>> john boehner is not on board with this at this point. he said at this point of time with a lack of clarity, exactly what is going on in syria that it would be premature for the u.s. military to get involved. so he is -- he is keeping his distance from the call from john mccain yesterday for air strikes. >> in your opinion will senator mccain's comments resonate? will others get on board to support this type of military action in syria? >> i wouldn't be surprised if you saw some members who would echo senator mccain. there's clearly a hawkish element in not only in the republican party but, you know, you see joe lieberman, the senator from connecticut, who has been allies with mccain and lindsey graham. but there's a bit of a different tenor in the house that we saw last year with libya, and that is something that i think the speaker was referencing where there's a leariness among members in both parties to get involved in another military conflict. so john boehner is clearly saying here, you know, let's wait and see. it would be prematur

but now these 12 democratic female senators have written a letter to john boehner demanding that mr. boehner say what he is going to do on this issue. and lo, a miracle is upon us. ♪ just a solid note. i thought it was going to be hallelujah. i love these things. there is mystery to them. once in our lives, we are seeing democrat it is using a wedge issue against republicans. instead of republicans using a wedge issue against democrats. this never happens. democrats never do this. wedge issues are one of the most effective and diabolical thing s you can do in politics and democrats don't do them, they are doing it now it. a wedge issue and the republicans use it against democrats is like abortion rights, gay rights, maybe prayer in schools, race often. they take something which is the kind of issue which some democratic voters might not agree with the rest of the majority of that party, making the issue august huge issue with tons of attention and tops of focus that democrats have to deal with, republicans can then drive a wedge between the voters who disagree with most democrats on t

after anti-contraception bill was lost in the senate, it was john boehner offer in the house to vowed to continue the fight on his side of capitol hill, he said before the blunt-rubio thing was failing in the senate, boehner said i think it's important for us to win this issue. so the fight continues, right? no. republicans said they would keep fighting against access to contra accepts in the senate but then they quietly drop it had in the senate. republicans stayed this would keep fighting against access to contra accepts in the house but they have been trying to quietly drop it there, too. but now these 12 democratic female senators have written a letter to john boehner demanding that mr. boehner say what he is going to do on this issue. and lo, a miracle is upon us. ♪ just a solid note. i thought it was going to be hallelujah. i love these things. there is mystery to them. once in our lives, we are seeing democrat it is using a wedge issue against republicans. instead of republicans using a wedge issue against democrats. this never happens. democrats never do this. wedge issues are

so it's delicate. >> maybe john boehner knew that. because the republicans have been lock step about antagonize, never agree, you know, you can say obstructionist vis-a-vis the white house and you have the speaker of the house saying maybe that wasn't a good idea. >> that's who john boehner is. that's reflect inof his personality. that's why the tea party members haven't been excited about his speakersh speakership. he doesn't take every opportunity to embarrass the president. average americans see the moment, they say there's a man i can be proud of. >> you can't be proud of him because he falls like an acco accordion when his caucus gets on his back. >> in three day he may be retracting that statement. >> very good point. >> shades of the grand bargain maybe on the table and boehner had to walk it back. this was a very good -- >> let's isolate this moment and give it to john bayne. >> we will, for today. after the break, cuba welcomes the pope as it welcomes a new infusion of capital itch. we will look at the key changes reshaping t

you heard just part of that from the speaker of the house, john boehner. let's show you how it unfolded first from the democratic side of the aisle, chuck schumer, democrat from the new york at a news conference earlier today. >> by tuesday, the senate will the have passed this bipartisan two-year package creating close to 3 million jobs, many of them in the construction trades which has high unemployment and which has been the drag on our economy. in previous economies, they would lower interest rates, construction workers would start to work on building housing in particular and the economy would get going. we don't have that now and this highway bill will fill that gap. so in an election year like this one, the bipartisan senate agreement is a rare accomplishment. after the senate passes the bill on tuesday, all eyes will turn to the house. the question will again be,ing what will boehner do? earlier this week, he indicated he was open to bringing up the senate bill. then yesterday, he again tried to rally his troops in favor of chairman's original prop

