tip o'neill and ronald reagan.y managed to make politics work besides their philosophical differences. believe me, they were different. considering all the dysfunction in washington lately, it's my hope this book will remind people it doesn't have to be this way. and here's a glimpse into that story. >> gentlemen, we will drink a toast to the president of the united states. >> washington was different back then. they were different. ronald reagan came to the presidency in 1980 with a mission. he wanted to get things done, cut the size of government, cut taxes, end the cold war. >> and that will be weekend reading for tip o'neill. >> tip o'neill was the speaker of the house but understood voters wanted something new. if reagan had the votes, he would have his way. >> i enjoy his company when i go over there. philosophically, we're completely different. do i agree with his politics? absolutely no. >> government worked back then because politicians talked to each other. i know because i was there behind the scenes i w

tip o'neil was in there with him. a bad fight, one of the worst they had ever seen. 15 minutes later they were in the state dining room jovial at a budget meeting. >> every time they get into an argument, whether tip said something bad about mrs. reagan by accident, think it was off the record, he'd call up and say, what do i do? he'd say, write a hand-written letter. you'll be okay. reagan called him a demagogue. he called him the next day, let's be friends again. they were always drawing limits. that's what old-school politics was like. you knew when you'd crossed the line. reagan knew the country had an 11% unemployment rate. david stockman apparently came to the president right after they had that big donny brook. he said to it the president, we're pretty close here. so he goes running after tip in the other room and says, come on, i think we can get together on this. he sends stockman up the friday before he got married. remember, he gets married then. he goes up that friday before, meets with him, and cuts a bil

suppose tip o'neill was advising john boehner? >> i think what obama could do-- and he hasn't done-- is spend a lot of time with members of congress. reagan -- >> rose: that's the story here. >> reagan respected congress. he respected that all those guys had been elected. he did respect them and he spent a lot of time with them. >> rose: he'd go right over their heads, wouldn't he? >> but he'd have tip to dinner, spend time with him, jim baker was the best there was. he would come to tip and give them heads up on what was coming next out of respect in the back room. "tell nobody about it." he'd go to his house. reagan was always sending signs of respect to tip, he knew they was co-branch of government and it was equal. none of this "i'm better than you." >> rose: back to the book, when you look at these two guys, are we simply looking at a time that will never again be? or is simply a question of the philosophy of the tea party members is one of, in their own minds, it's principle, principle principle? >> rose: >> well, i think th

democratic speaker of the house, tip o'neil.oining me now is the man who wrote the book on that political partnership, chris matthews, host of msnbc show, "hardball," and author of "tip and the gipper," when politics work. >> well said. i agree with everything you said. people think this is a love story of reagan. this is an adversary story. but it's limited. like limited government, conservatives believe in that. how about limited politics. you compromise. and reagan, the governor, you point out, was better than reagan the pamphletier. and on taxes, you're right. they saw he cut too much in '81. he came back totally the other way in '82. on social security, he had a progressive solution. tax the rich and make sure the poor had an adequate health care, i mean, adequate retirement pension program for the federal government. i mean, ironically, and even on the defense spending, you could argue, i wouldn't make the argument, but a lot of what he was able to do with gorbachev, he had the heft on his side, because they believed in th

it worked against tip o'neill back in the '80s. he was a democrat, of course, right? all the republicans and a few conservative democrats banded together and voted to seize the floor from tip o'neill. just for a second so they could pass one vote. so they could pass something that president reagan wanted passed at the time. this is an obscure parliamentary trick, and it almost never happens. but if you have enough rebels in your speaker's own party who are willing to side against him for just one vote, theoretically and even sometimes historically, this has worked. it's worked in the past. and louise slaughter tried to make it work again today. she tried to get a handful of republicans to join with all the democrats to essentially take over the house from john boehner for just a second. for just one vote. one vote with which, of course, they would pass a clean fund-the-government bill and end the shutdown. louise slaughter said yesterday that she was going to do this. she tried it today, and it failed. no republicans were willing to side against john boehner, even for

