bruce bartlett, former senior policy analyst in the white house, now a columnist for "the fiscal times." thank you for joining me tonight, bruce. >> happy to be here. >>> coming up -- former president bill clinton praises michele bachmann and says he's not surprised she's a 2012 front-runner for the republican nomination. republican governors as usual disagree with bill clinton. we'll show you who's behind the republican stop bachmann movement. >>> and steven colbert proudly follows in the footsteps of karl rove. meet beth, nursery school teacher. lights, camera, activia it's the best job in the world. my students are amazing. but to be there for them, you've gotta feel your best. kids can tell. that's why i love eating activia light every day. so delicious activia light helps me feel good inside. which helps me be my best... positive, cheerful and on top of things. help regulate your digestive system. love how you feel or your money back. ♪ activia all these car insurance discounts, online. i'm dishing out discounts all day. doesn't the esurance website do most of, your work? "bew!,"

bruce bartlett, former senior policy analyst in the white house, now a columnist for "the fiscal times." thank you for joining me tonight, bruce. >> happy to be here. >>> coming up -- former president bill clinton praises michele bachmann and says he's not surprised she's a 2012 front-runner for the republican nomination. republican governors as usual disagree with bill clinton. we'll show you who's behind the republican stop bachmann movement. >>> and stephen colbert proudly follows in the footsteps of karl rove. verizon claims its 4g lte is twice as fast as at&t. we're putting them to the test against the speed of a rescue unit. go ! they're downloading a music album. the first network to finish gets rescued. does your phone know that we're racing ? done ! verizon's done ! i've got seven left ! the fastest network in america. verizon. built so you can rule the air. now powering the lg revolution. >>> coming up -- bill clinton praises michele bachmann, while a republican governor compares her to barack obama, which is not exactly a compliment in republican circles. >>> and jimmy kimme

joining me now is bruce bartlett, senior policy analyst in the reagan white house and a columnist now for the fiscal times. thanks for joining me tonight, bruce. >> happy to be here. >> bruce, it is a difficult time to be a thoughtful republican. you and i have chatted about this a bit. david brooks is not alone in his feelings about this, is he? >> no, he's not, but the number of people who are willing to speak out publicly as i and a few others have is still painfully small, i'm afraid. >> we can report that the cut, cap, and balance bill has passed the republican-controlled house now, 134 to 12 republicans against. 9, 9 republicans voting against it. there's hope for nine republicans now working in the house of representatives. they always have, ever since you left office in your party, bruce, pointed to ronald reagan as the great man, the man who was right about absolutely everything. i want you to listen to what he had to say about the debt ceiling. >> congress consistently brings the government to the edge of default before facing its responsibility. this brink manship threatens

bruce bartlett. you use tougher words than i use. i just say a zoo. >>> the leadership has turned into a movie about, "the town" to help rally the rank and file for john boehner's debt plan. let's see what ben affleck thinks of his movie being used this way. that's next on "hardball." esurance instantly compares our car insurance rates with other top companies. with an esurance quote, you know you're getting a great deal. you can thank our tech team for that. sure, i'll let them know. bye-bye. aha! anything you want to share? with the tech team? oh, i'm dating that girl in accounting. seriously? yeah, we're pretty serious. [ female announcer ] know if you're getting a great deal. see for yourself at esurance. technology when you want it. people when you don't. see for yourself at esurance. and when it does,t can turn romantic anytime. men with erectile dysfunction can be more confident in their ability to be ready with cialis for daily use. cialis for daily use is a clinically proven low-dose tablet you take every day so you can be r

former reagan adviser, bruce bartlett doesn't think boehner can get it done. >> i think at this pointhere's nothing that could pass the house of representatives. i think the boehner plan -- >> because it's too much of a zoo? >> yeah bs i think a good chunk of the republican caucus is either stupid, ignorant crazy or desperately afraid of the tea party people. and rightly so. >> that leaves the president with very few options. the house leadership wants president obama to use the 14th amendment. >> we have to have a fail safe mechanism. we believe that fail safe mechanism is the 14th amendment and the president of the united states. >> i'm convinced that whatever discussions about the legality of that can continue. but i believe that something like this will bring calm to the american people and will bring ç needed stability to our financial markets. >> that is a big statement. house democratic leadership team coming out saying that. the house has rejected the 14th amendment solution. but we're still six days out. for leaders like mr. clyburn to go down that road gives the president so

