joining us the author of price of politics, bob woodward is back.'ve been citing your book, liberals hate you come on the show and we get along. it is amazing to me. >> you let me say what is on my mind. >> sean: i do even when you disagree with me and i'm fine with that. you wrote this book and took us inside, a long book, fascinating about how the president failed to lead. >> and i blame the republicans in part for not settling things. the president is the president. and it is his job, it was then even more so now he's got to fix this. i was listening to gingrich, listening to gingrich, wow what a trip. he talks so well. >> sean: brilliant. >> and doesn't make any sense in this case not enough. first of all -- >> sean: i disagree, but go ahead. >> he's saying it is not real some washington fantasy. it is real. and will bring the economy to its knees at last temporarily if they don't fix that. you talk to economists on the left, on the right, they would really have agreement. you don't think it is serious? >> cbo said if we go over the fiscal cliff

without further ado, the spring and bob woodward. mr. woodward. [applause] >> thank you. >> i have been saving seats with my notes. i'll pick those up. >> which is your chair? >> you get the -- chair. >> ok, thank you. >> the price and politics, which is becoming a best-seller, looked at the last cliff over the previous grand bargain that did not quite get over the finish line. what does that teach us about the current cliff negotiations. >> well, it is groundhog day. the question is, who is playing bill murray? it is such a repetition. it is the same players. the same seats at the table. the same doctrines. where this goes, i think anyone who thinks they know is wrong. as you know, the talk about the fiscal cliff. some people say it is a slope. some people say it is a bungee jump. some people say it is a skateboard trek. it is going to go down and then up and and so forth. the bottom line, i think it is no way to govern. it is a giant mistake to have all of this in a pool of ambiguity. as i understand it, now, you would know more, it truly is a s

"the washington post's" bob woodward. and msnbc's lawrence o'donnell. all coming up after the break. . all coming up after the break. ♪ ♪ ♪ [ male announcer ] while you're getting ready for the holidays, we're getting ready for you. tis the season. for food, for family, and now, something extra -- for you. >>> coming up here, as >>> coming up here, as hillary clinton prepares to step down as secretary of state, her popularity has soared to an all-time high. according to a new poll out this week, 66% view the country's top diplomat favorably, up from 44% in 2008. what does that mean for her future? that's one of washington's favorite what ifs. and a video that was played here in d.c. left the political world abuzz, especially after comments like these from benjamin netanyahu and british prime minister tony blair. >> someone who knows a thing or two about political comeback, i can tell you i don't think we've heard the last of hillary clinton. ♪ girl, you're amazing ♪ just the way you are >> i just have an instinct that the best is yet to come. >> accordi

bob woodward got his hands on an audio recording of the top commanding general in afghanistan meeting off the record with a fox news analyst. the meeting took place last spring. it was general david petraeus who was at the time commander of all u.s. forces in the war in afghanistan. and on the tape, fox news analyst says that she was asked by her boss, by the chairman of fox news to pass along some very specific advice for general petraeus. >> if you're offered chairman, take it. if you're offered anything else, don't take it. resign in six months and run for president. okay? and i know you're not running for president, but at some point when you go to new york next, you may want to just chat with roger. i just say what i have suggested and that we've discussed is next time you go to new york you're going to stop by and see him? >> yeah. i'd be happy. i haven't seen him in awhile. he's a brilliant guy. >> he's simply brilliant. >> he is. tell him if i ever ran, but i won't. but if i ever ran, i'd take him up on his offer. e he said he would quit fox. and bankroll it. >>. bankroll it.

