Meet The Press – March 15, 2015

Guests:

Bill Neely

Admiral Mike Mullen (Ret.)

Sen. Roger Wicker (R-MS)

Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA)

Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-SC)

Barney Frank

Karen Finney – Fmr. Press 

Secretary for Hillary Clinton

Kevin Madden – Fmr. Romney Advisor

Andrea Mitchell

Matt Bai – Yahoo News

Todd: OMG forty-seven sent a letter

to the Ayatollah and now kind of regret it

Obama: I'm embarrassed for those idiots

Todd: is Clinton too big too fail?

Clinton: I used my personal e-mail

for government business because

why the hell not

Todd: good morning – the White House 

is hitting back with a letter of its own 

after 47 Senators sent a letter to the 

Ayatollah telling not to trust that 

Kenyan occupying the White House

Audience: shit's getting real

Todd: the White House warns not to

pass legislation to ruin a deal with Iran

Todd: even Republican think maybe

going behind the President's back

to send a letter to an enemy wasn't

the smartest move ever

Todd: but can anything stop

these evil maniacs?

[ break ]

Todd: Bill Iraqi troops are actually

making progress against ISIS

Neely: I know we're all amazed

Todd: could they do it without Iran's help?

Neely: no

Todd: wow

Neely: Iran is everywhere in Iraq!

Todd: amazing

Neely: Iran and Iraq fought a long war

then the U.S. smashed Iraq allowing

Iran to waltz right in

Todd: Irony can be pretty ironic sometimes

Neely: urban dictionary: Irany – when you

invade a country and your enemy occupies it

Todd: good one Bill

Neely: we fought Iraq and Iran won

Todd: incredible

Neely: it's Sunnis vs. Shiites;

it's Persian vs. Arab;

it's Mayweather vs. Pacquiao

Todd: I'm learning so much

Neely: if the U.S. beats ISIS but with

Iran's help what kind of victory is that?

Todd: it's not very manly to win with help

[ break ]

Todd: welcome Admiral Mullen

Mullen: good morning Charles

Todd: is it good or bad that

Iran is helping to kill ISIS?

Mullen: it's good because we 

have to defeat ISIS

Todd: okay then

Mullen: but Iran is still bad

Todd: since Iran is moving in –

should we have invaded Iraq again?

Mullen: well Iran would be in Iraq anyway

Todd: perhaps

Mullen: we have to defeat ISIS in Syria too

Todd: Lindsey Graham fears many things

– spiders, snakes, the dark, clowns

Mullen: we all know that

Todd: but he fears Iran most of all

– even more than ISIS

Mullen: so do I

Todd: do you really?

Mullen: there's an internal battle between

reformers and hard liners that we don't

understand well at all

Todd: you investigated Benghazi –

did you have all the information you

needed or do you want Clinton's e-mails too?

Mullen: no we have everything 

we needed Todd

Todd: thanks for coming

[ break ]

Todd: President Obama did 

an interview with Vice

Obama: I'm embarrassed for

the fools that sent that letter to Iran

Todd: that bad audio is Vice's fault 

– they suck

Audience: oooh catty

Todd: welcome Senator Wicker

Wicker: good morning Chuck

Todd: sending a letter warning the 

leader of Iran not to deal with the 

President is universally regarded 

as one the most bone-headed

moves in recent history – any regrets?

Wicker: not at all – why is everyone

talking about this letter and Bibi's

stunt address to Congress?

Todd: because they were

incredibly dumb and backfired

Wicker: Obama is negotiating 

with Iran which is evil!

Todd: strong words

Wicker: you can never make

an agreement with bad people

Todd: you seem smart

Wicker: Obama and Kerry are 
comfortable with Iran and 
they are bad people!

Todd: but our allies may lift 
sanctions and do business with
Iran regardless of what we do

Wicker: if that's true that's bad

Todd: White House Chief of Staff

Denis McDonough wrote a letter to

Bob Corker saying his legislation

would create divsions with our allies

and embolden Iran's hard liners

Kaine: I'm proud of this legislation

Todd: well good for you

Kaine: but Congress has shown

unacceptable contempt for the President

Todd: go on

Kaine: I'm in favor of diplomacy 

but Congress has to have a 

say in lifting sanctions

Todd: are you willing to wait for

the President to make a deal?

Kaine: there is no reason to wait!

Todd: all right

Kaine: this is bipartisan legislation

Todd: what if Obama goes to the U.N. first?

Kaine: that's fine but this is about

Congressional sanctions

Wicker: the White House is saying

they don't want legislation until after

they make a deal which bugs me

[ break ]

Todd: greetings panelists

Todd: it sounds like Tim Kaine is

willing to buck the White House

Mitchell: clearly the Iran letter went

too far but Kaine and Corker are

friends of the White House and Obama

had better find a way to placate them

Todd: good point

Mitchell: no one is talking

about Iran's missile technology

Todd: maybe they would if

Hillary sent an e-mail about it

Todd: Michael Gerson who was a

Bush official thinks this Iran letter

was incredibly stupid

Madden: no it was Civics 101

Todd: you've got to be kidding

Madden: the White House

needs to deal with Congress

Finney: these 47 Senators

bolstered the extremists in Iran

Todd: frankly Iran is bad

Bai: for 30 years negotiations

over nukes have been quite successful

Todd: but can we stop Iran?

