:00:00. > :00:14.feared missing under collapsed buildings. Time for HARDtalk.
:00:15. > :00:17.Welcome to HARDtalk. America's dysfunctional politics has brought
:00:18. > :00:23.the US government perilously close to running out of money. To
:00:24. > :00:26.outsiders, it has looked like an incomprehensible game of
:00:27. > :00:32.brinkmanship, which threatens the world economy. Diehards tea party
:00:33. > :00:37.Republicans have seen it as an unmissable opportunity to make a
:00:38. > :00:41.stand against big government. My guest is Christopher Ruddy, CEO of
:00:42. > :00:48.Newsmax Media armour and influential forum for Conservative opinion. Have
:00:49. > :00:56.the Republican Speaker if I to that they could never win? `` have the
:00:57. > :01:17.Republicans picked a fight, that they could never win? Christopher
:01:18. > :01:26.Ruddy in New York City. Welcome to HARDtalk. Glad to be on.It is a
:01:27. > :01:30.fast moving political story, with massive ramifications. Is it your
:01:31. > :01:40.belief, your understanding, that there will be ultimately a deal to
:01:41. > :01:48.get this financial mess sorted? I believe there will be. The American
:01:49. > :01:52.system operates on deals. The constitutional fathers created a
:01:53. > :01:56.system that was based on compromise. We are not seeing a lots of
:01:57. > :02:01.compromise and respect for the system that the founding fathers set
:02:02. > :02:06.up. We will see a modified and the limited deal that will at least pump
:02:07. > :02:11.the ball down the field on the debt limit issue, and on Obamacare, and
:02:12. > :02:18.on the continuing resolution to fund the Budget. What we are seeing right
:02:19. > :02:21.now is an increasing rift within the Republican Party, because leaders of
:02:22. > :02:25.the Republicans in the Senate seem to have decided that it is time to
:02:26. > :02:32.compromise, and back down on some of the key demands, but the voices from
:02:33. > :02:38.the house appeared to be suggesting that there will be no tolerance for
:02:39. > :02:44.a betrayal or sell`out. Is that rift going to widen? I believe there is a
:02:45. > :02:50.rift between the two bodies in the legislative branch in Congress, the
:02:51. > :02:55.Senate Republicans are a minority part of that body. They do not
:02:56. > :02:59.control it. I think there is an interest there to pass some
:03:00. > :03:04.legislation to keep things moving along without a major confrontation
:03:05. > :03:10.on either the Budget, Obamacare, all the debt ceiling. The Republicans
:03:11. > :03:13.have a very clear and strong majority in the House of
:03:14. > :03:20.Representatives. The way the system is set up is that for any laws to
:03:21. > :03:26.pass, both houses of Congress have to agree, and then the President can
:03:27. > :03:36.sign the law. If he doesn't, he can veto it. If it is overwritten, it
:03:37. > :03:40.becomes law anyway. The way it has been spun across the country and the
:03:41. > :03:43.world is that somehow, a group of extremist Republicans are holding up
:03:44. > :03:51.a gun to the head of the president of the US government, the world
:03:52. > :03:55.economy. That is a lot of nonsense. The way the system works is that the
:03:56. > :03:59.house needs to be brought into the process. It needs to be made part of
:04:00. > :04:04.the process. What we have seen from this President over five years, and
:04:05. > :04:11.the Democrats that control the Senate, is a desire to stampede
:04:12. > :04:16.laws, to ignore the house. The other people 's elected representatives.