"the washington post" associated editor bob woodward is here. julianna goldman is here as well.r first time. welcome. i know you sat down with the president this week, his first interview since the election was over. helene cooper is back, rejoining the conversation. former speaker of the house newt gingrich and host of "the laughed word" on msnbc lawrence o'donnell. welcome to all of you. our former hill insiders. let's get right to it. newt gingrich, what about this proposition? i keep driving based on my own reporting this week, republicans are prepared to deal on tax rates if they can get more on the spending side, particularly medicare. is that where you think the action is right now? >> some republicans are prepared to do more. but as senator durbin just indicated, they are not elected to get a very big fig leaf. the president won. and he has a simple position. he wants to prove he can dominate, and he does that with getting the rates up. he has a veto pen. it's hard for me to see how it will even get to a veto. at some point either you're going to go over the cliff or fin

court, and michael's "the new new deal: hidden story of change in the obama era," along with bob woodward's" the price of politics". did bob's book get the attention that most of his books get? >> guest: feeling is that it got initial attention, but that it was crowded out by just the nature of the news cycle happening so fast. officially, at least in my mine, there were a couple nuggets reported before, but there was not that many other ones that emerged after those initial one or two, so, therefore, the book lost momentum, but i'm sure bob will have an equally substantive answer on this front too. >> guest: i believe, it's always a standard of what you compare it to. for bob woodward, it was not his most commercially successful book. i think sarah touched on two things. one, the news cycle has so speeded up, and the other factor was the topic. it was about the negotiations over the budget and the debt. that's not exactly an exciting sexy topic for a lot of people. opposed to his books on maneuverings in the bush white house over the war, which i think would have more interest. >> host: we

. >> none of this would happen if bob woodward were alive i say. bob woodward helped break watergate but the rest of the mainstream reporters dived on it. the answer is i told you originally. you don't have to be einstein to figure this out. the white house concocted this story. susan rice who is willing to lie at the drop of a hat goes out. hillary clinton wouldn't. i would like to see under oath when she was asked were you asked to go on those sunday shows and if you -- and you did not, why not. in. >> she will i'm sure claim some kind of executive. >> she can't, not on that. >> judge jeanine: i agree. never know how they will get out of it. her underling who testified said that the cable's warning of deteriorating security and inability of the libyan government to provide security went to her floor. >> the answer is why didn't they do something. one thing to say i'm the responsible officer. that's nice. no, the quid is wh question isr team didn't come to you. why isn't any one higher up being fired? you know what, the problem is in a real center

if you read some of bob woodward's books, which i have, i mean, the way bob woodward tells it, bob rubinry secretary for clinton, forced clinton to raise taxes but used that money for deficit reduction because he believed that would control the economy. president clinton did listen to him. and i'll tell you, i talked to bob rubin about that anecdote where clinton says you tell me a bunch of bond traders control the economy -- i'm paraphrasing -- and rubin said, yes, i am. i asked him about that once a couple years ago, and he said it was true. it wasn't as dramatic woodward made it out to be, but it did has happen. but you didn't get that out of geithner. you kind of don't think you'll get that out of lew. he's very much aligned intellectually with president obama particularly on the notion of fairnesses. you know, you talk to economistses. should we really be raising taxes now? no. hour hour tax increases, we're going to lose the deductions -- >> probably shouldn't be cutting that much. the economy is like in a very weird state right now, kind of like i think the notion is to grow it no

i want to ask both of you, did bob woodward's most recent book get the attention most of his books get? >> my feeling is it has got initial attention, it was crowded out by the nature of the news cycle, at least to my mind, and there wasn't that many other ones that emerged after those initial one or two, the book lost some of its momentum but i'm sure bob will have an equally substantive answer on this front too. >> a standard what you are comparing it to, it was not his most commercially successful book. sera touchdown two things, the news cycle has heated up, the other factor was the topic was about the negotiations over the budget, the debt is not exactly an exciting topic for a lot of people. as opposed to his books on maneuvering in the bush white house which would have more interest. >> one thing i want to bring up tangential to these particular books but an emerging trend we saw in 2012, a lot of current events, topics are not just the domain of a larger nonfiction titles that would take a long time to produce by larger publisher but the advent of shorter forms, digital books t

tom: this sounds a little bit like bob woodward's book to by bob woodward's book when he talked about the debt ceiling fight back in 2011. mcconnell, from the way i read it, mcconnell and reid took it away from the president and said , let us to work our own deal by ourselves, kind o cutting him out of the negotiations. >> that's basically it. with the president said was, you can come up with an alternative plan, one that can pass both houses of congress. if not, the president wants a vote on his plan only in the senate and inthe house. the house leaders were non-committal. you also go back to the first time the bush tax cuts were expiring back in 2010, that was a deal cut between vice president joe biden and minority leader mitch mcconnell at that time where they stand at all the tax cuts and apparel tax cut and the unemployment benefits. so the leader coming in again trying to up for some type of compromise and get to the senate. for now the white house is letting the senate worked its magic. tom: interesting. but you very much. well, r-texas congressman michael burgess says we need

