joining me now politico's chief political columnist, roger simon. are you surprised by yet another 11th hour agreement here? >> i'm happy. i'm not exactly surprised because we really faced going over the brink. we've said that a lot of times so sequester will ruin us, we went into sequester. we went into a government shutdown. now we're facing a total collapse of our ability to pay our bills and shattering of the world economy. and i think the republicans finally woke up to the fact that their party is in trouble enough but if they went forward with a refusal to promiz, they were going to be shattered as a part. >> and before i move on to ted cruz, i want to pick up on what you just said. if the republicans are shattered as a party, our first read team put it this way, almost a year removed from the presidential election, 2013 has been a lost year for the republican party. has it improved upon its image problem? no. has it fixed its short comings with women and minority voters? no. is it in a stronger place than it was in october, 2012? no way. so i

roger simon, thank you for sharing your thoughts.dent obama will be making another statement later this afternoon, 12:25 eastern time in the rose garden. of course, we'll carry that live. roger simon, many thanks. >>> still to come in the newsroom, first day of the government shutdown. which of these do you think is the least popular among americans right now? root canal, head lice, brussel sprouts or congress? the answer, next. [ lane ] do you ever feel like you're growing old waiting for your wrinkle cream to work? clinically proven neutrogena® rapid wrinkle repair. it targets fine lines and wrinkles with the fastest retinol formula available. you'll see younger looking skin in just one week. one week? that's just my speed. rapid wrinkle repair. and for dark spots rapid tone repair. from neutrogena®. if you have high cholesterol, here's some information that may be worth looking into. in a clinical trial versus lipitor, crestor got more high-risk patients' bad cholesterol to a goal of under 100. getting to goal is important, especi

ben, good to see you, this is in a column from politico's roger simon, saying the government has unleashedracism, and talking about how the racists among us think they can tell us what makes an american, he goes through an example of racist comments made. it seems attempting to portray those who feel differently than perhaps the democrats in this context as people who have a problem with those of color, your thoughts. >> and that is the way things have been rolled out by members of the left media, roger simon started that column saying things would be better off if speaker of the house and ted cruz both drowned. he actually said it would make america a better place. yet the folks on the other side are presumably the extremists, he tried to lump everybody in on that, with the confederate flag, and really it is about the obama administration trying to shut down the war memorial to hurt americans. >> and he talked about the american flag, he talks about "joe the plumber," who did come out with a bizarre article, saying america needs a white american president. he said admit it, you want a whi

. >> roger simon writes a scathing op-ed, one does not know whether to laugh or cry. in a time when outright buff foony passes for statesmanship. roger is with us now. it's incredible these images. i want to show our audience, world war ii vets arrived in d.c. after an honor flight from mississippi, one man had waited ten years to be there to see the memorial there. and they were initially told they could not tour due to the government shutdown but a group of congressman, we don't no it was a mix of republicans and democrats, they moved in and moved the barriers and let's them in to see the memorial. this is the kind of bad press -- i don't know if it's considered press, a glimpse of things going on and why people have disdain for members of congress. >> absolutely. it's sad. haven't these veterans given enough for their country that they can't tour a memorial. what it also said, i hear some of those people in the picture sew you're seeing are republicans who voted for the shutdown. then they rushed before the cameras to push aside the barricades so there won't be a sh