a.b. stoddard, let's elevate our conversation above the mud wrestling level. what happened here, it reminds me of sarah palin and the story she told about paul revere. did she fuel the story by not taking i made a mistake. >> doubling down will only guarantee it comes up again and again. but i think she's probably right, comparing her to sarah palin when she makes mistakes is something she's tired of. i understand why she doesn't like the idea they get compared and that media might be setting up a cat fight. the people who are really coming around to liking michele bachmann in the republican primary electorate don't care she googles the wrong person, john wayne in waterloo, iowa. >> as opposed to john wayne -- >> that will be a problem for the general -- >> as opposed to john wayne gacy. >> bachmann has a reputation of going over the top. >> she once referred to the obama administration as gangster government. >> that has no impact on her ability to win the republican presidential nomination. even when she makes these statements, like the founders or whatever,

a.b. stoddard and rory cooper. the front-runner mitt romney, or dr romney is 48, 35, 50/35 mishl. try to answer the question this time, how do you think any of them close the gap with the president? >> first off, obviously you're selectively choosing polls. >> there's -- >> hold it, rory. rory, you're quoting state polls, i'm quoting national polls. we vote for president? 50 states, not one. president obama is not in the primary against them. he's in the general. so try again. how do you close the national gap? >> you're asking about general election matchups. if you're looking at president obama because of his terrible jobs report, because of the economic growth, you have president obama coming out there at the press conference every day. jay tapper asked him, can you name one specific on entitlements? he can't name one specific reform he's willing to do. how can you lose all these states? >> it seems hopeless to get a republican on the show to answer the question. why don't you try for me. can you explain how the

a.b. stoddard is associate editor and columnist with "the hill" newspaper. us for a look at the political fight. so a.b., good morning to you. is anyone looking good so far in this debate as they look toward 2012 and they have the debt ceiling right in front of them? >> well, i actually think that the president really retains the upper hand, at least at this hour. the president really -- he abandoned entitlement reform after his fiscal commission released a report in december. he did not produce a budget, didn't mention -- and there were no plans this winter to deal with that issue. now that he's come out with a willingness to tackle something that is so sacred to his base, he really looks like he is engaging in this shared sacrifice he keeps talking about, while republicans refuse to budge on taxes and the president paints them as my way or the highway republicans. so at this point he looks like he has the upper hand, that he's willing to cooperate and that they are not. >> what about speaker boehner? >> speaker boehner has a very, very tough job. he has wor

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a.b. stoddard, the associate editor at the hill. great to see you.w, the president made an interesting comment there because we heard geithner earlier in the week saying we had no time left. larry somers painting this horrific picture if the yates defaults after august 2. yet the president tried to reassure the public as well. what is going on here. >> you might not like his use of the worded armageddon. may not have been the best phrase to use. i think what he is trying to do is let americans know and went into some detail today about the fact that interest rates could spike. borrowing would screech to a halt. it would be like a tax increase on all of us. consumers would run and hide. more jobs would be lost. these are really the facts that default could bring and republican leaders are telling their own members this. in fact, they did so today on the house side. they had a presentation about the effects of default for all of the members to hear one more time. they have been doing it for months. i think the consequences of default are terrifying. i

a.b. stoddard, associate editor of the hill. d columnist krauthammer -- syndicated columnist charles krauthammer. thoughts on today, a.b.? >> i thought the president gave what is well be considered a cynical press conference. he, if you haven't been paying close attention to this all along, would convince you that he has found 11th hour enlightenment to cuts on mandtory spending and programs like medicare, medicaid and social security. he is not giving details but what he is saying is that the republicans are unbudgeable, they want it my way or the highway. and after the last 72 hours of the republican scrambling on this issue, they have finally made up a plan to vote on this cut cap and balance idea on next weekend. i think it's good. i think during the standoff in april when the government was at risk of being shut down on this year's budget, the house republicans really show the american public they were governing. they threw bill after bill after bill on the house floor and it looked like they were the ones with the plan, try

a.b. stoddard, thanks so much. >> thank you. jenna: well, the federal reserve and u.s.are working out what to do and which bills to pay in case lawmakers fail to raise the debt ceiling. if u.s. does default on its debt or fail to pay its bills, the consequences, well, they've been described a whole bunch of different ways. james rosen, we've heard dire, armageddon, chaos, and we've also heard may not be that bad. >> reporter: no one is using the word sugary, we should point that out. through the eyes of president obama and be what happens if he and lawmakers fail to raise the debt ceiling before august 2nd. as the president surveyed, what the country is taking in and bills it's paying out, he could face a slew of agonizing decisions. first, the revenue side. treasury data from august 2009 and '10 was used to project what uncle sam will take in next month, about $203 billion for the month. but let's look at what we have to pay out, about $100 billion gets gobbled up by medicare, medicaid and social security. another $60 billion roughly would take care of the people who d

a.b. stoddard of the hill newspaper.kristol of the weekly standard and political an left juan williams . juan has a book out "muzzled" and the assault of honest debate. juan congratulations. i read the first chapter and didn't mention me but it was still very interesting. [laughte >> chris: i had a very carefully framed question, bret. you heard what geithner and boehner said. what do you make of it? >> it is striking that the house has acted and passed a plan and the senate has refused to take it up and vote it up or down. what you see here is a interesting combination of events, the president hasn't stated a position or set forth a scorable plan or any of that. and these house republicans have basically done that. and what you are seeing here, there is a peculliar double standard, because when the house acts, everybody said i pass that and that won't pass. but the senate has done nothing to have them pass. they haven't passed a budget. >> chris: 97-zer on. >> they haven't done anything . every time the house acts, you

a.b. stoddard for "the hill" newspaper. >> good morning. >> there has never been a committee like this before is your take on this part of the compromise? >> the committee part is something that was included in both parties' proposals as we were heading into the final stage of debt limit negotiations, it's something that both sides and the white house will be able to agree to. what the committee essentially does, it punts the tougher issues, the key philosophical issues of the parties into the later part of this year and early next year. the first part of the debt ceiling process that looks at the white house and senate leaders looks for one trillion spending cuts to be enacted and then it would be kicked down the road. both parties say that's the last thing they want to do, this would exceed in diverting an immediate default, something that no one wants and when bigger discussions taking place down the line, the consequences of them not reaching a deal would not be as dire for the country as they would be at this point. so in that respect it's something that everyone can agree on. politicall

a.b. stoddard of the hill newspaper. crystal of "the weekly standard" and fox news political analyst juan williams. we want to note juan has a new book out called"muzzled "honest debate in this country. check it out. congratulations. >> thank you. >> chris: i read the first chapter didn't mention me but it was still interesting. [ laughter ] >> chris: i had a very carefully framed question for you, brit, let me ask you a much simpler one. you heard what geithner and boehner said, what do you make of it. >> well, it is striking that the house has acted to pass the plan and the senate has basically refused to take it up and voted it down. what you see here is an interesting combination of events. because the president really hasn't stated a position horrible plan or any of that. and you know, these -- the house republicans have basically done that. and what you are seeing here is a very peculiar kind of double standard. because when the house acts, everybody says well, you know, that can't -- that can't pass. that won't pa