This is a time to wait for the speaker of the house to come to him and ask for a meeting. When will that be . When the mail from folks back home continues to have angry kplat they cant get government to do anything, cant get them to open the gates of the National Parks, cant get them to send paychecks, cant get them to do for what citizens have a right to demand they do. Its when those letters begin barking up the congressmans office that the gentleman or gentlelady will start to wonder if shutting down the government was as nifty an idea as ted cruz told them it would be. They will then pull aside the speaker asking if it might be possible the tea party hayride had all the fun its likely to have this fall and time for it to head back to the barn. So stand tough, mr. President. Youre already standing tall. Theres nobody in the world who expects you to give into this strange kidnapping where the perp in this case instead of grabbing the baby instead of the money is grabbing the money and demanding your baby. Jay carney is the White House Press secretary. President obama launched a political offensive tonight against republicans. And hours before the shutdown, the president spoke plainly and forcefully about the faction of republicans who have taken the government as their hostage. Sometimes to the consternation of my own party. But one faction of one party in one house of congress in one branch of government doesnt get to shut down the entire government just to refight the results of an election. Keeping the peoples government open is not a concession to me. Keeping Vital Services running and hundreds of thousands of americans on the job is not something you give to the other side. Its our basic responsibility. President obama also made it clear to republicans that their brand of extortion is what he called it, wont win them any concessions from the white house or the American People when it comes to the president S Health Care law. You dont get to extract a ransom for doing your job. For doing what youre supposed to be doing anyway. Or just because theres a law there that you dont like. Jay carney, thank you for joining us. Sometimes i sense with the president , youre closer to him than we are in the press, a sense of zenlike calmness hes on the right side of this fight and the other is on the wrong side. Is that correct . Thank you for having me. He certainly believes in his heart that it is the right thing to do to insist that Congress Fund the government and not shut it down. Its the right thing to do to insist that Congress Fulfill its responsibilities to pay its bills and not let the United States default. I mean, think about it this way. The president s not asking for anything in return for this. The way that the republicans are adding demands to the agreement to fulfill their essential responsibilities. If the president were behaving the way republicans were behaving, he would say you know what . I want to attach a background check bill. Public supports it. I couldnt get it through the senate, but im going to attach this and i wont sign a bill that funds the government unless republicans agree to that. Or i wont sign a bill that raises the debt ceiling unless republicans agree to some item of mine. And hes not saying that. And democrats arent saying that. Theyre simply saying that congress should pay our bills and congress should ensure that the government doesnt shut down. Is he talking to the speaker tonight . Has he spoken with him yet tonight . You know, i dont have a conversation right now to sort of read out to you, chris. The president did say earlier today that he would be speaking with the leaders today. So i expect that will happen. Look, i think that the action right now is in congress. The opportunity right now is in the house. The house could act very easily to pass what the Senate Passed which is a clean continuing resolution. A bill that cleanly extends government funding so that the government doesnt shut down at midnight and does so for several weeks. So that theres time to negotiate over our priorities and how we fund the government and how we ensure that the middle class is secure. So the house can do that. And there are stories out there now about how there are far and away a majority in the house thats willing to do that. If only the speaker of the house would put that out for a vote. How long could the president hold out . I believe over time the tea party calls will be overtaken about those negative about the loss of government to them. How many weeks will it take . I think it is going to be weeks for the other side to get calls from their district, people at home saying stop it already. Well, the president hopes and we all here hope that it doesnt take any time at all. That the common sense will prevail on capitol hill, that the house will act appropriately, that Speaker Boehner will allow a vote to come to pass that funds the government. And then in several weeks, we dont do this all over again with even higher stakes. Yeah. Dont you think thats where were headed . Well, i hope not, chris. The impact of that would be calamitous as you know. I know. The indications are the right wing in the Republican Party who seem to be running the train are quite willing to stop the government and if you listen to them, quite willing to stop the economy. Well, i think thats terrible. And i really think i know all of the accurate analysis about how congressional districts are very, you know, ideological now and only listening to conservatives in their conservative districts. I get that, but i think, you know, americans are americans everywhere. And when it comes to families who are effected by a Government Shutdown because a Family Member is losing a paycheck or they run a business that depends on a National Park being open, or