Page 5 - Negotiating Posture News Today

Him up on some senators like rockefeller and tom harkin and they hope to get a bunch more on a 1 to 1 spending tax hike ratio? were they backing that? were they backing the new stimulus? what? >> they werent getting into the details at all. they were voting mainly on the basis of partisan identification more than anything else. the details are being hashed out between the president and congress, and obviously, neil, this is a negotiating posture. no one thinks what the president is saying will b...

I am to say that they have a mandate from their constituents to keep doing what they have been doing. particularly in not raising taxes, which is such a thorny issue over the past few years. notwithstanding the fact that when you survey the majority of americans, they want to see taxes go up on the rich. the question is whether the republicans do and whether they will go in and start a meaningful negotiation if the starting point is $1.6 trillion in tax hikes. reporter: is this just a negotiatin...

could we be next? im wolf blitzer. youre in "the situation room." today were coming to you live from cnns jerusalem, israel. he left there live earlier today. hes now in poland with the president-elect. were going to have a live report in the next hour from pole land. we begin this hour with my one-on-one interview with the republican presidential candidate. governor romney, thanks so much for joining us, in jerusalem. what a beautiful city. im sure youve been moved by what youve see...

Is this a kind of negotiating posture or is this something to really worry about? >> well, i think part of the reason to really worry about iran no matter what is, its very hard to tell. i think the iranians are really worried going into 2012, and they should be. first of all, i think america becomes a harder counterparty in an election year, and that makes things more difficult for the iranians. i think the geopolitics in the whole region is changing, in ways that are not that great from the ir...

Is this a kind of negotiating posture or is this something to really worry about? >> well, i think part of the reason to really worry about iran no matter what is, its very hard to tell. i think the iranians are really worried going into 2012, and they should be. first of all, i think america becomes a harder counterparty in an election year, and that makes things more difficult for the iranians. i think the geopolitics in the whole region is changing, in ways that are not that great from the ir...

Alternative to having the resolve to actually engage in solving the problems, in the banking system, in the educational system, in the health care system. and the democrats are disingenuous in my view, unlike the republicans, because they offer up these nonsensical ideas, like, oh, well, well just print some more money and pay off the people that were screwing over, which at least makes us better than the republicans. >> right. i think youre talking about principle. and principle is different th...

Same thing. lets listen to the former president. >> im afraid the democrats will draw the conclusion that because congressman ryans proposal i think is not the best one, that we shouldnt do anything. and i completely disagree with that. i think there are lots of things you can do to bring down medicare costs. >> that opens the question, if the republicans do recognize that they made a mistake in a negotiating posture before the next election, i think mcconnell is by the way the leader of republi...

Nonpartisan mode. now look at him today. here he issed talking about the same thing. lets listen to the former president. >> im afraid the democrats will draw the conclusion that because congressman ryans proposal i think is not the best one, that we shouldnt do anything. and i completely disagree with that. i think there are lots of things you can do to bring down medicare costs. >> that opens the question, if the republicans do recognize that they made a mistake in a negotiating posture before...

All this? >> absolutely. all the rank and file understand what i just said. the danger in trying to use the debt limit as negotiating tactic, saying we need big spending cuts like the ryan budget or any other type of negotiating posture, you end up in a negotiations that brings you past the point the market freaks out. to have a credible negotiations, you have to be willing to say were not going raise this thing if you dont agree with us. the administration has to make their counter offer and so...

Legitimately conducting a criminal investigation and has every right to do so to protect the interest of the american people participating in what amounts to a $20 billion slush fund thats unprecedented in our nations history, thats got no legal standing and which set, i think, a terrible precedent for the future. >> mr. hofmeister, joe barton is from where you are. you are in texas today. i assume you have known him a long time. hes an ally of the industry. bp under political pressure sat acros...