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Or "The Heads that Talk Predict the Imminent Dissolution of the GOP"

By Mark Kilmer Posted in Archived — Comments (14) / Email this page » / Leave a comment »

Sunday, September 17, 2006

On MTP, an uncomfortable Jim Webb commiserated about Iraq with Tim Russert. Allen defended himself and his policies comfortably. There wasn't much Virginia stuff here.

On FNS, National Intelligence Director John Negroponte told host Chris Wallace that the Administration was not proposing to modify Common Article 3 of the Geneva Convention but rather to apply it in a manner consistent with U.S. law. Next on FNS, House Majority Leader John Boehner warned that House Republicans will insist upon building a really big fence at our border before any other immigration matter can be discussed.

On TW, John McCain decided that the Geneva Convention is the "gold standard throughout the world" by which the treatment of prisoners is regulated. He wants us to pass a global test of sorts for the treatment of prisoners. Later on TW, National Security Advisor Steve Hadley remarked that this enemy does not capture prisoners on the battlefield. It kills them.

On FTN, Bob Schieffer noted that South Carolina was a conservative State which would punish Lindsey Graham for opposing the President. He predicted an opponent for Graham in South Carolina's primary. (It was held June 13, but...)

Hadley and Graham had a conversation in the FTN Green Room, and Schieffer seemed to think this might lead to a breakthrough.

On FTN, Arlen Specter announced that he wanted to preserve habeas corpus for jihadists, and Carl Levin put down the lemon he'd been sucking long enough to mouth off again.

On LE, Wolf Blitzer told Steven Hadley of John McCain's fears that "redefining" Common Article 3 would put our troops in jeopardy. (I'll take Ambiguous Treaties for $500, Alex.) Hadley said that they were not redefining Common Article 3 needs to be defined "because nobody knows what it means."

Read the show-by-show review beneath the fold:

RUSSERT: SENATOR ALLEN VS. WEBB. On Meet the Press, Tim Russert hosted a debate between Senator George Allen (R-Virginia) and his Dem opponent, Jim Webb. Russert showed video of Webb standing next to Allen in 2000 and quoted part of a contemporary AP article endorsing Allen specifically "on national security issues." Webb explained that he though at the time that Allen would be good on National Security but he has been bad. He said that voters allied themselves with the GOP on security issues after the Vietnam War, even though they disagreed on economic issues, and that the current war has been a "blunder of historical proportions."

Okay.

He said that the Republican Party, in the "Karl Rove era," had turned into negativity, not positive leadership. He then went negative on the Iraq war, pointing out that he had told the WashPost that it would make our soldiers "targets for terrorists." He said that he liked Allen personally but felt he had to run against him.

George Allen's campaign liveblogged the event on The Allen Blog, and it is the "debate" I saw. (If anyone else liveblogged it, let me know. I'll add it to this report.)

Russert wanted to know if Allen voted for the war merely out of loyalty to President Bush. That question came about because Webb said that this is what Allen told him.

Webb said that he had fought in Vietnam and the French had fought in Vietnam, but George Allen did not fight in Vietnam. Allen smiled.

Webb argued against going to war in Iraq.

Russert asked Allen what he meant by "stay the course." How does one win in Iraq?"

Allen said that we stay the course by not running away.

Russert argued, citing a secret Marine memo, that there was nothing the Army could do to secure the Anbar province. Russert cited Bill Kristol and Rich Lowry calling for more troops in Iraq. Allen said that there are more troops there now, "especially in Baghdad," and that the Iraqis were taking more control of the military operations.

Webb argued that "we're burning out our people" in a "double-strategic mousetrap." He said that Saddam an al Qaeda were "natural enemies."

Webb proposes a 5% tax break for people who have served in the military because it will make more rich people join the military.

Webb said we will be out in two years but he quoted Ike as saying that those who'd give a date certain "do not understand America." (Ike was referring to Korea, of course, but the same could be said of today's Democrats. Including Webb.)

Webb said we could withdraw from Iraq to Kuwait and Qatar and be fine. He did not mention putting them in Okinawa, but that was Jack Murtha's idea last June.

My take? They didn't talk about much Virginia stuff, which I'm sure is disappointing to any Virginians who happened to tune it; but Russert has a national audience and must do his national thaang, if you'll pardon the expression.

Comparing Webb to the Dem from Russert's last debate, Pennsylvania's Junior Casey, Webb is not as well trained as Junior is, but Webb struck me as smarter than Casey. This isn't saying much, but I feel sort of bad that Chuckie and company roped the poor guy into this.

And he has Ned's "JF Kerry problem": He doesn't grasp the issues and he was for his opponent before he was against him.