they have a veteran in their family who cant call Veterans Call Center for help because its been shut down, that they will begin to see that this is a nonsensical approach to getting our Business Done in washington. We ought to be able to do it in a way that doesnt effect peoples lives negatively the way the republicans are taking this. If the speaker is able to take everything off of the bill, the continuing resolution, make it clean except for Something Like a medical devices thing, something to give them a face saver, would the president urge nancy pelosi to bring enough to help it carry . You had a big if there. The issue about the medical device tax is another effort to disrupt, derail, defund obama care. And, you know, to delay or effect the implementation of this important bill. Heres the other irony. Republicans used to claim they would engage in these showdowns because they were so concerned about the deficit and the debt. But you know thats become to eliminating that tax increases the deficit. Delaying the implementation of the individual mandate significantly increases the debt. Theyre not even serious about this issue anymore. And hes committed to doing more as long as we do it in a responsible way. Jay carney, press secretary to president obama. Democrats may be hoping the public outrage will knock sense into House Republicans. A new cnn poll shows more will blame republicans in congress for a shutdown. 36 say theyd blame obama, 46 would blame republicans. A supermajority of republicans, 66 would blame obama for a Government Shutdown compared to only 16 would blame their own party. And the republicans wont lose any standing with independents either. This is bad news for obama. Independents are even split when it comes to blaming either part. 38 would blame obama, 39 republicans. What political incentive is there for republicans led by Speaker Boehner to get the government in line and get the government moving . Would it be the beating from the dropping stock market we could expect to continue . The shutting down of government itself . Howard fineman is an msnbc political analyst. My analysis is theyve been getting lots of mail two weeks thanks to ted cruz and mike lee and the rest saying fight the president. At some point the letters from the other side which is enough already will begin and my hunch is by the time they go through the letters, well have negotiations going on. I think thats whats happening right now. The republicans got a big fat letter from the chamber of commerce today which is equivalent in some ways to a lot of little letters from people around the country. The chamber leaning very hard on the republicans not to shut the government down talking about the economic consequences. And dont forget the chamber of commerce has become much more active and conservative in recent years. Theyve opposed obama care, fought the president tooth and nail on budget policy. Here theyre saying, look, we can fight about obama care some other time. Dont shut the government down. Theres word late tonight as the speaker tries to bring forth yet another condition laden spending bill, continuing resolution, that hes facing revolt on both sides. Hes facing a falling away of conservative support who know longer think what hes trying to do is Strong Enough and confrontational enough, and a falling away of support from moderate republicans who went along with the last one sort of, but are real sick of the thing now especially now that the chamber of commerce have gotten involved. I think the president s Statement Today was forceful and politically effective. And i sense things shifting a little here. The problem, though, is that Speaker Boehner is now completely lost it. Hes a weak character to begin with, completely lost control of the caucus. Its not clear where he can go from here if the current plan fails which means the government will shut down tonight. They went from the speakers position was shut down obama care totally. Then it was shut down funding for one year. And now its something about the individual mandate. Yeah. It doesnt sound like thats flying. So he cant find a consensus. Right, left, center of his party. Right. I think thats whats happening. He may be left in the humiliating position he was in the other year where if he wants to do anything, hes got to get democratic support for it. That used to be a good thing. That used to be called bipartisanship. Thats a bad thing in his universe right now, but thats where he may end up if he doesnt want the Republican Party to get hammered as an increasing will for shutting down the government. Whats the end game here . Could it be a generalized commitment by both sides to some near term commissioner action, entitlement reform, something that gives the republicans a home with for maybe half their members to be satisfied with. Its interesting you mentioned that. I was speaking to senator pat leahy, democrat, very experienced guy. He said what they should have done is put together some kind of commission. Yeah. Obama cares a huge endeavor and the public phase of it starts tomorrow. Not coincidentally. And leahy said lets put together a commission, get the top people from each party, put them in a roo m. If ted cruz ask serious, get him in a room with some of the proponents of obama care and talk about what might need to be changed and separate that from the question of keeping the government in action. The other thing thats happened here as you well know, it used to be congress would pass individual spending bills. Sure. They had appropriations bills. Now they have the continuing resolution which is for the whole government. I know. And its too attractive a nuisance and too attractive an apock apocalyptic thing. Cruz had a lot about doing it for holding a meeting between the budget