attacking the tea party. >> and the tea party hobbits could return to middle earth, having defeated mordoreah. that is definitely attacking the tea party. but double talking john mccain was suddenly afraid to admit to sean hannity, who's got sort of a hobbit thing going on himself, that straight-talking john mccain actually briefly summoned the courage to attack the tea party. hannity knew he had mccain on the run, and he did not let up. >> i take a different position. i see the republicans, you know, literally work -- competing against themselves, which infuriates me a little bit. this president has not put forward a plan. the tea party is saying, wait a minute. this is why we hired you guys. and you're just saying, we want to cut, cap, and balance, a reasonable, responsible bill. and they are asking, you know, for the republicans to stand firm on it. so it -- i found this as an attack on the tea party. and if you're agreeing with it, and mentioning christine o'donnell or sharron angle, it sounds like an attack on the tea party. >> no. primarily, if you read the whole editorial, it was an

and reform entitlements, and the tea party hobbits could return to middle earth, having defeated mordor the kind of crack political thinking that turns sharron angle and christine o'donnell into senate nominees. >> sharron angle after a series of late night tweets aimed at senator mccain released a proper statement saying this man campaigned for tea party support in his last re-election, but now throws christine o'donnell and i into the harbor with sarah palin. as in the fable, it is the hobbits who are the heros and save the land. this lord of the tarp ought to read to the end of the story and join the forces with the tea party, not criticize it. christine o'donnell said mccain should stop, quote, attacking his party and the grass roots folks that can help drive a solution. and straight talking john mccain took the fight to sean hannity. it was a preposterous mismatch. john mccain, combat veteran, prison camp survivor, war hero, versus sean hannity, the paper tiger who's never met a war he didn't support, and who's never met a war he was brave enough to participate in. indeed, hannity'

masse against barack obama and the tea party hobbits could return to middle earth having defeated mordor. (cheers and applause) >> stephen: then-- then mark meckler of the tea party patriots said of mccain clearly mccain has been corrupted by the ring of power. i got to say-- (cheers and applause) i have got to say i am disappointed. this is a monumental issue that could affect the economy for a generation of americans. four days until the country could default and these clowns in washington are using the lord of the rings to say that john mccain is sauron, that is ridiculous, mccain is clearly saru mann. there he is. look, he lights up. he lights up s that not awesome? okay, now you see, saruman is in league with sauron back here, all right. he's in league with sauron who is actually obama, okay. and the hobbit, the hobbits aren't the tea party, the hobbits are cantor-- kantor and boehner, okay, and let's say lieberman just on appearances. and gandalf is the tea party right here, okay. you shall not pass legislation raising the debt ceiling! (cheers and applause) and then mccain is all-

amendment and reform entitlements and the tea party hobbits can return to middle earth, having defeated mordororter: 50, president obama's age on his birthday this thursday. 2, number of chicago fundraising parties he's planning to attend on wednesday under the assumption a deal will get done. >> we're confident this will be resolved. obviously, if it's not we'll address the schedule accordingly. >> reporter: $1.2 trillion. the amount of dollars owned by china, whose state-run news agency wrote a scolding editorial today about the ugly impact on the donkey and the elephant fight. 70 million, the approximate number of checks the government cuts each month to everyone from soldiers to retirees to astronauts. and the number of checks that won't go out in august if the ceiling isn't raised? well, we'll just have to put a big question mark there because that has never happened. the national plot thickens. thank you for watching abc news. we hope you'll check in on "good morning america."

. >> and the tea party hobbits could return to middle earth having defeated mordor. >> the point is,comparing the debt crisis to "the lord of the rings." they've both got elaborate plots, more characters than you can keep track of and talking about both of them repels girls. >> always a laugh with those comedians. >> oh, good stuff. >> yeah, absolutely. >> all right.

