. >> before we go to tony, let me ask john. the book that you wrote was such a commentary on how we train or fail to train lawyers. you know, in the typical method that we teach in law school. that book and that story "the paper chase," what were you saying about the way in which -- i mean, when i went to law school, the emphasis was to become a corporate lawyer. there was very little emphasis placed on being a people's lawyer. or somebody like a tony sarah. what are your thoughts on that? you've practiced. you're a law professor. recently retired. you've taught at a number of different schools. any thoughts on that? >> well, yes, i have lots of thoughts on it. i went to harvard law school. and believe me, when i was there, there was no legal aid at all. everybody was become a corporate lawyer. there was no question about it. you didn't even think about it. it would never even dawn on anybody. i don't think that anybody knew that there were defense attorneys. you know? anyway, at its heart that little clip said something, i thi

. >> and let me ask you, john paul, because the issue of paying for it and what frustrated me is that this is what they all liked the democrats and the republicans and everybody liked it and everybody wanted it and no fight. >> made sense. >> and made sense and then there was a pipeline issue and could not agree to pay for it and burgess was saying, okay, well, now you will start to see the people paying more on the mortgages and we would pay it by increasing mortgage fees and we can't do that. it seems when you talk about paying for it, it is a third rail. >> what happens, erin, they missed the clock. when you had the super committee who knew nothing about business and some of them about taking care of lobbyists and not one of them ran a business. how do you get $1.2 trillion and they should have been going after $5 trillion, get business people in there, get cameras, and at the same time ask others to say, hey, how about you throwing in $1 trillion for the next ten years and it will further reduce the budget? and here, let's get a balanced budget and get rid of the deficit and we ne

. >> and let me ask you, john paul, because the issue of paying for it and what frustrated me is that this is what they all liked the democrats and the republicans and everybody liked it and everybody wanted it and no fight. >> made sense. >> and made sense and then there was a pipeline issue and could not agree to pay for it and burgess was saying, okay, well, now you will start to see the people paying more on the mortgages and we would pay it by increasing mortgage fees and we can't do that. it seems when you talk about paying for it, it is a third rail. >> what happens, erin, they missed the clock. when you had the super committee who knew nothing about business and some of them about taking care of lobbyists and not one of them ran a business. how do you get $1.2 trillion and they should have been going after $5 trillion, get business people in there, get cameras, and at the same time ask others to say, hey, how about you throwing in $1 trillion for the next ten years and it will further reduce the budget? and here, let's get a balanced budget and get rid of the deficit and we ne

. >> all right, let's bring in democratic strategist jamaal simmons and john avalon. john, let me askccessfully taken this issue of fairness, certain people are not carrying their share of the load. but then republicans come in and say that millionaires should have cuts in all these benefits. they get zero credit at all for pointing the finger at the wealthy. >> that should be the basis for a bipartisan agreement, that's giving a little bit. but right now we're heading into campaign season, that's the problem. this was a major speech today by the white house where they unveiled the terms of debate for 2012 as we see it. you heard the president say a lot about fairness. the most fascinating thing is that he gave the speech where teddy roosevelt gave his speech in 1910. what you see here is president obama trying to wrap his political agenda in the legacy of tr, a progressive republican. a fascinating move. it was a fascinating speech. >> what did you make of the speech today? >> i thought the speech was very good at laying out the broad contours of how america has both -- we got to foc

say, let's wave to new hampshire, we'll go there for the debates and camp out in south carolina, and we will do battle with santorum in south carolina. wish goes on, loser goes home. >> john, let me ask you something. it's interesting what kiki said about there's no magic of these independents. there's no magic in fiscal conservatives supporting mitt romney. they actually like jon huntsman more in some cases but they don't figure he's got a chance. there's no imagine nick social conservatives choosing between michele bachmann and santorum, and figuring maybe santorum's got the momentum. what about the 43% of those people that say they are going to caucus who haven't got a choice, who haven't made a choice yet? >> momentum can matter a great six days out from a caucus about re caucus are low turnout, high intensity elections and skew overwhelmingly conservative. 80% of caucusgoers are conservatives. what is fascinating about the poll is the surge for santorum, because social conservatives, people looking for that conservative al ternive to romney with gingrich's numbers cut in half now saying, maybe it's santorum's turn, he's been to 99 counties. the other thing that really strikes me

say, let's wave to new hampshire, we'll go there for the debates and camp out in south carolina, and we will do battle with santorum in south carolina. wish goes on, loser goes home. >> john, let me ask you something. it's interesting what kiki said about there's no magic of these independents. there's no magic in fiscal conservatives supporting mitt romney. they actually like jon huntsman more in some cases but they don't figure he's got a chance. there's no imagine nick social conservatives choosing between michele bachmann and santorum, and figuring maybe santorum's got the momentum. what about the 43% of those people that say they are going to caucus who haven't got a choice, who haven't made a choice yet? >> momentum can matter a great six days out from a caucus about re caucus are low turnout, high intensity elections and skew overwhelmingly conservative. 80% of caucusgoers are conservatives. what is fascinating about the poll is the surge for santorum, because social conservatives, people looking for that conservative al ternive to romney with gingrich's numbers cut in half now saying, maybe it's santorum's turn, he's been to 99 counties. the other thing that really strikes me

