Cenk ralph nader got a democrat to admit the most important line ive seen in a long time in politics. What is it . Well tell you tonight on a whole different online show we do on theyoungturks. Com. Well see you there. Stay right here right now because viewpoint is next. John good evening. Im John Fuglesang and tonight on viewpoint, congressman paul ryan has presented a new version of the paul ryan budget but im calling it the agoraphobia budget because it is never leaving the house. Were joined by Louise Slaughter and alan grayson. The papal conclave begins in rome. Weve got a big conclai. Everyone agrees the cardinals should pick a vibrant young man in his early 70s. Were joined by progressive theologian John Shelby Spong. Christmas is coming early for comedians because sarah palin is writing a book about christmas. Birthday of liza minnelli, darryl strawberry, governor mitt romney and adult film star ron jeremy, three of whom are actually quite wholesome people. Black smoke rome, cardinals the big vote. This is vatican idol. John good evening im John Fuglesang and this is viewpoint. Democrats and House Republicans agree, the nation needs a budget. House budget chair paul ryan led his committee to a podium where he unveiled his latest if youll excuse the term path to prosperity. So just how are you going to do it this time, paul . We cut wasteful spending. We repair the safety net so that we can help those in need. We protect and strengthen key priorities like medicare. John you dont say. That sounds like a pretty progressive plan for mitt romneys running mate. Maybe not. You see the reality is congressman ryans budget cuts 4. 6 trillion in spending over ten years repeals new wall street regulations like dodd frank, without specifying what would or should replace them. Replaces medicare with a Health Insurance subsidy a very nice gift to the private Insurance Industry and of course, repeals the Affordable Care act which is always on paul rye ryans greatest hits. Didnt paul ryan and and his pal mitt romney lose over issues like healthcare. Didnt the voice of the people and a republicanled Supreme Court count for something . No according to paul ryan. The election didnt go our way. Believe me, i know what that feels like. That means we surrender our principles . That means we stop believing in what we believe in . Look whether the country intended it or not we have divided government. What we believe in this divided government era, we need to put out our vision. John the landslide will of the American People is not as important as the need for vouchers. As for the Senate Democrats vision, the contrast couldnt be more stark. The senates budget adds 975 billion in increased revenue mostly due to closing the tax loopholes on the rich. Adds 100 billion in stimulus spending. Compensates for the 85 billion loss of a sequester and fights unemployment and cuts 975 billion in spending. For more, lets go to our old friend, Florida Democratic congressman, your friend and ours alan grayson, good evening, congressman. Thankthankthank you for joining us. Thank you. John paul ryan wants to cut while repairing the social safety nets. Wouldnt cuts of that size pretty much slash the safety net . Absolutely. Look, lets start with the Affordable Care act. He wants to eliminate the Affordable Care act, repeal it but he wants to count all of the billion dollars in Affordable Care act down to in order to say that hes paying down the deficit. Lets talk about medicare. In order to save that program hes going to destroy it. Hes going to eliminate every single guaranteed benefit under medicare, replace that with a check that Everybody Knows will not be enough to get the same benefits. John exactly. In one case after another you look at his principles and his vision, theyre a nightmare for america. He wants americans to work until they die. He wants poor people who get sick knob not to be able to get the care they need, not to be able to get better. He wants them to die. He wants an america that consists of nothing but cheap labor for his patrons. John you mentioned the cuts in payments to Medicare Service providers. He factors those into this budget while still eliminating the Affordable Care act despite the fact that he spent all of last fall running tv ads demonizing the president for the cuts hes hinging his budget on. What kind of cuts did he bake in his plan . The tax cuts that, again would benefit his benefactors the people who own the Republican Party lock, stock and barrel. He wants to lower Corporate Income tax rates even though Corporate Income tax revenue is at the lowest point in 50 years. We came close to collecting zero in Corporate Income tax revenue when, in fact, over the course of time, it has averaged 4 or 5 of gnp. That alone would go a long way toward eliminating the deficit paying down the debt. Theyre not interested in that. John ryan doesnt over details on what he would do to Social Security except in his words, require the president and congress to put forward ideas to sustain its solvency. Sir, i didnt know the house could require the president to do anything. What do you think ryan would