senior strategist with united republic, msnbc contributor, jimmy williams. thank you for joining me today, guys. john boehner is defending himself this morning after a blistering article in the "wall street journal" asserts house republicans may be handing the election to president obama. here's boehner earlier today. >> all we're asking for is to get the senate members over here, to work with us, and to resolve our differences so we can do what everybody wants to do. it's extend the payroll tax cuts for the next year. i'm hoping that we'll get everybody to work this year. >> meanwhile, moments before boehner said that, this was steny hoyer on the house floor. >> mr. speaker, mr. speaker. we regret, mr. speaker, that you have walked off the platform, without addressing the issue of critical importance to this country -- and that is the continuation of the middle class

tax cut. >> i love that clip. we didn't actually -- i don't know that you could see it. but there's, either actually removing the flag from the floor as stenny hoyer is trying to bring up the senate bill. joining us now is luke russert who covers capitol hill for nbc news. give us a little bit of background on this is a fluid situation as we know. what is going on? >> well -- it's now a game of optics alex. whichever side feels they're going to win the pr war is going to end up winning this fight. but the house gop is in a very precarious situation this morning. for a few reasons. number one, the article in the "wall street journal," it was almost the authority of kind of sophisticated republican politics, really slamming them for this fight. that will resonate with a lot of rank-and-file members who don't want to be on the wrong side of the "wall street journal." on top of that, they're not get anything support if their colleagues in the senate. mitch mcconnell has been silent about this, has not spoken out

in favor of the house gop's position. bob corker, someone close to leadership in, a republican from tennessee said the house can stop this fight, it's not worth it. so the optics are looking very bad. saw right there, stenny-hour, on the house floor, the proper forma session, was trying to push forward the senate bill without house consent. in a pro forma session, he was trying to put forward the senate bill and literally the gop cut his mike and cut the process down. so the democrats could not have had a better video. >> taking the eagle off the stand and so forth. >> to my panel. >> could not have had better video. boehner has his conferrees, the idea is that house republicans are here awaiting to work, ready to go. but if harry reid send conferrees and nancy pelosi won't. essentially they're sitting here talking amongst themselves. they're having lunch today,

tasty sandwiches among the conferrees. >> tasty sandwiches, bitter herbs, perhaps. panel, we have the "wall street journal" ex-core yating house republicans, we have john mccain saying this is hurting the republican party. we consider mitch mcconnell's silgens, which is deafening, did john boehner fumble? >> john boehner is a perfectly nice and honorable man, he's remarkably old school. here's john boehner's biggest problem. his number one, which undercuts him every day, eric canter. every day canter is stabbing him in the back. corralling the tea party guys. this is his vote-counter, this is the guy that he has tasked to be his vote counter and every single day his vote counter is screwing him and that's what happened here. it's actually remarkably funny to watch this. every day it's a nice christmas present for john boehner by his own leadership. >> i'm going to say this is major fumble on the part of the republicans. what's amazing is that they have

managed against all odds to paint obama as a tax cutter in an election year and that's takes some doing. >> whoa, whoa. and not only painting him as a tax cutter. and paint him on a tax cutter on a bill they are going to pass. so there is no political upside here whatsoever. it's a double-down side and they've walked right into it. >> and he's a great defender of the middle class and it's rejuvenated his ranks in the polls. and now he's the guy they think they can beat the eventual republican candidate for the presidency. but also obama has gained some of his mojo back. this is an austin powers moment. >> the swagger back. luke, if you're still with us, i wonder if we could get a little more into the relationship between mcconnell and boehner. because you know, you brought it up, the fact that mcconnell hasn't made any moves, he hasn't come out and defended boehner. what's the inside dope on that? >> well, mcconnell and boehner have been very united this

