in 2010 worked it out with mcconnell. >> rose: wasn't there a conversation between joe biden and eric cantor in which biden said-- or cantor said-- you know if it were just the two of us we could make this work. >> rose: exactly. exactly. because they had preliminary negotiations on this. they identified things for cuts. and it would have been part of some final deal. but, i mean, here's the question that can't be answered. both obama when i talked to him and boehner essentially said they didn't know where the votes would be for some sort of compromise or deal. but they felt that if they went out together, stood before the american public and the congress and said "we've got a deal, this will work" this the momentum and the moral authority of their offices would have carried it over the finish line. we won't know, never got there. but that's possible. sometimes that happens in american politics. >> many people looked at lyndon johnson, for example, and said if lyndon johnson were there he could have made this work because he knew the congress and fully understood the power of the presidency

eric cantor the republicans don't want you to think that we have a holiday in america for workers that would undermine their message that this nation was built on the backs of the one percent not the ninety nine percent of us workers but instead by the millionaires and billionaires so in their world view on labor day we shouldn't be honoring the bricklayer the teacher in the garbage man we should be honoring the koch brothers of lloyd blankfein and even mitt romney because after all what these guys need on top of their fortunes is a fiercely a national holiday as well the bigger picture here is this republican war on labor isn't just an attack on working americans it's an attack on the american dream itself is the american dream to become a billionaire to make as much money as you possibly can and screw everyone else is gordon gekko's greed is good the new mantra of the american dream republicans think so thought so since the reagan administration which is why they want to redefine labor day is a day for the billionaires those guys who want to suck as much profit out of their workers a

there's a war on the right going on in the republican party, as you know, and eric cantor, the number two in the house majority -- republicanmajority, republican majority, is much more connected to the tea party. but don't kid yourself. boehner is a conservative republican, a much more moderate one. and he was laying down the law with obama, said, no tax increase. >> he agreed to $800 billion. >> through tax reform which is -- >> raising revenue. >> which is tricky. i mean, it's possible. but i call it the great white whale. you chase it in the ocean and it might kill you. >> let's talk about the republican party in the house. we know there's "x" many number of tea partyers against any revenues, against everything, cut spending, cut spending. i heard every time boehner would come back from the white house with a deal he thought he could meet with the president, make with the president, he'd get a call from his chief of staff barry jackson, eric cantor's talking to the crazies out there, we're not going to be able to hold this deal. >> yes, i mean, there's a scene for if one of the key

somebody forgot to remind eric cantor of how exactly you explain that lie. n attacking cuts his own plan embraced, mr. cantor said, quote, the assumption is that, uh, the, again, i probably can't speak to that in an exact way so i better just not. he said. eric cantor forgot the lie. what screws eric cantor up there, what he could not remember, the appropriate lie about is what nobel prize winning economist paul krugman called the smaller lie of romney and ryan on medicare. that's the small lie. but what paul krugman says is the big lie is this. >> medicare is a promise, and we will honor it. a romney/ryan administration will protect and strengthen medicare. >> if you were running a son of a zillionaire second generation zillionaire presidential nominee this year, you would have a convention about your party's up from the boot straps story? right, and if you were run the kill medicare guy as your vice presidential nominee, you too would have your convention about how much you love medicare and want to protect it. as paul krugman writes today, quote, the repub

eric cantor is reacting negatively to this.acks of. i was shocked he even agreed to a debate finally aren't you? >> i was completely shocked but sending out press releases and he has already started shooting at us, but that was our problem to begin with was name recognition, and wayne started out with 17% name recognition. we have driven it up some, but heck, i get eric cantor with his own campaign driven it up even further than that. but talking about entitlement, because of these guys -- i look at romney. i look at paul ryan. i look at eric cantor. and you know -- in reality -- these guys aren't republicans. it's like i said last night. they are corporatists, is what they are. and they are bought and paid for, all of them and romney right now is pitiful. we're sitting here in the middle of september and he's on defense. politics is about offense. about driving votes to you. when you are on defense all you are doing is trying to hold the ones you have. and this is just not going to work. i don't know how mitt romney is going t

now, mud cat is setting his sights on ousting powerful house republican leader eric cantor. succeeds, it could be one of the biggest political upsets of the year. mud cat, thanks for being here tonight. >> rev, it's wonderful being with you. >> now, let me ask you, how are these romney tapes changing the political conversation? >> well, you've been in campaigns before, rev, and the one thing you always want to establish is us versus them brand. and me, one thing he has done is he has firmly branded himself as them. you know, i couldn't believe it. i knew that he was an elitist, but romney doesn't have a whole lot of street smarts and people are talking about this secret fundraiser and there was 150 people there with cell phones. and where you and i come from, we call that street smarts not to say something so ridiculous in front of that many people. >> no doubt about it. well, one of the things he says, let me play this for you one of the things he stayed in that same speech a lot of people are not talking about is when he talked about latinos and his father. let me play wha

