john boehner had has to tread a very careful line.round this event is very much an effort to show, hey guys, i'm still with you. and he's speaking to the most radical elements of the house caucus. >> barbara boxer, i think framed this in an interesting way on the daily rundown this morning with chuck todd. let's listen to that. >> they're setting up a big fight, mcconnell and boehner over the future debt ceiling, making it a crisis, when it isn't a crisis. they want to create a crisis so people say oh my goodness. maybe if we change everything, things will be better. maybe we need a different president. richard wolffe, that's the best theory i've heard so far about why they might want to create the sensation of a crisis. >> yeah, it ties in with what karl rove is spending $25 million on right now, which is to say, you know, this president promised us a lot. he promised he could make the country work and make washington work, and we've worked really hard to make sure that doesn't happen. so it's his failure, right? you know, the idea t

go boehner, go tea party. another example of how republicans have become an protest party with no action for our country. mitt romney staffed stopped reporters from asking him questions today. what is is he afraid of? why won't he answer questions about the jobs killed by bain capital? plus the defense rests on an edward case and never calls edwards or his girlfriend, hundred hunter, to the stand. how about outside money changing senate election in nebraska and pushing candidate back by sarah palin way over the top at the last minute. is that more of dirty angry money we've been talking about? >>> finally let me fin wish strange thoughts rather about a strange election getting under way. this is going to be a strange up with. we know obama but who is this other guy? we begin with a sequel to this year's infamous debt showdown. the inside look at what happened last time when obama fought back against boehner, caine and the tea party. look at this. here is speaker boehner. he is trying to sound like one of them.

i wanted to get your take on speaker boehner drawing the line in the sand once again this week on the debt ceiling. should the american people be preparing for another showdown standoff on the debt ceiling? >> what i believe that the american people want us to work together to find a balanced approach, similar to what the president and he agreed to last year before he walked away from it. that is that you have -- we know we have to balance the budget. we have to establish our priorities and make the cuts accordingly and we have to have revenue on the table and we have to invest in growth because the creation of jobs is what will bring revenue to the treasury and continue our economic recovery which is important to the american people, so to toss this into the mix right now saying we have to have cuts that exceed even the lifting of the extent to which we lift the debt ceiling is really immature, irresponsible, let's get serious. >> speaker pelosi. >> yes. >> when you talk about balanced approach, you know i followed the debt ceiling so closely. it sounds like we are in the same positi

boehner was not. he took note of the wave and he could either be crushed by you or surface and so if he did, to the point he became speaker of the house for the minority leader of the freshmen are well aware that he is not of that movement and that tension has also been present throughout the legislative session. >> host: we are talking with robert draper, this is his newest book what we do in the u.s. house of representatives talking about 112 congress. the numbers are on the screen. mr. draper what is the number about alan west plays in the congress? >> guest: equal opportunity offender. west is without question the most famous of the 87 freshmen. he was a tea party sensation before he was every elected because in 2009 he gave his so-called bayonet speech in which he exhorted his audience to pick up their bayonets and charge the enemy to victory. but i say equal opportunity offender because even though he is very much a tea party freshman, i should mention he's from the fort lauderdale florida area.

with boehner, we saw what he did last time around. we don't mind that he forces the democrats, hard core leftists in the conversation, oh, they're trying to scare everybody again, it a rational conversation you have -- the problem is the party doesn't trust john boehner. >> he's out front. heap said any dollar increase in ceiling has to have at least a dollar reduction in spending and he wants the bush tax cuts extended so we don't go into another double dip recession. obama wants to raise taxes and does not want to cut spending. he's going to lose that battle politically, can he not? >> you can't say your hero is winning and president bushing the presidential corner when he has no leverage. the truth of the matter that the debt ceiling cliff that happens after november. so democrats could simply do nothing, the bush tax cuts expire that, would help to solve the deficit problem because that would introduce revenues into the system over the objections, wouldn't matter what republicans want to do. those tax cuts are going to expire at t

