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Republicans? why get into this fight? >> well, you know, everybody talks about the fiscal cliff. this is really about fiscal incompetent. as karen has pointed out your options are limited. the president i believe, quite frankly, is playing a bit of chicken, not so much as a strong line in the sand as it is, okay, i'm going to call your bluff for a point. he'll have to capitulate at some point on the spending side of the equation. he knows that. similarly, republicans are likewise with their back up against the wall the idea you would let the country go into fault knowing that the ramifications...

Pretty complicated fiscal deals including things like the budget control act which is essentially running the government right now. so, i don't think that having jack in the mix hurts the prospects at all. if anything, he is a tough negotiator and he has been successful in the past. what is going to have to happen here, unless you want to start talking about pretty crazy solutions like the trillion dollar coin, what has to happen is compromise, much like i believe the president has laid out. if we want to do another trillion dollars deficit reduction, that is what it takes to stabilize the deb...

Leverage? do you think democrats have to give on the spending side? >> the president's made it clear he's not going to negotiate on the debt ceiling. the debt ceiling is an obligation of our country. should we negotiate in good faith to bring down the debt? absolutely. we're prepared to do it. but we're not going to be held up on the debt ceiling. >> may i switch gears here and talk about the house which on friday voted to pass that first part of the hurricane sandy disaster relief package. are you confident that the majority of what is being required and requested at least by these, you know,...

Keep the budget cut negotiations separate from any kind of debt ceiling vote? your thoughts. >> that's a very good question, ed. and i think that's one of the challenges the president is actually going to face. so i appreciate his comment when he said i will no longer negotiate with this congress. he is right. this congress is over. a new congress comes in tomorrow, augmented, mind you, with ten new, you know, a majority of 10 in the senate for democrats, an additional eight democrat house members. so there is a little bit more there for him to work with in that regard. but i think it's going ...

This is mcconnell's tax increase. so you've got this fracture right now. and the leadership has got to pull itself together with a cogent coherent message about how we move forward. and i think spending should be a big part of the discussion as we go into the next two months because as we know, there is already some agreement on some of those things we should be talking about on the spending side. >> you know what, michael? i think you have a more fundamental problem in terms just an overall lack of vision from your party. it's not just about reshuffling the talking points and going back to al...