marvin in washington d.c. and here's what's coming up tonight on the big picture in the wake of the connecticut shooting suicide massacre new polls suggest that two thirds of americans support a ban on assault weapons the lawmakers in washington listen to the wishes of the american public or continue lining their wallets with gun lobby money and as we get closer and closer to the so-called fiscal cliff president obama appears to be willing to meet the republican demand that he cut social security and medicare

benefits for the president show the nation some backbone and stand up to the republicans but will he leave americans in the dust and let republicans hack away at social security and medicare. you need to know this on the big picture last week i spoke with former reagan and george h.w. bush adviser bruce bartlett bartlett is a republican he's also a radical truthteller about the state of his republican party today here's a bit of what he said to me last week. somehow or other they believe as an ran did that the rich are like john galt they they're the only ones who are productive the whole the rest of us are just lazy. changed so dramatically since the days when i first got involved with the

republican politics when the republican party was the the party of ideas announced the party of crazy people ignorant tea party people people who know nothing and are proud of. it was talking about those ignorant crazy people who are proud of it he was also referring to the gun nutters that have taken over the halls of congress and the rest of washington politics over the weekend just twenty four hours at the connecticut shooting suicide massacre bartlett made his views on going after old very clear calling out the gun nuts on twitter on saturday he tweeted idea restrict gun ownership only to the types of guns in existence when the second amendment was adopted he followed that up on sunday by tweeting southerners are the only ones who need guns to protect themselves from their own government bartlett even did the unthinkable he called fox so called news is coverage of the tragedy in connecticut tweeting fox bans gun control advocates fair and balanced my ass. bruce bartlett is

the last of a dying breed he's a sensible republican it's a real tragedy both for the republican party and for america at the party doesn't disavow the gun crazies it considers part of its base case in point larry pratt has been a frequent guest on my show. so you're like sure nagel about who said we need to second amendment rights for our politicians get out of hand that's what the second amendment solve for and she's not making that so how would you use your second memorize if you don't like the way your senator or congressman is representing you well we have a political action committee and we try to be mean when our leisure second amendment rights which are now extolling by being prepared we do not have to go and shoot anybody what would you have the threat that oh i think it bothers lawmakers that we do have that capability and sometimes they kind of let it loose when they're not quite in from solarians not just the right to use guns to protect your home it's the right to use guns to take on your government that the government has

been overboard yes but actually say that americans should be ready to take on our elected officials with guns this is an echo of nevada republican senate candidate sharron angle's comments if republicans don't get their way in congress and with the white house republicans should be ready with second amendment remedies. the five. second amendment he had in error for years and now if you're going to have. to radical and have you know your. friends really have a revolution in every four years we're going to be a you know if you hear it from british he's going away to get people who are really looking forward to get him any brand my goodness why didn't we you could turn. around you know kind of thing we've communicated harry reid you see it's nothing new republicans and their granddaughter base have been talking like this for years

even have cute little rationalizations for. because in my research i've talked to dozens of people been present at these horrible events over time and the feeling of utter helplessness is just overwhelming for these individuals i mean it's hard to think of something more terrifying than being helpless there when one of these attacks occur but there's one common feature across these attacks all the ones the president mentioned you go back tonight for one hundred fifty at least with only one exception all the multiple victim public shootings have occurred with more than three people been killed hypocrite where guns are banned we try to make an area state by banning guns but what happens is the law abiding good for the city to a baby the baby and not the criminal. as the good all the more guns cause less violence argument sort of a gun based a variation on the republicans two thousand and twelve theme that more rapes would

equal fewer pregnancies and there's this gem from tea party congressman louie gohmert. hearing the heroic stories of the principal lunging trying to protect chris i wish to god she had an m. four in her office locked so when she heard gunfire she pulls it out and she didn't have to lunge heroically with nothing in her hands but she takes him out takes his head off before he could kill those precious kids even if nothing's a safe learning environment like a teacher having a military greatest salt rifle on her desk these are not the things that normal rational people would say. our nation has given air time and entertained legislation from the crazy gun nuts in washington for far too long and in the meantime every decade near a nearly a million americans are shot and far more are killed than were done by osama bin ladin go to call congress dot org to get the phone number of your member of congress and tell them to stand up to the n.r.a.

