Christopher Ruddy - President and CEO of Newsmax Media HARDtalk

feared missing under collapsed buildings. Time for HARDtalk.

Welcome to HARDtalk. America's dysfunctional politics has brought

the US government perilously close to running out of money. To

outsiders, it has looked like an incomprehensible game of

brinkmanship, which threatens the world economy. Diehards tea party

Republicans have seen it as an unmissable opportunity to make a

stand against big government. My guest is Christopher Ruddy, CEO of

Newsmax Media armour and influential forum for Conservative opinion. Have

the Republican Speaker if I to that they could never win? `` have the

Republicans picked a fight, that they could never win? Christopher

Ruddy in New York City. Welcome to HARDtalk. Glad to be on.It is a

fast moving political story, with massive ramifications. Is it your

belief, your understanding, that there will be ultimately a deal to

get this financial mess sorted? I believe there will be. The American

system operates on deals. The constitutional fathers created a

system that was based on compromise. We are not seeing a lots of

compromise and respect for the system that the founding fathers set

up. We will see a modified and the limited deal that will at least pump

the ball down the field on the debt limit issue, and on Obamacare, and

on the continuing resolution to fund the Budget. What we are seeing right

now is an increasing rift within the Republican Party, because leaders of

the Republicans in the Senate seem to have decided that it is time to

compromise, and back down on some of the key demands, but the voices from

the house appeared to be suggesting that there will be no tolerance for

a betrayal or sell`out. Is that rift going to widen? I believe there is a

rift between the two bodies in the legislative branch in Congress, the

Senate Republicans are a minority part of that body. They do not

control it. I think there is an interest there to pass some

legislation to keep things moving along without a major confrontation

on either the Budget, Obamacare, all the debt ceiling. The Republicans

have a very clear and strong majority in the House of

Representatives. The way the system is set up is that for any laws to

pass, both houses of Congress have to agree, and then the President can

sign the law. If he doesn't, he can veto it. If it is overwritten, it

becomes law anyway. The way it has been spun across the country and the

world is that somehow, a group of extremist Republicans are holding up

a gun to the head of the president of the US government, the world

economy. That is a lot of nonsense. The way the system works is that the

house needs to be brought into the process. It needs to be made part of

the process. What we have seen from this President over five years, and

the Democrats that control the Senate, is a desire to stampede

laws, to ignore the house. The other people 's elected representatives.

John Boehner, the Speaker of the house, he said that the way the

legislative process works is that the house passes a bill. The Senate

passes their version that could be completely different. They go into a

conference committee, become the way compromise bill. `` come to a full

stop ``. Compromise about what? It is the House Republicans who are

insistent that this crisis has to encompass a fundamental change to

the President health`care programme, when the rest of the world, as virus

we are concerned, what this crisis is really about is about sorting out

the US Budget and fixing the debt ceiling so that America can continue

to write cheques. Why on earth do the Republicans continue to insist

that Obamacare has to be in this deal? John McCain, goodness knows,

one of the most senior Republicans, says it is a full 's errand. I love

John McCain, he is a great man, but he is often a maverick on some

things, he has his own views. On the issue of compromise, the Republicans

wish to compromise. The Democrats do not even want to sit down in a

conference committee. Compromise is not that the house rubber stamps

what the President and the Senate won't. What does this have to do,

what does this debate how to do with Obamacare, which has been discussed

ad nauseam, has been voted on by the Congress, judged by the Supreme

Court, and been the subject of a presidential election that Obama had

to win. Why tie this to a very important discussion about the

Budget and the debt ceiling? You make a strong persuasive argument on

the face of it, but let us peel the onion. Public approval polls show

that Obamacare is very unpopular. The majority does not like it. They

do not like the taxes, Medicare cuts, all sorts of things that are

involved. Just because a lawless past, `` law was passed three years

ago, does not mean in a democracy, that that is written in stone. It

should be modified and adjusted as time goes on. That the law, which

was written in 2000 `` 2010, early on in the first administration, that

law depends on continual funding. There was a continual funding bill

that came up in October. The Republicans said that we will not

find Obamacare, because it needs urgent modifications. That is quite

a conflict that is, and I am not belittling that, but in the end,

when you talk about opinion polls and you tell me the American public

does not accept it, let me point to one more significant opinion poll.