. >>> last night on "the last word with lawrence o'donnell" lawrence asked bruce bartlett if his interpretation of the 14th amendment to the constitution which says that authorized u.s. debt incurred for payment of pension shall not be called into question means that congressional is not actually required to raise the debt ceiling. >> i think a broad reading of that provision of the constitution is justified. especially the part about the pensions. because that implies a symmetry, to things such assess which one can argue is a debt that is owed to the people who pay the taxes and the expectation of getting a benefit. that would be true of medicare benefits, and, of course, a lot of what the government pays for is vendors who provide goods and services to the government, especially the department of defense. it seems to me all of those things can be legitimately considered debts that cannot be questioned. the term cannot be questioned is about the broadest, strongest constitutional language you can find in the constitution. >> lean forward with the last word weeknights at 8:00 p.m. only on msnbc

. >> bruce bartlett, you worked for ronald reagan. how did he handle the situation? >> the debt limit problems? well, he had a big problem, as you just saw, and he also wrote a letter that democrats are using in 1983, begging the congress to raise the debt limit. every president has had this problem. it's often referred to as a tax on the party that happens to control the white house. it's just something you have to suck it up and do. >> did it work for reagan? >> yes. well, the debt limit has always been increased. we've increased it something like 100 times since 1917. >> was it a pay off for the economy that was positive? >> there's not a negative. if we don't raise the debt lip it we have very serious problems, and it's absolutely essential that we raise it promptly. >> by 1987 ronald reagan had engineered a robust economic recovery that had generated 8% gdp growth and up to 400,000 new jobs a month. obama, in contrast, has barely achieved 2% gdp growth this year. new jobs range from 2,000 to 18,000 a month. when it comes to handling the economy does president ob

david stockman, bruce bartlett, lots of these people saying what has happened to the party that i knewe are these republicans nowadays? you can't -- >> you're a democrat. >> no. >> you're not a democrat? how would you describe yourself? >> i'm certainly more in line with their thinking. they disappoint me so much. if i was a democrat, i would be resigning every other week. >> do you vote? >> of course.democrat. >> almost always. >> ever voted republican? >> i voted for mccain in the 2000 primary, bob dole in 1996, a sentimental voted, my parent were both in world war ii and the last world war candidate i could vote for. if it was a close election, i would have voted for clinton but it was not. >> coming up how bill maher managed to avoid marriage and what he thinks of charlie sheen. my doctor told me calcium is best absorbed in small continuous amounts. only one calcium supplement does that in one daily dose. new citracal slow release... continuously releases calcium plus d for the efficient absorption my body needs. citracal. announcer: when life's this hard, it's no wonder 7,000 stud

. >> you believe with bruce bartlett, nothing's going to pass the house?i don't think anything is going to pass the house. i think boehner has a hard time. i think the 14th amendment, which i wrote about july 5th in "the washington post." it was a small discussion then, president clinton then last week went out and talked about it. i have no evidence, but it's hard for me to believe there wasn't talked about with the white house to bring the 14th amendment into the discussion. i think it's a doomsday scenario when that has to be brought ç forward. debt ceiling is unconstituti unconstitutional. the validity of the debt shall not be questioned. the republican party has made americans hostage and put us in a position -- it's complicated, executive power is complicated, but it could be used. >> what do you make of jim clyburn coming out today, you mentioned bill clinton. >> and john larson -- >> and then you have mr. clyburn coming out today. it seems rare that a member of the democratic leadership team, and he normally does -- jim clyburn is a well thought o