and let your news media know you're sick and tired of the crazies dominating the debate on the air one day your life too may depend on it now joining me from our new york studios to talk more about this is mark glaze director of mayors against illegal guns marc welcome. thanks for having me let's start with the n.r.a. this group finally reese released a statement today responding to the connecticut massacre they said that they are prepared to offer meaningful contributions to make sure this never happens again he said that the n.r.a. is also planning all the major news conference in the d.c. area this friday what do you make of that what do you expect from that news conference. well my attitude is we'll see you know we know that you know the vast majority of n.r.a. members around this country are great people who just want to hunt and have a gun in their house and be left alone we don't have anything wrong with that but you know the n.r.a. in washington is far far out of the mainstream even if its own members seventy four percent of n.r.a. members think everyone should get

a background check but the lobbyists in washington fight against it you know seventy one percent of n.r.a. members think that if you're on the terror watch list you shouldn't be able to get a gun when you can't even get on a plane but but the washington leadership of that organization is primarily about stoking up fear and hysteria so that they can raise more money and sell more guns so they don't have a heck of a lot of incentive to make the situation any better quite frankly they've had plenty of opportunities to do it so my guess is that what they will do is come out and you know take a few days see where the wind is blowing and if it's blowing toward some particular legislative fix they'll claim they want to join us and then they'll do what they've done in the past they'll do everything they can to water it down our police officers and police associations more with the n.r.a. or more with your group not necessarily this is standing with a group but in terms of perspective. oh absolutely not to mean they are there with

mayors against illegal guns but more generally they're with commonsense restrictions that protect the second amendment but also protect people's right to be safe from criminals with illegal guns major law enforcement organizations nine or ten of them around the country have a group called the national law enforcement partnership to prevent gun violence and they have endorsed the idea of background checks for every gun purpose for every gun purchase those same groups have also endorsed a meaningful ban on assault weapons and high capacity clips they think it's something that they have to do not just to keep the public safe but also to keep themselves safe police fatalities police who are shot dead in the line. for the past few years and one of the reasons is the n.r.a. which won't let us pass even modest restrictions on who can own a gun. and on who can own a gun. it's going to be a tough ban expired in two thousand and four it was widely acknowledged to be even at that point full of loopholes and i'm wondering if you have any insight into what

dianne feinstein might be recommending if there's any way to get rid of those loopholes or if there's any political will to go even farther than than just the assault weapons ban and maybe start treating weapons at least the way we treat cars registration license or that kind of thing well two things first of all you know we're we're looking at the feinstein bill we want very much to arrive at a solution that makes sense but you're right the last assault weapons ban didn't work very well all kinds of rifles were grandfathered in again as a political accommodation to the n.r.a. as a way of getting the bill passed and as a result i think there were only six prosecutions for violations of that law in the ten years when it was in place so we're going to try and get an enforceable on a datable assault weapons ban passed it will also take care of high capacity magazines but we've always thought that the big fix here was making sure everybody got a background check if you did that you would suddenly loop in forty to fifty percent of people in this country who never get a background check when they buy

a gun because they don't buy it from a licensed dealer they buy it over the internet or they buy it at a gun show from a private seller if you could do that you would take care of a significant chunk of the assault weapon problem because you would have to get a background check when you bought one but you would also take a take a huge chunk out of the overall crime problem here which is just that they're getting into the wrong hands and you know a gun is just a gun but when they continue to fall into the hands of people like the guy who shot twenty children. last week you got to get them off the streets and did the whole gun control issue to the point of what you just raised there are it seems to me that we have a culture of violence in general here in the united states any thoughts on how to change that. you know will we do but there's nothing there's nothing more course about our culture than there is about other cultures the difference is that we have easily available guns and other other countries don't i mean in the united kingdom their politics makes ours look like pinball but there were fifty seven murders all

of last year in the united kingdom and the reason is they don't have easy access to the kind of firepower that people here do we also happen to live in a country where a guy was caught caned almost to death on the floor of the united states senate you know it's always been rough out there the difference is thanks to the gun lobby there are now as many guns on our streets as there are people. and it's it's it's a remarkable more remarkable statistic mark glaze thanks so much for being with us thanks for having me. coming up rather than standing his ground in the fiscal cliff negotiations president obama appears to be caving in to pressure from the right far is he willing to go to avoid that cliff. devastating cuts to social security and medicare in the process.

