Redstate

By Mark Kilmer Posted in Special Features | Sunday Morning Talk Shows — Comments (14) / Email this page » / Leave a comment »

Sunday, April 13, 2008

INTRODUCTION:

Host Chris Wallace opened FOX News Sunday by having Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter (Hillary surrogate) argue with Tom Daschle (Obama surrogate) mainly about Obama's comments in San Francisco. Nutter agued that Obama's comments were untrue of Pennsylvanians. Obama accused Nutter of being out-of-touch with his constituents, adding sarcastically: "If things are so rosy, why change? Why not have a third Bush Administration?"

Next on FNS, National Security Advisor Stephen Hadley said that it was simple for some countries to boycott the opening ceremonies of the Beijing Olympics and feel they've done all they need to do: "That's a cop out."

Olympic Gold Medalist Joey Cheek of Team Darfur was next on FNS, complained that "quiet diplomacy is taking place while people are being slaughtered" in Darfur.

On ABC's This Week, Jimmy Carter offhandedly claimed to have overthrown the monarchy in Nepal. He insisted that the State Department hadn't asked him not to speak with the leader of the terrorist gang Hamas, Khaled Mashaal, unless they had asked when he wasn't paying attention. He further promised that he will have cured the Guinea Worm Disease by the end of next year.

Next up on TW, National Security Advisor Hadley stated that the President would go to the Olympics, but he pointedly refused to say whether or not the President would skip the Opening Ceremonies.

On NBC's Meet the Press, Tim Russert again hosted a roundtable with James Carville, Mary Matalin, Mike Murphy, and Bob Shrum. If you saw and wish to discuss, you can do it in the comments beneath this post.

On CBS' Face the Nation, host Bob Schieffer expressed confusion to Secretary of Defense Bob Gates about when we would get out of Iraq. He wanted a time. Gates explained that General Petraeus wants to look at the "battlefield calculus" after we've withdrawn the surge brigades, to examine the stability.

Next for Schieff, Nancy Pelosi declared that we must leave Iraq to restore our reputation for world security. On politics, she speculated that Bill Clinton might have drawn Hillary's sniper-fire-in-Bosnia gaffe back into the news because of a "late night, adult moment."

On CNN's Late Edition, host Wolf Blitzer established a consensus with Dick Lugar and Joe Biden that we have no idea what we're doing in Iraq. (Lugar suggested that it was a proxy war with Iran and that we had no definition of victory. Biden doesn't like Bush or Maliki.) On politics, Biden refuses to endorse because he is afraid people will think he wants a job. Dick Lugar reminded Republicans that they too can vote in the State's May 6 Dem primary.

The Show-by-show review is below the fold. …

NUTTER AND DASCHLE ON FNS. On FOX, host Chris Wallace's first guests on his FOX News Sunday program were Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter (for Hillary) and former Senator Tom Daschle of South Dakota (for Obama). The main topic was Obama's remark about bitter, racist people who turn to the opiates of God and guns. For his part, Mayor Nutter remarked: "I don't know what would possess Senator Obama to say this. You don't see it [in Pennsylvania]." Daschle responded by scoffing that Nutter is obviously not talking to his own people who are bitter about the economy. "If things are so rosy," Tomster spat with sarcasm, "why change? Why not have a third Bush Administration?"

Nutter answered by explaining that just because people are having problems, that's not why they purchase guns for believe in God. Daschle asserted that Barry was saying only that "faith is important." He said that "Hillary understands the State [Pennsylvania]. She gets it."

Daschle countered that Obama has won the most delegates and the most primaries, but Hillary should be expected to win Pennsylvania, as it is "her second State." Schieffer Wallace wondered if that weren't Arkansas, and he's technically correct. Illinois, Arkansas, and then New York. And she's running a commercial that she used to spend summers with a relative in Scranton, so perhaps PA is number four.

HADLEY ON FNS. National Security Advisor Stephen Hadley was next up on FNS. Asked about the scuttlebutt about Iran being the most dangerous problem in Iraq, Hadley pointed out that the Iranians are "very active" in Southern Iraq, "acting as criminal elements."

On the matter of the PRC and their Olympics, Hadley said that the President is engaging in "quiet diplomacy." He said that the President that PRC President Hu Jintao had to meet with the Dalai Lama.