. >>> coming up from bob woodward's snl's darrell hammond. best interviews of 2012, right after the break. [ roasting firewood ] ♪ many hot dogs are within you. try pepto-bismol to-go, it's the power of pepto, but it fits in your pocket. now tell the world daniel... of pepto-bismol to-go. so, the 5.3-liter v8 silverado can tow up to 9,600 pounds? 315 horsepower. what's that in reindeer-power? [ laughs ] [ pencil scratches ] [ male announcer ] chevy's giving more. now through january 2nd, no monthly payments until spring for qualified buyers. get the silverado for 0% apr financing for 60 months plus $1,000 holiday bonus cash. plus trade up for an additional $1,000 trade-in allowance. progressive direct and other car insurance companies? yes. but you're progressive, and they're them. yes. but they're here. yes. are you...? there? yes. no. are you them? i'm me. but those rates are for... them. so them are here. yes! you want to run through it again? no, i'm good. you got it? yes. rates for us and them -- now that's progressive. call or click tod

bob woodward of "the washington post" report in spring of 2011, an analyst, right there, for fox newsal message from her boss, conservative media mogul roger ailes and that wedirectly to general patreaus, who was in charge of the war. jim acosta in washington with details. i'm going to let you explain what transpired between two and why some are saying this may have crossed the line. >> what is going on here, this comes out of the part of the process during the republican battle for that nomination when people inside the republican party pining for other candidates, people like chris christie, jeb bush and david patreaus. so it was in 2011 when an analyst for fox news, k.t. mcfarland sat down with general patreaus to talk about the war in afghanistan. also the prospect that david patreaus might be tapped to head the cia or be the chairman of the joint chiefs. it was during that discussion when this i guess proposal was issued to david patreaus. k.t. mcfarland said it came from ro ro roger ailes, if patreaus wanted to run for president ailes might be able to help him with that and run

without further ado, we will break and bob woodward. mr. woodward. [applause] >> saving seats with my notes. i'll pick this up. >> which is your chair? >> you get the daddy chair. >> thank you. >> the price of politics, which has become a bestseller as all your books too, looks at the last close over the previous grand bargain that didn't quite get over the finish line. what does that teach us about the current click negotiation? >> well, it's groundhog day. the question is who is playing bill murray. such a repetition that the same player since same seats at the table with the same doctrines. so where this goes i think anyone who thinks they know is wrong. as you know they talk about the fiscal cliff. some people say if the slope. some say it's a bungee jump. somebody says it is seascape word trip that's going to go down and up and so forth. bottom line i think it's no way to cover. it is a giant mistake to have all of this innate pool of ambiguity. as i understand it now coming due at no more. it truly is a stalemate. they're not talking. >> you po

bob woodward knows the white house and he's covering washington for years.rning. >> announcer: this portion of "cbs this morning" sponsored by international delight coffee creamers. what's your i.d.? who thinks two is better than one? so all of you do. yes, for sure. now what's better? being able to shoot two lasers out of both of your eyes at the same time or just one laser out of one eye? [ all kids ] two! [ moderator ] okay, why? if it's just one beam -- okay, it does a little bit of damage. two beams -- it will make something explode! and that's more fun? yeah! and it's more powerful you're saying? yeah! [ male announcer ] it's not complicated. doing two things at once is better. and only at&t's network lets you talk and surf on your iphone 5. ♪ ♪ online outfit piccolo headphones buy now broadway show megapixels place to sleep little roadster war and peace deep sea diving ninja app hipster glasses 5% cash back sign up to get 5% everywhere online through december. only from discover. new prilosec otc wildberry is the same frequent heartburn treatment as p

