i'm talking about former senator allan simpson. obama appointed to solve the deficit mess. the bouls simpson commission. i'll be talking to him in a moment. but first ongoing drama he's tried to fix, the looming threat of the debt ceiling. if we don't raise it in three weeks' time, the economy could crash back into recession or worse. listen to what president obama said today. >> it's my hope that everybody's going to leave their ultimatums at the door, that we'll all leave our political rhetoric at the door, and that we're going to do what's best for our economy and do what's best for our people. >> house speaker john boehner fired back with this. it's time to turn to the voice of sanity. by that, i mean senator allan simpson. welcome back to the program. >> well, if you read my e-mail, you wouldn't think everybody loved me, i can tell you that. some classics there. i wouldn't want to share them with the general readers. >> that may be, but we love you. and anybody who listens to you loves you. so let me go at it this way. you are

incidentally, for the record, former senator allan simpson on the bowles simpson commission said, "ronald 11 times in his administration. i was here. i was here. i knew him better than anybody in the room. he was a dear friend and a total realist as to politics." mr. president, i yield the floor. >> could i just remind the senator from illinois that in retrospect the one thing that president reagan said he

. >> senator hagel, your former colleague allan simpson was part of the deficit commission asked by "time" magazine whether he'd run again. you're out of this game, as is he. this is what he said. "would you run for office now?" was the question. his response "oh, hell no. now it's just sharp elbows, and instead of having a caucus where you sit down and say what are you going to do for our country, you sit figuring out how to screw the other side." would you join this party again? >> i think al very eloquently stated this, as he is one to do. he's right. this is scripted politics. this is a scripted, political dimension, forum, caucuses give the members talking points and you don't stray far from the left or the right of your parties. you actually penalize when you actually question your party or question your administration. i once said, and it got a lot of attention, at a hearing regarding iraq in the foreign relations committee, if you did not want to make the tough choices and make the hard decisions and the tough votes, then go sell shoes. well, i heard from all the shoe people -