Meet The Press – January 12, 2013

Guests:

Chuck Todd

Mark Halperin

Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake (D-Baltimore)

Kim Strassel

Mayor Mark Sokolich (D-Fort Lee)

John Yang

Reince Priebus

Maria Shriver

Jane Harman

Robert Gibbs

Jeffrey Goldberg

Chris Matthews

Rick Santorum

Gregory: OMG Bridgegate show Chris

Christie's aides vindictively shut

down a whole town

Gregory: Hi Chuck – what did Christie know?

Todd: or why didn't he know more?

Gregory: that too

Todd: if he didn't know – does he

have the judgment to be President?

Gregory: he gave a epic press

conference where he said he 

didn't know anything

Strassel: he had better be telling the truth

Gregory: right

Strassel: using a state agency to

hurt people is not as bad as the IRS

scandal or Obama shutting down the

government to inconvenience people

Blake: I can't criticize Christie because

he was so helpful to Obama by taking

free money after the hurricane

Gregory: of course

Blake: but he created a culture as

a bully by calling people idiots –

you can't have it both ways

Gregory: he brushed this off in December

Halperin: he was remarkably incurious

and tried to tell reporters to stop 

covering this story

Gregory: what's next for Christie?

Halperin: will Christie hand 

over his own e-mails?

Gregory: interesting question

Halperin: he says he wants to cooperate – will he?

Gregory: even Christie said he

must have done something wrong

Todd: hey that's New Jersey honestly –

using government to hurt people on purpose

Strassel: his big selling point is that

he's a competent manager of a big state

Todd: well it was

Strassel: tea partiers discovered

government can't be trusted when

Obama was elected – just look at

the NSA which Obama invented

Gregory: right

Strassel: and here is a state agency

which can't be trusted

Halperin: Romney took a look at him

and said this guy doesn't play by

anyone's rules but his own

[ break ]

Gregory: Mayor did you put pressure

on poor Chris Christie?

Sokolich: he unconditionally said

he had no knowledge of this plot and

he assured us this will never happen again

Gregory: did you believe him?

Sokolich: I take him at his word

Gregory: do you think Christie

knew more than he has said?

Sokolich: if he didn't know he

certainly should have known

Gregory: maybe

Sokolich: I was told Christie

ran a tight ship – I guess not

Gregory: interesting

Sokolich: but look I'm a Jersey guy

and I don't appreciate the jokes Chuck Todd

Gregory: he says he's not a bully

Sokolich: I'll leave that to you – but he

and his office have acted like jerks

[ break ]

Gregory: so Reince will Chris Christie 

be elected President in 2016? 

Tom Kean says he created 

a dangerous culture

Preibus: Christie is guilty – 

guilty of trusting too much!

Gregory: I see

Priebus: Benghazi! Obamacare! The IRS!

Gregory: you blamed Obama for setting

a tone that resulted in the fake IRS scandal

– did Christie set a bad tone?

Preibus: no because Christie trusted too much

Gregory: did he set the tone

like you said Obama did?

Priebus: Obama doubled down on

Hillary Clinton and Lois Lerner!

Gregory: if Obama created the tone

then why didn't Christie set a 

tone of corruption?

Priebus: because Christie had a press conference!

Gregory: how does that affect

a tone before the scandal?

Preibus: because Christie is a good person!

Gregory: how could this scandal happen?

Priebus: the Port Authority is a

complicated place – why wouldn't you

shut part of it down just survey 

 whose day is ruined?

Gregory: do you think Christie will be

tied to the scandal coming out of his office?

Priebus: oh heavens no

Gregory: Bob Gates says 

Hillary Clinton is political

Priebus: America is starving for

authentic non-political people

Gregory: like Chris Christie?

Priebus: we're a young fresh party

with a deep bench

[ break ]

Yang: I'm talking to voters Iowa –

hello voter - what do you think of Christie?

Voter: it doesn't look good to shut

down a whole bridge for petty reasons

Voter: it makes him look partisan

Voter: it's comical therefore it didn't happen

Voter: I hope people still like him

Yang: Iowans prefer social conservatives

but on the other hand they like

Chris Christie for being such an asshole

Reporter: they love how he 

'takes no prisoners'

Todd: the road to the White House goes

through the Midwest – you have to be

a genial and nice person

Gregory: that's not exactly Christie

Strassel: he immediately fired the people

he trusted most for misleading him 

and everyone else which will 

persuade voters to make him 

the powerful man in the world

Gregory: thanks everyone

[ break ]

Gregory: Bob Gates says Obama only

wanted to get out of Afghanistan –

how scathing is this?!?

Matthews: getting out of Afghanistan

was a good idea!

Gibbs: Bob Gates doesn't like

anyone to question Bob Gates

Gregory: okay

Gibbs: this was the longest war in

American history – darn right Obama

wanted to get out while smashing al-qaeda

Gregory: is it a good thing not

to trust the military implicitly?

Santorum: it's so sad that in the book

Obama put domestic politics

above national security

Goldberg: actually Rick in the book

Gates says Obama puts national

security above domestic concerns

Santorum: well it could have been true

Gregory: plus he says Obama

made the right decisions

Harman: he's the President and

Commander-in-chief

Gregory: in theory

Harman: Gates should not have written

a book while Obama was in office

Gibbs: Gates claims Obama was playing

to the people but surging in

Afghanistan was not popular

Santorum: Afghanistan was the good war –

Obama should have stayed in Iraq!

Matthews: this whole book is a

shot against Hillary Clinton

Harman: I told the military the

Afghan surge was a bad idea

Gregory: Gates says Biden has been

wrong for four decades

Goldberg: yes he praises Hillary

but savages Joe Biden

Gregory: right

Goldberg: apparently Bob Gates was

a placid man who was boiling over with rage

Gregory: Rick defend Christie for me

Santorum: he manned up and 
took responsibility and blamed 
everyone but himself like a real man


Gregory: if you debate Chris 
Christie what will you ask him?

Santorum: 'why did Obama cover up Benghazi?'

Gregory: anything else?

Santorum: why are all of your aides all scum?

Matthews: Christie is a jerk and

I really like that about him but

where was the famous trouble-shooter

in his fleece on top of everything

like during the hurricane?

Gregory: like when he let $100

million of trains be destroyed?

Matthews: oh that was his aides fault

[ break ]

Gregory: Hi Maria

Shriver: hi David

Gregory: you issued a report that said

1 in 3 women are on the brink of poverty

along with millions of children

Shriver: right

Gregory: Sargent Shriver targeted 

poverty in Appalachia but now 

poor people have jobs but are barely 

surviving – especially women

Gregory: what's wrong?

Shriver: lack of education

and lack of opportunity

Gregory: women are heads of

households but are trapped

Shriver: most minimum wage

workers are women without

even one sick day

Gregory: how do they negotiate better?

Shriver: they're just trying not to

go hungry David

Gregory: where are the men?

Shriver: men need sick days too

Gregory: definitely

Shriver: government and

businesses need to fix policies

Gregory: was the war on poverty a failure?

Shriver: no – it was a great success

until the money was diverted to Vietnam

Gregory: what about GOP policies?

Shriver: I hope they put women

in center of their policies

Gregory: what else?

Shriver: we need to involve states

and non-profits and politicians

who target poverty

Gregory: women are quite 

often important people

Shriver: that is true

Gregory: your mother said power

came from politics

Shriver: that used to be true – now power

comes from the streets and the people

Gregory: and that's another

episode of Meet The Press