entire year. they've had a very close positive working relationship that their aides will tell you throughout their time in congress. on this issue, if you speak to aides, they legitimately think that mcconnell had worked out a deal with reid after boehner had said, you guys negotiate. the belief was that the house gop was going to jump on board. and if you listen to reports on the conference call this past weekend, john boehner said look, this is the best deal we can get, we're getting the keystone pipeline and voom, the wave of freshman representatives and rank-and-file republicans say, no, two months is not good enough. mitch mcconnell said only senate republicans voted against this bill. it's a very hard thing to try to go back and start negotiations all over again for him. it's almost a pontius pilate moment, if you will, he washed his hands of it. and he's moving -- >> a lot of biblical metaphors here. >> right. >> it is true. >> it is true, he washed his hands of it. and now boehner is out here

having to fight the battle. and i also think it's interesting that we talk about the relationship between boehner and cantor and you know, there is a lot of rumblings from those folks and the ones who coalesced around cantor. who said the two months would not fly. and boehner knew that. he said i sort of told mcconnell that wasn't going to work. there was a kind of belief from the senate which allowed the folks in the house call, called the house of lords over there, that while these commoners in the house will just take what we give and they should do it because we're so much smarter. >> and we will be talking -- >> you're seeing that rebellion right now that we've seen all year. >> we'll be talking more about the interesting dynamic between the house and the senate a little bit later. i want to talk about the white house and how this is just like -- the golden goose. if you will, the white house has a new, they're enlisting the american public. asking what a tax hike of $40 per paycheck woe mean to them. one message we tweeted by

president obama read, $40 is enough to heat our vermont house and keep these two senior citizens safe and warm this winter. it's, i mean john heilman, this -- >> i hope that's untrue. that barack obama is actually retweeting anything. if barack obama is actually retweeting? that's a bad sign. >> what else does he have to do? >> he's got enough time on his hands. the republicans have given him enough time it retweet messages so he doesn't have to do it himself. >> i'm not sure this has that much effect on barack obama's potential re-election. but i think that house democrats have to be ecstatic. there are two important numbers to remember. at the beginning of the republican congress, the republican congress's public opinion polls showed that the congress had a 29 approval rating. that's not very good. 29%. now it's 11. so 11%, is like an historic low, it's never been lower. and for democrats who are hoping to retake the house, that's a very nice 18 -point drop to the

bottom of the barrel. >> to that point, the president is at 49 and congress is delaying, that's approval. that's a 38-point differential. forecast people don't even win by 38 points. so people like the president, and they think congress sninks and they're doing this? it's like teachers, blah blah blah, no one cares. >> i'm going to say that i think the numbers really do matter here. the payroll tax cut would put over $1,000 into the pockets of most middle class americans. >> per year. >> that's not nothing. >> and three million people are going to lose their unemployment benefits. we still have a fragile recovery. the election is going to be one or lost, not just on the economy, but perceptions of who is doing the most for average working americans. >> we'll be talking more about this after the break. as well as how the payroll battle affects the working relationship between the house and the senate coming up. next on "now." we're kind of a quiet couple. yes.

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the in-fighting between house and senate republicans is red meat for the politically obsessed. the members in the house stuck to a mostly party line yesterday for the payroll tax bill. the senate, meanwhile, displayed 89 democrats and republicans in solidarity. we were talking earlier about potentially the fall of the house of boehner. and just what this means. obviously not having mitch mcconnell's support or at least at this point some sort of vocal acknowledgement that he faces an uphill battle and he has mcconnell's support, i think it's tough for john boehner right now. i want to read something that boehner's spokesperson sent to me. we're trying to do the right thing by legislating responsibly, we're running up against a decades-old washington eeth 0s, that business stops around the holidays. boehner was to return the house