As for boycotting the opening ceremonies to the games, Hadley stipulated that some countries seem to believe that they can boycott the opening ceremonies and then they'll have "checked the box" for Tibet, that they'll have done all they have to do. Observed Hadley: "That's a cop out."

He pointed out that the Chinese people see their Olympics as a "coming of age for China."

JOEY CHEEK ON FNS. Olympic sprint gold medalist (2006) Joey Cheek was next for Wallace. Cheek is involved in the Olympic athletes group Team Darfur. Cheek opposes any sort of forced athletic boycott, as the athletes have spent their whole lives training for these games. His issue is Darfur, and his reaction to the President is that "quiet diplomacy is taking place while people are being slaughtered." (NOTE: Cheeks did not come across as per se anti-Bush, least of all in the rabid, DU sense.)

He said that the Olympics were created to foster "peace, human rights, and justice."

He said that because Olympic athletes are not allowed to talk any sort of politics or anything which could be classified as propaganda, they can use their press conferences to make their points.

As for the Olympics being a "coming of age" for the PRC, Cheek observed that they "have to start acting as an adult."

JIMMY CARTER ON TW. Jimmy Carter was host George Stephanopoulos's first guest on ABC's This Week." Carter asserted that the elections in Nepal, which he is now overseeing, are the "most important in the history of the Carter Center," because they will bring peace and democracy to Nepal for the first time since Carter deposed the Nepalese monarch. Carter is bringing, for the first time ever, the "untouchables" caste into the political process.

As for the Olympics, Carter said the situation is different than the one he faced in 1980, when the world boycotted the Soviet Olympics because of their invasion of Afghanistan.

Carter will soon meet with exiled Hamas boss Khaled Mashaal, an unprecedented meeting between a former President and a terrorist thug. Carter said that, well, the U.S. State Department hasn't asked him not to meet with Mashaal, although he admitted that maybe they had when he wasn't paying attention. He further insisted that he has been meeting with Hamas for ten years.

Carter won't reveal whom he supports in this year's Dem nominating contest, but he thinks it would be a mistake for the Dem superdelegates to take the nomination from a person who'd won the most delegates, the most voters, and the most contests. He blamed Ted Kennedy for the Dem split in 1980, then he admitted that it might have been his fault.

Carter promised that he will have cured the Guinea Worm Disease by the end of 2009.

HADLEY ON TW. National Security Advisor Stephen Hadley was Steph's next guest on TW. He said that despite whatever Carter did, there would be no official U.S. talks with Hamas until they renounce terrorism and recognize Israel's right to exist. (This would change in an Obama Administration, of course.)

Steph pressed Hadley on whether or not the President would attend the opening ceremonies of the PRC Olympics, but Hadley would repeat only that "he's going to the Olympics." He would not specify that the President would visit the opening ceremonies.

ROUNDTABLE ON MET. On NBC's Meet the Press, Tim Russert again hosted a roundtable with James Carville, Mary Matalin, Mike Murphy, and Bob Shrum. If you saw and wish to discuss, you can do it in the comments beneath this post.

GATES ON FTN. CBS Fact the Nation host Bob Schieffer spoke first to Defense Secretary Bob Gates. Schieffer complained that General Petraeus would not say exactly when things will happen in Iraq to denote progress so we could get out. He asked Gates what had to happen, and Gates said that it is already starting to happen, province-by-province. Schieffer demanded to know when this would happen, and Gates said that it was impossible to know. Schieffer wanted to know if it will happen by the end of the year. Gates explained that Petraeus wants to examine the "battlefield geometry," to look at the stability after we've withdrawn the five brigades this year.

Schieffer brought up Zbigniew Brzezinski's assertion that we'd be walking into a hornets nest with Iran if we stay in Iraq. Schieffer expressed respect for Brzezinski, but said that there are some concerns about Iran's behavior, especially in the south. Schieffer stated that the President was more concerned about Iran than is Gates, and Gates explained that Iran has to make a choice as to whether or not they want to be a part of the process.

Schieffer is not sure "where we are in Iraq." He said that it has turned into a "Shi'ite Civil War." He asked who the enemy was now, as we no longer hear much about al Qaeda. Gates answered that the "enemy is extremism."

