times we had at the white house. we flew over the canal this afternoon, as you know of william douglas, one of our great justices of the supreme > court. that is where used to run in the afternoon. i was running about 40 miles a week, which is a lot in washington, around here and at camp david on the weekends so i just think about the good times we had and when i fly back to congress and half thankful i am now that i had the super bipartisan support that existed back in the 70's, which doesn't exist anymore, so i think about the similarities and often the difference is. >> host: is there a republican in congress that the senate that you personally learn to enjoy working with the you became friends with? >> guest: senator baker from tennessee was in charge of the republican side and he was a great personal friend of mine and i got wonderful cooperation from the republican side and of course michael in the house was a minority leader in the house of representatives and michael was also a great supporter of mine, so the

used to be in the white house and she had a lot of people understaffed or in the white house going back and forth. hogan hartson, timmons which is a small firm in and out. he used to be head of legislative affairs. these other triangles are just one individual in and out. so you can see that there was a pattern. a significant pattern of people in and out of the white house. the president thought there was a huge conflict of interest. and so one of the first things he passed, the executive order was for the first time in the history of the united states, he said no federal registered lobbyists can go into government, into the white house as mentioned, but also into executive branch level appointments, unless they go through a process of exceptions. now, the exceptions are up to 26 the last count, out of several hundred, that really stop people going in and out of the white house. there's some consequences for that which i will talk about later, this gives you a graphic description of what the president was trying to stop. if you look at reform in 2006 to the president, i'm not going to t

there's the carter white house and in dealing with the hostage crisis white house.n the retrospect is their something you would have done different throughout the course? i know you have set an extra helicopter on the mission but can you withdraw back and look at that whole situation and wish you would have done something differently? >> guest: not really. not knowing if i had known completely what was happening what happened in the future i might have done something different but i don't think so under the circumstances because i was the last on my top management team and letting the shah come to new york for treatment of his terminal cancer. and henry kissinger and dr. brzezinski and vance and all of my advisers were saying let him come, it's a humanitarian thing to do, and so i contacted the president and the prime minister of iran, and i told them i was contemplating having the shah come to have treatment and i wanted assurance from them that they would protect americans who were over there. at that time there were about 8,000 americans in iran working in differ

turned their back on the president over this tax cut deal and there is limited sympathy from the white house and senate democrats. >> it is not acceptable to the house democratic caucus. it's as simple as that. >> reporter: politically, liberal democrats feel ignored and claim the white house cut them out of negotiations in favor of republicans. >> we were told yesterday by the vice president this was a take it or leave it deal. we're saying leave it. >> reporter: substantively, liberals reject changes to the estate tax that would reduce how much wealthy families pay on big inheritances. >> the inheritance tax thing is something that goes far beyond anything that any of us anticipated. >> reporter: that one provision would allow wealthy families to save an estimated $70 billion over two years. liberals argue the rich just don't spend that money on the kind of essentials like food and clothes that would boost the economy. >> you know who benefits from the estate tax? the top 0.3 of 1%. 99.7% of families do not benefit one nickel. >> reporter: today, the president held his ground, telling demo

there's the carter white house and then there is dealing with the hostage crisis white house. in retrospect is their something you would have done different for about the course? i know you said on extra helicopter on a mission, but can you -- with a drawl and look at the polls situation would you wish you would have done something differently? >> guest: not really. if i had known completely what was happening and what had been in the future i might have done something different but i don't think so under the circumstances because that was the last holdout on my top management team in letting the sharnak come to new york infrequent of his terminal cancer. and henry kissinger and dr. brzezinski and all of my advisers let him come. it's a humanitarian thing to do, and so i contacted the president and the prime minister of iran, and i told them i was contemplating in having the shawl, free treatment, and i wanted an assurance from them that they would protect the americans over there and at that time there were about 8,000 americans in iran working in different forces including 6

the white house will argue, there's a mix of groups. sometimes you'll have these several hours long meetings like today. among those ceos, people from motorola, google, cisco, pepsico, ge, comcast, just a few of them. and this is the kind of dialogue that the president has wanted to have with business leaders, to get their ideas on how to boost investment, how to spur innovation and competitiveness, and private sector hiring. no doubt the president and the white house are aware of these reports of nearly $2 trillion in cash reserves that corporate america has sitting on the sidelines. this is the kind of money they want to see pumped into the economy. so they're likely to mention trade, the south korea free trade agreement, the tax deal, which we believe will put money in hands. >> athena jones, this is where we always mention that ge is the parent company of nbc universal among -- >> and comcast might be. >> comcast, potentially. there, we've done our due diligence. >> no relief in sight from the snow, ice, and bitter cold across much