to a deliberative legislative body and make members of congress legislators again. that's his brand and that's what we're doing. >> that's my story and i'm sticking to it. i can't resist the luke russert biblical analogies. they've turned obama from pharoh into moses. i think boehner is up against not only a pr machine, but he's up against the logic of elitism. when people sniff at, sneer at $40 or $1,000 as rhonda was saying, that's big money in most people's pockets. if they don't get the optics that boehner was talking about, you don't get the fundamental drive of what delivering politics is all about. that's what politics is about. and especially in a holiday season, don't you have any compassion? >> against the backdrop of the holidays, it's certainly stark. >> what this underscores more than anything is the war within the republican party right now. the establishment cannot control the far right. i wonder how long it's going to

be before the nominee is going to have to do a frontal attack on the house of republicans. >> well as st. thomas aquinas once said -- this is my theology showing. boehner has been in trouble since the day he walked in the door with this group. and it's been the case, it's been hard for him. the white house thought, it's been one of the fundamental things that's governed our politics in the white house last year. they realized that boehner throughout the year, time and time again has not been able to control his caucus. i think there's not that much legislating left to do in 2012. 2012 is going to be a legislation for a year. the question is, what happen the after next november, what's the composition of the house caucus then. are the republicans still in control? do the tea party members get re-elected? there are a lot of big members, but if the tea party caucus is stronger after next november, john boehner will be out on his ear would be my guess. >> i do want to talk about the dynamic, jimmy, i would love for you to talk to this, between the house and enate.

luke mentioned it a little when he said the house of lords thing. john boehner is not just at war with his own caucus in the house. but there's a power dynamic between the senate is gone. they passed their bill and you know, it's left to the house to swallow it, effectively. >> can we go back for one second to what mr. speaker boehner's staff said. they're legislating responsibly. this is a house of representatives that passed seven continuing resolutions this year. then they passed their own funding bill and they can't pass a middle class tax cut for two months? that's pathetic. so don't feel my leg and tell me it's raining outside. that's not legislative responsibility. >> he may have been born at night, but not last night. >> nobody wants to talk about the dynamics of the house and senate? >> i worked in the senate for seven years, we always disdained and looked at the house of lots of people in the house, running around like ants and look at us in the senate, we were arrogant

jerks and most of us were. at the end of the day it was simple. i spent more of my time in the senate sitting on the aisle in the back benches making deals with my colleague does get things done for my boss, than i did worry worrying about what the house of representatives was going to do. then when you get to conference committees? and we have lots of conference committees. and you would work out those deals and you, it was legislating. that was legislating responsibly. this is a dog-and-pony show and it's embarrassing. >> i think the story here is that this is the logical consequence of the hijacking of the republican party by the tea party. we're seeing the consequences right now. >> it's been going on since 2010. >> let's talk about the implications of 2012, because john you brought that up. republicans need to pick up four seats to claim a majority. in terms of the house, cook

reads only 21 house seats as a toss-up. eight of those are democratic. i wonder what you think the implications of the battle are. john i think you said that there will be repercussions potentially in the house, i wonder if there's anything happening in the senate? >> the senate, part of the reason we had this big lop-sided passage of the bill is that republicans recognize the politics of it and they realize they have a huge opportunity in 20-12. i don't know very many serious analysts today that they think there's a serious chance that the republicans will lose control of the house. i think the house is where the vulnerability is, but their vulnerability is not just on this issue, but it's over the totality of the way they have not legislated responsibly over the course of the last year. >> you know something to that point, speaking of republicans, who is the republican that came out and actually said, in the senate by the way, you know, we passed it, we got to deal with this. let's go on, let's do right by the american people. scott brown.

the most vulnerable republican senator up for re-election. >> it will be interesting to see what talking points come out over the next 24 hours. up next, newt and calista gingrich would like your vote very much in the primaries. we'll talk about more coming up. time for the your business entrepreneur of the week. former rockette, amy burnette opened the next step broad way dance studio in jersey city. with children's dance classes and expansion in mind. she added adult class, a performance summer camp and partnering with another group on performances of the "nutcracker." for more, watch "your business" sunday morning on msnbc. this new at&t 4g lte is fast. did you hear sam... ...got promoted to director? so 12 seconds ago. we should get him a present. thanks for the gift basket. you're welcome. you're welcome. did you see hr just sent out new...

