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Negotiate against themselves. nobody does that. >> they did that last year. >> oh. >> it's their idea. >> oh so -- >> you said they don't want to get out in front of what is their own idea. >> but you just admitted that entitlements need to a part of the process. that's an idea everyone agrees on. >> two things. it's the republicans -- but by and large that is a solution pushed by the republican party and the other side of the entitlement reform question is what paul krugman points out today which is that if you bring -- if you start means testing, adjust for inflation and raise the retirement...

Security, not just 20 years out but until my kid has a kid who's looking towards social security and we can do the same thing with medicare. >> your kid is 40 years old though we should say. >> just so everyone knows. >> i have a 7-year-old. to the eye can see. we can do the same thing with medicare. if you're really concerned about means testing, there's an easy way. >> that's interesting. your point is don't do it on the benefits side. make sure you're taxing -- >> have people put more money into the system. >> i agree. i mean, i think that, you know, the cap is -- you know, it creates this ...

Want to see 34ed kade -- i'm sorry, medicare touched but the belt way folks, the folks that are going to be voting on this do want to see that. >> yes, would he do. >> what are we going to bring to the table? are we just going to say we're not going to bargain with you? i mean, at what level do we allow for, say, means testing? we may not like it, but that's what it's going to allow. >> means testing, we can do means testing. if you want to do means testing, there's a very efficient way of doing it. we will raise your taxes on -- >> if you have more money. >> the grand bargain. >> the reality ...

Power today. i say it's true if republicans resist, they will take the blame. that will help the democrats in the congress. but obama is never running again. he doesn't care who gets the blame. he is going to be the president. she a lame duck. he wants the term. if it starts by going over the cliff it starts with a second recession. 2 million unemployed and wrecked second term. that is the leverage that republicans have over obama. it's utterly unacceptable. >> bret: to kirsten's point, some republicans are talking about raising the age of medicare, means testing. put a lot of ideas out there....

Percentage point >> that's what the president -- >> that's what the president supports that position too. i'm not talking about massive cuts over the next couple of years. you know what, i hate deficits. i am a budget hawk. i'm a freak on that stuff. but you know what, we can't balance the budget next year. we can't count -- balance it. we can handle a few more years of deficits if we take care of the long-term debt. >> i agree. asking about one or two specifics. i don't have one or two specifics. because i'm not looking at medicare over the next year or two. it's the next 10, 15 years that me...