Most of today's coverage as should be the case was focused on the tracking of Hurricane Irene and Meet The Press appropriately checked in with the top state and city officials, getting governors and mayors on the line.
Natural disasters should be the one area in which we do not play politics, but when asking politicians it's unavoidable. Mr. Christie clearly, and sensibly we might add, stated that the number one task is saving human life and that everything else is secondary. When asked about the damage, he anticipated costs being in the billions, if not 10s of billions of dollars. Governor Martin O'Malley (D-MD) said that the Obama Administration has been great in their response and support. Governor O'Donnell in Virginia said that state officials have been working closely with FEMA and taking all the necessary precautions. So it's good to know that FEMA is on the case with a timely response. Lastly, mayor Cory Booker (D-Newark, NJ) stressed that it is these natural emergencies that make it all the more important to invest in our infrastructure to make it better and more prepared for such occurrences.
With regard to preparedness, David Brooks seems to think that the public will tune out if officials make too much of warnings in these cases. There may be a spec of truth to that, but when it comes to homes and lives, people heed hard warnings when it comes to natural disasters. Plus as Ms. Gangel said, which gave us this week's title, is that no politician wants to get Katrina'ed. And since then, politicians are on notice for these things as Michael Eric Dyson pointed out.
So where is the politics? Curiously, this was not mentioned or discussed on the program, but earlier this week House Majority leader Eric Cantor said that if there is federal money that has to serve disaster relief, there would have to be spending cuts someplace else. Mr. Cantor is the worst of what has become of the American politic.
In the aforementioned assessments from top officials, not one Democrat or Republican alike mentioned 'expense' in dealing with these problems. And yet, a Washington politician can make a callous statement like that with no consequence. One reason for this, and why it wasn't mentioned today, could be that people are beginning to take what Eric Cantor says not seriously. The statement was simply irresponsible because it doesn't even vaguely consider the human condition and potential hardship for people.
Slipping into Presidential politics, also earlier this week Congressman Ron Paul said that the Federal Government has no reason to be involve with relief efforts and that it should solely fall upon the states to deal with. Mr. Paul's dogmatic philosophy to the role of the Federal Government is distressing because it leaves people with the feeling that if something like a natural disaster happens, there would be serious limits to what can be done to help and leaves people with an empty feeling of insecurity. It's not a President would respond and that's why he'll only ever get a small percentage of the vote.
And to join the chorus and extend the metaphor, it was Mitt Romney who was hit with a hurricane in the form of Rick Perry's candidacy. Mr. Perry is now the Republican front-runner with 29% of the vote. So how would a President Romney respond in a time of crisis. Well, he was laying low on the campaign trail this summer and he saw a Rick Perry entrance into the race for weeks. Yet, he did nothing except for proclaiming that corporations are people too, and he's instantly been overtaken. David Brooks summarized that the Republican electorate has been waiting for Perry because of Romney's shaky stance on issues.
There was also mention of Presidential candidate Jon Huntsman's statement that he's a center-right candidate and that's where the country is, not to the extreme right like some of his primary opponents and not too far left like President Obama. Mr. Huntsman had also stated that he believes in climate change and the science that shows it as well as evolution. That the theory of evolution is now equaled in importance to intelligent design in Mr. Perry's book, let alone anyone's, is truly befuddling to the writer of this column. However, here is what's really scary.
David Brooks said that 15% of the Republican electorate is in line with the statements of Mr. Huntsman, leaving the other 85% to be far-right in the Perry, Bachmann, Santorum camp. The reason that it is scary is because for Mr. Perry and Ms. Bachmann it all comes down to one thing: money. In the case, for example, of Mr. Santorum, it is much more about the social issues and that's actually why he lost his Senate seat. He wants government out of people's lives but wants to dictate how women conduct their own personal health.
Look at it, Follow it, and take note of the consequences; it's the money, especially for Mr. Perry given his record in Texas where he'll say he's created a third of the new jobs in this country. However, Texas is 47th in the country in average wages earned, the biggest employer in the state is the Federal Government, and the education efficiency ranks in the bottom 5 of states as well. Those low wages and minimum wage paying jobs are the result of the leverage and influence that large corporations have with Mr. Perry to create conditions that do not improve our labor force and suppresses it. It's not so much of an indictment of Mr. Perry as it is common knowledge if you follow politics.