john boehner struggling to keep his conference under control and united. a look ahead at the president's schedule. you are watching "the daily rundown" on msnbc. ♪ he was a 21st century global nomad ♪ ♪ home was an airport lounge and an ipad ♪ ♪ made sure his credit score did not go bad ♪ ♪ with a free-credit-score-dot-com ♪ ♪ app that he had ♪ downloaded it in the himalayas ♪ ♪ while meditating like a true playa ♪ ♪ now when he's surfing down in chile'a ♪ ♪ he can see when his score is in danger ♪ ♪ if you're a mobile type on the go ♪ ♪ i suggest you take a tip from my bro ♪ ♪ and download the app that lets you know ♪ ♪ at free-credit-score-dot-com now let's go. ♪ vo: offer applies with enrollment in freecreditscore.com™. not in this economy. we also have zero free time, and my dad moving in. so we went to fidelity. we looked at our family's goals and some ways to help us get there. they helped me fix my economy, the one in my house. now they're managing my investments for me. and with fidelity, getting back on track was easier than i thought. call or com

nobody wants to negotiate in this. >> what john boehner said, john avlon, was pretty incredible. he did not take the opportunity to jump on the president. >> right. >> he said, actually, back off, this isn't the time to pick on him. >> it was a rare of olds scho school -- old school statesmanship. you don't criticize the president when he was aboard. look, i think the mic slip raises significant concerns, and romney's gaffe, talk of foreign policy is related to saber rattling. the only one that comes out looking good here is john boehner and contribution for him kind of raising the bar. >> i mean, i have to say that i thought that was very -- it wasn't necessary. he didn't have to come in at all. but he chose to. to throw the olive branch out. >> i think that's a legitimate point. who know, perhaps it's because john boehner is looking forward to working with the president in the future. who's to say. i think it was a sensible thing to do. >> speaker boehner often looks like he's a sensible person trapped in the craziness of his own congress and in the intense ideological view of

for the very first time with david letterman and tells dave what the president really thinks of john boehner. that clip later in the show. first let's get to the news live at 5:30 a.m. here at 30 rock in new york city. >>> about 90 minutes from now, illinois voters start heading to the polls in a republican primary where 69 delegates are up for grabs. polls show mitt romney with a lead as the voting begins, some as w a big lead. he's hoping a convincing win in illinois will further make his case that math is on his side. rick santorum will be watching the returns tonight in gettysbu gettysburg, pennsylvania. yesterday he was on the defensive over these comments he made during a final campaign stop in illinois. >> we need a candidate who will be a fighter for freedom. who's going to get up and make that the central theme in this race because it is the central theme thin this race. i don't care what the unemployment rate is going to be. it doesn't matter to me. my campaign doesn't hinge on unemployment rates or growth rates. there's something more foundational going on here. >> mitt romney did

john boehner is bad at his job high poth he sis on this show. just john boehner being bad at his job in this high poth he sis. eric cantor not only quit on friday but quit after getting in a fist fight with another staffer. it was apparently about a piece of legislation mr. cantor's office was due to roll out last week. they thought they had supporters to say nice things about it but that fell through and the two staffers had what politico described as an aggressive c confrontati confrontation, mr. cantor's spokesman quit, we will get that bill from the republicans that caused the near fist fights and quitting. also supposed to get john boehner's transportation bill by now, delayed for weeks because he can't get his side to vote for his own bill. the whole situation politico describes as "only the most recent closed door clash among house republican leadership" republicans running the house has been a disaster. a disaster no amount of will power can keep us from gauking at. we will be right back. wake up! that's good morning, veggie style. hmmm.

