Woodhouse: ‘Flabbergasted’ over GOP’s fiscal cliff math

>>> the president has just taken the stage at the national defense university where he'll be discussing disarmament, and there's no disarming house republicans who just this afternoon presented a counteroffer with $2.2 trillion in savings, including $800 billion in new revenue with no tax rate hikes whatsoever. i want to bring in dnc communications director brad woodhouse with us from washington, and he's a new bald brad because he obviously agreed to lose his hair. john boehner said he was glaber gasted by by the president's offer. what's your response to mr. boehner's offer?

>> i'm a little flabbergasted by it. i'm really flabbergasted by the introductory sentence in the letter that talks about a status quo election. look, the president is not someone who has run around and tried to have a victory lap , but let's be clear. these issues were debated in the election. the president won overwhelmingly. i mean, this was a big electoral college victory obviously. you know, when it's all said and done, he will probably win the popular vote by 5 million votes. the american people gave judgment on john boehner 's plan or so-called plan. they rejected it, and they favored the president's plan. i don't think john boehner should have been surprised at the president's offer, that it was similar to if not identical to what he campaigned on. that's what the american people voted for.

>> and 60% of americans overall actually support his plan to raise taxes on the most wealthy in this country and that includes people who did not vote for him. but going to speaker boehner, his plan sounds great, doesn't it? you cut taxes, you grow the economy, you reduce the deficit. it almost seems like someone who would have tried to run for president maybe on a line like that. surely republicans could win on that platform unless it didn't win.

>> exactly. they've all been quick to distance themselves from mitt romney , except they have presented his plan as their own. i guess maybe it was their plan to begin with in the form of paul ryan , and, you know, look, it's just not going to fly with the american people and the days go on. what i really think, if i were giving them political advice, i think tom cole , a representative among them who is probably one of the smarter political tacticians in their party gave them some advice. let's get this over with. let's not be the party that looks like we're only looking out for the top 2%. but that's really, martin, exactly what they look like. the differences here i think to most americans are fairly small. let's keep taxes low for 98% of americans and lets ask the wealthy to pay a little more but it looks like republicans just want to protect those at the very top even if it means going over the fiscal cliff.

>> the president will host members of congress for a holiday reception tonight. i would love to be there. even as fiscal cliff tensions are very high. would you recommend someone perhaps spike the punch for republicans in order to break the impasse?

>> well, look, i don't know what it will take. i'm not even sure that would do the trick, but, i mean, i think what they should consider with the president tonight is that they need to get this behind them. they are a party that is weaker politically than they were a month ago. they're a party that will be even weaker once the new year rolls around. they'll have a smaller majority in the house. they'll have a smaller minority in the senate. the president has very strong approval ratings right now, particularly for his approach to the fiscal cliff. they're going to be in a stronger political position if they reach an agreement with the president and put this behind them. then they can go on into the new year. they're not going to be strengthened by allowing us to go over the fiscal cliff and then having smaller numbers in congress after the 1st of the year.

>> indeed. brad woodhouse , thank you. again, congratulations on your shaven head the proceeds for which we know will go to cancer research . we acknowledge the sacrifice you made, but it's a good one.

>> great. thank you so much.