but i need the heart. if i don't get a heart, if i don't get listed, keith, i'm going to die and i don't want to die. i want to live. i'm only 44 years old. i'm a young man. there are other transplant people out there that have di t different afflictions but are still the same. what's happening in arizona is completely wrong. >> douglas, we thank you for your time this evening and for being so forthright about it and we wish you the best of luck with it. >> thank you, keith, and thank you nbc. i appreciate it. >> more than welcome. that's december 14th, eight days since the republicans got the deal for taxes for the rich. mr. boehner, where are the jobs? i'm keith olbermann. good night and good luck. to discuss how and if anyone can fix the senate, he's rachel maddow. thank you for staying for us for the next hour. i grew up in northern california, there's relatively

speaking not very much weather. for my adult life i've lived on the east coast where there is lots of weather. doing everyday things like going to the grocery store have to be coordinated with the weather forecast. if you want to get your regular grocery shopping done, don't do that when a giant storm is in the forecast. when a giant storm is in the forecast it activates a primal animal instinct to hoard and burrow just in case you get s w snowed in or something. have all of your provisions with you at that time. learning that was an important part of becoming an east coaster in my life. bad weather forecast equals mobbed grocery store. i've also learned if you are trying to do your grocery shopping in the least possible time, if you're trying to do your shopping as fast as it can be done, one of the best ways to do that is show up right before the store is about to close. right when the store's closing. right we the store's closing? but wait, shouldn't the people

who work there have tons of other stuff to do at that time? yes, they do. that's exactly the point. they want to getout out of there so they can get their stuff done and go home. this does not mean the people who work at the grocery stores are slow walking or slow rolling you the rest of the day. it means the incentives are all there for you, their work, you. their work consists of dealing with you in large part. the incentives are there for you to be over with as their work. for you to be done so they can do what they want to do, finish up the stuff they need to do and go home. it's a natural incentive. it probably even works in california though i've never tried it there. that phenomenon, that closing time phenomenon turns out to be the thing that explains why the united states senate looks like an episode of benny hill right now. ♪

♪ this is the lame duck congress. this is the period in washington. this is supposed to be a slow news period when it comes to u.s. politics, but there has not been more legislative action. there has not been more stuff going on in washington at any other time in this entire year than there is going on right now. >> we must complete the tax bill. we're going to move as soon as we can to the s.t.a.r.t. treaty. we have to fund the government. we have to make sure we complete work on the dream act. if the house completes work on don't ask, don't tell, we'll have to work on that. we have the 9/11 situation in new york. we still haven't given up on that. we have a number of nominations we're working on. >> if you want to find a time that there was this much, all that stuff going on in d.c.,

where this much important action on the docket, you would have to go all the way back to this time exactly last year. which was, again, supposed to be a dead period. a quiet interregnum, a time when people in the news business had vacations scheduled because no big news happens around this time of year. what was going on this time last year, this time last year on christmas eve, what was happening? >> a lot of americans will be getting up early tomorrow including u.s. senators. they've been told to report to work, believe it or not, at 7:00 a.m. because it apparently is really happening now. a final vote on the health care bill. >> a christmas eve vote on health reform in the united states senate. why does stuff stall all year long and then this time of year it takes off like it is in fast motion? it's because the people who work here want to go home. get your stuff, get your rewards cards, it's time to go, move it.

you do not have to go home, but you can't stay here, everybody out. this is not just sociology about human incentives. this is political science. this is not an accident. it's not always been true that stuff got done only at christmas time in washington only at the end of the legislative washington. this is a political phenomenon now, not just a grocery store phenomenon at the end of the night, because of something really dramatic that happened to the american political system. this is the way that senate works. this is 1919 to just before republicans in the senate went into the minority in 2006. this is how the senate worked from 1919 until before republicans became the minority. then the last time republicans became the minority, what happened? boing. look at that. what you're looking at there is the breaking of the united states senate as an institution. what these are is filibusters. this is when the senate decides to take the extraordinary measure of making something take 60 votes to pass instead of 50

