been quietly trying to craft a deficit compromise behind closed doors. and then there s gang of six part deux, kicking off bipartisan deficit negotiations led by vice president biden. this is the group the president called for. the question is, can either one of these so-cslled gangs come up with a deal? former senator byron dorgan represented north dakota in the senate for 18 years. he s now a senior fellow at the bipartisan policy center. senator, thanks for being with us. thank you. well, there s no shortage of people working on the problem. how hopeful are you that wash wush washington is going to be able to bridge the divide? i think they re under so much pressure at the moment. they have to come up with if not a solution at least a framework to get to a solution. i think that will happen. obviously, the issue of extending the debt limit is a moment where there s some sidestepping and tap dancing between now and then.
this is nato s effort to break the stalemate. there was an announcement air strikes will be intensified. the advisers will be working with the rebel army to help with communications, logistics and organization. but as you just mentioned, their biggest problem when they get on the ground here is figuring out who s in charge. there is right now a power struggle between two generals. one that was in exile in the u.s. for 20 years. the other, the former interior minister that defected from gadhafi s government in mid-february. both say they are in charge. and it is difficult to get a single message out of the national council. the spokesman said to us today he confirmed that there s a power struggle. but you ll hear people on tv saying that both of these generals are in charge. so it s going to be difficult from the very beginning for them. savannah? all right, stephanie gosk in benghazi, libya, where frustration certainly is growing. stephanie, thank you. back to washington now, and t
well, time now to dip our toes in the shallow end. and the self-proclaimed war lock has come to washington. charlie sheen brought his, quote, violent torpedo of truth tour to the nation s capital last night. in the near-capacity crowd at the constitution hall, which included infamous white house crashers tareq and michaele salahi, sheen toured with the possibility of a presidential run. i don t know. this could be the right venue. could be the right venue to make a big announcement. is it the craziest [ bleep ] idea ever? is there anybody in here who would actually [ bleep ] vote for me? [ crow cheering ] well, for starters, i was
where did we see her last month? she was in israel, visiting the iling wall. she was meeting with the prime minister. that is an effort to say maybe i don t have every credential there. i m building some. past as a lobbyist. the guy or lady who gets elected the president of the united states will immediately be lobbying. that s what presidents do for a living. well, all right, i mean, take a negative and turn it into a positive. exactly. and wouldn t that be smart if it works? if people say, that s right, i want a president who can make a case, who can lobby congress to get things through. and it takes what could be a huge negative for governor barbour, because people do not like washington lobbyists, and make people think, maybe he can lobby for me. right. susan page, it s a great read, usa today. thank you for being here. appreciate it. somewhere in america, a city comes to life.
for the first time in history of saying the united states would not pay its bills. it would default. that s just an unthinkable position. we have eric cantor who is the majority leader in the house who s now going to be part of the second gang of six. and he said when announcing he d be part of it, quote, i remain skeptical that the administration will take this effokmçuñó seriously, especiall after it all but ignored its previous debt commission and president obama had to be dragged kicking and screaming to consider minimal spending cuts for the rest of this fiscal year. i mean, is this just business as usual in washington?ç of course, the president gave a very tough speech on republicans last week as well. is this the usual in washington, or do you think things are so polarized that a deal is not likely to happen? well, they re very polarized, but that statement by congressman cantor, here s a person that says solve the deficit problem by cutting taxes and getting rid of med