bob woodward actually gave a video interview to political this week and said who is barack obama andt drives him? it's not a big mystery at this point. >> the media seem to have no problems supporting the idea of putting higher taxes on higher wage earningers in this country and take a look at this from the california teachers union. >> and ordinary people wondered why rich people needed so much money, the 1% said, don't worry, this is good for you, too. because it will trickle down from us to you. and some day, you'll be rich and then the rules we made for us will be your rules, too. >> and that's ed asner, the actor, voicing that production. what's been the media reaction, jim? >> not much. part of it is i'd be hard pressed on a family channel to describe what we just saw there. you have to look, rewind it and look closely and appear to be urinating on ordinary americans which is kind of gross. >> jon: the rich on the poor. >> and if rush limbaugh put that video on his channel, there would have been more explosion. >> jon: this from the teachers union from the most populous state.

. >> wednesday, politico hosts a discussion with bob woodward, author of "the price of politics," and marco rubio. mike allen moderates the discussion. see that live at 10:00 a.m. eastern on c-span 3. house democrats filed a discharge petition to force a house vote to extend the bush era tax cuts for middle-class families. the bill has already passed in the senate. next, we hear from nancy pelosi. the course of the election the president made it very clear that he was courting the extension of the middle class tax cut and that everyone, 100% of the american people, would benefit from it. 100% of taxpayers, small businesses, wage earners, and the rest. the republicans are saying that rather than passing that they want to hold it hostage to giving an additional tax cut to people making over $250,000 a year. that's not negotiating. that's hostage taking. so today on the floor of the house the democrats have proposed a discharge petition which if it receives 218 signatures, that's only a couple dozen republicans joining the democrats, would automatically come to the floor and i predict wo

a digital recording posted by bob woodward captured it where ales was said to be advising petraeus thatnless offered the joint chairman chiefs of staff he should quit and run for president. >> tell him if i ever ran but i won't. >> okay, i know, i know. >> but if i ever ran, i would take him up on his offer. >> he said he would quit fox and bank roll it. >> bank roll it? >> or maybe i'm confusing that with rupert. >> was he meddling in politics? joining us -- here in washington eric well pl who blogs about the media at "the washington post." does he strie to orchestrate politics in a way that is unacceptable. >> i think it shows robert ales can't keep himself out of politics. who can blame him. you know, it's hard, you know, to blame him. the problem is what it does for his news network which is it makes it at least appear, i think, in fact, more than just appearance. in this karks you know, a sheen of reality that he's out there trying to get a better republican feield in the primaries. kt mcfarland said it was a joke, i don't believe it. >> he kind of undermined his own contributor, k

but, as bob woodward pointed out when he wrote this book about the grand bargain negotiations, it's nott through this historical prism as the boehner era, this is the obama e.r.a. if the economists are right and things don't go well for the country, doesn't the president have to worry about that legacy of his? >> i agree with you entirely. i have argued from the beginning that republicans should hold out. that they had more strength than they thought. that obama wasn't holding all the cards. i think he has the advantage obviously because republicans in all the policy are the ones who will take the blame. but nonetheless, the larger issue, if you are obama, is not who is popular and who is not, he's won his last election. that doesn't matter anymore. what obama does care about and should care about is his legacy. if you go over the cliff he may get a bump temporarily and the republicans will take a hit but his legacy will be his second term. and if he wrecks the economy, as he would, by not being able to remedy the consequences of going over the cliff, then he's going to have a failed se