. >> yes, there's a war going on in the republican party, as you know, and eric cantor, the number twoy is much more connected to the tea party but don't kid yourself, boehner is a conservative republican that is a much more moderate one and he was laying down the law with obama, said no tax increases. >> he agreed to 800 billion -- >> through tax reform which is tricky. i mean, it's possible. i call it the great white whale. you chase it in the ocean and it might kill you. >> let's talk about the republican party in the house. we know there are x number of t tea partyiers, just cut spending cut spending. every time boehner would meet with the president he would get a call from his staff, barry jackson, we're not going to be able to hold this deal. >> yes. there's a scene at one of the key moments where the president is asked for that $400 billion additional revenue. >> 800 billion up to 1.2, yeah. >> and so boehner calls eric cantor and his chief of staff down and says, what do you think of this? and eric cantor's chief of staff, steve, classic former army intelligence officer, bald h

representative eric cantor.we'll hear arguments from the other side of the aisle when i talk to the number two democrat in the house, steny hoyer. join us for that. >>> meanwhile, in the final stretch on wall street today. we have a rally under way. just 35 minutes to go. >> slowly losing altitude here. luxury retailers are feeling the heat after burbury's earnings warning. is it an toupt go shopping for these stocks, or is it tough times ahead for the luxuries? we'll talk about that coming up. >>> then after four years, the government is finally a minority shareholder in aig. what's next for the giant? how is the looming fiscal cliff impacting business? we'll talk to the boss. he'll join me at 4:10 p.m. eastern on "closing bell." is now within your grasp with the e-trade 360 investing dashboard. e-trade 360 is the world's first investing homepage that shows you where all your investments are and what they're doing with free streaming quotes, news, analysis and even your trade ticket. everything exactly the way

and democrats can't wait to respond to eric cantor. ally bank. why they're always there to talk. i love you, james. don't you love me? i'm a robot. i know. i know you're a robot! but there's more in you than just circuits and wires! uhhh. (cries) a machine can't give you what a person can. that's why ally has knowledgeable people there for you, night and day. ally bank. your money needs an ally. neil: a new report that the government may have given away more than a billion dollars accidentally. it turns out that many of the people who got the money didn't even qualify for. david walker says with their debt burden topping $70 trillion, we can't afford this. but we keep doing stuff like this. i tell you, if i had a dime for every time that i reported a story like this, i would be rich. >> the government does a very terrible job. there's not proper oversight. the government is great at spending our money and adding on dad, who. >> i do want to address how we are doing this. we are on day 14 of a story focusing on swing states and we are actually talking to americans about reforms an

>> you know, eric cantor's a very smart man and articulate. good relationship with him. i'm stunned he could not respond. but he's got to try to support his team. even when the team jumps off base. >> erin mcpike, explain how cantor has got to bob and weave and even it's over the top for him. >> i don't know why eric cantor couldn't answer this, but i think the larger point about why the romney campaign and paul ryan is -- they're lying in these instances is they think they can communicate what they want to to more voters. via big speeches and ads thinking that those get to more voters than the media does. some 20 million or more people saw paul ryan's speech. the media coverage thereafter goes to fewer people. and so that's what they're trying to do. at all costs say what they want to say about the $716 billion being cut out of medicare. they want people to be on their side. they think by communicating this way they can win. >> vice president biden attacked ryan for his claims that the president ignored the deficit commission whp when ryan hi

