Sunday, May 25, 2014

This Week with George Stephanopoulos – May 25, 2014


Host: 
Martha Raddatz
Correspondents:
Clayton Sandell
Terry Moran
Pierre Thomas
Alex Marquadt
Steve Ganyard
Jim Avila
Guests:
Martin Dempsey –
Chair of the Joints Chiefs of Staff
Brad Garrett – Fmr. FBI Agent
Jon Huntsman
Mark Schlereth – Fmr. NFL Player
Christine Brennan
David Plouffe – Democratic strategist
Matthew Dowd – Republican strategist
Ana Navarro – Republican strategist
Kristen Soltis Anderson – Republican pollster

Raddatz: there was another
mass shooting in California

Audience: omg

Raddatz: there are 10 crime
scenes and 7 people dead

Sandell: Martha it is not a good morning here

Raddatz: no

Sandell: the shooter was working
on his twisted plan for months

Raddatz: yikes

Sandell: in a YouTube video he
says women didn't want sex with him
so he sought revenge against all humanity

Raddatz: sheesh

Sandell: his family says 
he was mentally disturbed

Raddatz: okay then

[ break ]

Raddatz: police talked to him in
April and said he was a polite kid and left

Garrett: cops are not psychologists
he seemed lucid to them

Raddatz: what could the police have done?

Thomas: Police have to be more
pro-active by finding out if he's
purchased weapons which would
be enough to get a search warrant

Garrett: the parents knew he was
crazy but he has a 2nd Amendment
right to stockpile guns and ammunition

Raddatz: what's with all the mass shootings

Thomas: we used to average 5 
mass shootings per year and 
now we average 15 years

Raddatz: well that seems high

Thomas: it is

Raddatz: Pope Francis is in Bethlehem!

Moran: the Pope said he was
in the State of Palestine!

Raddatz: omg

Moran: Francis prayed at the wall
separating Israel and Palestine

Raddatz: gosh

Moran: the Pope pissed people off
by railing against those who
sell weapons for war

Raddatz: ooh legitimate arms
dealers won't like that

Moran: the Pope invited the Presidents
of Israel and Palestine to come to the
Vatican and hang out for a weekend
and they said yes

Raddatz: there's a scandal at 
the Veteran's Administration!

Avila: whistleblowers say local offices
lied to the bosses in Washington DC

Raddatz: that's bad

Avila: Shinseki is staying on to fix the problem

[ break ]

Raddatz: What's happening in Ukraine?

Marquardt: voting stations are being
shut down by pro-Russian activists

Raddatz: well you can't make an
omlette without breaking a few voting boxes

Marquardt: the new President will
be an eccentric chocolate billionaire

Raddatz: what do we know about him

Marquadt: very little – he is guarded
day and night by Oompa-Loompas

Raddatz: America is accusing the
Chinese of stealing American secrets!

Comey: the theft is staggering

Thomas: the US charged the Chinese
military with hacking into US companies

Expert: 3,000 companies were hacked last year

Thomas: so US companies spend billions to develop new technologies and then the Chinese come along and steal it! Outrageous!

Comey: right!

Thomas: do you have proof of this theft?

Comey: oh we can prove it buddy

Thomas: yes but President Snowden
informed us that the U.S. also spies
which makes us hypocrites

Expert: the U.S. does not steal trade
secrets to give businesses advantages

Raddatz: this indictment proves that
Obama isn't doing enough doesn't it

Huntsman: this gets to heart and soul
of innovation which the U.S.
does better than anyone

Raddatz: maybe you misheard me
please bash Obama

Huntsman: yes this indictment is not enough

Raddatz: but President Snowden
revealed that the U.S. spies on
China which is equally wrong

Ganyard: there is a big difference
between spying for defense
and stealing businesses secrets

Raddatz: isn't Chinese spying an act of war?

Huntsman: we need to be more fastidious

Raddatz: that's a strong bold word

Huntsman: this is serious

Raddatz: why can't business 
protect themselves?

Ganyard: businesses parked the
Ferrari in a bad neighborhood
overnight and left the keys in the car
and now their businesses are in 
chop shops being sold for parts

Raddatz: what about cyber-mercenaries?

Ganyard: Martha we need a 
Neuromancing Bobba Fett

Raddatz: I love it!

