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I don't think David Gregory can make it through an interview without pushing the Villagers' favorite theme during these so-called "fiscal cliff" negotiations, which is that Democrats had better be willing to inflict some pain on the elderly and the working class, or they're just not being "serious." He was at it again this Sunday when he asked President Obama about whether he was going to just have to "talk tough" to seniors about Social Security and Medicare.

Of course no such tough talk or pain is ever required of the rich or of our bloated military industrial complex. Gregory also did his best to try to place the blame for Republican obstruction during these negotiations on President Obama's back, asking him "What is it about you, Mr. President, that you think is so hard to say yes to?" About him... really David Gregory? We've got one party that's lost its mind and cares about obstruction above all else and is willing to take us down in flames to get what they want and another party that's willing to bend over backwards to try to negotiate with them, and you want to know why the side that's too willing to compromise hasn't done enough to make the Teahadist happy? Spare me.

Obama: ‘Pressure’ on Congress, blames GOP as deadline nears:

President Obama said Sunday that the "pressure is on Congress" to reach a compromise and resolve the so-called “fiscal cliff,” sharply criticizing GOP leaders for the unresolved talks.

In an exclusive interview with NBC's “Meet the Press” on Sunday, his first appearance since the healthcare debate in 2009, Obama seemed intent on putting the blame solely on Congressional Republicans, if lawmakers fail to reach the pivotal year-end deadline.

"I offered not only a trillion dollars in -- over a trillion dollars in spending cuts over the next 10 years, but these changes would result in even more savings in the next 10 years, and would solve our deficit problem for a decade," Obama said, in the interview . “They say that their biggest priority is making sure that we deal with the deficit in a serious way, but the way they're behaving is that their only priority is making sure that tax breaks for the wealthiest Americans are protected. That seems to be their only overriding, unifying theme.”

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Stephen Colbert brought on Americans for Tax Reform and former Jack Abramoff buddy that somehow managed to escape prosecution to the Colbert Report and asked him about his tax pledge he's managed to make the majority of Republican lawmakers to sign, and whether he'd allow grandmothers across the country be terrorized or allow higher taxes. Norquist responded by saying that "I think we console our self with the fact that we have pictures."

I'd really be a whole lot happier if this guy was sitting in a jail cell next to his buddy Jack instead of appearing on Comedy Central and still being allowed to do his best to help destroy our economy in America with his stinking purity test on taxes that every Republican in America pretends they have to bow down to.

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Boy, I'm really disappointed at Chris Matthews for this interview with Rep. Marsha Blackburn. He made all of the right points about what Paul Ryan's proposed budget is going to do to the Medicare program and that seniors are not going to be able to afford to pay for their health care if they're forced to shop for private insurance, but he allowed her to keep repeating her talking points without challenging her and had to throw a line in there about how much he respected her.

This is not exactly the treatment we've seen him give others on a regular basis on his show. Normally you can't stop him from interrupting and talking over his guests. Makes me wonder why he decided to handle her with kid gloves.

It would have been nice to see her challenged about how seniors were supposed to afford their care when Ryan's plan is not going to keep up with the rate of medical inflation. Maybe someone could ask Matthews to watch Jon Stewart's segment on Paul Ryan's sham of a budget from the previous day before he has another Republican on his show defending it.

The Republicans are desperate to pretend like they're not really getting rid of Medicare, but I don't think all of the interviews like this one in the world are going to help them once people start taking a good look at Ryan's proposals. Blackburn also made sure to add the caveat that this isn't going to affect anyone over the age of 55. Does she think those people don't care about what happens to their children and grandchildren? And does she think anyone under 55 isn't going to care that those benefits aren't there for them any more?

MATTHEWS: OK, let`s talk about the two big issues. Let`s talk about Medicare and defense. Medicare -- everybody knows that`s driving the budget. Let me ask you this right now. Can we tell seniors that instead of paying for their health benefits, which we do now -- the federal government does now under Medicare -- that we`re going to give them a check which will pay a portion of their medical cost, and then they have to go out and find an insurance company to insure them. Do you think that`s good idea? That`s the Ryan idea. Is that a good idea?

BLACKBURN: What we have in the Ryan budget, where seniors have more options, more -- things that are -- more familiar to them via Medicare Advantage. What you`re going to see is more options for seniors, but these won`t kick in until you get to -- I think it`s 2021. So people that are under 55, 54 years old --

MATTHEWS: Right.

BLACKBURN: -- are going to see a change and it will be --

MATTHEWS: What`s the option here?

BLACKBURN: -- similar to the Medicare Advantage program.

MATTHEWS: Tell them there`s no more Medicare -- but you say they have an option, but they don`t have an option of keeping Medicare as it is. They don`t have that option under the Ryan plan.

BLACKBURN: They have an option of expanding the coverage that they have. Talk to people that are in the Medicare Advantage program. It works.

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Paul Ryan's plan to reduce the deficit is everything the Republicans hated about Obamacare, plus a $750 billion cut to Medicaid.

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I'm not sure what Howard Fineman has been smoking, but I'm pretty well disgusted with the man I used to like as one of Al Franken's regulars on his radio show on Air America after hearing this nonsense out of him on Chris Matthews' weekend show on NBC. Hey Howard, here's a proposal for you. How about we ask the rich to pay their fair share in taxes instead of telling seniors on fixed incomes that they haven't sacrificed enough for their country? Or pretending that ending Social Security benefits for upper earners and means testing it would do nothing but turn Social Security into another welfare program instead of an insurance program? And while we're at it, quit pretending Social Security is doing anything to add to our deficit problem when it's not.

If there's one thing I hope President Obama does during his State of the Union address, it is to not listen to Howard Fineman or his fellow Villagers spouting similar nonsense. The only people who have not been asked to sacrifice in this country are the rich and acting like there's some abundance of rich seniors feeding off of the government trough at the expense of their grandchildren is just shameless. I'm really disgusted and disappointed with Howard for going there. He should know better.

FINEMAN: If he doesn’t make a double feature a single unified theme, then he will have failed. And what he’s got to say, bluntly is some people are going to have to sacrifice in order that this next generation can have it’s Sputnik moment and to over simplify, but only slightly, better off, that is well to do older people, senior citizens are going to have to pay more and get less from government, so that this younger generation can meet the challenges of the future.

He’s got to say that, which means he’s got to mention Social Security—after all it was part of his own budget committee…

MATTHEWS: Howard, put that against the filter of what we all know about politics.

FINEMAN: Right.

MATTHEWS: It’s the older person with more time on their hands who votes relentlessly…

FINEMAN: That’s true.

MATTHEWS: …who votes their interests, their pocket book interests, their retirement interests. Will they give way?

FINEMAN: Well he’s got to speak to them. I think that’s a very good point Chris and while Republicans are one part of his audience—they’re going to be sitting there skeptically saying “how much are you cutting, how much are you cutting”, he’s also going to talk to seniors, the better off people, people who’ve done well in the last fifteen, twenty years and say look, if you want your children and grandchildren to be as optimistic as you were when you were a kid and to have the opportunities in terms of education and the American life that you had, then we’ve all got to pull together.