and eric cantor's chief of staff down to his office on the second floor of the capital. l has the -- eric cantor has the ties with the tea party. john boehner lays out this proposal for more revenue. the chief of staff to eric cantor, who is in touch with the two-party, to say the least, ask the speaker -- how many votes will you get for that additional revenue? the speaker says -- about 170. he says -- you are crazy. that is something that you do not see very often where the staffer tells the speaker to his face that he is crazy. eric cantor essentially agrees and they concluded they only needed about 50 votes for the additional revenue proposal. this is when john boehner essentially calls off any further negotiations or a deal with the white house. so, the force of the tea party is explosive and real. host: donna, democratic line, west virginia. caller: in west virginia we had a governor who had a congressional house senate that would not work with him. therefore he was not able to do anything in the state of west virginia. what i have seen is a duplicate of that with t

well, we did hear from house majority leader eric cantor earlier.e said the fault lies exactly with the white house and senate for standing in the way of progress. let me get your reaction to what he had to say. listen to this, sir. >> all there's been over the last couple years is a one-way street. we're looking for action by the president and the white house to come to the table with us on all the issues that we're confronting, whether it is the fiscal issue of the deficit, whether it is the sequestration issue, or whether it's the tax issue. we continue to put forward solutions. we have passed bill after bill. the senate has been unwilling to take them up. frankly, the president's been unwilling to meet us to sit down and try to iron out the differences. >> so there it is. what do you say to those claim, congressman? >> it's spin. totally spin, without substance. very frankly -- >> so you have -- >> listen, nobody that's been watching the congress of the united states believes that the republicans have done anything but confront the administratio

when speaker boehner is considering whether to accept more revenue as the president has proposed, eric cantor goes to his office. and cantor has the ties with the tea party and boehner lays out his proposal for more revenue and steve stone breeze, who is the chief of staff to eric cantor, who is in touch with the tea partyers to say the least, i ask, how many votes do you think you could get for that additional revenue and the speaker says about 170. and he says to him, "you are crazy." that is not something you see very often wear a staffer tells the speaker to his face that he is crazy. kantor essentially agrees and they conclude. they only get about 50 votes for the additional revenue proposal. and this is when boehner essentially calls off any further negotiations or deal with the white house. so the force, the tea party is explicit and real. host: democratic line, institute, west virginia. caller: in west virginia, we had a governor who had a congress or house and a senate that would not work with him. therefore, he was not able to do any thing in the state of west virginia. what i have

. >> think about that and think about how eric cantor, telling me moments ago, his whole policy is what is clueless. >> what we are talking about his able-bodied individuals without dependents who would otherwise be subject to this. there was over 100 some% increase. this is the point. nobody wants to take away these benefits and for people in need. when we want to make sure they get back to work. neil: maybe we ought to address the fact that we are a title meant society. who knows that better than a man who warned of this. thomas, it's great to have you. >> it's good to be here be one i always think that they have it backwards. if that were all getting our noise -- be a disputable fact, 47% pay no income taxes. more than ever we are seeing people on the government go. >> contrary to what some think, when the election comes, these are people who are very likely to vote for him. >> and he did she did so because we hadn't gotten out of a depression and a lot of people buy them on the public money. the argument that mitt romney was raising was that that is what happens with an entitlement

and inviting them to the white house, eric cantor arrived with a list of proposals. a tax reduction of 20% off small businesses, and making unemployment benefits tax-free, among other things. in spite of pledges to cooperate, the president rejected cantor's idea and according to the book, rubbed it in saying, quote, elections have consequences, and eric, i won. but the president was having trouble with conservative democrats as well, at one point democratic leaders nancy pelosi and senator harry reid were working on changes aimed at winning their support. president obama called, was put on speaker phone and told them their efforts would save the economy, pelosi and reid thanked them, and the president went into a lengthier speak and pelosi put him on mute and they went about and left him speaking to the ozone. >> and usually don't have anybody in the room. >> there were two white house officials in the room, rahm emanuel and budget director peter orszag one of whom apparently talked and the surplus passed without a single republican vote and eric cantor later looked

eric cantor, republican leader arrived with a list of proposals including immediate reduction in theindividual income tax rates. tax reduction of 20% on small businesses. making unemployment benefit tax-free among other things. in spite of the pledge to cooperate, president rejected cantor's ideas and according to the book rubbed it in saying "election have consequences, and eric, i won." the president was having trouble with conservative democrats as well. at one point, democratic leaders nancy pelosi and senator harry reid were wor working on changes aimed at winning their support. president obama called, put on speakerphone and told the efforts would save the economy. pelosi and reid thanked him, but then mr. obama launched in a lengthier speech. according to the book, pelosi hit the mute button and the democrats went back to the work leafing the president speaking in the ozone, which pelosi denies. >> i don't even have any idea where they could have gotten the thought. usually i don't have anybody in the room. >> there were two white house officials in the room as well, rahm eman