do with Social Security if he had the chance . Paul ryan believes Social Security is unconstitutional. Just like anyone who follows the writings of ayn rand would believe. If you read the point head if you read the fountain head, these are people who believe government itself, anything that does anything for people, other than defend the borders is fundamentally immoral and unconstitutional. So if you actually administered sodium pentothal to paul ryan and asked him the question, he would say yes i believe Social Security is unconstitutional. He, like my opponent in the last election wants to raise the retirement age to 70 or 72. Would eliminate the program if he thought he could get away with it. John paul ryan renounced ayn rand before the election although in fairness, i dont think she would be a big fan of these guys either. I want to talk to you about the Democratic Party and the president. President obama met with Senate Democrats today. According to politico, i found this disturbing, he warned them social Insurance Programs including Social Security and medicare would need to be cut in some way in order to keep them going. Now, weve discussed this before. The president also said republicans would have to agree for more revenue before he would agree to changing the programs. What do you think of that particular bargain sir . Do Social Security programs need to be cut . The answer is they dont. Social security has almost 2 trillion in the bank. It is the largest Government Fund in the entire world. Thats what theyve got sitting in the bank and thats what the rest of the government and the American People owe that fund. Under current law, Social Security can pay out out 100 of its benefits for the next 25 years which is probably longer than im going to meed it. After that point 85 to 95 of its benefits, a minor tweak like for instance raising the cap on who has to pay Social Security taxes above the current roughly 100,000 or, for instance, making investment income, either one would make the program solvent forever. The situation is not terribly different with medicare. John does the president mean it when he talks about putting the cuts on the table sir . I take no pleasure in saying this. I voted for the president twice. Hes the leader of my party but on this regard, the president is wrong. John before we go, congressman, what do you think of a Senate Budget that came out today . I think the Senate Budget that came out today is a stab at trying to deal with a lot of different problems. Without focusing necessarily on our core problems. I would like to see all effort devoted toward putting people back to work, improving education standards making sure that everybody who is sick can see a doctor and making sure that people who lose their jobs dont end up living in their cars. Thats the america i see when i look around in Central Florida these days. Thats the problem we should be all concentrating on solving. I think this preoccupation, this terrible preoccupation with austerity, with deficits, with debt is mistaken. The government has never been able to borrow at such low rates for my entire lifetime, in fact, going back 100 years the government has never been able to borrow 2 . That shows you there is no fiscal crisis. What it is we have given into the republican mindset of crisis. John representative alan grayson, thank you. A pleasure to have you on viewpoint yet again. Well see you soon. Thank you. John gun control legislation was also on the agenda on the capitol hill. The Senate Judiciary committee took up bills to expand background checks to private gun sales and help schools improve security. The School Security bill passed 144 with four republicans voting nay. Im going to say that number again. I think its interesting. Four republicans voted no on the School Security bill. While the background check bill passed 108 with all of the republicans on the Committee Voting nay on background checks. Iowa senator Chuck Grassley said he didnt think a bill like this would do much good. Criminals do not comply with existing background check laws. Why . Why would anybody then think that they would comply, the criminal comply with broader background check requirements . John why should robbing banks be illegal when criminals are just going to rob banks anyway. New york senator Chuck Schumer didnt buy grassleys argument. Its sad. Right after newtown, there was a view that maybe the right place that we could all come together on was background checks. We never see the argument that oh, the bad people we shouldnt have laws because the bad people will get around them anyway. Only on this issue do you and it makes no sense in my judgment in all due respect. John for more on the gun debate lets go to new york state democratic representative Louise Slaughter. Thank you for joining us. My pleasure. John congresswoman, you were part of a forum where victims and First Responders talked about the need for gun trafficking legislation. What did you hear there and do you think trafficking legislation could ever pass this current Republican House . Well, it has already passed the committee. The Judiciary