committed to whatever you re going to do. if you go big, and an obvious model is the tax reform, then you got all the interest competing against each other, and i think it s easier for members of congress to resist the cries of a million angry interest groups as opposed to the cry of one million angry interest groups. if you go big, you marshal public opinion. you win over the people who want simplicity in our tax code and in our budget. and if people are willing to say, hey, everyone s taken a hit, i think they re going to be along more willing to go along with you when they say he s not going to take a hit. the american people get it. they re ahead of their elected leaders. they live beyond our means. they know we can t grow our way out. we can t just put our way out. we can t tax our way out. we need to put everything on the table. everybody needs to be at the table, and we need transformational reforms to our budget processes and controls, to social security, medicare, me
gentle tone and the american public saw a couple of congenial irish guys that weren t yelling and screaming at each other, though behind the scenes it was tough. bob michael could go play golf with a tip o neill, they were friends. they weren t enemies. they could fight on issues, danny rostenkowski would work out with dave stockman on the budgets. today there s no social life, so it s gotten more and more partisan on both sides. they don t know each other. all they re doing is dealing with rhetoric. you need to eliminate, where i m hopeful is that the members of congress and the senate, which is really where it matters, speak with a softer tone and fight for issues, but speak with a softer tone. it s hard, though, maria, after the last campaign we have seen, the last election, you know a lot of folks getting elected with very tough tone. i think that s exactly right. and i think the other thing that is a reality today, anderson, that wasn t even ten or maybe even five years ago is
president david and i both worked for, ronald reagan. there was this myth that reagan and tip o neill had a beer every night on the south lawn and resolved things. it was a very partisan period of time, too, but there was a gentle tone and the american public saw a couple of congenial irish guys that weren t yelling and screaming at each other, though behind the scenes it was tough. bob michael could go play golf with a tip o neill, they were friends. they weren t enemies. they could fight on issues, danny rostenkowski would work out with dave stockman on the budgets. today there s no social life, so it s gotten more and more partisan on both sides. they don t know each other. all they re doing is dealing with rhetoric. you need to eliminate, where i m hopeful is that the members of congress and the senate, which is really where it matters, speak with a softer tone and fight for issues, but speak with a softer tone. it s hard, though, maria, after the last campaign we have seen, the
and screaming at each other, though behind the scenes it was tough. bob michael could go play golf with a tip o neill, they were friends. they weren t enemies. they could fight on issues, danny rostenkowski would work out with dave stockman on the budgets. today there s no social life, so it s gotten more and more partisan on both sides. they don t know each other. all they re doing is dealing with rhetoric. you need to eliminate, where i m hopeful is that the members of congress and the senate, which is really where it matters, speak with a softer tone and fight for issues, but speak with a softer tone. it s hard, though, maria, after the last campaign we have seen, the last election, you know a lot of folks getting elected with very tough tone. i think that s exactly right. and i think the other thing that is a reality today, anderson, that wasn t even ten or maybe even five years ago is that we have a 24/7 news cycle that is
and if, as has been discussed in recent days, their death helps usher in more civility in our public discourse, let us remember, it is not because a simple act of civility caused this tragedy, it did not, but rather because only a more civil and honest public discourse can help us face up to the challenges of our nation in a way that would make them proud. well, from pundits and politicians from both sides of the aisle there has been and continues to be a lot of finger pointing. some on each side claim they hold the exclusive deed on the high road, accusing the other side of playing politics. what mr. loughner knows is he has the full support of a major political party in this country. he s sitting there in jail. he knows what s going on. he knows that a democrat party, the democrat party, is attempting to find anybody but him to blame. he knows, if he plays his cards right he s just a victim. meanwhile a lot of people in politics in the media covered themselves in s