President winning middle-class tax fight

>>> lead, the winning argument. president obama won the election. he won the debate on fairness and he's winning this fight in washington and now even some republicans admit it. in the election, 65 million americans voted for fairness. they stood with the president who says everyone should pay their fair share , that there's just something fundamentally wrong with the millionaire paying less in tacks than his or her secretary. president obama drove that point home again today demanding that the rich pay more so the burden doesn't fall on the middle class .

>> our first job is to make sure that taxes on middle class families don't go up and since we all theoretically agree on that, we should get that done. i know some of this might sound familiar to you because we talked about this a lot during the campaign. this shouldn't be a surprise to anybody. this was a major debate in the presidential can campaign and congressional campaigns all across the country.

>> that's what this election was all about, americans were with him on election day . and they are still with him now. a newark ton post poll shows 60% support raising taxes on those making more than $250,000, just 37% oppose it. and now we're starting to see signs of the gop, signs that they are feeling the pressure. today, powerful republican congressman tom cole said that they should just take the deal that the president is offering.

>> in my view, we all agree that we're not going to raise taxes on people who make less than $250,000. we should just take them out of this discussion right now. continue to fight against any rate increases, continuing to work honestly for a much bigger deal .

>> the former spokeswoman for president bush , dana perrino, says republicans have lost the argument.

>> if i were president obama , i'd be doing the exact same thing.

>> why?

>> he's got republicans on the rope and he knows it. republicans seem to be a little bit in disarray. and not for a good reason. they did lose.

>> exactly. the republicans lost this election. and what we're witnessing is is them losing the fight over fairness.

>> the senate's already passed a bill that keeps income taxes from going up on middle class families. democrats in the house are ready to vote for that same bill today. and if we can get a few house republicans to agree as well, i'll sign this bill as soon as congress sends it my way. i've got to repeat, i've got a pen, i'm ready to sign it. i'll go anywhere and i'll do whatever it takes to get this done. it's too important for washington to screw this up.

>> millions of americans agree with the president, republicans better get with the program or get out of the way. joining me now is joy ann reid, and ana marie cox , washington correspondent for the guardian. thank you both for joining me tonight.

>> good to be here.

>> ana marie , let me start with you. do republicans see the writing on the wall in this tax debate?

>> i think they do. obviously some of them do. and i have to say, this is like a very weird place to kind of like stake your claim, like this is what you're going to commit political suicide over. there are actually other conservative ideals that i understand the philosophical principles behind and why you might go to the mat on this one. but this was -- as the president said, this was something that was decided by the election. this is not something that people were wishy-washy on. americans don't mind if you raise taxes on the very wealthy. not only do they not mind but they want this. i think it only makes sense for republicans to at least do what tom cole has said, which is to settle for this now and then if you want to have that fight later, if you want to make your debate points later, go ahead and do that. at this point, the memory so fresh with what the mandate is in the election, it's kind of hard to understand why you would fight so hard.

>> it is hard to understand but, joy ann , one person doesn't agree with tom cole who i showed in the opening and that's speaker john boehner . let me show you what the speaker had to say.

>> i told tom earlier in our conference meeting that i disagreed with him. the goal here is to grow the economy and control spending. you're not going to grow the economy if you raise tax rates on the top two rates. we're willing to put revenue on the table as long as we're not raising rates.

>> so, joy, boehner is not exactly ready to go along with the american people , it seems.

>> i think what you just saw there, rev, was a man waiting for bated breath on january 3rd , hoping that every day gets shorter and shorter and shorter as long as we're still in the lame duck congress and tea party members are still there. i think john boehner still has an ounce of fear that he will lose that vote. so he's always watching his right flank. i think boehner will be in a stronger position if we get to january 3rd and there isn't a deal and he can force a deal on his tea party members but this is a guy who still has to message to the right. this deal would have to be made by the congress that just lost the election, the congress headed by the tea party . and it's iron ironic that it lost the election but boehner has to cling to it for now.

>> but the american people are clearly with the president on this. every poll and the election showed that.

>> absolutely. but i think if john boehner would have waved the white flag of surrender, it would weaken his bargaining selection. he still has, quote/unquote leverage.

>> ana marie , when you look at the president telling americans to put pressure on the congress .

>> take a listen to this.

>> i'm asking americans all across the country to make your voice heard. tell members of congress what a a $2,000 tax hike would mean to you. write them a comment, tweet it using m2k. not y2k. we figured that would make it easier to remember.

>> you have the president mobilizing the citizens to put pressure on the congress , ana marie .

>> this is actually something pretty familiar to people who have been watching the white house for any number of election cycles. going back to, at least in my memory when i started in 200, you are trying to mobilize your apparatus. this is the time to do it, if you're going to do it. and you have obama supporters willing to retweet anything that the president says. i do hope that they can use this at this point. i'm not optimistic that this is something that can continue. peoplet going to remain as engaged. i do think that's probably what is going to happen, if anything. of course, it's still from a perspective hard to understand. it's only intel jabl if you buy into the weird social and political calculus that is the congress .

>> but if he waits until january 3rd --

>> right.

>> -- we will be over the so-called fiscal cliff, joy.

>> right.

>> so i hear you say he's holding aited breath until january 3rd .

>> the fiscal cliff is more of a curve. it wouldn't be some catastrophic thing that would kick in right away. they'd actually have until the 15th of january until most of the first paychecks were coming out. they would have time to fix this because everybody would be voting for a tax cuts . so if all of the tax ruts from the bush era went away, they'd be voting on a middle class tax for everybody, $250,000 and less. that's something that boehner could get substantial votes for. even as crazy and inlogical as it sounds, it's crazy if a guy from oklahoma, not even in a swing state , if he's saying it's over, it's over. boehner just can't admit it.

>> now, there is also a talk about fill bu abo about filibustering but hair said something. let me read the comment from dan five officer. the president has said that hasn't changed in the president's supports majority leader reid 's efforts to reform the filibuster process. it's pretty heavy.

>> it is. it depends on who is in control of senate and the congress as far as how far a debate goes. i think it's interesting that there have been interesting research projects done, especially when they say it's the worst that it's ever been. when it comes to delaying tactics in the senate, it is the worst it's ever been. the fill bust sister filibuster is used more often that ever. it would be nice if something was done about that, if congress would see negotiation work in their every day lives. i don't know what the tipping point is going to be. maybe as things get worse and worse there will be a tipping point on it.

>> ana marie cox and joy ann reid, thank you for your time tonight.

>> thank you.

>>> breaking news, secretary clinton's first public comments about susan rice .

>>> and table for two? president obama 's having lunch with mr. 47%. i wonder if humble pie is on the menu.

>>> and the first lady and voter dog are getting into the holiday spirit. but tonight i have a new twist on another annual tradition. i'm looking at you, fox news. this is poins on msnbc.

>> as fast as they abandon -- oh, what's his name? don't help me. don't help me.

>> no, that's my personal trainer.