Bai: we have to try

Mitchell: the problem is you don't

send a letter to the Ayatollah –

I mean come on

Todd: OMG the GOP is going after

Hillary Clinton's e-mails and Benghazi

Todd: Clinton is in the middle

of a media circus!

Todd: she was insular and lawyerly!

Todd: Democrats are wringing their

hands that the media are going

after the Clintons again!

Todd: even Jon Stewart went after Clinton!

Todd: some Democrats want a

contested primary to toughen her up

Jerry Brown: fuck that noise

[ break ]

Todd: welcome Tray

Gowdy: hi Todd

Todd: Clinton says she has 

turned over all her e-mails – 

do you think she's lying?

Gowdy: I wouldn't accuse anyone

of lying unless I had proof or felt it in my gut

Todd: okay

Gowdy: the burden of proof

is on her to prove she turned

over all e-mails

Todd: you want her to testify

twice more on Benghazi

Gowdy: right

Todd: is this hearing just to

go after Hillary Clinton?

Gowdy: oh heaven's no we're

going to have 50 witnesses!

Todd: I assume you want to

go after David Petraeus

Gowdy: yes but maybe he was

charged with giving away top

secrets to buy his silence

Todd: you never requested

Clinton's e-mails until now

Gowdy: we were trying to be nice

Todd: there have been five other

investigations of Benghazi –

what did they do wrong that

you need another one?

Gowdy: our Benghazi committee

is going to be the best Benghazi

committee ever

Todd: excellent

Gowdy: we have four murdered Americans!

Todd: will this take one or two years?

Gowdy: my hearing will sadly go into

2016 when Clinton is running for President

Todd: Matt you bravely wrote an article

criticizing Hillary Clinton – how do you

come by such courage and wisdom

Bai: doesn't Ed Snowden 

have all her e-mails?

Todd: har har har

Bai: Clinton is old and Jeb Bush

is very open and transparent

Todd: Matt Bai is right and

Clinton is overly defensive

Finney: Jeb Bush is hiding many e-mails!

Todd: but he handled it better

Finney: well what is the damn standard?

Todd: the standard is Bush is from

a good family and Hillary Clinton is

from a bunch of secretive hillbillies

Mitchell: I have delved very deeply

into this and Clinton's e-mails

were not captured

Finney: neither were Colin Powell's

Mitchell: who?

Todd: do we really need yet

another Benghazi hearing?

Madden: Hillary is definitely

hiding something

Finney: Andrea you know no other

Secretary of State turned over their e-mails

Mitchell: la la la I can't hear you

Todd: Today's fun fact - shockingly

rich people are more likely to be

white and educated

[ break ]

Todd: welcome Barney Frank

Frank: morning Chuck

Todd: people now loves gays and

hate Congress – it's a world gone mad!

Frank: we came out and people saw

gay people were just like everyone else

Todd: but more fun

Frank: my marriage was controversial

because other members of Congress

were mad they weren't invited!

Todd: why do people hate 

government so much?

Frank: after WWII America was preeminent

and working class white guys could make

a good living and all that's changed

Todd: in your book you bash

Republicans on policy but also

go after liberals on their bad tactics

Frank: the left loves emotional protests

and marches that don't do anything

while the NRA builds up a huge

and efficient lobbying organization

Todd: do you want a vigorous

primary against Hillary Clinton?

Frank: hell no – do you think

Mitt Romney was well-served

by the disastrous Republican

primaries in 2012?

Todd: good point

Frank: fuck that shit

Todd: Hillary's e-mails are a huge scandal!

Frank: I was around during Whitewater

and all the other fake scandals and

it was all bullshit Chuck

Todd: but she didn't handle

this e-mail scandal well

Frank: you mean the media

didn't handle it well

Todd: you can't expect us to

be fair – it's the Clintons!

Frank: of course

Todd: thanks for coming

[ break ]

Todd: Scott Walker declared

himself the front-runner!

Madden: that's a bit of

irrational exuberance

Todd: who would rather run

against – Jeb or Scott Walker?

Finney: probably Jeb because

Scott Walker represents change

Todd: last week on this show

Lindsay Graham surprised many

of us when he said he has never

sent an e-mail in his life

McCain: my staff won't let me

e-mail because I'm crazy

Todd: it's bipartisan – Orrin Hatch

and Chuck Schumer are luddites too

Todd: Bill Clinton has only sent

two e-mails in his entire life!

Mikulski: you bet I e-mail

– I'm hip and I'm hot

Todd: and that's another

episode of Meet The Press