charlie pierce of esquire.com coming up.that. >> stephanie: much like you and i, they rarely spoke to each other when the cameras were off. >> is it that obvious. >> stephanie: this is here doing the ann kurcurry. and now here is jacki schechner. he is agency has that icy look. now here she is the lovely jacki schechner in the -- not the current news center. but right there. >> chris christie keeps growing, not his wait but his poll numbers. the latest quinnipiac poll shows he would likely be a shoe in in 2016. 47% would prefer he stay and serve in trenton. newt gingrich is launching a new effort to pay down his 2012 campaign debt. he still owes $4.7 million, so he is starting a pac called the committee for america to help pay down that debt and help conservative politicians across the country. newt's first fund raiser is april 29th in greenville south carolina. rand paul, and others will deliver a letter to harry reid's office tlet-- threatening to filibuster any gun legislation. many components are likely to come up, via a

charlie pierce wrote some great stuff.a 720. >> stephanie: he ran, what against the cuts in obama -- and then he is using that savings in his new budget -- [ scooby-doo's "huh?" ] [ scooby-doo's "huh?" ] [ scooby-doo's "huh?" ] >> stephanie: and then the tax hike in the fiscal cliff -- [ scooby-doo's "huh?" ] >> stephanie: and then he ran -- [ scooby-doo's "huh?" ] >> stephanie: okay. wow wee he is a serious thoughtful, bold and courageous -- >> i'm looking at an ad of his face, and it says this is for brine kill immediate or paul ryan, i can't brain today. i have the dumb. >> that's brian kilmeade. >> yeah. [ applause ] >> love it. >> stephanie: where did the sun go? >> where did the bright thing go? it's dark! oh, no, now it's light again. >> stephanie: he is startled by everything we have decided. some people have an overstartled response. i bet ya gretchen charleston does this every morning awe! >> and makes him flinch every time. >> yeah. >> i would be scared of gretchen charleston too, though. >> stephanie: so who is

she didn't recognize me from two feet away. [ laughter ] >> hal: charlie pierce is with us. derstands, and that's -- ♪ pierce ♪ >> hal: charlie pierce how are you sir? >> jacki blew you off, huh? >> hal: she gave me the -- the all right, buzz off creep look because i was like making funny faces because we were in traffic, and if you ever see a friend in traffic and you act like a nut case or you give them the finger acting like they cut you off. i do that with all of my friends. i look over at jacki and i pretend to pick my nose or something like that, and she gives me this who are you, look? [ laughter ] >> what is really fun is when it turns out you have a friend that looks just like an undercover cop and you flip them off. that's hilarious. >> hal: yeah, i do have a lot of those friends. and then when they try to move their way up the ladder they go how do you know hal sparks? it's weird. your latest article is called "the show that never ends." right when republicans are trying the rebranding effort voila, here comes perez, getting put up for labor secretary -- >> yeah, a

joining me now is charlie pierce he comes to us from boston, welcome back into "the war room." >> thank>> michael: most people are distracted by the new pope today. will the president or republicans benefit more from this quincecoincidence. >> there was no white smoke coming out of the white house today i'll tell you that. that process has broken down. and the notion that the republicans are interested in balancing the budget is laughable. they are interested in cutting taxes for rich people. they are not interested in balancing the budget. reagan taught them deficits don't matter. >> michael: and that's it and they just keep doing the same thing, and now it appears the polling is letting us know that the president's offensive is going down what does this say about the president? and this idea that the white house had? >> i think the -- the reason the president's numbers are dropping is because nothing is getting done. the reason the president's numbers are dropping is we elected him to do certain things, and the other side wants nothing to happen. so what you are turning this into is n

that's my fault. >> stephanie: charlie pierce -- >> chris has those big muscular fingers -- >> i knowen david gregory asked sort of a question about this. >> yeah, somebody lit a fire under the dancing master. he pointed out that the people who are running the corporations seem to be doing extraordinarily well even though they aren't hiring anybody. >> stephanie: right. >> they can make more money not creating jobs. >> stephanie: right. what did you think of the boner interview? just the chyron made me crazy about are both sides equally to blame for the sequester. >> yeah, one side came up with it as a desperate way to avoid the vandalism of the other side. >> stephanie: yeah. >> it's no question it was devised as a way to keep the government running. >> stephanie: and even david gregory lets boner get away with just lying, right? >> so an extent. the whole notion that there is no plan, and it's easily debunkable nonsense, but there are limits to the meet the press forum, unfortunately, and that bumped up against them. >> i'm guessing that boner stipulated there be no follow-up questi

. >> charlie called -- >> stephanie: charlie pierce called and said if we play that disco don't cry fornt me like that charlie, i will do it. you know i will. what is it -- >> nausea? >> stephanie: no there is a pope-athon. >> an invocation on tuesday. and president obama is going. >> stephanie: it's not a pope-athon. >> no. >> stephanie: what it is? >> an invocation. >> stephanie: a little something for the people. ♪ >> it needs to be exactly like the final scene of zanadu. >> stephanie: exactly. >> zana-don't. >> stephanie: i would like that other song i like -- what is new buenos aires -- maybe done on ice skates. all right who would line -- >> [ inaudible ]. >> he likes the argentinas. >> stephanie: who would like some pope fun facts? [♪ fun-facts music ♪] >> stephanie: he is 76. aragain tinnia cardinal jorge mario bergoglio -- he is just francis now. >> yes frank. >> stephanie: hey, yo frank! why don't they name a pope something like pope ed. >> pope fred. >> pope jake. >> pope dick. no, that's probably not kosher. [ laughter ] >> stephanie: what? no. he is now named francis. were