Lastly, there's the gift that keeps on giving, Dick Cheney. "Heads exploding all over Washington," is the only true takeaway quote, and from what was previewed on today's program, Mr. Cheney spares no one. Colin Powell's resignation was for the best; Condoleezza Rice was a train wreck; CIA Director George Tenet couldn't hack it. Who was the one correct in all cases - VP Dick Cheney. But remember that George Bush awarded George Tenet the Medal of Freedom, the highest award a civilian can receive. The Bush Administration (Mr. Cheney) sent Colin Powell to the United Nations General Assembly to make the case for a war that he didn't believe in and disagreed vehemently with Mr. Cheney on Iraq. And Ms. Rice was the foil to Mr. Cheney on advising the President, and was closer to the President than the Vice President. We look forward to reading about Mr. Cheney's own reality.
New York Times Columnist, David Brooks; Georgetown professor Michael Eric Dyson; Washington Correspondent for the BBC, Katty Kay; and National Correspondent for NBC'S TODAY, Jamie Gangel
Sunday, August 28, 2011
Sunday, August 14, 2011
8.14.11: Some Perspective Please / Meet The Candidate: Michele Bachmann
Oh boy, where to start?
Well, let's start with this. This column owes Congresswoman Bachmann an apology for in previous columns, we've most probably spelled her first name incorrectly, using two 'l's' instead of one. Sorry about that... but, that's as far as that goes.
And we'll say this for Mrs. Bachmann, which is that she is a disciplined candidate, but when a question comes her way that she can't handle, she directly faces it down and she's "I'm running for President of the United States." Today was no exception on today's program, and we just don't see how this will be successful in a general election or beneficial for the country if she's says one thing on a radio show and then won't own up to it when asked face to face. So we agree with Republican Strategist Mike Murphy when he confirmed his previous statement that Michele Bachmann has as much chance of landing on Jupiter as she does to become the Republican Presidential nominee.
With Texas Governor Rick Perry getting into the race and former Governor Tim Pawlenty (R-MN) getting out of the race, that's a net loss in the challenge quotient for the Congresswoman. Mr. Perry is a much harder challenge for her in terms of getting the conservative Tea Party vote. And as for Tim Pawlenty, by the way, who didn't see that coming that he was going to fold. Even we called that over a month ago. Mrs. Bachmann said that she would be calling Mr. Pawlenty and that she welcomes anyone into the race - strictly lip-service.
However, on more important points brought up by Mr. Gregory, the 3rd-term Congresswoman's answers were fraught with incorrect facts or hollow talking points or conflicting statements or non-answers.
On the debt ceiling vote, she is on the opposite side of conventional Republican opinion and outside expert opinion on advocating not to raise the debt ceiling. She would not have voted to raise it under any circumstances, saying that the American people didn't want it raised and I listened to the people of this country. However, if just looking at polls and asking a small sampling of like-minded people, framing the question in a particular way, isn't sound judgment for a serious Presidential candidate. How many of those people also understand that the debt ceiling has to be raised for money we've already spent. To which, people may say, yes, money that President Obama has already spent. But do those people know that it is because President Obama put the two wars we're in on the books along with Medicare Part D, both of which we're never factored into Bush Administration spending. The wars were done on emergency supplemental allocations. Mrs. Bachmann knows these things but chooses not to acknowledge these facts. Americans, unfortunately, are not fully informed (not implying that we are).
She began to say that the President said to the troops that he didn't know if they would be paid, to which Mr. Gregory immediately corrected her saying that it was the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Either way, she called it irresponsible. And when confronted by Standard & Poor's statement as to why they downgraded U.S. credit, because of political brinksmanship on the part of the Republicans, she blamed the President on threatening our full faith and credit, imploring not to blame her. It seems like she hears something but is not listening just simply ignoring what is not agreeable to her. As President, you just can not ignore inconvenient reality, which is what the Congresswoman seems to be doing. And this goes toward her own statements.
"Did the Republicans use the debt ceiling vote as a bargaining chip?" Mr. Gregory asked. She never answered the question, which in political interviews means that the real answer is yes, in this case, but that's an unforgivable answer for a Republican. When asked about her religious beliefs, which influence her decisions and especially with regard to rights for gays and lesbians (though she denies this), she refused to even acknowledge her previous statements from a radio that gays are in bondage, have sexual dysfunction, and live a life of despair. Well, maybe we understand that she wouldn't acknowledge that statement, it's just weird, not to mention offensive.