Committee in the senate. I think it will pass there. It is a bipartisan bill in the house. Remarkably. We just simply have to get it to the floor. I think if we can get it to the floor, people will vote for it here. It makes such imminently good sense. We had First Responders today talk to us about it. Im sure you know about ten days after newtown in my district in webster, new york, two firemen were killed. They were ambushed by a man who had spent 17 years in prison, was an absolute felon. He had killed his grandmother with a hammer. Served 17 years in prison. Came out and coerced a young woman to go to the gun store with him where she bought an ar15 and a rifle. And for him. Now, unfortunately, because we have no trafficking laws now the only thing we can anything that has a federal attachment to it, she lied when she bought the guns that they were for her. We have got to stop this trafficking. What we found from cheech of police from los angeles, also one from a town in pennsylvania, chief ramsey, used to be chief of police here in washington, how awl it is that how awful it is that it goes hand in hand. If we can do the same thing with guns that we do with drugs, we would be able to stop a lot of this handing out drugs. But there is even a correlation with that. And one of the chief of police told us that there sometimes are young men who have serious drug habits when they need some money. They go buy some guns and sell them at inflated prices to people who have no right to them. They know what theyre doing. They need to be punished. John a lot of congressmen are trying hard to stop drug prolivelation but not stopping gun proliferation. Because of the lobbying. The nra fronts the gun industry. The gun manufacturers weve got no second amendment. What are we supposed to do when we go to the theatre or the store or send our grandchildren in my case, off to school . What do they do for protection . Theyve got nobody to protect them. The only protection, apparently in the constitution is for people who want all of the guns they can have. I was encouraged this week to see that fewer homes have guns in them. But that people who have guns are buying even more. And the idea of fighting the federal government with an ar15 and i know that that is an idea that a lot of people have. If they ever looked, as i have, at what the federal Defense Budget is, i think they would dismiss that notion. John i watched your volume. You might find Chuck Grassley trying to unarm children on school buses. I want to ask about the bock ground checks. Our senate friends voted unanimously against private background checks for gun sales today. You heard senator schumer lamenting that. Do you think that bill could pass the house . For some reason, that is one of the stickiest wickets with the nra. As you know, that even when they do background checks, they cant keep them very long. They have to destroy them. Of course, it is important we know that the idea somebody will come and confiscate their guns is utterly ridiculous. How awful it is that 30,000 people lose their lives here and im so appalled at what happened to that 6monthold baby in chicago today where a gunshot wound and death are just commonplace. For a 6monthold baby to be shot five times america knows it has to do something. And it has to do something now. John it is appalling and sadly preventable. You heard schumer say there was a moment after the newtown massacre where he thought congress could come together, at least over background checks. We were going to. But it took too long. We were all worry about the that. I will say that we never let it be forgotten we keep it up all the time. I wear a bracelet myself for the students in newtown. I think all of us were so stunned by that as we were at what happened in aurora, at columbine, all of them. But the notion now that americans arent safe anywhere. Few years back when dr. Teller from kansas was killed while he was in church, i had the Congressional Research service do a survey for me because i grew up thinking that a place of worship was sanctuary. If you could make it to the church they did thats not the case anymore. No place is safe. John and sadly the rest of us in america have all of our eyes on d. C. Where you are maam. Do you think the moment where major gun control legislation posts newtown postnewtown has passed us by . No, i dont. Because it has to be done and we were saying today if you could have heard First Responders today, i tell you the firemen we lost in rochester one was 19 years old. What he wanted to do more than anything was pick up other people. The other one had little girls 4 and 5. Looking at them holding on to their older brothers hand at the funeral nobody will ever forget that. The bravery they had. The firemen tharp here today had been shot three times. Hes still recuperating. I thought he looked pale. He has to get back to rochester tonight. He and his wife came down today. A lot of tears. A lot of hugs. But the fact of the matter is it is our responsibility. Those of us who have been elected to come here and serve. Because we are the only people in the federal legislature