you know how sometimes you see a story and it seems so for lengthly you think you understand it and then you glimpse something else you hear or see some other part of it and realize everything you thought you knew you don't know i'm tom hartman welcome to the big picture.

here is mitt romney trying to figure out the name of that thing that we americans call a dog. i'm sorry i'm just a guy who cares an awful lot about what use are on our floor you know what kind of terrorist cells in your neighborhood all want to give us a defeat terrorism they are liberal and the current public. can secure the borders . if you know that we're going to distract us from what you and i should care about because they're profit driven industry that sells a sensationalistic garbage he calls it breaking news i'm happy martin and we're going to break that.

it's rude news to president obama switch political parties over the weekend president obama's latest fiscal cliff offer throws the middle class and senior citizens under the bus with a huge tax increase on workers in a long term cut to social security plan also give the tax break to the rich according to the latest proposal the president is willing to raise the bar at which wealthy americans will see their taxes go up from two hundred thousand a year to four hundred thousand a year in return the president will while the payroll tax cut for working americans to expire meaning working people's tax bills will go up a couple hundred to a couple thousand dollars a year also republicans say the president is willing to cut benefits for social security and medicare and then agree to hundreds of billions more unspecified spending cuts which republicans want to target social welfare programs this is not

a balanced deal and the american people who in poll after poll have opposed cuts to insurance programs like medicare and social security shouldn't accept it even senate majority leader harry reid will likely not accepted only reporters quote i am not going to be part of having social security included as part of these talks relating to this deficit. so far this is not what democrats who gave the president the benefit of the doubt in his first term had in mind for a second obama term so what's going on here joining me now richard follower progressive strategist and host of the richard followers show and christopher bedford editor at the daily caller and gentlemen both of you welcome to the program tonight richard let me start with you with the president during the campaign at one point he had said they were largely agree on social security that he walked that back saying i am not in favor of will not cut social security for current or future beneficiaries which is what a chain c.p.i. would do which is what everybody says is on the table right now i'm hearing from

some sources that it's the republicans pushing this out there to get people used to it or to try and get the president on board i'm hearing from other sources that it's the white house floating a trial balloon that you know what what's going on i mean i think we'll have to wait the jury's still out on what's going to happen i think i've heard both sides to i've definitely heard some pushes that you know maybe this is coming from the white house is this part of the president's plan b. to john boehner clearly i think the president's face a lot of opposition from the a.f.l.-cio from congresswoman jan schakowsky there's a lot of progressives coming out of that i think at the same time the good parts of this deal that people live think that you know sometimes you get caught up in the beltway rhetoric here is number one for the first time in twenty years the republicans are finally willing to raise taxes they don't have any choice they have no choice no no i mean that's not the good part of the deal there shouldn't be a deal they have no choice the taxes are going to go up at the end of the year i mean you know obama's talking about well let's do a tax cut but he doesn't even have to do that all you do is wait till the end of the you know i hear you but i think for the fact that republicans are going to move

in a vote on it is one and number two i think the deal that we've heard floated also includes fifty billion dollars that will go to invest in what i speed rail lines will go to invest in roads and bridges and put american people the american back to work and things critical of the billion dollars is nice but we cut a trillion dollars last year it seems like this you know i hate to be arguing the progressive christopher. your thoughts on this deal i'm not actually too shocked i think obama has kind of proven to be a lot of unprincipled on some of his liberal stances but he said that he was going to modify social security in two thousand and eight he said in two thousand and nine he said it is the base with romney i'm not i'm not too shocked by it and the center for american progress has has said that they'd be willing to live with a deal on chained c.p.i. so. it's like a six thousand dollars in annual benefit yesterday won't make it on your period i mean this is this is turning social security into a into a fringe welfare program in some ways at least you know if you look twenty years down the road i think that social security has been slowly turning from