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as speaker, gingrich even supported taxpayer-funding of some abortions. and newt is the only speak anywhere history to be reprimanded. he was fined $300,000 for ethics violations by a republican congress. newt gingrich, too much baggage. >> i don't object to being outspent. i object to the lies, i con determine any further negative ads, i asked that p.a.c. to run only positive ads. >> newt gingrich is firing back against the latest pro momny super-p.a.c. ad released in

iowa. he urged his rival to reject the ads, but can you unring the bell? the most ironic part of all this is that it's coming from newt gingrich. i have to go back to comments newt gingrich made in a 1978 speech to college republicans, where when he said, i think that one of the great problems we is in the republican party is we don't encourage you to be nasty. we encourage you to be neat obedient, loyal and faith until and all of those boy scout words, which would be great around the campfire, but are lousy in politics. he has memos from the '90s saying that gop candidates should use word like bizarre, betray, anti-family, pa thet ig, lie, cheat, radical, sick and traitors when campaigning against democrats. >> since we're using cliches that will come back to bite new your butt. but what? the thing is that newt gingrich has practiced the politics of subversion, insinuation and now it's boomer nging on him.

and i think that newt gingrich doesn't have much to complain about because he's been the author of such misery for so long in politics. he's had his comeuppance. >> certain factions of politics want anybody but mitt. and also he's good in debates. but that's over. he doesn't have money, he doesn't have infrastructure. >> speaking of commercials, we have to show this. because it is gingrich is sort of i guess response? i don't know. a christmas ad featuring him and calista by the tree. >> do we have that? >> merry christmas and happy new year. i'm calista gingrich. >> and i'm newt gingrich and i approve this message. >> that's it, that's it. >> i'm jesus, i'm god, i approve myself. that's pretty funny. >> i'll point just a couple of things, the first is that whenever a politician says that they will campaign in a

relentlessly positive way, it means they are broke. that's the first thing. not broken, broke. >> they can't afford to say -- >> so cynical and so right. >> the second thing is true is that every day that newt gingrich stands up and complains about ads is another day that he's losing, he's not driving a positive message, he's responding. talk about blah blah that jimmy talked about before, voters hear arguments about negative ads, it's just process garbage. they don't pay attention to it, it doesn't get you any votes. and the third thing is it does tell you how much he is organizationally bereft. if you have a popular campaign you have surrogates who are out making these argue mtsz and not responding because the ads are too negative. but responding on the merits, talking about why the ads are wrong on substance. and gingrich first doesn't have anybody to do that. and second doesn't have anything to say on the substance, because a lot of the ads are accurate. >> mitt romney has danced around the getting aggressive this morning on the daily rundown. think we have the clip of it.

explaining that if the heat is too hot, get out of the kitchen in a matter of words. >> i know that the speaker would like to say, look, we shouldn't have any negativity. but look, if you can't handle the heat in this little kitchen, the heat that's going to come from obama's health kitschi ini kitchen is going to be a lot hotter. >> obama's hell's kitchen? >> let's bring it forward. first of all, karma is you know what, right? so hey, mr. gingrich, i'm sorry, but what you did all those years, you know, payback is hell. secondly, let's fast-forward this to south carolina. let's not even talk about what happens in iowa. i think ron paul wins iowa. i think mitt romney wins new hampshire. gingrich is still up, florida, he's still up. the question is, when does that evaporate. >> you're not dismissing him? >> i'm not dismissing gingrich at all. i think he is broke.

i think he has no campaign staff anywhere in the country. he should have fired his manager, because he said mormonism is a cult. he should have fired the guy. he's doing well in southern evangelical states. >> don't you think it's a measure of how desperate he is, depending on how mitt continues to poll, it's not in gingrich's hands. >> i cannot see a scenario where mitt romney wins south carolina. >> i assume that they do. i like i say, i think the numbers do shrink without a doubt. but do i think mitt romney can win in south carolina? i don't see it. >> we'll be talking about the numbers in those respective states. after the break, the 2012 primary season starts in 20 days, can anybody predict what will happen? we'll ask the panel next on "now." [ female announcer ] where will you be when you have to change your pad?