David Gregory asked her if she would appoint an openly gay person to her cabinet, administration, et al., and she said that she wouldn't judge.
"You did judge," Mr. Gregory exclaimed. Then she just kept repeating "I'm not anyone's judge," until the question went away. It's obvious that she does by not even answering whether or not she thinks a gay couple with a child is a family.
Mrs. Bachmann has explained that God spoke to her through her husband to become a tax attorney (for the IRS - Thanks Mr. Eugene Robinson for the reminder), which you have to judge for yourself what you think of that. All we know is that if God tells us that we have to do something, we hope it's not that! But she cites this an one of her qualifications to be President.
Let's keep some perspective here. Despite what Michele Bachmann says about there being a number of Democrats and Independents at the Ames, Iowa Straw Poll, this was strictly a small sampling of Republicans who participated. And don't believe Iowa's Governor, Terry Branstad (R), when he says that Iowa is the key to the nomination, in this case on the Republican side. Only approximately 17,000 people participated in the poll, of which Mrs. Bachmann got a little over 4,800 votes in a particularly far-right Republican caucus. The Governor cited that fact that Rudy Giuliani didn't get the nomination because he didn't compete in Iowa. No, Mr. Giuliani didn't get the nomination because the man he recommended to head the Department of Homeland Security was arrested for tax fraud (among other things).
In fact, all we heard from Governor Branstad were standard Republican talking points in his criticism of the President's fiscal policy and pointed out that we're losing jobs to Canada. Eugene Robinson pointed out that Canada recently discovered huge reserves of oil. The Governor said that we have too but the President won't let us use it. He was laughed at by the entire panel, but his limited understanding of the issue. He had no unique answers that echoed Mrs. Bachmann's which were to repeal 'Obamacare' and repeal financial regulation (The Dodd-Frank Act).
[As a side note, Congresswoman Bachmann is against extending an unemployment benefits, "We can't afford it." Again, there's a larger picture that she's not acknowledging. For every dollar of unemployment insurance that goes out, $1.70 comes back into the economy. And what happens to those people? They go homeless, and if that is the case, it will cost the government even more money to build shelters, soup kitchens, and the like. Just saying.]
Mr. Murphy's disdain for extreme-right evangelical Republicans always comes into distinct focus on Meet The Press and this week it made the Iowan Governor clearly uncomfortable. Mr. Murphy quipped that he could get a 1,000 signatures this week to ban algebra, not speaking well of the Straw Poll. On Texas Governor Rick Perry getting into the Presidential race, he said that he has a great first sentence - I've created a third of the jobs since the recession hit. But Mr. Murphy then said that his second sentence is that those jobs are at Burger King or for the government.
He did acknowledge that Mr. Perry changes everyone's strategy and is now a part of what Chuck Todd outlined as the top tier of Republican candidates - Romney, Bachmann, and now Perry.
Since Michele Bachmann will not get the nomination, that leaves Mr. Romney and Mr. Perry. Jonathan Martin, during the roundtable, beside putting out the requisite question, "Is Palin getting in the race?" he asked can Rick Perry appeal to Republicans like the ones in suburban Philadelphia or suburban Columbus. We don't know about Columbus, but as for suburb Philadelphia, the answer is no. Strictly having the 'Tea-vangelical' vote, as was quoted today, will not win the general election.
With that, we agree with the consensus on today's panel that Rick Perry could turn conventional Republican wisdom on its head and take the nomination from Mr. 'Next-in-Line' Romney has a better chance in the general. A barracuda is how Mike Murphy described Rick Perry as a candidate. He cited Mr. Perry's race with Kay Bailey Hutchinson for Texas Governor where he smeared her relentlessly. What he didn't mention that we're bringing up now is if it comes down to Perry and Romney, Mr. Perry's campaign will indirectly (through surrogates) wage a heavy continual attack on Mr. Romney's Mormon faith, no question about it.
Iowa’s Governor Terry Branstad (R); GOP strategist Mike Murphy; the Washington Post’s Eugene Robinson; senior political reporter for Politico, Jonathan Martin; and NBC News Political Director, Chuck Todd.
Well, let's start with this. This column owes Congresswoman Bachmann an apology for in previous columns, we've most probably spelled her first name incorrectly, using two 'l's' instead of one. Sorry about that... but, that's as far as that goes.