votes. and that's impossible. supermajorities are impossible. you cannot actually pass things with supermajorities in an ongoing way. this is not the way that legislatures function. it is never the way that america's legislature has functioned. if you're going to require a supermajority it means that effectively this body has ceased to function, it has ceased to function as a normal majority rules legislature. this is how republicans broke the senate. they have turned the senate into a republican strong hold not while they were in the majority, but since they've been in the y minority. since they lost the senate they have turned it into a stronghold for their own party by using power the senate minority is usually entrusted not to abuse. they've used that power to break the institution. even know they are the minority, less than 50 of them, they exert all of the leverage. they get what they want. which not only means that policies get changed to try to appeal to them, it also means that the calendar just stretches

on and on and on and on with nothing ever getting done. that is their preference. they are filibustering the funding of the millitary right now. it's on the docket. they are filibustering the appointment of people to relatively low-level political jobs at middle management levels at cabinet agencies you cannot remember the names of. people who are not famous, people who are not controversial but are nevertheless subject to this extraordinary supermajority rule. this extraordinary thing that was never supposed to be used the way it's being used. because republicans are using it the way they are, nothing gets done. and they have found that strategy to be in their political interest. to get as little done as possible. >> saturday at midnight the government funding runs out. we have to deal with that. that's the only thing that has to be dealt with. then you have to ask, is there anything that's absolutely necessary beyond that? anything that were to be done during that period of time would

not have the respective american people. >> it is in their interest as the political minority that nothing gets done and they can achieve that with the way they have broken the institution formally known as the united states senate. and that's what explains why christmas is so busy every year now, because the only leverage the democrats have, even though they're in the majority, the only way democrats can exert majority, pressure on republicans is using the fact republicans want to go home and the only way to go home, democrats say, is to have to do stuff first. democr democrats' only leverage is, hey republicans, you can't leave yet. >> we're going to complete the work we have to do here. i want to get out of here just as soon as we can, but we're not going to walk away from any of the work we have to do. christmas is a week from saturday. i understand that, but i hope the republicans understand it also. because we are going to complete our work no matter how long it

takes in this congress. we have to do the work of the american people. we've been stalled and stalled and stalled this whole congress. >> that is the democratic leverage. the leverage that democrats have, it's circumstantial. it's you guys want to go home so we'll keep the senate opened so you can't go home. this is not a procedure. this is not a rule. this is not a technique for bringing things to the floor. this isn't even debate. this is, you guys want to go home and that's all we have to use against you so we can get things done. the senate is broken so this is the only time and only way the majority can get stuff passed. here's what things stand right now. the big tax cuts vote could theoretically get taken up after midnight tonight, although democrats now they they're going to wait until tomorrow morning. why is midnight the important threshold? that's when the 30 hours of waiting time republicans are requiring on this thing ends. again, they are stalling something that most of them are in favor of. after the tax cut s deal passes

which it is expected to do, then they'll try to get through the other things republicans are filibustering. the s.t.a.r.t. treaty supported by every boldface republican name on national security. the don't ask, don't tell repeal for which there are reportedly definitely 60 votes, enough to beat the fill buibuster. the dream act which was a bipartisan thing, now being filibustered. the 9/11 first responders bill. i cannot believe there is any controversy about. it's your conscience, you live with it. all of those things are stacked up and ready to go. today is december 14th. there is a reason why all of this stuff happens at this time of year. why this time last year all of this stuff was happening and why we are likely to see them working on christmas eve and maybe christmas day, who knows. there's a reason the senate is on fast forward when it gets to this time of year. it's because the senate is broken. and the only means by which republicans can be moved to allow the senate to function is to threaten to make them work instead of going home when they want to go home. that is not the way it is

supposed to work. the thing is broken. but it can be fixed. joining us now is senator tom udall of new mexico, a man who wants to fix it. thank you for joining us again, senator. nice to see you. >> thank you, rachel. great to be with you. you made a strong case there, no dout about it. >> do you think the senate is breaking it or do you think i'm overstating it? >> you're not overstating it. it's a very broken institution. right to the heart of what we're talking about, we lurch from one filibuster to the next. we waste an incredible amount of time. filibuster used to be something that was extraordinarily rare, you know? in lbj's days back in the 1954 to '61 period, he only had to cut, and this is six years, cut one filibuster off in that period. this year harry reid had to cut off 84.