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as the gop marches toward the caucus in iowa, the race still looks like it's anyone's game. we were talking before the break versus iowa versus new hampshire, versus south carolina. we have a new iowa state university poll today that shows that ron paul has leapt ahead of gingrich and romney. i like to show ron paul and leaping. leprecha leprechaunish -- >> ♪ ron pauls a-leaping >> folks are concerned in iowa that if iowa nominates ron paul, it completely discredits the iowa caucus. is that a fear unfounded? >> john just came off the ground in iowa.

can you tell us what it's like? >> i think that concern is deeply felt in iowa. especially after michele bachmann won the iowa straw poll, there's a history of kind of what happens in iowa stays in iowa. ron paul is i think broadly considered and correctly considered someone who cannot be the republican nominee because his views are too far out of line with the republican party so the iowans are worried about that. i don't know that it will kill the caucuses, but it will be a problem. i think that ron paul could very well win the iowa caucuses. the fracturing on the right means one thing, the fact that the christian conservatives have split their vote rye now among perry, bachmann, gingrich, romney and santorum means the number you have to win is relatively low. you could probably win this caucus with 26, 27%. which means that people who have a, have a ceiling like ron paul, who is not going to probably get over 25. it's the other guys who are in trouble. because there's no coalescing

around one christian conservative candidate. >> it's predictive for the rest of, it's not predictive for ron paul. ron paul is not going to do well otherwise, even though he does well there. >> he does have a tight new hampshire ground game, we're hearing. >> but doesn't he have the same newt gingrich problem that you can be poll-driven, but if you don't have a substantive organization behind you to push you forward, you're dependant upon the news of the day. >> ron paul is the best-organized candidate in iowa. he's the only candidate who has an actual traditional iowa caucus operation. he's a well-funded candidate because he's got a passionate base of support who are giving him money. the problem is that where you have to get 28, 29%, he's not going to get more than that. and that's where limitation comes in later. >> i think romney is going to get the nomination and ultimately it's going to come back to the economy. that's going to be the issue in 2012. if the recovery, which is under way. unemployment numbers and retail sales have been good in the last

couple of months, this is another upswing for obama. if that continues he's going to be in a strong position. but if europe goes to pot, which could happen just to throw the field a little more broadly, then romney is going to be looking good. >> go to pot, cocaine? >> well i want to talk about someone else who rarely comes up in the conversation regarding the republican primaries, but who is running for president, is rick santorum. we talk a lot about ron paul, we talk a little bit michele bachmann, we focus on rick perry's bon mots, but rick santorum got two endorsements yesterday from christian conservatives. family leader ceo bob vanderplatz who said santorum could be the huckabee in this race, which seems like a compliment and an insult potentially. is the problem with santorum that he just isn't exciting? i pose that to you and i want to play a little bit of sound of santorum on santorum.

>> i'm sort of the guy at the dance that the girls walk in, and they walk by. and they take a few turns in the dance hall with the guys who are a little better looking, a little flashier, a a little more bling. but at the end of the evening, old steady eddy is there, right? he's the guy you want to bring home to mom and dad. >> rick santorum is not bringing sexy back in that comment. >> or in that sweater vest. >> justin timberlake or justin bieber, help him. but steady eddy -- do the endorsements help? obviously it's going to further fracture the social conservative vote. >> it's helping him. there's a chance having said all this about the fracture and the factionization on the christian right, there's a chance in the next few weeks that one of them will catch fire and this kind of thing does not, give rick santorum a chance. his problem is, no money and the lack of money makes it hard for him to build off of these

