accusing the obama administration of using a multi-billion dollar lawsuit as political leverage. we talked about standard and poors, and why s&p claims it was singled out by the department of justice after the s&p angered the white house. joining me now, james freeman, the assistant editor of the wall street journal editorial page, and andrew macarthur is a former federal prosecutor. so james, let me start with you. in an affidavit that was filed this week by this guy, harold mcgraw iii who basically runs s&p, he insists this was a down grade for what they gave the u.s. treasury back in 2011. the administration came out and said we were investigating s&p long before mr. mcgraw alleges he was threatened by tim
votes. now karen, house republicans are also seeing criticism from other conservatives. right. wall street journal editorial page wrote quote, the longer they hold out, the more chances increase that the public will turn against gop governance. and senator tom colburn says quote, they re going to dig in harder until the pain becomes so bad they yell uncle. how bad will the pain get before they cry uncle, karen? well, i think we have to make them cry uncle faster than the pain hits the real people. as you were discussing the pain is hitting people. and this is something like the sequester where they tried to say that things that were happening weren t really happening with the kind of urgency that they are. we re talking about the republicans keeping our government shut down so that people won t get health care, so that children can t be on head start or can t have the food they need to eat. as the congressman says, they re
but he s leading the charge. they re giving him credibility, frankly, in the right wing ecochamber. but i don t think he s going to derail the government. but when we get to the debt ceiling, chris, and then we have to keep the government funded again, say, november 15. i think ted cruz will play another important role because he s going to keep hammering away at the credibility of people who really want this government to function for the betterment of everyone. speaking of credibility, i think what defines the difference between him and regular conservatives, i don t think he cares about the future of the u.s. government. we all agree on that. i don t think he cares about the future of the republican party. john said that. i don t think he cares about the american economy. the wall street journal editorial page, they don t want the american economy to crumble. this guy doesn t seem to care.
the wall street journal editorial page, they don t want the american economy to crumble. this guy doesn t seem to care. and that s what s really scary to them. thank you jim moran and john feehery. coming up, so exactly who is this guy ted cruz? a reporter for the republican friendly weekly standard wrote that as he was in the back seat of a car listening to cruz, he calculated how many vertebrae he might break if he jumped out of the speeding car. also president obama kicks off a six-month effort to explain the affordable health care act. about time. and he talks with bill clinton at the clinton global initiative today. plus it looks like we re about to witness a thaw in relations with ooimpb nearly 34 years after hostages were taken in tehran. and president obama said the reason he quit smoking is he s afraid of his wife michelle. i know a lot of men that can relate. this is hardball, the place for politics.
mcconnells and the establishment i believe he s the one who left people hang out there. hold on. james carville, if you can if you can at least get the litany right. let the scarboroughs and the tom coburns and the wall street journal editorial page and the charles krauthammers and the jeb bushes and who did i miss? did i misanybody else? the real conservatives in the party. let them go ahead and be conservative and try to win elections. i will not go that route! senator cruz will say, i stood try to destroy the entire republican party in the process. i hate politics. from north florida anyone who stands with me just walked in. i m moving abroad.