. >> john boehner has a new message for the president. ay boehner seemed to support president obama and take a smack at mitt romney saying it's inappropriate to criticize the president when he is overseas. a day later he wrote the white house a letter saying he is alarmed to learn of the message you sent to incoming president vladamir putin. s.e., on this channel at least or on this show, we thought that john boehner's comments in support of the president were very statesman like. >> john mccain did not agree. >> true. you have to wonder how much of this is john boehner legitimately taking up issue with the president, how much is behind the scenes nudging if not ankle kicking from the rest of the party about saying something positive about the president. >> well, if this were behind the scenes you would have to imagine he has two camps fighting with each other behind the scenes to say something nice, then forcing him to come out and sort of -- slap him in the face. this is what you're suggesting, that both of what john boehner has done has

in john boehner's state. it will save 40,000 jobs in eric cantor's state. so, here you have those two leaders there, i would hope that they would not want to see more layoffs in these recessionary times we're finally getting out of slowly and painfully and should take up our bill and pass it. >> your bill, let's talk about the specifics for a moment. it's 108 billion over two years. >> 109 billion. >> that is two thirds the size of the infrastructure request in the president's budget. in a country where the estimated infrastructure gap is in the trillions, does it do enough, are we getting far enough in solving our problem? >> let me tell you that i would much prefer to see a larger bill, but i'm also a pragmatist. i have to find the sweet spot. we can't pass a democrat only bill it won't happen in the senate. we must reach across the aisle and we did it and what we did is we kept the current level of spending, alleged inflation, but here is the great news, we also took a program called transportation infrastructure financing, and greatly increased that and

speaker of the house john boehner saying today that the republica republicans will support this measuren the house of representatives. joining us live from the white house is the principal deputy white house press secretary john ernest. as always, thanks for being with us. what is white house reaction to this plan? >> steve, quite frankly i think the white house here is disappointed. this is very similar if not exactly the same as what congressman ryan proposed last year. and what republicans vowed to back last year. at the end of the day, the consequences for the budget plan that the republicans rolled out are very significant. at the end of the day what we're looking at here is a tax cut for millionaires and billionaires on the order of about $150,000. and making draconian cuts in things like education, basic research, opportunities in new sources of energy and, yes, medicare and medicaid. you know, ultimately this plan would undermine the basic promise of a secure guaranteed retirement for seniors. that's something that the president's not willing to budge on. now, the president actu

when the president spoke on the open mic, it was john boehner who said leave him alone, he's overseas. and stood up for him. i wonder if there's something we can read into that into their willingness to work together. >> john boehner is old school in the best sense. he's back in that tradition when people made deals in congress. the last thing he'd want is an open mic any time he was negotiating anything. but sometimes that's how you carve out progress. the problem is if you listen to kent conrad carefully, members of congress are essentially kicking the can till after the election. they are saying maybe something will get done in the lame duck. when our backs are to the wall. and people realize everything is about to expire. the only thing they're responding to is the prospect of political pain. they're not week driven by what's best for the country or even what they know is in the best interests of the country. it's all partisan politics and the inmates are running the asylum. >> kent conrad tries to leave it open, look, with the bush tax cuts going away, $1.2 trillion in sequestrat

john boehner has a politically tough job keeping the party together.e looking at gaining the senate, which they thought was a done deal, looking tougher. the white house, a couple months ago looked like president obama looked more vulnerable than he does now, he has to hold the people together. >> do the democrats have the alternative vision yet on a congressional level? or do they just sort of tie with the president? >> i think they are tied too much to the president to differentiate themselves. so, no, it's going to be challenging going forward if they are going to be able to do that. >> john boehner, if he loses too many house member seats but keeps control, is his speaker ship still in control? >> i think he'll still feel cantor. >> do you feel he leads that way? >> i feel he led defensively. he's tried some things and has been hauled back. he's on this reel and they keep jerking him back when he gets too far out there. >> shameless plugs, i have to go. >> shameless plug, just joined 365. >> i thought it was a mistake. >> alyssa menendez has a grea