this is about the bush white house. you can't talk about changing the way we do business in washington and bringing about a spirit of bipartisan cooperation and ram through a tax bill in the house. that's the old way of doing things in washington. that's why we're not getting things done. that was march of 2001. i imagine quite a few senators of either party could utter a vote like that and claim they had the high ground on this dealing with this white house. >> well, you got the process and you got the final product. i think we can always complain about the process. probably the house today i think you would agree is probably not very happy about having to accept what the senate is going to pass some time today. so the process is not always very pretty. but you have to look at the final product. what's the end result? is it something good for the country? is it something that the majority of people in the center can support? i think the answer is yes. is it perfect? far from it. but you have to take the good with the ba

is there anything else in the white house strategy that they could have done differently, the white house strategy, closing in in the final negotiation here? >> it would have been two months ago. two or three months ago. what would have happened is barack obama would have said, if you send me a tax bill that has upper income tax cuts included i will veto it. there's an argument the white house will make, they needed the democrats there on their side. they didn't need them there for a veto. what is missed is they actually had the wrong strategy there, too. when barack obama went into the bush tax cuts and said victory is getting most of them extended, they missed what is most important, which is stimulus. the deal he has today -- and this is the difficulty of making this case -- is a better deal than he wanted. it is a better deal than he described as a win. but because they described the exact deal they have today as a loss, it looks bad to people. they should have been arguing for stimulus then not now because stimulus is the key to the economy. and that frankly is more important than th

>> well, the white house, the president themself said he was making calls today to try to persuade house democrats. what's likely to happen is the house will take up what they're working towards happen, but an amendment on the estate tax provision. they believe it's just too generalous to wealthy americans. what they would do is try to put up a measure to make it less generous. the question is whether or not they could actually pass it. i'm told by house democrats, those who may oppose it, it would probably just quickly go to the senate, they would reject it and it would go back to the house. people on both sides of the capital, democrats seem a lot more resigned to the fact that this tax cut package is likely to go through before the end of the year, before everybody's taxes are slighted to go up. >> all right. let's move on. no bill clinton side kick, but the president came into the white house briefing room solo. the mount angered liberals last week by labelling their criticism sanctimonious. >> so you did compromise? >> all right, that was the wrong sound. we were supposed to have th

to white house is. the carter white house and they were dealing with the hostage crisis.in retrospect is this something you would have done differently in europe that course? and their he said an extra helicopter. can you withdraw back and look at that whole situation is and wish you would have done something differently? >> guest: not really. if i had known completely what was happening and might have done something different, but i don't think so under the circumstances. i was the last holdout on the top management team in letting this come to new york for the treatment of the star of cancer. and henry kissinger and all my advisers were saying let him come. is the humanitarian thing to do. so i contacted the president and the prime minister of a wrong. i told them that i was contemplating letting him come to new york for treatment. i wanted assurance from them that they would protect americans. at that time there were about 8,000 americans in iran on working in different forces including 66 members of the embassy staff. they sent me word that they would guarantee that n

i'm llewellyn king, the host of "white house chronicle." it is coming up. we will be looking back at the year that has passed. one of the things that does happen to me this year is that i became interested in a chronic fatigue syndrome, a truly terrible disease that afflicts may be a million americans and which nobody has a cure for, even a diagnosis. there is this lovely book, "the sound of a wild snail eating." it is a little volume, but it is a feel good volume, a christmas volume. it is about the author, elisabeth bailey, who was bedridden and stricken with the disease. it is one of those horrible, and degenerative diseases. she could not move in bed. somebody bought her a snail. later they got another container for the snail. she studied this mail because she cannot move or do anything. she listened to the strange noise that it made. when two of them get together, they have a wail of a time having sex. this is a book that makes you feel good about nature. when she recovered somewhat, she investigated the 19th century naturalist who studied all sorts of

now the white house is calling republican opposition to the s.t.a.r.t. quote, a new low in political stunts. we are live on capitol hill for the developments. >>> plus, right now the house is now taking up a new repeal of don't ask, don't tell. we'll have the latest from the senate, which we're watching and the house. >>> i'm joined by one of the florida school board members targeted by a gunman who opened fire inside a school board meeting. we're learning more about the gunman. we'll find out what that school board member was thinking when the shots were fired at him. >>> and a high school football player is told he needs to cut off his braids if he wants to play ball. all of that, plus more next on "news nation." [piano keys banging] [scraping] [horns honking] with deposits in your engine, it can feel like something's holding your car back. let me guess, 16. [laughing] yeeah. that's why there's castrol gtx... with our most powerful deposit fighting ingredient ever. castrol gtx exceeds the toughest new industry standard. don't let deposits hold your car

