john avalon joins me now. he was there at the hearings today. john, you were in the room for four hours, and obviously, the hearings went on and on and on, setting all kinds of records. barrasso's words were, "hagel is weak and wobbly." did you agree? >> i think the senator is pretty deep in the spin zone, there, erin. but make no question, this was a contentious, ugly hearing. this wasn't just a typical hearing or inquiry, this was an inquisition. the sheer number of interpretations from his former colleagues. chuck hagel was treated like a traitor to the conservative tribe today. and he was taken off balance, sometimes, because of it. but this was an unusually contentious, ugly hearing. and it really does belie the fact that at the end of the day, his positions that he stated are not outside of the mainstream. he was reciting catechism on this stuff. but that's not what the senators in question wanted to hear. there was a lot of talking points, a lot of opo driven dump. >> dana bash was talking to some senators afterwards. one senator who was u

when did america get so far away, john avalon from its principles? when did math start getting partisan? this is radical common sense from the nation's founding father. there's certain universal principle, a nation should not spend more than it takes in. excessive debt takes down empires, it takes down civil yagss. that's why this stuff matters so much. the fact that our congress is probably the greatest impediment to a full-fledged economic recovery is should be a wake-up call. >> i think you're putting too much blame on congress, i think there's shared blame up and down pennsylvania avenue. the president has been unwilling to recognize the need to cut entitlements, even a neutral paper like the "washington post"s had called him on that on the other hand, some of the spending cuts that the republicans do propose in the house of representatives are comical. reforming health care by giving grandma vouchers to negotiate with aetna is absurd. the reality side is that neither side wants to embrace the fundamentals reforms. we're going to have price contr

issues and cnn contributor and senior political columnist for "newsweek" and the "daily beast" john avalon join me from new york. thank you for being here. let's talk about the president, what do you think he will say that will be different say from addresses in the past? margaret, ladies first. >> kind of you, appreciate it. look i hope that he takes a page out of lincoln's book. if he truly picked lincoln's birthday for this moment, this is a great opportunity to realize that against the backdrop of his inaugural address, if he really wants a legacy, legacy legislative reform. the reality is there's a divided government and he has an opportunity to not polarize the debate, but reach out and broaden the debate and include republicans. there are great hopeful steps taken forward in the last few weeks with immigration reform. i hope he keeps going in that direction. rather than polarizing or poi n poisoning the well. >> never too late to start burn issuing the legacy? >> this is a time of maximum political influence for president obama. the sweet spot of the administration is right after a

. >> thanks very much to john avalon. it's not going to be the easy, breezy confirmation that many expected. >>> "outfront" next, republican senator chuck grassley blames violent video games for the gun violence in this country. does that add up? >>> plus, washington state tonight is looking for someone to run their pot business. are you ready for higher office? >>> and beyonce gets ready to perform at the super bowl. today she made a confession and then scores the first touchdown of the game. ♪ and the home of the brave ♪ the brave >>> our second story "outfront," guns and big money. [ male announcer ] you are a business pro. executor of efficiency. you can spot an amateur from a mile away... while going shoeless and metal-free in seconds. and you...rent from national. because only national lets you choose any car in the aisle...and go. you can even take a full-size or above, and still pay the mid-size price. now this...will work. [ male announcer ] just like you, business pro. just like you. go national. go like a pro.

look at the best political topics of the day, three topics, 30 seconds on the clock, playing today john avalonitical column 'tis and republican strategist rob johnson. welcome to you both. >> hi, carol. >> welcome, hi carol. >> first question, social security and medicare, the third rails of washington's attempts to tame the deficit. touch them and you get burned! former senator alan simpson one half of the dynamic debt duo simpson bowls, he says if president obama doesn't deal with entitlements his legacy is on the line. >> he knows what to do and if he doesn't get a handle on the entitlements and the solvency of social security, he will have a failed presidency. >> so quit asking for tax increases and do something about entitlements. question, is there an appetite though for cuts to social security and medicare? john? >> it's not even a question of appetite, carol. it's a question of need. the reality is that to keep these programs solvent, keep them strong there needs to be reform and you can do it without painful cuts but adjusting the cost curve. both parties involved in the poll tingz of