That is the most recent ABC poll, the American public clearly has come

to a judgement about the mess that Washington politics is right now,

and it blamed the Republicans in the Congress. 74% disapproval. The

President 's approval rating is not higher, at his 21 points better than

that. The judgement of the people is clear. The Republicans cannot

persist in this game of dangerous Rickman chip. They could be killed,

politically. `` Rickman chip. I believe the real danger is that we

keep going down the path we go, further debt. Currently, the US

government and the Federal reserve digitally creates 85 billion dollars

a month to buy the national debt. Two thirds of the national debt now

is currently being purchased, not by investors in the United States

globally, but by the Federal reserve in digital currency. This is a

ticking time bomb that will eventually explode, and when you

talk about the dangers to the global economy, I think that is the serious

one. If we are not going to the Republicans, they are saying, we can

keep putting Band`Aids on it, kicking the ball down the field, now

is the time to address the issue in a copra my situation, where both

parties get together. It is an absolute refusal by this President

to respect the legislative process. It is much difference to the British

system, whether Prime Minister is the majority leader who controls

Parliament. The President does not control the Congress. If there is

one thing that everyone can agree on, there is a ticking bomb here,

and it could explode as early as 48 hours from now. If there is no

deal, America goes into a technical default. It can no longer write

cheques. It is silly season. All of this is more political spin. Are you

saying the default does not matter? Know I am saying it is political

theatre used by the administration, because the Federal Government

stakes in 250 billion dollars a month in revenue, it has plenty of

cash. The debt service that would hold off and put at bay a default

comes to about 23 billion a month. The Federal Government, the Treasury

Department can easily cover that the debt. They would have to make cuts

and hold payments back from other programmes and services. They want

to do it because they want to put a gun to the head of the Republicans.

I am fascinated you say that. You have a reputation as a very measured

Conservative. Yet, when you say that to me, you sound like the more shall

we say passionate tea party members of the Congress, like Joe Barton,

who said just a few hours ago, in his opinion, no deal is better than

a bad deal. Is that what you are saying? As far as you are

concerned, no deal is better than a bad deal? Unfortunately I am not a

member of progress for a politician, it allows me to take a variety of

views and opinions. You are in a similar boat over there in London.

In my view is that there should be a system of compromise. I look back at

the Clinton years. I was a critic of President Clinton, but looking back

now, he was a master of bringing people together, working with the

Republicans in Congress. They had a very similar situation. At the end

of the day, President Clinton was well into copra might. `` copra

mice. `` compromise. It isn't recognition by at President Clinton

that as a president he was not an autocrat. My problem is that the

media is giving this perception that somehow it is a bunch of tea party

Creasy 's that are fighting this popular president. President Obama

is very autocratic. Liberal Democrats, liberal journalists, a

man who wrote a wonderful book called `` called holding the centre,

he says the President is not popular with Democrats. He refuses to copra

mice. `` compromise. He refuses to commit a kid with embers of his own

party. It is easy to blame the media for what you see as biased coverage.

Let me quote you some Republicans and what they think about the way

the party, particularly in the House of Representatives, this man worked

with John McCain, your opinion is clear on John McCain. He says we

have two stand up to this stupidity. We have to fight to take back

conservatism is good name from this freak show. His praise. `` his

freeze. He has `` he is a Republican. He is a commentator on

the most liberal network in the country. But he is a Republican, a

voice realism in a party that has track of realism. He will certainly

be quoted widely by our press. The fact is that most Republicans

support holding a line. The Republicans today just proposed a

compromise deal that would not be find Obamacare, that would make

minor changes, that would eliminate a useful `` useless medical device

tax that will make it hard for seniors to buy medical devices, or

increase the cost to cut the certain subsidies for the Federal exchanges.

