an obvious sign of gop weakness. and it's the plan that john boehner and the other gop leaders just presented to the president in talks at the white house. boehner left the meeting moments ago, but there's one big catch in his plan. it doesn't reopen the government. the government will still be shut down. what is this? ground hog day? john boehner sees his shadow and we get six more weeks of shutdown? this is not what the american people want. they want answers. but republicans are literally running away from the questions. look what happened when one republican lawmaker was is asked a very simple question. >> hi, congressman, would you be willing to support a vote on a clean cr to keep the government open? >> republicans can't run away from this. people are hurting. all across this country. here's what republicans are trying not to see. they're trying to ignore this on their local news back home. >> area veterans are beginning to feel the effects of the government shutdown. >> i really have enough guilt with the pts

he was the gop runner up last year's presidential primary. circus that gave us this little pearl of wisdom about black people. or was it blah people? >> i don't want to make black people's lives better by giving them somebody else's money. >> yep. he's the guy who tried to explain away that comment by claiming he wasn't talking about black people. it was blah people. right. well, mr. santorum is still throwing red meat to his extremist reporters. this video just surfaced of him talking about same-sex marriage last month. >> when it came to the issue of marriage and changing the definition of marriage, there was no change. none. zero. for 30 years. and then a television show came on the air called "will & grace." and look at it from that point on, because it wasn't just "will & grace." once that happened, others and others and others. then the needle started moving. >> "will & grace" is the problem. santorum is trying to blame pop culture for the failures of his party's agenda. they've done this before. remember dan quayle and "murphy brown"?

it was benghazi tv over on the propaganda wing of the gop.and one attack after another. >> is the libyan situation another watergate? >> this president is lying to you about benghazi in such spectacular fashion that i believe people will go to prison. >> obama did not call this a terror attack in the rose garden the day after. >> the obama white house engaged in a widespread coverup in the immediate aftermath of the benghazi terror attack. and they did it all simply to win an election. >> what happened in benghazi was a tragedy, but the president didn't lie about it. there was no conspiracy. no coverup. but the facts never get in the way of a good smear campaign from the right. joining me now is david brock, founder of media matters. his new e-book is "the benghazi hoax" which destroys the right wing obsession with the benghazi tragedy. david, thank you for being here tonight. >> thank you. >> the gop has relentlessly attacked the administration about the ben -- about benghazi. but you show how one of the biggest republican hoaxes is that the

he says this is the last t battle the gop is fighting.hey can't know -- they can't win so they have resulted in self destruction. >>> john says, this is a voluntary government shutdown, as our congress decided not to negotiate well before the official shutdown. thanks to all of you for sharing. >>> well, some of your thoughts hit the pavement for an important cause. coming up, the video of our proud and fearless co-workers and how you can join the team in their fight for a cause dear to our hearts here at fox news. >>> plus, how small people can do very big things. she's just 11 years old and an entire community is saying thank you to her for saving two precious lives. her heroic story is just ahead. [ female announcer ] so how long have you been living flake-free with head & shoulders? since before jeans were this skinny... since us three got a haircut. since my first 29th birthday [ female announcer ] live flake free with head & shoulders. with seven benefits... there's no worries from flakes, itch or breakage. i haven't worried about f

this is like a gop hamster wheel where the wheel only goes to the far, far right. hopeful this talks will continue and have an agreement but the fact of the matter is that earlier today the republican majority in the house of representatives shut down the session like they've shut down the federal government and sent us home and the federal government is shut down but planes took off for members of congress to go back to the districts which means that seniors continue to get hurt this weekend. they'll wake up unable to file social security claims and small businesses have uncertainty about whether we'll extend the debt ceiling and veterans are hurt. american people are hurt by this irresponsible and reckless partisan republican behavior and want us to get it resolved, reopen the government, pay the bills we incur and come to a solution. >> so, obviously, you know, nobody wants to talk about or think about the politics of this, you know, in a crass way but looking at the numbers and sort of looking down the road, it does appear that there is a potential for a wave e

since it's all the rage in the gop, i wanted to get in on the action. on assignment? but little do you know i've gerrymandered him right out of town. no nonpartisan independent redistricting commission in new york. at least not yet. so i will see you in 2014, buddy. >> yeah. >> okay. that does it for "the cycle." now to someone who would stare down jerry mannedering and come out on top. joy reid is in today for martin bashir. >> good afternoon. i'm joy reid in for martin bashir. it's thursday, october 10th, and house sp