And we'll say this for Mrs. Bachmann, which is that she is a disciplined candidate, but when a question comes her way that she can't handle, she directly faces it down and she's "I'm running for President of the United States." Today was no exception on today's program, and we just don't see how this will be successful in a general election or beneficial for the country if she's says one thing on a radio show and then won't own up to it when asked face to face. So we agree with Republican Strategist Mike Murphy when he confirmed his previous statement that Michele Bachmann has as much chance of landing on Jupiter as she does to become the Republican Presidential nominee.
With Texas Governor Rick Perry getting into the race and former Governor Tim Pawlenty (R-MN) getting out of the race, that's a net loss in the challenge quotient for the Congresswoman. Mr. Perry is a much harder challenge for her in terms of getting the conservative Tea Party vote. And as for Tim Pawlenty, by the way, who didn't see that coming that he was going to fold. Even we called that over a month ago. Mrs. Bachmann said that she would be calling Mr. Pawlenty and that she welcomes anyone into the race - strictly lip-service.
However, on more important points brought up by Mr. Gregory, the 3rd-term Congresswoman's answers were fraught with incorrect facts or hollow talking points or conflicting statements or non-answers.
On the debt ceiling vote, she is on the opposite side of conventional Republican opinion and outside expert opinion on advocating not to raise the debt ceiling. She would not have voted to raise it under any circumstances, saying that the American people didn't want it raised and I listened to the people of this country. However, if just looking at polls and asking a small sampling of like-minded people, framing the question in a particular way, isn't sound judgment for a serious Presidential candidate. How many of those people also understand that the debt ceiling has to be raised for money we've already spent. To which, people may say, yes, money that President Obama has already spent. But do those people know that it is because President Obama put the two wars we're in on the books along with Medicare Part D, both of which we're never factored into Bush Administration spending. The wars were done on emergency supplemental allocations. Mrs. Bachmann knows these things but chooses not to acknowledge these facts. Americans, unfortunately, are not fully informed (not implying that we are).
She began to say that the President said to the troops that he didn't know if they would be paid, to which Mr. Gregory immediately corrected her saying that it was the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Either way, she called it irresponsible. And when confronted by Standard & Poor's statement as to why they downgraded U.S. credit, because of political brinksmanship on the part of the Republicans, she blamed the President on threatening our full faith and credit, imploring not to blame her. It seems like she hears something but is not listening just simply ignoring what is not agreeable to her. As President, you just can not ignore inconvenient reality, which is what the Congresswoman seems to be doing. And this goes toward her own statements.
"Did the Republicans use the debt ceiling vote as a bargaining chip?" Mr. Gregory asked. She never answered the question, which in political interviews means that the real answer is yes, in this case, but that's an unforgivable answer for a Republican. When asked about her religious beliefs, which influence her decisions and especially with regard to rights for gays and lesbians (though she denies this), she refused to even acknowledge her previous statements from a radio that gays are in bondage, have sexual dysfunction, and live a life of despair. Well, maybe we understand that she wouldn't acknowledge that statement, it's just weird, not to mention offensive.
David Gregory asked her if she would appoint an openly gay person to her cabinet, administration, et al., and she said that she wouldn't judge.
"You did judge," Mr. Gregory exclaimed. Then she just kept repeating "I'm not anyone's judge," until the question went away. It's obvious that she does by not even answering whether or not she thinks a gay couple with a child is a family.
Mrs. Bachmann has explained that God spoke to her through her husband to become a tax attorney (for the IRS - Thanks Mr. Eugene Robinson for the reminder), which you have to judge for yourself what you think of that. All we know is that if God tells us that we have to do something, we hope it's not that! But she cites this an one of her qualifications to be President.
Let's keep some perspective here. Despite what Michele Bachmann says about there being a number of Democrats and Independents at the Ames, Iowa Straw Poll, this was strictly a small sampling of Republicans who participated. And don't believe Iowa's Governor, Terry Branstad (R), when he says that Iowa is the key to the nomination, in this case on the Republican side. Only approximately 17,000 people participated in the poll, of which Mrs. Bachmann got a little over 4,800 votes in a particularly far-right Republican caucus. The Governor cited that fact that Rudy Giuliani didn't get the nomination because he didn't compete in Iowa. No, Mr. Giuliani didn't get the nomination because the man he recommended to head the Department of Homeland Security was arrested for tax fraud (among other things).
