We must say that the change in format during the roundtable portion of the program, mixing journalists and politicians, does two positive things. One, it stands as an instant check on politicians partisan rhetoric. As evidenced today, House Republican Whip Rep. Eric Cantor (R-VA) initially spoke in Republican talking points such as, 'We should start over... The American people don't like this bill...,' etc. But when Ron Brownstein points out that the Democratic plan insures 33 million people versus the Republican plan that insures only an additional 3 million people, he has to answer for that. Also,
Secondly, it keeps the journalists' statements more concise and focused. Too many times when you're watching an all journalist round table, the opinions become verbose, condescending, pointless, and ultimately unproductive.
And today's roundtable just about made the two preceding interviews a mute point. And the first was an exclusive with Senator John McCain (R-AZ), who in actuality covered all the standard Republican talking points. "Do we want to start over or do we want a partisan bill?" Mr. McCain began with. Mr. McCain's reaction to the, we'll call 'testy,' exchange he had with the President at the healthcare summit was to focus on the 'unsavory' deals, to use his words, that occurred to get the bill to this point. He did give examples and we agree with the Senator that deals that occurred, the Senator Ben Nelson/Nebraska deal for example which is now out of the bill, should be stripped from the bill. However, the basic concepts of the Democratic bill do the essentials as to what is needed: regulates the insurance companies, doesn't add to the deficit, covers a vast majority of those who are now uninsured, and gives Americans choice; plus a host of other things. The Republicans simply can't speak to these points, but today Mr. Kantor gave us some great insight. More on that in a moment.
Back to Mr. McCain, who is out of his comfort zone whenever the conversation switches to anything but foreign policy. He's simply out of his depth when it comes to matters such as healthcare or finance. He said that they should start with T.O.R.T. reform for Christ's sake. He even said he didn't know if it would be better for Republicans if there was a healthcare bill or not. Frankly, Mr. McCain really hasn't said a constructive thing for the public good since the election. Die a hero, or live long enough to become the villian, as the saying goes.
With regard to 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell,' Mr. McCain clearly contradicted his previous statements that if the commanders in the armed forced though it was correct to repeal the policy and let people openly serve. However, this column's feeling was that his initial statement a few years ago deflected the burden of the decision away from him and to the generals, which at the time he probably felt he would never hear from the generals what he's hearing today.
And lastly, he was pleased with the Newsweek cover that has the headline, "Victory at Last" with reference to Iraq. But Mr. McCain remained wisely cautious about being too pleased. A few columns ago, we posed this very proposition that Iraq would be a healthy democracy and the Bush legacy would be seen very differently. However, with that cover putting the idea into focus, our question remains... At what cost to the United States? It's bankrupted us.
The interview with White House Health Reform Director Nancy-Ann DeParle (the healthcare czar) was a bust. Ms. Deparle is a policy wonk (we mean that in a good way) so when Mr. Gregory asks he if 'they' have the votes, what is she supposed to say, yes of course. However, in spite of that, her message was clear. The insurance companies make all the rules and that is what the President is trying to change.
This is who the Republicans are trying to protect. Rep. Debbie Wasserman-Schultz stated it correctly when she said that when the Republicans say 'start over' that is code for doing nothing. When Mr. Kantor challenged that notion, he said the Republican plan was incremental. So delay and implement incrementally is what the Republicans offer. However, it is a fact that a plan put in place incrementally, small aspect after small aspect will end up costing much more and will not have the desired effects.
It really is up to the Democrats to get healthcare passed and reconciliation will have to be used. They didn't make that decision, the Republicans made that one for them.
Sunday, February 28, 2010
Sunday, February 14, 2010
2.14.10: Morning Joe [Biden]
Well, even though David Gregory conducted the interview the night before, this morning's first guest Vice President Joe Biden was fired up taking on many if not all the claims by former VP Dick Cheney that the current administration is soft on terrorism. In reality, quite the contrary. The number, scale, and verocity of drone attacks that United States has launched in the nowhere region of Af-Pakistan would lead any a country, any country that's not named Pakistan or Afghanistan, to declare what we doing as an act of war. Mr. Biden used the words 'real, deep,' and 'successful' to describe the current Administration's efforts. Two out of three isn't bad, but that last one is key and it's yet to be determined.
So is Obama fighting the war on terrorism as if it is, in fact, a war? Most definitely. Mr. Biden said repeatedly during the interview that Mr. Cheney can not rewrite history unchallenged, and the former VP should be challenged hard. Something the Mr. Biden accomplished today.