now all eyes are on the senate gop. they must stay together firmly at the house republican congress and hope that the senate republicans stand up and are firm and strong. some sources of mine in the room said it was an implied joke at ted cruz who is so routinely called upon house republicans to stay strong, sort of put your money where your mouth is, senator cruz from the house gop leadership. now the eyes are over to the senate gop and their negotiations with harry reid and the white house. what will come out of those? we've heard rumblings of a possible deal manufactured by susan collins, a senator from maine along with joe manchin, the senator from west virginia. this deal could possibly be a six-month extension of the debt limit as well as a year-long government funding bill. within it there would be repeal of a medical device tax for two years in the health care bill as well as other sort of fig leaves that the republicans could bring back to their members and say, a-ha, this is what we got in exchange for funding

since it's all the rage in the gop, i wanted to get in on the action. on assignment? but little do you know i've gerrymandered him right out of town. no nonpartisan independent redistricting commission in new york. at least not yet. so i will see you in 2014, buddy. >> yeah. >> okay. that does it for "the cycle." now to someone who would stare down jerry mannedering and come out on top. joy reid is in today for martin bashir. >> good afternoon. i'm joy reid in for martin bashir. it's thursday, october 10th, and house speaker john boehner is on his way to the white house to meet president obama face-to-face. ♪ >> no one gets everything they want. and frankly, i agree with that. >> keep in mind the democrats have already compromised a lot. >> we've been trying to have conversations. >> there are people who are being impacted as you said every day. >> what we want to do is to offer the president today the ability to move. >> if the speaker of the house, john boehner, would simply allow a vote on the floor, it would get reopened. >> it's time for leadership

and the gop comes in last. i'm not exactly sure about the shutdown antic, but that has to be a worry, does it not, for 2014? >> i think that's why you've heard about the formation of the new zombie party which is starting up today. you know, the shutdown, the debt ceiling crisis showdown, brought everybody down. as it always does. it brought down the republicans the most because the public saw this episode rightly as being mainly their doing and their extremism. the public tends to not like fighting in washington, like you can't fight in the war room. they want people actually to work together here and make compromises because they're not -- the party doesn't reflect the principles, and the -- you know, the operandi of the tea party. all that said, republicans now think they have an opening with the failure of the obama care website, and with the cancelation policies. they're going to try to crawl, you know, back to life over what they think is the dead body of obama care. we're going to have another round of f

then there's the house gop plan, the same dates on the debt ceiling and short term budget but would stop future efforts by the treasury to extend the debt limit. house republicans want a two-year delay to the medical device tax and to eliminate all obama care protections for labor unions and subsidies for elected officials in washington. no matter which door we choose, looks like we'll be back in needless crisis plan by the new year. we start with peter alexander at the white house and luke russert on the hill. they are about to bring the house democratic leaders into the oval office. what do you think the message will be? >> reporter: i hope you give me points for the cliches let's see how many i can hit. working they are on the same page that their ducks are in the row and another one, that they are trying to shore up support. that's a very -- they could walk it back, it's unlikely. it's all about lining it up. this is all about maintaining that sort of unified efforts the democrats have had throughout the shutdown and debt ceiling crisis. obviously the republicans have struggled with

that's what gop wants. house in the senate where harry reid says he doesn't want to see a six-week debt limit extension. that's too short, thinks it should go on longer. figure out a way government funding debt limit agencies affected by sequestration would have more control over what is paid, what is not, something both sides agree on and maybe you get the medical device for the shiny gold ticket for the house republicans and senate republicans. it's a fluid situation. i'm sure a lot was talked about in the meaning at the white house. ted cruz, marco rubio were all at. >> to be a fly on the wall as ted cruz sits with mitch mcconnell and rand paul and president obama. luke, i guess my question is the house plan -- senate plan is grown-up plan. it's a bigger plan, a longer plan. the house plan doesn't seem to fundamentally address brinksmanship, guns held to hostages head, a reconciliation between moderates in the party and tea partiers looking for this bag of goodies that yet to appear. i guess my question

this is their idea of the future success of the gop?s o so fragmented otherwise we wouldn't be talking about it. >> some of piece people should never have been elected in the first place. texas, is a great state, but somebody vetted for their guy. it's not just one offense but everything that comes out of his mouth. we are talking about senators here who get elected statewide who feel that they can pann der. ted cruz knows there's not the votes there. how extreme does it have to be? and i do think as statewide officials if not national speakers, they have to know that they are driving their brand and their party into an unelectable place, even just pandering to the stuff. >> there's something deeper here, because i mean, just two weeks after he took office they started talking about impeachment. and we keep hearing it over and other and over again, abbey. >> you hope, though, that today it's some sort of a reflection point for the republican party where they say where do we go from here? how can we wrap our arms around the party once ag