In fact, all we heard from Governor Branstad were standard Republican talking points in his criticism of the President's fiscal policy and pointed out that we're losing jobs to Canada. Eugene Robinson pointed out that Canada recently discovered huge reserves of oil. The Governor said that we have too but the President won't let us use it. He was laughed at by the entire panel, but his limited understanding of the issue. He had no unique answers that echoed Mrs. Bachmann's which were to repeal 'Obamacare' and repeal financial regulation (The Dodd-Frank Act).
[As a side note, Congresswoman Bachmann is against extending an unemployment benefits, "We can't afford it." Again, there's a larger picture that she's not acknowledging. For every dollar of unemployment insurance that goes out, $1.70 comes back into the economy. And what happens to those people? They go homeless, and if that is the case, it will cost the government even more money to build shelters, soup kitchens, and the like. Just saying.]
Mr. Murphy's disdain for extreme-right evangelical Republicans always comes into distinct focus on Meet The Press and this week it made the Iowan Governor clearly uncomfortable. Mr. Murphy quipped that he could get a 1,000 signatures this week to ban algebra, not speaking well of the Straw Poll. On Texas Governor Rick Perry getting into the Presidential race, he said that he has a great first sentence - I've created a third of the jobs since the recession hit. But Mr. Murphy then said that his second sentence is that those jobs are at Burger King or for the government.
He did acknowledge that Mr. Perry changes everyone's strategy and is now a part of what Chuck Todd outlined as the top tier of Republican candidates - Romney, Bachmann, and now Perry.
Since Michele Bachmann will not get the nomination, that leaves Mr. Romney and Mr. Perry. Jonathan Martin, during the roundtable, beside putting out the requisite question, "Is Palin getting in the race?" he asked can Rick Perry appeal to Republicans like the ones in suburban Philadelphia or suburban Columbus. We don't know about Columbus, but as for suburb Philadelphia, the answer is no. Strictly having the 'Tea-vangelical' vote, as was quoted today, will not win the general election.
With that, we agree with the consensus on today's panel that Rick Perry could turn conventional Republican wisdom on its head and take the nomination from Mr. 'Next-in-Line' Romney has a better chance in the general. A barracuda is how Mike Murphy described Rick Perry as a candidate. He cited Mr. Perry's race with Kay Bailey Hutchinson for Texas Governor where he smeared her relentlessly. What he didn't mention that we're bringing up now is if it comes down to Perry and Romney, Mr. Perry's campaign will indirectly (through surrogates) wage a heavy continual attack on Mr. Romney's Mormon faith, no question about it.
Iowa’s Governor Terry Branstad (R); GOP strategist Mike Murphy; the Washington Post’s Eugene Robinson; senior political reporter for Politico, Jonathan Martin; and NBC News Political Director, Chuck Todd.
Sunday, August 07, 2011
8.7.11: Downgrading America and Its Greatness
If these two interviews serve as any indication of where this country is headed then we're most assuredly headed for another downgrade of some sort. Unfortunately, to put these discussions in context, we have to quote a few first worsts that occurred this week, actually in one day - Friday August 5th, 2011. On this day, Standard & Poor's, the credit rating agency, downgraded the United States of America's credit rating for the first time in its history. We were first rated back in 1941. Secondly, we suffered the single deadliest day in the Afghanistan war losing 33 soldiers, which included 22 navy seals. It seemed like the official day that officially ended America's greatness.
You have to basically ignore Senator McCain's criticisms of the President due to his bitterness of losing the election, he begins every answer with a jab, and in this case it was the President's decision on the timetable for the troop draw down in country and that he did not consult the military. This, we have to point out, is not the case as the President clearly took the advice of David Petraeus, or he would have done with the previous President would have down, follow the order or be fired. President Obama promoted General Petraeus to CIA head.
With that, the two Senators, Kerry and McCain, basically agree on most points in relation to this conflict, which is that Pakistan is a major player in the problems we have in Afghanistan. The Taliban also needs to be quelled, lest it harbor sanctuary for Al Qaeda again. Lastly, they both agree on the fact that several factions in the country are struggling to gain control.
On the draw down timetable, McCain thinks its too soon, and Kerry really didn't say because he won't publicly criticism the Administration on this front. Now, we're not military experts, but for our two cents, we disagree with both senators, and here's something to give thought to given the two differing perspectives.
