>> what you think at tree can be? can it be stronger than steel? cannot treat be by degradable plastic? can it be -- can a tree the biodegradable plastic. can it be fuel for our cars, or clothing, or medicine that fights cancer? with our tree cell technology, we think it can. weyerhaeuser, growing ideas. >> malia and sasha generally finish their homework a day ahead of time. congress can do the same thing.

if you know you've got to do something, just do it. >> this week on "inside washington," president obama republicans -- grow up. republicans to the president -- behave yourself. >> he should be ashamed. >> first class sendoff for robert gates. >> the president has failed the american people on turning the economy around. >> candidate michele bachmann off to an impressive start. >> i believe at new york has sent a message to this nation loud and clear. >> a major victory for new york gov. andrew cuomo, the comeback kid. captioned by the national captioning institute --www.ncicap.org-- here is my favorite line of the week, written by david rogers in "politico" -- congress has the

poisonous field these days of some backstabbing midwest city council arguing sandbag techniques while flood waters rise. or as president obama put it at his news conference -- >> they are in one week, out one week, and then they are saying obama's got to step in. you need to be here. i've been here. i've been doing afghanistan, bin laden, the greek crisis. >> the president says he wants to get working, wants us to get working. i cannot think of a better way than to pat him, on over to date. -- to have him come over today. we are waiting. >> senate minority leader mitch mcconnell. republicans were outraged by the president's remarked. but harry reid was listening. the majority leader canceled the senate's fourth of july holiday -- what a sacrifice.

what do you make of the president's performance on wednesday, mark? >> the president recognizes two things. over the past two years, democrats have lost public debates on major initiatives, economic recovery and health care. they don't want to wind that risk of this time. -- run a risk to this time. they have to lay out the consequences, the recklessness and irresponsibility of even entertaining the possibility of letting this country default on its obligations. >> evan, what do you think? >> you cannot be partisan on this. he is at least showing some energy. but he has got to be an arm twister behind the scenes, and he is not lyndon johnson. but this is really, really serious now. this is his moment of leadership. this is no joke. he has got to get it done. >> nina? >> in the modern era, there

isn't it a lyndon johnson, and the criticism of him, by david brooks this week, is that he's too much like the senate majority leader. the president has a bully pulpit, and he used it, and that at the republicans started screaming bloody murder indicates that they are worried about it. >> charles? >> the problems this at -- problem is that this has the feel of a town with a leader was not leading. he did not propose a budget -- well, the one he did it was voted down by the senate 97-0, it was so preposterous. the democrats in congress have not proposed a budget in two years. the republicans have. what we have is a president in full campaign mode was not proposing anything in public -- who knows whether in private. it seriously, there is no democratic proposal on the table for a budget. he is demagoguing against medicare and the ryan plan, and he has decided, do that and that is how you get reelected. that is why the town is

floundering. >> consistency has not been a problem with republicans. they have endorsed the ryan plan, budget, and -- which does not provide for a balanced budget, and now they are pushing for a balanced budget. 103 house republicans have gone on record of saying they will not vote to raise the debt ceiling unless they ate at a cap -- they have a cap on federal spending that is 7% below what we are spending now. the ins d -- they insist on a constitutional amendment to cut deficit spending by half next year, all of which is impossible. every serious person who is look at this knows there has to be revenue enhancement, taxes raised as well as spending cut. the idea of doing it with spending cuts alone is just irrational. >> the democrats have not even

produced a budget for 2012. what is their budget? >> no, the case is there -- >> where are their numbers and where is the plan? >> it is right there -- >> where? >> look, the president and the dealings with the joe biden and the senators and congressmen, is there. $400 billion in revenues, $2 trillion in cuts. that is 1/5, and republicans walk away, saying we cannot touch it. >> everybody knows the republican leadership is afraid of its own members. they think they cannot get anything passed and in fact that they might be dethroned if they have some sort of tax increase. the democrats are just, frankly, demagogues about medicare and medicaid and social security. if ever there was a time to package these things together -- for example, increases in the

age of qualifications for medicare, which would add a lot of money to the federal budget if you don't have to spend it, plus revenue enhancements, aka taxes. this is a time for everybody to experience pain no one wants to experience. >> everyone seems to be in campaign mode. where the democrats, the party of the downtrodden? the republicans, the party of the very wealthy. is that playing out in the electorate? >> i don't think of the electorate realizes how serious this is. if we really go into default, it is technical and complicated, but they are playing with fire. really bad things can happen. markets get spooked. investors get spooked. interest rates go way up. we are plunged back into a serious recession. this is not just a political game, this the real thing. i don't think the country --

