a.b. stoddard is associate editor and columnist at "the hill." charlie hirt, columnist at "the washington times." is john boehner is any danger ab? >> he is in danger of being embarrassed. 18 members on the record are against him. they would need to push to second ballot in neighborhood of 29 of the doesn't look like they will get there. if they were to surprise him with other names that have not come forward and pusush this to a second ballot, they would need the high 30s. that would be a situation where the speaker could probably hold on the second ballot. again unlikely it goes to that, but going to a second ballot even this number of defections is biggest embarassment since 1923 to a speaker, incumbent speaker being reelected to his position. jon: charlie big embarassment for healthy debate? >> obviously as ab points out something like that, which i think is unlikely by the way this is first time in 90 years we've seen anything like that and it would be embarrassing, but, if you step back it is embarrassing inside the beltway. only people aro

a.b. stoddard associate editor and column it in the hill.harlie hirt columnist for "the washington times." welcome to both of you. ab, we'll start with you. is the house tilting at windmills with this legislation? is it not going anywhere? >> it might go somewhere but not will be what the house conservatives who pushed for this vote want. it was a statement an expression of their frustration with what they see as a lawless act by an unlawful president in terms of the executive action that he issued on immigration at the end of the year. but the senators republican and democrat, are not going to muster the votes on, in the senate to, next week to pass this with 60 votes. it's certainly not going to get a veto-proof majority of 67. if it ever ekes through the president will veto it. doesn't mean they're not going to come up with some kind after statement or resolution in opposition to what the president has done but certainly won't be defunding to the extent that the house bill calls for. jon: so, charlie, it is not expected to pass in the sen

a.b. stoddard, associate editor of "the hill" and syndicated columnist, charles krauthammer.e, your overall thoughts on this policy these moves and the fallout? >> many of the critics of the policy soup to assume the cuban regime will crumble when its founding dictator dies. the problem with that is that the soviet regime survived the death of its founding dictator by 67 years. the soviet regime survived the death of his successor stalin. it began under the presidency of dwight eisenhower. as did attempts by the united states to bring the regime down. the regime has survived the presidencies of eisenhower, kennedy, johnson, nixon, ford, carter reagan bush, clinton, bush, and obama. that's 11 presidencies. it's not going to fall by itself. we don't know what will work but 50 years of futility is probably about enough. >> jason, as we've heard in this hour critics of this policy say this was the time because the soviets are no longer supporting like they did, neither is venezuela because of falling crude prices. if this is the time, critics say this is a lifeline to the castro

a.b. stoddard. a.b., i thought that jonathan karl of abc, i haven't talked to jonathan but i think he was shocked that the white house won't call it taliban terrorist group. >> i think everyone was. and i think you could see eric schultz struggling to remember his talking points. he paused and closed his eyes a bit and reiterated it armed insurgency. >> is this insane you? say it's humiliating. but is it also insane? >> no. it's is a failure to deal in reality. i think they know what reality is. even if you wanted to defend the berg dave swap you still would have to say that the taliban, who behead and bombed innocence in public women and children, amputee videotaped executions, hang bodies from trees are absolutely terrorists. the whole question of the swap is another story. but you couldn't get any -- any eighth grader or 80-year-old in this country to make sense of what they are talking about and trying to distinguish between the two. they are terrorists. the administration knows they are. but the

a.b. stoddard.ngs just got interesting. >> very. >> i heard barbara comstock the congresswoman elect gop talked about she hasn't gotten a call from anybody challenging boehner so her plan is to vote for him just as the conference did a few months ago. boehner's camp doesn't seem too worried about there. the gop needs to be united now that they're taking over both houses and people want to see some adult behavior. zblefr one >> serve one is being very calm on the surface but there is a sort of furious reaction behind the scenes. even though john boehner will be elected speaker, these insurgents have between 12 and 20 people. they're not going to get to a threshold where they actually threaten john boehner's job. it is distraction, division more chaos at a time when they don't want it and people are tired of this kind of thing happening at the last minute before the tuesday where members are sworn into a new congress and john boehner is up for speaker. it's happened before and they want there to be co

a.b. stoddard, associate editor of "the hill" and syndicated columnist, charles krauthammer. on this policy these moves and >> many of the critics of the policy seem to assume the cuban regime will crumble when the founding dictator dies. the soviet regime survived the death of its founder. the cuban reek yeem began under presidency of dwight eisenhower. and survived 11 presidents so it's not going to fall by itself. we don't know what will work. >> as you've heard in this hour critics of the policy say this is the time. so far yits are no longer supporting what they did. either is venezuela. if this is the time, critics say this is a lifeline. >> well, what we've learned is that if you let the countries like china and vietnam you can have relatively economic free countries that co-exist with political repression. and that is what we have in cuba. you have to remember, or that is what we can have possibly in cuba. you have to remember that while the u.s. is not been trading with cuba for a long time, other nations have. and there is no reason to believe that u.s. dollars will

a.b. stoddard.the terrible crisis with james folly being beheaded in syria and now no news organizations dare go into syria. now we got the this situation what happened in paris. no news organization dares shows the pictures so the terrorists are in essence sort of winning against the media i think the media should all band together and stand tall and start showing this stuff rather than running. >> it is upsetting because we're never really going to stand terrorism with weaponry. we are going -- it's going to change if and only if people react against extremism. it's not -- if we back down and change the way that we do things, the way we cover things, the way we talk about things, the way we react to things, then they win. then they have taken our freedom. the difference is. >> that's also democracy. they have also, you know intimidated so the democratic process of the open press to tell what's going on. everyone is scared to death. you know the media should band together and be forceful. >> i thin

a.b. stoddard and washington examiner chief political correspondent welcome to all of you. great panel to be here tonight. a.b., let me start with you. when you look back, guantanamo bay for example which the president is still attempting to close some would say by attrition at this point. what else is on the list of things that were promised and not followed through on? >> oh, there were lofty promises. i mean, to give the president credit, did he promise to much laughter to cut the deficit in half by the end of his first term. did he that late but that happened. he made some promises on immigration that he has acted on obviously by executive action. but there were huge ones to end the palestinian conflict to double our sources of renumber energy in three years to lay thousands of miles of power lines connecting americans in their homes to these new sources of energy to lower the corporate tax rate to ensure that americans only waited no more than 30 minutes in a line to vote there are really enormous ones you have mentioned closing guantanamo bay that he has talked about i