First, the timetable for troop draw downs is fine, but what should the adjusted force look like, and what should be its function? We believe that it has a lot to do with how the Taliban think and what they respond to, and frankly, it's two things - uncertainty and ruthlessness. Draw down the troops so that Bagram Airbase is our huge center of operation - almost a city-state unto itself with 30,000 troops - fortified. Then run operations out of there and have troops at the ready stationed in other nearby country bases and on aircraft carriers at the edge of the region. This way, if any surge is needed, it can be accomplished quickly.
Also, how we run these operations is crucial. First, the tasks they wouldn't be responsible for would nation-building, having forward outposts in remote areas, and fighting the opium trade. However, it should support the central government by extension of the Administration's policies. The Taliban respond to the fear of the unknown. Having a large number of troops in one location, especially with the amount of fire power the U.S. military has, centralizes things and could make us more unpredictable in where we strike the Taliban, consistent covert missions with maximum strike force (a bit of the Powell Doctrine in there). Instill fear in the enemy that you will be unpredictable and mercilessly powerful, and you will see the Taliban shrink, while the central government can do more to build itself up. It may seem hawkish, but not really because look how everyone viewed the operation to kill Osama Bin Laden. We were all pretty impressed. Use reconnaissance to spot Taliban strong holds, and then instill some real feature, if you know what we mean.
Senator Kerry said that we need to get the other countries in the region involved - China, Russian, the other Stans (as he put it), Iran, even India. However, these countries don't want to have anything to do with Afghanistan. Russia's going to help us in Afghanistan? Really?
As it stands, this is a serious blow to the moral of the military. Speaking of being down of course, there was Standard & Poor's downgrading of the United States' credit rating, and this brings us back to the contrasting answers by the two aforementioned Senators.
When asked what we could do to revive the economy, Senator McCain said that we should cut corporate tax rates, put a moratorium on new fiscal regulations, and discuss the big elephant in the room - the entitlements of Medicare and Social Security. By contrast, Senator Kerry talked about a Senate bi-partisan highway bill, an infrastructure bank, regulatory reform, patent reform, cuts in waste to Medicare and Social Security, and revenue increases which of course translates higher taxes in some segment of the population. (We'll just leave that last one at that.)
What we hear from Senator Kerry are solutions that both parties can agree on, something that Austin Goolsbee and David Gregory jousted about during the round table. Mr. Gregory pointed out that Congress never gets to the start and these things never see any light. More bills, specifically in the House, need to have bi-partisan authorship, two people - one from each party. Why isn't that a rule? If you can't make nice on your own, then you have to impose it. Anyone who has gone to any school for one day knows this. Also, if instant citing and knowledge of the facts and details are any indication to the level that one grasps the issue makes a difference, we'd have to give that to Senator Kerry. Pointing out that China spends 9% of GDP on infrastructure, Europe 5%, and the United States only 2%, Mr. Kerry seems to have a better grasp of the whole.
With that said, he did start off the interview calling the credit downgrade a Tea-Party Downgrade. Senator McCain called it a failure of leadership on the part of the President. Taking these two statements together and factor in that Mr. Goolsbee and Ms. Maddow during the roundtable made discrediting remarks about Standard & Poor's, the $2 trillion math error and that S&P will give a triple-A rating to anyone respectively, here's what we can glean from all this.
The leadership failure, as stated by Senator McCain, was that the President's party controlled two-thirds of the government and couldn't get (we're presuming) his agenda through and hence a downgrade. It's pure rhetoric, but let's distill it for a moment. Consider that it takes 60 votes in the Senate (this is a Senate rule, not a law) to pass anything in the Senate, a simple majority (under 60 seats) doesn't do anything for the majority party so it's in fact an even split so the 'control' is limited. It was a moment that required compromise, which the President did offer, but it was rejected by Republicans.
Senator McCain mentioned that we shouldn't blame the Tea Party because the House had a mandate. That's debatable, but if they carried out their mandate then how can he say that the President failed in his leadership. Speaker John Boehner in an interview said that he got 98% of what he wanted and therefore he was happy. While he was getting 98%, some in his caucus were openly calling for the U.S. to default on its debt.