so you know, it's -- they've taken something that's incredibly rare and they've now turned the institution into a supermajority institution. and you just can't govern with supermajorities. it's just not going to work that way. >> people get nostalgic for the arm twisting effectiveness of lbj, when you realize what he was up against, one filibuster versus 84 for harry reid, it puts harry reid in a brighter light. there is a reason the filibuster exists. the senate values the preservation of the rights of the minority for making their views known and having legislative effectiveness. is there a way to preserve that while stopping the breaking of the institution? >> i think there is, rachel. i real believe in the rights of the minority. really the way the filibuster used to work is there was respect back and forth between both sides of the aisle. republicans and democrats. and you would say to the minority side, well, if you want

to take the time to be heard, to put your viewpoint out there, to rally the american people, please do that and take the time that you need, but then at the end of that there was an understanding that you would come together and have an up or down vote. that's what we're missing right now from filibuster to filibuster, we vote maybe most of the time because we don't even get on to the bill. and all the things that you've named, from the dream act to the defense department authorization, to don't ask, don't tell, we could have done these a long time ago, but there was a filibuster going on. preventing us from getting to a yes or no vote. and so one senator shouldn't have the right to hold the whole institution up. you'll remember there was a senator that held unemployment benefits up for almost two or three days, singally while

people were rolling off and losing their benefits. that just isn't right, and i don't think the american people and the middle class feel that this is the way the senate should operate. we can fix it. we can fix it on the first day because with 51 senators and utilizing the constitutional option we can move to a situation where we change the rules. obviously i may be in the minority at some point, so i was minority rights protected. but we can make the senate work more efficiently. that's what we're working on right now. and i've got this idea on the constitutional option that on the first day, and it's been utilized before, with 51 votes you can cut off debate and adopt rules of the senate. and that's what we're galvanizing around. >> senator udall, i asked senator reid right before the election if he would support filibuster reform. as you've said, your

constitutional option, something that's structured to take a 51-senator vote on the first day of the new senate. obviously there will be more than is 51 democrats in the chamber. there has been some positive noise from republicans. do you have support for senator reid for some filibuster reform? he said he would be interested in it at least in concept. >> no, senator reid has spoken several times passionately, one of the ones i remember is when he appeared at net roots nation and talked about abuse of the spitball and abuse of the four-corner rule in basketball. he said they banned those. he said, you know, this abuse is unprecedented, we have to do something about it. and so he has assigned a number of task forces to take a look at the rules and come back. we're going to meet this thursday in a democratic caucus. if we can't get it done thursday, we're going to meet

again on friday, and we're going to try to hammer out what 51 senators would like to see. none of that can happen. any of those changes that we come to a conclusion on unless we utilize the constitutional option which works on the first day. 51 votes, cut off debate, 51 votes for the rules. there are republicans out there, we want to reach across the aisle and want to try to make sure the place isn't disfunctional and they give us their ideas. but if they aren't going to join us and continue this then i think it's our obligation to govern and do everything we can do make sure that the american people have legislation that meets their needs. the middle class is hurting now. we need to get out there and legislate, get this economy going and move on all those other important matters we talked about earlier. >> senator tom udall of new mexico. thank you for joining us. appreciate your time on this.

>> thank you very much. >> senator udall is talking about there i believe is the single most important thing that could be done to change washington. on a single day in the legislature that we know about. it would make a huge difference for the rest of barack obama's first term as president and might make the difference between whether or not he has a second term. it can only be done on the first day of the new congress. all right. since christmastime is the new rush hour in washington, there is a lot going on right now including the nation's liberal elected officials having to decide what to do about the president's controversial deal with republicans on taxes. chris hayes helps us with that. plus we apparently started a fight between christine o'donnell and fox news. don't know how we got in the middle of that, but we did. that's ahead. [ female announcer ] great wine, great price. yellow tail. let it flow, let it flow, let it flow.

a heartfelt spence of speaker to be, republican speaker john boehner. seriously. stay with us.

naturally colorful vegetables are often a good source of vitamins, fiber, or minerals. and who brings you more natural colors than campbell's condensed soups? campbell's.® it's amazing what soup can do.™ if you're a lib ram ral or sent riflt and you're disappointed the president's agenda has not become law, where your sadness lives is the united states senate. the scroll beneath me is a list of thousands of things that have passed the house but not have gone anywhere in the senate. over 400 bills since the end of september. nobody bothered to update the count since the end of september. our poor researchers are trying to. with republicans breaking the senate so a supermajority is required to pass anything there now, the senate is where article 1 of the constitution has died.

