Meet The Press – April 28, 2013

Guests:

Sen. John McCain (R-AZ)

Rep. Peter King (R-NY)

Rep. Keith Ellison (D-MN)

Sen. Any Klobuchar (D-MN)

Karen Hughes

Tony Blair

Gregory: OMG nerdprom is so funny

but first we might go to war with Syria

and somehow we managed to get

John McCain as a guest

Gregory: Senator did Syria really 

use chemical weapons?

McCain: who knows – he probably would someday

Gregory: right

McCain: Obama gave Assad a green

light to commit mass executions

Gregory: that sounds like something 

Obama would do

McCain: Obama just loves murder

Gregory: so what should we do?

McCain: use missiles to create a

no-fly zone and supply the rebels with guns

Gregory: I like it

McCain: also Russia is flooding

Syria with weapons so we should do also

Gregory: we must not allow a Syria-weapons gap

McCain: Fluffy right now it's an unfair 
fight and a stalemate

Gregory: so if we equalize the fight

it won't be a stalemate anymore?

McCain: where's my pudding?

Gregory: didn't we invade Iraq and find they

didn't have any weapons of mass destruction?

McCain: this is totally different –

we're pretty sure he does and if he

doesn't Assad is a bad guy

Gregory: I stand corrected – so you

think the U.S. should use force?

McCain: sure why not – we can't let chemical

weapons fall into the wrong hands

Gregory: should the U.S. declare war?

McCain: no Americans are tired of war

– we should just go in operationally

Gregory: that sounds like an invasion

McCain: oh no - U.S. boots on the ground

would be the worst possible thing we could do

– it would turn people against America

Gregory: I see

McCain: on the other hand if we don't

attack the Syrian people will turn against us

Gregory: the Senate fixed airport delays

– is that the right approach?

McCain: no the sequester cuts are

crippling America's defenses!

Gregory: Biden says you might have 

won in 2008 if the Republicans hadn't 

crashed the economy

McCain: well that's nice but don't forget 

I ran a terrible campaign

Gregory: true – thanks for coming John

[ break ]

Gregory: Keith should we declare war on Syria?

Ellison: there is a terrible humanitarian

crisis there and we need to do more

Gregory: Peter should we invade Syria?

King: Obama puts America's prestige on the line!

Gregory: that's true

King: but I don't trust those rebels – 

some of them are terrorists

Gregory: like the IRA?

King: ha good one Fluffy

Gregory: please criticize the FBI for me

King: the FBI did not visit Tameralan's mosque

or his friends or neighbors or consult the

FBI crystal ball which can tell who will be a terrorist

Gregory: the FBI dropped the crystal ball!

Ellison: of course you want to blame

the FBI – it's a better story

Gregory: Peter you want to spy on 

Muslim-Americans

King: damn right – even the liberal

Tom Friedman hates muslims – it's all the rage

Gregory: I'm convinced

King: the FBI never even reported

Tameralan to the Boston Police!

Gregory: Keith you're a muslim

Ellison: I'm an American!

Gregory: well make up your mind

Ellison: going after a whole community

is wrong and doesn't help security

Gregory: how is political correctness hurting security?

King: the police never spied on 

Tameralan's mosque because they 

are afraid of being called anti-Islam

Gregory: that's a strong charge Peter

King: the threat to American is coming from muslims

Ellison: the ricin attack didn't come from a muslim

King: that wasn't terrorism that was a

harmless prank like when the IRA bombed civilians

Ellison: muslims love this country!

Gregory: what questions do you have Peter?

King: how can we blame the community

and also how does this affect New York City?

Gregory: thanks for coming guys

King: I'm keeping my eye on you Keith

[ break ]

Gregory: hi panel – how was nerdprom?

Klobuchar: Obama skillfully made fun

of himself and Mitch McConnell

Gregory: George W. Bush was

very good at everything

Todd: Obama took potshots at the media

because he hates Buzzfeed and Politico

Gregory: John McCain thinks Obama

supports mass murder

Klobuchar: McCain talks tough 

but chickened out when you asked 

him about boots on the ground

Murphy: you know I've heard that it's

easier to start a war than end one

Castro: we were fooled over WMD once before

Hughes: no one is for boots on the ground

but al-qaeda is taking over Syria and the

whole world wants us to attack

Todd: the White House regrets drawing that

red line because now there are no good choices

Klobuchar: Assad is more dangerous 

than Qaddafi who was kind of an idiot

Murphy: the rebels might not be good guys

Gregory: what will define Obama's legacy?

Castro: a lot of issues – but I believe

Congress is up to the task

Gregory: you must be joking

Gregory: Karen I love Bush but

his second term was kind of a mess

Hughes: Obama is a failure because

all the big spending and debt

Todd: Obama has one year to get anything

done and since he failed on guns he must

pass immigration reform or Maureen Dowd 

will write another stupid column

Gregory: I've heard Obama is a loser

– is that true Amy?

Klobuchar: Obama can bring people together

over the debt and even Republicans

favor immigration reform

[ break ]

Gregory: greetings Prime Minister - 

you supported Bush's invasion of Iraq 

which turned out to be not so brilliant

Blair: after 9/11 I thought it was 

important to do whatever Bush wanted

Gregory: Bush told you not to 

support him if it would hurt you politically

Blair: yes it turns out Bush was 

somewhat shrewd in that regard

Gregory: indeed

Blair: but at the time I thought invading 

Iraq was the right thing to do

Gregory: may I ask why?

Blair: 9/11

Gregory: the Bush library link Iraq and

terrorism which we know is false

Blair: yes but by invading Iraq brought 

out the violent ethnic tribal wackos 

who are arguably like terrorists in that 

sort of extreme kind of way as one sees in 

Africa and Asia all those non-anglo places

Gregory: what about Syria?

Blair: well you know old chap I see this as a

clash of civilizations and you see all these

foreigners who don't believe in freedom like we do

Gregory: Britain has homegrown terrorism

Blair: we must cast out this ideology –

and like fascism or communism or

kardashianism we will fight it for a long time

Gregory: what was it like to sit through

the dedication of the Bush 'library'?

Blair: you can disagree with George W. Bush

but he has great character and integrity

Gregory: no doubt

[ break ]

Gregory: panel what is the Bush legacy?

Murphy: he made the tough decision

to respond to terrorism

Hughes: he cut taxes, gave out prescription drugs,

had tougher standards on education and made

the brave and tough decision to respond 

to massive terror attacks

Klobuchar: he helped rebuild a bridge in my state

Gregory: Bush was actually a fiscal

conservative wasn't he?

Todd: yes and it turns out people love 

prescription drugs

Gregory: I asked Barbara Bush if Jeb Bush 

should run for President and she 

“no we've had enough Bushes”

Hughes: oh any mother will say that about her son

Gregory: really?

Hughes: yes – she also said George W. Bush 

would never beat Ann Richards

Gregory: what a sweet mother

Murphy: don't cross her Fluffy

Gregory: she scares me

Murphy: she terrifies us all

Gregory: and that's another episode

of Meet The Press