Page 53 - Abstraction News Today

That only makes republicans angry. its a complicated and dual edge strategy that is not sure it is going to work. march 1st, these cuts will go into place. we dont know when we will feel the impact for the end of march or april. we have time, but they have to come to the table at some point. >> nine days away. lets remind everybody how the president tried to rattle wages yesterday in demonstrating what the republican choices are. take a listen. >> border patrol agents will see hours reduced. fbi...

>> its not about the sequester. this is about defining who his enemy is. >> this is not an abstraction. people will lose their jobs. >> it will be in some ways a yawn. the histrionics that are coming from the president. is anybody not going to stand up and call his bluff. >> congress can do the right thing. >> hes stealing from his kids. >> if i said that, would i be over the top? >> my door is open. im willing to work with anybody. >> its one thing to keep us in the dark about a fleet of flying...

Staffers on capitol hill. theres nothing special, press secretary jay carney says, about meetings in the roosevelt room because republicans have walked away from them in the past. president obama wanted to show them the faces of some of the people that will be hurt if theres no deficit reduction agreement as well as to argue the spending cuts would have a very bad impact. >> these cuts are not smart. they are not fair. they will hurt our economy. they will add hundreds of thousands of americans ...

Economy again. today president obama called out the gop for refusing to stop catastrophic budget cuts due to hit next friday. cuts that could derail our entire economy. these cuts were never supposed to have happened. they were designed to be so awful that even republicans would see the light in compromise on a budget deal before they could take effect. but the gop refused. >> these cuts are not smart. they are not fair. they will hurt our economy. they will add hundreds of thousands of american...

We are just getting word that the president has been playing golf today with that guy, tiger woods ranked number two in the world along with ron kirk and jim crane. he is playing in florida. we know he is taking a weekend off to play golf. we heard that michelle obama has sent the president a tweet saying honey, call home. my panel today for the big three. lets get to your must read. what is it? >> amanda becker has a story about the future of the voting rights act which is getting its day at ...

You can be sure that mitch mcconnell is probably behind closed doors, smiling about that. he is not there to help the president. but the question is why dont the democrats realize what is happening here? they may realize it, but theyre afraid to move forward on it. and people are frustrated in this country. this is what they voted for. >> no, ed, you know, i agree with you. thats why i did not vote for that package. and i think what everybody has got to understand, and youve made this very clear...

Contributor and an opinion writer for "the washington post" and jimmy williams joins us from washington and is an msnbc contributor. john, when the president announced his pick for defense secretary, he made an important reference to how chuck hagel understands the notion of war. take a listen to this, john. >> chuck knows war is not an abstraction. he understands that sending young americans to fight and bleed in the dirt and mud, thats something we only do when its absolutely necessary. >> it ...

You cant. >> no. he actually has voted for foreign aid to israel. im simply saying the united states is going to be dealing with major issues like iran and syria. these are major issues in the region. im simply saying hes had very strong views on this, very much a minority view on this. im saying shouldnt that be part of the discussion? shouldnt senators be allowed to ask him serious questions behind this before they get behind the presidents confirmation. >> i think its important we have a secr...

There is not one shred of evidence that im anti-israel, not one vote against israel. hagel voted for close to $ho 40 billion in military aid to israel. further, as richard cohen notes in "the washington post" nothing hagel has said about israel is not said in the israeli press on a daily basis. trust me, by the "wall street journal" standards israeli media would be deeply anti-semitic. lost perhaps in the discussion over hagels position on israel is one of the main reasons he was nominated in th...

Couple of weeks. >> a vietnam soldier and veteran has been nominated as the next secretary of defense and the president emphasized hagels government service and personal connection to the organization hes now been nominated to run. >> chuck represents the bipartisan tradition we need more of in washington. for his independence and commitment to consensus, hes earned the respect of national security and military leaders, republicans and democrats, including me. in the senate, i came to admire his...