where the process of making law by legislation in this country has died. the senate is broken. that is looming over washington at all times. what does that mean for the stuff lined up to pass in a huge big rush in the next few days? joining us is the "nation" magazine's washington editor and msnbc contributor, chris hayes. hello, mr. hayes. hello, mr. hayes. >> miss maddow, how are you? >> good, thank you. s.t.r.a.t. repeal of don't ask, don't tell. what do you think passes? >> well, you know, january 4th is the expiration date on the congress. harry reid seems to be quite serious about working through that. the new congress starts january 5th. up until the stroke of midnight on january 4th this congress is in session. harry reid wants to squeeze all the juice out of it as possible. what's going to pass? the tax cut deal i think. i don't think it's a sure thing.

it's more likely to pass than not. not a sure thing. you're starting to hear rumblings from tea party types on the republican side of this about a backlash against the deal. it will be interesting to see how that plays out in the house. dadt repeal is right, right, right on the razor's edge as we saw. the dream act i think is probably short of the votes it needs to pass. at least it was a few weeks ago. i don't think anything changes in the interim. the s.t.a.r.t. treaty looks like it has the votes to pass. if you talk to people around the s.t.a.r.t. negotiations, it needs two-thirds because it's a treaty. the question of whether it's going to be taken up is now bob corker from tennessee is saying we're going to push this to the next congress. that remains to be seen as well. >> i feel like the beltway press at large is particularly bad at reporting on liberals, on liberal arguments about policy. i feel you are very good at that. what do liberal democrat s end p

doing about the president's tax cut deal he made with republicans? you mentioned grumbling on the right. what happens to the disst dissatisfaction on the left? >> some of my best friends are liberals. i have a little insight. al franken had this sort of very kind of frank and heartfelt post on the "huffington post" today which said this is the hardest vote i had to take. he voted for the tax -- he said it was right on the line of what i would go for and basically i went for it, but i'm not happy about it. i think you're going to see a lot of that. the question is, how do they channel that? one, there's movement in the house to attach two more things to the compromise. one is if unemployment is going to be extended and tax cuts are going it be extended they should be extemded for the same amount of time. unemployment is getting 13 months in the bill and tax cuts two years. why is that the case? why can that not be the case they get extended for the same amount of time, fair is fair, particularly since it's going to be republican congress in 13 months and they're going to hold the unemployment checks hostage again and we're going to have another capitulation?

the other thing that some have been talking about although i don't know what's going to happen is getting a debt ceiling raise put into the package as well so, yet again, we won't be up against this hostage situation in march or april when the debt ceiling comes due. those are the ways they can operationalize their discon tent in the short-term legislative sense. >> chris hayes, washington editor for the "nation" magazine. i have a feeling we'll be checking in with you for updates on the matters shortly. still ahead, debunktion junction. the long awaited duet between kim jong-il and legal guitarist of yard birds. nonstop geopolitical rock straight ahead. >> grandfather: our first grandson. >> father: he sees you. >> ( "imagine" by john lennon playing ) >> ( laughing softly ) >> ( woman speaking korean ) >> ( child speaking korean )

>> ( children chattering ) >> dwight d. eisenhower: in the goodness of time, all peoples will come to live together in a peace guaranteed... >> john lennon: ♪ you may say ♪ i'm a dreamer ♪ but i'm not the only one >> ( blowing whistle ) >> ♪ i hope someday... >> good night, baby. >> ♪ ...you'll join us ♪ and the world ♪ will be as one >> woman: together, we are the human network. cisco. ♪ [ male announcer ] you know her. we know diamonds. together we'll make her holiday. that's why only zales is the diamond store. where you can get up to $1,000 off now through sunday. whoa! that achy cold needs alka-seltzer plus!

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debunktion junction, what's my function? true or false. this segment, debunktion junction segment started a fight on the right. this segment we attempt to sort out fact from fiction from the daily news cycle, debunktion junction sparked a disagreement, sent out logger heads to the forces on the right, started a fight between fox news and christine o'donnell. is that true or false? true. last week on debunktion junction, we said christine o'donnell would be doing a guest

host stint on fox and friends during christmas week. christine o'donnell said that in a sit-down interview with reporters from "roll call." after he reported it on the tv machine, fox news told a conservative tv columnist that christine o'donnell was doing no such thing. christine o'donnell says she's guest hosting on fox, fox says, she said what? she totally is not. fox news is calling christine o'donnell a liar. christine o'donnell will not comment not even to defend herself from fox is saying about her. we keep calling. she keeps not calling us back. we'll let you know if that changes. if we started this whole you're a liar, she's a liar, you're a liar, she's a liar fight we hope you'll be able to work it out, get together, we didn't mean anything by it. one of the wikileaks revelations, the u.s. state department considered arranging a private elton john concert for kim jong-il. kim jong-il private concert, elton john.