chip reid is at the white house tonight. and, chip, it was a very unusual scene there today, to say the least. >> reporter: well, katie, we had been told by white house officials that absolutely this was a private meeting. we wouldn't even be getting a piece of paper describing how the meeting went. but to the surprise of everyone in the press corps, on a moment's notice, everything changed. >> ...a slow news day. i'll bring the other guy in. >> reporter: after more than an hour in the oval office, the current and former presidents made a surprise visit to the briefing room. >> given the fact that he presided over as good an economy as we've seen in our lifetimes, that it might be useful for him to share some of his thoughts. >> reporter: the president spoke for barely a minute, doing little more than introducing the former president, then turned it over to mr. clinton to defend the president's tax deal with republicans. >> the agreement taken as a whole is, i believe, the best bipartisan agreement we can reach to help the l

the white house predicting that once the senate votes on this tax deal this afternoon, house democrats will fall in line. >> we believe that when it comes back to the house, that we will get a vote and that we'll prevail there. because at the end of the day, no one wants to see taxes go up on 150 million americans on january 1st. >> kelly o'donnell is nbc news capitol hill correspondent. kelly, good morning. i guess the senate gets started today, but all the suspense really still is in what the house will do. >> reporter: exactly. the phone lines have been burning up from leaders in both chambers and the white house, calling members to see where they are. and we have every indication that it should go through easily in the senate. this is the first step vote. and it's an important sign, of course. but on the house side, there was a real moment this weekend that seemed to change the shifting sands. when chris van hollen, who's part of the democratic leadership team, said that he didn't think his members would get in the way of this passing. but that really set off kind of looking at thi

. >> suarez: the book is "white house diary."lease thank the 39th president of the united states, jimmy carter. ( applause ) >> ifill: that conversation took place last week in >> ifill: that conversation took place last week in front of live audience at the lincoln theater in washington, d.c. >> brown: finally tonight, the sound and the spirit of gospel in an unlikely arena. it was a mix of spiritual and spectacle. ♪ church revival and american idol style competitions. >> y'all did a phenomenal job. >> brown: 14 flyers from churches around the nation recently competed in the "how sweet the sound finale" a celebration of gospel music started by verizon and held in the verizon center in washington d.c., a venue usually hosting major sports and pop music events but on this night filled with close to 11,000 gospel fans. ♪ outside the main hall, a youth choir displayed its talents as people arrived. and concert goers, young and old, took part in some gospel karaoke. ♪ on stage a wide array of modern gospel styles from the traditional

he will stay at the white house. at the end of the day, i don't know how much of a huge reshuffling we're going to see. chris: remember the song "this could be the start of something big" could they be bringing big shots in, heavyweights into the white house? is it possible? >> it's possible. look at the pentagon and defendant department with gates going as well. chris: heavyweights going in? >> particularly in the economics, this they are going to create a bipartisan team, they need big powers. >> they are bringing in an economic spokesman who can talk to wall street. he is going into the devil's den. chris: pro business? >> he is going to try. >> they may bring somebody big in, but robert gibbs and the people who have been with him in the gipping are going to remain in t ihenn chris: welcome back, michael, tell me something i don't know. >> how many executes have approved a constitution convention for a balanced budget. 31. 11 new states, this sounds like black helicopter stuff, 11 new state legislatures are in rep

and, again, the evidence -- having a meeting with a bunch of ceos at the white house isn't the same as getting the fiscal house in order and having people be in a position where they want to create jobs and spend money again. so i think we're still a long way to go here. >> all right. thank you, sir. it's good to have you on. i want to point out we'll talk to one of the ceos who was in that meeting. his name is greg brown. he's from motorola solutions. >>> what's happening on capitol hill right now does affect you. how, you wonder? we'll have that when we come back. stay with us. nobody in my family ever had a heart attack. if anything, i thought i'd get hit by a bus, but not a heart. all of a sudden, it's like an earthquake going off in your body. my doctor put me on an aspirin regimen to help protect my life. [ male announcer ] aspirin is not appropriate for everyone. so be sure to talk to your doctor before you begin an aspirin regimen. to my friends, i say, you know, check with your doctor, 'cause it can happen to anybody. [ male announcer ] be ready if a heart attack strikes. dona