Alex Castellanos, the Republican strategist said that there was intransience on the part of both parties - the Republicans for their tax stance and the Democrats for the spending stance. Ms. Maddow, citing the S&P report in front of her, slammed Mr. Castellanos, said the downgrade was particularly because of the political uncertainty on the debt ceiling crisis. The crisis was, let's be honest, by Republicans and was purely political in nature. Also when Ms. Maddow asked Mr. Castellanos what tax loopholes or subsidies would the Republicans eliminate, he couldn't name one.
So was it a Tea-Party downgrade? Well, Republicans got most of what they wanted because of the Tea-Party caucus, and now we got downgraded... Hmm..... What's really sad is that if you do conclude that it is a downgrade sparked by the Tea-Party's willingness to default, now you see the Democratic Administration defending these actions on behalf of the country. This is the difficult part of governing that frankly, the Republicans won't take responsibility for, they can sit back and blame the President.
Lastly, for his wisdom, Alan Greenspan clearly didn't want to make news. He said that if the Israeli market, which is open today, is any indication that we can look for the downgrade to have a big effect, but then instantly backed off of that. He was even less committal on how to get the U.S. economy going again. He said that tax cuts don't slow the economy as much as spending cuts, which means... what? The one thing that we did finding informative was with regard to a double dip recession, which we feel is coming, is that, as Mr. Greenspan explain, it depend on Europe. Italy is in trouble and it's too big to be bailed out, he said.
Mr. Kerry's last statement was that 'we need to be statesmen here.' We need them badly right now, but sadly, Mr. Kerry was wrong in assuming that Senator McCain could be one of them. All his answers revolved around empty rhetoric so we're officially downgrading John McCain's credit.
Former Chairman of the Federal Reserve, Dr. Alan Greenspan, outgoing White House Economic Adviser, Austan Goolsbee, MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow, and Republican strategist, Alex Castellanos.
You have to basically ignore Senator McCain's criticisms of the President due to his bitterness of losing the election, he begins every answer with a jab, and in this case it was the President's decision on the timetable for the troop draw down in country and that he did not consult the military. This, we have to point out, is not the case as the President clearly took the advice of David Petraeus, or he would have done with the previous President would have down, follow the order or be fired. President Obama promoted General Petraeus to CIA head.
With that, the two Senators, Kerry and McCain, basically agree on most points in relation to this conflict, which is that Pakistan is a major player in the problems we have in Afghanistan. The Taliban also needs to be quelled, lest it harbor sanctuary for Al Qaeda again. Lastly, they both agree on the fact that several factions in the country are struggling to gain control.
On the draw down timetable, McCain thinks its too soon, and Kerry really didn't say because he won't publicly criticism the Administration on this front. Now, we're not military experts, but for our two cents, we disagree with both senators, and here's something to give thought to given the two differing perspectives.
First, the timetable for troop draw downs is fine, but what should the adjusted force look like, and what should be its function? We believe that it has a lot to do with how the Taliban think and what they respond to, and frankly, it's two things - uncertainty and ruthlessness. Draw down the troops so that Bagram Airbase is our huge center of operation - almost a city-state unto itself with 30,000 troops - fortified. Then run operations out of there and have troops at the ready stationed in other nearby country bases and on aircraft carriers at the edge of the region. This way, if any surge is needed, it can be accomplished quickly.
Also, how we run these operations is crucial. First, the tasks they wouldn't be responsible for would nation-building, having forward outposts in remote areas, and fighting the opium trade. However, it should support the central government by extension of the Administration's policies. The Taliban respond to the fear of the unknown. Having a large number of troops in one location, especially with the amount of fire power the U.S. military has, centralizes things and could make us more unpredictable in where we strike the Taliban, consistent covert missions with maximum strike force (a bit of the Powell Doctrine in there). Instill fear in the enemy that you will be unpredictable and mercilessly powerful, and you will see the Taliban shrink, while the central government can do more to build itself up. It may seem hawkish, but not really because look how everyone viewed the operation to kill Osama Bin Laden. We were all pretty impressed. Use reconnaissance to spot Taliban strong holds, and then instill some real feature, if you know what we mean.
Senator Kerry said that we need to get the other countries in the region involved - China, Russian, the other Stans (as he put it), Iran, even India. However, these countries don't want to have anything to do with Afghanistan. Russia's going to help us in Afghanistan? Really?
As it stands, this is a serious blow to the moral of the military. Speaking of being down of course, there was Standard & Poor's downgrading of the United States' credit rating, and this brings us back to the contrasting answers by the two aforementioned Senators.
