This Week with Christiane Amanpour - December 19, 2010

Guests:
Sen. John Kerrey
Sen. Richard Lugar
George Will
Donna Brazile
Rajiv Chandrasekan
Chrystia Freeland
************************************

Amanpour: whoa gay soldiers, tax cuts, and START - hell of lame duck Congress

Amanpour: Senator will our military be all-gay now and what does that mean

Kerrey: well George Washington, General Sherman and George Armstrong Custer were all gay so it’s not problem

Lugar: I was persuaded by the Marines that their seamen would be threatened

Kerrey: Dick has his mind on the tip of the spear

Amanpour: Will START pass?

Kerrey: why not - we’re on a roll!

Lugar: the GOP will pass it if we can amend it

Amanpour: how so?

Lugar: to only allow lesbians in the military

Kerrey: I think we can do that

Lugar: also we need a massive fantasy missile shield

Kerrey: we can still build a fake pretend shield
if we want to

Amanpour: but the Preamble!

Kerrey: Schoolhouse Rock covered all that

Lugar: look as Republicans we hate North Korea, Iran, Afghanistan Pakistan, and Iraq but that doesn’t mean we can’t hate the Russians too

Amanpour: so how is our failing war
in Afghanistan going?

Lugar: Those wily Paks won’t close the borders!

Amanpour: Okay

Lugar: of course we can’t control the Mexican border

Kerrey: Look Pakistan has a very very fragile
corrupt puppet government

Amanpour: does it

Kerrey: yes - did you know American drones
killing civilians are very unpopular there?

Amanpour: No!

Kerrey: Yes!

Amanpour: Richard Holbrooke died

Kerrey: He was amazing and focused

Lugar: Pakistanis like money but getting money there was very difficult

Amanpour: Have you tried throwing billions
in cash out of airplanes?

Lugar: that could work

[ break ]

Amanpour: Should we stick with the Afghan quagmire?

Will: we’re winning battles but not the war

Chandrasekan: of course U.S. soldiers can kill - but the Afghan government cannot control the country

Amanpour: Obama says we’re winning

Chandrasekan: but he wants to withdraw - which is probably right

Brazille: what the fuck are we doing there - we’re fighting to force the Afghan people to take over their own damm country

Freeland: we’re in a recession so the uber-hawk GOP decided we need to leave Afghanistan

Will: Harry Reid called the GOP’s bluff and they weren’t bluffing - they really are crazy

Amanpour: so really - no more earmarks?

Will: yes nutjobs in the Tea Party have everyone terrified

Brazile: that’s fine but what the hell are they
gonna cut?

Freeland: the partisanship over the next two years will make 2010 look like a damm Amish barn raising

Will: oh no there will be bipartisanship - Democrats will give Republicans what they want

Amanpour: who won with the tax deal?

Will: Obama had a terrible week because a federal judge in Virginia with a massive financial conflict
of interest said you can’t force people to buy health insurance

Brazille: fuck you George

McCain: I hate gay people!!

Chandrasekan: I’ve talked to the troops and they don’t care if you’re straight, gay, bi or Lindsey Graham

Brazille: they’re good soldiers and willing to die
for their nation

Will: and willing to kill which gives me a happy

*********************************************