we await a vote on the measure, which was the result of a compromise between republicans and the white house. there is new reaction to this statement from house speaker designate john boehner who gave an interview with 60 minutes which aired last night. >> governing means compromising. >> it means working together. >> it also means compromising. >> it means finding common ground. >> is that compromising. >> i am not going to compromise on my principles nor am i going to compromise the will of the american people. >> you're saying i want common ground but i'm not going to compromise, i done understand that, i really don't. >> when you say the word compromise a lot of americans look up and go, oh, owe, they are going to sell me out. finding common ground i think makes more sense. megyn: does he have a poupbt? brad blakeman is the former deputy assistant to president george w bush and dick harpootlian is a former chair. do they get a little nervous when they hear someone like john boehner talking about compromising. >> john boehner practiced when he preached in this tax bill. they found common

>> well, i wasn't at the white house. this was about 2:15 in the morning after the assassination, and we were all kennedy detail agents that were standing watch. and president kennedy, if he came outside, he would notify the security command post, and we'd get the word around that the president was out moving. the vice president before he became president usually only had about two agents with him. one would be inside and maybe the other one out. so he had no idea of the protocol. i hadn't slept in this about 40 hours -- in about 40 hours, and i was hallucinating. when i relieved the 12 shift agent, he was still emotionally rocked from dallas, so he pointed at the machine gun we had on post. so not knowing whether it was a conspiracy or not, we were pretty much on edge. when i heard a noise coming from around the house and all of a sudden i had my, the weapon to my shoulder, my finger on the trigger. and be i don't know if you notice it, but you can recognize lyndon johnson's profile. so, fortunately, i noticed that right

something the white house badly wanted. the new s.t.a.r.t. nuclear arms control treaty with russia cleared a key obstacle in the senate. 11 republicans joined every democrat present to support ratification. that clears the way, we're told, for the final vote tomorrow. there's every indication the treaty will be approved before the senate closes up shop for the christmas break. the white house has been repeating over and over, the treaty has the support of every living republican secretary of state. >>> now to the big story in new england. big days at uconn. the university of connecticut. at last night's men's basketball game, the new president of the university, the first woman to be appointed to the job, susan herbst got a big welcome. tonight the women's basketball team could set a record as winningest team ever. men or women in college basketball. ron allen is there. >> reporter: practice before a game is usually closed. but this morning, the university of connecticut wanted everyone to have a good look at its women's basketball team winni

one thing is clear that the white house now realizes it needs to work with the new republican house majoritythe president is finally reaching out to try to warm up what has been a frosty relati relationship with the republican leaders before the next congress is sworn in. david winston is senior adviser for the speaker elect and joins us from capitol hill, and so why is compromise a bad word for both sides. why can't they say, look, we have tocompromise, to get things done in washington. >> well, as the speaker said, when you say compromised, you are saying that you got nailed in a deal. so the finding common ground is what john boehner found when he was in the last leadership with newt, and working with bill clinton, the country could balance the budget, and great jobs and grow the economy and reform welfare, but it is a process of figuring out how the two sides can come together and as he describes finding common ground and get it done. >> how would you describe the relationship between john boehner and barack obama? >> i don't think it is particularly defiant at this point. i mean, the pr

savannah guthrie is nbc news white house correspondent and joining me from a beautiful white house today. savannah, is this the biggest achievement because there's some blowback, he's opened up a real crack in his relationship with liberals in the house? >> reporter: let's put it this way. as some of the cracks are now readily apparent for anybody to see, but i think that some of these tensions between house democrats in particular on the most progressive wing of the democratic party and the president frankly were there for some time. and the tax debate kind of brought it all to the sure taze. that being the case, here at the white house, they're thrilled about this tax deal. they don't like the part about having to break a key campaign promise about letting the bush tax breaks for the wealthiest expire. on the other hand, they feel they've gotten a lot more out of this bill than anyone would have sus spepected it. i had a senior aide tell me if you told me this six weeks ago, that we were going to get the payroll tax cut, stimulus for the economy, i wouldn't have believed you. we will s

democrats are so mad that one democratic senator told me that the attitude against the white house is to stuff it. >> the gop is three weeks from taking control of the house and the white house is doing a charm offensive, what is this? >> this is a surprise. after election day, the white house started reaching out to republicans who are committee chairs. they are getting private meetings at the white house and ben bernanke came to the office of one republican chairman, the agriculture secretary set up a monthly lunch. the president is taking calls for you might call this getting a relationship with them before they start working together. >> both the president and first lady will be at a local elementary school which is unusual. they are signing a bill on children's nutrition. >> that is unusual for them to be together. they will be at the harriet tubman elementary school. they will save the child did obeisance -- childhood obesity is a national problem. >> mike allen, good to see you on this monday morning. >> time for traffic and weather every 10 minutes. we will check in with chief