, boehner.atchful. >> we read the personal kaem e. chemistry, the president and boehner got along, played golf, tried to do the big dial we thought both sides wanted to and there was the back and forth over who was responsible for upping the ante, from your perspective, being inside, how much friction is there between boehner and the white house? >> well, it's -- there's no particular friction right now, just because there's nothing in the way of legislative activity taking place now. i mean apart from appropriations bills and -- >> it's going to come to a head in the fall and certainly in the lame duck. >> certainly will. in the lame duck we'll see this again. the dynamic at play is within the republican conference rather than between bayoehner and obam per se. boehner wanted to cut a deal with obama but for all of the varying accounts of who was to blame for pulling out earlier, the reality is that speaker boehner did not have votes in his own conference, in particularly amongst a lot of the f

but during the briefing you got a read out from boehner's office and it was saying quite the opposite, that the bulk of the meeting was taken up with boehner and the president squaring off again over last year's same issue from last year that caused so much havoc and was consumed washington's time and energy about he is not going to draw a line in the sand with the debt ceiling and the house is not going to approve a debt ceiling increase unless it includes a dollar for dollar offset. the one thing that i can see, though, that harry reid put out a statement, his office, saying that the debt ceiling increase won't be needed until the end of the year during the lame duck session. that will come up again. the other issue that we have what some have called a lame duck loll plooza that is going to be the sequester issue and whether the military is going to face deep cuts and domestic spending, as well. to reach the $1.2 trillion in savings and deficit savings that both sides agreed to last year. >> and you have the bush tax cuts expiring, too. >> most definitely another problem. i think it

. >> boehner is ready for a fight. >> when the time comes i will again insist.nciples are greater than debt increase. >> it led to a huge battle that ended with creation of a super committee charged with finding $1.# trillion in cuts only to fail. now boehner is sinnisting on savings a reforms. >> i am trying to use debt ceiling as action forcing event to force the process to deliver more change than what it would produce on its own. >> they call protecting the credit rating of fundamental commitment and incyst the process shouldn't be as difficult. >> only congress can act to raise a debt limit. we hope they do it without the drama and pain and damage they cause the country last july. >> other top democrats say the hast thing the country needs is a rerun of the last debt battle. >> republicans can grand stand all they want. any agreement to avoid the physical cliff facing us at the end of the year must not gut programs that support the middle class. >> the timing of it will be tricky with the tet ceiling expected to come up around the holidays. that is also whe

. >>> president obama says if mitt romney is willing to talk about his time at boehner capital, it is fair game for democrats to talk about it too. speaking at a news conference during the nato summit in chicago on monday, the president argued that his opponent's record as a corporate ceo is open to debate. president obama saying a successful career in private equity does not make one fit to run the country's economy. >> my view of private equity is that it is set up to maximize profits and that's not always going to be good for chupts or businesses or workers. and the reason this is relevant to the campaign is because my opponent, governor romney, his main calling card for why he thinks he should be president is his business experience. when you're president as opposed to the head of a private equity firm then your job is not simply to maximize profits, your job is to figure out how everybody in the country has a fair shot. if your main argument for how to grow the economy is, i knew how to make a lot of money for investor investors, then you're missing what this job is about. >> the

and so i think what boehner was basically saying is that he's putting a flag in the ground. so we're going to see this as an opportunity to get more spending cuts. we're not going to back down ton this. this is make the best opportunity we have to get the cuts we want and stop the growing size of government. i would expect them to follow through on that to a significant degr degree. basically their party demands it. >> we're going to hear what the speaker said as he spoke to reporters before the noontime session. but there was essentially duelling statements between the speaker of the house and nancy pelosi on really what took place inside the meet. based on your reporting, what have you been able to glean? >> well, it sounds like is basically what happened in the debt limit showdown. president obama says i want a clean debt limit increase, which means that it doesn't take into account all the other things. it doesn't necessarily take into account spending cuts or anything like that. and republicans are basically saying we need enough spending cuts that they equal the debt l

the way they put that together with romney, boehner and the video clips.you. >> you were beaming with pride and joy. >> i'm very proud of my team. so thank you for noticing. and we appreciate them as you do yours, of course.

