Survive the sequester, but prep for government shutdown?

>>> all right. so we have hit the deadline triggering automatic cuts and everyone from the white house and pentagon and the white house is warning us. maybe we need a new word. disaster-ofy.

>> nice.

>> oh!

>> kind of smoosh.

>> it is a smoosh.

>> oh problem.

>> that's why it works. i don't know --

>> anti-smooshing.

>> i don't know what that is. the cuts fazed in and they're reversible so perhaps our focus should be on the next disasterofy of a government shutdown and could happen without a deal reached by march 27th . so let's talk about that. and when i think continuing resolution i think, what does s.e. cupp think of this?

>> oh my.

>> america wants to know.

>> i want to start with today and the press conference and the sort of theater of today with the meetings that didn't actually do anything and then the boehner comments and then the president. who came out clearly agitated. he is not a happy camper today. he was really feisty with roertds. he was like, ah. what? what do you want me to say? what do you want me to do? i think he's clearly agitated that this campaign of hysteria did not stop the sequester. used to the campaigns being effective an winning the campaigns and i think he didn't really want to be here. at this moment. with the sequester happening talking about the cr, how to strategize a government shutdown or against a government shutdown . not a happy guy and it's rare that we see -- i'm not -- i'm not gloating.

>> nothing to gloat about.

>> this is a loser for everyone. it's just rare to see a strategy that was clearly implemented from the white house not really pan out the way he wanted it. usually does.

>> surely didn't pan out the way he wanted to. i know we watched the press conference. i could hear it in your office. i didn't take him as agitated.

>> really? he was psyched today. great day.

>> he's not psyched but i did all that i could. i bargained in good faith and with a group of people that do not bargain in good faith. i think i have more persuasive power but i have done all that i could do. ultimately, this kind of reminds me what happens in the tarantino movies and the mexican standoffs and people pointing guns and willing to pull the guns and works great in the western but this is no way to govern. over and over the deadline crises after deadline crises and a group of people not willing to bargain in good faith and would rather inflict pain on the country or obama rather than actually get a deal done and makes me wonder why do you go to d.c.. i think obama spoke to that in the presser.

>> we are not here for ourselves. we're not here for our parties. we are not here to advance our electoral prospects. we're here for american families who have been getting battered pretty good over the last four years.

>> hmm. true story .

>> that's why you go to congress, right?

>> absolutely right. go to serve for the people, for the family's.

>> that's right.

>> looking down the road, people haven't really focused on the sequester. they haven't understood what it is. it's not a real impact. that is going to start to change next week. people are going to start getting furlough notices, a lot of cuts will be felt april 1. i think that changes the dynamic some but -- there's an argument that the democrats can then force or threaten a government shutdown over the continuing resolution . i don't see that as being a particularly great point of leverage. democrats have this sort of moral authority with regard to these false faux crises where it's been the republicans pushing the country to the brink over the debt ceiling and over shutdowns. this time i think the optics would be that the republicans passed a continuing resolution and the democrats are demanding something or else they'll shut the government down. i don't know that democrats can even hold their own caucus together to do that. they don't have the same sort of kamikazi discipline that republicans can. i don't know that that's going to work out either.

>> i take issue with that because i don't see why that has to be framed as the white house and democrats are threatening a shutdown because the dynamic would be the same essentially that we had with the last high-profile government shutdown in 1995 , a confrontation of bill clinton and the congress and continuing resolution and the republicans controlling the house and then the senate in 1995 and the burden on them first to pass a bill, a continuing resolution bill. to pass it to keep the government open and funded. they plan to pass in the next week. can republicans actually pass something given the intraconference die namics that crowly was talking about? second question, if they can pass something, what will chances are overwhelming, draconian. it will not involve the compromise of obama , revenue component. just strict spending cut this is' very, very easy for obama to draw the same line on i would say that bill clinton drew in 1995 . i would sooner shut down the government as bad as that is than sign a bill this disastrous to hurt this many people and the polls showed that country's on clinton's side heading in to that. national parks close and took three or four days for republicans to fold. i don't know how it will play out.

>> the big question is how much people feel the pain. how much are they really impacted and feel frightened by the cuts.

>> open question on the sequester but the government shutdown we have examples to look back.

>> there was an opportunity to choose his own cuts and didn't say no thanks.

>> lots of strings.

>> i'll veto that.

>> the point of the sequester, of course, put in place originally, the reason democrats agreed for revenue and spending addressed. the republicans said only spending and not touch defense --

>> we gave them --

>> that's a hell of an opportunity there. anyway, our facebook fans are asking when if ever will we see congress compromise on anything. or is compromise such a dirty word it's a thing of the past? norman grimes says it's a game of chicken, who will flinch first? jim engle said boehner needs to blink and get over it. his party, the party of no lost, ugh. loser. that's his words. if you haven't liked us on facebook yet, please do.

>>> straight ahead, developing news of the supreme court . new audio recordings of the marriage rights