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Become part of the tea party. i'm as frustrated as anybody else can be. but i think we have a situation where the circumstances in washington, the inability and unwillingness of the this administration to come to grips with our basic long-term debt problem, for example. the frustration out there is so when i see people talking about the tea party, i don't think of the tea party as extremists the way some of the folks in washington want to describe them. the extremist in washington is barack obama. he's the guy that wants to fundamentally transform the health care system. he's done enormous dam...

Barack obama said this about our nation's debt back then, quote, increasing america's debt weakens us domestically and internationally. washington is shifting the burden of bad choices today on to the backs of our children and grandchildren. america has a debt problem and a fail our of leadership. americans deserve better. so what happened? how do we get our growing national debt under control? lauren adler is the research director for the committee of responsible federal budget associated with the group fix the debt .org. lauren, what do we do? >> that is a good question. i think first of all...

The south, and that is not going to win national elections ever again. >> jim, what's your response to that. >> well, i'm going to put aside her comments about hating women, minorities. i think it's absolutely ridiculous, and not hating poor people. let me focus on the tea party from their perspective. the folks at tea party they talked to and i read what they're saying, i think they understood, there were some who didn't, that defaulting would be a bad thing. but i think, a, they didn't believe that we would actually default, that treasury could come up with the money, that they could priorit...

That. but what they are really worried about, and i think too worried. and i'm worried, but they're way more worried than i am, one, the debt problem. we're about to go into a debt problem in the next year or two. i don't think that's the case. and i think obama care is going to lead to a socialist takeover, a single-payer -- they're very worried about that. so from their perspective, these are both existential threats to the united states, and listen, and breaching the debt ceiling, small potatoes compared to that. >> here's my question for you, jim. and to move away from the kind of social i...

The folks at tea party they talked to and i read what they're saying, i think they understood, there were some who didn't, that defaulting would be a bad thing. but i think, a, they didn't believe that we would actually default, that treasury could come up with the money, that they could prioritize payments. my bigger complaint is that they didn't think the huge budget cuts that would have to happen if we didn't raise the debt ceiling. that those would be just fine. so they weren't worried about that. but what they are really worried about, and i think too worried. and i'm worried, but they're...