endorsements, either organizationally or in terms of media. >> but you more divide that pie, the less there is to eat for the eventual winner. to his point, all of this is making obama look so good, that you got to do some opposition research to find out if they're funding any of these candidates on the right. >> doesn't it help romney, the more that they play around in the conservative sandbox -- >> it helps them in the republican party, it doesn't help them in the broad race beyond -- >> once he gets the nomination and it turns back to the broader economy and jobs, then obama can hit hard on the vulture capitalism issue, romney getting rich from laying people off. >> and romney says i don't know much about the economy, i'm just a guy trying to run for president. we sort of touched on this a little bit in terms of you know, romney and the news of the day, the super-p.a.c. issue, broadly, does the fact that romney has said various things about super p.a.c.s, money and campaign

politics, yes we have sound from that. romney saying today if you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen. in 1994, running for ted kennedy's seat said something much, much different. >> these kinds of associations between money and politics in my view are wrong. and for that reason, i would like to have campaign spending limits. i also would abolish p.a.c.s. you probably have one, i don't like them. >> i would abolish p.a.c.s, you probably have one, i have one. >> listen, i work at a group called united republics, our job is to get money out of politics. this is simple, he makes john kerry look like the most consistent candidate of all american political history. the great news is, is that you know, the obama campaign, if romney gets the nomination, and i bet he does at some point, at the very end. because the turtle always gets the nomination, he's a slow-goer. he's going to get it, when he

does, the capital, money in their mouth and lapels, this, all the stuff, i'm a progressive, blah blah, he's a flip-flopper, back and forth. it worked remarkably well against john kerry. remarkably well, it's astonishing, because most people in america and da buick, iowa. >> this is a man who said corporations are people. that was just the most ridiculous comment. >> i would like to see a corporation give birth to a baby and you could have a conversation about being a people. >> that's an ugly image. >> so many ugly images, ron paul leaping, corporations, babies, we'll be talking about all of it and more after the break. are we going back to 1994? is it clinton versus gingrich? we'll get into that and more coming up. [ male announcer ] what can you do with plain white rice?

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i have a 90% american conservative union voting record for 20 years. i balanced the budget for four straight years, paid off $405 billion in debt, pretty conservative. >> and so goes the claim by former speaker, gingrich. that you have to have him to thank for the surpluses of the 1990s. a claim that's been publicly uncontested until now. >> i think he did work with me to pass some good budgets. i had a decent working relationship with him. but the vast lion's share of balancinging the budget was done in the budget of 1993, that he led opposition to. >> correcting the record, bill clinton. i think that that's, i mean we know a lot, there are a lot of reasons why republicans don't want gingrich to be their nominee. and i think certainly the desire not to go back to the 1990s, the decade of bill clinton, is probably chief among them. >> absolutely. clinton's factually right on this point, too. most of the budget-balancing of his administration was done in

'93. but neither he nor gingrich actually deserve the most credit for this. the period after the recession of '91 ended until the financial crisis started was the greatest period of global economic growth in history. >> there was, there was, there was absolutely, the macro economy governs most of this but it is true, having been involved in these debates, covering them at the time, that the white house was, if there are not been a republican takeover of the house in 1994, the white house would not have gone the last mile. they were not interested in trying to balance the budget. the balanced budget was a political reality they felt they had to face to win the re-election of 1996, they thought the republicans had the upper hand at that moment and clinton economic's adviser s fought it and they got him to go the last mile to actually get him to go to a balanced budget. >> his point is right. but people will see this as inside baseball economically and

the optics of that is that if we relitigate this court case in the court of public opinion, gingrich will fall on his face. >> the president owns the budget and that's his win. >> i would like to remind the american people and everybody watching the show, newt gingrich shut the government down. bill clinton benefitted by it. don't forget that. >> third person reference to himself. for president. for hanging out with jay-z. >> brand clinton is not going anywhere. think it's an opportune time to bring up the fact that there are robo calls being placed around the country recently. that say america would be better off today if hillary clinton was our president. the wall street robber barons would be jailed. young people could afford college and find jobs and six million homeowners wouldn't face foreclosure, we need to change our course, please sign our petition to nominate hillary clinton for president. >> but hasn't hillary or bill responded by saying people are