is that true or false? false. common misconception. common mixup i should say. it is actually the president of kazakhstan who got the private concert with elton john and the united states did not arrange it. he paid for it himself. it was for his son-in-law's birthday party. the wikileaks revelation about king jo come jong ill was about eric clapten. a cable released, in may 2007 a wire was sent suggesting the u.s. government should, quote, book eric clapton. it said that in all caps. so-and-so person whose name is x'd out, passed on that the u.s. government arrange for eric clanton to perform a concert in pyongyang. it could be an opportunity for goodwill. he's been passed over for

succession, he did attend eric clapton concerts while in school in europe. two years after this wikileaked cable in 2009, north korea invited eric clapton to come to pyongyang. he did not end up going. thanks to the wikileaks cable, north korea asked our government to help book the gig. disturbing as that it, hey it's not elton john. we'll be right back. mom, new shoes?

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plavix helps keep blood platelets from sticking together and forming clots, the cause of most heart attacks and strokes. call the doctor about plavix -- please? i will. [ male announcer ] certain genetic factors and some medicines such as prilosec reduce the effect of plavix leaving you at greater risk for heart attack and stroke. your doctor may use genetic tests to determine treatment. don't stop taking plavix without talking to your doctor as your risk of heart attack or stroke may increase. people with stomach ulcers or conditions that cause bleeding should not use plavix. taking plavix alone or with some other medicines including aspirin may increase bleeding risk, so tell your doctor when planning surgery. tell your doctor all medicines you take including aspirin especially if you've had a stroke. if fever, unexplained weakness or confusion develops, tell your doctor promptly. these may be signs of ttp, a rare but potentially life-threatening condition, reported sometimes less than two weeks after starting plavix. other rare but serious side effects may occur. [ female announcer ] talk to your doctor about plavix.

all day long i've been hearing accusations we made up a story that was on our air yesterday. that would be the story about the ukrainian government planning to open churnopble. i will admit that story sounds made up, but it is not made up. further detail for you on that. after the nuclear disaster at

churnoble in 1986 they built a hat for it, a shell to cover up the disaster site made of iron and concrete. that 25-year-old shell built at a stressful time, it leaks radiation. it's reported to be on the brink of collapsing. it replace it, they're building a fancy new shell thing to cover the meltdown site. it's a huge thing. tall enough to cover the statue of liberty. all new construction to contain the radiation. this is my favorite detail of the story. the plan from the ukrainian government is for tourists to start visiting churnoble next year. the plan for the new shell over the super radioactive part is scheduled to be ready in 2015. so visit next year, radiation guard to follow in four years. i would make this stuff up if i could, but i am neither that creative nor that insane.

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coming up i will defend tears, blubbering, shouting, getting red faced. who's going to make fun of john boehner for crying on television? not me, not this show. stay with us.

how does america get its way in the world? how do we exert power and enflins? some of it is leading by example to the extent we're admired, other countries try to be like us. we influence countries by the

virtue of our big economy and vibrant culture. it is a means by which america gets its way. beyond that, there are two direct ways. there's the threat of force, the threat of using our ginormous military in which we spend more than almost of the other militaries in the world combined. then there's talking. talking people into agreeing with us. negotiating. twisting arms. if you care about america's role in the world and think our influence in the world is important and believe the military cannot continue to be the primary means by which we get our way in the world, then the mostly invisible people who do diplomatic work for america are doing the most important american work of all. one of the few people who did this work who was not invisible is richard holbrooke who died yesterday at the age of 59. today is the anniversary of his most important lifelong accomplishment, the signing of the date and peace. we came across a time capsule of

holbrooke's importance and diplomacy's importance. the importance to america and the world. we found this. it is from 12 years ago. it's short. we thought you should see it. >> in kosovo tonight, there are reports the forces are beginning to move out and that nato air strikes won't be necessary just now, but warplanes will remain at the ready just in case. albanian refugees are reluctant to return to their homes just yet. they're waiting for the international observers to get into place and the begins of political dialogue with the president. today richard holbrooke, the man who negotiated the standown, described for me the ordeal of the deal. nine days of heated difficult negotiations, meetings with yug slough president, a man with a bloody record, nine days that may have saved thousands of lives. >> did you yell at each other? >> we don't yell but it got damn

