>>> he's either the most responsible republican in the house or he's responsible for the worst act of betrayal sin aal brutis plotted to kill caesar. thomas cole says republicans should support his view on taxes.
>> in my view we're not going to raise taxes on people that make less than $250,000. we should take them out of this discussion right now, continue to fight against any rate increases, continue to fight for a much bigger deal.
>> but in the poerltales of pow es power, this is how john boehner responded to his colleague.
>> i told tom in our conference meeting i disagreed with him. he's a good friend and supporter of mine.
>> luke russert joins us from capitol hill . luke , the speaker refers to mr. cole as one of his greatest personal supporters. but mr. cole has just torn speaker boehner 's talking points to shreds and he's done it publicly.
>> quite a development. thomas cole is former chairman of the nrc seat, che did a few years ago, which is really the wing of the house republican conference in charge of getting, what, house republicans elected to congress. so for him to come out and take this position shows you that there is an appetite, at least among some very prominent republicans , that perhaps go down this road and allow for an increase in tax rates . what i found interesting is after that, there is a race amongst a lot of other republicans to sort of come out and slam tom cole 's, robert of idaho saying tom cole is part of the problem. the outgoing member, the nrc , head of of the nrc , pete sessions saying, there's no appetite for that type of talk. what's interesting, martin, if you go back to 2010 , the last lame duck, speaker boehner actually stepped in it when he was on "face the nation" and he said i would accept if it was the only thing i could get saving tax cuts for those making $250,000 or below. republicans were upset about that. he had to walk that language back. now you see the language is all or nothing on the bush tax cuts .
>> and yet, luke , we have had an election. we have had exit polling . we have had a new poll in "the washington post " today, all of which appears to support the president. so, is speaker boehner going to be able, as you said, to step in it again and win at least 20, 30 republican colleagues?
>> well, i think what you'll see, martin, going forward is the reason why they're taking such a tough line on this is because they're trying to strengthen their negotiating hand. what you saw today was the messaging war from the republicans was, okay, we might not be moving on the tax issue in terms of rates, but we're willing to give revenue. what are democrats doing on entitlements? we're going to get bogged down between entitle manies and taxes, which republicans want to do. until we get past that messaging war, we'll get to the real work on the cliff, martin.
>> great. please stay put, luke , we'll come back to you have day from now.
>> in my view we're not going to raise taxes on people that make less than $250,000. we should take them out of this discussion right now, continue to fight against any rate increases, continue to fight for a much bigger deal.
>> but in the poerltales of pow es power, this is how john boehner responded to his colleague.
>> i told tom in our conference meeting i disagreed with him. he's a good friend and supporter of mine.
>> luke russert joins us from capitol hill . luke , the speaker refers to mr. cole as one of his greatest personal supporters. but mr. cole has just torn speaker boehner 's talking points to shreds and he's done it publicly.
>> quite a development. thomas cole is former chairman of the nrc seat, che did a few years ago, which is really the wing of the house republican conference in charge of getting, what, house republicans elected to congress. so for him to come out and take this position shows you that there is an appetite, at least among some very prominent republicans , that perhaps go down this road and allow for an increase in tax rates . what i found interesting is after that, there is a race amongst a lot of other republicans to sort of come out and slam tom cole 's, robert of idaho saying tom cole is part of the problem. the outgoing member, the nrc , head of of the nrc , pete sessions saying, there's no appetite for that type of talk. what's interesting, martin, if you go back to 2010 , the last lame duck, speaker boehner actually stepped in it when he was on "face the nation" and he said i would accept if it was the only thing i could get saving tax cuts for those making $250,000 or below. republicans were upset about that. he had to walk that language back. now you see the language is all or nothing on the bush tax cuts .
>> and yet, luke , we have had an election. we have had exit polling . we have had a new poll in "the washington post " today, all of which appears to support the president. so, is speaker boehner going to be able, as you said, to step in it again and win at least 20, 30 republican colleagues?
>> well, i think what you'll see, martin, going forward is the reason why they're taking such a tough line on this is because they're trying to strengthen their negotiating hand. what you saw today was the messaging war from the republicans was, okay, we might not be moving on the tax issue in terms of rates, but we're willing to give revenue. what are democrats doing on entitlements? we're going to get bogged down between entitle manies and taxes, which republicans want to do. until we get past that messaging war, we'll get to the real work on the cliff, martin.
>> great. please stay put, luke , we'll come back to you have day from now.