. >> rose: tell me about the tip o'neill you knew. >> three tip o'neills, like a lot of people are three people. one is santa claus. he is what everybody thought he was. a big liberal, look out for you if you've got a brother, somebody in trouble, he will be your best friend. especially you're a poor kid or old sick person. if you're some rich kid from harvard he hasn't got time for you. second, black irish which is that he resents a lot of people on the other side, resent of people who had it made, i think, and the third guy was the politician. the pure politician. i've always said the pure coalition between the politician and santa claus ran the show but the other black irish guy was there. he talked about cutting glass harvard when he was one of the townies and he would it is there with here iss and the overseer was like a simon hey from who would say "off your ass, o'neil. " and he talked about watching rich kids with their boater hats drinking champagne with complete impunity during prohibition. he said "they were rich, they could do anything they wanted to. i vowed my people would

i served as an aide here on capitol hill when tip o'neill was speaker of the house. i think he's one of the greatest speakers that ever served in the united states house of representatives. and he was a friend of mine as well. and i will tell you that speaker o'neill would never go on national tv and threaten to default on the debt for this nation. he would never, ever act in a way that might bring this economy to ruin. he put country before political party. and i would also say that speaker o'neill understood the importance of working in a bipartisan way. he would be disgusted with the way this house is being run today. the bottom line is, he would be scratching his head right now wondering why we don't just resolve this in a simple way. there are 200 democrats who have signed a letter saying we will cooperate with the republicans to pass a continuing resolution, a clean continuing resolution at republican levels and we know there are 20 republicans in the house who have publicly said that they would support such a move. that's the majority. we could open up the gov

he also worked in the capitol in the 80s as a top aide to the speaker of the house, chip o'neill. he had to work with conservative president president ronald reagan. he had to work on an embattled economy. doesn't that sound familiar? well, so, why are we not making that difference now? chris dissects new dynamics in his book when politics worked. >> how can there be a time when two opposites knew how to pray together, represent the country together, do business and get things done, even they disagreed a lot. >> the subtitle of this book -- . >> you mean idea the book came out first and then the government shoutdown? [ laughing ] bill o'reilly is the burning bush. he talks to god. >> we won't even go there. we know he is alive. when politics work is your subtitle. >> i am not going to be partisan, but the problem right now is this 30 or 40 members of the republican caucus eventually saying no is the philosophy right now. we are not dealing with the other side. if it has obama's name on it, we want to say no, we want to kill it. tip and reagan were 180, but they believed in deadlin

o'neill proposed avoiding harm to either party. with the federal government closed for business and a default on america's credit in a few weeks, chris matthews offers a look back and path forward. chris, congratulations. >> thank you. >> it could not come at a more important time. >> i worked there six years. it's sort of my material. the one part in my life i was at the berlin wall, in south africa when they had the election there. i was with this guy every morning. chris, what do you hear? anything special. where are we at? i had to tell him everything. he had been elected 50 times to office, big liberal, last mant standing against this incredibly charismatic president. at the end of the day, these two guys would find a way to deal. they would do it in a gruff way. reagan would say tough things. sometimes alan greenspan had to be brokers for social security deal, tax reform, lower all rates to 28%. the rich loved it. but same rate for long-term capital gains and earned incomes. liberals get a piece of it, conservatives get a pie

tim o'neil was speaker of the house. but even though democrats had control of the white house and both houses of congress, the republicans in the house had figured out a way to attach to the debt ceiling an amendment to the united states constitution. they wanted to attach a balanced budget amendment to the constitution and make raising the debt ceiling contingent on passing that constitutional amendment. so, even though the republicans were in the minority, they had figured out how to do this, and they were convinced that this so, even though the republicans were in the minority, they had figured out how to do this, and they were convinced that this was a genius strategy and that it would not only work, it would make the democrats look terrible in the process. the top republican in the house at the time was congressman john rhodes of arizona, and he told "the new york times" when all this was happening, "i think the democrats fear a balanced budget like the devil fears holy water!" mwah! so, while three mile island melt