without it, the white house warned the economy could again plunge into recession. >> if the house changes any provision it could set off a standoff between the house and senate in the final days of the lame-duck. senate republican leader mitch mcconnell warned the house not to remove the estate tax cuts. >> just moments ago president obama addressed the nation about the war in afghanistan. the president released a government review that found the power of al qaeda and taliban is eroding. >> this continues to be a very difficult endeavor. but i can report that thanks to the extraordinary service of our troops and civilians on the ground, we are on track to achieve our goals. >> begun watching tonight at abc 7 news at 5:00. newt at noon, a large group of anti-war activists are protesting at the white house. veterans for peace leading a civil resistance by chaining themselves to the fence outside of the white house. they are demanding an end to the u.s. wars and occupations in afghanistan, pakistan, iraq, and yemen. >>> mayor elected vincent gray will make announcements about the new public

on about subsidies and tax extenders and all that other stuff, that was all hashed out with the white house, that's part of the original deal, so the house has to either swallow the whole thing, or, and this is where it gets very interesting, or they can pass their own version. and then force another round of negotiations between the house and the senate. now, we know from talking to senate republicans, if anything is changed, if a hair on the head of this bill is changed, there are plenty of senate republicans who will walk away from the package. so this is high stakes negotiation and like you said, everybody knows there's a huge tax increase looming if they don't get it done. jenna: we'll see what happens as, again, we watch that clock tick down. thank you very much. >> thank you. jenna: you can see chris' power play by logging on to our great politics blog, foxnews.com/aehq. jon: crisis on the korean peninsula. new military drills from south korea beginning this week as the north threatens nuclear war. what it means for our troops who literally are caught in the middle. >>> plus, tragedy

the white house much leverage. what i expect to happen is that all the bush tax rates will be extended probably for one or two years and then you'll have that tax reform discussion. >> and then we'll all have a merry christmas. >> before we go to tonight we return to the world of what was he thinking? 80-year-old new york democrat charles rangel wants the chairman of the tax writing ways an means committee admitted that he made mistakes filing his taxes. so what was he thinking? >> there's absolutely no excuse for my emission for my responsibility to obey those rules, but i still believe that this body has to be guided by fairness. >> in the end, rangel said he did not emmit himselfs of his actions and he should have been reprimanded not censured. was the punishment fair or snot drop us an e-mail at "washington week" and we'll post your responses online. we have to leave you early to give you an opportunity to support your local pbs station. but we continue, check it out on pbs.org and keep it up with daily develop

he's edited those down for his newest book, "white house diary." last week ray suarez talked to president carter at a forum sponsored by the smithsonian resident associates program in washington.eed id here are excerpts. a >> the existence of the book at all is kind of interesting to me.ng i want to know how your contemporaneous musings at the end of the day instead of being locked away until future historians could get at it came out during your lifetime. >> well, three or four years ago i started reading over some of the diary notes for other purposes. i realized that so many of theno things that i had to deal with that were very serious on the ra desk in the oval office now for president obama to address: the middle east continues, energy, human rights, environment, the koreas, china, afghanistan, iraq and so forth. i would say the main difference between 25 yearsin ago and now is the polarization of the parties. i had tremendous support from republicans in the house and senate. one of my closest workingse allys in the senate was howard m baker

today the white house pushed an extension of unemployment benefits while house democrats pushed through a symbolic tax cut extension bill. chief political correspondent carl cameron following all the action on capitol hill. >> the motion is adopted. >> against bipartisan opposition, house speaker nancy pelosi and liberal democrats passed the tax cut. >> the tax cut for middle income families will create jobs because people will spend that money again, inject it into the economy and create jobs. >> but 20 democrats joined the nearly unanimous republican opposition, which was denied any opportunity to offer amendments and wants all the tax cuts extended for all incomes. >> trying to catch my breath so i don't refer to this maneuver going on today as chicken crap. all right? but this is nonsense. >> now that the house has dealt with taxes and funds to avert a government shut down, all the action moves to the senate where the house tax cut bill is considered dead on arrival. >> house democrats are getting ready to send us a bill on taxes they know won't pass in the senate. this is a purely

