Think they can hold america hostage for a ransom they cant win through an election. Okay. There we go. Here we go. 6 00 on the east coast. Welcome to morning joe. Its thursday, october 3. The government is still shut down. With us on set, the chairman of deutsch incorporated, Donny Deutsch. I love donny. Unfortunately not furloughed. We tried. It is not a joke. Vice president executive editor of msnbc. Com richard wolf. Good morning. Good morning. In washington, former White House Press secretary and msnbc contributor robert gibbs. Very serious. And chief Foreign Affairs it just keeps going on. Andrea mitchell. Great to have her on. What an amazing show. That was crazy stuff. Did you get any flak . I was getting phone calls last night late. I mean different from the phone calls you usually get late . These are different. Unfortunately these were about politics. Im not interested in that. Get ready for another show. Anyway, we asked and i want to i felt kind of bad. A liberal felt outnumbered, right, for the first time . Uhhuh. I called karl. I said, i feel bad. You come on the show expecting there to be one conservative and 27 liberals. What did he say . Cant come on the show tomorrow, im having breakfast with eric cantor. Thats unbelievable. Stop now. Didnt he call him a nazi . Donny would have. Why is your hair pointing to the north pole like mine . Only one pompadour on set. Its hero worship. Okay. There is way too much going on for you two to talk about hair. Come on, man. Carl bernstein doesnt need our help. He handled himself great. Load ed. A living legend. Watergate th carries you. You can ride that for a while. You should try to get some. Baseball. No, no. Its october, baby. Come on a lot of people were cheering. Go rays should i clean out my purse . How are we doing . There are more people rooting for the red sox than texas. Thats true. I hated to see it last night. Cleveland had a great season. They ended on a huge run. Francona would have gone to boston to take on his old team as manager of the indians. Didnt work out. Okay, geez. Dogs and cats sleeping together. I never get tired of saying that. It was billed as a top meeting. First time congressional leaders would meet with the president. Youre going to talk, right . When we bond its nice. As a family, right . We disagree a lot. All right. In the end, Speaker John Boehner characterized the evening meeting at the white house as little more than a polite conversation with no headway. President obama reiterated that he wont negotiate over his Signature Health care bill. Earlier in the day in an interview with cnbcs john harwood, the president spoke about his relationship with republicans and commented on the looming debt ceiling showdown. During the course of my presidency, i have bent over backwards to work on the Republican Party and have purposely kept my rhetoric down. Im pretty well known, i think, for being a calm guy. Wall street has been calm about this. The reaction i would say generally speaking has been washington fighting, washington posturing, yadda, yadda, yadda. This time is different. They should be concerned. When you have a situation in which a faction is willing potential potentially potentially defaulting on u. S. Obligations we are in trouble. If they are willing to do it now, they will be willing to do it later. Despite the president s re few sal to negotiate Many Republican lawmakers who backed re peel ing obama care are feeling pressure to get something. Heres what one congressman, Marlon Stutzman had to say. We wont be disrespected. We have to get something out of this. I dont know what that is. You know, if the president comes out and says, im taking full responsibility for the aca and there is a way to go forward without republican support and he says, republicans need something out of this, i dont know. Throw the keystone pipeline, Economic Growth policy. Then republicans b will be talking. But he doesnt hes not even engaged. Republicans will sit still. I think we should sit still until he starts counteroffering. What would that be, joe . We should ask te ted cruz. Respect. He was asked. Its about respect. Come on. Government shutdown . Its not like robert gibbs the president said it from the very beginning. You had republicans, robert gibbs, like myself, like Charles Krauthammer, like scott walker, like paul ryan saying, dont do it. Dont do it, guys. Dont do it. Unless you have an end game. Its like colin powell. You dont go to war until you know what the end game is. Whats the triggering event for the troops to come out . You shouldnt shut down the government unless a couple of days later youre going, wait, we need something for this. Yeah. I think we need a righthanded pitcher and a policy to be named later. This is crazy. Were at a point where republicans wanted a certain spend ing level in a continuing resolution for two months. Thats the spending level that were at. Thats the sequester spending level. So we got here via compromise. Harry reid was right when he said john boehner cant take yes for an answer. B robert, let me ask you this question. Listen, i will say it right here. I have said it all along. Its republicans fault. If i were the president i wouldnt negotiate. I would sit there and just let them come to me. Its a temporary bill. That said, this is what i want you to break down for the viewers. Mmhmm. What is the risk that the president holds because we just showed a congressman. There are 435. In 20 years nobody will be writing about them individually but they will write about Barack Obamas broken washington. That has to be pressure. The legacy. This isnt what the president wants to be remember ed for. What are some of the dangers on the president s side and what does he and his staff need to be worried about so they are not too clever by half . First of all, joe, i dont think they will say this is Barack Obamas broken washington. They may talk about washington being broken, but the notion that its