However, what's interesting that David Gregory asked the Vice President about a statement he made recently would be a great success [we're paraphrasing] for the Obama Administration. Mr. Biden explained that the Administration have worked very hard with the various ethnically/religiously divided political parties of the country to arrive at consensus on a number of issues, a peaceful election is upcoming where everyone will participate, and lastly 90,000 combat soldiers will be out of the country by the end of the summer. And let's face it, if it were still the Bush Administration in office at this moment, all of that valuable diplomacy wouldn't have been happening and the troops movements - no way. Having Secretary Clinton heading up State, the United States' diplomacy IQ has been upgraded from the last administration.
But consider this... In 20 or so years, if Iraq is a stable democracy and thriving from all the oil we're buying from them direct, then - let's face it - the Bush Administration will be forgiven for a lot. If more democratic practices start popping up in the region because of the Iraqi inertia, then history will be rewritten that the Bush Administration was a brave one and perhaps that George Bush himself was correct that he'll let history judge what he did.... It's a possibility. And Mr. Cheney, in the short term, is going to do everything he can to discredit his detractors.
Before we say another word, we have to qualify the theoretical was just posed above. If that does happen, the reality is that the Bush Administration's motives to accomplish it were completely sinister and criminal at the least. So will they deserve the credit? No, because the whole thing was based on untruths that they knew where lies.
With regard to the trial of Khalid Sheik Mohammad, the Administration absolutely has to get on the same page. Having the trial in New York City has been withdrawn and now the location is yet to be determined. We have stated in this column before that military tribunals are not the way to go here. The whole line of questioning with regard to the possibility of acquittal shows a complete lack of confidence in our judicial system, which boils down to one thing - fear. We simply will never go forward as a country when leaders purposely or inadvertently stoke fear into the people. It's not what we are as Americans to live in fear. It seems that so many of us have forgotten that.
Moving to the topic of the economy, Mr. Gregory asserted to the Vice President the immeasurable claim of jobs saved due to the T.A.R.P. funds. We would agree that the number of jobs saved can be disputed, but not the fact that indeed jobs were saved - a lot them. So Mr. Gregory did have a point but without the actions taken by the Administration, the country would still be in a deeper hole than it is.
The other point that the Administration makes, whether consciously or unconsciously we don't know, is that in their answers, the basic family is always mentioned. Probably at this least it's conscious, but it can also be said that the two top dogs (The President and Vice President) actually sat at those tables themselves. It's a consistent showing of an understanding; it's important because it speaks to motive. With that, it does take some time to turn an aircraft carrier so turning this country even in a slightly different economic direction, either left or right, takes a significant amount of time - two years.
So is Obama fighting the war on terrorism as if it is, in fact, a war? Most definitely. Mr. Biden said repeatedly during the interview that Mr. Cheney can not rewrite history unchallenged, and the former VP should be challenged hard. Something the Mr. Biden accomplished today.
However, what's interesting that David Gregory asked the Vice President about a statement he made recently would be a great success [we're paraphrasing] for the Obama Administration. Mr. Biden explained that the Administration have worked very hard with the various ethnically/religiously divided political parties of the country to arrive at consensus on a number of issues, a peaceful election is upcoming where everyone will participate, and lastly 90,000 combat soldiers will be out of the country by the end of the summer. And let's face it, if it were still the Bush Administration in office at this moment, all of that valuable diplomacy wouldn't have been happening and the troops movements - no way. Having Secretary Clinton heading up State, the United States' diplomacy IQ has been upgraded from the last administration.
But consider this... In 20 or so years, if Iraq is a stable democracy and thriving from all the oil we're buying from them direct, then - let's face it - the Bush Administration will be forgiven for a lot. If more democratic practices start popping up in the region because of the Iraqi inertia, then history will be rewritten that the Bush Administration was a brave one and perhaps that George Bush himself was correct that he'll let history judge what he did.... It's a possibility. And Mr. Cheney, in the short term, is going to do everything he can to discredit his detractors.
Before we say another word, we have to qualify the theoretical was just posed above. If that does happen, the reality is that the Bush Administration's motives to accomplish it were completely sinister and criminal at the least. So will they deserve the credit? No, because the whole thing was based on untruths that they knew where lies.
