that s 2016. the 2017, 2018 message, don t forget we ve got new jersey and virginia races, but that the important message here is why should you vote for democrats? and it can t be this it s all about a resistance thing. no. it has to be a very positive sort of forward thinking message about, okay, what makes us better than the republicans? what makes us the future? and that s what the focus has to be. that s how you have to inspire and mobilize voters for 2018. robert, the thing that probably disturbed me most given my civil rights background in terms of my own life s journey, is that in six meetings, comey testified they never once discussed the fact that a foreign government who is perceived as an adversarial government undermined the voting
hearing of james comey. and his assertion that president trump spread lies about him. comey came to capitol hill after weeks of being called names by the president. being called a grand stander, unpopular, crazy, and a real nut job. it was then comey s turn to give his account of his relationship with donald trump. three days removed, where is this story moving to you? let me ask my panel ms. plank is a senior respondent at vox.com. charles ellison, a democratic strategist and radio host of reality check in philadelphia and robert train um. a political strategist and msnbc
and i have a good fan base for that, the american people. robert, does the gop give in on revenue? this is the same conversation we keep having. the democrats say new revenue. the republicans say cut taxes. the question becomes what is the middle ground here? what we have seen from speaker boehner over the last couple months, look, if there is a significant government cuts here, if there s significant entitlement reform and if people making a lot of money pay a little bit more okay, let s have this conversation. robert, is it fair to say the gop seems like they want no revenue, new revenue, what so ever? let me be clear, i don t think it s realistic. you have to have a compromise in the middle. what i m saying is what i think is happening is republicans are shifting a bit. the question is whether or not the democrats will shift and meet in the middle. how about this, doug? partisan politics might sink the
interested in it s not just defense talks we are talking ant. there s $500 billion in domestic cuts. once people realize republicans want to hold the economy hostage over tax cuts for the rich and even the tiny amount of concession made before was not enough for them. they start to see the impact of the cuts. i think they may have to come to the table. really quick in terms of march 1st, are we going to punt and have this conversation in the summer or get something done and have this fixed once and for all? robert? it seems like based on history we are going to punt on this again. as i said before, republicans have done a good job of keeping the democrats and the white house in defense. if history is our guide, i m not surprised if we kick the can down the curb. doug, punt or fix? i agree with robert. they are going to keep kicking the can. aaron. i would love to be the
topi topics. burning questions and the must read. let s bring in the panel. former bush-cheney adviser. doug hataway and staff writer for salon.com. thank you for being here. robert, i ll begin with you. here is what senate majority leader said about reaching a deal with republicans to avoid the upcoming march 1st sequestration deadline. here it is. are you saying to lift the sequester, first of all, it s going to have to include some new revenue, whatever you agree to? without question. there are some efforts being made to only get rid of the sequester as it relates to if fence. your position on lifting the sequester on avoiding the shut down beyond august any one of those deals must include new revenues. the answer is definitely yes.