vote is the ongoing brawl inside the republican coalition over that party's foreign policy direction. and when watching the news today, each new position for or against the resolution from both democrats and republicans often came as a genuine surprise. citizens looking to their political leaders for direction are likely to find themselves profoundly contorted. joining me now is tommy vietor, former national security spokesman in the obama administration, co-founder of fenway strategies. he was back in the white house today to help the president win support for intervention in syria. ben dominic, at think tank the heartland institute. he co-founded "red state" a conservative blog. eli lake, senior national security reporter from "newsweek" and the "daily beast." explain this to me. i found the moment in the hearing today that was most interesting was several senators saying, if you think you have the authority to do this without coming to congress, why are you coming to congress? and if the vote doesn't go your way, isn't this a preposterous bit of theater? >> i think the vote is going to go their way. i think that the president believes that this action will be stronger if it is a u.s. action that is supported by congress, supported by more of the american people and not just barack obama stepping out and taking a limited strike. >> let's be clear about supported by the american people. i mean, you know, the t.a.r.p. bailout vote a very famous example. this vote if and when it comes about, i think probably -- i don't see the polling on this