jamal simmons also says you cannot fix this problem without raising taxes. sure, you can.t is a policy choice. what the republicans have been willing to do, suggest tax reform. here is worried there could be some agreement on the super committee -- here is where there could be some agreement on the super committee. just about everyone in washington is talking about the same things. lowering rates, broadening the base, getting rid of loopholes. republicans to not want to raise rates without -- do not want to close loopholes without giving those rates down. most republicans will say this is going to be economically helpful. it will be pro-growth and it will stimulate more economic activity. i personally think that one of the missed opportunities in this entire year, if you go back to the beginning of the republican congress, the president did not take the opportunity to pullout something like tax reform. that could have been a bipartisan achievement. republicans dodged a bullet. imagine if president obama said, i do not like the whole thing, but i'm going to take it. republi

let's bring in president of the conservative group concerned women for america and jamal simmons.ny, what did you think of what nyjer had to say? >> i think he did a good job to express his opinion, but i wanted to say that concerned women for america was very clear in 1996 during the bill clinton scandal when he was having sex with a 21-year-old intern that character counts. and we've got to be consistent today again delivering that message. character counts. we want to hear all the facts and this is an important conversation to have. now we're at four women. if they're lying, like your earlier guest said, then i agree. i think herman cain should sue them and we'll see what comes out on discovery. i think that we need to get to the bottom of this. the country needs a strong leader that doesn't just have business acumen, but also has a good moral compass and good judgment. >> jamal, what do you think about this whole race issue? do you think it is an issue here, or do you think that's unfair? >> you know, i like nyjer. but i think his statements were just ridiculous. to try to arg

let's bring in president of the conservative group concerned women for america and jamal simmons.ny, what did you think of what nyjer had to say? >> i think he did a good job to express his opinion, but i wanted to say that concerned women for america was very clear in 1996 during the bill clinton scandal when he was having sex with a 21-year-old intern that character counts. and we've got to be consistent today again delivering that message. character counts. we want to hear all the facts and this is an important conversation to have. now we're at four women. if they're lying, like your earlier guest said, then i agree. i think herman cain should sue them and we'll see what comes out on discovery. i think that we need to get to the bottom of this. the country needs a strong leader that doesn't just have business acumen, but also has a good moral compass and good judgment. >> jamal, what do you think about this whole race issue? do you think it is an issue here, or do you think that's unfair? >> you know, i like nyjer. but i think his statements were just ridiculous. to try to arg

we bring in jamal simmons, democratic strategist and gop strategist carey ann ready.aren, what is your bottom line? this isn't going away any time soon. >> nope. >> anyone who thought this would blow over quickly t hasn't. could this dramatically change the field in your view? >> sure, and there's additional developments. you've gone through a lot of process which i'm not sure is terribly relevant about who leaked what when but you've got an attorney for one of the women who is meeting with the restaurant association attorney tomorrow, and asking if they will lift the gag order. if women start talking we're going to have a he said/she said and probably going to drag on through the weekend. this is not good for herman cain and not good for a lot of the people who have been defending herman cain saying this say witch hunt and just race-baiting by the media and liberals and all of the other. they're saying it makes everyone look bad. it's making all of the gop candidates look bad now. >> it would be interesting, though, if what newt gingrich said actually happened, we fi

jamal simmons and susan del purrcio. it seems the campaign has been trying to play catch-up on this issue. as a strategist, wouldn't it be the best thing to talk to your candidate first and say, bring me all your mistakes, we'll have a prepared statement for a, b and c. meanwhile, things are going to come up on the trail that they have to face fires at the time. >> ideally, that would have happened several months ago. but the fact that they had a ten-day lead time on this story shows there's no excuse for the fact he's gotten caught in so many stories. no one knows where he stands on the disclosure agreement and he may have talked so much, that he may have violated it. that's a big problem for herman cain. right now, he's surging in the polls. i don't think that's going to last for long. and this sexual harassment suit could be a big problem. if they show what that disclosure agreement was, that would be problematic. >> jamal, a super pack affiliated with cain said, quote, don't let the left lynch another black conservat

we bring in our panel, jamal simmons and susan dellpercio. good morning to both.president biden has been crucial in the deficit talks, the debt talks. he's also a strong voice on the campaign trail that we've seen at work. how important is he in this election campaign, the re-election campaign, of president obama? >> the vice president's going to be critical. he plays a strong role with more independent, moderate minded voters, working class whites, he's from delaware but grew up in pennsylvania, pennsylvania's a state democrats need to win. he can sell well in ohio, michigan, across the industrial midwest. i think you'll see the vice president out among these voters trying to remean them what president obama has done, the auto bailout, a variety of other things that have been helpful, and why maybe mitt romney or others won't work so well for the american public. >> as we all know, the vice president is known to speak his mind, he's like the average joe that we can all relate to, but sometimes that can work to backfire. is that potentially, i mean, the democrats

we bring in jamal simmons, democratic strategist and gop strategist carey ann ready.aren, what is your bottom line? this isn't going away any time soon. >> nope. >> anyone who thought this would blow over quickly t hasn't. could this dramatically change the field in your view? >> sure, and there's additional developments. you've gone through a lot of process which i'm not sure is terribly relevant about who leaked what when but you've got an attorney for one of the women who is meeting with the restaurant association attorney tomorrow, and asking if they will lift the gag order. if women start talking we're going to have a he said/she said and probably going to drag on through the weekend. this is not good for herman cain and not good for a lot of the people who have been defending herman cain saying this say witch hunt and just race-baiting by the media and liberals and all of the other. they're saying it makes everyone look bad. it's making all of the gop candidates look bad now. >> it would be interesting, though, if what newt gingrich said actually happened, we fi

jennifer rubin of "washington post" as well as jamal simmons.n, 9:00, we will discuss -- and at a clock 30, we will discuss superpac and there ands half of. on the left and. that is it for today. thanks for watching. >> "washington journal" continues. >> here is a look at our schedule. next, congress honors japanese americans with a gold medal ceremony at the u.s. capitol. then, legislation to help the u.s. postal service financially secure. after that, a house floor debate from earlier this week. later, remarks from house speaker johnhn