a great place to hear from prominent conservative voices like jan brewer, circumstance cameron, eric cantor and a 9 millimeter firing at a disk of birth-control pills. but folks-- (laughter) >> stephen: folks, only one speaker down there really appealed to the voters' heart and... well, just heart. >> we will never have the media on our side, ever in this time. we will never have the elite smart people on our side. (laughter) >> stephen: yes. he's right. and it is time... (cheers and applause) >> stephen: it is high time that gops stop trying to appeal to smart people. and letting rick santorum in front of a microphone is a great place to start. folks, the rest of the party needs to fall in line. do you hear that michele bachmann, tone it down! nation, it's about time somebody said what we were all not thinking. just because people know things doesn't mean we should listen to them. sorry, elite, but we've given your pro knowledge wisdom-pushing policies a chance and they have failed. f-a-l-7 d-failed. and this is a wake-up call to all anti-intellectual americans. i'm not talking just about

republican eric cantor came with a list of proposals, including immediate reduction in the two lowestes, a tax reduction of 20% on small businesses, and making unemployment benefits tax free among other things. now the president rejected cantor's ideas and according to the book, rubbed it in, saying, quote, elections have consequences and eric, i won. conservative democrats were also iffy, so democratic leaders nancy pelosi and senator harry reid were working on changes to win them over. president obama called, he was put on speaker phone and told them their efforts would save the economy. pelosi and reid thanked him, but then he launched into a speech, she hit the mute but then and democrats went back to work, leaving the president speaking into the ozone. the stimulus eventually passed, but without a single republican vote. eric cantor later surprised surprise as the books says, at, quote, how badly the white house had played what should have been a winning hand, though obama won the vote, cantor thought, he had unified and energized the losers. so at the outset of his term, mr. oba

eric cantor, house majority leader and romney surrogate joins with us more. o get a feel for what's happening with the election as it gets closer and closer. where do you think things stand right now? >> it is really close. i think becky that's really all you can say. there are so many polls that have got you all over the spectrum. i can tell you from virginia we've got polls which will demonstrate mitt romney way up, we ha've got polls that indicat somehow he's way outside the margin of losing, from my perspective on the ground and what i see at home across the country it's a tight race and we're going to run this thing through the tape and in the end i believe in 42 days you'll see mitt romney pull ahead and win this thing. >> virginia is an important state. what is the swing factor, what are people watching closely? >> look, listen, our economy and unemployment numbers in virginia tend to be a little better than average but one thing that is particular and specific to virginia are these looming defense cuts. we have a very rich heritage of participation in

. >> with the tea party and with his deputy, eric cantor, the majority leader.d they never figured out who was in charge. and boehner would go around saying privately i don't know whether eric cantor is on my side or not. well, a speaker of the house like a president has to lead. and you need to have that, you know, once in a lifetime conversation -- >> there is plenty of blame to go around for the downgrading of the u.s. credit rating which is significant, but who deserves more of that blame? >> look, if you -- and they talk about this in the white house. if the -- if we default on our debt, if the economy tanks, it's going to be in the -- and we have a recession or god knows something worse, in the history books, it's going to be called the obama era recession, depression, economic collapse stagnation, however you label it. >> why couldn't he work his will like other presidents, like reagan or bill clinton? >> well, you know, i go through in microscopic detail the meetings and the phone calls and so forth. you know, for example, lots of important business at a

there was a private talk with joe biden and eric cantor.n charge, we would be able to work this out." they identified hundreds of billions of dollars of potential cuts but they didn't carry over the finish line. host: joe biden admits he does not like the budget. guest: he starts out saying he is not a budget guy. he declined to become chairman of the budget committee. he brought in a deputy and said, you are going to be there every day and giving me a tutorial and affirmation. you read those notes and the presentation i have and the book and joe biden mastered the issues. the problem as joe biden saw it, the republicans would not give on revenue. no tax increases. this drove biden crazy. caller: that is pretty funny. i was struck with how you went with, "this is the obama era." what stood out in your book was speaker boehner's office did not return the president's phone call and a lack of communication with the president. it is almost like there is a personal weakness to have somebody to dinner so what should we even do it? guest: relation