a personal account thing as f.d.r. designed it as it was to use it as a personal account thing it was designed as insurance against poverty and a into it what it was we all pay into an insurance program it was never designed as a retirement program ever it was it was from the get go insurance against poverty for all people and for you know a third of social security benefits are not going to old people they're going to people like my friend michael hutchison who tripped fell off a bridge while he was running broke his neck and he's been you know paralyzed in the neck down for the last twenty years living in a wheelchair and if that i mean that's and these people are going to see they're there every year they're there they're their payments going down that's that's that seems to be the president's proposal but you know and richard that if that's the president's proposal it's because that's what the republicans are demanding is it not clearly i think this is everything to do with like i've always said this is john boehner the game right here on unfortunately john boehner is holding the middle class in the working class in this country hostage i think what it what what

it requires though tom for the next thirteen or somebody we have this clip progress of them got to come together and they've got to push this president we cannot continue to be the progressive movement as we voted for him we're going to sit back now the time for us to push this president and say you know we have some frustration with different parts of this bill we want you to fix it i didn't even need a bill. you know we were going to do a lot of the end of the year and. let the cuts happen and let the let the taxes go up and then but you know with a new congress that has fewer tea partiers and you get together and say ok you guys you want to you want to do some tax cuts you want to do some some some revenue cuts let's talk about it but you know he he he he he's got all the power right now y c. well given the way i get paid and i think it's a good i think at the end of the day tom i think there's a couple there's a couple things here one i think there's nobody who wants the president of the what middle class taxes to go up even if they go up for a week or two weeks is going to seem as a loss for the president politically a political capital so payroll taxes they seem up both sides seem willing to throw

the middle class on the bus with the payroll tax well that that payroll tax cut was it was a canard to begin with because it wasn't really a tax cut it was a tax abatement and by the way it was taking a bite out of the blood of social security and it should have been put in there in the first place and i think it should go away now i hear you i think it should go away i would i think there's a lot of progress other who want the president say to two hundred thousand dollar number clearly the forty thousand dollars getting the republicans to agree on a four thousand dollars number why are we debating two hundred thousand versus four right now we're in and i'm not debating raising the minimum wage not debating put a securities transaction tax back on on wall street like we had from eight hundred ninety six until nine hundred sixty four you know it would generate a lot more money than any of this time i think the reason why we're not debating that has everything to do with the fact of the republicans control the narrative on taxes for way too long and that is starting to change clearly the fact that john boehner is even willing to put forces caucus to vote on increasing taxes on anybody to show that we the progressive movement and democrats are starting to win back that narrative but it's not going to happen overnight i think it's made very clear

for the past twenty years the dems the republicans have all of the narrative on tax cuts. the republicans and the republicans at the trade conservatives this would be the third time they got reagan to trade a dollar in tax hikes for three dollars in spending cuts never delivered the spending cuts and they got bush if bush had not even seen one to raise. one dollar in spending cuts those know that already we don't know why when the majority general one for one there's no was no democrat and everyone no republican support for either of those deals in the house or percent of or the united states senate it's those three senators that ever ever voted for a tax increase in this country in the past twenty years since it is he came out and said the republicans need to become the party of the tax cut santa clause exactly. are you suggesting that the benefit to the president to the democrats of having john boehner shoot santa claus shoot the tax cut santa clause is greater than the benefit i mean the long term strategy what you do and laid out was run up huge deficits when republicans are in power so that when democrats going to power

