their birth control and other preventive services. the department of health and human services deciding that under president obama's health care act insurance companies can't charge women for among

other things all fda approved contra sepgs which includes the morn after pill, hiv screening and counseling, breast feeding support and domestic violence screening and counseling. the secretary says under the law we're making it illegal to charge women more just because of their gender. what's better about today's best new thing? it happens at a time when women's contraception is under mass assault, to newspaper columnists who write that it violates the natural, moral order to organizations that equate taking the pill with murder. meanwhile, about a half of all pregnancies in this country are still unplanned. so the fact that in such a hostile atmosphere there's a historic decision to give women parity in health care, that's the best new thing in the world today. that does it for us tonight.