the white house strikes this deal.f the paper, of course, bad news out of the afghanistan, bigger deficits, bigger debts. i've just -- just stepping back, this white house always seems to have incoming -- it's constant -- >> a good way of putting it. >> even after striking what they consider to be a great, great bill, a great deal, they get a deal with afghanistan and deficit. it's not getting easier, is it? >> reporter: no. not to give away the store, we've got the nbc/"wall street journal" poll coming out tonight. we'll delve into the numbers a lot tomorrow. i'll say this, you do get the sense in reading a lot of these polls, the public gets that there's a ton of incoming, and they get that. but they still don't have a handle on how the president is going to deal with that stuff. they expect to deal with a lot of the incoming but not giving clues about which way to deal with it. they don't like any way he deals wit. if he tries to go left, he gets hit in public opinion. if he goes right, he gets hit sometimes in publ

up to two terms, he decided to leave the white house. one is ben said, what we call you and he said not mr. president. i am not mr. president. you can call me colonel. i got the title fighting in the spanish-american war. i got it in battle. it is an honorable title. you can call me colonel. tavis: i love how you phrase the statement that he decided to leave the white house and he did. there were those who thought and hoped he would run for a third term and he believed he would have won. which leads me to ask, whether or not -- he did not want to be president. did he enjoyed being president? >> he loved it. he did run for a third term. what you are referring to is when he was president, in 19008 -- 1908, he was offered a third term and he pushed it away at the moment when he wanted it. the sense of finite power. if he felheld onto power too lo, it would begin to correct him, he fell. having spent four years away from the white house, he wanted to get back in. >> he did run for a third term and a man consecutively. let's talk about the po

>>> this sunday, christmas week ends with a flurry of activity in washington and the white house scores a key victory. >> i want to thank the democrats and republicans who put conviction ahead of politics to get this done together. >> but after the break, major challenges await the president in the new year. high unemployment, the war in afghanisn, a ballooning deficit and republican rule, at least in the house of representatives. where does the obama team go from here? with us this morning, senior adviser, valerie jarrett. then, taking stock of 2010. >> it is the law of the land. >> the passage of health care reform, the shock of an oil disaster in the gulf, the rise of the tea party and the ongoing struggles of millions of americans, looking for work in a still fragile economy. where has it all left the country politically? will it be possible for the two parties to find any common ground in 2011? >>> with us, our political roundtable, nbc news special correspondent, tom brokaw, historian and author, doris kearns goodwin. columnist for "the wall street journal" peggy noonan and "washi

by the way, you look very good last week in the briefing room at the white house.e way, the suits want me to remind you what the zipper club. if you had open heart surgery, you have to zip it up. >> bill and i looked confused. we did not get that. >> ryan, do you have any question for the president? >> i'm glad you clarified that. >> i see what you mean. oh, oh, oh. >> well, folks, this proves that "larry king live" really was live. >>> next, reality bites. last night bill o'reilly needled sarah palin on her reality tv show with kate gosselin. >> is that presidential? you and kate gosselin in a forest. people would say, you know, look, it doesn't elevate the governor, the former governor of alaska. and you would say? >> oh, i'm sorry i'm not so -- and i don't do this before i make a statement or endorse a person or portray reality. >> would you appoint gosselin to a cabinet or position or anything? >> what do you think? >> i'm giving you a little jazz, governor, you know how i am. >> i think bill o'reilly doesn't think that palin has what it takes to run a country

that is something that the white house does need to be concerned about. like in the senate, even more in the house, they are going to be relying on republican votes to help push this through, whatever the this is that they do in the house because of the discord among democrats, namely the fact that the wealthiest americans will continue to get tax cuts. >> we heard steny hoyer say today they will allow the vote to go forward on the house floor. do we have any idea when that will take place? >> we don't. it would not be surprising if it would be some time late in this -- late this week. but senate democratic leaders say they're not going to make a final decision until they see a final vote in the senate, which we do believe will probably happen as soon as tomorrow. i should tell you that the vote is still ongoing on the senate floor. they've been holding it open for a couple of hours now. it probably will close at the top of this hour. and it really is overwhelming. the president does have momentum from the senate to push the house. it is so far 80% of the

mike emanuel with reaction from the white house. karl, had today's vote showed support. are house democrats going to try to make changes? >> well, listen supporters of the package got more than 85 votes that is a strong bipartisan statement and build moment nument house. house democrats insisted that there is a change. they want to see the estate tax portion altered. the current proposal calls for a 35 percent tax on inheritance over five million dollars. democrats say it is not big enough. they want it increased to a 45 percent tax on inherances was 3.25 million and that change runs afoul of the president's promise of republicans that the overall frame work would not change and the huge vote in the senate will make that snow ball run down bigger and making it difficult. >> does it now appear after the questions that lawmakers may be back home by christmas eve in >> they have other business to deal with. if they get the tax cut done this week they have to resolve keeping the government operating on saturday. a stop gap measure to fund the budget expires friday night. the