>> it will be what happened in 2007 on steroids. >> evan tells us how serious it is. what do we get? the president who stand up in a press conference and refers, not once, but six times to the tax breaks for corporate jets. i did the math on 8. if you were to collect that tax for the next 7000 years, it would not cover one year of the debt obama has added. i will put it another way. if you were to collect bad debts starting with john the baptist -- that debt starting with john the baptist and do it every year since, it would not cover the amount of debt obama has added between january 1 and june 1 of this year. and he mentioned it six times. and you are telling me he is serious? >> you are right, the president has a thing about corporate jets even though he gets to ride in a nice one himself.

>> before we cut children's education, before we sacrifice our commitment to the research and innovation that will create more jobs in the economy, it is only fair to ask an oil company or corporate jet owner that has done so well to give up that tax bite that no other business enjoys. corporateis charles' jet. what is the president up to here ? >> he is it playing class warfare. there are real loopholes and they need to close, but charle'' point is right. this is tiny, tiny little drops in a big ocean. it is not plan to solve the problem to go after corporate jets or even to go after the hedge fund guys, although i would sure like to. they have got to raise revenues, i hate to say it, on the middle class. everybody -- this is the point that gets lost in this -- everybody is in this boat.

there is no way out, as every american does something. >> raise revenues on the shrinking middle class, mark. >> evan is right, because it is going to affect everybody. evan addressed the possibility of defaults. when that happens, the federal government of the united states, which borrows 40 cents of every dollar we spend every single day, is faced with the option, do you pay a sergeant in combat in kandahar, a grandmother in a 1-bedroom apartment, a social security check, or do you meet the obligations of the bankers who are holding their debt in beijing and beverly hills? the answer is simple. the prior claim is on the second group. the reality that we are contending with -- what the president is proposing is increasing taxes, revenues, by 1% over the next 10 years. $400 billion -- they are going

to connect $39 trillion in the next 10 years. he said we ought to increase that by $400 billion as part of the package right now, and you cannot touch a single blond hair on the beautiful head of our tax system, according to grover norquist and all of his apparatchiks who served in congress. >> there is something wrong when the top 400 cuearners -- they ae not earners -- pay taxes at a rate that is half what they were paying an during the clinton administration, and they are earning three times more. it is an astonishing income gap we have. that is not to say -- we know what the drivers of the deficit are. it is not just that. it is the entitlement programs and defense, third, and last week it is taxes.

>> -- lastly it is taxes. >> political argument, old folks anover here, fat cats in corporate jets over here. >> it is demagoguery. if you confiscated all the wealth of the top 1000 it would not make a dent in the $14 trillion debt. the problem, as larry lindsey pointed out, is not that somebody is going to get a coupon on the debt in august of this year, but that in can be years, we're not going to be able to pay anybody anything -- on the anything in 10 years we -- will not be able to pay anybody anything on the debt. it is that 10 years at stake. i will give you one example of the demagoguery on the part of the democrats. what republicans want is what was proposed by lieberman and coburn, to index medicaid and medicare to what socials credit was in t 19 -- like social

security was with the greenspan commission in the early 1980's. if you in exit, you will save billions of dollars. the democrats, however, will not, and you know why? medicare is the one issue of next year. and you are telling me that democrats and the president is serious about -- >> washington is still stuck in our partisanship. on this one particular issue, everybody thinks about this for half a second realizes that you absolutely have to -- it is not negotiable, it is not an argument -- you have to get beyond it because you have to, have to, have to raise taxes and you have to, have to, have to cut entitlements. >> neither republicans nor democrat leadership will admit that publicly. >> we just a minute -- wait just a minute, it is easy to talk about cutting programs that is

