joining me is dick armey and hillary rosen. dick armey, let me start with you. john boehner, how would you be feeling right now? >> oh, i'm sure john boehner feels very frustrated and unappreciated. you know, i know john well. john boehner understands the problem, what must be done, and the magnitude of it all. and he's having to negotiate with an incompetent white house and an indifferent senate with over half of his conference saying you've got to go further and another group saying, whiney, whiney, you're doing too much. and he's working very hard. he also understands that what we've got here is only a tow hold in the right direction. there's so much more work to do, and i imagine he's kind of wondering, will i get some others to pitch in with me for another round? and maybe if we all are trying to work towards the same common objectives, maybe we can make progress. >> hillary rosen, do you agree with that? >> the reason john boehner didn't get more done is unfortunately people like dick armey were out there sending out e-mails to groups of conservatives and

harpist not included. ♪ >>> back now with dick armey and hilary rosen. was enjoying the debate so much, you two, i thought we'd carry it on. dick, let me put it to you, there's another way of looking at all of this. that the real winner is president obama because he's managed to shelf this now, this debt ceiling no until after the next election and he's moving, as he said today, to possibly introducing some tax increases for the rich and so on. i mean, it's not been a disaster for him by any means. >> no. actually, he got the only thing that he could understand that he wanted out of these negotiations, which is to not have to deal with this issue until after the next election, which guarantees and must be very comforting for him to know he'll never to have deal with this issue again. but the fact of the matter is, he has also demonstrated beyond anybody's ability to ignore his total incompetence and inability to work in this process. he was awol through the entire process. and of course that did not escape the notice of the american people. >> but right n

exactly what paul ryan and the republicans as well as those millionaires and billionaires like dick armey and the koch brothers that fund the tea party are trying desperately to hide. between nine hundred fifty and one thousand eight. the bottom ninety percent saw their incomes grow over seventy five percent thirteen thousand dollars seventy five percent pay raise between one nine hundred eighty and two thousand and eight after ronald reagan the bottom ninety percent saw their incomes grow about three hundred dollars as president obama said a one percent pay increase this is the bottom ninety percent of us before reagan we made seventy five percent over thirty years increase after reagan almost thirty years one percent. i know you think america's wealth has grown dramatically since the one nine hundred eighty s. so if that growth isn't being reflected in the wages the bottom ninety percent. were as it were all the money oh. well it went to the richest of the richest americans it went to reagan's campaign contributors america's all of ours let's take a look at how the top one one hundredth

crisis get the government out of my doctor's office that's that's the koch brothers rhetoric that's dick armey is right well that is what fungible partly responsible for the founding of the tea party and you're certainly federating it but last week in st louis there was supposed to be a big meeting of the tea party three people showed up in the party is as a populist movement is dying is not dead the average person ever see party or was in their fifty's or sixty's and white and middle class they're the people who want social security who are freaked out that they're going to lose medicare so that's very much not the tea party rhetoric that's dick army's rhetoric in the koch brothers rhetoric and that's what's being put and to an extent eric cantor is about a lot of power in this is you know just mentioned their message that these people are scrambling laded gulleys their message that leading up to the two thousand and ten election that's friends late into action here in washington i'm wondering what you think if the. aggressive they're looking at this and they're saying you know people even la

the former chairman of the majority leader, dick armey from texas and cnn political contributor, paulemocrats don't like the tea party. no surprise. this became the democrats' refrain. >> still the matter is this is essentially a tea party downgrade. >> i believe this is the tea party downgrade. >> been smoking some of that tea, not just drinking it. >> you've been instrumental in helping the tea party to g. favorable, 31%, in july 37%. unfavorable, 51%, 47% in july. increasingly negative view of the tea party. why is that? >> the activists knew what needed to be done, a serious large reduction in spending or you would not avoid a downgrade. that was validated by the s&p. if you don't find some way to reduce your spending and g et the size of your government under control and get your debt under control, yes, these activists understand a hard and difficult truth and fighting for the hard solution to it. those folks who want to live on easy street with other people's money, it's not a very popular movement. sometimes you have to be tough to straighten things out when a mess has been ma