:04:17. > :04:23.John Boehner, the Speaker of the house, he said that the way the
:04:24. > :04:29.legislative process works is that the house passes a bill. The Senate
:04:30. > :04:33.passes their version that could be completely different. They go into a
:04:34. > :04:47.conference committee, become the way compromise bill. `` come to a full
:04:48. > :04:51.stop ``. Compromise about what? It is the House Republicans who are
:04:52. > :04:54.insistent that this crisis has to encompass a fundamental change to
:04:55. > :05:00.the President health`care programme, when the rest of the world, as virus
:05:01. > :05:06.we are concerned, what this crisis is really about is about sorting out
:05:07. > :05:10.the US Budget and fixing the debt ceiling so that America can continue
:05:11. > :05:14.to write cheques. Why on earth do the Republicans continue to insist
:05:15. > :05:20.that Obamacare has to be in this deal? John McCain, goodness knows,
:05:21. > :05:27.one of the most senior Republicans, says it is a full 's errand. I love
:05:28. > :05:33.John McCain, he is a great man, but he is often a maverick on some
:05:34. > :05:37.things, he has his own views. On the issue of compromise, the Republicans
:05:38. > :05:42.wish to compromise. The Democrats do not even want to sit down in a
:05:43. > :05:45.conference committee. Compromise is not that the house rubber stamps
:05:46. > :05:56.what the President and the Senate won't. What does this have to do,
:05:57. > :06:00.what does this debate how to do with Obamacare, which has been discussed
:06:01. > :06:04.ad nauseam, has been voted on by the Congress, judged by the Supreme
:06:05. > :06:10.Court, and been the subject of a presidential election that Obama had
:06:11. > :06:16.to win. Why tie this to a very important discussion about the
:06:17. > :06:19.Budget and the debt ceiling? You make a strong persuasive argument on
:06:20. > :06:26.the face of it, but let us peel the onion. Public approval polls show
:06:27. > :06:32.that Obamacare is very unpopular. The majority does not like it. They
:06:33. > :06:36.do not like the taxes, Medicare cuts, all sorts of things that are
:06:37. > :06:43.involved. Just because a lawless past, `` law was passed three years
:06:44. > :06:48.ago, does not mean in a democracy, that that is written in stone. It
:06:49. > :06:56.should be modified and adjusted as time goes on. That the law, which
:06:57. > :07:02.was written in 2000 `` 2010, early on in the first administration, that
:07:03. > :07:06.law depends on continual funding. There was a continual funding bill
:07:07. > :07:09.that came up in October. The Republicans said that we will not
:07:10. > :07:14.find Obamacare, because it needs urgent modifications. That is quite
:07:15. > :07:18.a conflict that is, and I am not belittling that, but in the end,
:07:19. > :07:24.when you talk about opinion polls and you tell me the American public
:07:25. > :07:29.does not accept it, let me point to one more significant opinion poll.
:07:30. > :07:33.That is the most recent ABC poll, the American public clearly has come
:07:34. > :07:36.to a judgement about the mess that Washington politics is right now,
:07:37. > :07:41.and it blamed the Republicans in the Congress. 74% disapproval. The
:07:42. > :07:46.President 's approval rating is not higher, at his 21 points better than
:07:47. > :07:49.that. The judgement of the people is clear. The Republicans cannot
:07:50. > :07:57.persist in this game of dangerous Rickman chip. They could be killed,
:07:58. > :08:00.politically. `` Rickman chip. I believe the real danger is that we
:08:01. > :08:05.keep going down the path we go, further debt. Currently, the US
:08:06. > :08:13.government and the Federal reserve digitally creates 85 billion dollars
:08:14. > :08:19.a month to buy the national debt. Two thirds of the national debt now
:08:20. > :08:25.is currently being purchased, not by investors in the United States
:08:26. > :08:29.globally, but by the Federal reserve in digital currency. This is a
:08:30. > :08:32.ticking time bomb that will eventually explode, and when you
:08:33. > :08:37.talk about the dangers to the global economy, I think that is the serious
:08:38. > :08:41.one. If we are not going to the Republicans, they are saying, we can
:08:42. > :08:47.keep putting Band`Aids on it, kicking the ball down the field, now
:08:48. > :08:50.is the time to address the issue in a copra my situation, where both
:08:51. > :08:57.parties get together. It is an absolute refusal by this President
:08:58. > :09:01.to respect the legislative process. It is much difference to the British
:09:02. > :09:03.system, whether Prime Minister is the majority leader who controls
:09:04. > :09:07.Parliament. The President does not control the Congress. If there is
:09:08. > :09:12.one thing that everyone can agree on, there is a ticking bomb here,
:09:13. > :09:16.and it could explode as early as 48 hours from now. If there is no
:09:17. > :09:23.deal, America goes into a technical default. It can no longer write
:09:24. > :09:29.cheques. It is silly season. All of this is more political spin. Are you
:09:30. > :09:33.saying the default does not matter? Know I am saying it is political
:09:34. > :09:37.theatre used by the administration, because the Federal Government
:09:38. > :09:41.stakes in 250 billion dollars a month in revenue, it has plenty of
:09:42. > :09:47.cash. The debt service that would hold off and put at bay a default
:09:48. > :09:51.comes to about 23 billion a month. The Federal Government, the Treasury
:09:52. > :09:54.Department can easily cover that the debt. They would have to make cuts
:09:55. > :09:59.and hold payments back from other programmes and services. They want
:10:00. > :10:03.to do it because they want to put a gun to the head of the Republicans.
