mark halperin. >> halperin. >> check. >> okay, i can go to him. ark, chuck schumer, i think, goes to great lengths to tell liberals, to tell progressives, hey, listen, you're not going to get them perfect. and you may even stop yourself from getting the good. so let's be realistic and let americans know, we don't want to take their guns away. we just want reasonable, rational limits on these assault weapons. >> you know, joe, i agree with you. if you want to move legislation in reaction to what happened in connecticut, having senators from new york and california be the face of it is not the smartest thing. but chuck schumer, go read his book, look at his as a strategist. he has been, like rahm emanuel, someone who understands that the country's not as progressive as their instincts are. and he's a great student of how to take the policies he wants to move forward and get them to be a more centrist sheen, a more centrist coalition. and i think his words to the left as well as to the center are pretty smart, and i think as a strategist, he's going t

look how cute. >> let's go to mark halperin and you keep looking at those teeth. ongratulations. >> mika's interest in one direction could not sustain her very long, sadly. >> exactly. what did you learn? >> i think we'll get a deal, still. >> do you really? >> yes. >> you feel confident? >> the second term for the president and the economy is even more important to both parties. >> what have you learned? >> i think the president has learned that he needs to stand to

look how cute. >> let's go to mark halperin and you keep looking at those teeth. ongratulations. >> mika's interest in one direction could not sustain her very long,

and donny deutsch, mark halperin, let me bring in mark really quick.his week, this week, after the most horrific act, i think, in american -- recent american history other than 9/11, i can't think of anything that has scarred the soul of americans than what happened at sandy hook. you have had complete utter silence from republican leaders. on some of these key issues. and so there are americans out there that are thinking okay, wait a second. is this the party of lower taxes, or is this the party of assault weapons and high-capacity magazine clips? is this the party of balanced budgets, or is this the party of contraception wars going back to the primary process? this party has painted itself into an extreme corner by going down all these various rabbit trails that have nothing to do with our core of who we are as a party of small government. and again, i want to just put these numbers up one more time. the cnn numbers that come out, again, on the eve of this disastrous plan "b" vote. i can't think of any time the republican party, my republican party

good morning, i'm mark halperin and this is "way too early." thanks for being up with us today. we have a lot of news to talk about on this thursday, including new fallout on that scathing report on the state department's, quote, systematic failures of protecting u.s. diplomats in benghazi. >>> plus, nasty weather bearing down as millions of travelers prepare to hit the road for the holidays. we'll have the latest forecast there. >>> first, let's get to the news here in new york city. five days out from christmas, 12 days away from the fiscal cliff deadline that could potentially cripple the economy. house republicans are expected to vote on plan "b." that's speaker john boehner's safety net proposal that would maintain bush era tax rates for everyone making a million dollars or less. >> about providing and working with us on a balanced approach. tomorrow the house will pass legislation to make permanent tax relief for nearly every american. 99.81% of the american people. then the president will have a decision to make. he can call on senate democrats to pass that bill or he can

." >>> "the new york times" reports "game change" co-authors mark halperin and joe hileman have signed on to write a new book about this year's election. the title, "double down: game change 2012." and like the last book that chronicles the obama/mccain campaign, this will eventually be turned into a show on hbo. >>> as more states move to decriminalize marijuana, you can add one more name to the list of people who think that is an idea worth exploring. that would be former president jimmy carter. >> i'm in favor of it. i think it's okay. i think we could watch and see what happens in the state of washington, for instance, around seattle, and let the american government and let the american people see, does it cause a serious problem or not. all drugs were decriminalized in portugal about ten years ago, and the use of drugs has gone down dramatically. >>> elsewhere, you have heard stephen colbert's name mentioned, we think in jest, as the next senator from south carolina. well, his potential colleague, john mccain, was asked what he would teach colbert if he landed a job. mccain joking

joining me is mark halperin, senior political analyst and editor at large of "time" magazine. ark. great to see you. let's talk about what has not been discussed enough, some of the other consequences if they do nothing which is the sequestration and huge defense cuts which many people, including leon panetta, say would be terribly damaging to our national security. >> right now it's the big thing and people aren't talking about as far as i'm concerned, not just secretary panetta, but the pentagon, the joint chiefs, a lot of republican defense hawks, a lot of the defense contractors say not only would the level of cuts in the automatic sequester portion that goes to defense be harmful to national security, but that it would be a huge hit on the economy because there's so many jobs involved. so my sense is people don't want to talk about that because it would raise a lot of alarms but in some ways is more serious than the tax cuts even though they don't all occur at once. it would sends us down a difficult path. it's already created a lot of uncertainty in the defense world. >>

take a live look at new york city and back with us on set we have mark halperin and jon meacham, veryoing on in washington? >> bad dynamics. those of us who wanted to be optimistic there would be a deal, the white house has blasted boehner's counteroffer as much as the republicans blasted the president's, and they're just -- people like to say, oh, in the public they're going to posture. >> i hear chuck todd reported behind the scenes a top aide, willie geist. i'm not really good at reading the tea leaves. maybe this is good. maybe this is bad, but a top obama aide told chuck todd if these republicans were in power when abraham lincoln was there, there would still be slavery. does that help the process move along or does it hurt? >> reading it between the lines. i think that's a bad omen. we still have four weeks, though. >> yeah, absolutely. we have i believe 27 negotiating days. >> there is a rule in it life -- >> what is that rule? >> i think slavery analogies and hitler jokes never work out well. >> you don't do that. >> it never ends well. >> if you're a reporter, you do not need