first social invitation to tip o'neill and his wife. >> and dinner at the white house.ng to dislike this guy. so they get upstairs. they have dinner the whole night. they drink. stiff drink to start with. ayou were suggesting, testing each other. keep telling each other the best irish story they ever heard. reagan during his down days, got a job working in vegas before he got the ge theater, telling irish jokes on stage in vegas. knew a bunch. tip told jokes. grew up with them. and he was a hollywood irishman. they had that in common. definitely. >> reagan gets in there. he does the big tax cut. tip thinks this is crazy. you cannot increase defense spending and cut taxes and balance the budget. can't be done. in fact tip is proven right. within a year, 1982, next year. reagan get involved with bob dole in trying to pass a tax increase. they overdid it. >> tip had a choice. let this guy sink in his stew. what i like. they didn't play mickey mouse. they weren't cheap. cheap shot artists. when the guy was in trouble. they would go to the guy. tip went to the republican par

he baited tip o'neill, into a fight that made national news. fight in which o'neal became the first house speaker in near lou 200 years to have his word taken down. this was newt's game, exploiting television to appeal directly to the grassroots, to convince conservatives across america that he was only republican in wash work who was really going to fight for them. this is how he made his name. not guy passing laws, not by chairing a committee, not by working with his colleagues. the same outside game that ted >>> good thursday morning. right now on first look, no deal. a meeting of america's top leaders produces next to nothing as the country begins feeling the effects of a partial government shutdown. exclusive interviews, president obama speaks out and benjamin netanyahu lashes iran. >>> tragic accident. a north carolina church group's happy outing takes a horrific turn. >>> plus, legendary espionage and cold war writer tom clancy has died. a close call for air commuter and gas prices continue to drop. >>> good morning. i'm

he baited tip o'neill, into a fight that made national news. fight in which o'neal became the first house speaker in near lou 200 years to have his word taken down. this was newt's game, exploiting television to appeal directly to the grassroots, to convince conservatives across america that he was only republican in wash work who was really going to fight for them. this is how he made his name. not guy passing laws, not by chairing a committee, not by working with his colleagues. the same outside game that ted

the problem is tip o'neil knew had el was a politics.elieve he's a transendant historical figure. why does he have to get down in the mud with the -- >> i live the psychoanalysis, it's very profound you're asking the president to negotiate -- >> hold that thought. >> he said he didn't want to negotiate. >>> hold that thought. it's a brilliant thought. i don't want you to forget any of it. the panel will stay with us. we have a little more work to do. >>> first up, what does our buddy jay leno think of all this take a look. >> how many are worried about the government shutdown? how many more are worried about it starting back up? yeah, that's the problem. let's see. let's fay it. we do have a lot of nonessential employees, like the treasury secretary. why is he there? we don't have any money in the treasury. it's not like he's counting. the room is empty. >>> all right. let's get right back to our panel, one final time. let me get this right, because i know you had a brilliant thought. you're telling me that ronald reagan could get along

he baited tip o'neill, into a fight that made national news. in which o'neal became the first house speaker in near lou 200 years to have his word taken down. this was newt's game, exploiting television to appeal directly to the grassroots, to convince conservatives across america that he was only republican in wash work who was really going to fight for them. this is how he made his name. not guy passing laws, not by chairing a committee, not by using stunts to make him self adhere to the base, the kind of hero that any republican looking to get ahead in this world will thing twice before attacking. newt gingrich, more than any body else, may be responsible for where we are, what we are now seeing playing out. inside the halls of congress. he wrote the script. ted cruz is following it to a t. here we are. now barreling towards day three of the first government shutdown in nearly two decades. no end in sight. newt gingrich may be gone. but his legacy absolutely lives on. that does it for us tonight. rachel will be back tomorrow. and i will see

he baited tip o'neill, into a fight that made national news. in which o'neal became the first house speaker in near lou 200 years to have his word taken down.