. >> the tea party hobbits could return to middle earth, having defeated mordor. the reality is that the debt limit will be raised one way or other, and the only issue is with how much fiscal reform and what political fallout. >> now, a top official told me the president spent a good chunk of the afternoon burning up the phone lines to capitol hill. spoke to a number of lawmakers, but still no breakthrough. bret? >> ed henry, live on the north lawn. ed, thank you. >>> wall street is showing its displeasure with the debt struggles. take a look at this. the dow dropped 199 today. the s&p gained back 27. the nasdaq finished 75 behind. >>> fox business network correspondent richard edison joins us now with more on the financial implications of what's going on. good evening, rich. >> good evening, bret. more signals and reports pointing to weakening economic growth are weighing on markets. this afternoon the federal reserve reported economic growth earlier this summer continued to slow. investors are also concerned about the debt debate, even if washington raises the d

amendment and reform entitlements and the tea party hobbits could return to middle earth having defeated mordorecal thinking that turned sharon angle and christine o'donnell into gop senate nominees. >> greta: uh-oh. christine o'donnell released this statement: i think it is inappropriate to insult the judgment of the majority of republicans in nevadan >> greta: ouch. what does senator mccain say about that? tune into tomorrow night you can hear from him, right here. you have the best of the rest. where is vice president during these debt talks? these debt talks? jimmy fallon [ male announcer ] this is the network. a network of possibilities. excuse me? my grandfather was born in this village. [ automated voice speaks foreign language ] [ male announcer ] in here, everyone speaks the same language. ♪ in here, forklifts drive themselves. no, he doesn't have it. yeah, we'll look on that. [ male announcer ] in here, friends leave you messages written in the air. that's it right there. [ male announcer ] it's the at&t network. and what's possible in here is almost impossible to say. host: could swit

amendment and reform entitlements and the tea party hobbits could return to middle earth having defeated mordor. this is the kind of crack political thinking that turned sharon angle and christine o'donnell into gop senate nominees. >> he was reading obviously from a "wall street journal" editorial but pretty harsh words about the influence, the effect of the tea party on this debate. what do you make of what he said? >> he sounds angry. i'm pretty upset. and i haven't had the philosophy of sound money and personal liberty that i desire. but i hope i don't sound that angry. because i think that we have to change people's ideas and change people's attitude about government and find out what the role of government ought to be. see, nobody talks about in the midst of all this we should be talking about why we can't be the policemen of the world and why the entitlement system has to be totally revamped. >> do you think the impact of these new members, these tea party members and sort of ideologically you were out in front of a lot of these folks, do you think it's been a good influence right now? d

amendment and reform entitlements and the tea party hobbits could return to middle earth having defeated mordore this is the kind of crack political thinking that turned sharon angle and christine o'donnell into gop senate nominees. >> sean: joining me senator mccain. senator, i read the journal editorial. i'm against the editorial. i read the weekend standard today, i'm angry at them. the tea party didn't cause the death crisis we have. the democrats and obama did. they didn't spend all this money to bring us on the brink of default, the president and democrats brought us to this point. why are you attack the tea party? >> first, i was reading from a wall street journal editorial -- > sean: attack the tea party. >> i was attacking the idea that somehow if -- it was attack the idea that somehow if we shutdown the government then obama would get the blame and republicans would triumph. i disagree. i think that the fact is, if we don't act in the republican house, and i believe by the way, that they will, at least i hope they will, then the ball will be in president obama's court and geraldo river

generally cooler right on through the week here as a cooldown to mordor will like temperatures by next weekend in the low '90s to upper '80s. but for today, plan on posting pictures to be sizzling across the bay area continuing into tomorrow with fire dangers, of course, on the high side due to the fourth of july festivities. >> thank you. >> sounds good. it's going to be really hot. we are looking at almost 90. >> it was a nice night last night. i'm not going to complain. >> thanks for that, jim. we will check in a little bit later on. in the meantime, reviewing the balance of power in california. a lot of things shaking up. lawmakers and voters reviewing the draft maps for the state's congressional and legislative district. gary hill joining us now with more on that. >> good morning. >> well, let's get right to it. the first dress her up by the citizen group. it's no longer you guys drawing your own maps. how is northern california looking? are we going to gain power or lose power customer. >> well, i think at the end of the day it's going to be about the same. i don't see that we ar