heated. >> is he his own man? >> in the end. this cannot be stressed too highly. >> he agreed to withdraw from kosovo's so-called serbian police and allow observers to see he keeps his word. >> some people are saying he got exactly what he wanted. >> in order to be avoid being bombed he let 2,000 foreigners wander about kosovo at will. verifying he's going to let nato fly at will over kosovo look down with cameras and had to move in the politics. why would he want that? >> what is he like as a negotiator? >> he's tough, smart, knows how to mix threats are changing subjects. >> holbrooke spent seven hour days, sometimes joke, take a drink at the bargaining table, sometimes become pointed and then day four, holbrooke is joined by american air force general -- >> he leaned forward and said, so, you're the general who's going to bomb us. and mike short reeled back for

an instant but held his cool and said, well, mr. president i got b-52s in one hand, i got u2s in the other. i'm going to do whatever i'm ordered to do but i'd rather use the u2s. >> what made the difference in terms of him finally agreeing to the terms you were laying out there, that he had nowhere else to go? >> i think he recognized the western world's slow moving democracies caught up with his outrageous behavior. the fighters were on the bases in italy and we were move. >> did he ever say to you or suggestion, anyway, mr. holbrooke, your country is not prepared to move here? >> he did ask me several times things like, would you be crazy enough to bomb us over our security politiciace? i said, yeah, we're just that crazy. >> you spent hours and hours with malosovitch. what drives him? >> power. >> understanding war power,

understandi ining diplomatic po. pow e of force. richard holbrooke's last posting was as his president's special forces for afghanistan and pakistan. it will be presented to the country by the president in two days on thursday. we'll have more of that on tomorrow's show. stay tuned. we've saved people a lot of money on car insurance. feels nice going into the holidays. ohhhh.... will you marry me? oooh, helzberg diamonds. yeah, well he must have saved some money with geico. reminds me of the gecko mating call. really? how does that go? shoo be doo be doo.

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they all these little kids running around making sure that these kids have a shot at the american dream. like i do. it's important. >> if a "60 minutes" interview, top house republican and house speaker in waiting john boehner put his house back on his sleeve and got per clumped as you hear there, when he sees children like at school visits and about the fact he gets perclumped. >> you've probably found out by now i'm a pretty emotional guy. there's just some things that, you know, trigger real emotions. and i was talking, trying to

talk about the fact that i've been chasing the american dream my whole career. >> and that was it? >> that was it. >> john boehner is starting to get more attention for the amount of emotion he's willing to show in public. and it's true that him crying so much in public is extraordinary. he should get credit i think for showing an extraordinary range of emotions. he not only cries a lot in pub he's willing to lose his cool and scream and yell and get red in the face. >> look at how this bill was written. can you say it was done openly? with transparency and accountability? without backroom deals and struck behind closed doors, hidden from the people? hell no, you can't! have you read the bill? have you read the reconciliation

bill? have you read the managers amendment? hell no, you haven't! i'm trying to catch my breath so i don't refer to this maneuver going on today as chicken crap, all right? but this is nonsense. >> if john boehner were a woman, you'd be hearing about almost nothing other than his emotionality. given even the prospect of him becoming speaker of the house. but because he's a guy, nobody knows what to make of how emotional he's willing to get in public. after all all the other famous crying in public stories about politicians is how the crying in public called them into question as a candidate or maybe hurt them in some way. then senator edmund muskie of maine a favorite in 1972. mr. musky called a press conference to speak out about a newspaper publisher who printed negative stories about him including one that turned out to be a hoax and one that went after his wife.

