And they laid jesus christ in the grave he went to the sick and he went to the poor and he went to the hungry and the lame and he said that the meek would inherit the whole world and they laid jesus christ in the grave [ theme music ] michael this is the war room. Im michael shure. Coming up tonight the betting window is about to close on the sequester stakes. It looks like no deal is the oddsonfavorite. But is there time for a darkhorse solution to emerge . Lets find out. [ music ] michael all eyes are on washington where the showdown over the sequester is coming to a crescendo. All sides have staked out positions before tomorrows talks at the white house. Unless a deal is made friday, president obama will have to order the 85 billion in across the board cuts in federal spending. Meanwhile, the senate rejected both republican and democratic bills that would chart a path out of the mess. But thats to be expected in the worlds greatest filibustering body. Over in the house lets just say both sides dont see eye to eye on the origin and effects of the sequester. It holds hostage the future, the growth of our country for an ideological antigovernment attitude. There are many people in washington though, who believe that the governmentwho dont believe the government has a spending problem. You have the minority leader and the minority whip who dont believe we have a spending problem. The president told me directly back in december we dont have a spending problem. Michael speaker boehner, we have more than a spending problem in this country. We have a republican problem. Freshman democratic congresswoman Tammy Duckworth could have a spending problem herself if both sides dont reach a deal. Shes matching the sequestration cuts with a selfimposed 8. 4 pay cut. Thats the same percent angle cut most discretionary programs will be facing. Duckworth noted that if congress is going to balance the budget on the backs of working americans, it is only fair that i bear that burden with them. What a novel idea for washington. Thank you tampa tammy. For the latest on where things stand, lets lets go to politico reporter Juana Summers in washington. Thank you for having me back. Michael what are we going to see. This is a public personal battle. He went to a shipyard in news port news, these are real peoples lives. You can see different members of the obama cabinet, of the administration coming in saying how the sequester has impacted them. Thou were getting down to the 11th hour meeting literally hours before the cuts will take place. No one on either side is optimistic that there is not going to be a change, but the movement in the right direction is having the parties in the same room instead of the pr going back and forth between the democrats and the republicans. Michael well, isnt this a p. R. War . Theyre getting the leaders to the white house. That could have happened today yesterday or last week, isnt that part of the war. Youre absolutely right. Thats something that house lawmakers have been point to go. I talked to one who in virginia just across the water and he said the president probably isnt going to find a fix to the sequester. He could have come closer to home and sat down with congressional leaders yes this is part of the washington optics game. I dont think people think this will be a deal that had stop the sequester that will come out of this meeting tomorrow. Michael so are republicans the same republicans who are complaining, are they signaling at all that theyre willing to compromise at all. The republicans led by House Speaker john boehner said this is the president s sequester. They fall back and say in congress they passed two bills to avert the sequester cuts while the house has failed to to do so that once. Boehner said that weve done our jobs, now the senate needs to do their. There are some factions that say sure we need to move forward but those are small minorities. The majority of the republicans are not seeing movement on this issue. Michael thisthere has been talk about what a win for the white house would look like. What does a win for john boehner look like . Obviously this is more of a highstakes situation for john boehner. President obama has won his last election. John boehner has a gavel at stake and the stature of his party and caucus in the capitol. There is a lot at stake for him, what kind of stopgap or congressional agreement can mitigate those cuts. Michael so well put juana. I think he is the star, john boehner, is the star of the soap opera playing out. Juana summers from politico. Now lets get back into some news of the day. On this vote the yays are 286 and the nays are 138. The bill is passed. Michael that is the house passing the senates version of violence against women act. The vote came after months of posturing by the g. O. P. Which included a failed house vote today on their own watered down version of the bill. The president is expected to sign the law soon. Were keeping an eye on the right to marry. We treated samesex marriage like a civil rights issue on this war room because thats what we believe it is. Now the highest ranking Law Enforcement official has concurred. Attorney general eric holder told abc news today, quote f my perspective this is really the latest civil rights issue. It is a question of whether or not american citizens are going to be treated with equal protection of the laws. It seems pretty straightforward to me, and they said they would file on the prop 8 case. 100 prominent republicans have now signed on it their own Supreme Court brief supporting marriage equality. Thats good but there are still plenty of g. O. P. Ers like glen glunhagen who refuse to recognize the civil rights aspect of the issue at a press conference yesterday. Were talking about gay marriage not a characteristic like the color of your skin. I urge you as the news media to give both sides a fair and open hearing on this debate because