it s strange because you talked about this argument almost like an idealogical argument, but the strange thing is you haven t seen emerging out of this a strong idealogical or policy based argument. you don t have candidates saying mitt romney has this position, i take this position, let the voters choose. it seems to be partly a personality based dispute, that we don t really trust or get this guy. they don t trust him based on the policies that he has implemented or advocated as governor of his state as a presidential candidate before. there is a policy basis underneath all of it. there s a lot of personality involved as well. to get to alex s question, i don t think there s actually a pattern. you have races where the tough fight has made the candidate better. you have races where the tough fight ended up with a poor candidate, bill clinton had to deal with jerry brown all the way through the spring of 1992. and bill clinton was a great
something will pass but without all of the conditions? chris: i think so. both sides do not want to be seen there is a real argument on a policy basis as to whether this is a good idea. it takes money away from the social security trust fund. this is an argument whether it really stimulates the economy. but politically, you are basically saying that 160 million taxpayers are going to get a tax increase of teen $1,000 and $1,500 because they will pay money they used to pay in payroll tax cut but have not for the last year, so that will be, you know, portrayed as a tax increase. i have to think they will reach an agreement on this but it is hard to see and you are right, time is running out, how they get from here to there in the next couple of weeks. gregg: you have an interview with rick perry this sunday and the following sunday mitt romney, and next week, you are one of the moderators for the big debate. talk to us about the interviews.
army makes less than a freshman congressman. you don t see generals running around saying i m entitled to or buying a munitions company. mr. president, we need to go buy this place, i m investing in munitions. first of all, thank you for what you have done. do you have any hope at all that we will be a little more ethical? i think it is. i think people realize now that it is a problem. it has been called to their attention. they have seen examples of abuse. before people would say this isn t a problem for criminal them, why do we need to fix it? it is a huge problem as peter and others talked about. now, i think people realize on a policy basis it needs to be fixed but at long last i think they finally get politically you don t want to go back to the constituents and say congress passed laws to require people to report their financial trades within 48 hours and we don t have to for a year. congress passed laws to make insider trading illegal, those don t apply to us. i invite the
army makes less than a freshman congressman. you don t see generals running around saying i m entitled to or buying a munitions company. mr. president, we need to go buy this place, i m investing in munitions. first of all, thank you for what you have done. do you have any hope at all that we will be a little more ethical? i think it is. i think people realize now that it is a problem. it has been called to their attention. they have seen examples of abuse. before people would say this isn t a problem for criminal them, why do we need to fix it? it is a huge problem as peter and others talked about. now, i think people realize on a policy basis it needs to be fixed but at long last i think they finally get politically you don t want to go back to the constituents and say congress passed laws to require people to report their financial trades within 48 hours and we don t have to for a year. congress passed laws to make insider trading illegal, those don t apply to us. i invite the
a three star general in the army makes less than a freshman congressman. you don t see generals running around saying i m entitled to or buying a munitions company. mr. president, we need to go buy this place, i m investing in munitions. first of all, thank you for what you have done. do you have any hope at all that we will be a little more ethical? i think it is. i think people realize now that it is a problem. it has been called to their attention. they have seen examples of abuse. before people would say this isn t a problem for criminal them, why do we need to fix it? it is a huge problem as peter and others talked about. now, i think people realize on a policy basis it needs to be fixed but at long last i think they finally get politically you don t want to go back to the constituents and say congress passed laws to require people to report their financial trades within 48 hours and we don t have to for a year. congress passed laws to make insider trading illegal, those don