Charlie Rose Talks to Ex-GOP Senator Judd Gregg

How do you view the standoff and the way your party and the president have handled it?
I think it’s totally dysfunctional. The problems we have are really resolvable issues: the deficit and the debt. We went off on a side road that was really a dead end, which was repealing Obamacare, which had no likelihood of success because of the divided government. The president is not about to repeal his signature event any more than Republicans are about to raise taxes. That we went down this rabbit hole was just foolish and tactically absurd for Republicans. Now they appear to be on track as to what they can actually agree on, which is how you get the debt under control.

Has all of this done irreparable damage to the Republican Party?
The party is off track, primarily because of a few folks who really don’t have an interest in governing. They have an agenda that’s personal. Is it lasting damage? I don’t think so. It’s just certainly set us back politically. It set back the primary goal of most Republicans, which is fiscal responsibility.