it has tremendous ramifications in the only for our society but for our children in general. Michael ah, yes, our children. Well, this media member will consider both sides. Do we want our children growing up in a land of hatred, fear and prejudice, or do we want representative gruenhagen voted out of office, okay . Were also watching the latest developments in the gun safety debate. In the 76 days since the massacre inside Sandy Hook Elementary School 2333 americans have died from gun violence. Thats 89 nu towns since nu town. Today the Maryland State Senate passed a bill that would keep guns out of the hands of people with mental illness. Martin omalley supports the bill. Progress is slower in the United States senate where the Judiciary Committee postponed todays work on gun safety measures. Whats going on in West Virginia shows how difficult it will be for enough senators to get on board to pass the bill. There the National Association for gun rights is running a campaign to paint democratic senator joe manchin as wanting to set up a federal gun registration system. Hes not for that. Hes for common sense reform keeping guns out of the hands of the criminal and mentally ill. Ive been hearing roomers and lies about my position on guns. I want to be very clear and tell you im a proud gun owner. Nobodys going to take my guns, and im sure as hell not going to let them take your guns. This is a bunch of crap and people talking about things that they dont know what theyre talking about. Michael i have a feeling thats going to be some of the most softspoken rhetoric were going to be hear on this issue. Vice President Biden is taking his gun safety message to gun owners specifically outdoors men. Biden didnt water anything down for the hunters and fishermen. Saying quote if you have to go up in the poconos and go bear hunting or deer hunting with that weapon, and you need a clip that has 30 rounds in it, then you shouldnt be hunting. Youre a danger to yourself if you cant get the bear or deer in four or five shots. Youve got a problem. I love that guy. And and finally to the Campaign Front republicans uphill battle to win Jesse Jackson jr. s seat could be a lot more challenging now that convicted felon is on the way to winning the partys nomination. Paul mckinley has a slim 35vote lead in the republican primary. He said hes putting exoffenders back to work. I doubt chicago voters will do the same for him. Coming up, weve been up to our ears in a sequester going for a month now. Well take a final predeadline plunge with mike tomasky of null newsweek daily beast right after the break and plus they are the moments that changed america. And Author Taylor Branch knows them well. He joins us. The march goes on. The war room on a thursday. Well be right back. The bar harbor bake is really worth trying. [ male announcer ] get more during red lobsters lobsterfest. With the years Largest Selection of mouthwatering lobster entrees. Like our delicious lobster lovers dream, featuring two kinds of succulent lobster tails. Or our savory, new grilled Maine Lobster and lobster tacos. Its back, but not for long. [ woman ] our guests go crazy for lobsterfest. My favorite entree is the lobster lovers dream. Whats yours . Come celebrate lobsterfest and sea food differently. They think this world isnt big enough for the both of them. But we assure you it is. Bites. Little greatness. Your vacuum doesnt always pick up whats left behind. Only the resolve easy clean system has foam power to remove three times more dirt than vacuuming alone. Dont just vacuum clean. Resolve clean. vo its a Vanguard World premiere event. Go ahead vo currents Award Winning original series is back, with a World Premiere episode. Its a pretty, little town, with an ugly reputation. You just google harrison, what will come up is the klan. Im all for that. The kkk doesnt speak for us at all. It speaks against god. vo which side will win the soul of harrison . Were never gonna move. Michael youre back inside the war room. Im michael shure. Respected Journalist Bob Woodward started making some surprising statements this week about the white house and the sequester. Take a listen to this. What was said . It was said very clearly, you will regret doing this. Who sent that email to you . Im not going say. Was it a senior person at the white house . A very senior person. And it makes me very uncomfortable to have the white house telling reporters youre going to regret doing something you believe in. Michael so when one of the reporters who uncovered the watergate scandal talks we listen. Heres the thing. It appears he exaggerated. Today the white house released those smoking gunny mail exchanges between woodward and gene spering, economic adviser to the president and they wouldnt even get the homeland securitys lowest threat level of green. I truly believe you should rethink your comment about saying that the potu asking for revenues is moving the goal post. I know you may not believe this, but as a friend, i think you will regret staking out that claim. What sperling is trying to tell the now shamelessly selfpromoting journalist whose book is not 9 best seller he had hoped it would is he would regret reporting a huge factual error on the sequester. Who is right and who is wrong in this d. C. Politico spat. And in the sequester. Joining me now is michael tomasky. Could it be that woodward didnt understand what sperling was saying . In theyve known each other for a long time. Theyve known each other back this the clinton days when Gene Sperling was a prominent white house budget official. I dont think so. I dont think so. I know Gene Sperling. Conspiracy of all hes 56 or 57. Hes not going to bring it at you that way. Hes clearly saying you would regret this in terms of your future reputation as a journalist. Hes right. Woodward got that wrong and thats really what cant be lost here. When woodward said that obama moved the goal