that can really do something for the 50 states. John representative Louise Slaughter, democrat of new york. I thank you for your service. It is great to have you on viewpoint. Thank you so much. John the s. E. C. Certainly needs a change but does it need this particular change . You dont want to miss it coming up next. People with sore throats have something new to say. Ahh mmm ahh finally, theres cepacol sensations. Serious sore throat medicine seriously great taste. Plus the medicine lasts long after the lozenge is gone. Ahh mmm cepacol sensations. Rich, chewy caramel rolled up in smooth milk chocolate. Dont forget about that payroll meeting. Rolo. Get your smooth on. Also in minis. vo later tonight current tv is the place for compelling true stories. Jack, how old are you . Nine. This is what 27 tons of marijuana looks like. vo with Award Winning documentaries that take you inside the headlines, way inside. vo from the underworld, to the world of privilege. Everyone in Michael Jacksons life was out to use him. vo no one brings you more documentaries that are real, gripping, current. John tonight our political gymnastics of the day. The lovely and nimble phil gingrey from georgia attempted a rare double airborne backflip on two of his prior positions monday. The republican congressman no longer supports a ban on high capacity gun magazines. On the other hand, he also said it was stupid when he defended todd akin for saying last year that a woman can stop herself from getting pregnant during a socalled legitimate rape. Phil also mentioned he might run for senate. Yeah that, will work. Im sorry congressman but the judges give you a score of 2. 3 for that move because you kind of landed on your head. Okay, today during mary jo whites confirmation hearings to become chairman of the s. E. C. , the Senate Banking committee had the chance to question her thoroughly. The questions however about how strictly the former wall street defense attorney will actually enforce regulations on the finance industry will remain to be answered. Among the major topics covered during the hearings were her willingness to pursue litigation on the banks considered too big to fail and her willingness to pursue litigation on companies she or her husband have worked with as wall street lawyers. On both, she proved more than logical to give the right answers. The s. E. C. , theres no institution too big to charge. In this instance, if im confirmed, the American Public will be my client. John since too big to fail has proven to be too big to jail, lets hope she provides with us that service. Here to help evaluate mary jo whites Performance Today and whether any questions were actually answered is Robert Borosage codirector for the campaign of americas future who wrote a great column on ms. White in yesterdays huffington post. Good evening. Good evening. John what did you make of ms. Whites performance in front of the Senate Banking committee . Did anything she say surprise you . She did what you would expect her to do. She looked them in the eye and said she would enforce the regulations and get the regulations written. She would be enforcing the law without fear or favor. You wouldnt expect her to say anything else. What did surprise me was they only spent a little less than two hours investigating this nominee to one of our most important commissions which has been doing just abysmal job in terms of policing the banks and the financial committee. I was really surprised they didnt spend more time going through what needed to be done. John when you say they, youre talking about democrats because we would assume our republican friends wouldnt be grilling her on that subject. Everybody has a stake in financial communities but yes you would assume democrats would and democrats are the majority in the senate. So they controlled the committee. John in your piece in huffington post, you wrote about how the Senate Banking committee should test whites positions on compensation. You make some very great points on that. Did they do this to your satisfaction and why is the issue of executive compensation so important . No. They had a generic conversation about you know, will you get the regulations done since the s. E. C. Is way behind on a whole range of regulations required under dodd frank, the financial reform bill. She promised that, she vowed it was important to get it right but it was important to get it done too. She would move on the regulations but it was all very general. The compensation stuff is very important. Dodd frank required the s. E. C. To put out rules. So that companies would report annually the ratio of their ceo pay to that of the average worker pay and their global factories. That would be an incredibly important statistic for investors and for activists and for people within the company. And needles to say, it has had a huge lobby trying to stop it. John of course. The s. E. C. Promised the regs would be out last year. Weve heard nothing from them. Theyve been basically deep sixed. It would have been nice for her to be forced to make a commitment that she would get on that specifically. John is that