When asked what we could do to revive the economy, Senator McCain said that we should cut corporate tax rates, put a moratorium on new fiscal regulations, and discuss the big elephant in the room - the entitlements of Medicare and Social Security. By contrast, Senator Kerry talked about a Senate bi-partisan highway bill, an infrastructure bank, regulatory reform, patent reform, cuts in waste to Medicare and Social Security, and revenue increases which of course translates higher taxes in some segment of the population. (We'll just leave that last one at that.)
What we hear from Senator Kerry are solutions that both parties can agree on, something that Austin Goolsbee and David Gregory jousted about during the round table. Mr. Gregory pointed out that Congress never gets to the start and these things never see any light. More bills, specifically in the House, need to have bi-partisan authorship, two people - one from each party. Why isn't that a rule? If you can't make nice on your own, then you have to impose it. Anyone who has gone to any school for one day knows this. Also, if instant citing and knowledge of the facts and details are any indication to the level that one grasps the issue makes a difference, we'd have to give that to Senator Kerry. Pointing out that China spends 9% of GDP on infrastructure, Europe 5%, and the United States only 2%, Mr. Kerry seems to have a better grasp of the whole.
With that said, he did start off the interview calling the credit downgrade a Tea-Party Downgrade. Senator McCain called it a failure of leadership on the part of the President. Taking these two statements together and factor in that Mr. Goolsbee and Ms. Maddow during the roundtable made discrediting remarks about Standard & Poor's, the $2 trillion math error and that S&P will give a triple-A rating to anyone respectively, here's what we can glean from all this.
The leadership failure, as stated by Senator McCain, was that the President's party controlled two-thirds of the government and couldn't get (we're presuming) his agenda through and hence a downgrade. It's pure rhetoric, but let's distill it for a moment. Consider that it takes 60 votes in the Senate (this is a Senate rule, not a law) to pass anything in the Senate, a simple majority (under 60 seats) doesn't do anything for the majority party so it's in fact an even split so the 'control' is limited. It was a moment that required compromise, which the President did offer, but it was rejected by Republicans.
Senator McCain mentioned that we shouldn't blame the Tea Party because the House had a mandate. That's debatable, but if they carried out their mandate then how can he say that the President failed in his leadership. Speaker John Boehner in an interview said that he got 98% of what he wanted and therefore he was happy. While he was getting 98%, some in his caucus were openly calling for the U.S. to default on its debt.
Alex Castellanos, the Republican strategist said that there was intransience on the part of both parties - the Republicans for their tax stance and the Democrats for the spending stance. Ms. Maddow, citing the S&P report in front of her, slammed Mr. Castellanos, said the downgrade was particularly because of the political uncertainty on the debt ceiling crisis. The crisis was, let's be honest, by Republicans and was purely political in nature. Also when Ms. Maddow asked Mr. Castellanos what tax loopholes or subsidies would the Republicans eliminate, he couldn't name one.
So was it a Tea-Party downgrade? Well, Republicans got most of what they wanted because of the Tea-Party caucus, and now we got downgraded... Hmm..... What's really sad is that if you do conclude that it is a downgrade sparked by the Tea-Party's willingness to default, now you see the Democratic Administration defending these actions on behalf of the country. This is the difficult part of governing that frankly, the Republicans won't take responsibility for, they can sit back and blame the President.
Lastly, for his wisdom, Alan Greenspan clearly didn't want to make news. He said that if the Israeli market, which is open today, is any indication that we can look for the downgrade to have a big effect, but then instantly backed off of that. He was even less committal on how to get the U.S. economy going again. He said that tax cuts don't slow the economy as much as spending cuts, which means... what? The one thing that we did finding informative was with regard to a double dip recession, which we feel is coming, is that, as Mr. Greenspan explain, it depend on Europe. Italy is in trouble and it's too big to be bailed out, he said.
Mr. Kerry's last statement was that 'we need to be statesmen here.' We need them badly right now, but sadly, Mr. Kerry was wrong in assuming that Senator McCain could be one of them. All his answers revolved around empty rhetoric so we're officially downgrading John McCain's credit.
Former Chairman of the Federal Reserve, Dr. Alan Greenspan, outgoing White House Economic Adviser, Austan Goolsbee, MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow, and Republican strategist, Alex Castellanos.
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