house speaker john boehner says in order to raise the company he'll insist on deep cuts. >> allowing the debt ceiling to go up without addressing our fiscal challenge would be the most irresponsible thing i could do. >> reporter: last year's debt battle was contentious. among them, a deal nearly reached at a golf summit between president obama and speaker boehner fell apart. senate majority leader harry reid says it's time for republicans to work with democrats. >> american people have had enough of this brinksmanship. they want us to get things done. >> reporter: today's arguments are the same ones that faced congress then. republicans want deep cuts in spending. democrats want higher taxes for and speaker boehner is also promising there will be a vote on renewing the bush tax cuts that expire at the end. year. >> susan mcginnis in washington, thank you. >>> the fbi is now reportedly looking into the $2 billion trading loss at jpmorgan chase. the securities and exchange commission and federal reserve have already opened inquiry, and ceo jamie dimon survived a meeting with shareholde

boehner's warnings echos the demands the republicans made last year. if you want to sound smart today, tell your friends the u.s. treasury is expected to reach the current $16.4 trillion debt ceiling limit in early 2013. likely after the november elections. as of now, the u.s. debt roughly $800 billion below that limit with last year's $2.1 trillion increase in the debt limit being used up quickly. >>> enough of the real news. let's huddle up around the water cooler to watch james lipton the host of "inside the actors studio" giving mitt romney, who's been called stiff, some lessons in acting like a human. >> since politics and performance have become pretty much fused and since you've been criticized by some for not coming across as authentic to your public, maybe we can sort of work on that today. let's start with your laugh. >> you know, i live for laughter. i mean -- [ laughter ] >> it isn't working. it's inert. it just doesn't come across as genuine. worst of all, it's mergeless, which is to say, while you expect us to be amused, you're not the le

is it your view that speaker boehner and leader mcconnell doesn't speak for the republican party? >> let me put it this way. i have had the great honor of spending hours and hours and hours and you've covered any negotiating of the debt limit and other things with the leaders of the republican party. on several occasions they have been prepared to make some real compromise and have ended up calling back and saying, i can't do it. i can't get it done. has it solved every problem? no. i think that republican -- look, i'll give you the best example. republican leadership said extend the payroll tax. they couldn't get it done until the "wall street journal" came in and started beating up, i mean drum beats beating on the tea party types. that's the only way it could get done. in the past it would be the republican leadership would say, okay, here's the deal, guys. this is what we're doing. john boehner wasn't opposed to extending those taxes. how did it happen? i'm not criticizing john. john's in a situation where he has a group of people that old expression, this is the tail wagging

i think what boehner has done today is to i agree with jeff, harmonies his rhetoric with romney.f he is talking about a real strategy with real action, i don't get it. first, the debt ceiling won't be reached before election day. so any maneuvering he does before that will be meanin meaningless. as you said in the introduction we have seen this movie before. republicans don't excel in this. the republican brand was more damaged. second what was achieveed was a compromise in the end left us with a sequester on defense. automatic cut. which is president own secretary of defense has declared a catastrophe. the republicans are trying to dig themselves out of. i woulden try to emulate what happened in round one and threaten with a round two, democrats will say go ahead. make my day. >> bret: right. on the sequester, they are passing alternatives to sequester going nowhere in the senate. the question is if the republican party is the party doing something ase as opposed o not doing something. >> you won't have a republican hold the republican elect hostage on the debt ceiling so obama

>> i would think john boehner was a slow learner. when he went through all that stuff he went through last year and brought the country to all that chaos, you would think he would not want to do that get in an election year. but they decided the best way to beat the president is to create yay yos, not solve any problems, make a mess where you can, throw everybody under the bus you can get ahold of. john boehner does not care about the people of the united states. if he did, he would never talk about threatening the recovery going on in this country. >> the congressional approval rating fell to a then record low after the last debt sealing fight. only 15% approved last ought. he is not even doing well for his own colleagues. >> no, if you think about it, he is going into an election where he has to elect some of these folks he drug back and forth through the mud on his own side with these silly vote that's go nowhere and make them look bad. they're a tax on women and a tax on all kinds of things, science, where ever you look, he dragg