speaker tip o'neill was actually fighting for the fairness doctrine. it wasn't over bigger government spending or more government spending or $17 trillion of debt or a massive, much larger health care program. it was over an ideology. so if we can't even come to the table and talk about the problems that we face today, washington is going to continue to be broken for a long time. i hear the frustrations from my colleagues about the furloughs, and i sympathize with that because i have constituents in the third district in indiana who are going to be furloughed, who are furloughed, but at the same time the miles per hour people have been -- there have been many americans who have been furloughed without pay who don't have work because of the uncertainty that obamacare has had on this economy. and i believe that it's time that we stand up for the american people rather than for the american federal government and start looking out for the people in this country and saying, we are with you. thank you, mr. chairman. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: th

farrah did leave lott $100,000 in her trust, and nothing for o'neill.ting, to say the least. >> this one not over by a long shot. >>> and coming up on "good morning america," the reunion we can't wait to share with you. the entire cast of "do the right thing." >> mookie. >>> "play of the day," it will have you jumping. it will -- it might make you really dizzy. but it's awesome. go nowhe what does that first spoonful taste likok. honey bunches of oats. ching! mmmm! mmmm! mmmm! wow! it's the oats. honey. yeah. honey bunches of oats. this is a great cereal. ♪ [ male announcer ] love your kitchen even more. get stainless pull-down faucets, your choice only $199 at lowe's. ♪ >>> right then, here's "the play of the day." >> sit down for this one. do not adjust your sets. it will feel like a special effect. all it really is a guinness world record. mckayla clark. ne cheerleader in westlake high school in atlanta. look at the tv, by the way. look at this. >> sam, let's do one. >> this is really happening. >> wow. not trick photography here. >> not trick photog

o'neill's vehicle towered over paul's tiny car and apparently the photoupset o'neill, but ron was ablet in the car. o'neill chose for the lincoln. >> my first car was a chefit. but i told friends it was a vet. >> 1973 grand torinno. $625. nice, nice. >> and rocky start for obama care, but the white house is not worried despite millions of people seeing this when they logged on. the administration is calling the glitches a good sign. the president comparing obama care to apple. >> consider that just a couple of weeks ago apple rolled out a new operating system and within days there was a glitch and they fixed. it i don't remember anyone saying that they should stop making iphones or ipad. ntechnical problems are plaguing the health care.gov. and in the last hour, i clicked on the links for all 36 and got the same error message. there is a lot of visitors on the sight right now. there it is similar to the error message on most of the site pages yesterday and when heavy traffic and a faulty security page created headaches for many consumers. >> i had agents and brokers tell me if you like

a classic example is the way republican ronald reagan worked with tip o'neill, relationship characterized by spirited fighting and profound respect. as chris matthews writes, tip and the gipper when government worked. they believe government works best when people play by the rules. here's a quick look at that story. >> government worked because politicians talked to each other. i know because i was there behind the scenes and in those days i was a top aide to the speaker. that's me there checking to see how things are going. it was the toughest job i ever had but it was a front row seat to history. >> i remember when i first met president reagan myself in tip's office, welcome to the rumor we plot against to break the ice. in turn reagan reminded me, it's after 6:00, the speaker says in washington, we're all friends after 6:00. it was that spirit that made the historic compromises possible. >> author and "hardball" host chris matthews is here. thanks for being here. >> thank you. >> you've written a book that's remarkable for the personal history you weave with american history. the stor

