Barack obama. 49 of us are not that stupid. I think the republicans have betrayed their own values. The republicans have great messages, but there is a news media in this country that simply is on the president s side. The people who we need to reach are the people who arent paying attention. Thats what the economy said, herman. Those that are wrong economists. Please be reasonable. It makes me ashamed. Vent your anger but be alone when you do it. Have you heard about the new dance criaze li. It is seven days to austerity, to a potential economic apock lips when 85 billion will be slashed from the federal government and eventually it will affect all of us from the food we eat to the flights we take to the Nations National security. All of it could come apart unless republicans find a way to compromise on sequestration. Its a message the president reiterated this afternoon while meeting with japans prime minister. This should be a nobrainer, and let me just point out that the overall impact to the economy will be to slow down the recovery. The comments came after transportation secretary ray lahood visited the White House Briefing room this morning and explained in no Uncertain Terms how these cuts will affect the average american. He detailed not only the delays that travelers within the United States can expect, but also how republicans can avoid these devastating cuts. This requires compromise. This requires republicans stepping forward with some ideas about how to keep essential services of government running at the level that people have been accustomed to. This is not rocket science. And this comes on the top of recent polling showing not only the president with far more support among voters than republicans, but also that republicans will take the lions share of the blame should these cuts come to pass. We go to Kristin Welker live at the white house. That was a pretty big gun in the White House Briefing room. Is this the administration trying to counter some republicans who seem to be suggesting that the sequestration is no big deal, we should just somehow welcome it . Well, martin, good afternoon. I think that that is one goal. I also think the administration is trying to ratchet up pressure on congress to act by ratcheting up the public anger over this situation. As you pointed out, secretary lahood really painted quite a stark picture in the Briefing Room today. He talked about the fact that 1 billion would be slashed from the department of transportation and that would lead to 47,000 employees who would be furloughed. The ultimate impact he said is that airtraffic controllers would essentially have fewer shifts. That would mean the entire air traffic system would grind to basically not a halt but would slow down significantly, flights could be changed or delayed or even canceled. So really a stark picture. Obviously thats something that the public has a great deal of interest in. The administration has been taking this tack all week talking about the very severe impact on the average person if these cuts do, in fact, go into effect. Women and infant children would be impacted, meals on wheels, head start. A number of programs across the board with be impacted according to the administration. The president has been accused of sort of painting a sky is falling scenario. We asked White House Press secretary jay carney about that. He denied those claims, but still no deal in sight and we are just seven days out. Martin . Kristin welker at the white house. Thank you. For analysis were pleased to welcome robert gibbs, the president s former press secretary, senior adviser, and now an msnbc contributor. Good afternoon, sir. Good afternoon. Weve had the pointless spectacle of a blame game with republicans claiming that despite voting for the sequester, they actually have nothing to do with it and its all the president s fault. Now we hear them saying bring it on. Is it not a suspicion that republicans like paul ryan would absolutely love to see a brutal series of cuts . They want this sequester, dont they . Well it certainly appears that way. Now, thats not how they framed it last fall during the president ial campaign, and i do think from that Video Montage that you showed, look, i think theres breaking news that Rush Limbaugh has developed a sense of shame. I think its remarkable in all of this to listen to the rhetoric on the other side. Again, these were apocalyptic cuts from their viewpoint just a few months ago. Now its something that they seem unwilling to do anything to stop. Weve had james clapper, director of national intelligence, warning that these cuts could provoke a National Security crisis. Weve had ray lahood tell us our travel plans will be in disarray. Weve had arne duncan warn us the teachers will be laid off, the education of our children badly undermined. But, robert, isnt this the republican rampage against government, not through the ballot box because, of course, they lost the president ial election, but through the excuse of the sequester . Look, i think in some ways it is. There are certainly programs that you enumerated there that they would be happy to watch any federal funding squeezed off of. I do think if you again look at their rhetoric from last fall around whats going to happen to military readiness and National Security, they were holding their hands up and waving them furiously just a few months ago that we couldnt possibly let this happen to now going to a mere shoulder shrug of bring it on. I think they go into this, martin, with a huge disadvantage, as you showed with the polling. I think theyve got very bad cards, and