:10:04. > :10:09.I am fascinated you say that. You have a reputation as a very measured
:10:10. > :10:13.Conservative. Yet, when you say that to me, you sound like the more shall
:10:14. > :10:19.we say passionate tea party members of the Congress, like Joe Barton,
:10:20. > :10:23.who said just a few hours ago, in his opinion, no deal is better than
:10:24. > :10:26.a bad deal. Is that what you are saying? As far as you are
:10:27. > :10:32.concerned, no deal is better than a bad deal? Unfortunately I am not a
:10:33. > :10:37.member of progress for a politician, it allows me to take a variety of
:10:38. > :10:43.views and opinions. You are in a similar boat over there in London.
:10:44. > :10:48.In my view is that there should be a system of compromise. I look back at
:10:49. > :10:52.the Clinton years. I was a critic of President Clinton, but looking back
:10:53. > :10:56.now, he was a master of bringing people together, working with the
:10:57. > :10:59.Republicans in Congress. They had a very similar situation. At the end
:11:00. > :11:13.of the day, President Clinton was well into copra might. `` copra
:11:14. > :11:17.mice. `` compromise. It isn't recognition by at President Clinton
:11:18. > :11:22.that as a president he was not an autocrat. My problem is that the
:11:23. > :11:27.media is giving this perception that somehow it is a bunch of tea party
:11:28. > :11:31.Creasy 's that are fighting this popular president. President Obama
:11:32. > :11:37.is very autocratic. Liberal Democrats, liberal journalists, a
:11:38. > :11:43.man who wrote a wonderful book called `` called holding the centre,
:11:44. > :11:50.he says the President is not popular with Democrats. He refuses to copra
:11:51. > :11:56.mice. `` compromise. He refuses to commit a kid with embers of his own
:11:57. > :12:01.party. It is easy to blame the media for what you see as biased coverage.
:12:02. > :12:04.Let me quote you some Republicans and what they think about the way
:12:05. > :12:13.the party, particularly in the House of Representatives, this man worked
:12:14. > :12:20.with John McCain, your opinion is clear on John McCain. He says we
:12:21. > :12:23.have two stand up to this stupidity. We have to fight to take back
:12:24. > :12:33.conservatism is good name from this freak show. His praise. `` his
:12:34. > :12:39.freeze. He has `` he is a Republican. He is a commentator on
:12:40. > :12:46.the most liberal network in the country. But he is a Republican, a
:12:47. > :12:51.voice realism in a party that has track of realism. He will certainly
:12:52. > :12:59.be quoted widely by our press. The fact is that most Republicans
:13:00. > :13:05.support holding a line. The Republicans today just proposed a
:13:06. > :13:10.compromise deal that would not be find Obamacare, that would make
:13:11. > :13:13.minor changes, that would eliminate a useful `` useless medical device
:13:14. > :13:18.tax that will make it hard for seniors to buy medical devices, or
:13:19. > :13:21.increase the cost to cut the certain subsidies for the Federal exchanges.