JOHN NEGROPONTE ON FNS. Host Chris Wallace's first guest on FOX News Sunday this morning was the telegenic Director of National Intelligence John Negroponte. Wallace asked Negroponte why the Administration has waited two months since the Supreme Court handed down Hamdan v. Rumsfeld to propose legislation regarding the modification of Common Article 3 of the Geneva Convention. Negroponte said that they were consulting with legal experts, etc. He said that the Administration was not attempting to modify Common Article 3; rather they are determining how to apply it in a manner consistent with U.S. law.

Wallace asked if the timing of the legislation were for national security or to make this an election issue. Negroponte explained that the interrogation program was the single most important human intelligence program for fighting al Qaeda.

This is a different kind of war, he said, and a different kind of enemy.

Wallace asked Negroponte if such service veterans as John McCain, John Warner, and Colin Powell have more credibility than the Administration on matters such the rules of war and putting prisoners in danger. Negroponte suggested that there were some complex legal principles involved.

Wallace asked why a President who boasts so much about accepting the advice of his generals in the field would ignore the military's Judge Advocate General. Negroponte suggested that they agree with much of the President's proposed legislation.

JOHN BOEHNER ON FNS. Wallace's next guest on FNS was House Majority Leader John Boehner, who defended both the President's legislation and its several Republican opponents in the Senate: McCain, Warner, Graham, Specter. Boehner said that they were not like the Democrats, in that they are opposing any form of interrogation. They'll sit down and work something out, he said. Wallace asked if those Republicans were providing political cover for the Dems, and Boehner argued that this was not about politics.

On immigration. Boehner argued House Republicans would insist on building this really big fence at the border before dealing with a more comprehensive program. The really big fence must be built first, he insisted.

He assured Wallace that legislation providing for building the really big fence will be on the President's desk before the election.

And he stressed the importance of reforming the earmarks process.

Boehner insisted that he's been working on reforming Congress since he arrived there, mentioning the House Banking and Post Office scandals.

Election Day predictions? Boehner said that the Republicans will retain control of both houses of Congress, "comfortably." Wallace wanted a specific number for the House, and Boehner answered: "Plenty."

So. There.

JOHN MCCAIN ON TW. Let the politics begin. (Well...) Host George Stephanopoulos of ABC's This Week talked first to the maverick Senator John McCain, who argued that the Geneva Convention was ratified in 1949 and has been unchanged since, and modifying it now makes us as bad as our enemies.

Steph argued that the Administration wanted not to modify the treaty but to interpret it. McCain said that they should have interpreted it in 1949.

He argued that the Administration wants to give Iranians a license to modify Common Article 3 "for their purposes," to torture American prisoners of war. He called the Geneva Convention "the gold standard throughout the world."

McCain said that we could interrogate prisoners, and here I paraphrase, "in a way that passes the, the test, that passes the global test where your countrymen, your people, understand fully why you're doing what you're doing, and you can prove to the world that you did it for legitimate reasons." My parphrasation of McCain, of course, quotes John Kerry, back from the first Presidential debate in '04, McCain told Steph, though, that if we do not pass what amounts to a global test, "we should be very aware that if we engage in these activities the world will condemn us and we will lose the high ground."

It is a "matter of conscience," McCain argued.

To prevent American personnel from being prosecuted for legal acts defined by others as war crimes, McCain said that he would "modify the War Powers Act."

McCain believes that we will "win this war" without being "just like our enemies." He says he considers the President to be a friend and that he hopes the President considers him to be a friend.

Steph brought up some folks in New Hampshire and South Carolina who didn't much care for McCain's position. Would this hurt his chances to become President? McCain argued that they didn't like him anyway and that he respects men and woman who've worn the uniform of the United States. He named specifically generals Colin Powell and John Shalikashvili.

"This has nothing to do with al Qaeda," McCain said. "It has everything to do with the United States."

STEVE HADLEY ON TW. Steph next spoke with National Security Advisor Steve Hadley, who explained that the Administration had held that Common Article 3 did not apply to al Qaeda prisoners until the Supreme Court said that it did in Hamdan.

He explained that Common Article 3 applied to combatants not in uniform. He said that they do not take prisoners in battle; rather, they kill them. (This makes McCain's argument about treatment of U.S. prisoners more of a trifle.)

Hadley pointed out that the language of Common Article 3 is "too ambiguous." It needs to be interpreted in this context, and this is what the President proposes to do.

LINDSEY GRAHAM ON FTN. FTN host Bob Schieffer talked first to Senator Lindsey Graham, in the studio. "The Republican rebellion on Capitol Hill." Yes, "a nasty brawl among Republicans." Lindsey thinks that the Geneva Convention does not apply to the War on Terror but the Supreme Court says it does. He wants to deal with "getting the trials back on track" and interrogating prisoners. He said that if he redefines the Geneva Convention to meet what our CIA needs, other countries can do it for their intelligence agencies. He said that the President was trying to back out of the Geneva Convention by redefining it.

