HuffPost's Howard Fineman Discusses Polls Related To The Budget On MSNBC's 'The Last Word With Lawrence O'Donnell' (VIDEO)

HuffPost's Howard Fineman appeared Wednesday night on MSNBC's 'The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell' to discuss polls related to the budget battle.

Fineman explained of the recent budget compromise bill, "the fact is, if you look at the numbers, the Democrats and the president actually gave up less in actual spending than we thought at the time, so chalk that up as a victory for the president. And the Republicans didn't shut down the government, they blinked. They didn't shut down the government. And yet the sort of, the theater of it, seemed to make it look like a Republican victory at the time."

He continued by saying that the president "loses on the drama, but he wins on the numbers."

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Comments

[bcitadel1]

10:49 AM on 04/27/2011

We are watching the demise of whatever credibility Donald Trump had. How can such a supposedly smart, intelligent, successful, bold man fall into the "birther" trap?!! I sure wouldn't want him running my country with those weaknesses!

[Alex Moschopoulos]

11:20 AM on 04/21/2011

I'm happy to see the American public isn't as polarized as the hard left and hard right want us to believe.

Compromise is not an evil thing...it gets things done.

[jamesd856]

09:52 AM on 04/21/2011

This is why nothing gets done in Washington for the people. You have Fineman talking about how Obama ended up giving little while the Republicans blinked (of course had they played hardball and shut down the gvernment, he would have called them irresponsible). It's more about did my team win or lose as in an athletic contest instead of what is really best for the country. It's more about politicians than anything substantive.

[den1953]

09:38 AM on 04/21/2011

There is a split in the Republican Party and the gap is getting wider the Republicans and the Tea Party can not get together on any issue without taking a poll it is already affecting the Republican candidates are scrambling to find a middle ground between Tea Party followers traditional Republicans, and a pandering for Independents but with every day comes a new lunatic idea about the President to offends most Americans. These claims are so far off the mark even some staunch conservatives know they are way off the mark. Distracting Americans while the Republican party harps those same old Reagan talking points have not worked in the eight years the Bush administration has pushed, so where is the logic in continuing to go down that same path?

[seawillow]

09:14 AM on 04/21/2011

President Obama will be re-elected in a landslide because Republicans are going to throw the election just to keep him in there.

[MosesDidItBest]

09:04 AM on 04/21/2011

Paul Ryan's budget plan, supported by Eric Cantor, John Boehner, the GOP and the Tea Party combined with actions taken in numerous GOP and Tea Party controlled states speak to one agenda, a permanent GOP/TP majority and maintenance of a current status quo of the wealthiest.

The plan is simple and doesn't work, it does not balance the budget. It is not a serious consideration of cuts that could be made and tax increases on the wealthiest Americans could work.

This so called plan is nothing more than an implementation of economic enslavement that benefits wall street, the bankers and corporate America.

[LeftCoastLarry]

08:46 AM on 04/21/2011

The Last Word is way too cerebral for the Teabag set to comprehend. The real value of this show is to shine some light on the issues for those who care.
Something you don't get from the Corporate Mainstream Media.

[RNP2233]

09:22 AM on 04/21/2011

you mean the mainstream Liberal Media- You must be joking

Fox is the only right biased real news station

[t and star]

10:17 AM on 04/21/2011

real news? ahahahaaaaa

[RPM9500]

05:37 AM on 04/21/2011

I think Lawrence summed it up best when he described,........
"If leadership is taking you where you don't want to go."
Lemings.
Mitch McConell stated, following their "big win" in November, (I paraphrase but it gets to the point),
"the Amercian people have spoken and we knows who is in charge now......and that's the American people."

Well Mitch, the polls don't favor Ryans plan and what are you going to do?

The American People, who you love so dear, don't like it.

Draw up a new plan?
I would imagine you will double down.......that's how you and your ilk (GOP) roll.

[filmacher]

02:40 AM on 04/21/2011

What's truly pathetic is that the frauds that call themselves the "republican party" care only about how their preening and hate speech will play in the Fox News / talk radio echo chamber. They couldn't give a crap about the real world. They couldn't give a crap about passing laws to help Americans. All they care about is getting patted on the head by the Sons of Limbaugh. Obama is the grownup in the room. The repugs are the little children who throw tantrums and want to go potty.

[LPH]

02:12 AM on 04/21/2011

I saw this on tv and wondered at the time why Mr. Fineman thought the republicans blinked.

[SPQR1052]

08:21 AM on 04/21/2011

Huh?

[LPH]

09:05 AM on 04/21/2011

Did you read the article for the quote? Mr. Fineman thinks the republicans blinked during the debate over cutting spending.

Here is Mr. Fineman's statement: "Republicans didn't shut down the government, they blinked."

They didn't blink but thought they got a good agreement. They certainly convinced many people that debt is a more important topic than jobs.

Maybe my post was poorly worded - so I'll repost. I watched Mr. Fineman give the point of view - on tv and not from this video clip in the article. At the time of watching and listening to Mr. Fineman - I heard him say that the republicans blinked. I wasn't sure why he came to the conclusion that the republicans blinked.