White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough said that a good rule of thumb for his job is to focus on the staff and not the chief, however, in his answers it is all about the president and staying in line with his positions. That's not to say it's a bad thing, but just to say if you understand what the president's positions are, then Mr. McDonough offered little insight on today's program.
It was good to hear him state that the president is not done on Benghazi. Unfortunately for the president, neither are the Republicans, especially Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and his BFF Senator John McCain who appeared on the program today and said that Benghazi was a massive cover up on the part of the Administration. Earlier this week Mr. McCain called out Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) for going too far in the Hagel nomination process, Chris Matthews noted, where the Texas senator was indicting Mr. Hagel via innuendo and not fact. However, on today's program, Senator McCain did just that with the president because when he said there is a 'massive cover up,' that implies criminality on the part of the president, which is simply unfounded and will not prove out to be true.
We agree with Mr. McCain that there are still questions to be answered, but not a 'massive cover up.' He, of all people, should know that the world is dangerous and we can not protect every American everywhere. It's unfortunate but true. The one question that was out for Mr. McCain that proved to be true is that he is a politician that holds grudges. Mr. McCain stated the Mr. Hagel had been merciless in his attacks toward President Bush and his decision to go to war in Iraq. He also noted that Mr. Hagel's comments on the surge. However, remember when we used to call Mr. McCain a maverick? Why was that? It was because he had a propensity to stand up and disagree with Mr. Bush. The reason why he liked to defy the President at the time was because of the dirty politics the Bush campaign played in the primary in South Carolina in 2000 that crushed the McCain momentum in the race. Mr. McCain never forgave or forgot. So when Mr. McCain says that he's not going to vote for Chuck Hagel to be the Defense Secretary because he thinks he's not qualified, it's really personal and not a professional assessment whether you agree or not with the notion that the former Republican Senator from Nebraska is left of Mr. Obama on foreign policy. Even on immigration, Mr. McCain said he wouldn't vote for a proposal from the Administration simply because it came from Mr. Obama. Mr. McCain hasn't forgotten that he also lost an election to the current president who he says is just continually trying to score political points, points that Mr. McCain won't give up easily. And Mr. Hagel didn't endorse the Arizona Senator/former friend for President.
Mr. Gregory suggested to Mr. McDonough that Chuck Hagel would be a weak secretary because of this nomination drama, which the White House Chief of Staff refuted of course saying that he'll be a great secretary. You know where we stand on Mr. Hagel (competent but not really independent), but there is the saying that wasn't doesn't kill you makes you stronger so maybe once Mr. Hagel gets through this process, he be quite forceful... but we doubt it. We agree with Mr. Castellanos on the point that Chuck Hagel hasn't inspired much confidence in his ability to run the Defesnse Department doing horribly in his Senate hearing. In the end, even Mr. McCain said that Chuck Hagel will have the votes to be confirmed.
However, this entire Hagel mess (presenting ourselves to the rest of the world) is simply a byproduct of the sequestration and the bitter politics that has gone with it (presenting ourselves to each other internally). With all we just said about Mr. McCain, it was good to hear him confirm that we should close subsidy loopholes that have no business existing which would garner additional revenue. But the notion of our leaders 'letting' the sequestration happen remains seriously distasteful to this column. Letting it happen just shows that they've given up. That no one wants it to happen should be the point from which to rally against it happening.
As we've stated in prior columns on spending, a balanced approach is really the most sensible approach to cutting the debt and deficit because in as big a ship as the United States, you have to turn it slowly or it will tip over. Republicans can keep insisting on spending cuts, but they have to be willing to accept the other side of the debate - vice versa for Democrats and increasing tax revenue. The reality of this debate is that Republicans have gotten more of what they've wanted than Democrats.
On area of spending and the sequestration in which Republicans shouldn't get more of what they want is on Medicare, in spite of the scary graphic that Mr. Gregory showed which outlined that a couple of two put in $122,000 into the system, but take out $387,000. We understand that the economics of that is unsustainable but we also know that the beneficiaries of tomorrow should have the same benefits as those receiving them today. The president went as far to say that he would agree with Medicare cuts as outlined in the Simpson Bowles commission, which include means testing and a reworking of the government's purchases of prescription drugs as outlined by Mr. McDonough.
It's said that having a public option would have brought down costs, but obviously it's politically impossible because Republicans won't go for it. So how about a public option with an eligibility age? You pay into a public option at 60 years of age - a pre-Medicare, if you will, that would contribute to bringing down the overall cost of healthcare. Maybe even call it that to make it politically more palatable. Maybe this idea is great, maybe ridiculous but the point is that there are so many solutions, chances at give and take that our leaders aren't taking advantage of. When you have some one like Carly Fiorina blaming the president for the sequestration then saying in her very next statement that Democrats just blame Republicans, that's counter-productive to say the least.
On a round table note, you could tell that Chris Matthews thinks Ms. Fiorina a political hack and doesn't respect her opinion. In one of her statements you could clearly see Mr. Matthews biting his lip trying to not interrupt her, which he eventually did. He even had to defend himself to the rest of the panel for doing so. We note this because we always wonder why she is invited on Meet The Press. She shouldn't be. They always introduce her as the former CEO of Hewlitt-Packard, but the fact is that she almost bankrupted that company (who hasn't or doesn't have an HP printer) and then received a golden parachute to get out of the way. Now she has deep political insight? Hardly.
The good news is that despite the hysterics from the fringes (Ted Cruz and Tea Partiers), which includes Ms. Fiorina, there does seem to be give and take on immigration and on gun control. Mr. McCain noted Senators Joe Manchin (D-WV) and Republican Tom Coburn (R-OK) working together on gun control measures. Alex Castellanos noted that talk radio seems to be coming to terms with moderate Republican reforms on immigration - namely an earned path to citizenship. Even before Mr. Newsom noted it, we were thinking the same thing as soon as Mr. Castellanos mentioned talk radio - how sad it is that politicians need approval from talk radio hosts to get things done. But the fact is that talk radio is mattering less and less because more and more people realize that to get anything done on anything, you have to come more to the middle. Narrow views on talk radio get ratings, not solutions.
We're glad that Mr. Gregory referred to Mark Kelly as Captain Kelly because it is important to note that not only is he the husband of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, but is also an officer in our military and an astronaut for NASA, which means we should listen to him. Universal background checks should be the law in this country and Capt. Kelly is correct to ask what sense does it make that NRA wouldn't support that. Mr. Gregory asked if Ms. Giffords was up to the task of being the face of gun control and his response put the entire question into focus. How can we accept the status quo faced with the death of 20 first graders? This time is different and the debate won't go away this time as Capt. Kelly in fact said that the Super PAC that he and his wife formed will spend money in political races supporting candidates that favor reasonable reforms as opposed to none.
Bills on gun control and immigration will happen and both parties will be responsible. If they can end this sequestration nonsense, which no one wants, then we'll really be getting somewhere.
Round Table: Lt. Governor of California Gavin Newsom; Founder and Chair of Good
360, Carly Fiorina; Republican strategist Alex Castellanos; and host of
MSNBC’s Hardball, Chris Matthews.
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