they seem intent on sitting at the card table and playing each and every one of them. It is incredible. Now, paul ryan is one of the republicans who likes to call this the president s sequester, as you know. However, id like you to listen to his thoughts on sequestration from a few years ago. Take a listen. We want to make sure we put a system in place with binding caps that are tough to circumvent that are backed up with sequesters so Congress Actually makes the tough choices. This from the same man who says its the president s sequester. Can you explain that, mr. Gribs . I cant explain it and i doubt paul ryan can either. I think again their rhetoric never seems to match the reality in this. Theyve got a bad hand to play, yet they seem intent on playing it, and i will say i think this sets back even further the image that they have to turn around and that is that they are not a party that is serious about doing what is possible or what needs to happen to both compromise and to govern this country. I think its why they continue to lose Important National elections time after time. Now, you speak about messaging and you know how important the media can be in disseminating a message. Here are some republican mouthpieces on exactly whats happening. Take a listen to this. Ladies and gentlemen, for the first time in my life i am ashamed of my country. It is outright deception and i dont have a problem with what he said. Liberals never understand rush. It frustrates me. Its us. Were turning into bare barians, we americans. Its not that americans are bad people. Theyre just apathetic may i go the other they dont care. They blamed the president. Now they blame the people deriding americans as apathetic, narcissistic, and disinterested. Can i ask you, isnt there some fundamental misunderstanding here that the will of the American People was evidenced in the way they voted in november . Thats what the American People think. Right. Weve had an election where we had a bigger turnout than wed had four years ago that came out to say we wanted to stop the insanity of some of these policies. And as you mentioned earlier, republicans spent the last two weeks trying to mount a campaign to have the blame for sequester be put off on the president rather than on themselves. It didnt work in the polling. The public isnt buying it. Its not that the public is apathetic, martin. Its just that theyre a whole lot smarter than the people you showed there in the Video Montage. Okay. Well, we have seven days, robert, seven days before some of these horrendous cuts will begin to take effect. Youve been in washington for a long time. You know the president very well. What are your odds on their being some kind of resolution given that we literally only have seven days left . Yeah, martin, i wouldnt put a lot of money on the fact that these cuts are going to be averted. Im pessimistic largely because i dont have a real sense of why i should be optimistic. I think you touched on this. Republicans are simply unwilling and, look, ray lahood, who has been a great secretary of transportation, said this as well. Its not rocket science. We just need republicans to come sit down and understand that weve got to get a balanced approach, that everybody is going to have to give a little bit to solve these problems and republicans are at this point categorically unwilling to do anything like that. I think, again, theyve got really bad cards in this yet they seem insistent on playing this hand out, and i dont think its going to end well for them, and i think several weeks into this when the lines get long for to catch a flight, when airtraffic control towers are shut down when parents fail to receive funding for head start. When families dont get meals on wheels. When disabled people have no transportation. I mean, is that what needs to happen for republicans to reach a compromise . To absolutely see abject suffering in the lives of people . I think it is going to take the sequester kicking in and watching the real impact of these cuts across a Broad Spectrum of peoples lives to get republicans to sit down at the table. They understand what could happen, and thats not certainly motivating them towards compromise. And there was me stupidly thinking they won election to serve the people of this country. Robert gibbs, sir, thank you so much for joining us. Thank you. Next, john mccain outraged over benghazi, but when it comes to assault weapons, not so much. Stay with us. Im asking you, do you care im asking you, do you care whether four americans died. Ha that assault weapons man will not pass the congress of the United States. That assault l not pass the congress of the United States. Hi. Hi. Im here to pick up some cacti. It should be under stephens. The verizon share everything plan for Small Business. Get a shareable pool of data. Got enough joshua trees . On up to 25 devices. So you can spend less time. Yea, the golden barrels. Managing wireless costs and technology and more time driving your business potential. Looks like were going to need to order more agaves. Ah oh ow . And more bandages. Thats powerful. Shareable data plus unlimited talk and text. Now save 50 on a droid razr maxx hd by motorola. But im still stubbed up. [ male announcer ] truth is, nyquil doesnt unstuff your nose. What . 