done in europe . Do they reveal how much more the ceos make than the employees . Whats interesting in europe is theyve gone way beyond that. The spis passed a referendum that the swiss passed a referendum that required companies to put their pay before a mandatory shareholder vote so shareholders can veto the ceo pay and also limited golden parachutes, the stuff you get when you leave or the golden hand shakes, the stuff you get when you join a company. The swiss and European Union are way ahead of us. John in europe, the shareholders can veto the ceo pay. I think i know why that wasnt brought up here today. Mary jo white was described as jamie dimon as the Perfect Choice for s. E. C. Chairperson. Did anything ms. White say alleviate concerns about her with biggest banks . Jamie would know because she represented jpmorgan chase. She also represented ubs and she represented kenn lewis at bank of america. She knows where all of the bodies are buried because shes defended a lot of the people who were doing the burying. And the question is you know, what she said today is look, now the American People will be my client. I will defend their interest as avidly as i have defended the interest of banks. We hope thats true. But it would have been nice to press her on it. For example she gets a 42,000 a month pension from her law firm that will be paid out of its operating profits. Its operating profits depend on the offense of major banks for the most part. It would have been nice to go into that and that conflict of interest. John she mentioned her husband conflict of interest as well. Were almost out of time. Also facing confirmation hearings was richard cordray. His confirmation back to that post continues to face severe obstruction from our republican friends because they dont believe consumers should be protected. Do you think theres any chance he gets confirmed . No. Theyll filibuster and theyve made that perfectly clear. It is astounding. This is a bureau everybody agrees is necessary. Hes done an extraordinary job. Even the Business Community says that. Even republicans say it. But theyre going to filibuster his nomination because they want to make the bureau toothless. They want to weaken it dramatically. Theyre intent on doing that. John toothless seems to be the status. Robert borosage wrote an excellent piece on huff poe that you all need to read. Thank you. John black smoke rose in the vatican meaning the future of the Catholic Church is unclear. Then again weve all known that for awhile. Thats coming up. [ male announcer ] its red lobsters lobsterfest our Largest Selection of lobster entrees like lobster lovers dream or new grilled lobster and lobster tacos. Come in now and sea food differently. Visit redlobster. Com now for an exclusive 10 coupon on two lobsterfest entrees. John our wtf america series continues now with a weeklong wt fing of the great state of kansas which in the area of reproductive rights has pulled out all of the w it, f stops. The capses a state house has passed an an antiabortion bill thats an all you can judge of antiwomen antichoice antilaws of the land initiatives. This bill prohibits Public Schools from using Sex Education instruction from planned parenthood. It bans state medical schools from performing any abortions. It removes Tax Exemptions from any Health Clinics that provide safe and legal abortions and restricts citizens from being allowed to say abortion in a crowded theatre. Okay. I made the last one up but i only wish i made the other stuff up. Mary kay culp, executive director for kansans for life wants to keep children away from planned parenthood because they can learn where the local Abortion Clinic is. Thats right miss culp. As long as planned parenthood is kept away from the kids, theyll never know where the pesky Abortion Clinics are as kids have no idea how to use google or mapquest. It banned abortion providers and their staff from volunteering at their own childrens schools. This was deemed too extreme even for kansas republicans although public stonings of anyone seen walking on the same block of the clinic havent been ruled out. Kansas republicans declare this bill that life begins at fertilization which means were one step away from saying life begins at foreplay. In kansas, firmly has established itself of the wtf capital of the midwest. Most republicans in kansas dont believe in foreplay, either. Thinking. Ok, so theres wiggle room in the ten commandments, thats what youre saying. vo shes joy behar. Current will let me say anything. John so whoever is the next pope, god help him cardinals at the Sistine Chapel havent decided who that man will be yet but no one expected this beauty contest to end on the first day of deliberations. The bigger question is what exactly the next pope can do to save the church. Where do you even start . How does an institution regain trust and respect and esteem after a widespread coverup of child molestation and for that matter, the recent criminal record of Money Laundering with the vatican bank . How do you bring the church into the 21st century when it is barely out of the 16th. When it is bound by