. >> all right, let's bring in democratic strategist jamaal simmons and john avalon. jorng let me askats and the president have very successfully taken this issue of fairness, certain people are not carrying their share of the load. but then republicans come in and say that millionaires should have cuts in all these benefits. they get zero credit at all for pointing the finger at the wealthy. >> that should be the basis for a bipartisan agreement, that's giving a little bit. but right now we're heading into campaign season, that's the problem. this was a major speech today by the white house where they unveiled the terms of debate for 2012 as we see it. you heard the president say a lot about fairness. the most fascinating thing is that he gave the speech where teddy roosevelt gave his speech in 1910. what you see here is president obama trying to wrap his political agenda in the legacy of tr, a progressive republican. a fascinating move. it was a fascinating speech. >> what did you make of the speech today >> i thought the speech was very good at laying out the broad contours of how

. >> john, let me ask you, talking about iowa, gingrich on top.ou know who's been gaining, somebody that a lot of people have counted as out, rick perry. what's he gone, from 5% to 13% in one month. >> a pretty significant bump and it is some signee van gel calls are coalescing around his candidacy, which is his only play. he's going to be camping out, doing a two-week bus tour. there's some signs of newt erosion in these polls, he's down slightly. romney station steady, slate decline. ron paul hanging in there, don't count out ron paul. >> jamal, what do you think about what might happen here? some people like to say, i know jon huntsman obviously is among them, we'll look at barack obama last time around, sure action people don't count me in now but i could surge. who do you think the white house is most afraid of in a general election? is it jon huntsman? >>er rip, think every time the white house sees the republicans sort of get up on the stage they probably become a little less afraid of each one. the problem for huntsman is when the lights c

asked me to go. >> i do think it's a possible ticket, so many, john thune, let's stop talking about romney winning this thing. is this a rock meeting a hard place, whatever, because an unmoveable force meeting an unstoppable object? a guy that has had a ceiling because the evangelicals don't like him, a moderate, lds, whatever the factors are. he seems to be stuck at 23%, romney, nationwide and here in iowa. at the same time they want a winner, an so people are somewhat coalescing about him, somewhat, and the crowd we saw today. you're demuring him. >> the romney people out there, currently genuinely worried that rick construm will somehow be able to consolidate all the evangelicals which could give him above the 23%, 24%, 25% ceiling that romney has, and when you talk to the people out at that rally, he was wearing a romney sticker. so, tell me why you're for mitt romney and he said i'm not real 100% for mitt romney but he does seem to be a sane guy. >> okay. there's a standard. >> there's a standard. >> in the clown car one guy is sane. >> and that might be enough to get him the 24% or 25% that

bring in democratic strategist tim punk and republican strategist cheri jacobus along with john avalon. let me ask you what's going on here, cheri. president says he won't go on vacation until they get this done. we know something's going to happen by the end of the month, right? >> yeah. something's going to have to happen. both sides lose if they let this go, obviously. i think there is a way, and republicans are providing the president a path to be able to claim partial victory and show he can work with congress. the problem is the president wants to run against congress even at the risk of hurting some of his democratic members. republicans want to add the keystone pipeline issue on to the payroll tax holiday and have that combined. the payroll tax holiday is not a sustainable economic growth item by itself. the keystone pipeline project is. i mean one is a one-hit wonder and the other the gift that keeps on giving, but the president wants to delay the keystone issue. he's saying i don't want this attached to it. he's threatening to veto the bill. but we have democrats that support both of tho

bring in democratic strategist tim punk and republican strategist cheri jacobus along with john avalon. let me ask you what's going on here, cheri. president says he won't go on vacation until they get this done. we know something's going to happen by the end of the month, right? >> yeah. something's going to have to happen. both sides lose if they let this go, obviously. i think there is a way, and republicans are providing the president a path to be able to claim partial victory and show he can work with congress. the problem is the president wants to run against congress even at the risk of hurting some of his democratic members. republicans want to add the keystone pipeline issue on to the payroll tax holiday and have that combined. the payroll tax holiday is not a sustainable economic growth item by itself. the keystone pipeline project is. i mean one is a one-hit wonder and the other the gift that keeps on giving, but the president wants to delay the keystone issue. he's saying i don't want this attached to it. he's threatening to veto the bill. but we have democrats that support both of tho

after talking with senator john barrasso of wyoming, who has a new job. let me ask you both about this year, the last half of this year. it has been about gearing up for the 2012 elections. are there clear winners and losers about who gets to go home and say what to their constituents after we have seen this over the last few months? >> the incumbents are be used -- are the losers because the congressional approval ratings are so low. there is so much angst out there that we do not know which party is going to take the brunt of it. the debt battle and another government shut down show b down just recently. there will be a lot of jockeying. there will not be a lot of big deals in 2012. they will just do what they have to do like spending bills and other must have stuff. >> a lot of this year was a reaction to the last two years. you will see that continued. just absolute discipline and focus on the republican argument that it is spending and not taxes. they will win that in the bargain that goes through this weekend. democrats look like they are abandoning taxing the