about how president reagan and tip o'neill actually compromised to get things done.of wonders. i'm enjoying it. chris is an old friend. welcome to "mad money," chris. how you been? >> thank you, jim, so much. >> i'm enjoying the book. when i read about social security, which i think is actually going to have a potential stoppage, neither man would ever even dream of that happening. everybody would come together. what has happened since then? >> well, they were -- they were at odds on social security. reagan had that strange history back in the '60s when he was very conservative, saying he wanted to become -- make the program voluntary, which of course scared the heck out of the liberals. and then of course he tried to reduce the colas and penalize early retirement, take it from 80% if you retire at 62 down to 55%. he tried a number of those things. he basically lost the '82 midterm election over that and then decided now it's time to deal. and jim baker, the chief of staff to the president, let's not take any more heat on this. let's get this monkey off our back. and

he worked for tip o'neill.taff for bill clinton, sorry, director of the omb under president clinton and president obama. now of course he is the treasury secretary. i asked him he has seen many a debt ceiling raise and wanted him to reflect on times gone by and what we can learn from them now. >> it is interesting, you look back at the 1980s. at time people thought it was most partisan era ever. there is nostalgia for halcyon days of bipartisanship. i worked for a speaker who made the decision the one thing american people will not tolerate and obstruction. he allowed for bipartisan votes and sometimes lost those votes but allowed the house to work his will. that is how the reagan economic plan was enacted in 1981. on the debt limit, there was the notion of loyal opposition. if you were the majority you had to cast the hard votes ultimately to raise the debt limit. we need to get back to a spirit of patriotism like that where you don't end up with this kind of self-inflicted wound being inflicted on the economy

. >> i was here with tip o'neil, and you had this kind of coalition.s virtually all the republicans. >>> i think what has to happen is speaker boehner has to accept the nothing what is right is to building a coalition they can pass bills in the house, but they're going nowhere. >>> is the problem is you passed -- it will not pass the senate or will not be signed by the president. you want to make it work for the american people. so you say to the president, i think it requires a working -- and the speaker, the leader has made it very clear, she's interested in getting things done for the american people. and maybe the investments. >> that's just not been the case. we actually passed a bill to fund the senate institute of health. it was a bipartisan vote. >> oh, so you -- if we could get an agreement, you're saying shut it all down? >> no, no, we didn't -- >> that's not a reasonable approach. >> a very practical matter. it's virtually impossible for me to -- that john boehner can -- that are acceptable. it's possible to imagine you could have a bipartis

people don't talk to each other tip o'neill and ronald reagan are not getting drinks. yacht i got a fatah. where was interconnected washington during the shutdown? were they concerned we would default? or did they know what would happen all the time? >> that is a great question. if you looked at what drove the shutdown will get ted cruz. he has taken a big great deal of oxygen with this conversation. [laughter] he has very deftly taken advantage of the world we have allowed to grow up which is someone who does not care about accomplishing anything in the senate. does not care about being on a committee or the respect of his colleagues but he seems to be caring about running for president, a five to percent of c-span viewers the, the c-span ratings are 500% they've watched his filibuster. he wants to run for president the only thing that matters to him in many ways the way he conducts himself politically how to build his branch in a very angry and impassioned constituency within the republican party. that is how it is playing in all but as i said none of the people very

i knew tip o'neill as chris new tip o'neill and it seemed to me they were both given a gift.tment gene in them. tip actually liked people. i could see as tom cole was speaking just a few moments ago, i could see tip o'neill with his arm around tom cole. i could see the two of them becoming fast friends. members of opposite parties, fast friends, with one objective, make government work for the people that we represent. that's gone. >> my favorite story that didn't have to do with these two guys but the times. they had a good fight on the floor. i love thursday night because everyone gave final speech. everybody got mad and there would be a vote and then everybody would go home. one night after one of those great fights, two guys fighting with each other on the floor. republican guy with red face and democratic guy with red face. the crowd is emptying out. he walks across the floor. says hello to the other guy and says what are you doing this weekend and say hello to your wife for me. and walked out. if james madison saw that, he would say that's what we wanted. that's the goa