Meet The Press - August 21, 2011

Host: Savannah Guthrie
Guests:
Robert Gibbs - Obama Campaign Advisor
Gov. Mitch Daniels (R-IN)
Harold Ford
E.J. Dionne
Maria Bartiromo
Peggy Noonan
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Guthrie: OMG the rebels have discovered
a weakness in Qaddafi’s defenses

Audience: the more he tightens his grip
the more they slip through his fingers

Guthrie: Bob only 26% approve of Obama
on the economy

Gibbs: he has a jobs plan you know

Guthrie: good to know

Gibbs: this election will be about
Wall Street vs Main Street

Guthrie: what about people sleeping
on the street

Gibbs: Obama inherited a major crisis

Guthrie: he’s been President for 2 1/2 years

Gibbs: we need the GOP to put aside
partisanship work and work with Obama

Guthrie: Obama said he would be a
one-term President if the economy
didn't turn around

Gibbs: Obama can’t do it alone Savannah

Guthrie: he had a Democratic Congress

Gibbs: and when we did we had
strong economic growth!

Guthrie: do you really think patent reform
is enough?

Gibbs: it’s a start

Guthrie: why doesn’t Obama make the case
for what he wants?

Gibbs: he does that every day and the
Republicans reject their own ideas because
they’re afraid it might help Obama get reelected

Guthrie: why doesn’t Obama create some jobs

Gibbs: we lost 8 million jobs in the recession

Guthrie: that’s bad

Gibbs: we can’t go back to a time when
Wall Street ran everything

Guthrie: should Obama take a vacation
when the Dow is dropping?

Gibbs: what better place to console
Wall Street bankers than Martha’s Vineyard?

Guthrie: but it looks bad!

Gibbs: they have cell phone service
there now you know

Guthrie: Rick Perry said Obama doesn’t
love America because he never served
in the armed forces

Gibbs: Rick also said he wants to secede
from the United States

Guthrie: Bachmann said Obama fears her most

Gibbs: she is pretty damn scary

Guthrie: true

Gibbs: why does Texas have such a
crappy school system? Why does Romney
have such a bad jobs record? Who shot J.R.??

Guthrie: I believe that was Rick Perry

Gibbs: you see my point

Guthrie: is your strategy to portray
Mitt Romney as weird?

Gibbs: Romney is worried we’re regulating
Wall Street too much - that is weird

Guthrie: what happened to
‘Change We Can Believe In’?

Gibbs: do you want George W Bush again?
Well do you??

[ break ]

Guthrie: Mitch who do you support
for President?

Daniels: me

Guthrie: GOP voters are desperate
enough to speculate about Rudy Giuliani

Daniels: the more the merrier I say

Guthrie: so you admit the current field is weak

Daniels: we need someone who can
unify the whole nation

Guthrie: who can possibly do that?

Daniels: Paul Ryan is the one hope
for poor people in this county

Guthrie: sounds like you want him to run

Daniels: I love that unpopular geek

Guthrie: you urged polite rhetoric but
Rick Perry threatened to shoot the Fed Chairman

Daniels: he was right - the Republican
Federal Reserve will destroy America to help Obama

Guthrie: he accused Bernanke of treason!

Daniels: well printing money is pretty bad

Guthrie: the candidates would reject 10-1
spending cuts from tax increases!

Daniels: the Democrats are just as bad
because they won’t get rid of Medicaid

Guthrie: how does a high debt cost jobs?

Daniels: Obama high debt had led to
high interest rates which wrecks the economy!

Guthrie: interest rates are at an all time low!

Daniels: we can’t afford these high rates!

Guthrie: what are you talking about?

Daniels: regulations are too damm high!

Guthrie: will you run for President?

Daniels: ha no

Guthrie: how about Vice President?

Daniels: oh my god

Guthrie: thanks for coming Mitch

[ break ]

Guthrie: should Rick Perry have accused
Ben Bernanke of treason?

Noonan: Reagan was benign and cuddly
and he could sell destructive policies with a
twinkle in his eye

Bartiromo: Perry was pushed over the edge
by Obama’s failure of leadership

Guthrie: it’s a throwback to the 80s
questioning Obama’s patriotism!

Dionne: someone tell Rick Perry that
Obama and Bernanke are not hippies

Ford: Perry has so many wonderful qualities
- why doesn’t he talk about that instead?

Guthrie: good point

Ford: I think the GOP will nominate
someone serious and terrific

Guthrie: like who?

Ford: Chris Christie

Guthrie: who can save the GOP??

Ford: Rudy Giuliani

Guthrie: can Sarah Palin save America?

Noonan: this is how desperate people are
- they’re begging Mitch Daniels to run

Dionne: we don’t need another candidate
- they all agree we should return
to the Gilded Age

Guthrie: Bachmann said she will return
to $1.99 gas

Bartiromo: sounds good to me

Guthrie: is that realistic?

Bartiromo: at least Bachmann has a
vision for America

Dionne: more like a hallucination

Guthrie: Obama shouldn’t go on vacation
unlike other Presidents

Noonan: there is a sense out there that a
real leader would not go to Martha’s Vineyard

Ford: I’ve been talking to big businesses
and they tell me they would love less
regulations and lower taxes

Bartiromo: the markets would love that

Guthrie: would they really?

Bartiromo: Businesses are sitting on
$2.5 trillion and they are waiting until
Republicans get elected and lower
taxes even more

Guthrie: of course

Bartiromo: Dodd-Frank is the law so
why are regulations being written to enforce it?

Ford: stop bashing Wall Street!

Dionne: Wall Street should go on tv and
support a new stimulus

Guthrie: why doesn’t Obama go on tv and say
‘by golly this is what I want’

Dionne: right - then people know
what you stand for

Guthrie: Peggy you said Obama is a loser

Noonan: yes a dorky skinny indonesian loser

Guthrie: Obama is reading a bunch of
high-falutin’ books

Dionne: no one like a brainac

Guthrie: speaking of that - Michele Bachmann
won the Iowa straw poll

Bartiromo: she can give us confidence as a
world beating economy

Ford: Mitch Daniels must hate Mitt Romney
or he wouldn’t praise Paul Ryan

Guthrie: he is adorable

Ford: Wall Street is Main Street dammit!

Guthrie: and that’s another episode of
Meet The Press

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“Our Media Not Theirs” | Culture of Truth and David Dayen consider developments of the week, highlighting issues neglected or misrepresented on the Sunday morning broadcasts of traditional media. Culture's weekly translations decode what passes on Sunday morning traditional media for political talk shows. Dave writes for the News Desk at FDL and has been blogging about state and national issues since 2004. | Listen live and later on BTR
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