sam seder and charles pierce, as always, thank you guys for joining us tonight. >> a pleasure. >> eliotming up, most americans want something done about guns and gun violence. why is the federal government doing nothing? that's coming up. emmy winner bill press opens current's morning news block. >>we'll do our best to carry the flag from 6 to 9 every morning. >>liberal and proud of it. ♪ ♪ the trucks are going farther. the new 2013 ram 1500. ♪ ♪ with the best-in-class fuel economy. engineered to move heaven and earth. ♪ ♪ guts. glory. ram. then how'd i get this... [ voice of dennis ] ...allstate safe driving bonus check? what is that? so weird, right? my agent, tom, said... [ voice of dennis ] ...only allstate sends you a bonus check for every six months you're accident-free... ...but i'm a woman. maybe it's a misprint. does it look like a misprint? ok. what i was trying... [ voice of dennis ] silence. ♪ ♪ ask an allstate agent about the safe driving bonus check. are you in good hands? >> eliot: you've got to give credit to alan simpson. the 81-year-old retired senator is pressuring co

joining me now charles pierce, writer to esquire and author and host of ring of fire and majority report seder. do you feel sorry for john boehner who has all these circus folks with him? >> i don't. >> eliot: shocking to me. >> look, he has--he's trying to maintain his caucus, and you know at the end of the day i don't really invest too heavily about the actual persons of these politicians. the fact that you were talking about lindsey graham who pressureperceived-- >> eliot: i was setting him up to tear him down. >> the point is he's facing re-election. the republican electorate that the republicans have nurtured and grown. they have created frankenstein, i've said it before on this program, and basically they're at the mercy of these people. they created this monster and they can't put it back in the bottle. >> eliot: would you agree with sam, they are now the victims of their own creation. they cannot escape the tea party fringe who has knocked out the more merate voices of the establishment party so they're left with only the fear of the far rate. shame on them. >> i don't mean to pu