Schieffer wanted to know if we have enough troops outside of Iraq to do what we have to do in Afghanistan. He said that it is okay, but he is confident that we will have reduced troops in Iraq by 2009 to deploy additional to Afghanistan. Schieffer asked about NATO, and Schieffer explained that the NATO countries did not understand that this would be a real fight. Now that they know, Gates is pleased that so many – he mentioned the French – are willing to commit. (Read: Sarkozy.)

NANCY ON FTN. Schieffer next guest was Nancy Pelosi. Schieffer asked Nancy about the pause in withdrawal of troops from Iraq. Nancy doesn't think it makes sense because she didn't think the war makes sense, and that the President is "kicking the can down the road." She wants to withdraw all troops from Iraq to "bring stability to the region" and so we can put them in Afghanistan.

Bob asked Nancy what would happen if the Administration did what Nancy and the Dems are asking. She said that the Iraqis would rise up and take control, making everything alright; they are not doing so now, she explained, because we are there doing it for them.

Schieffer asked her what would be the reaction of Iran, would they see it as surrender? Nancy said that we have been in Iraq for five years without a strategy to "get a job done and go home." We have to think about the "safety of the American people," she said. We don't have combat-ready troops in the United States to defend the United States or Afghanistan.

Schieffer asked if she can do anything as Congress, because so far they haven't. Nancy explained that the Dems won in 2006 because the Americans united and declared that they wanted out of Iraq, but that the President and Republicans ignored that. She says that her way will help us "regain our reputation for security in the world."

Nancy referred to the "downturning economy which some are saying is a recession."

She explained the Columbia Free Trade impasse as the President wanting to see it as an issue of national security, while she wants to see it as economic. She means no slight to the President of Columbia.

Schieffer talked politics with Nancy. She said that Bill is Hillary's husband and that she doesn't care why he brought up her "under fire in Bosnia" thing long after it had left the news. Schieffer suggested that Clinton might be trying to undermine her candidacy. He suggested that it may be the result of former President and Senator Clinton "having a late night, adult moment."

LUGAR AND BIDEN ON LE. On CNN, Late Edition host Wolf Blitzer spoke Dick Lugar and Joe Biden, the two top Senators on the Foreign Relations Committee. He played a clip of General Petraeus stating that the situation in Iraq was "fragile and reversible." Biden said that we cannot sustain troops there. Biden said that he heard Petraeus say that there has been little progress, all of it reversible, and that the surge has failed by not providing breathing speace. He has no confidence, he said, in either Maliki or Bush.

Lugar said that we had no definitions for "success" or "victory," and that Petraeus was unable to provide anything. All he wanted to know at the hearings, he said, were how to we get to victory given all the strains on our troops and on our economy, and given Iran's meddling.

Blitzer asked about a timetable (Clinton/Obama) or conditions-based (Petraeus). What Petraeus and Bush are saying, Biden asserted, was that he had no plan and was leaving it for the next President. He said that Ambassador Ryan Crocker answered him that al Qaeda was a bigger threat in Afghanistan than in Iraq, thus we are paying a security cost by being in Iraq.

Lugar called the war in Iraq a "proxy war" with Iran. He said that we have to see what we can do in Iraq and leave enough troops there to do that. Lugar said that the Bush Administration was punting this to the next Administration.

Blitzer talked to Lugar about "growing outrage" regarding Iraq not paying their own bills while they're raking in the cash. Lugar said that it was a good question asked at the hearings, but no one answered it. He explained that the Iraqi government was so dysfunctional that it could not spend the money, so it stays in the bank.

Blitzer asked Biden about money the Iraqis have allocated but haven't spent for their infrastructure, while U.S. taxpayers are footing their bill. Biden explained that the Iraqis need a "functional government." He'd rather spend $1.5-billion in Pakistan.

Blitzer asked Lugar if Iran were helping or harming Iraq. Lugar explained that the Iranians were funding all sorts of factions in Iraq, including Maliki's. He concluded that "the hearings were not very helpful."

Biden said that the President thinks that Iraq will hate Iran, when Iraq will not hate Iran.

Biden does not plan to endorse Hillary or Barry, but he gives them advice three or four times a month. And he said that the moment he chose one, the media would speculate as to whether he wanted a job.

Blitzer asked Lugar if Hillary or Obama would win his home State of Indiana. He pointed out that Republicans in Indiana can vote in the Dem primary.

= = = = =

The floor is now yours. Have at it!