congressman, i want you to weigh in on this real quick. i want to talk real quickly about joe manchin and the filibuster. there was a columnist ross douthet who suggested moving the filibuster threshold to 55. we know joe manchin does not suggest doing away with the filibuster, he doesn t support it. do you think this type of effort could help to get legislation through? well, i m going to say maybe, but i think it s time for the filibuster to go. i also think that especially when it comes to these democracy reforms and voting rights that there s an argument to be made on that issue alone about removing the filibuster. but look, if there are efforts to try to reform the filibuster, i think that s completely within the conversation. but the just say no strategy on the part of joe manchin and others is just not acceptable. just say no strategy. that s a new one.
ross douthet, as to the president himself, anyone presuming his innocence should have all the confidence of chris christie awaiting his cabinet appointment. steve hayes, picking up on what dani just said, if the meeting was a waste of time and nothingburger, why lie after lie after lie. rich lowry, the way this story has unfolded raises the prospect that it s something worse. peggy noonan, was it collusion? it was worse, it was classless. the point is it seems as if even conservative writers that were trying to give the president the benefit of the doubt, this is the week that they feel like they can t give it to him. there s a common denominator here that emanates from the fact how we as conservatives feel about russia. there seems to be a disconnect about our feelings towards russia and their motives and what the white house is portraying and that creates a tension. look, we have offices in moscow, we represent global countries. one thing we know about the russians, there s no free
it on every single network, so clearly he s thought about this. i m not don junior s lawyer, don t ask me about that. you used a key word there, tom. i wonder what the president is thinking. increasingly what we in washington now see is that the president doesn t spend a lot of time thinking and the president doesn t spend a lot of time planning. what the president and his team do is that they handle every little bit as it comes out. i m not persuaded that there s a lot of collusion here. i m not even persuaded there s a lot of coordination here. the one thing we can all be persuaded of is they are liars. they won t stop lying about things. that s a strong thing. al, it seems like a lot of conservative writers this week, this news turned them. ross douthet, as to the president himself, anyone presuming his innocence should have all the confidence of chris christie awaiting his cabinet appointment.
welcome back. in the crossfire tonight, cornell west and ross douthet. the senate is getting ready to vote on the budget compromise. all signs point to it passing. washington continues to be trapped into small incremental agreements that merely avoid disaster so the government won t close. that s progress? pope francis, however, is raising the standard dramatically by pointing to the gap between the very, very wealthy and the very, very poor. the pope has said bluntly he is not a marxist, and frankly most of what he s saying is in scripture. in this christmas season, it s hard to argue jesus wasn t radically concerned about the poor. the question is what can government do that actually will help rather than hurt. i want to ask this question,
and i think it s a disappointment. we have two really good guests tonight. cornell west, a philosophy professor and conservative columnist ross douthet, neither of whom is timid, shy or lacking opinions. i want to come first, cornell, to you. you ve seen the deal. you understand the arguments both ways on this budget deal. tomorrow the democrats have to have every democrat vote yes, even though it doesn t have unemployment compensation extension, even though it doesn t do anything about inequality. if you were in the u.s. senate tomorrow, would you vote for this budget deal? i think i would begin with a speech that says this is scrooge without the spirit of christmas. it s too cold-hearted and mean-spirited. we need to have the unemployment benefits. and yet at the same time i think i would still vote for it. why? it s a moment of bipartisan