absolutely crucial to the survival of seniors in this country. why not talk about it being based upon need and ability to pay? the very top hedge fund managers that evan talks about who pay at a rate of 1/204 firefighter or a teacher or a nurse -- 1/2 of what a firefighter or a teacher or ain this country, they collect social security and full medicare benefits. that is outrageous, and that is indefensible. you don't arbitrarily cut people off at age, but you base it on who needs it and requires it. >> you may not have noticed, but in the republican plan, you had means testing for medicare, precisely as you suggest. the democrats have refused. the democrats have refused also on raising the age. >> ok, let's talk about means testing.

how does that work? you get social security, but if you make so much money -- >> you get less, and if you or pork, you get more trade is in the ryan plan. -- you are poor, you get more. it is in the ryan plan. you guys act like up talk -- act like a pox on all houses. >> i have an answer for paul ryan and --vouchers. he is absolutely convinced that the market's -- >> they -- >> it is so brilliant, as dr. krauthammer insists it is, why is every republican in a full flight from it right now, and why is john boehner ruing the day they voted that way? in district after district, republicans are on the defensive on this issue of them, because they did exactly what in 1993 the democrats did. they came up with a full health

care plan, delete any secret, said -- a at a secret, said, "you vote for it." republicans did, democrats did not. >> the government of minnesota shut down because the democratic governor and republican legislature cannot come to terms. that is crazy. politicians are supposed to compromise and get things done. >> the public debate tilts, and we are going to see in minnesota how people feel about this. of course there will be people on both sides, but the public opinion moves. a shutdown, just as it did in the federal government, moved people's views about what they want. i cannot tell you how it is going to move, but it will not be the same in a week as it was yesterday. >> does anybody have any suggestion as to how to get this thing moving? >> yeah, because it has happened

before. obama has got to be president of the united states. he has to be two things. he has to make a public case of how bad is this, because he is not doing that -- ->> he did not do that on wednesday? >> no, he was partisan. he was [bleep ] he has got to rise above that and then in private make a deal. >> instead of saying that it is a serious problem and we have to do something, he says, as in the sound bite you showed, it is a choice between helping the elderly on medicare and corporate jets and oil tax breaks. >> gentlemen -- >> that is pure demagoguery. >> simpson-bowles, you name it,

commission after commission comes out and says you have to have serious cuts, $2 trillion in cuts. and you have to have revenues. the reality is, and at charles krauthammer acknowledges there have to be revenues, but it has become an article of faith, you cannot be a republican -- ronald reagan raised taxes six different times, but he would never know it from -- >> george h.w. bush did it, too, and he lost the elections. >> you are missing the point, what are democrats offering on entitlements? >> they haven't. >> what is the plan, what is the policy? >> the president has publicly stated they will have to cut entitlements. >> oh, that is tough. >> you guys seem to think that the president of the united states should get up and act like a professor and say, "we have a problem here and we need to negotiate in private and here

are the reasons it is so bad." presidents are politicians, that is why they get elected. they don't do that. >> franklin roosevelt said, "we have a problem, he is called world war ii." he did play a role. >> michele bachmann getting a lot of attention this week. >> you cannot get life wrong. i am committed to life. [applause] >> congresswoman michele bachmann at a campaign appearance in south carolina. she was talking about the time she suffered a miscarriage and her renewed reverence for life after that. she makes mistakes, but nobody's ridiculing her for this, mark. what does that adherents tell you about michele bachmann? >> it gives a personal narrative to her pro-life position, which is consistent with the vast majority of republican primary voters. i would contrast her

introduction to this race with that of the former speaker of the house, newt gingrich. with each passing day, in spite of the stumbles, her stock has been enhanced, and her position has been improved. newt the last time, i think, was trying to close out his tiffany's account. >> she was no. 2 in one of the polls behind mitt romney. >> democrats underrate congresswoman bachmann at their peril. they talk about her the way date used to talk about ronald reagan, and that is dumb. having said that, politifact did an analysis of her biggest payments and of the 23 they analyzed, none were entirely true, of the controversial ones, and can work pants-on-a fire false. this is the kind of the -- 10 or pads-on-fire false.