>> i don't think so, bob woodward wrote an entire book about how president obama doesn't know how toommunicate with the hill. if you look at what's happening, during the election, republicans ran on the ryan budget, which is no new revenue. democrats won the election, and the speaker said $800 billion in revenue. so what did president obama do to respond to thata he moved the revenue higher. so if you keep moving those goal posts, of course you're not going to have a willing partner on the other side, republicans are negotiating with themselves at this point. >> on the issue of the tax rate, it seems as if democrats want to hear john boehner say uncle, okay, they're going to go up, rather than just assume that boehner's going to agree with it, he just can't say it publicly. that's the issue here, boehner doesn't want to ever say it publicly. >> i keep on hearing this and for the life of me i can't figure out why politics has become patty cake and everything has to hear the right word from the other. as brad just suggested, the president won and especially after the debacle that was a

"the washington post's" bob woodward and kelly o'donnell join us next.p it right here on "morning joe." good morning. a hybrid? most are just no fun to drive. now, here's one that will make you feel alive. meet the five-passenger ford c-max hybrid. c-max says ha. c-max says wheeee. which is what you get, don't you see? cause c-max has lots more horsepower than prius v, a hybrid that c-max also bests in mpg. say hi to the all-new 47 combined mpg c-max hybrid. who have used androgel 1%, there's big news. presenting androgel 1.62%. both are used to treat men with low testosterone. androgel 1.62% is from the makers of the number one prescribed testosterone replacement therapy. it raises your testosterone levels, and... is concentrated, so you could use less gel. and with androgel 1.62%, you can save on your monthly prescription. [ male announcer ] dosing and application sites between these products differ. women and children should avoid contact with application sites. discontinue androgel and call your doctor if you see unexpected signs of early puberty in

i was vanish struck, i was with bob woodward, a very wise, senior reporter. he said, any democrat who think this is president can avoid responsibility for the economy and the second term completely misunderstands the american history. he got away with blaming george w. bush for the first term. this is going to be obama's economy. if it goes sour, it will be his failure when it goes sour. >> i am so glad you brought that up. i was wonder fght white house is thinking, oh, my gosh, what did we just do? they pushed the republicans to the point where now, the market's already reacting, saying we don't like this, we don't like the way this is going. if it's over the fiscal cliff. republicans might take the blame. but at this point, the white house bears responsibility for putting them in the position where their backs are against the wall and boehner had come all that way and they said no. >> the house republicans and the senate republicans don't look at a poll for the next 12 months. the election is in 2014. figure out what you want to go to the american people wi

and now bob woodward on his latest book "price of politics." he spoke with "politico's" chief white house correspondent mike allen and failing to chief a compromise. this is part of a "politico" playbook discussion. it's about 25 minutes. [applause] >> good morning. welcome to "playbook breakfast." thank you for coming out so early. we're excited to have an amazing double-header today. we are going to talk to senator rubio who last night gave a big speech, one of the first formal speeches looking ahead to the future of the republican party. we are going to talk to senator rubio about that. first we have the amazing treat of bob woodward who has a fantastic book out on the last grand bargain negotiations, is going to be joining us in just a second. first, welcome, all the people out in livestream land. we'll be taking your questions on #politicobreakfast. tweet us. welcome to c-span and to others. we're appreciative to the bank of america for making these conversations possible. we had a great partnership this year including the conventions and

it's bob woodward, heads are exploding as i speak. let me get to the story.oodward reports that roger ales, the chairman and founder of fox news, encouraged general david petraeus to run against obama in the 2012 election. last spring asked fox news analyst to make the pitch while she was traveling with petraeus. in a recording of the conversation between mcfarland and petraeus mcfarland can be heard saying that ales advises petraeus to reject becoming cia director and accept nothing less than chairman of the joint chiefs. mcfarland suggestses petraeus should resign and run for president if obama did not offer the joint chiefs job. petraeus is heard saying, quote, it's never going to happen. never, no, it's never going to happen. boy, and we wonder why roger ales gets accused of being a campaign strategist in network news division clothing. finally, attorney general eric holder's chief of staff announced he will be leaving the justice department. he was named by republicans and their probes into the fast and furious case. he has been holder's chief of staff s

