Key vote on DADT to be held Wednesday night

SCHULTZ: Now, let's get some rapid fire response from our panel on these stories. Congressman Darrell Issa , well, he is the GOP 's pick to head the oversight committee. After calling stimulus money walking around money and vowing to investigate the Obama administration. Joe Lieberman says he's got 60 votes to repeal Don't Ask , Don't Tell , but Susan Collins is playing games. Harry Reid is still negotiating with Collins , so there will be no vote tonight. And I think President Obama has let America down with his deal to extend the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy for two more years. With us tonight, Karen Hunter , journalist and publisher and also Karen Hanretty , republican strategist. Great to have both of you with us tonight. Let's talk about the tax package, first. Karen , is this a good deal for the Republicans ?

KAREN HUNTER, JOURNALIST: Which Karen ? Me?

SCHULTZ: OK. Miss Hanretty.

KAREN HANRETTY, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: You're going to have to call me Hanretty tonight.

SCHULTZ: Miss Hanretty. Please take the floor on this.

HANRETTY: All right.

SCHULTZ: Where do you stand on it?

HANRETTY: Look, I think this is probably about the best deal the Republicans are going to get considering that they are still in the minority and Democrats control the White House . They're getting an extension of the current tax rates . Take this as their victory. Move on.

SCHULTZ: Miss Hunter?

HUNTER: You know, I've been listening to the debates on both sides and it's so frustrating. You know, everyone has an opinion. Everyone saying, you know, the president made a bad decision for the American people , but none of us are sitting in their seat every day. None of us know what is really going on and it's easy to sit here and make decisions and criticize and point fingers and say, this was a great deal or good deal or bad deal, but I just say, let it wait. Let us wait out and see what results are going to be. I'm going to support the president because I believe that he's smarter than most of us and that he knows more about what he's doing. And he was so impassioned recently about why he had to do this. Let just, let it play out and see what's going to happen.

SCHULTZ: Would that be, Karen Hunter a big victory for the Republicans , I mean, that would be the exact same policies that the Bush administration had, prolonged, more debt, more record deficit. Where's the victory on that?

HUNTER: Well, you know, the victory is with the middle class . And if the president is telling the truth, which I believe that he is, then he had to make this compromise because they were holding -- the hostage, they were holding the middle class hostage and he wasn't willing to do that. So, if that's what he believes, and if that's what's really going on, then I think that sometimes, we have to make concessions that aren't actually what we really, really want to see happen. But, you know, maybe he's going to work out for the best, Ed. I'm hopeful.

HANRETTY: This is not a compromise. He acquiesced to Republicans . Let's be really clear on that.

SCHULTZ: I agree.

HUNTER: I think he made a compromise for the betterment of the majority of the people. And that's what we want him to do, isn't it?

SCHULTZ: Karen Hanretty , is this not confirmation that the party of no, their strategy of saying no to everything in the final now has worked?

HANRETTY: Well, they're saying yes to the current tax rate , so I think that's a very positive thing. Look, you and I are never going to agree on economic policy, Ed. You know, you can't even get economists to agree. However.

SCHULTZ: That's right . I agree on American jobs . That's right .

HANRETTY: Some of the economists that Barack Obama surrounded himself in the first year and a half of his administration actually argue in favor of not raising taxes on the wealthiest. Because they say it hurts the GDP . So, look, you can have these economic debates back in fourth at the end of the day , this is pure politics. And I think Barack Obama realizes that's an extension of these tax rates at this particular time in this country's economy is probably better for him for the 2012 election and that's just something that you guys on the left are going to have to come to terms with.

HUNTER: I think he did what is best for the American people , not what's best for him.

HANRETTY: I agree, I actually happen to think that extending these rates is best for the American people .

SCHULTZ: I tell you what, I can't sell both of you tonight. This is not good.

HUNTER: That's because we're Karens .

HANRETTY: Let's go to Darrell Issa .

SCHULT: Karen and Karen . All right. What about Darrell Issa ? How serious is he about going after the Obama administration, Karen Hunter ?

HUNTER: You want to talk about playing politics, this is the guy, the wealthiest guys in House , right? I think he made his wealth on the viper alarm. Yes, I think he's completely playing a political game at the expense of the American people and I think we need to call him on it. Yes. All this talk about, we have to investigate the White House . Someone needs to investigate him. And I think he's doing a lot of posturing because he wants face time. I mean, look, he put his own voice on that viper commercial. This is a guy that's really playing to the cameras and he's playing politics right now.

HANRETTY: Oh, Ed , I know your blood pressure is high tonight, and I don't want to shock you but I bet you and Darrell Issa have more in common than you think. You know, the oversight committee, he went after five of the biggest oil executives for a sweetheart deal relationship that they had with the Minerals and Management Services . He went after country wide for the VIP program that gave sweetheart mortgage deals to former Senator Chris Dodd . He went after AIG bailout and all of the money that was funneled into Goldman Sachs and you know what, we've got a trillion dollar stimulus. A trillion dollar bailout and a trillion dollar Obama -care. If you don't want oversight and you don't want transparency, then I don't think that you care about the best interests of the American people .

HUNTER: But he's not going after his own people. He's not going after his own people, Karen . He's not going after his own people and he's not admitting that most of the problems that we are experiencing right now came on the republican time.

HANRETTY: So, he went after Countrywide , he went after AIG , he went after Goldman Sachs , he went after the oil companies. You know, people on the left always say those people belong to the Republican Party . He went after them. And he's going to insist on oversight hearings into trillions of dollars that have spent and no one should be afraid of that.

SCHULTZ: Karen Hanretty , will he get Don't Ask , Don't Tell ? Yes or no?

HANRETTY: I don't think he will. I don't think he'll going to get it done.

SCHULTZ: Karen Hunter ?

HUNTER: Yes, we will.

SCHULTZ: From Karen to Karen and Ed. Great to have you with us tonight. Thanks so