but then there's people like grover norquist and he is, you've called it a purity test that he makes republicans sign. why is that not helpful? >> first of all, it's not helpful because he's the author and developer of what a tax increase is, which is ridiculous. the senate voted for two of my amendments, one to eliminate the blending requirement on ethanol. he called that a tax increase. that was nothing but spending through the tax codes. >> a subsidy. >> not a subsidy. they have a subsidy besides that. this is just a tax benefit. it's spending. and so you can't allow somebody from the outside to determine what in fact it is. the other thing is we eliminated a tax break for the hollywood producers. 38 republicans voted for that. so there's not a clear definition of what violates mr. norquist's code but the vast majority of republicans don't agree with him of what that is. >> so obviously -- i remember when jon huntsman was the one who was brave who said i'm not going to sign the pledge. >> the question is, is what's our commitment? our commitment ought to be the commitment to the c

for heaven sakes, you have grover norquist wandering the earth in his white robes saying if you raise taxes one penny, he will defeat you. he can't murder you. he can't burn your house. the only thing he can do to you as an elected official is defeat you for re-election. and if that means more to you than your country when we need patriots to come out in a situation where you're in extremity, you shouldn't even be in congress. >> talk about ryan particularly because what i'm struck by is the simpson-bowles plan calls for an awful lot of spending cuts, and, yet, those weren't enough. >> erskine can tell you, you can't cut spending your way out of this hole. you can't grow your way out of this hole, and you can't tax your way out of this hole. this is madness. if you want to be a purist, go somewhere on a mountaintop and praise the east or something, but if you want to be in politics, you learn to compromise and you learn to compromise an issue without compromising yourself. show me a guy who won't compromise, and i'll show you a guy with rock for brains. >> erskine, you're hopeful. you

you have grover norquist roaming the earth in his white robe saying if you raise tax one penny, he'll defeat you. he can't murder you. you can't burn your own house. if you want to be a purist, go somewhere on a mountaintop and pray to the east or something. but if you want to be in politics, you learn to compromise. show me a guy who won't compromise and i'll show you a guy with rock for brains. >> go to a mountain somewhere i love that. finally, here's a question. and praise the east. what's it called in the world of twitter when one of your tweets adds up to exactly the 140-character limit? well, president obama got the answer to that question during a twitter q and a after an event recently in iowa. >> i demand for twitter. >> that's zero characters left. that's the perfect tweet. >> chats that called? >> a twosh. a twitter swoosh. >> i'm the twoosh master. >> thank you so much, sir. >> you have it. that is called a twoosh when you have the perfect number of characters. i guess like a swoosh in basketball. all net. >>> how few billionaires in this country on the right, of course,

interesting signs that some of the candidates are willing to stand up against grover norquist and not take the no tax pledge as they head into washington. >> that's right. the implications potechksly are huge. if these members stick to what they're saying in that hey, we could be open to some sort of revenue increase in the debt deal could have major implications. after all, look, the congress is going to have to deal with some significant issues come december, the bush tax cuts expiring. there's $1.2 trillion in automatic spending cuts to go into effect. eight host of other tax breaks congress has to deal with. the debt is about to surpass $15 trillion. you know, $16 trillion. and on top of that, they're going to have to raise the national debt ceiling again. all of this is coming to a head. you're starting to see realization among members on the republican side, to get what we want we may have to make accommodation on the tax issue. >> is this something where they would be agreeing to taxes in the context of tax reform, of getting rid of some deductions of perhaps you know, indexing

but then there's people like grover norquist and he is, you've called it a purity test that he makes republicans sign. when they sign this pact. why is that not helpful? >> first of all, it's not helpful because he's the author and developer of what a tax increase is, which is ridiculous. the senate voted for two of my amendments, one to eliminate the blending requirement on ethanol. he called that a tax increase. that was nothing but spending through the tax codes. >> a subsidy. >> not a subsidy. they have a subsidy besides that. this is just a tax benefit. it's spending. and so you can't allow somebody from the outside to determine what in fact it is. the other thing is we eliminated a tax break for the hollywood producers. 38 republicans voted for that. so there's not a clear definition of what violates mr. norquist's code other than what he says what violates it, but the vast majority of republicans don't agree with him of what that is. >> so obviously -- i remember when jon huntsman was the one who was brave who said i'm not going to sign the pledge. >> the question is, is what'

we'll bring everybody's attention to grover norquist. he would be hard pressed to do better than add bobby jindal, one of 138 governors committed to not raising taxes to his ticket. governor rendell? >> that would be excellent. i would favor governor jindal for their ticket. >> he's your man for this ticket? >> absolutely. >> i think governor jindal is an excellent governor. governor romney will select his candidate. >> how is that for -- >> i just did a thing for political arena on jindal. would be an out of the park pick. >> wow, there's broad jindal support here at this table. >> out of the park. it would definitely be out of the park. one thing about the job of vice president, you know, i would take it. unabashedly take it. let me tell you why. >> you just told me you wouldn't. >> i would be a terrible choice because who would want someone as free in spirit as me. let me tell you why i would take it. nine-week campaign, that's it. nine weeks. you don't have to run for three years like do you for president. >> then you have the job. >

you will not see though any sort of tax increases that republicans will not violate the grover norquist pledge in any capacity. >> luke russert on capitol hill for us. thank you. >>> those are no out in polarizing topics in congress. they also underscore one of the key questions of this election cycle. where should the burden of addressing the nation's fiscal problems fall? on the backs of the middle class and struggling families or the wealthiest of the americans? joining us, karen bass from california. also a member of the house budget committee. congresswoman, nice to see you. i want to start with the sequestered defense cuts. defense secretary leon panetta is on the record saying that it would be irresponsible for congress to allow those $50 billion in cuts to go through. is the defense secretary wrong or are democrats more concerned with the republican alternative to that? >> reporter: well, democrats are definitely more concerned with the republican alternative to that and i appreciate that question. you know, when you're talking about cutting meal on wheels, when you're talking a

this whole pledge to grover norquist, part of the problem, big time. >> thanks very much to both of you. well john boehner and harry reid are the heroes tonight. they go on the list with tom warner. come on, more heroes come in and then we can get a deal. outfront next. president obama called out for being a big spender. do mitt romney's attacks add up? >>> and new video of george zimmerman inside the sanford police station. what the video actually shows when he turns away from the camera. this is an angle that everybody has been looking for. we've got it. >>> and an auction involving an item of ronald reagan's, an item is an interesting word. it sparked so much controversy that his family demand it be called off. it's not the most bizarre thing that's ever been auctioned. we know what it is. ♪ [ woman ] it's like a magnet. pulling us together for different reasons. music. games. photos. shows. we share stories, laugh... and truly engage. it brings us closer and that is my happy place. ♪ [ male announcer ] the best family moments happen in an instant. capture them with internet expl