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