triangulated. you look at december we came together and passed health care for 9/11 workers, passed middle class tax cuts, extended unemployment insurance. this month the american people open up paychecks and reduction in the payroll taxes as a result of what house democrats did with the administration, we want to build on the achievements, on a credit card bill of rights which the republicans opposed, build on making college more affordable which republicans opposed. on those issues we are joined at the hip. governor kaine said the president s going to work with republicans when we can but not play mother may i with them. how do you suggest as a conservative democrat this president find that balance between working with republicans on some things as you want him to and other times saying no way. again i think the lame duck is a good model to look at. the democrats were still in control of the house at that time, but if you look at the compromises that were made, we moved forward i
them, not against them. and i think that there will be maybe some things that we can work together on but again we ve got to, they ve got to come half way. remember, they ve been on the side lines throwing spitballs saying no, no, no, no, no, no, no. and now they ve got to do something. congressman, the president tried to work with republicans in december to do something, and you opposed the tax deal. you didn t want him to work with republicans. which one is it? let me be clear. i oppose the tax bill because i saw what was coming up this year, as i said before i do believe that we will pay dearly for that tax bill. going back to what my friend just said i believe there will be some stimulative effect with regard to the middle class tax cuts and the fica holiday. i think those things will have something and the president i think is betting on the economy being much better by the time 2012 comes around. i hope so. congressman israel, when i was in hawaii covering the president, bi
as president, i promise your taxes will help build roads, bridges and schools. oh not here, overseas. i ll keep using your taxes to pay over one hundred billion dollars a year in interest to foreign lenders, helping their economy. hurting ours. i m hugh jidette, let s keep borrowing. oweno, let s not. with a plan we can stop sending billions to foreign lenders, grow our economy and meet our needs. visit oweno.com to stop hugh jidette.
president is virtually nil, and i think the president s strong performance and especially the three major accomplishments at the end of the year make it even smaller. senator governor, sarah palin may also run in 2012, one of the president s top advisers is so confident she would lose a general election he told me recreptly i ll pay her filing fee if she wants to run. you have the democratic party s checkbook. are you ready to write the check so sarah palin will get in? no. look, i m going to let the other guys sort it out on their side. what we are seeing, ed, polling done even since the midterm elections which were tough for us, obviously. the president matches up very, very well against any of the republican potential contenders, including sarah palin, and so, you know, we just feel like if he keeps doing the job that the american public elected him to do, we feel very good going into the 2012 cycle. governor, last question quick about your future. there s been reports rober
the tax deal in december, $800 billion to $900 billion, might amount to a second stimulus. didn t the american people send your party a tough message in the shellacking in november that washington has to stop spending money? they certainly sent a message that they re concerned about the deficit, but i think the nun one priority of the american public ed as you know and i m sure you agree is getting the economy going again. the best way to deal with the deficit is through economic growth. the tax compromise wasn t ideal from the president s standpoint. he didn t like the fact the republicans were holding the middle class hostage to give the wealthiest americans tax cuts. nevertheless the president found compromise, which is what you ought to be doing in washington, and convinced the republicans to do things like payroll tax adjustments and unemployment insurance extension, that will have a stimulating effect on the economy going forward. but now is the time when we see the economy pic