>> by attacking me, by attacking my wife, has proved himself to be a gutless coward. it's fortunate for him he's not on this platform beside me. >> senator muskie maintained that he was not tearing up that day in new hampshire. what reporters reported were snowflakes melting on his face, not tears. that was the beginning of the end of his ambitions. that in large part was born on that day. whether or not muskie actually cried or whether it was snow melting on his angelic face, senator muskie was reported to have cried that day ten days before the new hampshire primary. on the day of the primary, he won. as recently as 2008 also in new hampshire, there was hillary clinton, not so much crying as

becoming a little tiny bit emotional. an event which convulsed the democratic primary process and all the punditry in the world f for days on end. >> you know, i have so many opportunities in this country. i just don't want to see us fall backwards. so you know, this is very personal for me. it's not just political. it's not just public. i see what's happening. and we have to reverse it. and some people think elections are a game. they think it's like who's up or who's down. it's about our country. it's about our kids' futures. >> for all the massive crisis and conniption that called in 2008, hillary clinton won that primary. she won in new hampshire. that incident had an effect on voting in new hampshire, it very well may have helped her more than it hurt her. there's nothing wrong with

politicians showing emotion. there's nothing wrong with politicians crying in public, a, it demonstrably does not hurt them with voters, but, b, it shows us what they feel passionately about, and what's wrong with that. >> when he walks out of this chamber for the last time, he'll leave an enormous void behind. >> the true measure of a man is how you handle victory and also defeat. >> he reached the pinnacle in government, but he defines his life by other roles, a father who gave unconditional love, a grandfather devoted to his grandchildren. >> so at this moment, i wanted to be home, to come to this place and see all of my friends.

>> when i think of what kyle has mebt meant to me over the past 15 year years, i can't help but think that's exactly what he's been to me. >> senator mcconnell memorializing a longtime staffer in february there at the top of that block memorializing senator judd gregg. that was just today. each of those events in which public figures become verklempft in public tells you nothing bad about that person. we're about to get probably the most emotional politician in modern american history taking on a very visible role, third in line to the presidency. with john boehner about to be in the headlines every single day for all of next year and beyond, we're going to have to get past the shock of his visibly strong feelings and the feelings that

that invoke in us. we're going to have to figure out how to keep paying attention to what john boehner is saying even if he is crying while he is saying it. >> members on both sides of the aisle who feel differently about our mission in iraq and our chances of success there. after 3,000 of our fellow citizens died at the hands of these terrorists, when are we going to stand up and take them on? when are we going to defeat them? i put myself through school working every rotten job there was and every night shift i could find. and i poured my heart and soul into running a small business. you probably found out by now i'm a pretty emotional guy. and there's just some things that, you know, trigger real emotions. i was talking, trying to talk

about the fact that i've been chasing the american dream my whole career. so i ask all of you, both sides of the aisle, what's in the best interests of our country? not what's in the best interests of our party. not what's in the best interests of our own re-election. what's in the best interests of our country? vote yes. >> pause that for a second. what he is crying about there, what he's upset there -- now again, there's nothing wrong with crying and it's distracting and novel and interesting that he is crying, i know. but what he's talking about there, what that speech is about is t.a.r.p., the bank bailout. he's saying vote yes for the wall street bailout. the fact that he's crying while talking about it can't occlude our vision that he's about to be this powerful. the fact that he's crying while begging for a yes on the bailout

is fascinating. what politician does that that's kind of cool. but the fact that he's crying belies the fact that he campaigned against the bailout. he started talking about the bailout as if he not only didn't vote for it and he didn't cry and beg people to vote for it during a speech on the floor of the house. >> so i'm going to ask my colleagues, if you've had enough of bailouts, enough of t.a.r.p., let's do the right thing for the american people. they're already saying enough is enough. let's end t.a.r.p., let's pay down the deficit. no more bailouts. let's cut spending back to 2008 levels. back before the bailouts and the stimulus and all the nonsense. >> all the nonsense that i cried about and begged you to vote for. now, most recently sunday night on "60 minutes" we saw john boehner crying about kids and their futures. it's fascinating that he will cry while talking about that in public. it's amazing to who he is as a politician, but however not more

important than what he wants to do for the kids who make him cry. he is not an actor. he's a politician. he's a powerful politician who gets to make laws for the country. despite the crying, part of his pledge to america is a pledge to cut about $100 billion out of the national budget. that is $100 billion in discretionary spending cuts. and he wants to not have any of those discretionary spending cuts come from defense or homeland security or veterans affairs. so what does that mean? that means taking $100 billion out of, among a few other things, education, pulling it out of there. the cuts to domestic spending including education. john boehner is proposing would amount to, as steve bennett of washington monthly pointed out, it would amount to nearly quadruple the latest cuts in discretionary spending faced in the entire last generation. nearly four times. so yes, john boehner may cry while talking about all the awesome things he wants to do for children. i find it amazing that he allows himself to cry in public