:13:22. > :13:27.A view my changes as part of deal to keep it going. The likelihood is
:13:28. > :13:32.that the Democrats will not support a copra mice. We have a president
:13:33. > :13:40.that does not like to compromise. `` compromise. Half of the bills have
:13:41. > :13:44.been for landmarks and fought a few continuing resolutions. The Congress
:13:45. > :13:48.in the United States government has been in lockdown for the past two
:13:49. > :13:51.years, because we do not have a president that will work with the
:13:52. > :13:59.other party, that controls that house, and was elected by the
:14:00. > :14:04.people. Let us get away from the tower by our, blow by blow of the
:14:05. > :14:12.stand. Let us think about where the Republican Party and the right in
:14:13. > :14:16.America sits today. A man we had in this programme, a leading voice in
:14:17. > :14:20.the conservative movement said and not so long ago, that his ambition
:14:21. > :14:27.was to make is so small you could fit it in a bath tub and drown it.
:14:28. > :14:32.As a metaphorical ambition, is that where the conservative movement is
:14:33. > :14:41.today? Government is seen in a deeply negative light, needing to be
:14:42. > :14:44.dismantled. He is also into political theatre. He is one of the
:14:45. > :14:52.great thinkers of the party and a concerted `` conservative movement.
:14:53. > :14:55.He is committed to the idea that when a state that when a state
:14:56. > :15:00.becomes too powerful, it leads to the diminishment of liberty and
:15:01. > :15:08.freedom. And free enterprise. I want you to comment directly on what he
:15:09. > :15:18.said. Up holes, and a Republican pollster has just put out that
:15:19. > :15:24.America wants a government that does more, not less. Are they out of tune
:15:25. > :15:29.with the times? If you look at the exit polls of the 2012 election, it
:15:30. > :15:35.shows that the American public is still conservative. I believe they
:15:36. > :15:38.voted for Obama on personality issues, and the fact that they had a
:15:39. > :15:43.distrust of Mitt Romney. They were asked if they thought taxes should
:15:44. > :15:47.be raised to pay for government services, the majority said no
:15:48. > :15:55.increase in taxes. They were asked if they felt it was better to have
:15:56. > :15:58.smaller government or more government and less freedom, and
:15:59. > :16:02.they emphatically said they wanted less government, more freedom. There
:16:03. > :16:08.is a real distrust in America... Let's put this into the spec.
:16:09. > :16:13.America represents less than 5% of the population, but we generate or
:16:14. > :16:18.account for 25% of the world 's GDP. We really are the engine of the
:16:19. > :16:23.whole world economy. We can make America look, as the strike as many
:16:24. > :16:28.people wanted to be, including Barack Obama, look like a social
:16:29. > :16:30.democratic state in Europe, we can become just like you, and we will
:16:31. > :16:36.have the growth rate is just like you and we will bring down and slow
:16:37. > :16:39.the whole world economy. There is no other country that is going to step
:16:40. > :16:44.into the place we are playing in the world economy. I know America has
:16:45. > :16:47.its detractors, even in this country, people that have a lot of
:16:48. > :16:55.acts to about what we are doing here, but it is very important, you
:16:56. > :16:58.know Obamacare is a huge, the most radical healthcare takeover in the
:16:59. > :17:06.history of the country. The most significant social programme since
:17:07. > :17:10.the new Deal. Let me stop you there. You said it is the most radical
:17:11. > :17:15.programme since the new deal. The bottom line is, when the new Deal
:17:16. > :17:17.was launched, those of a conservative persuasion in the
:17:18. > :17:22.United States hated it. The new Deal now is regarded by most Americans as
:17:23. > :17:28.the public `` part of the fabric of the nation. Let me quote is to use
:17:29. > :17:34.these words, issued by a leading politician about Medicare in 1961.