bruce bartlett, a former reagan administration economic official looked at this, and let's say he wasessed. it is quote quite possibly the stupidest constitutional amendment i think i have ever seen. he wrote. it looks like it was draft bade couple of interns on the back of a napkin. now, this amendment is so radical that even paul ryan's budget would be rendered unconstitutional and every year of ronald reagan's presidency unconstitutionality and george bush's presidency, unconstitutional and the spending levels are so low that we have not seen anything like it since the '60s. so there is a new graph comparing then to now. back then our population was under 200 million and now it is above 300 million and back then life expectancy was 70 years and now it is 79 years -- and all of the figures adjust for inflation. the average person spent $1,500 on elt cahealth care and now it more than $8,000, and back then social security checks were $740 and now they are more than $1,800 and as a report says, we can't put a 1966 transition into a 2012 mustang. the gop knows that, and that is why whe

i mean bruce bartlett, republican or maybe now ex-communicated republican just said basically obama is a moderate conservative. he's basically governing to the right of richard nixon. but what happened is the that the repuican party have gone so far off into an extreme, extreme right wing position that we have gridlock because basically one party cannot say yes. they cannot say yes to anything that might be coming from thother party. and in a basic sense they don't accept legitimacy of government by theth oer party. >> to be fair to them they would say hey, we've had government at a certain level of gdp for decade after decade and roughly the same. over the last couple of years it has leapt up signifantly. so if we want to bring it back to that level to the 2008 level, that is the argument. >> all of that is the recession. all of that is that the ratio of government to gdp is liar because gdp is down. and safety net programs unemployment insurance, and medicaid and a f other programs that respond to hard times are up. if you take that out, there has been no increase in the size of gove

he said and i quote, "-- this is bruce bartlett a former reagan administration top economic adviseor. and i quote him. "i have previously explained the idiocy of right-wing advocates of a balanced budget amendment. however, the new republican balanced budget proposal is especially dimwitted. in short, this is quite possibly the stupidest constitutional amendment i think i have ever seen. it looks like it was drafted by a couple of interns on the back of a napkin. every senator co-sponsoring this balanced budget amendment should be ashamed of themselves." that is from a former top economic advisor to ronald reagan. is anybody listening? is anybody paying attention to how far off base things have slipped in the other body, to send us at this moment, at this critical juncture a plan that has absolutely no chance of passing in this body, and should not? mr. president, what is so deeply flawed? in addition to the other points i've made, the balanced budget amendment that the house republicans cept us earlier -- sent us earlier set a spending cap of 18% of g.d.p. well, let's add up what tha

but i want to switch gears a little bit and move to an article that bruce bartlett wrote yesterday and i thought was interesting i don't know if you saw, he was senior policy adviser to president reagan and bush, and talk about the parallels of what we're seeing now to the 1930s, and i know you are a well-known scholar of the great depression era of the 1930s, and appreciate your comments. i quote below but here. he shows friday's jobs report that indicates the economy remains weak, if the pressure to reverse sting was and began tightening fiscal and monetary policy has become overwhelming. he goes on to say some economists are getting very nervous with the economy in a fragile state and may not take much to bring on another recession, even a small amount of fiscal monetary tightening may be enough to do that. and i thought it was interesting in his comparisons to 1937, and he goes on to say the combination of fiscal and monetary tightening which conservatives advocate today actually which is what they did in 1937, brought on a sharp recession beginning in may of 37 and ending in june