outdated sexism homophobia, vows of celibacy and hangups of dead guys that have nothing to do with the modern world or with anything jesus christ ever said. What more do you do . More and more followers in the u. S. And europe wont accept your rules anymore. Conservatisms are flocking to you in south america and africa. Joining me is John Shelby Spong the former ebusiness episcopal bishop whose latest book is reclaiming the bible for a nonreligious world which i recommend highly. Bishop, what a pleasure to have you on viewpoint. Good to be with you john. John ive been pitching you for the show for awhile. We first met on bill mahers show ten years ago. Even though youre not a catholic, i wanted your perspective on what the church is going through. Many people consider you to be one of the foremost theologians working in america today. I think thats the kind of leadership the Catholic Church really needs if they want to stay viable. It is not likely. I find it a really disturbing institution today. And that grieves me because if the roman Catholic Church is weak every Christian Church is weak. It is such an important part of the whole consistency of the christian people of the world. But i dont know where theyre going to come out. You said 16th century. I might even say 13th. They havent engaged the revolution of the last 500 years. The theology is badly dated. Benedict xvi the former pope now, has written two books both of which ive read in the last two years. Theyre on the gospel story of jesus. The first one is on the life of jesus. Second one is on the birth narratives of jesus. I found them so lacking in basic scholarship as if he were not even aware of what has happened in the last 200 years in the field of biblical studies. John those are the one who dont get promoted. One of my great fears about this church is theyve suppressed all of their creative thinkers and they did this, interestingly enough, when Joseph Cardinal ratzinger was the head of the inquisition office, they dont call it that anymore but thats what it was. He had charles removed from his position at catholic university. Hans is probably the most read. You could go on, matthew fox was into spiritual, new creations kind of thing. Lee leonardo was the best theologian. John it is like the bush administration. Those who are loyal are the ones who get promoted. One of the bad things about it is people claim that somehow in their formulations, they have possessed the truth. And they get themselves convinced of that. They cant incorporate into their thinking. Any idea that it is different from their conception of truth. Thats called idolatry. You cant get away from it. Theyre so busy trying to protect their reputation of the church theyve almost destroyed it. Theyve not been honest about the child molestation. And they havent been honest yet. You cant have cardinal law being translated to a promotion in the vatican john after what happened. And think youre trying to go into that and clean it up. This man is really guilty. John i would argue that the problems this church faces in its marginalization began long before the molestation scandals came to life. I do want to ask about the selection of the next pope because right now, do you think the churchs future lies in africa or in south america . And if thats the case, can they ignore the dissatisfaction in europe and america with the church . Well, i dont think it lies in latin america or in africa. I think those are important parts of the world. But the money that supports that institution is not in asia or latin america or africa. It is in western europe and in the united states. Thats the group thats been most deeply alienated. The roman church is almost dead on the continent. In this country, this is a more religious country than europe is. But were maybe 50 years ahead of europe and another 50 years well probably be in the same place. See, i dont think you can deal with the churchs life if you dont engage the thought forms of the world. And you know, we still tell the christian story in terms of there was a perfect creation from which we fell into sin and jesus had to come and rescue us. That doesnt make a lot of sense after charles darwin. It was never a perfect creation. It is an unfolding evolution process. John the vatican doesnt dispute the theory of evolution. But the theology still assumes it. It is from the garden of eden. We have to get a rescue from outside the world. So the whole story of jesus is that god incarnated god self in the person jesus of nazareth to rescue us from the fall. Well, if there has never been a perfect creation, there can never be a fall because you cant fall from that which is not yet perfect. You dont need to be rescued so the whole way we tell the christ story is confusing and backward to modern men and women and i think weve got to learn to sing the lords song as the psalms say in a new world it can be done but not in you dont open up the symbols of your faith. John bishop, i read your books. Ive been most drawn to the fact youre someone who speaks of biblical lit rim of. As i travel the churches in this country and i see lots of seniors