michael isakoff, nbc news, washington >>> tonight a story playing out at the bottom of the world. pilots on the south pole are waiting for the weather to improve so they can finally evacuate an ailing american woman. the manager of a research station has been waiting for weeks for a ride out. nbc's george luewis has the latest. >> reporter: rene nicole douceur suffered a stroke weeks ago. she was elated a flight might be on the way. >> i am excited in my tiredness and feeling a little rush now. so i'm ready to go. >> reporter: but because of treacherous weather at the south pole this time of year, today's flight to evacuate douceur had to be postpone. >> along the coast we have winds in excess of 35 miles per hour steady. chances of snow likely into tonight and the next several days. >> reporter: airlifting personnel from the south pole has always been risky. jerry nielson fitzgerald a physician who discovered she had breast cancer and had only limited ways of treating herself was rescued in october 1999. douceur contends that after she suffered her stroke she should have been res

i'm joined now by nbc news national investigative correspondent michael isakoff.l that going on. they've got thanksgiving as a deadline. how likely is it they're going to find all that money? >> you can almost see the train wreck coming on this. you still have the same fundamental political stalemate that we had last summer. republicans against tax cuts. democrats against serious entitlement reform. how do you get to that magic number of $1.2 trillion? plus, you have the trigger if it doesn't -- if they're not able to reach the agreement, then you get this automatic trigger. here's where the real problem is coming on that one. that would require drastic cuts -- additional cuts in defense spending and you have a real resistance to that among both republicans and some democrats, too, saying the country can't afford serious defense cuts. you have lindsay graham saying he'll introduce a bill to repeal the trigger. if the defense cuts are ordered. and what happens then to the financial markets? all -- >> that's really the key question, isn't it, michael? a lot of peopl