With regard to the trial of Khalid Sheik Mohammad, the Administration absolutely has to get on the same page. Having the trial in New York City has been withdrawn and now the location is yet to be determined. We have stated in this column before that military tribunals are not the way to go here. The whole line of questioning with regard to the possibility of acquittal shows a complete lack of confidence in our judicial system, which boils down to one thing - fear. We simply will never go forward as a country when leaders purposely or inadvertently stoke fear into the people. It's not what we are as Americans to live in fear. It seems that so many of us have forgotten that.
Moving to the topic of the economy, Mr. Gregory asserted to the Vice President the immeasurable claim of jobs saved due to the T.A.R.P. funds. We would agree that the number of jobs saved can be disputed, but not the fact that indeed jobs were saved - a lot them. So Mr. Gregory did have a point but without the actions taken by the Administration, the country would still be in a deeper hole than it is.
The other point that the Administration makes, whether consciously or unconsciously we don't know, is that in their answers, the basic family is always mentioned. Probably at this least it's conscious, but it can also be said that the two top dogs (The President and Vice President) actually sat at those tables themselves. It's a consistent showing of an understanding; it's important because it speaks to motive. With that, it does take some time to turn an aircraft carrier so turning this country even in a slightly different economic direction, either left or right, takes a significant amount of time - two years.
Sunday, February 07, 2010
2.7.10: Seriousness and The Rash
This week's congressional hearing with Leon Panetta, C.I.A. Chief, and other Intelligence Officials, caused a minor stir when all those interviewed agreed that Al Qaeda was planning to attempt an attack in the next 3 to 6 months. Not surprisingly with everyone's focus on the economy, the hearing went largely unnoticed. However, in the midst of all of our internal troubles, the United States is ripe for a terrorism attempt. To slightly digress, with continued threats and economic hardships, it always strikes this column as silly when I politician says that 'this group' or 'that party' is doing too much at once. There's no other way because there's no other choice.
To put some perspective on the aforementioned hearings, today's first guest, Deputy National Security Advisor John Brennan, spoke in an assured manner that you would expect of a man that spent most of his career in C.I.A. And we actually mean that as a good thing. Right off the bat, Mr. Gregory inquired as to the definition of what it means to win. The question seems like a bit of a trap, but given the diversity of answers from people in various powerful positions, it's actually a good starting point to get a brief on an individual's perspective. Mr. Brennan's definition: To beat terrorism, we must destroy Al Qaeda. And we must admit that grabbing Bin Laden would be a backbreaker to the will of the movement.
Mr. Brennan was refreshing candid with regard to other questions, portraying a sense of seriousness without rashness, not given to hyperbole. The '3 to 6 month' statement shouldn't be a shocker and the Deputy said as much. He went on to explain that Al Qaeda is currently unable to mount a large scale attack and resorting to smaller strikes like the attempt by Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab. And we also agree with Mr. Brennan that this lack of faith/confidence in the United States' criminal justice is appalling.
Most significantly, Mr. Brennan explained that upon Mr. Abdulmutallab's arrest, detainment, and interrogation he called Republican leaders and described to them what was happening and there were no objections to the handling. "Tired of using terrorism as a political football," was the statement Mr. Brennan used to summarize the behavior after that day. Take from that what you will.
An ironic juxtaposition to start today's Meet The Press with the serious and patient (John Brennan) and follow it with the silly and rash - Former Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan. What a surreal day it was when then Secretary Paulson got up in front of the American people and the banks needed an $800 billion dollar bailout or the world's economy is going to collapse. Now he reiterates the need for regulatory reform as he once again did on today's program. But it hasn't changed Mr. Paulson's perspective totally. He still advocates limited government initiative and emphasizing that only the private sector can reverse the country's fortunes - "They will do what needs to be done".
In retrospect, many of the moves and conclusions that Mr. Greenspan made as the Fed. Chairman have almost rendered him a cartoon character in the economy pages. But we agree with his easy prediction that unemployment with stay around 9 or 10 percent for the rest of the year. To concisely explain what both men were saying is that job growth will take place when the private sector starts innovating again, but to do that there has to be investment to small business which hasn't taken place at the level it needs to. Until that happens, it's all just academic.
And most titillating moment of the joint interview was when Mr. Gregory asked Mr. Paulson if he voted for Mr. Obama, citing a passage in Mr. Paulson's book about being at ease with the fact that Mr. Obama a good understanding of the crisis. Mr. Paulson's (remember: Fmr. Treasury Sec. under President George W. Bush) answer was quite telling.
