Does failed W.H. bid still anger McCain?

>>> now let's get some rapid-fire response from our panel on these stories. what happened to john mccain ? he's turned into a real curmudgeon. the daily beast reports that mccain still angry over his 2008 presidential loss. and here's voting against positions that he had supported earlier to spite the president and he was even overheard saying it, why don't these pesky democratic kids get off of my lawn. okay he didn't say that but you get the point.

>>> steven spielberg 's spokesman is denying a report saying that his client is advising nancy pelosi on how to rebrand the democratic party but he didn't actually deny the pelosi here, reached out to the director. drama.

>>> and it looks like sarah palin is gearing up air presidential run, but oprah isn't worried at all about her actually making it to the white house .

>>> all right with us tonight todd webster democratic strategist and former communication's director for tom daschle and ernest istook former republican congressman and fellow at the heritage foundation . mccain has flip-flopped on a lot of his positions. s.t.a.r.t. treaty you can argue. the dream act which he was happy to support before and this goes on. is this out of spite, is "the daily beast " right.

>> well the " daily beast " is trying to do a little amateur psychoanalyst. i think that you could have a good time saying that has obama changed political positions as well.

>> when drift rightward and then the little choice of terms is to say --

>> really?

>> -- they've grown in office but if they listen to what the electorate is saying and if they move to the right and then you know the media likes to say, my goodness, what's wrong with him? are they crazy? are they changing positions and so forth? the real problem here is that people want to applaud people if they drift leftward, but condemn them if they drift rightward.

>> now, look, i think that --

>> a pretty simple equation.

>> when is the last time that someone in washington drifted leftward? i don't know maybe we're seeing a different washington. todd go ahead.

>> no, this is an issue of him drifting bitter and old and delusional. look, he's a patriot. he has sacrificed enormously for this country, and everybody is grateful for that, but i think that now in the twilight of his career, he can take one or two paths. a guy like senator ted kennedy who was, who was a liberal democrat , but was agreeable, was willing to make compromises and get things done. he is the man who enabled the prescription drug benefit to get enacted with president bush . he's worked with senator hatch, the health care bill is really his legacy, but john mccain is becoming wiley lowman instead of an elder statesman. he's becoming delizational, bitter and feeling like life passed him by so hopefully over this christmas holiday he'll go back to arizona and sort of rethink things, because he has an opportunity to be an elder statesman, to be an elder leader in his party, and to get things done in the senate, and i think that's what he should be thinking about for his legacy.

>> you can't split and not say that john mccain didn't get affected by the right-wing challenge that he got in the primary. i mean you can see for yourself, right? the he has drifted way, way to the right from where he used to be.

>> in particular the people of arizona and around the country as well. he found doing things that were out of touch with the people who were electing him and to his credit, he changed positions to reflect what the people were saying.

>> all right, now let's go on a nancy pelosi -- pelosi apparently reached out to steven spielberg . there's some denials going on about what happened there. but todd , doesn't she have to do work on rebranding here? given the losses that happened. and is it senseible to reach out to to a movie director ?

>> i think that suffering some of the losses that we did, it's a markup strength to go and get advice on a wide range of perspectives and counselors on what to do going forward. what i have great admiration for in my republican friends is their ability to stay on message to parrot talking points delivered to them by their message guru. a guy named frank luntz for 20 years has been helping, focus grouping republican policies to sell unpopular policies to unsuspecting constituents so i salute my republican friends for their ability to stay on message and be disciplined and to parrot what frank tells them. i wish that democrats from a p.r. standpoint to be able to have that same message.

>> congressman?

>> if frank capper were around today i think that he'd enjoy steven spielberg 's movies. budowsky was talking about that before. putting his pulse on the american people at reflect things that people enjoy. and you know, trying to do another makeover for speaker pelosi and such, they tried the democratic party makeover in 2006 say ago.

>> the democratic party .

>> -- trying to reduce deficits and pay more attention to more responsible governance, it worked for them in the elections of 2006 when they won the majority in the house and the senate, but once people found out the difference between the hollywood presentation they were making and what they were actually doing in office, they got turned out in 2010 . i'm not saying the republicans have a great reputation right now, okay? but the have the worst and they need that makeover.

>> all right, now we -- we're running short on time. let me give you the guyf guys the oprah quote real quick and your quick response to it. here's what she says on sarah palin , it does not scare me because when asked whether she was going to win for president and win, it does not scare me because i believe in the intelligence of the american public. drums. okay, so what do you think congressman, is she right? are the american people smart enough not to elect sarah palin ?

>> read the entire quote from oprah . she said that sarah palin is charming and very likable. that her new tv show is -- is going great. so give the whole quote. oprah threw some bouquets at sarah palin as well as indicating that she disagrees with her politically. after all, oprah was a big supporter of barack obama .

>> well, look, but let's --

>> all right, who else -- who else is charming and personable and attractive and has got a great television presence? kim kardashian , but there is no reason why she should be elected the next president and i think that she has about as much choice of being elected president as does sthooip but don't give a one life sided aspect.

>> all right, leave it right there.

>> thanks, merry christmas .

>> all right, leave it right there.

>> merry christmas .

>> thanks for giving us the full quote. thank you to both of you guys. merry christmas .