rudolphson, speaking of erics, pointed out on red state that cantor had tweeted out before that he was going to vote for it. and then 24 hours later voted against it and ericson said, look, it's not just a liberal conspiracy to call this confusion when in fact, eric rudol rudolph-- eric ericson talking, on this vote. >> and the g.o.p. in disarray, it wasn't what did or didn't get done in this fiscal cliff deal which was more can kicking. >> jon, i think that was the mean, if i can use jim's word. this is the political story that comes out of this debacle. there was only one column i saw that was really thoughtful by robert samuelson and real clear politics that said this is a failure of presidential leadership because the president wasn't talking at all about the fact that the country is spending more than it's taking in. >> it's a financial story, this is not a political story. no, it really was a financial story, this is about taxes. this is about budget. we should have had the financial reporters covering this. the political reporters, all they did was talk about sparring and who is up and who is down. we got no news. the new york times coverage was atroci

fox news, eric ericson and others among the hard core saying wait a minute, not so fast. >> but, barb's go where the rubber meets the road. the president is re-elected. what can he get done for the american people? what can he achieve using this momentu momentum? because at if ethe end of the d he's going to be fine. >> the republicans have backed down on the fiscal cliff and i think they're going to staybacked down on that. the president is going to have to push very hard on sequestration. they don't want it to go into effect. i also any there's a real chance to get immigration reform here. now, look, marco rubio, and it doesn't help that zicynthia and prison him. it will be very interesting to see whether he stands his ground here or begins to back um, back up, back up. i also think there's some encouraging signs on the whole issue of guns. you have kwon servetive senators negotiating with their progressive counter parts for some kind of universal background check. i think that might get through despite the fact that the nra is going to, actually, i think every time wane lapierre op

eric ericson, editor of the conservative blog, red state.com and influential republican and amy chamberea party express. >> you and i have talked a lot over the last year plus. here we are, politico reporting that the tea party is struggling for money and asking all kinds of groups that it hasn't always considered to be a friend, american majority, club for growth and the koch brothers linked americans for prosperity linking all of them for money. are they going to have to xr compromise their principles to survive? if you look back to 2010 when they drove the messaging, we won. we had huge victories across the country. when you look at 2012 and the republican party driving the messaging in a presidential election cycle, we lost. not only conservatives but moderates as well. i think we need to go back to a that message of fiscal responsibility. the american people want fiscal responsibility. they want washington to live within their means just like small businesses and american families and organizations have to every single day. that's our message that wins. we are still here. >> i have

eric ericson editor of redstate.com and a cnn contributor. resident obama's first term in his white house. eric, i want to start with you. just to start off, look at this poll. this poll of polls says the president's approval rating at the moment is 53%, which begs the question, heading into the second term, who has the leverage right now on all of the major negotiations that we have under way? specifically in my mind is the debt ceiling fight. >> right. >> president or republicans? >> the president probably has the debt ceiling leverage. a majority of americans want cuts to go along with it. george bush had a 53% rating at his second term. didn't last. >> when you say that the president has leverage on the debt ceiling negotiations, what then was behind the strategy that republicans behind the strategy republicans are putting forthright now saying they'll go along with the short-term extension? >> i think it probably was because the republicans don't have a single voice right now, a common thread. the president has a bully pulpit. two weeks a