speaker boehner did see that too. he saw the debt ceiling is a moment in which they could extract a germanic concession from the demand democratic. he played the tea party freshman as a bargaining chip. there were examples of him explicitly saying that i have a bunch of hot leather guys over there. they're going to let him default, and if you really want us to vote for this, you have to give us some things. now, this was explicit or invited talks with eric cantor. during the by the talks, when they're discussing revenue increases, kantor says that that is not something that we are prepared to do at all. then vice president biden says what do we get out of it and eric cantor says you have to vote on the debt ceiling. i know that might not sound like much, but the fact is we have a lot of members who feel like failing to raise the debt ceiling is exactly what we need. then kantor says, we are working to educate our guys. >> eric from pennsylvania. please go ahead with your question or comment for robert draper. caller:

the right wants more from boehner. >> they don't like the job he's doing.nt bolder, more aggressive leadership from the boehner. >> more orange leadership. >> yes. >> more orange. >> the boehner from yesterday. >> the next two years could be the most sequential two years than we have seen in the last 50 or 60 years. it is a line in the sand because washington has kinged the can down the road, kicked the can down the road and the american people think we're crazy. >> they think you're crazy. >> stephanie: you're the can they're going to kick down the road. >> the right wants more from boehner. passing the budget is a start but it is hardly enough. republicans should be touting their proposed overhaul of medicare and medicaid. >> passing more bills to show their plan to deal with the nation's crumbling entitlement system is more responsible than obama's. we want to play to win. >> stephanie: conservatives privately griping about having to vote an extension of student loan rates. they don't want to have to do anything for anybody other than their top 1%. >> yo

we're seeing that john boehner knows where his bread is buttered.t's with the conservative part of the republican party, and he needs to do exactly what they want on this issue because that's what the voters on his side of the aisle are demanding. he's putting a line in the sand saying look what happened last time. i want the same thing this time. i want enough cuts and i'm going to hold firm to that. >> eliot: when you say he has to, you mean politically because of the balance of power in the republican house is so tilted to the tea party that is looking forward to the train wreck--or most of us thought it was a train wreck because nothing of substance was gained by this cataclysm that took place. >> this view is very much part of the republican party mainstream. the republican party of six years ago, obviously voted for a lot of debt limit increases and it wasn't an issue for them. the fact that the national debt increased so much, it's more of a pressure in their eyes. i'm not saying that john boehner doesn't think that the republicans shouldn't

on capitol hill, pressure from the right on john boehner and mitch connell. if you thought the tension had eased, think again. good morning from washington. it's monday, may 14th, 2012. let's get right to the first read of the morning. a lot of folks wanted to get it back to the economy. they are borrowing a page and newt gingrich's from january of this year to make mitt romney's strength a weakness. they are out with a two-minute attack ad that tells the story on a company whose kansas city plan was shuttered after bane purchased it in 1993. >> mitt romney was involved in the influence that he exercised over the companies. >> they made as much money as they could and they filed for bankruptcy without concern for the families. >> something i thought that was -- >> it's like watching an old friend bleed to death. >> the one on point they're making is that happened after he left bane capital. it was just four months ago when the pro gingrich super pac got romney's record at bane. those ads worked. romney found himself on the defensive and ended up losing the pr

michelle, are the boehner tax risky do you think if that they could turn off independent voters some of whom did embrace the free markets and the risks they entail? >> you have to be very careful making these attacks to make a distinction between entrepreneurial spirit and free market capitalism and the kind of what they're calling vulture capitalism that mitt romney is being accused of, and i think when you have opportunities like with this steel mill closing to talk to people who lost their jobs, that's always going to be emotionally effecting, so it is going to have to be a very -- it is a careful line they'll have to walk. >> in fact, michelle, that was what other presidential candidates during this primary run up did to mitt romney. they never said that they were socialists. they said they were all for the free market but it was santorum, gingrich, and rick perry who absoluteliy vis rated mitt romney on the issue of his investment banking past. >> exactly. one of the arguably meanest ads we have seen in awhile is newt gingrich's really long extensive look at romney's stint at ba

it looks like boehner is threatening just that. he will not let the debt ceiling increase or create a function. he will create a crisis right before the election. the american people will see their credit rating drop, the s&p will go down, and the county think suffer. >> this is like a bad summer rerun. their play was partisan obstruction, protecting millionaires over medicare. saying we have plenty of money to give them tax cuts but not seniors their medicare. and continuing to obstruct any progress on our economy. they care about one thing. tea party republicans in congress. they will bring this economy to the brink of default in order to try and insurance some partisan game. they have to stop the partisanship. they walked away from our cuts. we said oil companies should do more as well. >> you know i have david corn with me who is an expert, you wrote about this, the republicans passed their fix it thing. protect the defense department from any cuts, that was the deal last year when all of this mismash occurred, and just medicar

