the president was talking to people beyond washington. he was ignoring the developments of the past couple days that had shift -- had soon a shift of this discussion from the white house and congress to an intracongressional discussion. harry reid presented the kind of plan that you described, something with no tax increases. the kind of thing the president spent three, four minutes at the beginning of this address, railing on. deriding. suggesting was imbalanceed and irresponsible. he was in effect criticizing harry reid for doing what harry reid is doing right now. >> bret: charles, you were shaking your head through most of it. >> i thought i was cynical until i heard that speech. it was purely partisan. it was meant as a campaign speech. and i think it was a speech from yesterday. it has nothing to do with the current negotiations. he's pushing the balanced approach. a word which he knows is tested by pollsters as