:17:35. > :17:38.This politician said, if we allow this awful measure to stand, one day
:17:39. > :17:41.we will wake to find we have socialism. We are going to spend our
:17:42. > :17:46.sunset years telling our children and their children what it was once
:17:47. > :17:54.like in America when men were free. You who said that? That was probably
:17:55. > :18:00.Ronald Reagan. You are right. And he learned to live with Medicare, so
:18:01. > :18:05.did George W. Bush and Dick Cheney. In the end, Republicans always learn
:18:06. > :18:08.to live with government, having said that it is ideal logically against
:18:09. > :18:14.everything they believe in. I don't think we are as ideal logically
:18:15. > :18:18.rigid as that might be claimed. I think Medicare is basically a good
:18:19. > :18:22.programme. It has its issues, but I think it has been basically good for
:18:23. > :18:26.the seniors in this country that paid into the system. What Obamacare
:18:27. > :18:30.does, which I think is awful, is here are people who have worked
:18:31. > :18:35.their whole lives paying into the system, it is current gap `` cutting
:18:36. > :18:38.their payments dramatically so it can add 30 million people into the
:18:39. > :18:42.system that don't have insurance, haven't paid for insurance and
:18:43. > :18:47.haven't paid into the system. It is one of the reasons the Republicans
:18:48. > :18:50.control Congress today, is because they oppose the Obamacare plan. I
:18:51. > :18:54.believe many of the new Deal programmes were good. I think Social
:18:55. > :18:59.Security was a good about. I believe in a social safety net. I have one
:19:00. > :19:04.of those recent `` I am one of those reasonable Conservatives. I do
:19:05. > :19:07.believe that if the state becomes so powerful and increases and goes
:19:08. > :19:14.beyond that tipping point, it threatens the very fabric of our
:19:15. > :19:19.free enterprise system. We have a huge debt. We have 80% GDP ratio at
:19:20. > :19:25.this point. $16 trillion. We cannot afford Obamacare. Let's go back to
:19:26. > :19:28.the state of the Republican Party and look forward to the future of
:19:29. > :19:36.the party that you support and believe in. The polls are awful, and
:19:37. > :19:38.you have a senior politicians like Lindsey Graham saying the bigger
:19:39. > :19:42.problem is we are losing the demographics race. We are not
:19:43. > :19:47.generating enough angry white guys to stay in business for the
:19:48. > :19:52.long`term. He is pointing that you one of the fundamental problem is
:19:53. > :19:55.your party, as you fight these battles on Capitol Hill, you are
:19:56. > :20:00.certainly not appealing to the new America, that is the rising numbers
:20:01. > :20:06.of Latina and other minority voters, who are turned off your party. I
:20:07. > :20:10.agree with most of what Lindsey Graham says. I disagree with what
:20:11. > :20:13.your interpretation of that would be on the current fight in Washington.
:20:14. > :20:19.I think all voters want a more sound economy, so that was `` because they
:20:20. > :20:23.know that the free enterprise system depends on government being checked
:20:24. > :20:28.and not overreaching. We are increasing taxes this year alone
:20:29. > :20:32.between Obamacare and the fist or Cliff Deal that the president
:20:33. > :20:37.pushed, about $300 billion. Let's not get too stuck on the fiscal ``
:20:38. > :20:40.fiscal Cliff and the argument over the economy right now. Let's
:20:41. > :20:44.consider what Republicans are not doing to win new voters from the
:20:45. > :20:48.minorities in your country. You are not expanding the minority based in
:20:49. > :20:51.the organisation of the party and when it comes to crucial immigration
:20:52. > :20:56.reform, it is House Republicans who stand in the way of naturalising and
:20:57. > :21:02.offering a pathway to citizenship to millions of illegal immigrants. Full
:21:03. > :21:04.disclosure, I am not a registered Republican, but truth in
:21:05. > :21:13.advertising, my sympathies are there. The party of Lincoln was the
:21:14. > :21:18.party reaching out for more freedom, and I believe it is a party
:21:19. > :21:26.which should be welcoming immigrants. The party is facing
:21:27. > :21:33.becoming a third`party permanent Afrikaner party. It is very much
:21:34. > :21:38.based on race. I agree with those who say it is an increasingly white
:21:39. > :21:42.southern party who is not reaching out. Mitt Romney made a fatal
:21:43. > :21:49.mistake. We need to have a party like Marco Rubio and Jeb Bush have
:21:50. > :21:53.been pointing for `` calling for, which reaches out for his panics.