post, hes dead wrong and doesnt understand the situation. Michael explain that. Explain what hes wrong there in terms of the facts. Major news outlets are not reporting the facts that were r wrong. What are they . Its a little bit technical but ill try. I guess woodwards understanding of the sequestration was that as you recall this legislation called for the creation of a Super Committee right . The congressional Super Committee, six from each party to get together and to try to come up with some cuts. And if they didnt come up with some cuts, then these sequestration cuts would kick inexcuse me, if the Super Committee did in the come up with whatever, a deficit reduction. A very important distinction a mixture of cuts and revenues if you can get revenues on the tables. So the Super Committee had a deadline of november 2011. Thisthey did not meet their deadline and did not make a deal. Woodward is thinking if the Super Committee failed then that means the cuts kick in. Of course there was 13 ms. Between then and now or 14, and there is still time for congress to go back and redo this and revisit this and try to come up with a compromise situation. So woodward is doing a very narrow technical reading of the law which is actually just in practical sense really wrong. Its wrong, its unfair. Lets appease the the the cynics. Book sales are slow for bob. Thats a reasonable question. Lets not let politico off the hook. I think politico stirred this pot, too they used the threat woodward did not use the word threat but the moil cowriters who characterize, who wrote it up wrote up his interview with cnn. They did say that woodward, they interviewed woodward, and he repeated this phrase twice and their characterization was threat. Woodward was saying this afternoon, i didnt say threat. There is a little bit of blame to go around. Michael it seems that way. Lets get to the meet of the sequester a little bit more. Lets take a listen of what the president said last night. The issue is not technical. The issue a political. The question is whether or not we are going to see a willingness on the part of all parties to compromise in a meaningful way. What that means is democrats have to accept the need for entitlement reform, but it also means that republicans have to accept the need for additional revenues. Michael so michael, it looks like no deal is going to be made before the sequester deadline tomorrow. So it makes us look at the other possible deadlines, is this the only deadline that congress is going to miss this year . This are many deadlines. There is one coming up on march 27th. Thats when a deadline hits that congress has to pass new continuing resolutions as theyre called to fund the agencies of government. Were looking at a possible Government Shutdown on march 27th if that doesnt happen. There is a self imposed congressional deadline on the 15th if they dont make one by then then they dont get paychecks. That may be a motivator for them. And then may 18th when debt may hit up against debt ceiling. Congress, as you know, they can pass legislation and impose all kind of deadlines. They can make this whole year a year of deadlines. Thats what i think they probably want to do. You know, they know that theyll discredited themselves, but they feel as long as theyre discrediting obama along with it i guess theyre happy to do that. But what obama is said is right and people should remember right now as we speak the white house has on the table a proposal to the republicans that has twice many spending cuts as it does tax revenues, and has has this Social Security chain cpi wrinkle, so they put entitlement reform, and big spending cuts on the table, but republicans are the ones who are not budging and saying, our way or the highway. Michael and theyre not defining what their way s theyre fighting within their party and it makes me think of the cpac conference that didnt invite Chris Christie to its gathering. This is what congressman king said about that. If rinse had any brains they would stay away from cpac. The thought this hes being penalized because he sought to get the aid for sandy relief is unreasonable. Is this proving that the g. O. P. Has a huge branding problem . Yes, its a party driven by rage and resentment and it wants revenge on Chris Christie. Its an emotional thing. This is nothing rational about this at all. They want to punish Chris Christie. He toured with obama and its like Charlie Crist when he accepted the stimulus money and appeared on the stage with obama. Now they might forgive christie down the road because he has one of the better shots at winning the white house in 2006 but it makes them blind, the idea that he acknowledges the human existence of barack obama. Michael ironic looking back knowing that rick scott who beat Charlie Crist is also accepting money from obama for the healthcare. Michael tomasky for joining us from daily beast. Up next, a big win. Well talk about the importance about violence against women act right here after the break. [ music ] vo she gets the comedians laughing and the thinkers thinking. Ok, so theres wiggle room in the ten commandments, thats what youre saying. vo shes joy behar. Current will let me say anything. Michael lets begin with the story of gwen moore who grew up in milwaukee in the 1960s. The eighth of nine children to a factory work and schoolteacher. During that time she went on a date with a boy who she considered a friend, but instead he dragged her behind a building and brutally raped her. It turned oh out to be part of an among a group of boys if anyone could get the self selfdescribe egg head. The court blamed her for dressing provocatively and the boy was found not guilty. One in five american women have been raped, and one in four attacked by an intimate partner. Many suffer longterm Health Impact like chronic pain and difficulty sleeping. But gwen moore was able to persevere and now shes in congre