gentlemen, please welcome the cofounders of no labels, nancy jacobson, mark mckinnon, jonathan miller, john avalond walker and clarin. ♪ for you"]there ♪ [applause] >> thank you everybody. we are so thrilled you are here. without we would all take a moment to share on this idea got started. and where we are going with it. if that started -- it got started with a feeling. -- a feeling shared by people on this stage. it spread to many of you in this room. that something was not right in this country. that gridlock and hyper partisanship was getting our country stopped. we decided that we needed to coalesce all of you into a national movement so you had a voice, so washington could hear you. >> two years ago, some of you were here when we launched. today we have arrived. this is really exciting to see everybody here today. we start off by organizing, county by county, state by state, and we start off with hundreds of people. that turned into thousands. now it has turned into hundreds of thousands. washington is starting to get the message. the great thing about the selection is that -- this election,

democrats could just as easily spin this as a boner sequester john avalon writes. >> that's great. >>t obama in three easy steps. regular people have no idea what the sequester is right now. and once it kicks in they aren't that likely to pay that much attention. two the president is popular with people congress not. [ wah wah ] >> stephanie: because the sequester is likely to be very ill defined in most american's minds -- and he as much as you hate it is popular, popular, popular. [ bell chimes ] [ applause ] >> stephanie: and you are not. he always wins. >> you should learn not to compete with me i always win! >> polls show that the general public believes that the republicans are really behind the sequester. ♪ nah nah nah nah nah ♪ >> stephanie: neener. >> he got 98% of what we wanted but the other 2% is a bitch. [ laughter ] >> stephanie: karma is a bitch. sequestration probably will happen but congressional republicans may look back and roux the day. >> stephanie: what i didn't want was the sequester. that was the part i didn't get that i wanted. >> stephanie: the president's ca

"outfront," cnn vicinitier john aval avalon, ryan, let me start with you. joe biden's comments that he said there at the beginning, saying this isn't going to fundamentally change whether we have a mass shooting or not, sounds similar to wayne lapierre, who you are aware is the head of the nra. listen to him. >> gun control, you could ban all dianne feinsteins, do whatever she wants to with magazines, it's not going to make any kid safer. >> okay. they're buddies now. >> they're not buddies. joe biden is good at making deals on the hill because these talking to these guys as equals. we know what's what, i'm not going to promise you the moon, this might make a little bit of a different. here's the way policy-making works in general. you have a crisis, you break glass in case of emergency. there's some policy agenda that's been collecting dust on the shelf and you break it out. remember the iraq war, same thing. 9/11 happens, iraqhad nothing to do with 9/11, but a lot of people wanted to invade iraq -- >> there's some people who think you're talking crazy tal

someone john mccain said would be an excellent secretary of state in his administration. it's fictional one. avalon the abuse of a filibuster to delay or block the confirmation of the secretary of defense raises questions about filibuster reform because if a senator had to hold the floor and risk his bladder like jimmy stewart in "mr. smith goes to washington" while keeping 51 of his colleagues on the floor during presidents' day weekend my guess is this block wouldn't have occurred. >> i guess i'll just have to speak to the people of my state from right here. i'll tell you one thing the wild horses aren't going to drag me off this floor until the people have heard what i have to say, even if it takes all winter. >> even if i have to pee in a can teen. stand here. >> stephanie: that was the actual one. the hate field game of kabuki continues. nato summit days away. this can't be the headline that republicans want. play politics with national security. [ applause ] >> stephanie: oh. in other g.o.p. news. fight, fight fight fight! [ ♪ "world news tonight" ♪ ] depicts karl rove in an ss outfit. did yo

gentlemen, please welcome the cofounders of no labels, nancy jacobson, mark mckinnon, jonathan miller, john avalond walker and clarin. ♪ for you"]there ♪ [applause] >> thank you everybody. we are so thrilled you are here. without we would all take a moment to share on this idea got started. and where we are going with it. if that started -- it got started with a feeling. -- a feeling shared by people on this stage. it spread to many of you in this room. that something was not right in this country. that gridlock and hyper partisanship was getting our country stopped. we decided that we needed to coalesce all of you into a national movement so you had a voice, so washington could hear you. >> two years ago, some of you were here when we launched. today we have arrived. this is really exciting to see everybody here today. we start off by organizing, county by county, state by state, and we start off with hundreds of people. that turned into thousands. now it has turned into hundreds of thousands. washington is starting to get the message. the great thing about the selection is that -- this election,