everybody can scream about the debt they can force the democrats to shoot their santa clause which is social security you're here we've got a deal where they're both shooting their santa clause is this seems crazy to me you know how i see it i don't necessarily think it's crazy what i see is john boehner voting to increase taxes on millionaires and billionaires and those making over a million dollars which is what the number this is all part of john boehner this plan sort of says hey listen you know grover norquist you're run out of town and you're going out of business and on top of that is going to piss off half of his caucus pissing off half of your caucus going into the hundred thirteenth congress going to the fact that you have a strong president you have you have a stronger progressive caucus in the united states senate that is talking about filibuster reform puts them in a very very bad position when it comes to issues like immigration reform or student loan reform or education reform which are all up this year and democrats really been able to define the republican party over the last year as you know the party so it's going to take away a abortionist a party you know if they the last thing republicans have left the party with the rich and the corporate you know that's less than they have left so that the average

person i think on the street is not paying too much attention understands as well the republicans will raise my taxes if obama can get them to go back on that that's a that's a killing blow to republicans i think i mean of course a lot can change in two years you know for the average person the amount of taxes that are going to go up or down is largely i mean the notice the payroll tax they will they actually will but that's only on the first one hundred ten thousand well only on the first order i mean that and that is hitting all of the working people in america it is. but again that's not a tax increase that was a tax cut that should have been put in there in the first place and if we want to make that up let's make it up with a tax credit or let's make it up by raising the minimum wage. i mean all those things are some things all of those things that consider i think you can consider raising minimum wage in one hundred thirteenth congress with a week republican party john boehner is going to be one of the weakest speakers in american history if he votes for any deal better raises taxes when his party's biggest thing is not raising taxes so christopher do you agree with that yeah i think very seriously wounded ok so is this all just show i mean john boehner has no

political idiot he didn't get to worry was by making dumb decisions i think i think kind of did i think a lot of the stuff that he's facing right now like with this with with the fiscal cliff package they set up is the secretary said was them technology is we're so smart we're so sorry not smart enough we know has been going around with a knife to john boehner his kidney for the last couple of years could it be that he's encouraging boehner to do this so that boehner will you know here put you know step off this cliff sir and can't all be the last man standing i don't see him anywhere around these negotiations i would definitely be guessing if i said that to talk to members of congress members of the senate and rooms at them when they're asking what's going on in the senate is saying we don't know when the house of representatives saying well if you don't know we don't know maison chris every shot or richard thank you both for being with us thanks for having me thank you. it's time to get active and push obama in a progressive direction tell him no cuts to social security insurance call the white house comment line at two zero two four five six eleven eleven. and while

you're calling the white house tell the president it's time to give wal-mart the corporate death penalty the world's biggest employer is developing a reputation as the most corrupt corporation in the world in our times details wal-mart's bribery binge in mexico when the retail giant open more than a dozen new stores south of the border times notes wal-mart to make go was an aggressive and creative corrupter offering large payoffs to get what the law otherwise prohibited some of the bribes included more than three hundred forty thousand dollars to avoid having to comply with traffic and environmental permits more than seven hundred sixty thousand dollars to build a stored environmentally sensitive flood basin more than two hundred thousand dollars to build a store near as tech ruins so now we know another reason why wal-mart workers in america get everyday low pay because the companies the cash to bribe foreign officials wal-mart is not an american company it's a stateless transnational corporations are raping america and prowling the world

for cheap labor. crazy alert and they call it puppy love brazil is giving a whole new meaning to the term. that's because am an el mundo at mega store in the brazilian city of below orders on pay as open that countries and maybe the world's first love motel loving dog owners can bring their cute canines to the motel to breed with other dogs and tell room comes complete was sadly red cushions are cheap ceiling mere lighting to really set the mood complex also has doggie spa services a canine clothing store and a variety of reproductive assistance resources typical stay of the dog you love shack costs around fifty bucks or has a plans for a separate motel for first few felines is are already in the works. after the break

as the power of unions continues to draw window when america could co-ops become a viable alternative to organized labor and help our economy get back on track. if we just put a picture of me when i was like nine years old i want to tell the truth. i'm a confession i am a total get of friends that i love driving hip hop music and. he was kind of a yesterday. i'm very proud of the role without you as a place. i

think. i'm. you know sometimes you see a story and it seems so for lengthly you think you understand it and then you glimpse something else and you hear or see some other part of it and realize everything you thought you knew you don't know i'm tom hartman welcome to the big picture.