the cause of one president , think, is fairly ludicrous. I know, but we think of the 90s as bill clintons. We think of the 80s as reagans. Thats the way historians think of it. These are the obama years. Im not placing blame. Youre getting close. Im really not placing blame. I have said clearly the republicans should not have done this. This is the republicans fault. But barack obama doesnt want to spend eight years like this. Well, i think the biggest danger, in all honesty to the president is if he does flinch and negotiate which is why i dont think he lchl there are 435 members of congress. This is largely driven by one senator and 40 members of congress. Out of representative s and senators in washington, lets say 41 to 50 are driving this train. Yeah. If 41 to 50 can drive the train to negotiate as everyone said over a policy passed by the house and senate, signed by the president , validated by the Supreme Court and the president ial election, i dont know where that would stop. Certainly i think the white house will evaluate each and every day where they are in this scenario and what sort of external pressure, quite frankly is on both sides. I think the biggest concern for them honestly is getting into a hostage negotiation with republicans. Okay. Thats fair enough. There is no doubt this will be remembered as the ted cruz shutdown. O yeah. I have never seen one member more responsible for whats going on in the house and the senate. You know, maybe that helps him in 2016. I dont know. I want to ask andrea about this. It will be the ted cruz shutdown. Bigger picture, obama years. Politico is reporting, andrea, at a closed door lunch republicans confronted senator ted cruz to explain a way out of the budget impasse. At one point he was reportedly asked point blank if he would renounce attacks on republican senators from the Senate Conservatives fund, a group thats aligned itself with him. Cruz said he would not. One senator in attendance told politico, quote, it was evident to everyone in the room that cruz doesnt have a strategy. He never had a strategy adding, i just wish the 35 house members that brought the snake oil that was sold could witness what was witnessed today at lunch. In an interview with ezra klein, grover nor quist i love grover. Liberals hate him. I love the guy. Willie, you know he was defending ted cruz. Right . Sort of. I dont know. What did he say . Republicans were united in wanting to repeal obama care. Right. But that senator cruz went after legislators who didnt follow his strategy adding he accused cruz of, quote, pushing House Republicans into traffic and wandering away. He does have a strategy, ted cruz. Whats going on . Ted cruzs strategy is he wants to be either a president ial nominee or part of the president ial process. He has no strategy to get along, make friends and produce legislation in the senate. For senators who think a freshman comes in, makes friends and tries to work with his own party if not people across the aisle, this is not his strategy. He is now well known and doing well in fundraising and well known with the base and in texas. His strategy is all about 2016. Has nothing to do with getting anything done in the senate. I was on morning joe at 6 00 in the morning the day after his first appearance on meet the press in january. He had just been elected and he was trashing everyone else and being very rude to Chuck Schumer who was saying, my new colleague from texas, the gentleman from texas,the morning before. I said this is a different kind of senator. He then came up to me at a washington dinner a week later and said i was rude to him on morning joe. This guy has a completely different strategy than almost anyone we have seen come to washington. No doubt. Its working for him so far. The thing is, willie, people on set yesterday said its working for him. Its not working for him. This is a fast starter, going out like this is a great way to start. Its not a good way to end. When you have ever republican in the senate and republican uhs in the house angry because there is no strategy. Like grover said, pushed him in the middle of the street. Yeah. Its not like the wall street journal and other conservatives department want him. Its telling that you had senators rushing to call politico after the lunch to give them a blow by blow. They are fed up. It wasnt staff. It was senators. One said this was never about strategy for cruz. Its about him. I think that sums up the way a lot of his colleagues feel about him. Im not sure he cares. He doesnt. Hes not a career politician. He came to make change, shake up washington. Hes hearing from constituents, conservative groups, on twitter that the hes fighting the good fight. Hes t not going to step back. As long as hes led by twitter im sure hell find the right direction. I hear what youre saying about ted cruz. We all agree hes taken his party off the edge of the cliff. But people had to follow him. They had to give him the space to do this and say, yeah, well be complicit in this. Its not just 30, 40 House Republicans. It is the rest of the caucus saying we are afraid of these people, of what they represent and well follow them. Who is leading whom here . What is the responsibility of the leadership when they are following a senator who has no strategy . Where are the people who guard the brand and the strategy and the values of the Republican Party . There is nobody left on capitol hill that guards the brand. There is nobody. I know this will shock people and i will get blasted. I kind of i know youre doing it. I am. I tried to guard the brand and i have for the past five years. When people like glenn beck call the president of the United States racist. When you have republican president ial candidates im predicting in real time in politico columns will destroy the republican brand. There is nobody though. There is no colin powell. They have been driven from the party. There is no james baker there these