on top of that, bruce bartlett wrote in a blog -- "one problem is the states do not really balance theirudgets. only the operating budget is required to be balanced. by contrast, the federal budget lumps together operating and capital expenses." guest: a lot of folks point out that some states operate in a good environment, in a balanced budget environment. i can only speak in my state, and the state of georgia, a balanced budget state. the state of georgia has done a phenomenal job at not raising taxes and cutting spending and they have cut 23% of the budget in order to keep their spending in line with the revenue that comes into the state of georgia without raising revenue. if you'll look at a lot of economic statistics, georgia is at the top of list when you look at the business environment in our country. it's a state in which many people are moving to, in fact, because the tax environment is favorable and the state of georgia is living within its means. that's the only example that i have firsthand knowledge of that works. had the state of georgia not had a balanced budget in the co

it's a plan that bruce bartlett a reagan advisor and bush treasury official said was, quote, mind-boggling in its insanity. others call it the most ideological extreme to come before congress in decades. governing -- governing is not always easy. there are extremists on both sides of the political spectrum. our advantage lies in the fact that however vocal, extremists are a minority a faction. i have traveled my district extensively in recent weeks. i have held town halls and meetings with local businesses and here's what i heard. we have a spending problem in washington. we have a revenue problem in washington, but most importantly, more than anything else, we have a jobs problem in america. so what are we going to do about it? well my constituents had an easy answer there too. first, cut what doesn't create jobs and stability for the middle class. that includes wasteful government spending, it also includes tax breaks for corporate jet owners, millionaires and billionaires and a system of kickbacks to the big oil companies that even their c.e.o.'s say they don't need. sec, save whatever

bruce bartlett, economic advisor to president reagan, someone we all knew, fine man and a treasury official under president bush, said that the kind of rapid spending cuts called for in this house legislation would -- quote -- "unquestionably throw the economy into a recession" -- end of quote. this legislation goes beyond the draconian budget republicans passed earlier this year. that budget would have ended medicare as we know it and would have also cut clean energy by 7%, ax education funding, cost hundreds of thousands of private-sector jobs t passed the house t didn't pass here. but what they're trying to do today is even more draconian than the so-called ryan budget, the house-passed budget. what they're trying to do now is worse. it would -- they would attack all the same programs but the cuts would be deeper and deeper and it would slash social security as well, which the house budget didn't have in it. this legislation that they're debating now in the house is so restrictive, republicans' own budget -- the budget that they passed earlier this year -- wouldn't meet the standards the

former reagan administration economic advisor bruce bartlett from capital gains and games blog, imbalanced budget. i would want to clarify the impact of the balanced budget proposal. he has called it sheer idiocy. that comes from a reagan economic advisor. i yield back and note the -- a senator: madam president, i ask unanimous consent to set aside the pending amendment and to call up my amendment 575, which is at the desk. the presiding officer: the senator from new hampshire. is there objection? without objection, the clerk will report. the clerk: the senator from new hampshire, ms. ayotte, proposes an amendment numbered 575. a senator: i ask unanimous consent further reading of the amendment be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. ms. ayotte: thank you, madam president. i have filed an amendment to h.r. 2055 that seeks to make sure that our wounded warriors get the benefits of next-generation advanced prosthetics in a timely fashion. this amendment would require the secretary of veterans affairs to submit to congress a report within 90 days identifying the bureaucra

he said and i quote, "-- this is bruce bartlett a former reagan administration top economic adviseor. and i quote him. "i have previously explained the idiocy of right-wing advocates of a balanced budget amendment. however, the new republican balanced budget proposal is especially dimwitted. in short, this is quite possibly the stupidest constitutional amendment i think i have ever seen. it looks like it was drafted by a couple of interns on the back of a napkin. every senator co-sponsoring this balanced budget amendment should be ashamed of themselves." that is from a former top economic advisor to ronald reagan. is anybody listening? is anybody paying attention to how far off base things have slipped in the other body, to send us at this moment, at this critical juncture a plan that has absolutely no chance of passing in this body, and should not? mr. president, what is so deeply flawed? in addition to the other points i've made, the balanced budget amendment that the house republicans cept us earlier -- sent us earlier set a spending cap of 18% of g.d.p. well, let's add up what tha