always nostalgic about what had been denied to them. on the ground, hillary clinton was president, the divisiveness and the kind of consternation would have been virtually unlimited. >> i the other question it begs is who is doing this? i would guess it's not progressives or those on the left. but probably those on the right. but does that even -- is this the time to be launching some sort of weird, fractious attack against president obama? >> there's been a core of hillary devotees, they're like the soldiers in the jungle in southeast asia who like don't realize that the war is over and they go find them years later and they still think that the korean war is happening. they love her. and they have never gotten over the fact that obama won. they still don't think that obama's victory is legitimate. and they truly believe, those things that they said in that robo call are ridiculous. and yet, they truly believe them. and it's a very small group. but they're very vocal and they have a lot of money. >> speaking of the man who was elected president.

his press secretary is briefing right now, giving us fresh updates on the payroll tax cut situation. >> the payroll tax cut extension for 2012. but we have to get this two-month extension done, or else taxes will go up on the american people. and it really is -- not that difficult. the house has the ability to call up the senate and legislation, pass it, and move on. and taxes will not go up. the average american family will not have to worry about how to make ends meet with $1,000 less next year. so we urge them to do that. that's what the president urged the speaker to do. just moments ago. >> the white house and congressional democrats be willing to give some sort of iron-clad commitment to pass a full year's tax extension by a certainty early in 2012?

in exchange for passing this two-month extension? >> the president is committed to a one-year tax cut. that's what he's been pushing, both here in washington and around the country. since september. as part of the american jobs act. when it was send out from the american jobs act. senate democrats, house democrats, are all committed to doing that. republican leaders of both houses say they are committed to doing that. it can be done. so it would require finishing the work that senators mcconnell and reid started as they tried to reach a year-long agreement. they made good progress, but work needed to be done. which is why they then moved to the two-month extension to insure that americans didn't have their taxes go up. that is the sensible thing to do. pass the two-month extension, return to work on the year-long extension. or else -- explain to the

american people, 160 million of them, why congress would not listen to them, would not listen, why the house republicans would not listen to their senate colleagues, would not listen to republican elder statesmen and stateswomen all around the country and the city, telling them to do the right thing here. it's bad for the country, and it's bad for the economy and it's bad for the american people. not to pass this bill. >> so we, you know, we feel very strongly about it, as you can tell. >> does the president expect to hear back from speaker boehner on whether this might be an option? >> look, i think it's pretty clear again, not because i say it, but because many others are also saying it, that the ball is in the house's court. there's a compromise available. an avenue out of this blind alley, if you will that they've driven themselves into. and it is the senate bill. vote on it, pass it, and we can

move on to discussing and figuring out a solution for the year-long extension. senator corker, republican from tennessee, i know what's going to happen and i agree with the editorial this morning in the "wall street journal," probably the best thing to do at this point is just get this behind us and move on. urging the house republican leadership to change course and endorse a compromise reached in the senate that got the support of 90% of those members. democrats and senators alike. senator mccain, it is harming the republican party. it is harming the view, if it's possible any more, of the american people about congress. so do the right thing. pass the payroll tax cut. make sure americans don't have their taxes go up. on january 1st. yes, alex? >> just staying with this theme. so specifically what is the

president offering -- >> that was jay carney, speaking about the pitched battle going on over the payroll tax cut. we'll be back after the break with more in-depth analysis of just what is happening, next on "now." i'm chris soliza, coming up on "andrea mitchell reports" -- the showdown over the payroll tax cut growing more intense by the mimt. which side will blink first? we'll break down the latest action on the hill with republican congressman, tom price of georgia. plus will the president go on vacation as planned? we'll ask deputy obama campaign manager, stephanie cutter that question. all that, plus newt and mitt spar over super p.a.c.s, reaction from the romney campaign. we'll see you at top of the hour for "andrea mitchell reports." a new belt. some nylons. and what girl wouldn't need new shoes? we talked about getting a diamond. but with all the thank you points i've been earning...