days. There is nobody to call people into the room. Thats the problem. Let me tell you whats happened here. Tell these guys. 30second commercials raise a lot of money on the side. This is the new washington. Not through the party. They ran 30second commercials where they sold snake oil saying lets stop obama care. If tom coburn doesnt want to stop obama care then the guy with the most conservative rating over the past decade is a liberal and hes a rhino and he hates america. Thats what they saw time and again. Thats the pressure they feel. We have to toe the line between notoriety and success. We see it. This is the honey booboo of washington. Oh, lord. Youre going to get cameras. Honey booboo of washington. Seriously . It is. No whats stunning about this is where is the Chris Christie . Where is the future of the party who stands up . It will be easier for them to emerge at this point. Saying this is not what the American People. By the way, is this not the best thing politically thats ever happened to Chris Christie . A guy at 72 in new jersey, plus 20 with women. A pro life guy. A conservative. Is this not willie, its amazing. He gets things done and he talks the to democrats. To answer your question, has been talking about it. We played the clip at an event. He said, these guys talking about republicans these guys are fools. This is a disaster. Their strategy is a disaster. Hes separating himself. Im a washington outsider. I have nothing to do with these guys, with this strategy. Hes got to get up front. This is a huge marketing opportunity for any republican who can understand the general election. This is obvious. There are a lot of guys out there. The thing about cruz, hes a sarah palin. There is a difference between a media star. He makes Good Television. Gives good quotes, reads good books like green egg s ham but this is a guy that will never win in the suburbs of philadelphia or virginia. The i4 corridor. It is a mathematical demographic certainty. I wrote this about sarah palin back in november of 2010 when she was first place in polls. I wrote it about herman cain and every other front runner. Ted cruz will never win in the i4 corridor. Cruz will never win in the philadelphia suburbs. Cruz will never win where republicans have to win to win national elections. We have seen this story so many times before. I bet he s in the lead in the Iowa Caucuses now. I dont disagree that hes the honey booboo of washington but that series is on tv because people in america watch it. I watch it. This is 30 to 40 republicans that they believe and probably are in many ways are speaking for the hardcore Republican Base that are leading those that frankly just arent Strong Enough. If they step out of line will be beaten in a primary. Ted cruz may be doing this in a way that doesnt win a general election. My guess is his numbers are through the roof with republicans in early president ial primary states. Willie . So the house yesterday was trying to pass piecemeal bills to decide which piece of the government to keep open. These are two narrow spending bills funding the National Park service and the National Institute of health. Senator reid pushed back against the notion that democrats need to pick and choose which parts of the government to fund. You all talked about children with cancer unable to go to Clinical Trials. The house is presumably going to pass a bill that funds at least the nih. Given what you said, will you at least pass that and, if not, arent you playing the same political games republicans are . What right do they have to pick and choose which parts of government can be funded . It is obvious whats going on here. Talk about reckless and irresponsible. Wow. What this is all about is obama care. If you can help one child who has cancer why wouldnt you do it. Why put one against the other . Why would we want to do that . I have 1100 people at nulles air force base sittinging home. They have problems of their own. To have someone of your intelligence suggest such a thing im just asking irresponsible. Reid took heat for saying why would we want to do that . Some people took it as saying why save a kid with cancer . I saw the clip. My impression wasnt that he didnt like kids with cancer but more than democrats should keep him from the microphone. He wrote republicans have accused me of not caring about kids with cancer. Shameful. He was responding to what Chuck Schumer chimed in there. Just stop, everybody. Theyre trying to spin for harry reid. The fact is i know harry reid loves kids with cancer and all kids. His wife is battling cancer, okay . Keep reid away from the microphone. I have to say this is republicans passed a bill to fund nih and democrats now have a choice. They passed a bill to fund d. C. Now democrats have a choice. They will pass a bill that funds vet services. Now democrats have a choice. Well see if that strategy sticks or not. Richard wolffe i guess you, unlike me, think democrats should just reject those measures. No. I think republicans should be talking about debt and deficit and not campaigning by snippet and stunt. Thats what they are doing. If they are serious about government, wanting to take control of government and do things that speak to their va e values they need to talk about deficit. Theyre talking about nih, National Parks. This is small politics when we are looking at default. Turn the page. Hold on. If you are a mother or a father with a child in one of the Clinical Trials and the republicans have passed a bill to fund nih do you not think the democrats should probably or wic or why does it have to be all or nothing . Why cant we help kids with cancer . These choices were put on us by 40 republicans. The all or nothing aspect of this is. I mean this crisis isnt static. No police call crisis is. If democrats want funding for National Institutes of health, for parks, for washington, d. C. , they now have vehicles to do it. They can pass it in the senate this morning