. >> joining me now, bruce bartlett, senior former policy analyst in the reagan white house, former assistant deputy secretary for economic policy in the george h.w. bush administration. and bruce, you got a tweet yesterday. you said, some republicans missed a golden opportunity to stand up to the whackcos and a be a hero. not one did. what is your takeaway about what this episode says about the so-called moderates or establishment or sensible members of the republican caucus? >> well, i can only conclude that there are no moderate republicans. none. zero. peter king, i mean, if that's the best we've got, then he's not very moderate. what i think there are, however, are a few pragmatists, who understand that the party is going over a cliff, and they're going to get taken with it when it goes. but i'm just astonished by the cowardice of, for example, the former treasury secretaries that i knew and have worked for who didn't say a single solitary word about defaulting on the debt and potentially bringing down the entire world financial system. >> yeah, you were calling out former republican tre

the burden tax reform by we need it and what it will take and bruce's twitter feed is bruce at bruce bartlett all run together group sport what we have to tease at the end. excuse me it's just. twitter there's no. criticism get things. back on the tea party first emerge in two thousand and nine republicans how you know finally grassroots elevation is this coming to bite them in the butt oh i think it has for some time but it can't happen soon enough my great fear is that obama will flinch i think he's got a great opportunity here to be to really be a great president but i fear that his urge to compromise is going to let him down that is my great fear too and it's like on my radio program today i was like you know please don't you know the headline the new york times that a close to a deal do you know you know open the government up and do away with the debts this whole debt ceiling thing is a violation the fourteenth amendment to begin with that supposes cooperation of watson was yeah but the thing. is that people need to understand this is not a budget crisis this is not an economic crisis i

. >> joining me, economist bruce bartlett and michael lofgren, i don't know if this comes from theirdamentalist religious outlook for whether it's just good fund-raising for them among their base, but they are no longer a normal political party. they are an insurrectionist party that is bringing down the government. >> okay. no longer a normal political party. i have heard a lot of commentators say this. i want to play devil as advocate >> i would say newt gingrich's speakership was a weigh station on i way to where we are now. but the gop as it exists now is kind of a frankenstein monster created by the twin shocks of 9/11 and the financial meltdown in 2008. because 9/11 sort released a lot of unpleasant things in the american id, a kind of absolutism of good versus evil, a kind of totalitarian outlook. we've seen this with the nsa. and then the 2008 crash was similar to the great depression in many countries. we were lucky. we had fdr. many countries went violently to the right. >> yeah. the twin traumas of those two crises is part of what i think forms the legacy of the breakdown

. >> joining me, economist bruce bartlett and michael lofgren, former white house staffer and the authorf "party is over." mike, being a hill veteran and seeing a whole bunch of continuing resolution fights, budget fights, conference committee, are we dealing with normal politics or have we crossed into a different kind? >> no, this is not the 80s. this is something new. the party that i joined was the party of lincoln, the party of theodore roosevelt. the party of eisenhower. she's were patriots all. they were for one nation, indivisible. we have an insurrectionist, neoconfederate party that seems dedicated to all kinds of apocalyptic outcomes. i don't know if this comes from their fundamentalist religious outlook for whether it's just good fund-raising for them among their base, but they are no longer a normal political party. they are an insurrectionist party that is bringing down the government. >> okay. no longer a normal political party. i have heard a lot of commentators say this. i want to play devil as advocate and check my own biasses here, bruce. we had more shutdowns between

party particularly the tea party radicals got over the last few weeks on this program monday bruce bartlett former advisor to both presidents reagan and george h.w. bush said that he hadn't heard the kind of rhetoric we're hearing from the tea party since just before the civil war. the republican party is trying to undo the election of two thousand and twelve and impose. as a small minority the holds one house of congress their will on the entire government contrary to the election results of two thousand and twelve i know i've never seen anything like this before and i've yet to back to the civil war you are literally because it's truly was an attempt to usurp the core notions of democracy on which this country was founded in the last election republicans lost the white house they lost the senate they lost seats in the house of representatives they got one and a half million more of your votes excuse me the democrats got one and a half million more of your votes then did republicans in the entire house of representatives and the republicans only have power there because of gerrymandering r

. >> bruce bartlett, former george h.w.h administration official tweeted recently "there's a slight possibility that boehner is a genius and the tea party will die a well-deserved death in the next few days. fingers crossed." extreme language but is that your hope, too? >> well my view is that the tea party is not who knowledge nem . there are people not constructive to getting things done and getting the debt down and deficit reduced. people like speaker boehner, who is a very responsible and strong leader in my opinion who is trying to deal with the cards that have been dealt him, he's going to get the microphone back and in the senate, thoughtful republicans who want to get something done have to get the microphone back and most importantly in my opinion the president has to get in to the room and negotiate. we're a nation built off of presidential leadership and he's got to be in the room negotiating. >> we'll see what happens, former republican senator judd gregg, thank you so much, senator, for joining us this morning