angus king, succeeding the retiring olympia snow. he s a former governor of the state, and it s said that he will caucus with the democrats. and a big redskins fan, which is particularly important today as they play seattle. senator, welcome, and all of you welcome back to the program and happy new year. senator, let me start with you. based on everything you ve heard this morning, it doesn t seem like a great way to run the government or to solve big problems, does it? i think one of things that comes out of this is of course the budget is important and the deficit is important, but there s an underlying structural issue that s affecting the economy and the market, and that is people have lost confidence in the ability of our government to do anything. this whole fiasco with the fiscal cliff going two hours over the deadline, coming back, how it finally worked out, and simpson and bowles are right, it s a very small piece of the solution. it s not much of a solution at all. it was,
angus king, succeeding the retiring olympia snow. he s a former governor of the state, and it s said that he will caucus with the democrats. and a big redskins fan, which is particularly important today as they play seattle. senator, welcome, and all of you welcome back to the program and happy new year. senator, let me start with you. based on everything you ve heard this morning, it doesn t seem like a great way to run the government or to solve big problems, does it? i think one of things that comes out of this is of course the budget is important and the deficit is important, but there s an underlying structural issue that s affecting the economy and the market, and that is people have lost confidence in the ability of our government to do anything. this whole fiasco with the fiscal cliff going two hours over the deadline, coming back, how it finally worked out, and simpson and bowles are right, it s a very small piece of the solution. it s not much of a solution at all. it was,
all right. senator alan simpson, and erskine bowles. thank you both very much this morning. i want to bring in our roundtable for some reaction. joining me at the table, former speaker of the house newt gingrich. columnist for the washington post our friend ej dionne. chairman of the house democratic caucus, chairman xavier becerra. sorry i butchered your name just a moment ago. former head of hewlett-packard carly fiorina. and for the first time, the newly elected independent senator from maine, angus king, succeeding the retiring olympia snow. former governor of the state. and it s said he will caucus with the democrats. and a big redskins fan, which is particularly important today as they play seattle. senator, welcome, and all of you welcome back to the program and happy new year. senator, let me start with you. based on everything you ve heard this morning, it doesn t seem like a great way to run the government or to solve big problems, does it? i think one of things that
coming out against a republican, and you have the liberal democratic groups, gay groups, like hrc human rights campaign saying we re with him after he makes this apology. it s almost like it s crazy day. i think there s one common threat through all of this, and that s that the republican caucus, the right-wing republican caucus losing olympia snow, losing other thoughtful members, is now so far to the right that no matter what barack obama says, does, thinks, uses his brain for, their answer is no, even if it s one of their own. i know you have a point you want to make, but isn t it also the fact that the people who oppose chuck hagel are the people who have been the most wrong on foreign policy, pretty much on everything for the last generation? right? there was a piece in the national journal in which he writes for too many lawmakers on capitol hill, nominating hagel would be too uncomfortable. it would be too uncomfortable to have him restored to power because he would be a livin
what s going on? we didn t know much i think literally one word out of that conversation was the word frank. it s a good sign that they re talking, i don t think boehner is taking his toys and going home. the congressman cole has been saying this for a couple of weeks now, republicans are coming around to this idea that they re going to have to give on those rates. they are going to have to have something in return if there s going to be a deal. but on the other hand, i think speaker boehner is going to have the votes to get it through. obviously, david, we re now 18 days away, you could argue even less, most people are back in their districts, which is boehner among them. i thought it was interesting that senator olympia snow told the washington post that it s bizarre, it s truly bizarre, there s no sense of urgency. do you sense any concern by