the freedom works chairman, and the former republican house majority leader dick armey from texas andtexans with us tonight. i want to start with this poll. the democrats don't like the tea party, that's no surprise. when the s&p downgrade happened over the weekend this became the democrats refrain. >> this is essentially a tea party downgrade. >> i believe this is essentially the tea party downgrade. >> i believe they've been smoking some of that tea, not just drinking it. >> you've been instrumental in helping the tea party. favorable, 31%, in july 37%. unfavorable, 51%, 47% in july. increasingly negative view of the tea party. why is that? >> there's a constant drum beat wining about the tea party as if it were a political party. when people understand that this is a movement in america about the essential policy requirements of america, the activists understood what needed to be done, a serious large change in spending in the direction of reduced spending or you will not avoid a downgrade, that was validated by the action that was taken by s&p and by the whole investment community

dick armey head, dick armey had a great line. he said when the like as we win.when we act like them, we listed it idea is tea party will keep republicans like republicans. tea party's help emphasize and in somewhat selfless reacquaint ourselves as republicans with the principle that ronald reagan understood. a great thing for american politics. >> thanks. >> good morning. from the university of california, los angeles. i know that congress is spending a lot of time in the debt ceiling and the budget, but you feel the are any pages that congress should be looking at particularly for 2012 other than the budget, or anything that you particularly are passionate about? >> we need economic growth and you did a good toward reform and you need tax reform. you need to write energy policy and you need to right fiscal policy. we need to be talking about all those. and, frankly, also it's important for comment is important for people running for president are president of the united states to be positive, things i talked about earlier, to portray this optimistic view of thi

he has served as director of communications for house majority leader dick armey of texas and was heritage's director of congressional relations. he served in the office of national drug control policy and legislative counsel for former representative william daninmeyer of california. >> welcome. a nice august day. on september 11th, 2001, america experienced the worst terrorist attack any country has suffered in modern times. ten years later the nation is undergoing tremendous changes in how we safeguard the american homeland. there have been a number of successes that should be celebrated. chief among them is this 9/1140 terrorist plots have been thwarted. this can be attributed courageous actions of ordinary citizens. others are law enforcement investigations that pre-empted planned atrocities. significant challenges remain. to stay ahead of the terrorists and build healthy homeland security enterprise capable of tackling frets that manifest themselves we need to assess where we stand. today the heritage foundation released a study homeland security 4.0. this is the third in a series of s

. >> -- for house majority leader dick armey of texas and prior to that heritage's director of congressional relations. he also served in the office of national drug control policy and legislative council for former representative william danemeyer of california. join me in welcoming my colleague, mike frank. >> welcome, everybody, on this nice august day. as you all know on september 11th, 2001, america experienced the single-worst terrorist attack any country suffered in modern times. well it is about 10 years later and the nation has undergone tremendous changes in terms how we safeguard the american homeland. there have been a number of successes that should be acknowledged and celebrated and chief among them since 9/11, no fewer than 40 terrorist plots have been thwarted. some of these successes can be attributed to the quick and courageous actions of citizens and others were diligent law enforcement investigations that stopped planned atrocities but significant challenges remain. if we stay ahead of the terrorists we need a homeland security enterprise capable of thwarting threats befo

>> back in the 1990's, when i was working on a lot of these things, i was working with dick armey, try to provide quality -- equality. i have said this for a long time. it is fundamentally unfair in the tax code that if you have an employer provided plan you have tax-free benefits. if not, you have to pay with after-tax dollars. like i do. why would the government discriminate against the people who should be doing more, as opposed to the one that have an employee provided? it has never made sense. i have proposed a refundable tax credit. in the 1990's, we were concerned about budget constraints and the like. the opportunity with repealing obamacare, you will have resources to deal with this. people want to make commitments to make sure that we have some form of availability of coverage for people. having a refundable tax credit idea to help individuals and families purchase health insurance is a better approach. the top-down approach, from their employers' health- care. >> would there be a means test for that refundable credit? >> again, i would have to go back to the bill that i intr

dick armey had a great line. he said when we act like us, we win. when we act like them, we lose. the tea party makes republicans act for republicans and stand for traditional values. that is what ronald reagan thought the republican party was about. that is what the tea party helps emphasize. it in some way helps us reacquaint ourselves as republicans with the principles reagan understood our party should be about. they are a great thing for american politics. >> i know that congress is spending a lot of time on the debt ceiling and the budget, but do you feel there are any issues conservatives should be looking at for 2012 other than the budget? >> you need regulatory reform and tax reform. you need the right fiscal policy and energy policy. we need to talk about those. i frankly also think it is important -- it is important for people running for president of united states to be positive, to portray this optimistic view of this great country. president obama, i think, did this in 2008. he was viewed as this guy that was change and optimism. that is what reagan did. the guy who