do, lining up the right fundraisers. i agree with jonathan insofar as independent voters haven t gotten to her. the question about her readiness to be president, those are huge factors. she recognizes that. any candidate has to face that. i agree with andrea, look, the paradigm has changed. what she s done via social networking changes the game in terms of fund-raising and her visibility. even if she doesn t run, she s going to be a factor throughout. i ve talked to potential gop aspirants who want to keep her in the race. they want to keep that enthusiasm up. ultimately sarah palin will have a voice. if she s on the ticket or not shlt, she ll have a voice. she ll be powerful for any candidate because she has all these various platforms to speak her mind and not worry about restraining herself as a candidate. mike? i don t know whether she s run or not.
scott brown, right? right. scott brown in january. health care in the summer. a republican landslide in the fall and then the lame duck that roared. i cannot all the cycles we ve had this year and it looks like the president s ending up pretty darn strong at the end rchltsz we are watching that this morning and also taking a look back at key moments of 2010 and a look forward at what 2011 will be like, and with us at the table, msnbc contributor mike barn ick barnicle. and host of andrea mitchell reports, andrea mitchell. and editorial writer for the washington post and msnbc contributor jonathan capehart, also with us from washington, the moderator of meet the press, david gregory. thank you all for joining us. mike barnicle looking at the new congress this segment. new congress.
joining us is media reporter for the new york times brian stelter and brian williams and mike barnicle still with us. brian, can i start with a prediction? my prediction is that this new year and the world of media is going to be comcastic. hello. cable town, baby. we re all on pins and needlenee needles, aren t we? it sounds like the s.e.c. and d.o.j. have been debating about what rules they ll place on the deal. this is a chance for the government to try to prioritize the next generation of meadal. hold on a second, man. the question was, are they going to keep brian williams. or trade him for a future player. i do believe that he s on the number one newscast in america.
especially a presidential year. i think it s not just about the upper earners. what about the middle class tax cuts. peter orszag, the president s budget director is the one who raised his eyebrows when he left saying we can t afford any of these, not the middle class tax cuts, not the tax cuts for the upper earners, not if you want to be serious about the debt. by 2012, we ll come to a period where the president will deal with the debt situation with republicans or not. mike, do you remember 1984. walter mondale. i promise to raise your taxes, and it was as if that horn from the flintstones. they didn t do it well in 84. they re not going to promise to raise taxes in 2012. they lost this debate, they lost the tax war. for the boys and girls out there in the audience, we re describing a ploemt at the 1984 democratic convention in san francisco where the then vice president, former vice president
candidate would. mike, will she run? i don t know whether she ll run or not, just what david said, allows her to wait until five minutes of 5:00. money is not a and whoever the republican primaries takes her out will be done as a candidate. hey do me a favor. i ve always wanted to play mclaughlin. will she run for president, you say yes. will sarah palin run for president? yes. wrong! mark my words. coming up, more on the race for 2012. who will be the gop contenders, and what does president obama need to do to stay in the white house. also don t miss willie s top five people of the year. do you think it s a smoking baby? oh, yes. the horse in the car? absolutely. we ll be right back.