listen to "the washington post" reporter and author bob woodward discussing the deadlock over the fiscal it's groundhog day. who's playing bill murray? and i mean, such a repetition. it's the same players at the same seats at the table with same doctrine and so, you know, where this goes -- i think anyone who thinks they know is wrong. >> so what does your gut tell you? anyone who thinks they know where this is going is wrong. go to facebook.com/newsnation to cast that vote. that does it for this edition of "news nation." see you tomorrow. "the cycle" is up next. you know we've been open all night. is this a trick to get my spot? [ male announcer ] break from the holiday stress. save on ground shipping at fedex office. i am the ghost of cookies past. residue. so gross. well you didn't use new pam, so it looks like you're "stuck" with me. [ female announcer ] bargain brand cooking spray leaves annoying residue. that's why there's new pam. starts with arthritis pain and a choice. take tylenol or take aleve, the #1 recommended pain reliever by orthopedic doctors. just two aleve can keep pai

supreme court and michael grunwald, new deal: hidden story of changing the obama era along with bob woodward's, the price of politics. i want to ask, did that word were its most recent book at the attention most of his books get? >> my feeling is that it got initial attention but was crowded out by the nature of the new seiko happening so fast. in my mind through a couple of nuggets not reported before, but there was sent that many other ones that emerged after one or two comes to care for the book lost its momentum. i'm sure bob will have been equally subsisted answer on this, too. >> what are you comparing it to? it was not his most commercially successful book. so it thinks are touched on two things. one is the new seiko has so speeded up in the other fact it was the topic. it was about negotiations of the budget, the dead. that's not exactly an exciting second topic for a lot of people. i opposed to his books on maneuvering the bush white house over the war, which i think would have more interest. >> guest: one thing i wanted to bring up this trans gentle to these particular books, but it'

end up at $500,000 on this debate, i think barack obama has a chance to do what eric cantor told bob woodward after he met him the first time, which is if he's pragmatic, if he comes to the middle, then he could lock us republicans up for a very long time. i mean, i think that's the great challenge for barack obama. >> yeah. >> can he do what he appears to be doing right now with john boehner? and that is upsetting a lot of people in his own base for the betterment of their party by saying we're going to raise it from $250,000 to maybe $500,000, go after entitlements and do it for the best interests of the country. >> he is a pragmatist. the first two years, it was such a strained situation. when we talked to him on wednesday, everything he said was about -- he wasn't saying government has to be bigger. government has to be smarter. government has to be better. it was like the lincoln line. this is a fantastic picture, by the way. >> that is adorable. >> joe, that's one of the pictures i was talking about. >> you're letting us know, these are all exclusive to "morning joe." >> they're exclusi

. >> let's talk about one of the other juicy stories today, which is bob woodward in the style sectione "washington post" reporting for the first time that a prominent republican national security expert who was traveling with david petraeus was dispatched, a fox contributor, and was dispatched by roger ales during the primary season to approach general petraeus, tape of this, because she was apparently recording him in this conversation, and over in afghanistan asked him if he would consider running for president and saying that ales would support or rupert murdoch would support, not sure who, apparently according to this tape, petraeus clearly said no and said he wasn't interested in all of these conversations. woodward reached out, of course, to roger ales and he said it was kind of a joke, a wise -- way i have to quote him in the woodward piece. what do you make of him? >> a lot of great woodward stories, as many questions begged as there are answers like who recorded it, who thought it was in their interest to release the recording and what is mcfarland, a respected national secur

read the bob woodward book, the price of politics. it showed that boehner went much further than any republican has been willing to go when it comes to revenue and funding the government. the second issue when it comes to president obama saying we want to return back to the clinton era rates, it wasn't the rates that netted government revenue. it was unprecedented economic growth in the tech bubble. so the brilliance of this -- >> and no war. >> well, that's -- that's the rate question. the income to government. spending side of the equation. if we simply return back to the spending rates as a percentage of our economy of the clinton era, this thing would be fixed like that. >> that's what we keep hearing. anyway, representative, good to have you on the program. >> thanks for having me. >> can't wait to hear what the traders have to say about this. "fast money halftime report" with scott wapner and the crew begins right now. >>> all right, brian and thanks so much. welcome to "halftime." traders are mike murphy, joe terranova, josh br