0 you think is cereal, it's part of a balanced breakfast on "the ridiculist." that does it for us. we'll see you an hour from now at 10:00 p.m. eastern. a krrks 3c 360 later. hope you join us for that. hope you join us for that. piers morgan starts now. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com this is "piers morgan live." we welcome to the viewers in the united states and around the world. a government shut down for 16 days, spies spying on spies and online health care sign up, more complicated than doing your taxes all designed by canada company. that and the president maintained your coverage won't change. >> if you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor. if you like your private health insurance plan, you can keep it. we'll keep this promise. >> of course, he didn't keep any of those promises as it turned out and what about the pesky nsa story? you can't -- >> keep this promise to the american people, if you like your doctor, you will be able to keep yr doctor, period. if you like your health care plan, you will be able to keep your health care plan, period. if you like your doctor, you will be able to keep your doctor. if you already have health care, you don't have to do anything. >> we like that so much we decided to play it all over again. we're also having ironically our own technical problems, that go to show, mr. president, it can happen to the best of us. our special guest, bill, the host of hbo's realtime. it goes to show you -- >> took the wind out of your sails. >> i was about to say they are running a terrible system. >> if you live in a glass house, glass table as you did here. [ laughter ] >> the last few weeks, has it been as i said a comedian's dream? >> they said that about everything. it's always a comedian's dream. that's what we do, we work hard and that the our job. it's not crazier than a month ago. the republicans were on the the hot seat and washington is always a comedian's dream. that's why i got into this business. >> is it any worse than it's always been? in reality, you've covered this for so long. what do you think? >> the country in general is on a decline. i do. as british, you probably understand that. yeah, i think -- i remember 20 years ago, the first issue is are people getting stupider? they were then and still are. i can't imagine how stupid they must have gotten. it's sure hard if you're a politician, not that i'm really that sympathetic to them to try to get information into people's heads. i don't think obama should have lied to people. >> first of all, insurance companies are always dropping people from plans this goes on and went on before obama care and losing prospective. he probably should not been so play -- play tent. since he got no republican votes and help and since three years after its a law they are still fighting, can you imagine what it would be like if he said yeah, some people's rate wills go up. the thing passed by this much. if they said that, they might have lost the whole thing and politicians are always making compromises like that. for crying out loud, they made a compromise on slavery. >> when -- >> began -- >> when i see the president of the united states repeatedly including the state of the union assuring the american people you want to keep your doctor, plan, you will. he said it again and again and again. now we know that senior members in the very administration knew all along, they have known for three years, probably at least 50% of the people that applied, that would not apply. they would have to change their plan. that's a bare faced lie and i think somebody supportive of obama care. i come from a country that -- >> again, let's look at the perspective again on this. why did we do this? why did we -- why did obama -- a lot of people when they got into office said he made a big mistake and should have went into the economy first. we went after this for a couple reasons. one, upwards of 50,000 people in this country were dying every year, needlessly dying because they didn't have health coverage. if that many people died from terrorism, we would probably be using nuks. it wfwas ban bans resulting. we had to do something. what is the republican alternative? i get this is not working out perfectly. i don't think anybody ever thought it would, but what is their alternative? basically the status quo. if you're poor, go to the emgency room, walk it off. besides the fact that's awfully cruel to ask any people to wait on a health issue until it's an emergency. wait until that appendix bursts young lady. about the people who are takers, this is a miss sieve hidden tax. you may have never been to an emergency room but you pay. >> i've been to one, i broke four ribs, five ribs and punctured a lung falling off a segway, do not use that -- >> here -- >> to a guy i was on morphine in agony and woke up to a guy literally handing me an invoice. i'm like what the hell are you doing? >> my point is all the people that go to the emergency room because they do not have coverage, we wind up paying for that. that's a reason health care costs so much. >> i agree with you and support the principles of obama care. that's why i'm more frustrated the system failed allowing perhaps the whole thing to collapse. we don't know how it will play out. the people they need to get enrolled, the young people who may have 30, 40, 50 years -- >> first of all, every program of this size was a headache at first. so was bush's medicare prescription drug program for the old folks. hey, free viagra, have a free boner on george bush. remember me at the polls. they didn't like that at first. now it's popular. social security, medicare, all these programs have these problems when you start with them, but the reason why it's going to work is women. yes, young men do not want to sign up because they think they are invincible. women get it because women are more complicated, you know, they want contraception. they want breast exams. they are smarter about that, too. they don't think they are invincible. with all the problems in four polls last week, obama care is more popular than ever and republicans like to site the statistic like 54% of people