you don't know how much influence eric cantor had in the room if the idea was that john boehner and baracklown up by the gang of six. but one thing i would throw out about the gang of six. how the collective wisdom in washington, d.c. is that their announcement they could have perhaps trillions in new revenue is the reason why this fell over and liberals could not accept anything less than that, dick durbin, someone very close to the president, someone who was working on the gang of six, where was dick durbin during all this? was he not in communication with the white house? that's what i find interesting, someone like that such a good friend, introduced barack obama when he was accepting the nomination. where was the connection there that perhaps the heads up '0 we're going to come out with this, maybe it shouldn't be as public. it seems to be a communication breakdown there that perhaps scuttled this whole deal. >> luke, we're shaping up for an ugly fall or ugly winter, depending on where sort of the battle goes. there have been multiple budgets voted on this week in congress. the only o

what john boehner said was pretty incredible. he did not take the opportunity to jump on the president. he said back off. this isn't the time to pick on him. >> it was a rare and welcome moment of old school statesmanship that partisanship ends at the water's edge. it was welcome. i think president obama's mic slip raises real questions about the fact that he hasn't laid out a vision for a second term yet but romney's gap compiles a problem we have seen which is talk of foreign policy has been limited. that is insufficient to the responsibilities of being president. congratulations for raising the bar. >> i have to say i thought that wasn't necessary. he didn't have to comment at all but he chose the throw the olive branch out. >> who knows? perhaps john boehner is looking forward to working with the president in the future but i think it was a sensible thing for him to do. >> speaker boehner often looks like a sensible person trapped in the crazyiness of his own congress. we saw that in his efforts to get a big deal last summer.

john boehner is giving in and announcing that the house will take up the senate's $109 billion transportation'll show you live pictures. they just began voting on amendments to talk about that bill. speaker boehner spent much of yesterday to get the support needed for the house version which runs about $260 billion. it fell short. >> we're going to continue to have conversations with members about a longer term approach which most of our members want. at this point in time, the plan is to bring up the senate bill. >> luke russert joins me now. is this just a threat to house republicans or something more? >> that's the big question on cap poitol hill. he's telling members of his own house gop conference because we can't find an agreement, we can't come together to put our brand on something, we're going to end uptaking the senate bill. this could almost be like a parent saying to their unruly children, if you can't figure it out, we're going to do it my way. that's what you have seen john boehner do on this transportation bill. he wants to have it. there's a lot of division. some said the cost

. >> john boehner spoke out. what did he say today? thought it was inappropriate to use those words, not getting to the substance but it was inappropriate to raise money on it as if they were the same thing. >> any chance that republicans in congress are pressuring rush limbaugh to back out or do they have the ability? chris matthews says every night i want to hear one republican come out and blast rush limbaugh. i'll put you on the show. we've not seen that yet. >> the what john boehner said is blasting, i'd like to see more blasting. right now you have rush limbaugh spewing hate speech about the president, african-americans. it's nice that people are calling him on this because he's gone too far. >> families have raised one million in a week before the comments rartding sandra fluke. john boehner referred to this fund-raising as a band thing. they are not calling people saying rush limbaugh said this, give us money. i think this is from the passion of women. >> i totally agree. it's really republicans that have been bringing this to

meanwhile the speaker of the house john boehner also asked about gas prices and the transportation bill issues that came up at his thursday news conference on capitol hill. >> mr. speaker, on gas prices, there's been a accord fated effort and messaging this week especially among some of your republican colleagues saying that the president's policies are designed and intended to drive up energy prices to drive up gas prices. do you believe that? >> well, with secretary chu who's made it pretty clear that his goal is to have higher energy prices. i think that's what a lot of our memberses were queueing off of. i'm not sure that the president believes that higher energy prices are what he wants. and clearly, after my discussion with him yesterday, i think he would prefer to see lower gas prices. at least for election day. >> speaker boehner, democrats including nancy pelosi just, she just mentioned that using the strategic petroleum reserve would be a way to lower gas prices. are you supportive of the idea? >> it did not appear to me yesterday that the president believed that that was true