then over lunch with mcconnell, boehner, pelosi and reid. one guy who used it to his advantage, former president bill clinton. last week when the country was focused on the gay marriage issue, romney tried to pick a fight with both clinton and obama sort of by setting up a contestable come spare on with the current president. romney doubled down on that yesterday. >> bill clinton announced that the era of big government was over. president obama tucked away the clinton doctrine in his large drawer of discarded ideas. it's enough to make you wonder if it was a personal beef with the clinton but it went much deeper than that. >> well, romney went there. unlike ronald reagan, bill clinton is alive to respond. yesterday he did at length rebutting romney on the debt. >> the budget he put out on the primary according to a lot of independent sources would actually increase the debt over and above what's going to happen by $1 trillion or more. >> clinton pointedly praised the massachusetts health care plan. >> since it was signed, inflation and heal

above that, boehner warns of debt ceiling battle. over on this side, this is reuters, debt limit hike need not be a crisis. geithner. "washington post" obama warns republicans about debt ceiling fight and ezra klein, will the 2013 debt ceiling be moot. on the phone with us is ben while, staff writer for congressional quarterly. what message you want to send to washington about the debt ceiling. ben, good morning. why are we talking about it right now? when are the estimates when the ceiling will be hit? >> thanks for having me. the debt ceiling is not likely to be reached until the end of the year and possibly not until early next year. but as everyone starts to gear up for the election for this debate over the so-called fiscal cliff when the bush tax cuts expire, when the budget sequestration goes into effect, everyone's trying to gain a little bit of edge here. >> and what are the politics of this for speaker boehner? >> so speaker boehner as we recall last year, he said i won't raise the debt ceiling unless we cut spending or make

boehner, mr.er, was like to see our credit rating drop so the president gets blamed for it. >> no, that's unfair, chris cover, he's not putting politics before our country. he does not want to see a decrease in the credit rating and they're going to raise the debt ceiling. what he's trying to do. washington d.c. is about compromise and he's starting early. to create compromise with-- >> ng a-- angela to your point. it's about compromise and laking everything work together in a bipartisan fashion, but in this hyper partisanship era, especially general election politics, is there any hope of meeting that demand of getting something solved about the debt? >> here is the daily, kelly. i hope that they get something, not because of boehner, might not even have a job. you have people who are tired of the partisan politics, and members of congress are supposed to do their job and they're not, they're fighting. >> kelly, it's going to get worse before it gets better and listen, the republicans probably ho

house speaker john boehner disagrees.own with the speaker where he told me the president needs to get serious about cutting the debt and deficit of this country because no one will like the alternative. >> well, it has to happen or the financial markets will do it for us, in terms of downgrading our debt. and i actually think, regardless of what happenses in the election, the next couple of years will be the most consequential than we've seen in the last 50 because we have the debt issue and a budget deficit that is unsustainable and entitlement programs that are important to tens and millions that are not going to exist if we don't fix them. >> so why has it become so difficult? you're operating without a budget now for three years, the administration. how come it's so difficult to get a budget passed? >> well, the house has passed its budget each of the last three years. it's the senate unable to produce a budget and without a budget from the senate, there's no way to actually have an agreement on how to move forward. a

boehner has the debt ceiling.s all of the bush tax cuts expiring and the defense cut goesing through so if they do nothing, the deficits come down substantially, more of the democrats will be happier, and john boehner really doesn't have a lot, so he's got a very practical choice ahead. does he take a short-term hit from his base, or does he allow the whole thing to spin apart. he can't get a majority. >> i think a lot of people think it's not insofar as a lot of people think that mitt romney is a moderate republican, a lot of folks think that john boehner is a moderate republican forced to march to the beat of -- >>package and survive as speaker is the question. last summer he couldn't. people came in, moderate republicans who wanted to go ahead and said eric cantor and others are plotting against you. you can't go further. >> might not survive depending what happens. >> we talked about the purge of the moderates, are you bullish or bearish in terms of the direction of the u.s. congress and what may get accomplis