and the gop civil war is hurting the republicans. and that's good news for democrats. 54% now say gop control of the house is bad for the country. and according to a new ppp poll, democrats have the opportunity to pick up seats in 49 out of 61 house races. >> well, i think if the election were tomorrow, those numbers would be absolutely true. i think there's a lot that's going to happen between now and the election. that's why democrats are more than happy for ted cruz to run out way aid head of the gop and keep talking. he distracts quite a bit from what's going on. when the conversation's about ted cruz, democrats could not be happier. but i do think in states like georgia, states like louisiana, kentucky, where there are strong even business friendly democrats running for the senate in what would otherwise be very republican friendly states, i think the last month have been bad for those candidates who are running. but i think as long as the conversation is about ted cruz, democrats are thrilled because it distracts from the rollo

in fact the senate gop is putting one together right now.nger term debt limit increase as well as a process for getting the government back open. here we are, day 11 of the shutdown, and all that the republican gop has been able to do is enact or pass $200 billion of the $985 billion required to reopen the government. so we have a tremendous problem here in this country and i would actually disagree with john. it's not just a messaging problem, it's actually a policy problem at this point and now ted cruz and senator lee are starting to see that in their favorability ratings in the polls. >> i wonder if the party needs to have more of a conversation in and among itself. and you made the point, john, about speaking to the converted, which i talked about earlier with the values voters summit and go out there and really listen to americans. i think this poll speaks to that. for example, chris christie was not invited here. would it have made sense? he's a popular guy. he's somebody who has commanded respect on both sides of the aisle. should th

. >> the gop senator pat toomey said republicans blocked a bill on background checks because they, quote, did not want to be seen helping the president do something he wanted to get done just because the president wanted to do it. they worked against a common sense proposal just because the president wanted to do it. this has been the gop's number one rule for years. but this weekend president obama had enough. he told republicans to quit rooting for his health care law to fail. it's a theme that former president bill clinton picked up on today. >> when president bush passed the medicare program for seniors, it wasn't paid for and it was more unpopular than the health care bill was and there were horrible computer problems when it was implemented. the people that voted for it and the people that voted against it said it's the law of the land,

even senator corker is now admitting it's the gop. now we'll see whether we get a deal out of the senate and whether mr. boehner will give us a vote on the senate deal straight up in the house and we move on and relieve some of the pain that has been unnecessarily caused. >> that's right. and this can't happen again. this is too great a country to have a congress play with the american people like this. it's just wrong on both fronts. the default and the shutdown. never again. enough. >> senator barbara boxer, thank you very much. >> okay. thanks, reverend. >> now i want to bring in joan walsh from salon.com. thanks for joining me. >> thanks, rev. >> i want to play something that gop senator rand paul said this weekend about republicans getting blamed for this mess. listen to this. >> i think our demise is a little bit overstated. i would say that both parties are going to catch a lot of blame on this. i think the democrats and republicans are going to catch blame. i don't want to be here. i don't see this as winning or losing. this i

. >>> our sixth story "outfront" is the gop dead? for the gop, the damage is undeniable.arty and gop crackup. and republicans devastating defeat. and as you can see, the wall street journal on that list. this isn't just coming from the left. this is coming from the center and the right and from everywhere. but is it really time to write an obituary? "outfront" tonight john boehner and ben ferguson. ben, editorial headlines are consistent and i wanted to make that point obviously coming from the wall street journal. i didn't put the "new york times" in there. because i knew you would say of course and they were nasty. but so is the journal. why are hall those headlines wrong? >> there's always this narrative any time there's a debate with the gop that it's the end of the world. and it's not yet, again, the end of the world. we saw this when john mccain got the nomination and when mitt romney was pulling ahead of rick santorum, oh, my god the divide is massive. in this situation you do have a changing of the guard going on. i said this the other day and took a lot of heat f

the gop messaging is completely befuddled. news messaging is befuddled because they're the same thing. that leads to a certain amount. they're kind of boxed in and desperately don't have a way out of this. >> and joan, you know, on the other hand they may be confused on how they are sending mixed messages on the president. but they're real clear on when it comes to the right wing stuff. for example, they sugar coat things. like last week fox news posted articles from associated press on the website. replacing the word -- actually, we placing the word "shutdown" with "slimdown." i mean, here are the ones that wanted the shutdown, and to soften it they change words from shutdown to slimdown over at fox. >> no, it's a propaganda arm of the republican party. it's not a news station. i don't watch it. i can't watch it. so to seize these things and know they're still doing it, i had bill o'reilly tell me stop talking, miss walsh. that's what they do when you're bringing them facts. this slip, so to speak, is going to go down in hist