:21:54. > :22:00.When those politicians reach out to Hispanics, they get a bashing from
:22:01. > :22:04.that Tea Party. But Jeb Bush is a popular figure, Marco Rubio is a
:22:05. > :22:09.popular figure. I believe if you have a popular Republican that talks
:22:10. > :22:14.about bringing people in, reaching out, George Bush got 40% of the
:22:15. > :22:18.Hispanic vote in the 2004 election. Had Mitt Romney have the same
:22:19. > :22:23.number, he would have been president of the United States today. Hanging
:22:24. > :22:29.in the balance is the future of the Republican Party and the 2`party
:22:30. > :22:33.system. It is a very important cause. We are dedicated to the view
:22:34. > :22:37.that we are trying to bring in people to the conservative side of
:22:38. > :22:42.the political equation that share the ideas of equal opportunity. I
:22:43. > :22:47.think a lot of Hispanics, this will resonate. We just have not had, this
:22:48. > :22:50.is a failure of the Republicans, we do not have a leader who articulates
:22:51. > :22:55.a vision that will grow the party and grow America. Are you in the
:22:56. > :23:01.conservative movement worried about how you are perceived in the wider
:23:02. > :23:05.world right now? I have been looking at international press and am struck
:23:06. > :23:09.by some lines in the German press that I picked up to date, saying the
:23:10. > :23:12.hardline wing of the Republican Party is crippling the United
:23:13. > :23:17.States. Fundamentalists are at work, who hold up their country to
:23:18. > :23:21.ridicule in pursuit of their purists doctrine. When you hear things like
:23:22. > :23:25.that from commentators looking into it `` looking in at America, do you
:23:26. > :23:30.worry? I don't worry that much because at the end of the day, I
:23:31. > :23:33.would rather have a more sound economy here. Reagan always said it
:23:34. > :23:40.is better to be respected and loved. Obama is loved, I believe a lot of
:23:41. > :23:45.it is press bias, both abroad and in this country, people are not getting
:23:46. > :23:48.a better per spec it. `` better perspective. I hope I have given
:23:49. > :23:51.another side of the story to viewers in Britain and around the world. But
:23:52. > :23:55.there is a little bit more complexity than what we're guessing
:23:56. > :23:59.that this is some part `` somehow weighty party mutiny. There is no
:24:00. > :24:03.such thing as a Tea Party, for starters. There are people who are
:24:04. > :24:07.deeply concerned about the future of the country and while I don't agree
:24:08. > :24:11.with everything they say, I do believe they have a valid point. I
:24:12. > :24:16.want the President to compromise with Congress. I am sorry to cut you
:24:17. > :24:20.off, but we have two end. On cue for joining me. `` thank you for joining
:24:21. > :24:53.me. Thank you. Wednesday morning could start off on
:24:54. > :24:56.a fairly grey note. There will be a few mist and fog patches around.
:24:57. > :25:02.Some low cloud, ALP rates of rain quickly to the south`west of
:25:03. > :25:05.England. The satellite picture shows an approaching weather system out
:25:06. > :25:09.towards the south`west, trying cloud in here with clear skies further
:25:10. > :25:13.east through the rest of the night. The potential for a few mist and fog
:25:14. > :25:18.patches developing. Perhaps through the Vale of York, some fog patches
:25:19. > :25:22.across southern England and eight few patches of poor visibility
:25:23. > :25:25.across East Anglia and the Midlands. The south`west of England and Wales,
:25:26. > :25:28.no visibility problems because cloud and rain will be moving in. It will
:25:29. > :25:30.be quite a wet start to Wednesday