this is the kind of thing you cannot continue to do. >> she is the best thing ever for the democratic party. she might actually win at the republican nomination, but i don't think she can win at the presidency. >> you think she can win the nomination? >> it is possible, it is not likely. i think she remains a longshot. she has a good chance of winning the iowa, but i am not sure where she goes in terms of winning after that. but she could easily end op number two. she is very appealing. the more you learn about her -- she had 23 foster kids, five kids of her own, she talks about life, family, looking after each other. this is a person who has lived it. it is not only rhetoric. but ideologically, she would have a hard time in the general election. >> defense secretary robert gates retired this week. they gave him a good sendoff at the pentagon for he said when he looks bzero back at his

service, he will think about the war years, the ones who kept on fighting and the ones who never came back until the end of this day's trade remarkable guy. >> the only as secretary of defense in the nation's history to serve as successfully under presidents of two different bodies and have the trust and admiration of both of them. he had sobering remarks on the way out. he said, "i go to arlington, i go to hospitals, i meet with the families, i know the awesome responsibility and unpredictability of war, and those who beat the drums have to be aware of that office when he was asked what he was most proud of, he said listening to the press on the mine-resistant vehicles we finally got to our troops so they would not be blown up by ied's in afghanistan the way they add, and hospitals, and the condition of hospitals

and the treatment of our veterans and more years in places like walter reed. >> he was exactly what is missing today in washington. politically unafraid. he stood up to the military- industrial complex. he was honest with the american people on all fronts. thoroughly credible guy who could somehow rise above petty interests, and that is what we're missing. >> i also want to say something for the advantages of moving up the chain over the course of a career. he started out -- this is a bureaucrat made brilliant secretary. for people always talk about, oh, they are just bureaucrats, this first the best of the bureaucracy made into a natural leader. >> in addition to the deep sensitivity he had for the soldier and those who sacrificed, he was also concerned about the country. one of his last speeches, and he almost intimated that one of the reasons he was leaving or it was his time to leave is that he had

lived and lead at a time when america was dominant, and it looked as if america was looking to reduce its role in the world. as he implied, it was not a world he wanted to be leading in. >> andrew cuomo, the new comeback kid. >> new york for many, many years has served as the progressive beacon for this country, and pass a marriage equality advances the entire discussion. >> that is andrew cuomo, governor of new york, who signed the law legalizing same- sex marriage in new york. he had a few rough years, but he is back now. >> praised in "the new york times" as the comeback kid. he is a powerful figure, and not just on gay marriage rate he managed to get a budget through the legislature in new york. whether he has long term leggs, i am not sure, because he is a volatile guy. >> if andrew cuomo can do it in

new york, why can we not get it done in washington? >> good question. good question, gordon. [laughter] same-sex marriage has a sense of inevitability, but right now is in the area essentially that barry goldwater said we ought to cut off, the eastern seaboard of the united states. massachusetts, connecticut, vermont, new hampshire, and in new york. >> and iowa. >> why of did it by the courts and the court is about -- to me -- iowa did it by the courts and the court is about to leave. for a guy lost in 2002 the democratic primary in a bad way, to come back the way he has done is a real achievement. >> i want to know who the advance man is for the president who put him there the day before the bout, and the president's weaselly answer before a gay audience made andrew cuomo look

better and the president look worse. >> i think this is a historic moment. the vote was not done by eight judges, as in massachusetts. it was done by the people, their representatives. in new york state, it is a matter of time. this is an issue that is essentially decided as generational change. cuomo did something interesting basically the morning after this. he is now going to expand or propose expanded drilling for natural gas, a process in new york which is going to appeal to people on the right. i think this is a guy who was looking to have a large constituency and it will be a lot higher than the governorship. >> interesting. last word, thanks. see you next week. for a transcript of this broadcast, log on to insidewashington.tv.

vo:geico, committed to providing service to its auto insurance customers for over 70 years. more information on auto insurance at geico.com or 1-800-947-auto any time of the day or night.