another owe/newspaper say this is is gop extortion.wspapers aren't known for criticizing republicans by and large. >> when you say that it brings to my mind this new poll that asks people what they felt the gop's highest priority was, senator. 32% said it was causing political problems for the president. 20% said reducing gft debt. 14% said creating more jobs. this's third on the list. 13% said the top priority was reducing health care costs. you know, are republicans really willing to hurt the country in order to try and hurt this president? and the public feels they ran saying they wanted to create jobs and the public only feels that's their third highest priority? >> yeah, i'm not surprised by that. when mitch mcconnell said his number one priority, not jobs, not balanced budget, not fixing in his view the health care law, the number one priority was to make sure barack obama was not reelected. something leaders have never said. this is a faction of one party in one house in one branch of government that is holding the whole country

four polls and four record lows for the gop after the shutdown. ted cruz's right hand man, utah senator mike lee is feeling the heat. the washington post reports gop backlash over the shutdown, a romney campaign chairman called him a show horse who just wants to be a speck tackle, his approval rating is down ten points since june. so how's the shutdown leader ted cruz doing? well, the conservative chamber of commerce president says the business community would like ted cruz to sit down and shut up. but he's not ready for that. >> i'll tell you, i'm hopeful. with a little bit of time and reflection that senate republicans would decide to come together again. i would love to see republican unity, to have all of us stand together against this train wreck that is obama care. >> there is only one train wreck here, the gop. some are suing. looks like the polls are about to go even lower. joining me now, abbey huntsman and michelle connel. thank you for being here. >> abbey, the polls show the shutdown record lows but they don't seem ready to change. whe

and has the gop learned a lesson?> there's no education in the second kick of a mule. >> i'm familiar with that one, mitch. but one thing i can say, that mule is definitely still kicking you in the you know what. >> i don't work for the party bosses in washington. the only way to win this fight, and for that matter to win some of the other fights we've had, is to energize and activate the grass roots and the american people. >> unfortunately for mitch mcconnell and the gop establishment, those right wing grass roots are energized. they've even been emboldened by the shutdown battle. they're certainly not going to fall in line with the leadership now. all of which begs the same question we've been asking for the past few weeks. who exactly is in charge here? i talked to some long time republican operatives over the past few days. these are people who are by no means liberal. and they, too, are completely at a loss over who's driving the gop's agenda and what they're actually trying to accomplish. and even though the ci

meeting with president obama broke up with this definitive sign of a deal or any new path forward, gop staffers are huddling on capitol hill with plans to stay the night. house speaker john boehner's strategy of the day, as best we can tell, was to offer the white house a clean raise the debt ceiling for six weeks, in the beginning of formal budget negotiations, all while the government would remain shutdown. today's strategy does not appear to be working. and now john boehner has to figure out what tomorrow's strategy is. put yourself in john boehner's chu shoes for a moment. imagine what it's like for him to wake up every morning and face the forces that are assembled against him. one simple goal. to survive another day. john boehner must find a way to placate the tea party, whose irate with any talk of negotiations not including obama care, the entirety of american finance capitalism, that has told him he cannot blow through the debt ceiling, and then there's the american people. according to a new nbc news poll, both the gop and the tea party's favorability rating that sunk to an a

gop sources are nearly unanimous. say boehner earned new trust. >> i think they're willing to listen, he was proven correct and quite frankly without rubbing anybody's face in it, a lot of other voices were proven wrong. >> reporter: tom cole is not one of the tea party backed voices, calls himself a pragmatic house republican or as aaron shock calls it. >> the same caucus. >> reporter: whatever you call them, they do make up the majority of house republicans and shock admits they have to speak up more. >> i think you'll see more of us become more vocal and not be taken for granted when it comes to counting on our votes. >> reporter: house republican leaders are silent, intentionally lying low. no statements responding to the president's remarks like we normally see. privately, house gop sources say they wish the president struck a more unifying tone in the immediate aftermath of the crisis instead of giving the gop a lecture. dana bash, cnn, washington. >>> and dana is interviewing senator ted cruz in texas today, se

