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0 wednesday and sunday of getting better talking points. but i don't think it was ambassador rice's fault. i definitely don't think she lied. >> if it came through the white house, then she didn't give a straight story. anyway, joe lieberman, who's fascinating to watch because you never know which way he's going to go. he's usually a faithful ally of mccain and graham, but this afternoon joe lieberman came to a far different conclusion. take a listen. >> i specifically asked her whether at any point prior to going on those sunday morning television shows she was briefed or urged to say certain...

>> they stay don't know who was responsible. there are links to al qaeda but links is a broad word. >> you're with tom ricks on this one. >> the main question is why was the consulate in benghazi still open when the administration, when even the ambassador acknowledged that the threats against the united states was rising and security was -- >> and the answer could be we had cia agents in that area -- >> absolutely. >> that needed to be protected. ambassador susan rice met with her strongest critics on capitol hill today to answer questions about benghazi and the verdict was decidedly negative...

0 at least i think he did. but it also seems like the white house is still considering another grand bargain. >> i think what we need to do is let's go for the big deal. let's go for something that we can say for a 10, 20-year period, our country is on the right path. the only way that gets done is for republicans to step out and get mercilessly criticized and that means democrats are going to have to do tough things that they will get criticized by their left. >> if this sounds familiar, it should. in 2011 the president brokered a deal to avoid crashing through the debt ceiling. the deal was ...

0 campaign takes this as a personal shot at him. how will he respond? will he name ambassador rice his new secretary of state to replace hillary clinton? will he meet mccain's challenge head on and send rice up to the capitol to go face-to-face with the enly? tonight we study the battlefield and the fire power. mccain sure wants this fight, but do his fellow republicans? do they want an older white guy taking on the xre tense of a young woman of color, a rhodes scholar of solid reputation? most important what end does the president want for this match of fact and wits? i'm joined by michael o'...

members of the inner circle. so when asked how to stand up, people should listen to this guy. >> we want to engage in entitlement reform. medicare, medicaid, these are chief drivers of the deficit. there's other spending we have to cut. >> hold on a second. i think that we all know what the chief drivers of our deficit are and have been. our projected deficit has driven by the wars and the bush tax cuts. entitlement programs don't even compete with these costs. plouffe went on to pin the problem largely on republicans who are not flexible, but he also said this. >> where the big bott...