. >> let me ask you first, anthony, do you... is anthony his middle name? >> he's anthony john. >> anthony john. >> anthony john. and i'm spelling your last name v-e-double-r-i-n-o. >> yeah, that's correct. >> is he a junior or is he a second, or... >> he's not a technical... yeah, he's himself. >> he's one of a kind. >> he has no middle name. so, that makes him not a junior. >> and his date of birth is november the... >> 18th. >> two thousand and... >> four. >> four. >> tim told me that you were a good friend of father meagher. am i... do i have that right? >> yeah, father tom, yeah. >> is he aware of what's going on with you guys? >> mm-hmm, he actually... he spoke to my mom this morning. so, he hears, you know, there's always that social connection one way or another, but he said to my mom, "i heard that the baby's not doing so well," and he wanted... he said, you know, "keep me informed." >> yeah, talk to father tom about this, but my guess is he's going to encourage you to bring your family and friends and your boy into church. and then... then the other question would be

john bolton joins us. good evening. let me ask you a couple of questions. number one, is speaker gingrich right? number two, is he pandering to get the jewish vote? number three, is this his statement? it has inflamed many likely to impede a peace process not as though we've had a peace process. but nonetheless, great concer concern. >> start at the end. two-state process working on for 20 years is in exist. we are no closer to two-state solution than when we began the process. we have three states now, gaza stip under control of hamas, the palestinian part of west bank under fatah. in terms of what newt said, people reacted to it negatively because they took historical analysis to make it to palestinian statehood. he was historically correct, as long as we have television, not much about the characteristics make up the nationality. hard to see how the palestinians qualify. do they want a state? of course. will they get one? who knows? >> greta: what about the pandering. use of inventive, is a rather sharp statement to make. hor to believe call someone invented like a person is made up. >> it wa

let me play something that john boehner had to say. i want to, let's listen to it and i'll come back and ask you about it. >> let's extend the payroll tax credit for a year. and all we're asking for is to get the senate members over here to work with us, to resolve our differences so we can do what everybody wants to do. >> so the republican argument that john boehner, eric cantor, lots of other people have made is essentially two months isn't enough. small business, job creators are not going to be, there's no certainty in two months. and that you're not that far apart. president obama wants a year-long cut. house republicans want a year-long cut. why can't president obama tell harry reid, appoint some conferrees to this committee and let's get a deal. it doesn't have to be a house republican deal, but let's get a deal. why is that not what's happening? >> well isn't the question really, why can't john boehner do what he said he was going to do, and take up the senate bill and pass it? 90% of the united states senate, including dozens of republicans, signed on two the two-month extension so that taxes don't go up on 160 million america

let him do this? joining us now is john stanton, reporter for "roll call" newspaper. john, it's nice to have you here. thanks for being here. >> anytime. africa. >> let of course. >> let me ask you about my baix thesis about how the house works and how a speaker works in a situation like this. is it possible he got into this on his own or would he have had to have some help in coming to the conclusion this was a viable political move he was making? >> no, i think this was a situation in which i think speaker boehner and minority leader mcconnell and harry reid all thought they had this agreement, it looked like it was going to go forward and when the speaker went to go talk to his caucus last weekend he realized there was just no chance they were going to get it through the house and he found himself in sort of a no-win situation frankly. here he had the hardest conservative part of his party, the freshmen, some of the long-term conservatives, the tea party types were adamant they weren't going to agree with this. there was some hope that with 89 members of the senate voting for it they could pressure folks and it just didn't work. and he found himself in a position where he

. >> john, joe won't bite so let me ask you the opposite of that first question. what are the chances that newt gingrich is the nominee? >> i'm not going to bite either, jeff. joe taught me that. gingrich is having his moment. he is having it at the right time because there is a month left before the iowa caucuses. and he is running strong here in iowa and he has a great deal of baggage, as jan mentioned, in her piece, but people are forgiving him that and a lot of that is a part of what joe wrote about because they just don't feel any strong love for mitt romney and they like the fact that newt gingrich is giving them something to feel passionate about. >> john, you bring up this point about newt gingrich giving them something to feel passionate about. yesterday on "face the nation," robert gibbs talked about the fact the white house seize newt gingrich as for real but do you think they see him as enough of a threat to point out a plan going forward they could beat in an election head-to-head? >> oh, yes. i think the white house -- it's tough for them to play mis