now, according to the gop fox news ted cruz mythology, this is not about their refusal to accept thathey lost the 2012 election. no, no, no. they say it's all about president obama's unwillingness to negotiate over settled law and his refusal time and again to accommodate republicans. now, earlier this week, mitch mcconnell and rand paul reviewed the gop talking points in a little hot mike moment. >> i don't think they poll tested. we won't negotiate. it is awful to say that over and over again. >> i do, too. i just came back from the two-hour meeting with them. and that was -- that was basically the same view, privately, as it was publicly. >> if we keep saying we wanted to defund it and now willing to compromise on this, i think they can't -- i think -- i know we don't want to be here but we'll win this. >> this is a good attempt to spin it into the gop's favor but that's all it is. it's spin. remember, not only did the president say from day one that he was willing to work with everyone and anyone and incorporate republican ideas, he also brokered a deal with the gop over the bush

how big a threat is this particular rift to the gop? >> it's only starting to brew.ally when you had in-fighting the republican party over the past few years, it would be during private senate lunches and closed doors conference meetings in the basement of the capital among house republicans, but slowly during the impasse, it started to become more public and now you have people like orrin hatch and others publicly saying on television that the heritage foundation and other outside groups are a problem for the party, and they're going to continue to name that problem. >> and this, of course, is an organization that provides vasts amounts of money, does it not, to extreme conservative candidates. >> we have a real battle within the republican party. we're watching it unfold in real-time. it's a -- it's a ballots battle for power. the power brokers, the establishment. who is going to make the decisions and influence the decisions. that's where the ballots is. >> and the great thing is, robert, this isn't restricted to the senate, because, of course, on the other side o

the white house is rejecting a key element from the latest gop proposals linking an extension of the debt limit to negotiations. according to jay carney, president obama and boehner talked on the phone today, a good conversation that should be ongoing. meanwhile, senate republicans met with president obama this morning and offered a deal that would include a reopening of the government and a debt limit extension until january. a repeal or delay of the obama care medical device tax, income verification for obama care insurance exchanges and greater flexibility for government departments. >> the president listened carefully. he said that some of the elements were issues we could work on, but he certainly did not endorse it. it was a good exchange, but it was an inconclusive exchange. >> senate democrats prefer a deal that would extent the debt limit into 2014. joining me now, democrat from california, a member of the house funded committee. my first question is about the medical device tax. here we are, d11 of the shutdow. hundreds of thousands of people are not getting their paychecks

who's to blame if the gop loses the house?now he pointed the fenger at somebody, but let me play for you at whom. >> the single most damaging thing that has happened to republicans for 2014 is all of the senate republicans coming out, attacking the house republicans, attacking those pushing the effort to defund obama care and lining themselves up opposite the american people. >> how is that helpful, ben? i understand you've got fights in your family, right? but isn't it better to have those fights when the door is closed, not out on the street? >> well, i think if you look at the fights, ted cruz was standing up to obama care and the republicans were the ones that were attacking him more than even the democrats were. and so for him to fight back, i would say that's probably going to happen. i mean, this is politics. and this is how it works, but, you know, you look at what ted cruz and other conservatives have done. they have given john boehner the ability to even stand up to barack obama. remember, obama care became law becau

tonight's lead, gop in isolation. day nine of the shutdown, and the party is showing signs of serious stress. there are now deep divisions and sharp criticism of the tea party republicans from some of their biggest supporters. we'll talk about that. also today, just moments ago, president obama and house democrats wrapped up a meeting at the white house. tomorrow republican leadership will meet with president obama. earlier, a somber reminder of the pain of the republican shutdown and what it is causing. four fallen military service members arrived at dover air force base. because of the gop shutdown, their families were denied death pen f benefits that would have covered cost of travel. they put speaker boehner into damage control mode. today allowing death benefits to happen. none of this had to happen. and now we're learning boehner is really feeling the heat. the new york times reporting tonight the republican party is quote increasingly isolated. their biggest business supporters are now demanding the immediate r

we'll analyze the gop's kamikaze mission. and our question of the day, do you think the damage done to the republican brand is irreversible? she really was trying to disrupt me the whole time. speak up, it is true. it is true. it is true. she's whispering too. weigh in on twitter or facebook. we're back after this. [ mom ] because we have people over so often, we've learned how to stretch our party budget. ♪ the only downer? my bargain brand towel made a mess of things. so goodbye so-called bargain brands, hello bounty basic. the affordably priced towel that's an actual bargain. watch how one select-a-size sheet of bounty basic is 50% stronger than a full sheet of the bargain brand. it takes a strong towel to stretch a budget. bounty basic. the strong but affordable picker upper. and try charmin basic. the strong but affordable picker upper. "stubborn love" by the lumineers did you i did. email? so what did you think of the house? did you see the school ratings? oh, you're right. hey babe, i got to go. bye daddy! have a good