who cant understand that priest from africa or india, i know the church needs someone like you to bring them into the 21st century. I hope youll come back on viewpoint. Any time. John i would like to say it will be a progressive guy. They dont have one in the college of cardinals. There is not one like that in the college of cardinals. Theyre not going to elect somebody who is not already a cardinal. You might get somebody who is a closet liberal. You might get another john xxiii john my first book i ever read was rescuing the bible from fundamentlism and that still scares the rightwingers. Well be right back. Sarah palin says shes writing a book about christmas. Speaking of losing your religion and your lunch my panel of nonexperts joins me next. John welcome back to viewpoint. Now, sarah palin who . Announced she has a new book coming out about the war on christmas. So on facebook, collette posted. Yes, collette, youre right to lol because shes publishing a book just in time for christmas. And also on facebook, tom posted. How dare you tom. Garage sales are a redistribution of wealth. It sounds socialist to me. Jesus would hate that. If you have a comment for the show, tweet us at viewpoint ctv or post it on our Facebook Page thats right. It is a christmas miracle. It is. Sarah palins writing a christmas book. The upcoming book and im not making this up the title. A happy holiday is a Merry Christmas. It will call for renewed interest on the holiday and it will be the first book ever written made up of Facebook Status updates. She says. Thats not what scrooge tried to do but i would hate to say palin might know her stuff but dickens does describe scrooge as being a clutching, covetous old sinner and miss palin has had experience with guys like that. For more on this, im joined by a panel of nonexperts, comedian sherrod small. Editor chief of the contributor. Com, tina dupuy and author of moment of clarity mr. Lee camp. Welcome, folks. Thanks for having us. John half governor palin is writing her third book as long as she doesnt quit halfway through. Isnt this really a story about a cry for attention . I mean at what point a book about the meaning of christmas. Is she going to release a country album next . Is this a stab at still being in the public eye . Thank god shes back. I was lost and now i am found john. Shes my guiding light. There is a war on christmas. You know that. Most of the media wont talk about it. But you know you know whos writing it. It is the easter bunny. Youre not talking about it, john. John im letting you talk about it lee. Tina, are you pleased sara palin is back . First i thought it was going to be a chirps book. Im disappointed. It was kind of condescending. John it is sort of is. Holiday is actually a form of holy days. So it means holy days means a Merry Christmas which is so redundant and redundant and repet at this. This is not her war. I dont get it. The whole thing is just like really . John it is a vulgar title. Happy holiday is a Merry Christmas unless youre jewish. Right . Youre right about that. It is kind of double talk. Holiday really only works on flag day when you dont have but i think that first of all, sarah leave the writing to the judy blumes of the world. John you love her. I even watched her on dancing with the stars in the audience. John my whole problem with the war on christmas thing is by saying happy holidays, youre trying to have a more inclusive thing that overs love and support to everyone regardless of what fan club they belong to. Happy holidays is more christian than Merry Christmas. Im christian. We dont want any part of it. You can have it. When people say happy holidays, they say it after christmas and before new years. John thats because you hate kwanzaa. I always say Merry Christmas. Is it possible we can just send her a certain amount of money and she wont put out the book . John you wouldnt like that. Every time she opens her mouth a democrat gets a vote. When we first announced we were going to be talking about this, asking people for their comments, the number one thing i got from our progressive friends is what do you mean stay relevant . Shes not relevant. Hundreds wanted to talk about how irrelevant this woman is. Theyre making her elvant. John she is relevant whether we like it or not. Comedians love her. Number two because there is no republican politician alive outside of dick cheney who will criticize sarah palin ever because they covet her endorsement. Is disagree. Shes not a kingmaker even in the last election. The last two elections no, she picked people who were already ahead and then said i endorse them. John she picked gingrich over romney. Name me a republican. John, relevant is not a kingmaker. She was disinvited from the rnc happily. She got kicked off of fox news. Now shes at cpac. What makes her relevant . John rock star at cpay. Theyll turn out for her. Because they need a hero. This is a push for her. Her star is really on its dissent. S no not assent. It is paul ryan. Hes a weenie. Thats why. I just forgot my point. Sarah, what was i going to say . Sarah out there. Here it is. Shes always relevant