Sunday, August 10, 2014

Meet The Press – August 10, 2014

Guests:
Jim Miklaszewski
Chuck Todd
Kevin Tibbles
Andrea Mitchell
Pete Williams
Sen. Richard Durbin (D-IL)
Rep. Peter King (R-NY)
Michael Leiter – Fmr Dir. National 
Counter-Terrorism Center
Robin Wright – The Wilson Center
Jeffrey Goldberg
Rep. Donna Edwards (D-MD)
Rich Lowry – The National Review
Jonathan Turley
Newt Gingrich – Fmr. Speaker
Greg Craig – Fmr. Clinton lawyer

Gregory: omg air strikes haven't
solved everything in Iraq!

Gregory: Jim ISIS has control 
of cities in Iraq and Syria!

Miklaszewski: ISIS's rapid advance
has sent the U.S. military back to Iraq

Gregory: we're getting the band back together!

Miklaszewski: ISIS took Mosul and
went on a rampage and are they
are getting close to Erbil

Gregory: these dudes are scary

Miklaszewski: then the Yazidis got
trapped on a mountain and the
U.S. got involved to stop a genocide

Gregory: sounds good

Miklaszewski: with no Iraqi army
and no NATO help it's all on
the U.S. and the Kurds now

Gregory: that's not so good

Miklaszewski: Obama said yesterday
this will be a long term project

Gregory: welcome Dick – protecting
Americans and Erbil and the
whole region and the Yazidis
sounds like a big project

Durbin: sure but only Iraqis can save Iraq

Gregory: ISIS is too crazy for al-qaeda!

Durbin: I admit that's unsettling

Gregory: did Obama abandon 
the war on terror?

Durbin: hey Iraq wanted us to leave

Gregory: but I'm saying Obama
is soft on terrorists

Durbin: the US can't occupy
Iraq forever and ever

Gregory: but ISIS is using American
weapons because we left Iraq

Durbin: no they have U.S. weapons
because we invaded Iraq

Gregory: what is the US responsibility here?

Durbin: to protect Americans on the ground

Gregory: what if air strikes don't work?

Durbin: more air strikes!

[ break ]

Gregory: Peter if Obama is too soft
on terror what do Republicans want
war with everyone?

King: this is a shameful abdication 
of U.S. leadership!

Gregory: what else?

King: ISIS is about to attack and
kill hundreds of Americans!

Gregory: so what do propose to do about it?

King: massive air strikes

Gregory: what else

King: give the Kurds weapons

Gregory: that's not going
to take down ISIS

King: I say we should arm
the Iraqi army even if it doesn't exist

Gregory: it's been 10 years since
we invaded – why can't Iraq fight for itself?

King: Iraq was a free country and
a paradise and totally self-sufficient
and able to fight for itself until we
left and it immediately all fell apart

Gregory: well that explains it

King: yes – all the problems in
Iraq are all Obama's fault

Gregory: I see

King: Obama is a weak leader unlike
Winston Churchill who was pretty
good for a European

Gregory: do you want to invade Iraq
with more troops on the ground?

King: ISIS is about to attack Long Island!

Gregory: is that a yes?

King: attack!!

[ break ]

Gregory: what exactly is ISIS?

Leiter: they don't like to tell people this
but ISIS is really Al-Qaeda in Iraq

Gregory: oh so they re-branded

Leiter: also they are the biggest
terrorist group in human history

Gregory: cripes

Leiter: also they are hoping
to attack America

Gregory: 1-2-3 what are we fighting 4?

Goldberg: we are fighting to stop
ISIS from spreading and to
save the Kurds and Yazidis

Gregory: we didn't save the Congo

Goldberg: when you're the world's
police who to save is a devilish problem

Gregory: looking at the situation
in Iraq it strikes me that it's almost
as if there is some kind of Sunni – Shia split

Wright: the Bush administration said
they could get Sunni and Shia to
get along and it been pretty 
much the opposite everywhere

Gregory: did we waste our influence
in Iraq where we were so beloved?

Goldberg: maybe but it would be
nice if Iraq could defend their own country

Leiter: this is a region-wide terrorism problem
ISIS is huge and growing

Gregory: Hillary Clinton says we
should have helped the moderate
rebels in Syria three years ago

Goldberg: well that's easy to say but
it's also true that things are pretty bad now

Gregory: Bush overreacted
and Obama underreacted

Wright: George H.W. Bush bombed Iraq
and then Bill Clinton bombed Iraq and
then George W. Bush bombed Iraq and
Obama is the next contestant and the
category he's chosen 
'Countries U.S. Presidents Bomb'
and his answer is “What is Iraq?”