A view my changes as part of deal to keep it going. The likelihood is

that the Democrats will not support a copra mice. We have a president

that does not like to compromise. `` compromise. Half of the bills have

been for landmarks and fought a few continuing resolutions. The Congress

in the United States government has been in lockdown for the past two

years, because we do not have a president that will work with the

other party, that controls that house, and was elected by the

people. Let us get away from the tower by our, blow by blow of the

stand. Let us think about where the Republican Party and the right in

America sits today. A man we had in this programme, a leading voice in

the conservative movement said and not so long ago, that his ambition

was to make is so small you could fit it in a bath tub and drown it.

As a metaphorical ambition, is that where the conservative movement is

today? Government is seen in a deeply negative light, needing to be

dismantled. He is also into political theatre. He is one of the

great thinkers of the party and a concerted `` conservative movement.

He is committed to the idea that when a state that when a state

becomes too powerful, it leads to the diminishment of liberty and

freedom. And free enterprise. I want you to comment directly on what he

said. Up holes, and a Republican pollster has just put out that

America wants a government that does more, not less. Are they out of tune

with the times? If you look at the exit polls of the 2012 election, it

shows that the American public is still conservative. I believe they

voted for Obama on personality issues, and the fact that they had a

distrust of Mitt Romney. They were asked if they thought taxes should

be raised to pay for government services, the majority said no

increase in taxes. They were asked if they felt it was better to have

smaller government or more government and less freedom, and

they emphatically said they wanted less government, more freedom. There

is a real distrust in America... Let's put this into the spec.

America represents less than 5% of the population, but we generate or

account for 25% of the world 's GDP. We really are the engine of the

whole world economy. We can make America look, as the strike as many

people wanted to be, including Barack Obama, look like a social

democratic state in Europe, we can become just like you, and we will

have the growth rate is just like you and we will bring down and slow

the whole world economy. There is no other country that is going to step

into the place we are playing in the world economy. I know America has

its detractors, even in this country, people that have a lot of

acts to about what we are doing here, but it is very important, you

know Obamacare is a huge, the most radical healthcare takeover in the

history of the country. The most significant social programme since

the new Deal. Let me stop you there. You said it is the most radical

programme since the new deal. The bottom line is, when the new Deal

was launched, those of a conservative persuasion in the

United States hated it. The new Deal now is regarded by most Americans as

the public `` part of the fabric of the nation. Let me quote is to use

these words, issued by a leading politician about Medicare in 1961.

This politician said, if we allow this awful measure to stand, one day

we will wake to find we have socialism. We are going to spend our

sunset years telling our children and their children what it was once

like in America when men were free. You who said that? That was probably

Ronald Reagan. You are right. And he learned to live with Medicare, so

did George W. Bush and Dick Cheney. In the end, Republicans always learn

to live with government, having said that it is ideal logically against

everything they believe in. I don't think we are as ideal logically

rigid as that might be claimed. I think Medicare is basically a good

programme. It has its issues, but I think it has been basically good for

the seniors in this country that paid into the system. What Obamacare

does, which I think is awful, is here are people who have worked

their whole lives paying into the system, it is current gap `` cutting

their payments dramatically so it can add 30 million people into the

system that don't have insurance, haven't paid for insurance and

haven't paid into the system. It is one of the reasons the Republicans

control Congress today, is because they oppose the Obamacare plan. I

believe many of the new Deal programmes were good. I think Social

Security was a good about. I believe in a social safety net. I have one

of those recent `` I am one of those reasonable Conservatives. I do

believe that if the state becomes so powerful and increases and goes

beyond that tipping point, it threatens the very fabric of our

free enterprise system. We have a huge debt. We have 80% GDP ratio at

this point. $16 trillion. We cannot afford Obamacare. Let's go back to

the state of the Republican Party and look forward to the future of

the party that you support and believe in. The polls are awful, and

you have a senior politicians like Lindsey Graham saying the bigger

problem is we are losing the demographics race. We are not

generating enough angry white guys to stay in business for the

long`term. He is pointing that you one of the fundamental problem is

your party, as you fight these battles on Capitol Hill, you are

certainly not appealing to the new America, that is the rising numbers

of Latina and other minority voters, who are turned off your party. I

agree with most of what Lindsey Graham says. I disagree with what

your interpretation of that would be on the current fight in Washington.

