let's bring in karen finney and vin webber. welcome both.to you, how is the democratic base going to feel if the white house caves in on this extension of the bush tax cuts? >> yeah, not good and it looks like and i think there's a meeting on thursday with congressional leadership and the white house and i think it's going to be very important that going into that meeting and coming out of the meeting, the white house and democratic leaders make it clear that the middle class tax cuts are sort of nongauchable. there are some rumblings today, you've heard some members of the progressive community calling on the white house and democratic leadership to say middle class tax cuts only. not sure if that's where we'll end up, but it's critical that no matter what, the middle class tax portion is in the final bill. >> vin webber, you've been watch ing the budget and deficit commission report. along with everyone else and you have a real expertise in this. what do you think is the tolerance level among republicans for doing something really importan