so, david kerley is at the white house tonight where details are emerging as we speak. david, good evening. >> reporter: good evening, david. the president is preparing to break one of his biggest campaign promises. he is poised to extend tax cuts to the richest americans in exchange for helping millions who are jobless. >> senate be in order. >> reporter: tonight, it appears republicans will get all the tax cuts extended. >> i think it's pretty clear now taxes are not going up on anybody in the middle of this recession. we're discussing how long we should maintain current tax rates. >> reporter: for democrats, making this deal, giving in on taxes to get unemployment benefits extended, is a tough pill to swallow. >> we're moving in that direction. and we're only moving there against my judgment and my own particular view of things. >> reporter: democrats tried to extend the tax cuts only to the middle class. >> they're demanding that the wealthiest americans get a tax cut that is 1,000 times the size of the average american. >> reporter: but the effort -- >> mr. cochran

there is breaking news at the white house. after weeks of haggling, nasty debate and political posturing, it appears that president obama and congressional republicans have struck a deal to extend the bush tax cuts and to extend unemployment benefits as well. the question: will democrats go along? senior white house correspondent bill plante is following developments. good evening, bill. >> reporter: good evening, harry. it wasn't easy getting there, >> this is not perfect but it's a potential step on the road to recovery. >> reporter: the deal includes a two-year extension of the bush tax cuts for everyone, including the wealthiest taxpayers in exchange far 13-month extension of unemployment benefits for long-term out-of-work americans. the estate tax returns at 35% on estates worth over $35 million and there is a one-year 2% cut in payroll taxes for all workers. the compromise was all but

ashamed of what happened in the white house yesterday.hink it is a tragedy of the first proportion that a private corporation can be subjected to what i would characterize as a shakedown. >> okay. our next nominee, the mad rant. new york congressman peter king and anthony weiner reminded us why congressional approval is at 13%. acting out a parable of politics, derailing even popular legislation. republican members tried to attach a so-called poison pill amendment to the health bill for 9/11 workers preventing first responders, illegal immigrants from collecting benefits and they dared democrats to vote against it ahead of the election. democrats set up debate under rules that precluded amendments making it certain the bill would fail and the congressmen made it kind of about them. >> what we are doing tonight is a cruel hoax and charade. everyone knows that this bill will not get the two-thirds majority required under the is spengs calendar. blame it on republicans and i've been extremely critical of the republican stance on this issue.

cut from posal is expected to -- proposal is expected to face a key vote today. >> the white house stilldeal will pass both in the house and senate before the end of the year. >>> firefighters rescued more than 100 dogs from a fire at a kennel on sunday. >> it happened on the 1200 of block of neptune drive in calvert county. surae chinn spoke to the owners how it happened. >> get the dogs out of the house is all i was thinking about. >> reporter: jerry woke up to flames inside of their home and tried to save their precious dogs. >> i feel blessed because we could have not woke up and then there would have been no one to take care of the dogs. >> reporter: four of the dogs died of smoke edge halllation but they saved many of them. >> rescued over 100 animals. >> i was concerned because for the longest time i didn't hear any dogs at all barks, and i thought maybe they had been overcome by smoke. >> reporter: the family is trying to keep these animals sheltered. some are kept inside of heated kennels outside and others are sheltered inside of running vehicles. the owner shoveled the dogs in

what was it like to be in the white house at that point during some of those debates? >> guest: that's really good question. i remember seeing it in one session with the bipartisan members know house and senate. were talking about immigration. but i noticed was that the members who had been in the senate longer, whether they be democrat or republican were much more interested in comedy and getting along and trying to come to an agreement. the members have been there and much shorter period of time were much more interested in scoring on both sides of the aisle. i remember at one point, late senator kennedy and john mccain who were the leaders of getting something done noted to the president they were embarrassed by the fact to call their for making and sniping at the meeting with the president which was held in the cabinet room, which is a very prestigious term that can only host meetings that are hosted by the president. only meeting hosted by the president there in that room. the senators were sniping at each other, especially newer ones. other ones were saying let's