I think all voters want a more sound economy, so that was `` because they

know that the free enterprise system depends on government being checked

and not overreaching. We are increasing taxes this year alone

between Obamacare and the fist or Cliff Deal that the president

pushed, about $300 billion. Let's not get too stuck on the fiscal ``

fiscal Cliff and the argument over the economy right now. Let's

consider what Republicans are not doing to win new voters from the

minorities in your country. You are not expanding the minority based in

the organisation of the party and when it comes to crucial immigration

reform, it is House Republicans who stand in the way of naturalising and

offering a pathway to citizenship to millions of illegal immigrants. Full

disclosure, I am not a registered Republican, but truth in

advertising, my sympathies are there. The party of Lincoln was the

party reaching out for more freedom, and I believe it is a party

which should be welcoming immigrants. The party is facing

becoming a third`party permanent Afrikaner party. It is very much

based on race. I agree with those who say it is an increasingly white

southern party who is not reaching out. Mitt Romney made a fatal

mistake. We need to have a party like Marco Rubio and Jeb Bush have

been pointing for `` calling for, which reaches out for his panics.

When those politicians reach out to Hispanics, they get a bashing from

that Tea Party. But Jeb Bush is a popular figure, Marco Rubio is a

popular figure. I believe if you have a popular Republican that talks

about bringing people in, reaching out, George Bush got 40% of the

Hispanic vote in the 2004 election. Had Mitt Romney have the same

number, he would have been president of the United States today. Hanging

in the balance is the future of the Republican Party and the 2`party

system. It is a very important cause. We are dedicated to the view

that we are trying to bring in people to the conservative side of

the political equation that share the ideas of equal opportunity. I

think a lot of Hispanics, this will resonate. We just have not had, this

is a failure of the Republicans, we do not have a leader who articulates

a vision that will grow the party and grow America. Are you in the

conservative movement worried about how you are perceived in the wider

world right now? I have been looking at international press and am struck

by some lines in the German press that I picked up to date, saying the

hardline wing of the Republican Party is crippling the United

States. Fundamentalists are at work, who hold up their country to

ridicule in pursuit of their purists doctrine. When you hear things like

that from commentators looking into it `` looking in at America, do you

worry? I don't worry that much because at the end of the day, I

would rather have a more sound economy here. Reagan always said it

is better to be respected and loved. Obama is loved, I believe a lot of

it is press bias, both abroad and in this country, people are not getting

a better per spec it. `` better perspective. I hope I have given

another side of the story to viewers in Britain and around the world. But

there is a little bit more complexity than what we're guessing

that this is some part `` somehow weighty party mutiny. There is no

such thing as a Tea Party, for starters. There are people who are

deeply concerned about the future of the country and while I don't agree

with everything they say, I do believe they have a valid point. I

want the President to compromise with Congress. I am sorry to cut you

off, but we have two end. On cue for joining me. `` thank you for joining

me. Thank you. Wednesday morning could start off on

a fairly grey note. There will be a few mist and fog patches around.

Some low cloud, ALP rates of rain quickly to the south`west of

England. The satellite picture shows an approaching weather system out

towards the south`west, trying cloud in here with clear skies further

east through the rest of the night. The potential for a few mist and fog

patches developing. Perhaps through the Vale of York, some fog patches

across southern England and eight few patches of poor visibility

across East Anglia and the Midlands. The south`west of England and Wales,

no visibility problems because cloud and rain will be moving in. It will

be quite a wet start to Wednesday