MR. PAULSON: Well, who I voted for is between me and the voting booth. But the, but the, but there's--I was very impressed that candidate Obama was very concerned with what was going on and was, was very supportive. Candidate McCain, I will admit, gave me a few more anxious days and hours. But I will also say that as he was falling behind in the polls, it would have been very easy for him to demagogue that issue, play to the populist card. And if he had come out against what we were trying to do, we wouldn't have got it, I believe. We wouldn't have had the TARP legislation passed, and we would have been left defenseless.
Makes you wonder what's really going on...
P.S. [Post-Scratch] The last segment featuring Former Chairman of the Republican National Committee Ed Gillespie and Fmr. Clinton White House Press Secretary Dee Dee Myers - political bluster that added nothing construct to the dialogue, just as Mrs. Palin's speak at the Tea Party convention offered nothing helpful - railing against the other side is easy.
To put some perspective on the aforementioned hearings, today's first guest, Deputy National Security Advisor John Brennan, spoke in an assured manner that you would expect of a man that spent most of his career in C.I.A. And we actually mean that as a good thing. Right off the bat, Mr. Gregory inquired as to the definition of what it means to win. The question seems like a bit of a trap, but given the diversity of answers from people in various powerful positions, it's actually a good starting point to get a brief on an individual's perspective. Mr. Brennan's definition: To beat terrorism, we must destroy Al Qaeda. And we must admit that grabbing Bin Laden would be a backbreaker to the will of the movement.
Mr. Brennan was refreshing candid with regard to other questions, portraying a sense of seriousness without rashness, not given to hyperbole. The '3 to 6 month' statement shouldn't be a shocker and the Deputy said as much. He went on to explain that Al Qaeda is currently unable to mount a large scale attack and resorting to smaller strikes like the attempt by Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab. And we also agree with Mr. Brennan that this lack of faith/confidence in the United States' criminal justice is appalling.
Most significantly, Mr. Brennan explained that upon Mr. Abdulmutallab's arrest, detainment, and interrogation he called Republican leaders and described to them what was happening and there were no objections to the handling. "Tired of using terrorism as a political football," was the statement Mr. Brennan used to summarize the behavior after that day. Take from that what you will.
An ironic juxtaposition to start today's Meet The Press with the serious and patient (John Brennan) and follow it with the silly and rash - Former Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan. What a surreal day it was when then Secretary Paulson got up in front of the American people and the banks needed an $800 billion dollar bailout or the world's economy is going to collapse. Now he reiterates the need for regulatory reform as he once again did on today's program. But it hasn't changed Mr. Paulson's perspective totally. He still advocates limited government initiative and emphasizing that only the private sector can reverse the country's fortunes - "They will do what needs to be done".
In retrospect, many of the moves and conclusions that Mr. Greenspan made as the Fed. Chairman have almost rendered him a cartoon character in the economy pages. But we agree with his easy prediction that unemployment with stay around 9 or 10 percent for the rest of the year. To concisely explain what both men were saying is that job growth will take place when the private sector starts innovating again, but to do that there has to be investment to small business which hasn't taken place at the level it needs to. Until that happens, it's all just academic.
And most titillating moment of the joint interview was when Mr. Gregory asked Mr. Paulson if he voted for Mr. Obama, citing a passage in Mr. Paulson's book about being at ease with the fact that Mr. Obama a good understanding of the crisis. Mr. Paulson's (remember: Fmr. Treasury Sec. under President George W. Bush) answer was quite telling.
MR. PAULSON: Well, who I voted for is between me and the voting booth. But the, but the, but there's--I was very impressed that candidate Obama was very concerned with what was going on and was, was very supportive. Candidate McCain, I will admit, gave me a few more anxious days and hours. But I will also say that as he was falling behind in the polls, it would have been very easy for him to demagogue that issue, play to the populist card. And if he had come out against what we were trying to do, we wouldn't have got it, I believe. We wouldn't have had the TARP legislation passed, and we would have been left defenseless.
Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
Makes you wonder what's really going on...
P.S. [Post-Scratch] The last segment featuring Former Chairman of the Republican National Committee Ed Gillespie and Fmr. Clinton White House Press Secretary Dee Dee Myers - political bluster that added nothing construct to the dialogue, just as Mrs. Palin's speak at the Tea Party convention offered nothing helpful - railing against the other side is easy.
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