are against obama care. it very misleading. that includes the 16% of people that who think it doesn't go far enough. so americans really want coverage, of course. it's going to be popular. it's about your health, the health of your family. it a life and death issue and again, it was there, it was created because people were dying and the country was going broke. it's going to be a rocky birth but it's not going to fail. >> should sebelius go? should somebody carry the can for the fact that the system has started so badly? >> you know, i'm not a big fan of scapegoating. >> ever? >> well, no -- well, yeah, ever if it's actually scrape goating. >> are you a fan of accountability -- >> of course. >> where someone is in charge of it? >> there is a difference between accountability and scapegoating. right in the middle of it, i think it counterproductive to get rid of person who has been there all along and knows the details, why get rid of her now to make the situation worse? >> but when she says we'll bring in the a team, i'm like hang on a second, this is the president's great nitiative. >> i know. >> where was the a team before? >> there is no defense to that. i would never defend him on that. that's so ridiculous and frustrating because again, this was his great signature achievement. >> why didn't he know a month before when all these warning signs apparently were there that it wasn't ready. >> right. >> it was failing. is it really credible that the president's whose legacy may be based on this didn't know anything about it being problemat problematic. >> i thought he was the detail guy and as michael moore said on my show on friday night, you know, young people, the ones trying to sign up, this is a glitch in the world they live in. >> this is grand dad not knowing how to use -- >> well, if i use the clicker will i get coverage? so it's just -- this is just no way to excuse this or to say it's a good thing but again, we'll see where we are in a month. >> let's play a clip. this is what eric cantor had to say. >> the president knew these letters were coming and you could keep your health care plan if you like it but that raises serious questions about the sales job of obama care and that's why we're all saying that we shouldn't allow the american people to be impacted like this. >> okay. so that is the republican criticism of obama care, which is one issue in this and you've already spoken about it. let's watch what you had to say about this on your show. >> i'm going as the scariest thing of all. i'm going as the healthcare.gov website. [ laughter ] i tell you something, i love this country. americans waited 70 years for affordable health care but if the website takes more than an hour, [ bleep ] it, i'm watching a cat video. >> let's clarify, you don't like cat videos, right? >> i've actually never seen one. >> here is my point, i agree with every wort of what both people said there, cantor's criticism and i think it's been sold on a lot of untruth misleading statements, whatever you want to call it and i also agree with you in the end if the ends game that comes in five, six months whatever begins to work, it's a pretty good plan. >> and also, perspective. was any program ever, ever sabotaged to the degree this one has been? it's been three years. it's not a bill. it's a law. i know the tea people think they know the constitution, i don't know if they read it. a bill becomes a law. once it does, you don't argue about it. you know what this reminds me of? there is a stupid award show the espys. you don't need an award show for sports because we know who won because they actually played the game. the best football team, they won the super bowl. i don't care your opinion on the best football team. it the law, you're supposed to help it along. democrats are not going into iraq but i'm routing for my country to succeed. that's now how they played it. they shut down the government and go to the map in every possible way and vote to repeal it 41 times and that's the patriotic thing to do about trying to bring health care to people in this country that don't have it. there are problems, let's work together to fix them. why aren't the republicans for medicare, supposed to be the party of business. for years business is complaining we're an unfair advantage because we have to cover workers because other droi countries don't have this stupid law. they froze wages as a way to compensate workers when they couldn't up their salaries and we still have it? if we were smart, we would have like canada, like britain and all these other countries, we would at least have a public option. that would straighten out a lot of this mess. in states where they want it to work, where they are cooperating. >> right. >> it is working which is the greatest hypocrisy because they say send it back to the states, the federal government is where things don't work. let the states handle it. if the states cooperated and handled it, it does work a lot better. >> now i warned you nicely to the top of the pot and the boiling center coming out of you, i want to mention two words to come back after the break with, three minutes to think about it. ted cruz. >> great. >> don't say anything. just ferment for the next three minutes. ♪ norfolk southern what's your function? ♪ ♪ hooking up the country helping business run ♪ ♪ trains! they haul everything, safely and on time. ♪ tracks! they connect the factories built along the lines. and that means jobs, lots of people, making lots and lots of things. let's get your business rolling now, everybody sing. ♪ norfolk southern what's your function? ♪ ♪ helping this big country move ahead as one ♪ ♪ norfolk southern how's that function? ♪ ♪ ♪ nothing says, "you're my #1 copilot," like a milk-bone biscuit. ♪ say it with milk-bone. at uwrong turns on the road we kto your future.fford that's why we build tools like our career guidance system. it's kind of like gps, you know, for your career. it walks you through different degree possibilities and even lets you explore local job market conditions, helping you map a clear course from the job you want, back to you. go to phoenix.edu and get started today.