but john boehner does not want to do that. he knows that's wouven the few levers that they have against the president. he says we're not doing the debt ceiling unless we're doing spending cuts an reform as big as the increase. gwen: now president meet with some congressional leaders over hogeie this is week. both sides came up with completely different interpretation of how it happen. >> surprise, surprise. it's clear that the president made this clear to be boehner. we should just do the debt ceiling and separate it from everybody else. and he said that that quote took his breath away. it's more of the post erring. gwen: were the hoagie's any good, that's the question. >> they were pushing the government to the edge of default. the markets weren't really wild about this. i mean, how -- how does wall street -- are they finally deciding that these guys are just bluffing? is this going to cause some real problems? >> that's a great question. what we know so far wall street is completely preoccupied. either they were watching fac

john boehner has said the same thing. >> rarely john boehner and the chairman of the democratic, it isto the election. this house is in play. we have taken the ball from deep on the 20 yard line after the 2010 e elections. we have got it to their 20 yard line and we get closer every day. >> you need remind us again, our viewers again, you need 25 seats? >> 25 seats to take the majority and here's why we are progressive. there is a deep set of buyers' remorse set in. these tea party republicans came to congress to be part of a solution. they are now the problem. they enl gauge in excess partisanship. they are so concerned with taking president obama's one job away from him they have failed to create jobs. we had an adammendment last week that said if tu are a member of congress, give up your pension. you shouldn't be double dipping every single republican voted against themat. they are about helping special interests. these guys were against extending a middle class tax cut but they won't ask big oil companies to sacrifice a nickel of their $40,000,000,000 in subsidies. >> yesterday spe

john boehner tees up another debt ceiling show down. >> i will insist on my simple performance. >> plus, another establishment candidate falls victim to the tea party. howard fineman on the rough road ahead for the republican leaders >>> and republicans across the country are waging a war on public education. connecticut governor dan malloy will tell us how his state put an end to it. good to have you with us tonight, folks. thanks for watching. vice president joe biden went to the bread basket of this election today. youngstown, ohio. he delivered a wake-up call to democrats and middle class voters. the vice president took mitt romney to task for romney's latest attacks on president obama's record. >> i have great respect for governor romney. he's a patriot, he's a generous man, he gives to his church. he has a beautiful family. but he doesn't get it. he doesn't get what's at the core of all this. it's about people's dignity. >> this goes right to the heart of this campaign, don't you think? workers play a role in business, the middle class plays a big role in this economy, if we're go

i do understand why john boehner is doing it. "washington post" pulled the recent numbers on the economy and who would handle it better showed the president tied with mitt romney on that score. 47% on this poll and on oncreation, obama is 1% above it. it seems fullish full foolish to me. it was a theme attic thing. mitch mcconnell, this is mcconnell in 2010, he came out very early on in the presidency of president obama and said, we don't care what happens. we just want to beat obama. here is our esteemed minority leader. >> when you said, quote, the single most important thing we want to achieve is for president obama to be an one-term president. how do you respond to those democratic lines of attack. >> well, that is true. that's my single political goal along with every active republican in the country. but that's for 2012. >> as we start the discussion here i want to go to jimmy first. look, jimmy, michael is dumbfounded why they would do this politically. but one explanation, obviously look, if you cause the ratings of the c

over again seriously speaker john boehner once an election year fight over the debt ceiling last year you remember that ugly standoff the government flirted with shutdowns and the nation's bond rating was downgraded for the first time ever well now boehner says again there will be no compromise the stage is set for another showdown over our nation's debt as it nears sixteen trillion dollars president obama and house speaker john boehner headed for a debt ceiling agreement house speaker john boehner he spoke with our own erin burnett yesterday really his message was you know cut spending or else here we go again another showdown over a nation's debt heating up on capitol hill speaker boehner is setting up another fight over the debt ceiling john boehner is warning of another battle brewing over the debt ceiling pledging to put up a fight at the end of the year to reject any tax increases republicans promised on the standoff over the debt ceiling. now i actually think this is an important story where you have a political party that wants to bring the country to the brink of a default fo