guest: john boehner is in a rough position.he house crafted a very partisan highway bill that was five years and they did not really include democrats in the drafting process. now, they have democrats offering a lot of amendments in committee. a few of them were incorporated into the bill. but, pretty much, the whole velocity -- philosophy of the bill is conservative. it doesn't do a lot of the things democrats want to do and that leaves john boehner in the position to try to get the magic 218 votes entirely within his own republican conference. that is a problem because the conservatives, the tea partyers are not entirely comfortable with how much money the bill spends and that it needs other ways to be paid for besides gas and diesel taxes. he is going to lose some conservatives on the right and he is losing some moderates and urban area republicans on the left because they are not completely happy with the way some of the items in the bill -- he has not been able to find the sweet spot. he could adjust the bill to appeal mor

. >> and that is house speaker john boehner and minority leader mitch mcconnell. telling reporters that the speaker of the house and congressional republicans will remain hopeful that democrats would finally consider republican proposals for jobs and energy production. those are two key areas, part of the discussion today led by the president at the white house. at the briefing today, ben feller with questions to jay carney. >> talk of the speaker being encouraged about what the president had to say about the jobs act and speaker boehner would be happy to work with the president on a true energy policy. your read out there, pretty upbeat too. was there a specific agenda that came out of the agenda that the american people can say that will likely be done? >> well, i don't want a specific piece of legislation or itemize the topics. as we talked about yesterday, i said and we put out a statement from amy brunledge, that the republicans jobs act was put out with elements in it that overlap considerably with the president's priorities and, in fact, echo the very thing

that meant senate republican lead leader the house speaker john boehner that left out the house. you may note that last summer, the president and the republican leader of the house encounter during the debt ceiling talks. eric canter repeatedly interrupted the president during the end of the meeting.canter s president walked out but they have been working on a number of legislative jobs packages. the jobs issue, the economy and gas prices among the issue that is came up at the session. and following their lunch, the speaker of the house and the senate republican leader back on capitol hill meeting with reporters. >> good afternoon, everyone. we had a positive lunch at the white house today. and i think we discussed a number of areas where i believe there's common ground between the two political parties. particularly on jobs and on energy. and i'd like to think that some of the bipartisan bills that we've moved through the house will take -- will be taken up soon by democrats over in the senate. you know, during the state of the union address, the president said that he was for a

in the house where republican john boehner is speaker and eric cantor and majority leader. are republicans doing at running the one branch of elected government they are in charge of? well, as speaker john boehner has had some trouble, everything from forgetting to swear some of his people in on day one to not achieving any of the republicans' stated legislative goals. on this show these troubles have been cataloged as the john boehner is bad at his job hypothesis. there's something new. apparently it's not just boehner being bad at his job in this hypothesis. politico.com reporting that the longtime spokesman for number two house republican, eric cantor, not only quit on friday but he quit after almost getting into a fistfight with another cantor staffer. it was apparently about a piece of legislation cantor's office was due to roll out last week. they thought they had a bunch of supporters lined up to say nice things about it, but that fell through. and then the two staffers had what politico described as an aggressive confrontation that, quote, almost turned into a physi

what does the current speaker of the house, john boehner, think about that? speaker boehner will tell you himself. is war with iran coming and coming soon? israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu will tell you, as he goes "on the record." oh! [ baby crying ] ♪ what started as a whisper ♪ every day, millions of people choose to do the right thing. ♪ slowly turned to a scream ♪ there's an insurance company that does that, to liberty mutual insurance. responsibility. what's your policy? ♪ amen, omen chocolate lemonade ? susie's lemonade... the movie. or... we make it pink ! with these 4g lte tablets, you can do business at lightning-fast spes. we'll take all the strawberries, dave. you got it, kid. we have a winner. we're definitely gonna need another one. small sinesses that want to grow use 4g lte technology from verizon. i wonder how she does it. that's why she's the boss. because the small business with the best tecology rules. contact the verizon center for customers with disabilities at 1-800-974-6006. oh there's tons. french presses, espresso tampers, f