committees. Then would have set the guidelines for the appropriations committee. By the way, we never had a total shutdown. Back in the 80s, because we had appropriations passed on time. You had different pieces of it. Howard fineman, thank you. Youre an expert. Coming up, the man leading republican lemmings off the cliff, ted cruz. He may be the guy that benefits the most. Hes getting famous. Everyone else is getting hurt. Also may give the democrats their main chance to win back the house next year. And for years republicans told us its all about jobs, jobs, jobs, so why would they do something guaranteed to hurt the American Economy . Unless theres a point to it politically. Let me finish tonight for a sobering time. This is hardball, the place for politics. Republicans have said that if we lock these americans out of Affordable Health care for one more year, if we sacrifice the health care of millions of americans, then theyll fund the government for a couple of more months. Does anybody truly believe that we wont have this fight again in a couple more months . Even at christmas . Customer erin swenson ordered shoes from us online but they didnt fit. Customers not happy, im not happy. Sales go down, im not happy. Merch comes back, im not happy. Use ups. They make returns easy. Unhappy customer becomes happy customer. Then, repeat customer. Easy returns, im happy. Repeat customers, im happy. Sales go up, im happy. I ordered another pair. Im happy. both im happy. Im happy. Happy. Happy. Happy. Happy. Happy happy. I love logistics. Help the gulf when we made recover and learn the gulf, bp from what happened so we could be a better, safer energy company. I can tell you safety is at the heart of everything we do. Weve added cuttingedge technology, like a new deepwater well cap and a stateoftheart monitoring center, where experts watch over all drilling activity twentyfourseven. And were sharing what weve learned, so we can all produce energy more safely. Our commitment has never been stronger. The house of representatives is voting right now on whats called the rule vote. Thats what republicans need to pass it in order to take up their next continuing resolution proposal. And so for several republicans already voting against it. If it doesnt pass, that means the proposal wouldnt be considered on the floor which would be a big deal. Well be right back. Ber 17, 190, the Wright Brothers became the first in flight. [ goodall ] i think the most amazing thing is how like us these chimpanzees are. [ laughing ] [ woman ] can you hear me . And you hear your voice . Oh, its exciting [ man ] touchdown confirmed. Were safe on mars. [ cheers and applause ] hi. [ baby fussing ] you tell us what you want to pay, and we give you a range of coverages to choose from. Who is she . Thats flobot. Shes this new robot were trying out, mostly for, like, small stuff. Wow look at her go shes pretty good. Shes pretty good. Hey, flobot, great job. Oops. [ powers down ] uhoh, flobot is broken. The name your price tool, only from progressive. Call or click today. Welcome back to hardball. I was interrupted with the news the house did pass the preliminary vote to take up the continuing resolution. Which Speaker Boehner is presenting. Looks like were going to have a Government Shutdown tonight. Welcome back to hardball. Where would we be without ted cruz . Theres a thought. Cruz spent the summer whipping up the base and make them think it was achievable. They spent the last few weeks whipping their republicans in congress often at the expense of john boehner and his efforts to find a way out of the mess. Cruz has earned himself enemies in his own party. But in the vacuum of Republican Leadership nationally. Yesterday on meet the press David Gregory pointed out to cruz that polls show americans want the Affordable Care act upheld. And theres no protests in the street to do away with the law. The facts are becoming more and more clear. That obama care isnt working. Every day thats becoming more clear. Theres a reason the unions are jumping ship. One union after another is saying let me out. Now, why is it that harry reid and the Senate Democrats are not willing to listen to the millions of working men and women wait a second. Youre making an argument. I asked you a specific question based on the facts on the ground. My goodness, you spoke for 21 hours to make these arguments. You havent moved anyone. The American People overwhelmingly reject obama care. They understand its not working. The only people who arent listening to the argument are the career politicians in washington. The great thing about the constitution is that it creates a system of checks and balances. Each branch has the ability to check another. Someone might tell senator cruz the system of checks and balances worked in this case. The law was passed by congress, the president did sign the Affordable Care act, and the Supreme Court weighed in and upheld the Affordable Care act. The president was reelected on the Affordable Care act issue. What is cruz actually talking about here . David corn is the Washington Bureau chief for mother jones and Jonathan Capehart for the washington post. I want to start with jonathan. This is a fascinating bit of leadership. Im not praising it, im noting it. Heres a guy that can come in a few months as senator, he upsets the favorite in the primary and all of is sudden hes instructing the entire country on this new look at the american constitution. We pass a law through both houses of congress, they reconcile their differences, signed by both hos houses, by the president , reviewed by the Supreme Court. And in this case the president gets reelected on that issue against an opponent very much against it. Case closed. Oh, no. Theres this new procedure whereby, its a new vote. Which tries to