>>> turning now to the nations health care law and another legal challenge at issue, the laws contraception mandate and whether employers with conflicting religious beliefs must comply with the laws requirement to provide birth control. the white house says the president believes no one, including the government or for-profit corporations should be able to dictate those decisions to women. on the west coast, tuesday, the president took on critics of his signature piece of legislation. >> anybody whos going to keep on pushing against that, they will meet my resistance because i am willing to fix any problems that there are but im not going to abandon people to make sure they have got health insurance in this country. that is not something were going to do. >> meanwhile, some senate democrats are putting pressure on the white house to do more to ensure things go smoothly down the road n a letter sent to the white house yesterday, seven democratic senators called for a permanent ceo to oversee the website come 2014. >>> joining me now, msnbc contributor and democratic strategist, jimmy williams, and republican strategist hogan gidley. hi, guys. >> hello. >> the white house is insisting its going to be on track to fix this website by december, which means three more working days if you dont count tomorrow. republicans see the health care law as the gift that keeps on giving, but theres a new poll that finds most americans are actually unaffected by this law. as politico points out, a million and a half people applied in october suggesting interest is on the rise. so, jimmy, do you think the president can turn the tables on this debate? >> it needs to make the website work. i tried yesterday to log on to go see -- to go shopping and i could not do it. the website still not let me log on. >> really? >> thats right. so ive had to now call the phone number, the 1-888 number and fill out my application on the telephone three times. that is not a good track record. not just for me but im sure lots of people. but at the same time its better. me being able to get health insurance on january 1st is better than not having it at all. and so i want the website to work. i demanded the website works and if he doesnt have it working in three days, then hes going to have to answer to his critics, including me, a democrat. >> but you got it, right? you got your health insurance via the phone? >> no, not yet. not yet. i still havent been able to shop. and i applied the first time on october 4th. >> okay. >>> hogan, theres new polling out there which shows that support for congressional republicans has grown following the rollout of obama care for exactly the reasons jimmy was just spelling out there. americans now give republican lawmakers a slight edge over their democrat colleagues. if next weeks elections were held today, look at that, incumbent republican senators face nearly all of the primary challenges come 2014 elections. so how are republicans going to battle the tea party and democrats in general, because they have got to go for it on both sides? >> right, its a tough thing. this is one of the things weve had in the republican party for quite some time. i think as you mentioned early, politically obama care is the gift that keeps on giving. this website-- it will be fixed sooner or later. but one of the issues brought up in congressional testimony not too long ago from one of sebelius folks was basically that 40% of the website, the back end of the website, the important part that actually gets the money to the insurers, that actually pays for the claims hasnt even been built yet. >> right. >> and he said, oh, dont worry about it, we have until january 1st. its not even built. how can it be tested between now and january 1st for that to work. so my pointing is jimmy is right. it will be fixed. youll be able to sign up and get health care. but republicans cant continue to focus on the website itself, because when it is fixed, were going to have a ton more arrows in the quiver to fire at this president because this thing -- we havent even touched on actually getting health care out of this and how difficult thats going to be with a doctor shortage, the pool -- the places you can go is smaller as well. the prices are already going up. youre seeing stories about that too. so this is a political gift that keeps on giving. but at its core, and republicans need to focus on this, its about people. and peoples relationship with their doctor and actually getting health care. and the talking pointing that hurts us the most is for the life of me as the president would say, i dont understand why republicans dont want people to have health care. were going to have to fight that battle. but i think obama care will make that fight easier for us because they wont be able to get that health care he so adamantly claims he wants people to get. >> you know, the president has really changed his tune from a couple of weeks ago, its been pointed out by reuters jeff mason, jimmy. he shifted the message to positive benefits that his law has achieved and piling on republicans for rooting his failure. hes been hitting the road this week, hes across the country and making good on all this and had a much more boisterous tone. is this going to be enough to make the red state dems feel less anxious? >> well, they voted for it so -- or in the house some of them voted against it. so their record on this, either they supported obama care three years ago or didnt. most of them did. and so they have to go home and run on the fact that they voted for obama care. thats fine. they should say they voted for obama care because to hogans point, i still havent seen the republican plan on health care reform. i dont know where it is. it hasnt been introduced in the house, it hasnt been introduced in the senate. not a single republican has drawn a bill to come up with a republican health care reform plan. so until they do that, this is something that the democrats can say its better than the status quo. the status quo of kicking people off their insurance because they get cancer or saying no, like i was said no by three different insurers in virginia because of a pre-existing condition, if theyre okay with the status quo, then they can live with the status quo but red state democrats can say were not okay with that. as soon as the website is fixed, i personally think obama care will be great. i think people will sign up for it, just like in massachusetts. and the presidents tone on this -- go ahead, im sorry. >> no. i was going to say whether its rips weighing in with a plan or just weighing in in general, i just wanted to play something chris christie said on a radio show and get hogan to react to that. heres that. >> this is just an awful law that made no sense, and thats why i didnt get into a state exchange. no, i have absolutely no regrets. in fact im really glad that the train wreck is not mine, its his. >> train wreck. is this christie positioning himself ahead of 2016, hogan? >> oh, hes been positioning himself for that. train wreck was a term something that harry reid used. chris christie has a few things on issues and hes trying to bolster and hes on the right side of this and i think it will help him if he decides to run in 206 sgleen but alex -- >> in my opinion its his personality and grumpiness, something jimmy can completely understand and relate to. >> absolutely, because im pretty grumpy all the time usually. >> thats right. >> i want to touch on this real quick. where is chris christies health care plan for new jersey? wheres chris christies plan for running for president for health care reform? what is his plan? i want to know what his plan is. he doesnt have one. so if hes okay with the status quo, he gets to keep it. >> all right, you guys. have a good thanksgiving tomorrow, grumpy
Posted on: Mon, 02 Dec 2013 03:44:12 +0000