[ break ]

Raddatz: holy shit NFL players claim
their teams gave them pain-relieving
drugs so they could go on the field and
smash into other men at high speed

Schlereth: when I was in the NFL 
I had a great relationship with 
the guys with the drugs

Raddatz: so no problem then

Schlereth: in fact the players wanted
to play injured and the doctors
would hold us back

Raddatz: but you know the teams put
guys with head injuries back on the field

Schlereth: that's true – there
may be a tiny conflict of interest

Brennan: maybe Mark Schlereth had a
good experience but the players
filing the lawsuit certainly did not

Raddatz: it would seem so

Brennan: we know the NFL
covered up concussions for
years so this doesn't look good

Raddatz: 50 Senators have called
on the Redskins to change their name

Breannan: it's a big deal and
the name will change soon

Schlereth: definitely it's time for
the NFL to follow high schools
and colleges on these insulting slurs

Raddatz: when the NCAA is
ahead of you morally you know
you're in deep trouble

Schlereth: indeed – those bastard
would sell their mothers and 
even they get it

[ break ]

Raddatz: welcome panel –
please bash Obama for me

Dowd: I don't think Obama is
a bad person but we need
to treat our veterans better

Raddatz: that's a bold statement

Dowd: did you know there
are homeless veterans?

Raddatz: no – really?!?

Dowd: also we need to
stop these long wars

Raddatz: will someone please
bash Obama for me

Plouffe: Obama has improved the VA

Raddatz: no no – this is Obama's fault

Plouffe: the VA actually treat veterans well

Raddatz: no!

Plouffe: yes!

Raddatz: should Shinseki resign?

Navarro: yes!

Raddatz: thank you!

Navarro: this is an example of
incompetence and lack of leadership
and of being asleep at the wheel

Anderson: no actually there is
a structural problem at the VA

Raddatz: should we disband the VA?

Dowd: my brother likes the treatment
he gets at the VA but he waits too long

Plouffe: so the VA is doing a
good job but needs more funding

Raddatz: okay enough about that –
let's about Angelina Jolie and Jon Voight

[ break ]

Raddatz: Ana what's the deal 
with the tea party and Republicans?

Navarro: this was a great week 
for the GOP because we didn't 
nominate a bunch of lunatics 
-- take that Democrats!

Raddatz: Matt you say the tea party 
is like the Oakland A's -- they are 
losers but others stole their ideas and won  

Dowd: the tea party won by
moving the GOP to the right

Navarro: I disagree – there are two
factions and the moderates fought
back this week and they won!

Plouffe: i wouldn't celebrate just ye

Navarro: suck it Plouffy

Plouffe: ok so you didn't nominate 
a witch and rape defenders

Navarro: woot! 

Plouffe: look at the modern GOP –
against climate change,
gay marriage, sanity

Soltis Anderson: if you want to
win a race you have to fight

Raddatz: well put Kristen

Raddatz: Chelsea Clinton's
mother-in-law ran for Congress and lost!

Plouffe: oh that it doesn't say 
anything about a lack of Clinton coat-tails

Raddatz: is Julian Castro a rising star in 2016?

Dowd: I don't why anyone would
take some shitty job like a
Cabinet post in a lame-duck administration

Navarro: obviously it was a
chance to leave Texas – who wouldn't?

Dowd: HUD isn't an opportunity
it's going off a cliff!

Raddatz: on this Memorial day
week I remember a terrible tragedy

Audience: Benghazi?

Raddatz: no a slightly less famous 
battle where 8 U.S. soldiers killed 
and 60 were wounded

Audience: oh

Raddatz: they were unprotected
and exposed and faced
massive numbers of insurgents

Doctor: it was a tidal wave of wounded

Raddatz: after 15 months the
unit had lost over 150 soldiers

Raddatz: ten years later at
a reunion the soldiers remember
their brothers

Raddatz: for some it is too much to bear

Veteran: I needed this reunion to turn the page

Raddatz: it's hard to move on isn't it

Veteran: some of us still need help

Doctor: I wish we could have
brought everyone home

[ break ]

Raddatz: back them Martin Dempsey
was a two-star General – how he's
got 4 stars and is Chair of the Joints Chiefs

Dempsey: the suffering from
the war still goes on

Raddatz: what does Memorial
day mean to you?

Dempsey: we will have to fight more
wars in the Middle East and
Africa for a very long term

Raddatz: oh terrific

Raddatz: what about the
Veteran's Administration?

Dempsey: it's terrible but Shinseki
will hold people accountable

Raddatz: what are your
feelings about Arlington?

Dempsey: they are us –
men and women and every ethnicity
we honor they sacrifice

Raddatz: thanks for your service