sit optimistic or is it desperate? >> well, ari, i'm afraid it's desperate. a bit of a hail mary pass. if someone wants to give us a call we're obviously willing to listen. but the problem we've got here for the country is that this dysfunction in the republican caucus poses serious risks to our governance going forward. the it's taking a bad situation, making it worse. we've got a lot of big issues, threats of government shutdowns in a few months, dealing with the debt ceiling. and so this kra i don't say is creating even more instability and uncertainly that will hurt the economy. >> you say you're willing to listen. as you say, you' been through these fights and you're talking about more responsible way of governing. democrats across the ideological spectrum say they would rather see boehner remain at the top of the house than replace him with a more conservative speaker who they say would almost certainly be less willing to reach across the aisle. that was a working plan or