in the white house. i want to lay out a new initiative and surprise the country. therefore the congress and did. >> aids can be prevented. anti-retro viral drugs can extend life for many years. tonight i propose the emergency plan for aids relief. work of mercy beyond all current international efforts to help the people of africa. >> bret: with that, the president's emergency plan for aids relief was born. after it was pushed through congress with bipartisan support, the president signed it in to law in 2003. after months of set-up, ironing out the kinks of dealing with various countries and another oval office visit by bono, the aids drugs were finally being delivered to africa. >> they are the best advertisements from america there will ever be. even people who are snide and senator i can about it, about the united states of america, have to admit that millions of lives have been saved by american taxpayers. being effective was the thing we had to prove, that there could be measurable results, that if american taxpayers were going to fork out for the historic ai

this and they don't quite have it in them to buck the white house. some of them think it's a good deal. the white house's thinking is basically they want to get as much money falling out of the economy as possible. this was the way they are able to do it. if it has bad distributional effects and ends up being $115 billion to the wealthiest over two years, that's the price they pay to get the other things they want. to do it. this and they don't quite have it in them to buck the white house. some of them think it's a good deal. the white house's thinking is basically they want to get as much money falling out of the economy as possible. this was the way they are able to do it. if it has bad distributional effects and ends up being $115 billion to the wealthiest over two years, that's the price they pay to get the other things they want. as you said in the opening, it's hard to have confidence that they are going to do that. >> how does austin's remark and the overall attitude here that we will get them in 2012. by then it will be proof that the bush t

the house will vote today on the tax plan negotiated by the white house and republican leaders after easily cleared the senate yesterday. in an overwhelming 81-19 vote, both democrats and republicans agreed to extend the bush era tax rates for all americans and to pass an extension of jobless benefits for the long-term unemployed. $858 billion plan would be financed entirely by adding to the debt and the president pitched it as key to the economic recovery and asked the house to follow the senate. >> i'm absolutely convinced this tax cut plan while not perfect will help grow our economy and create jobs in the private sector. we worked hard to negotiate an agreement that's a win for middle class families and a win for our economy. and we can't afford to let it fall victim to either delay or defeat. so i urge members of congress to pass these tax cuts as swiftly as possible. >> later today the house will vote on the president's proposal but not before giving progressives one last chance to force a change to the agreement that passed the senate. the amendment proposed by congressman ear

our white house correspondent savannah guthrie starts off our coverage from the white house to the hill with a look at exactly what has hpened here. savann, good evening. >> reporter: good evening, brian. the president portrayed this bill as a victory for the middle class but had to backtrack on a key campaign promise to let those lower bush tax rates expire for the wealthiest americans. at the bill signing today at the white house, it was notable who wathere and who wasn't. republican senate leader mitch mcconnell came, but democratic leaders nancy pelosi and harry reid did not, though there were plenty of other key democrats there. the president acknowledged this had been a tough compromise for some in his party to swallow. but he said americans expec their leaders in washington to work together. >> candidly speaking, there are some elements of this legislation that i don't like. there are some elements that members of my party don't like. there's some elements that republicans here today don't like. that's the nature of compromise. yielding on something each of us cares about to move

just a slice of life in the nixon white house.ay be surprised to learn, as we were, julie nixon was 24 and married at the time of that telephone call. if you would like to hear more of these newly released conversations, follow the link on our website, nightly.msnbc.com. >>> when we come back here tonight, lots of helping hands making a difference close to home. and the bourgeoi-sie ♪ ♪ but i really love my bank ♪ i hate-- didn't quite catch that last bit. i said i really love my bank. right... is there a problem ? it's not really raging, man. uh, we were hoping for more raging ? well, you said write from the heart. yeah... don't do that. at ally, you'll love our online savings account. named the best of 2010 by money magazine. ally. do you love your bank ? [ male announcer ] got a cold? [ sniffles ] [ male announcer ] not sure what to take? now click on the robitussin relief finder at robitussin.com. click on your symptoms. get the right relief. ♪ makes the cold aisle easy. ♪ the robitussin relief finder. it's that simple. now is

the white house could, the house i should say, the house could vote today on extending the bush era taxhe debate on the military's don't ask, don't tell policy. the house has already approved repealing the ban on gays and lesbians serving openly. and also the new s.t.a.r.t. treaty with russia. let's head to capitol hill now, brian brianna kieler keeping track of things for us. >> reporter: the headliner in all of this, all these things that congress is trying to get done is tax cuts, those bush era tax cuts and the house is set for a vote. we're expecting this to come this afternoon. and the first vote we're expecting is one that would change that compromise president obama struck with senate republicans because a lot of liberal democrats in the house don't like the estate tax provision of it, they feel like it's too generous and it's a give away to the wealthy, but the republicans say this allows businesses to be passed down to generations without completely depleting the worth of them. we're expecting to see a vote on that, if it were to fail because the outcome of that is uncertain,