amendment and reform entitlements and the tea party hobbits could return to middle earth having defeated mordorre is no doubt the radical righties are at the heart of the problem and everybody knows it. laura flanders and economist dean baker join me next to talk about it. ities. excuse me? my grandfather was born in this village. [ automated voice speaks foreign language ] [ male announcer ] in here, everyone speaks the same language. ♪ in here, forklifts drive themselves. no, he doesn't have it. yeah, we'll look on that. [ male announcer ] in here, friends leave you messages written in the air. that's it right there. [ male announcer ] it's the at&t network. and what's possible in here is almost impossible to say. >>> thanks for watching tonight. sounds like john mccain think his former running mate sarah palin doesn't agree. here's what she said about the debt ceiling crisis. >> i think this is more obama drama it's being created, the august 2nd deadline that he's insisting america must act on incurring more debt, raising that debt ceiling otherwise we will default. we will not default. >> t

balanced budget amendment and the tea party hobbits could return to middle earth having defeated mordorhat do you think of that? >> the old maverick, i guess. you don't hear a lot of republicans taking on the tea party. that's what john mccain was doing. he was railing against the republicans saying basically if there's no balanced budget amendment, forget it, we're not going anything on the debt ceiling. john mccain is not up for re-election for five years. it's fair game to take on the tea party, ali. >> we'll see where that goes today. a lot of sniping between republicans as opposed to between republicans and democrats. there's a rally for progressives on the hill today. what's that about? >> yesterday we saw the tea party types rallying for cut, cap and balance. today it's the progressives out there with progressive senators and members of congress rallying to make sure there's no cuts what so ever to ss, medicare, medicaid, the entitlements. that's what the far left wants. we saw the far right yesterday. ali, you were talking about that crucial vote in the house for john boehner's

. >> and the tea party hobbits could return to middle earth, having defeated mordor.is the kind of crack political thinking that turned sharron angle and christine o'donnell into gop senate nominees. >> you were a member of the new tea party class, christine o'donnell and sharron angle, didn't make it, you did. what's your message to senator mccain? >> well, not directly to him but those who love "lords of the ring" i would rather be a hobbit than a troll. and the hobbits were the good guys. they were the heroes in the battle for middle earth for the battle for good and evil. it is evil to put these bills on to the next generation and not pay them now. the reason i'm against the boehner plan and against the reid plan is both of them will add $7 trillion to $8 trillion of debt in the next ten years. i don't think we have ten years to add trillions more debt to the country. >> and so help us understand. you're not going to get -- you made the case for cut, cap and balance. the president said he won't sign it. leader reid won't bring to the floor of the senate. he has th

balanced-budget amendment, and the tea party hobbits could return to middle earth having defeated mordororter: returning to his role as republican maverick, he read on. >> this is what turns sharron angle and christine o'donnell into gop senate nominees. >> the ring's zinger, ainged at two tea party favorites held up and lost were held up and considered overreach. but it was pointed out the arizona senator wubz courses yesterday up when he chose sarah palin. >> reporter: you haven't seen any hobbits? >> no. >> but john thune said that mccain was trying to make a point that conservatives have already won a major battle. >> i think the tea party and any conservative who wants to see this debate move forward and advance ought to look at where we have come from. we have made enormous stride. it's now reducing spending. >> i need your help. i can't tell you what it is. you can never ask me about it later, and we're going to hurt some people. >> reporter: there are signs that message is going through after they played the clip from "the town" to rally their forces some house tea party-backed f

. >> the tea party hobbits could return to middle earth having defeated mordor.itical thinking that turns sharron angle and christine o'donnell into gop senate nominees. the reality is that the debt limit will be raised one way or another and the only issue now is how -- with how much fiscal reform and what political fallout. >> brian: so does he have a point in his own -- by reading the "wall street journal," that somehow is this is the best deal you can get, republicans realize that, you only have one chamber in washington? >> there is this layer, this segment of the washington elite who, every time conservatives demand that they stand on principle, turn around, throw those same conservatives that help put them in office mistakennenly under the bus and wag their fingers that those of us who stand on principle need to grow up and be adults and learn to compromise and swallow the compromised, watered down pablum that they put there in the first place. may i remind the maverick that he actually shares something in common with sharron angle and christine o'donnell