Gregory: If Hillary is elected Iraq will
have the distinction of being bombed
by two Bushes and two Clintons

Wright: if the U.S. bombs Iraq
more it will only rally more terrorists

Gregory: but there weren't good boys 
and girls before

Wright: but Al-Qaeda in Iraq didn't
even exist until the U.S. invaded

Leiter: I just want to add that
America will probably be attacked soon

[ break ]

Gregory: Obama laid out his doctrine
which is that he won't help countries
in the middle east unless they are
prepared to be inclusive and Sunni
and Shia are willing to work together
to create a functional society

Mitchell: ooh there's differences
between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama

Lowry: in 2008 Barack Obama said
we should have less war and clearly
he has been proven wrong what we
need is more wars and I strongly
support other people fighting them

Gregory: Obama is on Martha's Vineyard!

Todd: Obama is giving the people
the foreign policy they want and
they don't like it

Gregory: maybe we need less war

Edwards: he's right – the Iraqi people
need stop relying on the American
people and get their act together

Lowry: Obama abandoned Iraq
just when things were going great

Edwards: the Iraqi people wanted us to leave

Gregory: we we wanted to leave too

Todd: Obama suspiciously supports
democracy except when it doesn't work

Mitchell: Obama can't wait for Iraq
to fix itself because that will never happen

Lowry: invading Iraq was a great
idea and we should never have left

Gregory: Rep. Steve King of Iowa
was confronted by a Dreamer
and Rand Paul fled the scene

Lowry: sure the Dreamers are sympathetic
but Obama is a brazen lawbreaker

Gregory: Rich you think Obama should be
impeached and also that Obama is tricking 
the GOP is doing it which would 
mean he's punking you

Edwards: Republicans are literally
running away from the immigration issue

Gregory: many voters are unhappy

[ break ]

Gregory: Kevin Tibbles went to Wisconsin
to see some more normal Americans
in the natural habitat and it turns out
they're partisan assholes like the rest of us

Tibbles: I'm in Wisconsin to meet
regular Americans

Regular American: Republicans and
Democrats don't even live in the
same places anymore

Tibbles: the city is Democratic and
the suburbs are all Republicans

Regular American: both sides are to blame
we need to meet in the middle

Regular American: today it seems
like you can't have a rational conversation
about politics anymore – also I despise 
Obama and hate his guts

Tibbles: will we ever get along?

Regular American: only if voters want us too

[ break ]

Gregory: so Chuck as I suspected
the voters are to blame

Todd: right – voters give politicians the
incentive is to pander to the angry base

Mitchell: I hope voters blame the
Do-Nothing Congress and the
Weak President and throw them both out

Lowry: President Obama makes his
opposition insane by acting evil
with malice aforethought

Edwards: or Congress could 
try helping people

Gregory: up next – the politics of impeachment!

[ break ]

Gregory: both sides are to blame
for talking about impeachment

Williams: 40 years ago Nixon had
to resign in disgrace so let's
talk about impeaching Obama

Turley: there is no basis for
impeachment whatsoever

Williams: Congress is suing Obama
for extending the Obamacare
deadline which they demanded he do

Williams: but Congress has no standing
and it was a different Congress anyway

Turley: although maybe the courts
should decide what the limits
to executive power are

On Screen:
IMPEACHMENT CHATTER BUILDS

Gregory: welcome gentlemen –
let's talk about the law by
which I mean how angry are Republicans?

Craig: they seem pretty angry

Gregory: is this impeachment talk realistic?

Gingrich: look even I admit President
follows the law – he never closed
Guantanamo because legally he can't

Gregory: right

Gingrich: but if Obama lets
immigrants stay he will be a dictator

Gregory: impeachment is now like
a default protest of a President but
wasn't it originally meant to apply 
to high crimes?

Craig: yes but it's quasi-legal but also political

Gregory: don't you want to pull
Republicans aside and tell them
not to be stupid and impeach the President

Gingrich: only crazy Republicans are
talking about impeachment –
it's really Obama who is baiting
the GOP into doing it

Gregory: is Obama that cynical?

Craig: [ laughs ]

Gingrich: Congress should cut
off funds for the Dreamers!

Gregory: Jim Brady's death recently
was ruled a homicide – what's up with that?

Craig: re-trying John Hinckley would be idiotic

Gregory: and that's another
episode of Meet the Press

1 comment:

ifthethunderdontgetya™³²®© said...

P.S. I hope Donna Edwards is the next DCCC chairman.

We need a break from the corporate bagmen (Rahmbo, Steve Israel).
~