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With simple, real ingredients, like roasted peanuts, creamy peanut butter, and a rich darkchocolate flavor, plus 10 grams of protein, so its energy straight from nature to you. Nature valley protein bars. Much as the nra is hoping that that hor riff irific shoot Sandy Hook Elementary School will fade into distant memory today marks the launch of a new action to the help promote the president s legislative agenda. There are over 100 activities from a village gym fgil for guno rallies in 80 congressional districts. Theyre also launching their first online ad buy which will target 16 republicans and urge them to support stronger background checks on gun sales. It is a most welcome development, especially when you consider all the nay saying this week about passing real gun reform in congress. Perhaps the most prominent naysayer was senator john mccain who had this reaction with a mother of a mass shooting victim. My 24yearold son, alec, was murdered in a Movie Theater in auror aurora, colorado. These assault weapons allow a shooter to fire many rounds. They do not belong on our streets. You need some Straight Talk. That assault weapons ban will not pass the congress of the United States. Lets bring in democratic strategist Julian Epstein and patric patricia, whose quick thinking and heroism helped stop Jared Loughner from reloading. Patricia, you were in the room at that town hall this week with senator mccain and we want to be fair to him because the video of that event came into us from a station in phoenix that edited out part of his response. But you were actually there. How would you characterize senator mccains response to a mother who had lost her son in a mass shooting . Well, i was somewhat taken aback. I know that karen was just shocked that he said that to her, and im not sure if he had it to say again whether he would say it in quite that way, but karen asked me when he was done speaking, should i walk out . And i said, you know, if you really want to display your displeasure, stand up and turn your back to him because people dont know why youre walking out, but she was really upset that he had talked to her that way. And you say that you yourself were taken aback. Why were you taken aback . Because alex was murdered i think it was seven months to the day, or almost to the day, and it was just surprising that he would be that aggressive in his language about gun control. He could have been somewhat kinder and gentler to somebody whose child had just been murdered with a gun within the last year. Indeed. Julian, the Vice President in referring to patricias heroism just yesterday made the point that the size of a guns magazine often relates to the extent of the carnage. Now, given that we all agree that we cant legislate for every single possibility, doesnt reducing the capacity of these magazines make sense if were serious about curbing gun violence. Around theres no case that stands for that proposition better than the tucson murder. I echo the Vice President s comments. Patricia is an american hero. Her heroic acts helped stop loughner in his tracks. Secondly, i think john mccain is confusing Straight Talk with circular logic. The reason that the assault weapons ban wont bapass in the senate is because hes trying to obstruct it. It also dishonors the memory of his slain constituents because Jared Loughner passed a background check. He was able to unload 33 bullets in a matter of 15 seconds in a semiautomatic pistol with a high capacity magazine. The 13th bullet went into the body and killed a 9yearold girl. Its exactly the reason why a background check alone will not solve this problem, and its unbelievable to me that john mccain, who has been such a statesman and somebody who was so wellregarded on both sides of the aisle, has now become an industry front man on an issue that has gotten so out of control that it is causing carnage among his own constituents and this is the kind of answer that we get from him. Its extraordinary. Patricia, you dont need me to remind you that six people were killed in that tucson parking lot back in january 2011, including, as julian just said, 9yearold Christina Taylor green, who will never have the chance to tell us what she thinks about issue. Can i ask, do you feel a special responsibility given how close you came to an individual who was literally perpetrating murderous mayhem . Do you feel a particular responsibility to speak up for those children, those individuals who because theyve been murdered dont have a choice in this discussion . I definitely do. Theres some of our group that are so emotionally wounded that they cannot take up the cause, but i can, so i must. I must speak for Christina Taylor green, for gabe zimmerman, for judge john roll, for darwin stoddard, for Dorothy Morris and for Phyllis Schneck. You know, they dont have a voice anymore, and i can speak for them and try to make sure that these things become less and less popular. I dont know if thats the right word. Its just such a shame that we cant try to do something, but youre right, Christina Taylor green died at the 13th bullet, and roger and bill badger, they knocked him down when he tried to reload from one. 33 capacity magazine to another. 33 capacity magazine that misfired when he was going to try to shoot me, and thats when they knocked him down right on top of me and i was able to get the third magazine that he had. You know, if they had only ten rounds in that magazine, maybe we wouldnt have as many people that were murdered or injured. Exactly right. Patricia, can i ask, when you hear politicians almost sound as if they have given up hope or that the only thing we might be able to get is universal background checks, what would you say to them . What would you say to those politicians in washington who are literally in the middle of this debate and this argument. What do you say to them .