He threw out a hypothetical involving a CIA officer who was not confronted with the evidence against him, "What would we do? ... We would go crazy!" He said that other countries will put our prisoners to death without hearing the charges against them.

He wants to give the President tools which he'll feel good about and the Supreme Court will find legal. Schieffer told him that he was brave for taking on the President, what with South Carolina being a conservative State. He predicted a primary opponent for Graham. (NOTE: South Carolina's primary was in June.)

Graham said that we can have a "great nation without Lindsey Graham in the Senate," but not by abandoning our principles.

SPECTER ON FTN. Specter agreed with "Graham and McCain," though he does disagree about eliminating habeas corpus. "We have to follow the Geneva Convention. Specter wants to apply our Constitutional protections of defendants to enemy combatants.

Specter later mentioned the "Geneva Convention of 1990." He wants to have a Q&A Session with the Jag's.

LEVIN ON FTN Carl Levin said that we cannot claim that we are abiding by treaties "if we decide unilaterally that we will modify Geneva." He said that foreign countries will say that the CIA is all about Abu Ghraib. He appealed to McCain's authority on the Geneva Convention, as McCain was a prisoner of war.

Graham doesn't see a way to resolve this unless the President backs down on changing the Geneva Convention. He wants to protect American troops and American values. He does not want to give the terrorists the "propaganda tool" of saying that the Americans are hypocrites. (Earth to Levin, they do that anyway.)

STEVE HADLEY ON FTN. Hadley -- and he tried very hard to keep a smile on his face while speaking -- asked Schieffer is we wanted a CIA program which questions these prisoners? If so, we need clear legal guidance for the interrogators. If we don't want the program, we should explain why.

Schieffer asked why they don't just use the FBIs rules for interrogation.

Hadley said that these prisoners were especially dangerous, and the rules were public. The terrorists can train against them.

He held up McCain's recent torture ban as the standard.

Schieffer asked about "leaving the impression" that they want to torture people. Hadley explained that it is not about torture. The program will be run by highly trained professionals.

Schieffer brought up a discussion between Hadley and Graham in the Green Room, and he asked if that off-the-record discussion had made a compromise more likely. Hadley thinks it can be done.

HADLEY ON LE. Wolf Blitzer on Late Edition asked Steve Hadley if "the President is willing to make concessions" to dissident Senate Republicans. Hadley said we need the program to go forward. Are we going to have it or not? Blitzer wanted to know if the President were "willing to meet these Senators half way." He said that first, we need to agree that we need to have the program. And we need to find a way to do it without modifying Common Article 3.

Blitzer played a McCain clip from a CNN show called Situation Room. Blitzer explained that McCain thinks that if we redefine Common Article 3, our prisoners could be tortured. Hadley explained that Common Article 3 does not apply to our soldiers. He argued that we should treat these prisoners under the "Detainee Treatment Act," John McCain's measure from last December.

Blitzer went through part of Common Article 3 and asked what had to be "clarified." Hadley argued that it was c, "outrages of personal dignity, humiliating or degrading treatment." Blitzer asked if such treatment should be okay, and Hadley argued that the problem was what "humiliating" means. The President wants only clarity, he said.

Blitzer quoted Colin Powell's letter to John McCain in which Powell said that redefining Common Article 3 would put our troops in danger. Hadley countered that it can't be redefined, "because nobody knows what it means."

Hadley pointed out that they are refining nothing. They are taking standards Congress has passed and applying them to Common Article 3. Wolf accused Hadley of wanting to prosecute terrorists without letting them see the evidence against them. Hadley explained that classified information would be seen by a judge for determination, given to the terrorist's attorney, and shown to the suspect in a declassified form.

And Blitzer plans to interview the President on Situation Room, Wednesday.

BLITZER and TZIPI LIVNI. Host Blitzer next spoke to Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, who stressed that the Israeli hostages had to be release, staring with the kidnapped soldiers. She pointed out that the arms embargo on the Lebanese-Syrian border was not being forced. She said that they are waiting for the Lebanese Army to arrive before they withdraw from southern Lebanon.

She pointed out that Nasrallah regretted the attack on Israel and has had to explain this to the Lebanese people.

She urged the Israeli people "to stop licking the wounds of the past months" and look at what has changed since before the occupation. Ultimately, she explained, Israel will be safer than it was before. "In terms of process."

She admitted that some in the cabinet might have made mistakes, but "the main goal was the safety of Israel
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And that's what I saw this week.

Have at it!