because whenever you say her name in any room youre in, 20 people got 20 opinions about her and they all want to be heard. Shes always a fire starter. John shes crack for ratings. Maybe not this network. I think that used to be true. I dont think really, you used to be able from internet hits, from being an editor on an internet site when do you a sarah palin story, it blew up. John i want you to come back after the cpac speech. Fox even dropped her. For that reason. Because she was more money than she was john by the party starved for leaders theyll take a phony fake celebrity. Thats all she ever was. Shes not shes not john must be the first person ever who should have run for president to keep her celebrity going. She missed her chance. She needed to run last year. She would have been an embarrassment. She would have stayed in the final four. She didnt want to study for the debate. That took a lot of effort to run for president. Thats the thing. Could have someone else write a book you put your name on it and you have someone else pin your opinions on facebook and you tweet about your husband and put up pictures and then youre making money. John is there a republican alive more popular than sarah palin . I think Chris Christie is who everybody is looking for. If you never voted republican before, hes your only option. John i have a lot of conservative people who still love palin. I think shes the president of facebook. [ laughter ] john it is probably true but you know, i look forward to seeing what happens with more speaking time allotted them, i think it will be the sarah palin show. We might not like it but who likes her more than any republican is the news media because fox might have dropped her but cnn loves her, even the sarah palin hate industry is so luck rootive. Thats lucrative. Shes like another limbaugh. People that like to hate on her that enjoyed that. But im going from an editorial stance. You put that up. It doesnt go viral anymore. No one cares. This is the most interesting thing shes done in about a year. John what youre saying it is all up to herman cain. Pretty much. Hes the hope of the party. John my panel will stay with me after the break. The most important question, who writes the history books . Now find the most hard core driver in america. That guy, put him in it. Whats this . [ male announcer ] tell him hes about to find out. Youre about to find out. [ male announcer ] test it. Highlight the european chassis 6 speed manual, dual exhaust wide stance, clean lines have him floor it, spin it punch it, drift it put it through its paces is he happy . Oh ya, hes happy [ male announcer ] and thats how you test your car for fun. Easy. No, save 300 bucks over here wait, save 400 bucks right here. With so many places offering so much bucksaving, where do you start . Well, esurance was born online raised by technology and majors in efficiency. So theyre actually built to save you money. And time. And whiplash. Esurance. Now backed by allstate. Click or call. Lobsterfest is the king of all promotions. Theres nothing like our grilled lobster and lobster tacos. The bar harbor bake is really worth trying. [ male announcer ] get more during red lobsters lobsterfest. With the years Largest Selection of mouthwatering lobster entrees. Like our delicious lobster lovers dream, featuring two kinds of lobster tails. Or our savory, new grilled Maine Lobster and lobster tacos. My favorite entree is the lobster lovers dream. Whats yours . Come celebrate lobsterfest and sea food differently. [ male announcer ] visit redlobster. Com now for an exclusive 10 coupon on two lobsterfest entrees. John how do you think history will remember americas sweetheart sarah palin . Sherrod small . I think america will remember her fondly. John why . I said it from the green room. Because she was a good laugh. John nice. She was more fun than susan b. Anthony. No one cares about susan b. John shell look hotter on money. You mean herstory for our feminist icons. Working mother. John how will she be remembered . In herstory . Fondly. John lee camp . As the savior of christmas. No. As the last gas of idiot america. John maybe the woman who got barack obama elected. That brings me to tonights f bomb because governor jeb bush shocked a lot of people this week when he said history would be kind to his brother former president george w. Bush. The fact that george bush isnt in the hague indicates history has been generous. Dont get me wrong. History will be kind is a better choice of words than history will vindicate validate or redeem him. Big brother george is dependent on the kindness of strangers. Jeb, we learn the new controversy in the louisiana private school system. Remember how last year we learned how governor Bobby Jindals voucher system allowed kids to go to private schools that the public has to pay for . We talked about how the lack of oversight has taught kids that the loch ness monster is a proof that it is a myth. Or as one textbook put it, the majority of slave owners treated their slaves well. Well now the louisiana textbook america, land i love published by beka books is teaching louisianas e