Rich Republican socialite turns against GOP

>>> how bad is it out there for republicans ? it is so bad, one of their rich socialites has abandoned them.

>> red storm rise, in the republican party .

>> they understand the delusional loop within which this party operates.

>> republicans seem to have developed an acute case of goldilocks syndrome.

>> sounds like deja vu all over again.

>> the disrepute.

>> they just showed up with concrete for feet.

>> we're definitely not going to be backwards.

>> thankfully, the congress got off to a big start by taking the week off.

>> not just the debt ceiling, but there is also the sequester.

>> republicans are not going to play ball in the sequester.

>> this is packed with responsibility.

>> republicans are saying they have leverage.

>> we have to use whatever leverage we have.

>> what happens to the leverage?

>> actually, misunderstanding the situation.

>> a different set of nuts.

>> i'll go back to my original question.

>> i know what your question is.

>> how far are you willing to take this strategy.

>> would you rule out a government shutdown ?

>> i helped close the government twice. i think that is a dead loser.

>> hopefully we don't get to that point.

>> a place for politics.

>> well, i got 98% of what i wanted. i'm pretty happy.

>> the republican party losing streak continued today as a new poll shows that republicans also lost in the public perception of the fiscal cliff negotiations. "the was post" shows that 30% approve the way house speaker john boehner handled fiscal cliff negotiations, 56% don't approve, 53% approve the way president obama handled negotiations. 40% disapprove. today, chris christie continued his campaign against house republicans .

>> we look forward to what we hope will be quick congressional action on a full, clean, sandy-aid bill now. now, next week, one thing i hope that everybody in america now clearly understands, new jersey, both republicans and democrats will never stand silent when our citizens are being shortchanged.

>> and let's not forget what governor chris christie said last week.

>> there is only one group to blame for the continued suffering of these innocent victims. the house majority , and their speaker, john boehner .

>> and today, "the daily beast " published the interview, she is mad as hell, about the myriad ways the republican brand has been tarnisted, the sorry state, the ongoing alienation of latino voters, the epic failure of the fiscal cliff negotiations. and most recently, the house's arguing over the disaster relief aid. i'm angry, fumes mosbacher, i'm angry about the mistakes, i'm not writing any checks and i'm not asking anyone else to write any checks until i hear something that makes sense to me. since the election there have been a lot of gatherings and meetings among those who are active in raising money. the question is are we united in drying that up from the people i have talked to? the answer is yes. krystal ball, when you have lost the socialites, i believe the republicans have nothing left to lose.

>> well, it --

>> what else is there? this is rock bottom ?

>> it looks pretty bleak.

>> a hack, fundraiser.

>> she had strong words there, well, i was looking back at the analysis "the washington post " did last summer regarding the republican party , and the sort of old republicans which i assume she is, fiscally conservative , typically northeastern, typically well off still make up about 22% of the party. so a decent chunk of the party. and what georgeette there shows, they make up a certain amount of the funding base which is why they have had a lock on the republican party . and the innovation for the growth of the tea party is their ability to have larger scale donor movements, smaller dollar to add up to a larger amount. and for a while, the georgeettes of the world in 2010 were willing to ride the wave, because sure we were electing crazy people but they were in other districts. now they see how the chickens come home to roost and are ruining the national brand of the republican party .

>> steve , georgette was prepared to put up with anything, as long as you could keep her tax rates down on any form of income that she has. and now they can't quite completely guarantee it for her. so what is she in this for, because she ain't with them --

>> it is an interesting cut-off date, january 13th , as ohs forred to any other years. i view the republican party as not the only divide between the rockefellers, and the conservatives. i think the moderate wing is basically known existent now, it is the conservatives who have pragmatic instincts, and i think they actually account for the majority of the republicans in the house. but they have subordinated those instin instincts, the growth, they can grab up all the dollars, steer it into the houses in the country. they are defined by the whack jobs, they basically define conservativism as sort of an insurgents, basically means conservativism now is basically defined as i oppose obama and any and all compromise. the power is there because they're intim dating.

>> and some are actually fundraising over their -- you know, their undermining of their open speaker, and raising money off that. so it is not just going against the democrats, it is going against their own party moving as far to the right as they possibly can, because that is where politically it makes sense for them to be.

>> and your boy, chris christie , you are the senior new jersey political analyst , as our senior new jersey political analyst explains how long chris christie keeps this up? this attack on the republicans .

>> let's see, november --

>> can he just get his hurricane sandy money and then stop talking about them?

>> yeah, and i think that krystal has made this point, too, i think it is right. a big part of chris christie 's thinking, he has to win re-election in the blue state and with obama voters. but this is a new jersey guy, in a certain level he cares more about his state than just the day to day politics. and the 2016 politics, so a certain amount of it is to apply pressure on the republicans . i do think it will die down after that. but at the same time the pressure to continue being chris christie who defines himself a little bit against washington republicans will continue through at least a little bit of this year. and it will be interesting to watch, if he does have designs on 2016 , how can he sort of navigate back to being a hero to conservatives, after spending a year doing this. i am not sure he can.

>> krystal if he has designs on the vice president nomination, he could get that because he doesn't have to get over any republican hurdles. but it does seem as if he is raising hurdles for himself in what would be a presidential primary .

>> i think so because there are republicans out there who blame the combination of sandy and chris christie for obama 's victory. which is not true. romney's momentum already stopped, he never led in the polls. the president was going to win, regardless of what happened. and so there was animas there already, steve didn't have to go as far as he went in the comment, the benefit of new jersey, of going against washington republicans . he didn't have to specifically call them out in such an aggressive way. it didn't feel that calculated to me. now, you're right. if he really wants to be vice president, then this wouldn't have such an impact, but i think it would be hard between this leaving a bad taste in people's mouths, and the policy-making. it will be hard to come in the republican primary . we saw how hard it was last year.

>> one thing we saw was the power of the republican debates . there was newt gingrich , who in a question could swing the whole thing in his favor.

>> and a question about open marriage , nonetheless.

>> right, and so chris christie , you would have to bet on, out of all the potential field we know about right now is the guy who is more likely to come out with that punch, that swing, in a debate that really does excite an audience.

>> and i've always said that is the key to chris christie in the off-the-cuff, he is better than reading from text. i never thought with the republican base that he has a problem with immigration. because if it comes up in a debate, if he is running for national office and it comes up, he has a way of reframing it and resetting it. people say i like him, i want to be with him, he has given me something to work with. now i will rationalize why it works, he has that personality that makes a lot of republicans want to be with him and rationalize back wards to get with him. into his camp. that is a skill that i don't see any other national republican right now --

>> most importantly, there is a candidate that most republicans can back. krystal ball, and steve kornacki, thank you for joining us.

>> thank you.

>>> and coming up. start thinking about what you will be doing at midnight on valentine's day. that means we'll actually hit the debt ceiling there. meaning anybody with any kind of romantic life will notice.

>>> and later, meeting with joe biden at the white house , and in the rewrite tonight, why has no one mentioned me to take john kerry 's senate seat when he gets confirmed as secretary of state. do i have to do everything myself around here. krystal , do i?

>> no, i have been talking about you from day one.

>> all right, well, that is