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we were just watching jay carney make comments on the pitched battle happening in the congress right now over the payroll tax cut. i wanted to ask you guys,

there's a lot of sort of pontiff indication about whether or who will blink first. i think the general consensus or the general wisdom is why would democrats blink on this. president obama, we know called john boehner, and majority leader, harry reid today. one can only imagine he said to harry, give 'em hell, harry, reid, that is. >> and boehner, please do the two-month extension and i'll work with you in january and we'll do a one-year. that's lovely. >> there's no question who's going to blink here. this is not a hard call. when john boehner has lost "the wall street journal" editorial board, it's not a matter of hours, it's a matter of minutes. >> this is the best christmas present that obama could have asked for. >> speaking of christmas, there's some chatter in and around white house circles about whether president obama will make it to hawaii or not. guesses? >> the man deserves a break. i think he should make it. >> you think he should, do you think he will?

>> not until -- when? >> depending on what flights are available. it depends on his frequent flyer miles are up. i think that obviously he's got to stick around long enough not to look like the moment i get this deal resolved, i'm on vacation. he's already fighting the perception that he's doing it too much. i think he waits a bit and heads out. >> he's talking about the pain that american families are feeling. >> you don't want to be on the fast seat to hawaii. >> but in the end, the waikiki white house will be in effect this christmas. >> he's stimulating the hawaiian economy. ? what i don't understand is why michelle and the kids can't just fly home. he's either going to be by himself or doing the luau. >> the contention is that obama is going to be having a blue christmas by himself. looking forlornly at the christmas tree or he's go to go surf. why can't they just come home? >> dad, you're the president, you didn't do that, you're the

man, see you. >> i think it looks really bad for the president to get on his plane and fly to hawaii. i love the guy, support him, blah, it looks bad. go to camp david. if boehner and these guys are going to push you to the last minute, then fine. the republicans' main talking point is that barack obama doesn't show leadership. so if he gets on a plane and he goes to hawaii, it's like he's running away from it. optically, it looks bad. >> you hear people saying that. you just guaranteed he's going. the last thing the president likes, it makes him crazy to hear the press tell him where he can and can't go on vacation. you just basically sealed the fate. >> i had no idea how much power i had. >> he could split the difference, wait a while, let the optics resolve and look as if he's made a decisive gesture to move. >> we'll see if it's a waikiki white christmas, thanks again to john, ron, michael and junie and luke in absentia. that does it for now, i'll be back at noon eastern when i'm

joined by another illustrious panel. chris soliza is these, in for andrea, hello, chris. >> hello, alex. you have me thinking of a white christmas, even though it's about 65 degrees here in washington. the stalemate over the payroll tax cut is next. which side is winning the message war? and what are the implications for 2012? plus newt gets heckled in iowa as romney accuses gingrich of not being able to take the heat. ouch. "andrea mitchell reports" is next on msnbc. my employees are like family. and, i want people that work for me to feel that they're sharing in my success. we purchase as much as we can on the american express open gold card. so we can accumulate as many points as possible. i pass on these points to my employees to go on trips with their families. when my employees are happy, my customers are happy. vo: earn points for the things you're already buying. call 1-800-now-open to find out how the gold card can serve your business.

the house stands adjourned until 10:00 a.m. on friday. >> mr. speaker? mr. speaker? mr. speaker! i would like to ask for unanimous consent that we bring up the bill to extend the tax cut for 160 million americans as you walk off the floor, mr. speaker, you're walking out. you're walking away. just as so many republicans